P. G. Wodehouse (15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) was an English
author and one of the most widely read humourists of the 20th century.
His novels and short stories feature elaborate plots and a unique
writing style based on a combination of very formal language, references
to classical literature, and contemporary club-room slang. His early
novels were mostly school stories, but he later switched to comic
fiction, creating several regular characters who became familiar to the
public. They include the jolly gentleman of leisure Bertie Wooster and
his sagacious valet, Jeeves. He began the 1930s writing for MGM in
Hollywood and moved to France in 1934 for tax reasons. In 1940 he was
taken prisoner at Le Touquet by the invading Germans and interned for
nearly a year. After his release he made six broadcasts from German
radio in Berlin. The talks were comic and apolitical, but they prompted
anger and a threat of prosecution in Britain. He never returned to
England, living from 1947 until his death in the US.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance
Committee in London, received a letter allegedly from Jack the Ripper.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Hell_letter>
1932:
Air India (aircraft pictured), the flag carrier airline of
India, began operations under the name Tata Airlines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India>
1965:
Vietnam War protests: At an anti-war rally in New York City,
David J. Miller burned his draft card, the first such act to result in
arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service Act.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft-card_burning>
2013:
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Bohol in the Philippines,
resulting in 222 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Bohol_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mickle:
1. (archaic, now chiefly Scotland) To a great extent.
2. (obsolete) Frequently, often.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mickle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Money is a singular thing. It ranks with love as man's greatest
source of joy. And with death as his greatest source of anxiety. Over
all history it has oppressed nearly all people in one of two ways:
either it has been abundant and very unreliable, or reliable and very
scarce. Â
--John Kenneth Galbraith
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith>
The Battle of Hochkirch took place on 14 October 1758 during the Third
Silesian War, part of the Seven Years' War. After several weeks of
maneuvering for position, an Austrian army commanded by Lieutenant Field
Marshal Leopold Joseph von Daun surprised the Prussian army commanded
by Frederick the Great. The Austrians overwhelmed the Prussians and
forced a general retreat from the village of Hochkirch, 9 kilometers
(6Â mi) east of Bautzen, Saxony. Most historians consider the battle one
of Frederick's greatest blunders. Contrary to the advice of his
subordinates, he refused to believe that the cautious Daun would engage
him in battle. After a pre-dawn attack, Frederick lost over 30 percent
of his army, 5 generals, 70 munitions wagons, and his artillery park.
Daun failed to pursue the retreating Prussians, allowing the entire
force to escape and regain the momentum over the winter.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hochkirch>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863:
American Civil War: In the Battle of Bristoe Station, the Union
II Corps surprised and repelled the Confederate attack on the Union rear
guard, resulting in a Union victory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bristoe_Station>
1943:
The Holocaust: Inmates at the Sobibór extermination camp in
eastern Poland led a revolt, killing 11 SS officers; the camp shut down
a few days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobib%C3%B3r_extermination_camp>
1956:
B. R. Ambedkar, a leader of India's "Untouchable" caste,
publicly converted to Buddhism, becoming the leader of the Dalit
Buddhist movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit_Buddhist_movement>
2012:
Felix Baumgartner jumped from a helium balloon in the
stratosphere to become the first person to break the sound barrier
without vehicular power.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Baumgartner>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
troth:
1. (countable, archaic) An oath, pledge, or promise.
2. (countable, specifically) A pledge or promise to marry someone.
3. (countable, specifically) The state of being thus pledged; betrothal,
engagement.
4. (countable, uncountable) Truth; something true.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/troth>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Power and violence are opposites; where the one rules absolutely,
the other is absent. Violence appears where power is in jeopardy, but
left to its own course it ends in power's disappearance. Â
--Hannah Arendt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt>
Amazing Stories is an American science fiction magazine first launched
in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing, and
continuing since 2012 as an online magazine. As the first magazine that
ran only science fiction stories, it helped define a new genre of pulp
fiction, and science fiction fandom traces its beginnings to the
letters-to-the-editor columns in Amazing and its competitors.
Gernsback's initial editorial approach was to blend instruction with
entertainment; he believed science fiction could educate readers, but
his audience rapidly showed a preference for implausible adventures. The
magazine was published, with some interruptions, for almost eighty
years, going through a half-dozen owners and many editors, including
Raymond A. Palmer, as it struggled to be profitable. Amazing was
nominated for the Hugo Award three times in the 1970s during Ted White's
tenure as editor. Several owners attempted to create a modern
incarnation of the magazine, but the print publication was suspended
after the March 2005 issue.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Stories>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1773:
French astronomer Charles Messier discovered the Whirlpool
Galaxy, an interacting, grand design spiral galaxy located at a distance
of approximately 15–35 million light-years in the constellation Canes
Venatici.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy>
1911:
Prince Arthur, a son of Queen Victoria, became the first
Governor General of Canada of royal descent, as well as the first Prince
of Great Britain and Ireland to hold that position.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Arthur,_Duke_of_Connaught_and_Strathea…>
1921:
The Soviet republics of Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and
Georgia signed the Treaty of Kars with the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey to establish the contemporary borders between Turkey and the
South Caucasus states.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Kars>
1972:
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed into a remote area in
the Andes mountains near the border of Chile and Argentina; the
remaining 16 survivors were not rescued until December 23.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_Air_Force_Flight_571>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scour:
1. (transitive) To clean, polish, or wash something by rubbing and
scrubbing it vigorously, frequently with an abrasive or cleaning agent.
2. (transitive) To remove debris and dirt by purging; to sweep along or
off (by a current of water).
3. (transitive, veterinary medicine) To clear the digestive tract by
administering medication that induces defecation or vomiting; to purge.
4. (transitive, intransitive, veterinary medicine) To (cause livestock
to) suffer from diarrhoea or dysentery.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To cleanse (without rubbing).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scour>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 When I speak of the fear, intimidation, arrests and public
shaming of intellectuals and religious leaders who dare to speak their
minds, and then I tell you that I’m from Saudi Arabia, are you
surprised? Â
--Jamal Khashoggi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jamal_Khashoggi>
Cortinarius caperatus, the gypsy mushroom, is an edible species found in
northern regions of Europe and North America. It was known as Rozites
caperata for many years, before genetic studies placed it in the large
genus Cortinarius. The mushrooms appear in autumn in coniferous and
beech woods, as well as heathlands in late summer and autumn. The ochre-
coloured cap is up to 10Â cm (4Â in) across and has a fibrous surface.
The clay-coloured gills are disjoint from the whitish stalk and ring
under the cap. The flesh has a mild smell and flavour. Popular with
mushroom foragers, C. caperatus is picked seasonally in many parts of
Europe. Although highly regarded, the mushrooms are often infested with
maggots. In central Europe, old specimens could be confused with the
poisonous Inocybe erubescens in summer. Fruiting bodies of C. caperatus
have been found to bioaccumulate mercury and radioactive isotopes of
caesium.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortinarius_caperatus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1799:
Jeanne Geneviève Labrosse became the first woman to make a
parachute descent (illustrated), falling 900Â m (3,000Â ft) in a hot-air
balloon gondola.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Genevi%C3%A8ve_Labrosse>
1892:
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States was first used in
public schools to coincide with the opening of the World's Columbian
Exposition in Chicago.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pledge_of_Allegiance_%28United_States%29>
1960:
Japan Socialist Party leader Inejiro Asanuma was assassinated
on live television by a man using a samurai sword.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inejiro_Asanuma>
1984:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a bomb at the
Grand Hotel in Brighton, England, in a failed attempt to assassinate
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and most of her cabinet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
good egg:
(Britain, informal, dated) A good person, someone to be trusted; a
friend.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/good_egg>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 The imperturbability of the Church resides in her ability to
harmonize the unconditional preservation of eternal truths with an
unmatchable elasticity of adjustment to the circumstances and challenges
of changing times. Â
--Edith Stein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edith_Stein>
The history of the penny of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from
1714 to 1901, the period in which the House of Hanover reigned, saw its
transformation from a small silver coin to a larger bronze piece. All
bear the portrait of the monarch on the obverse; copper and bronze
pennies have a depiction of Britannia on the reverse. During most of the
18th century, the penny was a small silver coin rarely seen in
circulation. Beginning in 1787, the chronic shortage of good money
resulted in the wide circulation of private tokens, including ones
valued at one penny. In 1797 Matthew Boulton gained a government
contract and struck millions of pennies. The copper penny continued to
be issued until 1860, when they were replaced by lighter bronze coins;
the "Bun penny", named for the hairstyle of Queen Victoria on it, was
issued from then until 1894. The final years of her reign saw the "Old
head" pennies, coined from 1895 until her death in 1901.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_British_penny_%281714%E2%80%93…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1311:
The peerage and clergy of the Kingdom of England published the
Ordinances of 1311 to restrict King Edward II's powers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinances_of_1311>
1840:
Bashir Shihab II surrendered to the Ottoman Empire and was
removed as Emir of Mount Lebanon after an imperial decree by Sultan
Abdülmecid I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashir_Shihab_II>
1950:
A field-sequential color system developed by Hungarian-American
engineer Peter Goldmark became the first color television system to be
adopted for commercial use, only for it to be abandoned a year later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field-sequential_color_system>
1987:
Sri Lankan Civil War: The Indian Peace Keeping Force began
Operation Pawan to take control of Jaffna from the Tamil Tigers and
enforce their disarmament as a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pawan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
main:
1. Of chief or leading importance; prime, principal.
2. Chief, most important, or principal in extent, size, or strength;
consisting of the largest part.
3. Of force, strength, etc.: full, sheer, undivided.
4. (dialectal) Big; angry.
5. (nautical) Belonging to or connected with the principal mast in a
vessel.
6. (obsolete) Great in size or degree; important, powerful, strong,
vast.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/main>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I have been one of those who have carried the fight for complete
freedom of information in the United Nations. And while accepting the
fact that some of our press, our radio commentators, our prominent
citizens and our movies may at times be blamed legitimately for things
they have said and done, still I feel that the fundamental right of
freedom of thought and expression is essential. If you curtail what the
other fellow says and does, you curtail what you yourself may say and
do. In our country we must trust the people to hear and see both the
good and the bad and to choose the good. Â
--Eleanor Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt>
The 70th Infantry Division of the British Army fought during the Western
Desert Campaign of the Second World War. On 10Â October 1941 the 6th
Infantry Division was re-created as the 70th in an attempt to deceive
Axis intelligence concerning the strength of the British military in the
Middle East. At the Siege of Tobruk, the division relieved the mainly
Australian garrison, which had been defending the port for almost seven
months. Under daily aerial and artillery attacks, the division defended
the port and conducted nightly offensive patrols against German and
Italian positions. Two men from attached units were awarded the Victoria
Cross for their actions there during Operation Crusader. The division
was withdrawn to Egypt for refitting at the end of 1941, then placed in
reserve. It was transferred to India when Japan entered the war, where
it was considered the most experienced and best-trained British
formation available in Asia, until its disbandment in November 1943.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/70th_Infantry_Division_%28United_Kingdom%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
English astronomer William Lassell discovered Triton, the
largest moon of the planet Neptune.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triton_%28moon%29>
1911:
The Xinhai Revolution began with the Wuchang Uprising, marking
the beginning of the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the establishment
of the Republic of China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuchang_Uprising>
1943:
World War II: The Kenpeitai, the military police arm of the
Imperial Japanese Army, arrested and tortured 57 civilians and civilian
internees on suspicion of their involvement in a raid on Singapore
Harbour during Operation Jaywick.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Tenth_incident>
1963:
The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits all test
detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted underground,
came into effect.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_Nuclear_Test_Ban_Treaty>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ferrule:
1. A band or cap (usually metal) placed around a shaft to reinforce it
or to prevent splitting.
2. (specifically, climbing) The metal spike at the end of the shaft of
an ice axe.
3. A band holding parts of an object together.
4. A bushing for securing a pipe joint.
5. A metal sleeve placed inside a gutter at the top.
6. (billiards) The plastic band attaching the tip to the cue.
7. (painting) The pinched metal band which holds the bristles of a
paintbrush to the shaft.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ferrule>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 The good die young — but not always. The wicked prevail — but
not consistently. I am confused by life, and I feel safe within the
confines of the theatre. O'Neil's dramas are slapstick farces, Albee's
riddles are simple explanations, Pinter's threatening and threatened
anti-heroes are innocent babes — next to life and the living. I cry
out for order and find it only in art. Â
--Helen Hayes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Helen_Hayes>
Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 – 16 December 1921) was a French
composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era. His works
include Danse macabre (1874), the opera Samson and Delilah (1877), the
Third ("Organ") Symphony (1886) and The Carnival of the Animals (1886).
Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy who made his concert debut at the age
of ten. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire he followed a
conventional career as a church organist, first at Saint-Merri, Paris,
and from 1858 at La Madeleine, the official church of the French Empire.
As a young man, he was enthusiastic for the most modern music of the
day, particularly that of Schumann, Liszt and Wagner. He was a scholar
of musical history, and remained committed to the structures worked out
by earlier French composers. This brought him into conflict in his later
years with composers of the impressionist and dodecaphonic schools of
music, and by the time of his death, he was often regarded as a
reactionary.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Saint-Sa%C3%ABns>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1708:
Great Northern War: Russia defeated Sweden at the Battle of
Lesnaya on the Russian–Polish border in what is now Belarus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lesnaya>
1888:
The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., at the time the
world's tallest building, officially opened to the general public.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument>
1914:
World War I: The civilian authorities of Antwerp surrendered,
allowing the German army to capture the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Antwerp_%281914%29>
2016:
Militants attacked a border police post in Myanmar, killing
nine people and triggering a period of intense persecution of the
Rohingya Muslim minority.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Rohingya_persecution_in_Myanmar>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
acute:
1. Brief, quick, short.
2. High or shrill.
3. Intense, sensitive, sharp.
4. Urgent.
5. (botany) With the sides meeting directly to form an acute angle (at
an apex or base).
6. (geometry) Of an angle: less than 90 degrees.
7. (geometry) Of a triangle: having all three interior angles measuring
less than 90 degrees.
8. (linguistics, chiefly historical) Of an accent or tone: generally
higher than others.
9. (medicine) Of an abnormal condition of recent or sudden onset, in
contrast to delayed onset; this sense does not imply severity, unlike
the common usage.
10. (medicine) Of a short-lived condition, in contrast to a chronic
condition; this sense also does not imply severity.
11. (orthography) After a letter of the alphabet: having an acute
accent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/acute>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 History moves in contradictions. The skeleton of historic
existence, the economic structure of society, also develops in
contradictions. Forms eternally follow forms. Everything has only a
passing being. The dynamic force of life creates the new over and over
again — such is the law inherent in reality. Â
--Nikolai Bukharin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikolai_Bukharin>
Mark Oliphant (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian
physicist who made the first experimental demonstration of nuclear
fusion. Born and raised in Adelaide, he studied in England under Ernest
Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge.
There, he used a particle accelerator on deuterons, and discovered
helium-3 and tritium. During the Second World War he headed the group at
the University of Birmingham that created the cavity magnetron, which
made microwave radar possible. He served on the MAUD Committee, which
found that an atomic bomb was feasible, and on the Manhattan Project
with his friend Ernest Lawrence at the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory,
developing electromagnetic isotope separation. After the war, he
returned to Australia as the first director of the Research School of
Physical Sciences and Engineering at the Australian National University.
He retired from the university in 1967, and served as Governor of South
Australia from 1971 to 1976.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Oliphant>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
World War I: After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during
the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, American
Corporal Alvin York led the 7 remaining men on an attack against a
German machine gun nest, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_York>
1952:
Three trains collided at Harrow & Wealdstone station in London,
killing 112 people and injuring 340.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrow_and_Wealdstone_rail_crash>
1962:
The German news magazine Der Spiegel revealed the
unpreparedness of the West German armed forces against the communist
threat from the east, and was accused of treason shortly afterwards.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegel_affair>
1969:
Demonstrations organized by the Weather Underground known as
the Days of Rage began in Chicago.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Days_of_Rage>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
slivovitz:
1. (countable, uncountable) A type of rakija made mostly in Eastern
European countries from distilled, fermented plum juice.
2. (countable) A serving of this alcoholic drink.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slivovitz>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Man is the animal who weeps and laughs – and writes. If the
first Prometheus brought fire from heaven in a fennel-stalk, the last
will take it back – in a book. Â
--John Cowper Powys
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Cowper_Powys>
Francis Nash (c. 1742 – October 7, 1777) was a brigadier general in
the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. As a lawyer
and public official in Hillsborough, North Carolina, he opposed the
Regulator Movement, an uprising of settlers in the North Carolina
Piedmont between 1765 and 1771. He represented Hillsborough in the
General Assembly of colonial North Carolina, and was a delegate to the
colony's first three Patriot provincial congresses. In 1775, he was
named lieutenant colonel of the 1st North Carolina Regiment under
Colonel James Moore. He was made a brigadier general in 1777 upon
Moore's death, and given command of the North Carolina brigade of the
Continental Army under General George Washington. He was wounded at the
Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777, and died several days later.
Nash was one of ten Patriot generals to die from wounds received in
combat between 1775 and 1781. He is honored by several city and county
names, including Nashville, Tennessee.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Nash>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
The French privateer Robert Surcouf led a 150-man crew to
capture the 40-gun, 437-man East Indiaman Kent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Surcouf>
1868:
Cornell University (co-founder Ezra Cornell pictured) in
Ithaca, New York, was inaugurated, with an initial enrollment of 412 men
the next day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornell_University>
1988:
Near Point Barrow in Alaska, an Iñupiat hunter discovered
three gray whales trapped in pack ice, which resulted in an
international effort to free them.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Breakthrough>
2008:
2008 TC3 exploded above the Nubian Desert in Sudan, the first
time that an asteroid impact had been predicted prior to its entry into
the atmosphere as a meteor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_TC3>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
disrecommend:
(transitive) To recommend the opposite or negation of.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disrecommend>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Do not seek to find hope among your leaders. They are the
repositories of poison. Their interest in you extends only so far as
their ability to control you. For you, they seek duty and obedience, and
they will ply you with the language of stirring faith. They seek
followers, and woe to those who question, or voice challenge.
Civilization after civilization, it is the same. The world falls to
tyranny with a whisper. The frightened are ever keen to bow to a
perceived necessity, in the belief that necessity forces conformity, and
conformity a certain stability. In a world shaped into conformity,
dissidents stand out, are easily branded and dealt with. There is no
multitude of perspectives, no dialogue. The victim assumes the face of
the tyrant, self-righteous and intransigent, and wars breed like vermin.
And people die. Â
--Steven Erikson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steven_Erikson>