The SECR N class was a steam locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell for
mixed-traffic duties on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) in
London and south-east England. This locomotive class, with two leading
wheels and no trailing wheels (2-6-0), was mechanically similar to the
SECR K class 2-6-4 passenger tank engine, also by Maunsell. Built at
Ashford Works and the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, between 1917 and 1934,
the N class was based on the GWR 4300 Class design, improved with
Midland Railway concepts. The class replaced obsolete 0-6-0s as part of
the SECR's fleet standardisation, using parts interchangeable with those
of other classes. Eighty N class locomotives were built in three
batches between the First and Second World Wars. They worked over most
of the Southern Railway network, and were used by the Southern Region of
British Railways until the last was withdrawn in 1966. One locomotive is
preserved on the Swanage Railway in Dorset, undergoing overhaul.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SECR_N_class>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
On the Origin of Species (title page pictured) by British
naturalist Charles Darwin was first published, and sold out its initial
print run on the first day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species>
1922:
Irish Civil War: Author and Irish nationalist Erskine Childers
was executed by the Irish Free State for illegally carrying a semi-
automatic pistol.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erskine_Childers_%28author%29>
1943:
World War II: Following the American capture of Makin Atoll,
USS Liscome Bay was sunk by a torpedo from Japanese submarine I-175,
killing 644.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liscome_Bay>
2012:
A fire at a clothing factory in the Ashulia district on the
outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, killed at least 117 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Dhaka_fire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
battue:
1. (uncountable, hunting, often attributively) A form of hunting in
which game is forced into the open by the beating of sticks on bushes,
etc.
2. (countable, hunting) A hunt performed in this manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/battue>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is before all things useful to men to associate their ways of
life, to bind themselves together with such bonds as they think most
fitted to gather them all into unity, and generally to do whatsoever
serves to strengthen friendship. But for this there is need of skill
and watchfulness. For men are diverse (seeing that those who live under
the guidance of reason are few), yet are they generally envious and more
prone to revenge than to sympathy. No small force of character is
therefore required to take everyone as he is, and to restrain one's self
from imitating the emotions of others. But those who carp at mankind,
and are more skilled in railing at vice than in instilling virtue, and
who break rather than strengthen men's dispositions, are hurtful both to
themselves and others.
--Ethics
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ethics_%28Spinoza%29>
Nico Ditch is a six-mile-long (9.7 km) linear earthwork between Ashton-
under-Lyne and Stretford in Greater Manchester, England. It was dug as a
defensive fortification, or possibly a boundary marker, between the 5th
and 11th centuries. The earliest documented reference to the ditch is in
a charter detailing the granting of land in Audenshaw to the monks of
the Kersal Cell. In the document, dating from 1190 to 1212, the
earthwork is referred to as "Mykelldiche", and a magnum fossatum, Latin
for "large ditch". Despite heavy weathering, it is still visible in
short sections, which can be 4–5 yards (3.7–4.6 m) wide and up to 5
feet (1.5 m) deep. A 330-yard (300 m) stretch through Denton Golf
Course and a section running through Platt Fields Park are considered
the best-preserved remains. In 1997, a segment of the ditch in Platt
Fields was protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The rest of the
ditch remains unprotected.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nico_Ditch>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1867:
The Manchester Martyrs were hanged in Manchester, England, for
killing a police officer while helping two Irish nationalists escape
from police custody.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Martyrs>
1924:
The New York Times published evidence from Edwin Hubble that
stated the Andromeda Nebula, previously believed to be part of the Milky
Way, is actually another galaxy—one of many in the universe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hubble>
1996:
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked, then crashed into
the Indian Ocean near the Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125
of the 175 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961>
2012:
"Il Canto degli Italiani" officially became the national anthem
of Italy almost seventy years after it was provisionally chosen
following the birth of the Italian Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_Canto_degli_Italiani>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
exiguity:
The quality of being meagre or scanty.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exiguity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It isn't always easy to act on what's in your head instead of
what's in your heart. And it isn't always right to. The whole trick to
knowing what to do is deciding when to make yourself listen to your
head, and when it's okay to just follow your feelings.
--Steven Brust
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Brust>
"Triangle" is the third episode of the sixth season of the American
science fiction television series The X-Files. Written and directed by
series creator Chris Carter (pictured), it premiered on the Fox network
on November 22, 1998, with 18.20 million viewers. In this episode, FBI
special agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), who works on cases linked to
the paranormal along with Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson), boards a
passenger liner in the Bermuda Triangle. Transported back in time to the
outbreak of World War II, he encounters German soldiers searching for a
superweapon called Thor's Hammer. Main and recurring cast members,
including Anderson, William B. Davis, Chris Owens, James Pickens Jr. and
Mitch Pileggi, play additional characters aboard the ship, distinct from
their regular characters. Inspired by the 1948 Alfred Hitchcock film
Rope, many scenes were edited to appear as single takes. The episode
received generally positive reviews.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_%28The_X-Files%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1718:
The pirate Blackbeard was killed in battle by a boarding party
of British sailors off the coast of North Carolina, ending his reign of
terror in the Caribbean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard>
1873:
The French steamship Ville du Havre collided with a Scottish
iron clipper in the North Atlantic and sank with the loss of 226 lives.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ville_du_Havre>
1968:
The Beatles released their eponymous double album, popularly
known as "The White Album".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_%28album%29>
1988:
The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber of the United States Air Force
was first displayed in public at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale,
California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Grumman_B-2_Spirit>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ariose:
(music) Melodic and song-like.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ariose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Much time has passed since the first colonists came to rocky
shores and dark forests of an unknown continent, much time since
President Washington led a young people into the experience of
nationhood, much time since President Lincoln saw the American nation
through the ordeal of fraternal war — and in these years our
population, our plenty and our power have all grown apace. … Yet, as
our power has grown, so has our peril. Today we give our thanks, most of
all, for the ideals of honor and faith we inherit from our forefathers
— for the decency of purpose, steadfastness of resolve and strength of
will, for the courage and the humility, which they possessed and which
we must seek every day to emulate. As we express our gratitude, we must
never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to
live by them. Let us therefore proclaim our gratitude to Providence for
manifold blessings — let us be humbly thankful for inherited ideals
— and let us resolve to share those blessings and those ideals with
our fellow human beings throughout the world.
--John F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy>
Hurricane Irene was a long-lived tropical cyclone of the 2005 Atlantic
hurricane season. After forming near Cape Verde on August 4, it crossed
the Atlantic, turned northward near Bermuda, and was absorbed by an
extratropical cyclone southeast of Newfoundland. Irene persisted for
14 days as a tropical system, longer than any other storm of the
2005 season. It was the ninth named storm and fourth hurricane of what
became the most active Atlantic hurricane season since record-keeping
began. Irene proved to be a difficult storm to forecast due to
oscillations in strength. After almost dissipating on August 10, it
peaked as a Category 2 hurricane on August 16. Because of uncertainty in
predicting the storm's track, there were initial fears of a landfall in
the United States, but Irene never approached land and caused no
recorded damage. One person died in Long Beach, New York, from swells up
to 8 feet (2.4 m) and strong rip currents.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Irene_%282005%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
Polish troops and civilians began a three-day pogrom against
Jews and Christians in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lw%C3%B3w_pogrom_%281918%29>
1922:
Rebecca Latimer Felton became the first woman to serve in the
United States Senate, albeit for only one day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Latimer_Felton>
1977:
"God Defend New Zealand" (audio featured) became New Zealand's
second national anthem, on equal standing with "God Save the Queen",
which had been the traditional anthem since 1840.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Defend_New_Zealand>
2012:
A remote-controlled bomb exploded on a bus in Tel Aviv, Israel,
injuring at least 28 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Tel_Aviv_bus_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
remora:
1. Any of various elongate fish from the family Echeneidae, the dorsal
fin of which is in the form of a suction disc that can take a firm hold
against the skin of larger marine animals.
2. (heraldry) A serpent.
3. (obsolete) A delay; a hindrance, an obstacle.
4. (obsolete, surgery) A surgical instrument, intended to retain parts
in their places.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/remora>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All mortals are equal; it is not their birth, But virtue itself
that makes the difference.
--Voltaire
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire>
Connie Talbot (born 20 November 2000) is a British singer who reached
the final of the first series of Britain's Got Talent in 2007. Although
she had never taken singing lessons, her initial performance drew
international press coverage. She signed with Rainbow Recording Company,
and her debut album, Over the Rainbow, was released in the UK in
November 2007. The album was re-released in June 2008 with a new track
listing, along with its first single, a cover of Bob Marley's "Three
Little Birds". Despite negative critical reception, Over the Rainbow
reached number one in three countries, and has sold over 250,000 copies
worldwide. Since the initial album release, Talbot has performed
publicly and on television in Europe and the US, as well as across Asia,
where her music had gained recognition through YouTube. Three more
albums by Talbot were released between 2008 and 2012: Connie Talbot's
Christmas Album, Holiday Magic and Beautiful World.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Talbot>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1845:
Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata: The Argentine
Confederation was defeated in the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado, but the
losses ultimately made the United Kingdom and France give up the
blockade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vuelta_de_Obligado>
1947:
Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George VI of the United
Kingdom, married Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who was given the title
Duke of Edinburgh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh>
1969:
A group of Native American activists began a 19-month
occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz>
1990:
Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific
serial killers, with 52 murder convictions, was arrested in
Novocherkassk.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Chikatilo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
belluine:
(obsolete) Of, characteristic of, or pertaining to beasts; animal,
bestial; brutal.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/belluine>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The
question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts
that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible
truths of our existence. We must admit the vanity of our false
distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the
search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that
our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others.
We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or
enriched by hatred or revenge.Our lives on this planet are too short and
the work to be done too great to let this spirit flourish any longer in
our land. Of course we cannot vanquish it with a program, nor with a
resolution. But we can perhaps remember, if only for a time, that those
who live with us are our brothers, that they share with us the same
short moment of life; that they seek, as do we, nothing but the chance
to live out their lives in purpose and in happiness, winning what
satisfaction and fulfillment they can. Surely, this bond of common
faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something.
Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow
men, and surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the
wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen
once again.
--Robert F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy>
Life's Shop Window is an American silent drama film directed by J.
Gordon Edwards, released on November 19, 1914. Starring Claire Whitney
and Stuart Holmes, it is a film adaptation of the 1907 novel by Annie
Sophie Cory. It depicts the story of English orphan Lydia Wilton
(Whitney) and her husband Bernard Chetwin (Holmes). Although Wilton's
marriage is legitimate, it was conducted in secret, and she is accused
of having a child out of wedlock. Forced to leave England, she reunites
with her husband in Arizona. There, she meets an old acquaintance,
Eustace Pelham, and considers running away with him before she sees the
error of her ways and returns to her family. Life's Shop Window was the
first film produced, rather than simply distributed, by William Fox's
Box Office Attractions Company, the corporate predecessor to Fox Film.
Reviewers' opinions of the film's quality were mixed, but it was very
popular upon its initial release in New York. Like many of Fox's early
works, it was likely lost in the 1937 Fox vault fire.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life%27s_Shop_Window>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered
the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the Soldiers' National
Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address>
1943:
The Holocaust: Inmates at the Janowska concentration camp near
what is now Lviv, Ukraine, staged a failed uprising, after which the SS
liquidated the camp, resulting in at least 6,000 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janowska_concentration_camp>
1985:
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President
Ronald Reagan (both pictured) held the first of five summit meetings
between them in Geneva.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Summit_%281985%29>
2002:
The Greek oil tanker Prestige split in half off the coast of
Galicia, after spilling an estimated 17.8 million US gallons
(420,000 bbl) in the worst environmental disaster in Spanish and
Portuguese history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestige_oil_spill>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
borborygm:
1. (medicine, physiology, rare) A gurgling or rumbling noise produced by
gas in the bowels; a borborygmus.
2. (figuratively) A gurgling or rumbling.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/borborygm>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We do not now differ in our judgment concerning the controversies
of past generations, and fifty years hence our children will not be
divided in their opinions concerning our controversies. They will surely
bless their fathers and their fathers' God that the Union was preserved,
that slavery was overthrown, and that both races were made equal before
the law. We may hasten or we may retard, but we can not prevent, the
final reconciliation. Is it not possible for us now to make a truce with
time by anticipating and accepting its inevitable verdict? Enterprises
of the highest importance to our moral and material well-being unite us
and offer ample employment of our best powers. Let all our people,
leaving behind them the battlefields of dead issues, move forward and in
their strength of liberty and the restored Union win the grander
victories of peace.
--James A. Garfield
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_A._Garfield>
The Rhode Island Tercentenary half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent
piece, struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936. The coin
was designed by John Howard Benson and Arthur Graham Carey. Its obverse
(pictured) depicts Roger Williams, founder of the Colony of Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations, meeting a Native American. It was intended
to honor the 300th anniversary of Providence, Rhode Island, although it
bears no mention of the city. A total of 50,000 coins were struck at the
three mints then in operation. On March 5, 1936, Rhode Island banks
holding the coins announced that the entire issue had sold out within
six hours, but ample supplies proved to be available at higher prices
from insiders. Coin collectors were incensed, and the abuses led
Congress to end the authorization for outstanding commemorative coin
issues in 1939. Today the half dollars list for hundreds of dollars,
depending on condition.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhode_Island_Tercentenary_half_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
American author Mark Twain's story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog
of Calaveras County", his first great success as a writer, was
published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celebrated_Jumping_Frog_of_Calaveras_Coun…>
1956:
In the Polish embassy in Moscow, Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev said "We will bury you" while addressing Western envoys,
prompting them to leave the room.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_will_bury_you>
1978:
Jim Jones led more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple to
mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, hours after some of its
members assassinated U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Ryan>
1991:
The current flag of Uzbekistan was adopted, making the country
the first newly independent republic in Central Asia to choose a new
flag.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Uzbekistan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
marocain:
A heavy crepe fabric of silk, wool, or both, having a cross-ribbed
texture, used for apparel.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/marocain>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I believe that all other political states are in fact variations
or outgrowths of a basic state of anarchy; after all, when you mention
the idea of anarchy to most people they will tell you what a bad idea it
is because the biggest gang would just take over. Which is pretty much
how I see contemporary society. We live in a badly developed anarchist
situation in which the biggest gang has taken over and have declared
that it is not an anarchist situation— that it is a capitalist or a
communist situation. But I tend to think that anarchy is the most
natural form of politics for a human being to actually practice.
--Alan Moore
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Moore>
Nihonium is a synthetic chemical element with symbol Nh and atomic
number 113. It is extremely radioactive; its most stable known isotope,
nihonium-286, has a half-life of about 10 seconds. In the periodic
table, nihonium is a transactinide element at the intersection of period
7 and group 13. Its creation was reported in 2003 by a
Russian–American collaboration at the Joint Institute for Nuclear
Research in Dubna, Russia, and in 2004 by a team of Japanese scientists
at Riken in Wakō, Japan. The discoveries were confirmed by independent
teams working in the United States, Germany, Sweden, and China. In 2016
the element was officially recognised and naming rights were assigned to
Riken, as they were judged to have been first to observe it. The name,
approved in the same year (announcement pictured), derives from a
Japanese word for Japan, Nihon. Few details are known about nihonium, as
it has only been formed in very small amounts that decay away within
seconds.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihonium>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1796:
French Revolutionary Wars: French forces defeated the Austrians
at the Battle of Arcole in a manoeuvre to cut the latter's line of
retreat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arcole>
1968:
NBC controversially cut away from an American football game
between the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets to broadcast Heidi,
causing viewers in the Eastern United States to miss the game's dramatic
ending.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game>
2009:
Administrators at the Climatic Research Unit at the University
of East Anglia discovered that their servers had been hacked and
thousands of emails and files on climate change had been stolen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy>
2013:
Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363 crashed during an aborted landing
at Kazan International Airport in Tatarstan, Russia, killing all 50
people on board and leading to the revocation of the airline's operating
certificate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatarstan_Airlines_Flight_363>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
monopsony:
1. (economics) A market situation in which there is only one buyer for a
product; also, such a buyer.
2. (economics) A buyer with disproportionate power.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monopsony>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
People make a grievous error thinking that a list of facts is the
truth. Facts are just the bare bones out of which truth is made.
--Shelby Foote
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shelby_Foote>
Since 1980, York City F.C., a professional association football club
based in York, North Yorkshire, England, has seen many promotions and
relegations. The team won its only English Football League title after
finishing first in the Fourth Division in 1983–84 with 101 points, the
most season points scored by any team at the time. After four seasons in
the Third Division, they were relegated in 1987–88. They beat Crewe
Alexandra at Wembley Stadium in the play-off final in 1992–93, winning
promotion to the renamed Second Division. Later in the 1990s, they
knocked Premier League teams Manchester United and Everton out of the
League Cup in successive seasons. At the end of 2003–04, they lost
their Football League status. The 2011–12 FA Trophy (celebration
pictured) was the first national knockout competition won by York, and
they returned to the Football League that season. (
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_York_City_F.C._%281980%E2%80%93pre…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian units captured
Fort Washington from the Patriots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Washington>
1885:
After a five-day trial following the North-West Rebellion,
Louis Riel, Canadian rebel leader of the Métis and "Father of
Manitoba", was hanged for high treason.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel>
1938:
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized the psychedelic
drug LSD at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann>
1973:
U.S. President Richard Nixon signed an act authorizing the
construction of the Alaska Pipeline to transport oil from the Arctic
Ocean to the Gulf of Alaska.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Alaska_Pipeline_System>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
seasteading:
The creation of permanent dwellings at sea, especially outside the
territory claimed by any national government.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/seasteading>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think that people don't understand. As the Firesign Theater
used to say, "Everything you know is wrong." But that is a very
liberating understanding, because if everything you know is wrong, then
all the problems you thought were insoluble can be framed differently.
And there's a way to take the world apart and put it back
unrecognizably. We don't really understand what consciousness is at the
really deep levels.
--Terence McKenna
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terence_McKenna>
Portrait of Maria Portinari (c. 1470–72) is a small tempera and oil-
on-wood painting by Hans Memling. It portrays Maria Maddalena
Baroncelli, about whom very little is known. Around 14 years old, she is
depicted shortly before her wedding to the Italian banker Tommaso
Portinari, who was an intimate of Charles the Bold and manager of the
Bruges branch of a bank controlled by Lorenzo de' Medici. Maria is
dressed in the height of late 15th-century fashion, with an elaborate
jewel-studded necklace and a long black hennin with a transparent veil.
Her headdress is similar and necklace identical to those in her
depiction in Hugo van der Goes's Portinari Altarpiece (c. 1475), a
painting that may have been partly based on Memling's portrait. The
panel is the right wing of a hinged devotional triptych; the lost center
panel is recorded in 16th-century inventories as a Virgin and Child.
Maria and Tommaso's portraits are hung alongside each other at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Maria_Portinari>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1760:
The chapel of the new Castellania Palace in Valletta, Malta,
was consecrated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castellania_%28Valletta%29>
1859:
Sponsored by Greek businessman Evangelos Zappas, the first
modern revival of the Olympic Games took place in Athens.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zappas_Olympics>
1943:
The Holocaust: Heinrich Himmler ordered that Romanies were to
be put "on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_genocide>
1988:
The Soviet Buran spacecraft, a reusable vehicle built in
response to NASA's Space Shuttle program, was launched, unmanned, on its
only flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
high roller:
1. (Canada, US, informal, gambling) A gambler who wagers large amounts
of money, usually in a casino.
2. (Canada, US, informal) One who has a lot of money and lives
luxuriously.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/high_roller>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Let none turn over books, or roam the stars in quest of God, who
sees him not in man.
--Johann Kaspar Lavater
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johann_Kaspar_Lavater>