"Baby Boy" is a song by American singer Beyoncé (pictured) from her
debut solo studio album Dangerously in Love. Featuring Jamaican rapper
Sean Paul, the song was released by Columbia Records and Music World
Entertainment as the second single from the album on August 3, 2003.
Both artists co-wrote the song with Scott Storch, Robert Waller and
Jay-Z; Beyoncé also co-produced the song. Containing a lyrical
interpolation of "No Fear" by hip hop group O.G.C, "Baby Boy" is an R&B;
and dancehall song with reggae and Arabic music influences. The lyrics
detail a woman's fantasies. The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for
nine consecutive weeks, and was Beyoncé's longest-running solo number-
one single until 2007, when it was surpassed by "Irreplaceable". It
reached the top ten in many countries, and was certified platinum in
Australia and the US. The song's music video was directed by Jake Nava
and mostly shows Beyoncé dancing in various locations. "Baby Boy" has
remained a staple of Beyoncé's concert set lists.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_Boy_%28Beyonc%C3%A9_song%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1903:
Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaimed a republic, which
existed for only ten days before Ottoman forces destroyed the town.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kru%C5%A1evo_Republic>
1913:
A strike in Wheatland, California orchestrated by agricultural
workers degenerated into a riot, becoming one of the first major farm
labor confrontations in California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatland_hop_riot>
1936:
African American athlete Jesse Owens won the first of his four
gold medals at the Berlin Summer Olympics, dashing Nazi leaders' hopes
of Aryan domination at the Olympics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Owens>
2005:
President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was
overthrown in a military coup while he was attending the funeral of King
Fahd of Saudi Arabia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Mauritanian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unwittingly:
In an unwitting manner; inadvertently, obliviously, unintentionally,
unknowingly.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unwittingly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It would seem to me that by the time a race has achieved deep
space capability it would have matured to a point where it would have no
thought of dominating another intelligent species. Further than this,
there should be no economic necessity of its doing so.
--Clifford D. Simak
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak>
Ian Smith (1919–2007) was Prime Minister of Rhodesia (or Southern
Rhodesia; today Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. During the Second World
War, he served as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Middle East and
Europe, suffering permanent facial and bodily wounds. In 1962 he helped
form the all-white, firmly conservative Rhodesian Front, which called
for independence without an immediate shift to black majority rule. He
led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared
independence from the United Kingdom in 1965, after prolonged dispute.
During Smith's premiership, the Bush War pitted the unrecognised
administration's forces against communist-backed black nationalist
guerrilla groups. His government endured in the face of United Nations
economic sanctions with the assistance of South Africa and, until 1974,
Portugal. Smith is still venerated by some, while critics describe an
unrepentant racist whose policies and actions caused the deaths of
thousands and contributed to Zimbabwe's later crises.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Smith>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1790:
The first United States Census was conducted, with the United
States residential population enumerated to be 3,929,214.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1790_United_States_Census>
1914:
World War I: Marie-Adélaïde, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, and
Prime Minister Paul Eyschen surrendered to the invading German army and
the nation remained occupied for the rest of the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_occupation_of_Luxembourg_during_World_…>
1932:
At the California Institute of Technology, Carl David Anderson
proved the existence of antimatter when he discovered the positron.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron>
1990:
Iraq invaded Kuwait, overrunning the Kuwaiti military within
two days, and eventually sparking the outbreak of the Gulf War seven
months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
do over:
1. (transitive) To cover with; to smear or spread on to.
2. (transitive, Britain, slang) To beat up.
3. (transitive, US) To repeat; to start over.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/do_over>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All
artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole
story, to vomit the anguish up.
--James Baldwin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Baldwin>
The pleasure cruiser MV Darlwyne disappeared off the Cornish coast in
south-west England on 31 July 1966, with two crew and twenty-nine
passengers. Formerly a naval picket boat, the vessel had undergone
considerable structural modifications which adversely affected its
seaworthiness, before beginning service as an unlicensed passenger boat
without radio, distress flares or other lifesaving equipment. On the
fatal voyage, a group from the Greatwood guest house in Mylor were
taken on a 30-mile trip to Fowey. The outward voyage was completed
without mishap, but the weather had significantly deteriorated when the
return trip began late that afternoon. When the vessel failed to return
to Mylor the alarm was raised, and air and sea searches began on 1
August. Twelve bodies were eventually recovered, but no further traces
of the vessel were found at the time. A subsequent Board of Trade
enquiry exposed the laxity with which boat licensing regulations were
being administered, and led to stricter enforcement. In 2016 divers
found an anchor and other debris in the vicinity of Darlwyne's final
sighting, which they stated were in all probability relics from the
vessel.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_of_MV_Darlwyne>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1715:
Introduced during a time of civil disturbance in Great Britain,
the Riot Act came into force, authorising authorities to declare any
group of twelve or more people to be unlawfully assembled.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riot_Act>
1907:
Robert Baden-Powell held the first Scout camp at Brownsea
Island in Dorset, England, beginning the Scouting movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsea_Island_Scout_camp>
1981:
At one minute past midnight, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by
the Buggles became the first music video broadcast on the American cable
television network MTV.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Killed_the_Radio_Star>
2004:
Nearly 400 people died in a supermarket fire in Asunción,
Paraguay, when exits were locked to prevent people from stealing
merchandise.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ycu%C3%A1_Bola%C3%B1os_supermarket_fire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
august:
1. Awe-inspiring, majestic, noble, venerable.
2. Of noble birth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/august>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity,
nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by
the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed.
--Herman Melville
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herman_Melville>
Bill Brown (31 July 1912 – 16 March 2008) was an Australian cricketer.
A right-handed opening batsman, he played 22 Tests between 1934 and
1948, captaining his country in one of them. His partnership with Jack
Fingleton in the 1930s is regarded as one of the finest in Australian
Test history. In the 1938 tour of England, Brown had 1,854 runs,
including an unbeaten 206 that saved Australia from defeat in the second
Test, and was honoured as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
The outbreak of the Second World War cost Brown his peak years as a
player, time that he spent in the Royal Australian Air Force. After the
war, he was a member of Don Bradman's Invincibles, who toured England in
1948 without defeat. He performed reasonably well in the tour matches,
but struggled while batting out of position in the middle order during
the first two Tests, and was dropped from the Test team.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Brown_%28cricketer%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1777:
The Second Continental Congress passed a resolution allowing
French nobleman the Marquis de Lafayette to enter the American
revolutionary forces as a major general.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette>
1954:
A team of Italian climbers became the first to reach the summit
of K2, the world's second-highest mountain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2>
1975:
The Troubles: In a botched paramilitary attack, three members
of the popular Miami Showband and two Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen were
killed in County Down, Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Showband_killings>
1991:
Soviet Special Purpose Police Unit troops killed seven
Lithuanian customs officials in Medininkai in the most serious attack of
their campaign against Lithuanian border posts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_OMON_assaults_on_Lithuanian_border_pos…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
adret:
(geography) The sun-facing side of a mountain.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adret>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A country is considered the more civilised the more the wisdom
and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak and
a powerful one too powerful.
--Primo Levi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Primo_Levi>
The octopus is a soft-bodied, eight-armed mollusc of the order Octopoda,
with around 300 known species. Along with squids, cuttlefish and
nautiloids, they are classed as cephalopods. The mouth with its hard
beak is at the base of the arms, which trail behind the animal as it
swims. A siphon is used both for respiration and for locomotion, by
expelling a jet of water. Octopuses have a complex nervous system and
excellent sight, and are among the most intelligent and behaviourally
diverse of all invertebrates. They inhabit all parts of the ocean, from
the intertidal zone and coral reefs to the abyssal depths. They can
escape from predators by hiding in a cloud of ink, camouflaging
themselves, or contorting their bodies to squeeze through narrow gaps.
They are all venomous, but only the blue-ringed octopus is known to be
deadly to humans. Octopus is sold as food around the world, especially
in the Mediterranean and along the coasts of Asia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
Off the coast of Crescent City, California, U.S., the steamship
Brother Jonathan struck an uncharted rock and sank, killing 225 people;
its cargo of a large number of gold coins was not retrieved until 1996.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Jonathan_%28steamer%29>
1930:
Uruguay defeated Argentina at Estadio Centenario in Montevideo
to win the first Football World Cup.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_FIFA_World_Cup>
1981:
Amid widespread economic crisis and food shortages in Poland,
up to 50,000 people, mostly women and children, took part in the largest
of the hunger demonstrations in Łódź.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_1981_hunger_demonstrations_in_Poland>
2014:
At least 151 people were killed when heavy rains triggered a
landslide in Pune district, Maharashtra, India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Malin_landslide>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
memory lane:
(idiomatic, sometimes capitalized) A set of recollections available to
be reviewed, especially accompanied by a feeling of nostalgia.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/memory_lane>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The great thing about art on any level is that it can speak to
all people if it’s achieved properly. When I’ve heard a piece of
music or seen a painting that moves me, it gives me something. That’s
such an incredibly special experience. I have intentions as a writer,
but people — when they’re listening to a track — will take from it
what they interpret. Sometimes people mishear my lyrics and think a
song’s about something it isn’t. That doesn’t matter. If it speaks
to them and they get something positive from it, it’s great.
--Kate Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Bush>
Maurice Wilder-Neligan (1882–1923) was a British-born Australian
soldier who commanded the 10th Battalion during the latter stages of
World War I. Emigrating to Australia before the war, he enlisted in the
Australian Imperial Force. He was decorated for bravery and commissioned
during the Gallipoli Campaign of 1915. He received a severe head wound
while leading a successful raid on German trenches near Fleurbaix,
France, in early 1916, earning a second decoration for gallantry and the
praise of war historians. In July 1917 he was promoted to lieutenant
colonel and received command of the battalion. He led it during the
Battle of the Menin Road Ridge in September and was made a Companion of
the Order of St Michael and St George in June 1918. He was again
decorated for courage for the capture of the commune of Merris on 29
July. After the war, he worked as a district officer in the Territory of
New Guinea, where he died at the age of 40, probably of complications
from his war wounds.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Wilder-Neligan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1818:
French physicist Augustin Fresnel submitted his "Memoir on the
Diffraction of Light", providing strong support for the wave theory of
light.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin-Jean_Fresnel>
1914:
The first shots of World War I were fired by the Austro-
Hungarian river monitor SMS Bodrog upon Serbian defences near Belgrade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_monitor_Sava>
1958:
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National
Aeronautics and Space Act into law, establishing a new federal non-
military space agency known as NASA.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA>
1981:
An estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million
people watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at
St Paul's Cathedral in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_of_Prince_Charles_and_Lady_Diana_Spen…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
deadfall:
1. (uncountable, Canada, US) Coarse woody debris; deadwood. (countable,
specifically) A fallen tree.
2. (countable, specifically) A fallen tree.
3. (countable, Canada, US, hunting) A kind of trap for large animals,
consisting of a heavy board or log that falls on to the prey.
4. (countable, US, slang) A cheap, rough bar or saloon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deadfall>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
䷳ KEEPING STILL. Keeping his back still So that he no longer
feels his body. He goes into his courtyard And does not see his
people. No blame. True quiet means keeping still when the time has
come to keep still, and going forward when the time has come to go
forward. In this way rest and movement are in agreement with the
demands of the time, and thus there is light in life
--I Ching
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/I_Ching>
The Nine Stones is a stone circle near the village of Winterbourne Abbas
in the south-western English county of Dorset. The circle was probably
erected during the Bronze Age; stone circles were built throughout much
of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany between 3,300 and 900 BCE, during the
Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. The stone circle tradition was
accompanied by the construction of timber circles and earthen henges,
reflecting a growing emphasis on circular monuments. At least nine of
these stone circles are known in modern Dorset. They are smaller than
those found elsewhere in Britain and are typically built from sarsen
stone. Located in the bottom of a narrow valley, the Nine Stones circle
consists of nine irregularly spaced sarsen megaliths, with a small
opening on the circle's northern side. Two of the stones on the north-
western side are considerably larger than the other seven. The site,
adjacent to the A35 road, is owned by English Heritage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Stones,_Winterbourne_Abbas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1821:
Peruvian War of Independence: Argentine general José de San
Martín declared the independence of Peru from Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_de_San_Mart%C3%ADn>
1939:
During an excavation of a ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk,
England, archæologists discovered a helmet likely belonging to King
Rædwald of East Anglia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo_helmet>
1996:
The remains of the prehistoric Kennewick Man were discovered on
a bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, U.S.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man>
2005:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced an end to its
armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland to create a
United Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
numinous:
1. Of or relating to a numen (divinity); indicating the presence of a
divinity.
2. Evoking a sense of the mystical, sublime, or transcendent; awe-
inspiring.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/numinous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Before we as individuals are even conscious of our existence we
have been profoundly influenced for a considerable time (since before
birth) by our relationship to other individuals who have complicated
histories, and are members of a society which has an infinitely more
complicated and longer history than they do (and are members of it at a
particular time and place in that history); and by the time we are able
to make conscious choices we are already making use of categories in a
language which has reached a particular degree of development through
the lives of countless generations of human beings before us. . . . We
are social creatures to the inmost centre of our being. The notion that
one can begin anything at all from scratch, free from the past, or
unindebted to others, could not conceivably be more wrong.
--Karl Popper
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Popper>
Ride the Lightning is the second studio album by American heavy metal
band Metallica. It was produced by Flemming Rasmussen in Copenhagen,
Denmark, and released on July 27, 1984, by the independent record label
Megaforce Records. Rooted in the thrash metal genre, the album showcased
bassist Cliff Burton's songwriting and the band's musical growth and
lyrical sophistication, with acoustic guitars, extended instrumentals,
and complex harmonies. Music critics considered the album a more
ambitious effort than its predecessor. In 1985 the band performed at
major music festivals such as Monsters of Rock and Day on the Green. Two
months after the album's release, Elektra Records reissued it and signed
Metallica to a multi-year deal. It peaked at number 100 on the Billboard
200 with no radio exposure. It was certified 6× platinum in 2012 for
shipping six million copies in the United States. Many rock publications
have ranked Ride the Lightning on their best album lists.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ride_the_Lightning>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1214:
Philip II of France decisively won the Battle of Bouvines, the
conclusive battle of the 1213–1214 Anglo-French War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bouvines>
1949:
The de Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial jet
airliner to reach production, made its maiden flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet>
1953:
An armistice was signed to end hostilities in the Korean War,
officially making the division of Korea indefinite by creating an
approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) wide demilitarized zone across the Korean
Peninsula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone>
2002:
A Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft crashed during an
aerobatics presentation at an airshow near Lviv, Ukraine, killing 77
people and injuring over 500 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sknyliv_air_show_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fetial:
1. Of or relating to a fetial (member of the Roman college of priests
who acted as representatives in disputes with foreign nations); (by
extension) ambassadorial, heraldic.
2. Concerned with declarations of war and treaties of peace.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fetial>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of courtesy it is much less Than courage of heart or holiness
Yet in my walks it seems to me That the Grace of God is in courtesy.
--Hilaire Belloc
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hilaire_Belloc>
The cooperative pulling paradigm is an experimental design in which
animals cooperate to pull food towards themselves. Researchers use these
experiments to try to understand how cooperation works and how and when
it may have evolved. Meredith Crawford ran the first such experiment in
1937, attaching two ropes to a rolling platform that was too heavy to be
pulled by a single chimpanzee. In another design, a rope comes loose if
only one animal pulls it, and the platform can no longer be retrieved.
Researchers look for signs of cooperation, such as when an animal waits
for another animal's actions before pulling the rope. Chimpanzees,
bonobos, orangutans, capuchins, tamarins, wolves, elephants, ravens, and
keas appear to understand the requirements of the task, and other
animals sometimes manage to retrieve the food. The superior scale and
range of human cooperation comes mainly from the ability to use language
to exchange social information.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative_pulling_paradigm>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1887:
L. L. Zamenhof published Unua Libro, the first publication to
describe Esperanto, a constructed international language.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unua_Libro>
1918:
Emmy Noether introduced what became known as Noether's theorem,
from which conservation laws are deduced for symmetries of angular
momentum, linear momentum, and energy, at Göttingen, Germany
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmy_Noether>
1968:
After coming second to Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in a rigged
presidential election in 1967, Trương Đình Dzu was jailed by a
military court for illicit currency transactions.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C6%B0%C6%A1ng_%C4%90%C3%ACnh_Dzu>
2016:
In one of the worst crimes committed in modern Japanese
history, a former employee went on a knife rampage at a care home for
disabled people in Sagamihara, killing 19 people and wounding 26 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagamihara_stabbings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sassywood:
1. A form of trial by ordeal in Liberia, typically involving a suspect
drinking a poisonous concoction made from the bark of the ordeal tree
Erythrophleum guineense, Erythrophleum ivorense, or Erythrophleum
suaveolens (called sassy bark); by extension, other forms of trial by
ordeal such as applying a heated machete to the suspect's legs, or
dipping the suspect's hand into hot oil.
2. The ordeal tree itself, the bark of which is used in the sassywood
procedure.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sassywood>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is
hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with
this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the
boundaries of death — however mutable man may be able to make them —
our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfillment.
However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.
--Stanley Kubrick
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick>
The Shorwell helmet (replica pictured) is a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon
helmet found near Shorwell on the Isle of Wight in southern England. It
was one of the grave goods of a high-status Anglo-Saxon warrior, and was
found with other objects such as a pattern-welded sword and hanging
bowl. One of only six known Anglo-Saxon helmets, alongside those from
Benty Grange, Sutton Hoo, Coppergate, Wollaston, and Staffordshire, it
is the sole example to derive from the continental Frankish style rather
than the contemporaneous Northern crested style used in England and
Scandinavia. Exhibiting hardly any decoration other than a speculative
exterior leather covering, this was a utilitarian fighting helmet. It
was simply and sturdily designed out of eight pieces of riveted iron,
and its only decorative elements were paired with functional uses. The
helmet's plainness belies its significance; helmets were rare in Anglo-
Saxon England, and appear to have been limited to the higher classes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorwell_helmet>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1861:
American Civil War: The United States Congress passed the
Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, asserting that the war was solely to
prevent the dissolution of the nation, although this was repealed five
months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crittenden%E2%80%93Johnson_Resolution>
1893:
The Corinth Canal, which bisects the narrow Isthmus of Corinth,
was formally opened, connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean
Sea's Saronic Gulf.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinth_Canal>
1978:
Two Puerto Rican pro-independence activists were killed in a
police ambush at Cerro Maravilla in Ponce.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Maravilla_murders>
2000:
Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde en route from Paris to New
York City, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all one hundred
passengers and nine crew members, as well as four people on the ground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_4590>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mink:
1. (plural mink or minks) Any of various semi-aquatic, carnivorous
mammals in the Mustelinae subfamily, similar to weasels, with dark fur,
native to Europe and America, of which two species in different genera
are extant: the American mink (Neovison vison) and the European mink
(Mustela lutreola).
2. (plural mink) The fur or pelt of a mink, used to make apparel.
3. (plural minks) An article of clothing made of mink.
4. (slang, pejorative, Scotland) (plural minks) An individual with poor
personal hygiene; a smelly person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mink>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
People unfit for freedom — who cannot do much with it — are
hungry for power. The desire for freedom is an attribute of a "have"
type of self. It says: leave me alone and I shall grow, learn, and
realize my capacities. The desire for power is basically an attribute of
a "have-not" type of self. If Hitler had had the talents and the
temperament of a genuine artist, if Stalin had had the capacity to
become a first-rate theoretician, if Napoleon had had the makings of a
great poet or philosopher they would hardly have developed the all-
consuming lust for absolute power. Freedom gives us a chance to realize
our human and individual uniqueness. Absolute power can also bestow
uniqueness: to have absolute power is to have the power to reduce all
the people around us to puppets, robots, toys, or animals, and be the
only man in sight. Absolute power achieves uniqueness by dehumanizing
others.
--Eric Hoffer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Hoffer>