Boletus aereus, the dark cep, is a prized edible mushroom in the family
Boletaceae. It is widely consumed in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and
generally throughout the Mediterranean. Described as a new species in
1789 by French mycologist Pierre Bulliard, it is closely related to
several other European boletes, including B. reticulatus,
B. pinophilus, and the popular B. edulis. The fungus predominantly
grows near broad-leaved trees and shrubs in symbiosis with the roots,
enveloping them with sheaths of fungal tissue. Quercus suber, the cork
oak, is a key host. The spore-bearing mushrooms appear above ground in
summer and autumn, growing a large dark brown cap, up to 30 cm (12 in)
in diameter. Like other boletes, B. aereus releases its spores through
pores on the underside of the cap instead of gills; this surface is
whitish when young, aging to a greenish-yellow. The squat brown stalk,
up to 15 cm (6 in) tall and 10 cm (4 in) thick, is partially covered
with a raised network pattern.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boletus_aereus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1885:
White miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, U.S., attacked Chinese
immigrants, killing at least 28 Chinese miners and causing approximately
US$150,000 in property damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Springs_massacre>
1967:
Paddy Roy Bates proclaimed HM Fort Roughs, a former World War
II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea off the coast of Suffolk, England,
as an independent sovereign state: the Principality of Sealand
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Sealand>
1998:
A fire on Swissair Flight 111, en route from New York City to
Geneva, caused the aircraft to crash into the Atlantic Ocean, killing
all 229 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_111>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dernier:
(dated) Final, last.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dernier>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Free trade consists simply in letting people buy and sell as they
want to buy and sell. It is protection that requires force, for it
consists in preventing people from doing what they want to do.
Protective tariffs are as much applications of force as are blockading
squadrons, and their object is the same — to prevent trade. The
difference between the two is that blockading squadrons are a means
whereby nations seek to prevent their enemies from trading; protective
tariffs are a means whereby nations attempt to prevent their own people
from trading. What protection teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time
of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war.
--Henry George
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_George>
Messier 87 is a supergiant elliptical galaxy in the constellation Virgo.
It has about 12,000 globular clusters—compared to the 150 to 200
orbiting the Milky Way—and a jet of energetic plasma that originates
at the core and extends at least 4,900 light-years. One of the brightest
radio sources in the sky, it is a popular target for both amateur and
professional astronomers. The French astronomer Charles Messier
discovered the galaxy in 1781, and catalogued it as a nebulous feature
while searching for objects that would otherwise confuse comet hunters.
About 53.5 million light-years from Earth, M87 is the second brightest
galaxy within the northern Virgo Cluster. Unlike disk-shaped spiral
galaxies, M87 has no distinctive dust lanes. Instead, it has an almost
featureless ellipsoidal shape typical of most giant elliptical galaxies,
diminishing in luminosity away from the center. It has a supermassive
black hole at its core, powering an active galactic nucleus.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messier_87>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: Confederate forces attacked retreating
Union Army troops at the Battle of Chantilly during a rainstorm in
Chantilly, Virginia, but the fighting ended up being tactically
inconclusive.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chantilly>
1902:
The first science fiction film, titled A Trip to the Moon
(scene pictured) and based on From the Earth to the Moon by Jules Verne,
was released in France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Trip_to_the_Moon>
1914:
The passenger pigeon, which once numbered in the billions,
became extinct when the last individual died in captivity.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_pigeon>
1972:
American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer became the 11th World
Chess Champion when he defeated Russian Boris Spassky in a match that
was widely publicized as a Cold War confrontation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Spassky>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rich kid:
(US, informal, somewhat derogatory) A child or young adult from a
wealthy family, especially one who flaunts his or her wealth or
privilege.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rich_kid>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Trade isn't about goods. Trade is about information. Goods sit in
the warehouse until information moves them.
--C. J. Cherryh
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/C._J._Cherryh>
Bootham Crescent is a sports stadium, the home of the association
football club York City and rugby league club York City Knights, in
York, North Yorkshire, England. The ground opened on 31 August 1932 with
a capacity of 8,256. Improvements added in the early 1980s include a
gymnasium, a lounge for officials, and offices. Bootham Crescent hosted
football in the Football League from 1932 to 2004 and from 2012 to 2016.
It includes four stands: the Main Stand, the Popular Stand, the
Grosvenor Road End and the David Longhurst Stand, named after a player
who died at the ground in 1990. The ground has hosted a concert, a grand
firework display, beer festivals, and American football and rugby league
matches. The record attendance of 28,123 was set in March 1938, for an
FA Cup match against Huddersfield Town. The teams are expected to move
to a community stadium at Monks Cross in Huntington in mid-2019, and the
Bootham Crescent site will then be used for housing.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bootham_Crescent>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1897:
Thomas Edison was granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a
precursor to the movie projector.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope>
1941:
During World War II a detachment of Chetniks captured the town
of Loznica in German-occupied Serbia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Loznica_%281941%29>
1978:
Musa al-Sadr, the Iranian-born Shia cleric and then religious
leader of Lebanon, disappeared during an official visit to Libya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_al-Sadr>
1998:
North Korea claimed to have successfully launched
Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, its first satellite, although no objects were ever
tracked in orbit from the launch.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwangmy%C5%8Fngs%C5%8Fng-1>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lepak:
(intransitive, Malaysia, Singapore) To loiter about casually; to hang
out.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lepak>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every great deed of which history tells us, every mighty passion
which art can represent, every picture of manners, of civic
arrangements, of the culture of peoples of distant lands or of remote
times, seizes and interests us, even if there is no exact scientific
connection among them. We continually find points of contact and
comparison in our own conceptions and feelings; we get to know the
hidden capacities and desires of the mind, which in the ordinary
peaceful course of civilised life remain unawakened. It is not to be
denied that, in the natural sciences, this kind of interest is wanting.
Each individual fact, taken by itself, can indeed arouse our curiosity
or our astonishment, or be useful to us in its practical applications.
But intellectual satisfaction we obtain only from a connection of the
whole, just from its conformity with law.
--Hermann von Helmholtz
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_von_Helmholtz>
In Michigan, US Highway 45 (US 45) runs through the Upper Peninsula,
from the Wisconsin border near Watersmeet north to Ontonagon. US 45
extends south from Michigan to Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast. The
Michigan segment, part of the state trunkline highway system maintained
by the Michigan Department of Transportation, runs for approximately 55
miles (89 km) through the Ottawa National Forest, parallel to the
Ontonagon River. In the 1930s, when the highway was extended into
Michigan, it replaced sections of M-26 and M-35. An 8-mile (13 km)
segment was significantly reconstructed in the late 1950s, and an
alignment change in the 1970s moved the routing of US 45 near Rockland
before it was reversed soon afterwards. A segment of roadway that
formerly carried US 45 is the site of the Paulding Light, an
intermittent reflection whose origins were scientifically described in
2010.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_45_in_Michigan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1813:
Creek War: A force of Creeks belonging to the Red Sticks
faction killed hundreds of settlers in Fort Mims in Alabama.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mims_massacre>
1918:
Fanny Kaplan shot and wounded Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin,
one of the events leading to the Red Terror in Russia, a period of
repression against political opponents.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror>
1981:
President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad
Bahonar of Iran were assassinated in a bombing committed by the People's
Mujahedin of Iran.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Iranian_Prime_Minister%27s_office_bombing>
2014:
Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane fled to South Africa,
claiming that the army had launched a coup d'état.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Lesotho_political_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sweet spot:
1. Any place which is optimum for a certain action to occur.
2. (slang, euphemistic) The clitoris, prostate gland, or other center of
sexual pleasure.
3. (physics, slang) The center of percussion.
4. (sports) The optimal place on a bat, racquet, etc., with which to hit
a ball, resulting in the latter rebounding with the maximum possible
velocity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sweet_spot>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The free market’s the best mechanism ever devised to put
resources to their most efficient and productive use. … The government
isn’t particularly good at that. But the market isn’t so good at
making sure that the wealth that’s produced is being distributed
fairly or wisely. Some of that wealth has to be plowed back into
education, so that the next generation has a fair chance, and to
maintain our infrastructure, and provide some sort of safety net for
those who lose out in a market economy. And it just makes sense that
those of us who’ve benefited most from the market should pay a bigger
share. … When you get rid of the estate tax, you’re basically
handing over command of the country’s resources to people who didn’t
earn it. It’s like choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the
children of all the winners at the 2000 Games.
--Warren Buffett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett>
Typhoon Nabi was a powerful typhoon that struck southwestern Japan in
September 2005. The 14th named storm of the 2005 Pacific typhoon season,
Nabi formed on August 29 to the east of the Northern Mariana Islands.
On September 1, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center upgraded the storm to
super typhoon status, equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane on the
Saffir–Simpson scale. The Japan Meteorological Agency estimated peak
ten-minute winds of 175 km/h (110 mph) on September 2. The typhoon
first affected the Northern Marianas, damaging or destroying 114 homes.
It weakened while curving to the north, striking the Japanese island of
Kyushu on September 6. The western fringe of the storm brushed South
Korea, where it killed six people and caused US$115.4 million in
damage. The storm then passed over Hokkaido before becoming
extratropical on September 8. Across Japan, Nabi killed 29 people and
caused ¥94.9 billion (US$854 million) in damage. Nabi's name was
retired the following year.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Nabi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1786:
Led by Daniel Shays, disgruntled farmers in Western
Massachusetts, U.S., angered by high tax burdens and disenfranchisement,
started Shays' Rebellion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shays%27_Rebellion>
1842:
Britain and China signed the Treaty of Nanking, an unequal
treaty to end the First Opium War, in which the island that is now the
site of Hong Kong was ceded to Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong>
1949:
The Soviet Union successfully conducted its first nuclear
weapons test, exploding the 22-kiloton RDS-1.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDS-1>
1991:
Italian businessman Libero Grassi was killed by the Sicilian
Mafia after taking a public stand against their extortion demands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libero_Grassi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
souped-up:
1. (horse racing, cant) Of a racehorse: injected with a substance to
make it run faster or to change its temperament.
2. (road transport, slang) Of an engine, a motor vehicle, etc.: modified
for higher performance.
3. (United States Navy, slang) Drunk, intoxicated.
4. (US (chiefly Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island), slang)
Excited.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/souped-up>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To be connected to America’s causes — liberty, equal justice,
respect for the dignity of all people — brings happiness more sublime
than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are
not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than
ourselves. "Fellow Americans" — that association has meant more to me
than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of
the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil.
We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance
those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more
people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have
acquired great wealth and power in the process. We weaken our greatness
when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown
resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We
weaken it when we hide behind walls, rather than tear them down, when we
doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great
force for change they have always been. We are three-hundred-and-
twenty-five million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and
compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public
debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other
than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the
benefit of the presumption that we all love our country we will get
through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than
before. We always do.
--John McCain
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_McCain>
The Sind sparrow (Passer pyrrhonotus) is a bird of the sparrow family,
Passeridae, found around the Indus valley region in South Asia. Very
similar to the house sparrow, it is smaller and has distinguishing
plumage features. This species was long thought to be very closely
related to the house sparrow, but its closest evolutionary affinities
may lie elsewhere. The male has brighter plumage than female and young
birds; it has black markings, a grey crown, and a chestnut stripe
running down its head behind the eye. The female has a darker head than
other sparrow species do. Its main vocalisations are soft chirping calls
that are extended into longer songs. Within its Indus valley breeding
range in Pakistan and western India, the Sind sparrow is patchily
distributed in riverine and wetland habitats with thorny scrub and tall
grass. During the non-breeding season, some birds migrate into western
Pakistan and the extreme east of Iran. This fairly common species has
been expanding its range.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sind_sparrow>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1833:
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833, officially abolishing slavery
in most of the British Empire, received royal assent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_Abolition_Act_1833>
1909:
A military coup d'etat against the government of Dimitrios
Rallis began in the Goudi neighbourhood of Athens, Greece.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goudi_coup>
1955:
African American teenager Emmett Till was murdered near Money,
Mississippi, for flirting with a white woman, energizing the nascent
American civil rights movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till>
1993:
The asteroid 243 Ida became the first found to have a moon when
it was visited by NASA's Galileo probe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/243_Ida>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
undercurrent:
1. A current of water which flows under the surface, and often in a
different direction from surface currents.
2. (figuratively) A tendency of feeling or opinion that is concealed
rather than exposed.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/undercurrent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Everyone thinks they can write a play; you just write down what
happened to you. But the art of it is drawing from all the moments of
your life.
--Neil Simon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Simon>
"Volcano" is the second episode of the animated television series South
Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States in
August 1997. In the episode, Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny go on a
hunting trip with Stan's uncle Jimbo and his war buddy Ned, unaware that
a nearby volcano is about to erupt. Written by series co-creators Trey
Parker and Matt Stone (pictured), the episode was inspired by the 1997
disaster films Volcano and Dante's Peak, both of which Parker and Stone
strongly disliked. "Volcano" received generally positive reviews and was
nominated for a 1997 Environmental Media Award. Over one million viewers
watched the original broadcast. The episode marked the first of two
appearances for Scuzzlebutt, who became a popular minor character and
appeared in the video games South Park 10: The Game and South Park
Rally. The episode parodied the Duck and Cover films from the 1950s and
1960s that advised people to hide under tables in the event of a nuclear
attack.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcano_%28South_Park%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1810:
Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeated the Royal Navy,
preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Mauritius.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grand_Port>
1928:
The first three of over sixty nations signed the
Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of national
policy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg%E2%80%93Briand_Pact>
1990:
American musician Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the most
influential guitarists in the revival of blues in the 1980s, was killed
in a helicopter crash.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Stevie_Ray_Vaughan>
2003:
Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years
passing within approximately 55,758,000 kilometres (34,650,000 mi).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
change the game:
(transitive, idiomatic) To revolutionize a field of endeavor.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/change_the_game>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I’d like to see our politics begin to return to the purposes
and practices that distinguish our history from the history of other
nations. I would like to see us recover our sense that we are more alike
than different. We are citizens of a republic made of shared ideals
forged in a new world to replace the tribal enmities that tormented the
old one. Even in times of political turmoil such as these, we share that
awesome heritage and the responsibility to embrace it. Whether we think
each other right or wrong in our views on the issues of the day, we owe
each other our respect, as long as our character merits respect, and as
long as we share, for all our differences, for all the rancorous debates
that enliven and sometimes demean our politics, a mutual devotion to the
ideals our nation was conceived to uphold, that all are created equal,
and liberty and equal justice are the natural rights of all. Those
rights inhabit the human heart, and from there, though they may be
assailed, they can never be wrenched. I want to urge Americans, for as
long as I can, to remember that this shared devotion to human rights is
our truest heritage and our most important loyalty.
--John McCain
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_McCain>
Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was an
English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music,
secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions,
including nine symphonies, written over 60 years. Strongly influenced by
Tudor music and English folk-song, his work marked a decisive break in
British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century. He
was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his
late 30s, when his studies with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped
him clarify the textures of his music. His symphonies express a wide
range of moods: from stormy and impassioned to tranquil, from mysterious
to exuberant. His other concert works include Fantasia on a Theme by
Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1914). His ballet Job: A
Masque for Dancing (1930) has been frequently staged. He insisted on
the traditional English pronunciation of his first name, "Rafe".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1810:
Juan José Castelli ordered the execution of Santiago de
Liniers, during the Argentine War of Independence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Jos%C3%A9_Castelli>
1928:
At a cafe in Paisley, Scotland, a woman found the remains of a
snail in her bottle of ginger beer, giving rise to the landmark civil
action case Donoghue v Stevenson.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson>
1968:
The U.S. Democratic Party's National Convention opened in
Chicago, sparking four days of clashes between anti-Vietnam War
protesters and police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention>
2008:
More than a week after a ceasefire was reached in the Russo-
Georgian War, Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_recognition_of_Abkhazia_and_Sou…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rakhi:
(chiefly South Asia) An ornamental cotton wristband tied by a girl or
woman on to the wrist of her brother, or of one who takes on the
responsibilities of a brother, particularly during the Raksha Bandhan
festival.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rakhi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
They have planned a life for you — from the cradle to the grave
and beyond — which it would be easy, fatally easy, to accept. The
least wandering of the attention, the least relaxation of your
awareness, and already the eyelids begin to droop, the eyes grow vacant,
the body starts to move in obedience to the hypnotist’s command. Wake
up, wake up — before you sign that seven-year contract, buy that house
you don’t really want, marry that girl you secretly despise. Don’t
reach for the whisky, that won’t help you. You’ve got to think, to
discriminate, to exercise your own free will and judgment. And you must
do this, I repeat, without tension, quite rationally and calmly. For if
you give way to fury against the hypnotists, if you smash the radio and
tear the newspapers to shreds, you will only rush to the other extreme
and fossilize into defiant eccentricity.
--Christopher Isherwood
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood>
Tales of Wonder was a British science fiction magazine launched in 1937
with Walter Gillings as editor, published by a subsidiary of William
Heinemann. Gillings was able to attract some good material, and
included many reprints from US science fiction magazines. Arthur C.
Clarke (pictured) made his first professional sale to Tales of Wonder,
with two science articles. Gillings also published William F. Temple's
first story, some early material by John Wyndham, and "The Prr-r-eet" by
Eric Frank Russell. American writers who appeared in the magazine
included Murray Leinster, Jack Williamson, Lloyd Arthur Eshbach, and S.
P. Meek. With the advent of World War II, paper shortages and
Gillings's call-up into the army made it increasingly difficult to
continue, and the sixteenth issue, dated Spring 1942, was the last.
Tales of Wonder was the first British science fiction magazine aimed at
an adult market, and its success made it apparent that a British science
fiction magazine could survive.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_of_Wonder_%28magazine%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1875:
Matthew Webb became the first person to swim across the English
Channel, completing the journey in approximately 21 hours and 40
minutes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Webb>
1941:
Second World War: Soviet, British and other Commonwealth armed
forces invaded Iran to secure oil fields and ensure Allied supply lines
for the USSR.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Soviet_invasion_of_Iran>
1989:
The Voyager 2 spacecraft made its closest approach to Neptune
and provided definitive proof of the existence of the planet's rings
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Neptune>
2001:
American singer Aaliyah and several members of her record
company were killed when their overloaded aircraft crashed shortly after
takeoff from Marsh Harbour Airport in the Bahamas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaliyah>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
endearing:
Inspiring affection or love, often in a childlike way.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/endearing>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think it's a very confused culture. On the one hand, no one is
better than anyone else; no one is prettier. On the other hand, everyone
is completely obsessed by their looks and by how they strike the world.
On the one hand, we're all equal; on the other hand, everyone's a
superstar. It's all very irrational, like all ideology.
--Martin Amis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Amis>
Phantasmagoria is a point-and-click adventure game designed by Roberta
Williams for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. Released by Sierra On-Line on
August 24, 1995, it tells the story of Adrienne Delaney (Victoria
Morsell), a writer who moves into a remote mansion and finds herself
terrorized by supernatural forces. Made at the peak of popularity for
interactive movie games, Phantasmagoria features live-action footage. It
was based on Williams's 550-page script, about four times the length of
an average Hollywood screenplay, and cost $4.5 million to develop. Peter
Maris directed a cast of 25 actors, all performing in front of a blue
screen. The musical score includes neo-Gregorian chant performed by a
135-voice choir. Phantasmagoria became one of the best-selling games of
1995. It received mixed reviews, earning praise for its graphics and
suspenseful tone, but criticism for its slow pacing and easy puzzles.
The game drew controversy, particularly due to a rape scene. Some
retailers declined to carry it, religious organizations and politicians
condemned it, and it was refused classification altogether in Australia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasmagoria_%28video_game%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1812:
Peninsular War: Seeing that his army was in danger of being cut
off, French commander Jean-de-Dieu Soult retreated from Cádiz, ending a
30-month siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_C%C3%A1diz>
1892:
Goodison Park (pictured in 2006) in Liverpool, England, one of
the world's first purpose-built football grounds, opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodison_Park>
1941:
Adolf Hitler ordered the suspension of the T4 euthanasia
program of the mentally ill and disabled, although killings continued in
secret for the remainder of the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aktion_T4>
1992:
Hurricane Andrew made landfall in South Florida, the third most
intense Category 5 system to hit the United States during the 20th
century.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Andrew>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
rain fire and brimstone:
(transitive, idiomatic) To send horror or destruction.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rain_fire_and_brimstone>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I don't believe it's possible to be neutral. The world is already
moving in certain directions, and to be neutral, to be passive in a
situation like that, is to collaborate with whatever is going on. And I,
as a teacher, do not want to be a collaborator with whatever is
happening in the world. I want myself, as a teacher, and I want you, as
students, to intercede with whatever is happening in the world.
--Howard Zinn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn>