The King Island emu lived on King Island, in the Bass Strait between
mainland Australia and Tasmania. This extinct subspecies, the smallest
of all emus, may have exhibited insular dwarfism. It had darker plumage,
black and brown, with naked blue skin on the neck, and its chicks were
striped like those on the mainland. The behaviour of the King Island emu
probably did not differ much from that of the mainland emu. They fed on
berries, grass and seaweed. They ran swiftly, and could defend
themselves by kicking. Europeans discovered the subspecies in 1802. The
French naturalist François Péron wrote about the bird after conducting
an interview with a seal hunter, and in 1807 the artist Charles
Alexandre Lesueur sketched a head, wing and feathers possibly belonging
to this subspecies. In 1804 two live King Island emus were sent to
France, where they were kept in the Jardin des plantes until they died
in 1822, probably the last of their kind.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Island_emu>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1561 –The spire of Old St Paul's Cathedral in London was destroyed by
fire, probably caused by lightning.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_St_Paul%27s_Cathedral>
1792:
Royal Navy Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound in the
Pacific Northwest for Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound>
1944:
A United States Navy task group captured German submarine
U-505, the first warship to be captured by U.S. forces on the high seas
since the War of 1812.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505>
1967:
A chartered aircraft owned by British Midland Airways crashed
near Stockport, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, killing 72 of the 84
passengers and crew on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockport_air_disaster>
1998:
Terry Nichols was sentenced to life in prison for his role in
the Oklahoma City bombing.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Nichols>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
abstemious:
1. Sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions.
2. Sparingly used; used with temperance or moderation.
3. Marked by, or spent in, abstinence.
4. (rare) Promotive of abstemiousness.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abstemious>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I don't think the thing is to be well known, but being worth
knowing.
--Robert Fulghum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Fulghum>
Dubnium is an artificially produced chemical element with symbol Db and
atomic number 105. It is highly radioactive: the most stable known
isotope, dubnium-268, has a half-life of just over a day. Credit for
discovery of the element was contested between the Soviet Joint
Institute for Nuclear Research and American Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
beginning in 1970; the dispute was resolved in 1993 by an official
investigation of the IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party, which awarded
joint credit. The element was officially named in 1997 after the town of
Dubna, the site of the Soviet institute. Dubnium should share most of
its chemical properties, such as its valence electron configuration and
a dominant +5 oxidation state, with other group 5 elements, such as
vanadium, niobium, and tantalum, with a few anomalies due to
relativistic effects. Solution chemistry experiments have revealed that
dubnium often behaves more like niobium than tantalum, breaking periodic
trends.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubnium>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1658:
Pope Alexander VII appointed François de Laval as vicar
apostolic of New France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_de_Laval>
1892:
Liverpool F.C., one of England's most successful football
clubs, was founded.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_F.C.>
1943:
Off-duty U.S. sailors fought with Mexican American youths in
Los Angeles, spawning the Zoot Suit Riots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoot_Suit_Riots>
1968:
American artist Andy Warhol and two others were shot and
wounded at his New York City studio "The Factory" by radical feminist
Valerie Solanas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol>
2012:
Dana Air Flight 992, a passenger flight from Abuja to Lagos,
Nigeria, suffered dual engine failure and crashed into a building,
resulting in the deaths of all 153 on board and 10 more on the ground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Air_Flight_992>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
spoof:
1. (transitive) To deceive.
2. (transitive, computing) To falsify.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spoof>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The truth is, that most men want knowledge, not for itself, but
for the superiority which knowledge confers; and the means they employ
to secure this superiority, are as wrong as the ultimate object, for no
man can ever end with being superior, who will not begin with being
inferior.
--Sydney Smith
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sydney_Smith>
The X-10 Graphite Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the U.S.
state of Tennessee was the world's second artificial nuclear reactor
(after Chicago Pile-1), and the first designed for continuous operation.
It was built during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project. The
production of sufficient plutonium for atomic bombs required reactors a
thousand times as powerful as Chicago Pile-1, along with facilities to
chemically separate the plutonium bred in the reactors from uranium and
fission products. The air-cooled X-10 pilot plant used nuclear graphite
as a neutron moderator and pure natural uranium in metal form for fuel.
DuPont commenced construction in Oak Ridge in 1943, and the reactor
produced its first plutonium in early 1944. It supplied the Los Alamos
Laboratory with its first significant amounts of plutonium, and its
first reactor-bred product. The reactor and chemical separation plant
provided invaluable experience for engineers, technicians, reactor
operators, and safety officials, who then moved on to a larger site in
Hanford, Washington.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-10_Graphite_Reactor>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1805:
Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptured British-held
Diamond Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading
to Fort-de-France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diamond_Rock>
1886:
Grover Cleveland became the only U.S. President to marry in the
White House when he wed Frances Folsom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grover_Cleveland>
1953:
Elizabeth II was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom at
Westminster Abbey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_of_Queen_Elizabeth_II>
1962:
One of the most violent football matches ever took place at the
World Cup when police had to intervene multiple times as Chile defeated
Italy in a group match.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Santiago_(1962_FIFA_World_Cup)>
2010:
A lone gunman went on a shooting spree in Cumbria, England,
killing 12 people and injuring 11 others before committing suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbria_shootings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
inthronization:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inthronization>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Only a man harrowing clods In a slow silent walk With an old
horse that stumbles and nods Half asleep as they stalk.Only thin smoke
without flame From the heaps of couch-grass; Yet this will go onward
the same Though Dynasties pass.Yonder a maid and her wight Come
whispering by: War's annals will cloud into night Ere their story die.
--Thomas Hardy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy>
The Pioneer Helmet is a boar-crested Anglo-Saxon helmet dating from the
late seventh century. During a March 1997 excavation, it was found in
Wollaston, Northamptonshire, in a young man's grave, probably the burial
mound of a high-status warrior, along with a hanging bowl and a pattern
welded sword. The sparsely decorated helmet is one of only six Anglo-
Saxon helmets yet discovered, joined by finds from Benty Grange, Sutton
Hoo, York, Shorwell and Staffordshire. Like most of these, it is one of
the crested helmets that flourished in England and Scandinavia from the
sixth through the eleventh centuries. Boar-crested helmets are a staple
of Anglo-Saxon imagery, evidence of a Germanic tradition in which the
boar invoked the protection of the gods. In the Anglo-Saxon poem
Beowulf, such helmets are mentioned five times. Unveiled at the New Walk
Museum in Leicester, the helmet is on display at the Royal Armouries
Museum in Leeds.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Helmet>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1495:
An entry in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland made the first
recorded mention of Scotch whisky (bottle pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotch_whisky>
1813:
War of 1812: Mortally wounded during a battle against the Royal
Navy frigate HMS Shannon, American commander James Lawrence of the USS
Chesapeake ordered his crew "Don't give up the ship!", today a popular
battle cry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_USS_Chesapeake>
1916:
Louis Brandeis became the first Jew to be appointed to the
United States Supreme Court.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Brandeis>
1943:
Eight German Junkers Ju 88s shot down British Overseas Airways
Corporation Flight 777 over the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Spain and
France, killing actor Leslie Howard and several other notable
passengers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BOAC_Flight_777>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
boardwalk:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boardwalk>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The mind is formed by the knowledge and the direction of ideas it
receives and the guidance it is given. Great things alone can make a
great mind, and petty things will make a petty mind unless a man rejects
them as completely alien.
--Carl von Clausewitz
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_von_Clausewitz>
Stefan Lochner (c. 1410 – c. 1451) was a German painter working in the
late International Gothic period. Based in Cologne, he became one of the
most important German artists before Albrecht Dürer. His paintings
combine the long flowing lines of his period with the brilliant colours,
realism, surface textures and innovative iconography of the early
Northern Renaissance. His surviving works often feature fanciful blue-
winged angels, and consist of single-panel oil paintings, polyptychs and
illuminated manuscripts. Records of his life, apart from later records
of creditors, end after an outbreak of plague in the city in 1451; it is
presumed he died from the epidemic, probably after Christmas. Lochner's
identity and reputation were lost until a revival of 15th-century art
during the early 19th-century Romantic Period. Echoes of his panels can
be seen in works by major 15th-century painters such as Rogier van der
Weyden and Hans Memling.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Lochner>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1223:
Mongol invasions: Mongol forces defeated a combined army of
Kiev, Galich, and the Cumans at the Kalchik River in present-day
Ukraine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Kalka_River>
1795:
French Revolution: The Revolutionary Tribunal, a court
instituted by the National Convention for the trial of political
offenders, was suppressed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Tribunal>
1902:
The Second Boer War came to an end with the signing of the
Treaty of Vereeniging.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Vereeniging>
1941:
The United Kingdom completed its re-occupation of Iraq,
returning 'Abd al-Ilah to power as regent for Faisal II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Iraqi_War>
2005:
An article in the magazine Vanity Fair revealed that the secret
informant known as "Deep Throat", who provided information about the
Watergate scandal, was former FBI Associate Director Mark Felt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Felt>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lysergic:
1. (comparable) Psychedelic, trippy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lysergic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Happiness will never come if it's a goal in itself; happiness is
a by-product of a commitment to worthy causes.
--Norman Vincent Peale
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Vincent_Peale>
The 1988 Atlantic hurricane season was a moderately active season that
proved costly and deadly, with 15 tropical cyclones directly affecting
land. The first cyclone to attain tropical storm status was Alberto on
August 8; the final storm of the year, Tropical Storm Keith, became
extratropical on November 24. The season produced 19 tropical
depressions, including 12 tropical storms. There were five hurricanes,
including three major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the
Saffir–Simpson scale). Hurricane Gilbert (pictured) was at the time
the strongest Atlantic hurricane on record. It tracked through the
Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico and caused devastation in Mexico
and many island nations, particularly Jamaica. Its passage caused damage
valued at US$2.98 billion and more than 300 deaths, mostly in Mexico.
Hurricane Joan, striking Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane, caused
damage valued at about $1.87 billion and more than 200 deaths.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Atlantic_hurricane_season>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1431:
Hundred Years' War: Joan of Arc was burned at the stake in
Rouen, France, after being convicted of heresy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc>
1536:
Jane Seymour, a former lady-in-waiting, became Queen of England
by marrying King Henry VIII.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Seymour>
1815:
The East Indiaman ship Arniston was wrecked during a storm at
Waenhuiskrans, near Cape Agulhas, present-day South Africa, with the
loss of 372 lives.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arniston_(East_Indiaman)>
1948:
A dike holding the Columbia River broke, causing a flood that
destroyed Vanport, Oregon, U.S., only five years after the city was
built.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanport,_Oregon>
1998:
A 6.5 Mw earthquake struck northern Afghanistan, killing at
least 4,000 people, destroying more than 30 villages, and leaving 45,000
people homeless in the Afghan provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1998_Afghanistan_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
geofence:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geofence>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The freedom of all is essential to my freedom.
--Mikhail Bakunin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin>
The snoring rail (Aramidopsis plateni) is a large flightless rail. The
only species of its genus, it is endemic to Indonesia, and is found in
dense vegetation in wet areas of Sulawesi and nearby Buton. The rail has
grey underparts, a white chin, brown wings and a rufous patch on the
hindneck. The sexes are similar, but the female has a brighter neck
patch and a differently coloured bill and iris. The typical call is the
snoring ee-orrrr sound that gives the bird its common name. The snoring
rail, with a retiring nature, is rarely seen in its inaccessible
habitat, and little is known of its behaviour. Only the adult plumage
has been described, and the breeding behaviour is unrecorded. It feeds
on small crabs and probably other small prey such as lizards. Although
protected under Indonesian law since 1972, the rail is evaluated as
vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red
List; it is threatened by habitat loss, even within nature reserves, and
by introduced species.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snoring_rail>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1453:
With the conquest of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire fell
to the Ottomans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire>
1913:
During the premiere of Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of
Spring at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, the avant-garde
nature of the music and choreography caused a near-riot in the audience.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rite_of_Spring>
1918:
World War I: Armenian forces defeated Ottoman troops at the
Battle of Sardarabad, not only stopping the Turkish invasion but also
preventing the complete destruction of the Armenian nation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sardarabad>
1935:
The Messerschmitt Bf 109, the most produced fighter aircraft in
history, had its first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Bf_109>
1954:
The first annual Bilderberg Group meeting of leaders from
European countries and the United States opened in Oosterbeek,
Netherlands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
wheelhorse:
1. (US, figuratively) A person who labors heavily for a particular
cause, without being concerned about recognition.
2. (obsolete or historical) A foot-propelled vehicle; a bicycle.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wheelhorse>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The basis of self-government and freedom requires the development
of character and self-restraint and perseverance and the long view. And
these are qualities which require many years of training and education.
--John F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy>
β-Hydroxy β-methylbutyric acid (HMB) is a naturally produced substance
in humans that is used as a dietary supplement. It is an ingredient in
certain medical foods that are intended to promote wound healing and
provide nutritional support for people with muscle wasting due to cancer
or HIV/AIDS. In healthy adults, supplementation with HMB has been shown
to reduce skeletal muscle damage from exercise, expedite recovery from
exercise, and increase exercise-induced gains in muscle size, muscle
strength, and lean body mass. Medical reviews and meta-analyses indicate
that HMB supplementation also helps to preserve or increase lean body
mass and muscle strength in individuals experiencing age-related muscle
loss. HMB produces these effects in part by stimulating protein
production and inhibiting protein breakdown in muscle tissue.
Pharmacologically active concentrations of the compound in blood plasma
and muscle can only be achieved by supplementation with HMB.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta-Hydroxy_beta-methylbutyric_acid>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
585 BC:
According to Greek historian Herodotus, a solar eclipse
abruptly ended the Battle of Halys between the Lydians and the Medes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_of_Thales>
1754:
French and Indian War: Led by 22-year-old George Washington, a
company of colonial militia from Virginia ambushed a force of 35
Canadiens in the Battle of Jumonville Glen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jumonville_Glen>
1937:
The rise of Neville Chamberlain culminated in his accession to
the office of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom when he was summoned
to Buckingham Palace to "kiss hands".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_of_Neville_Chamberlain>
1987:
Mathias Rust, a West German aviator, flew his Cessna 172
through the Soviet air defense system and landed in Red Square, Moscow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathias_Rust>
2003:
As a result of criticism of his conduct, Peter Hollingworth
resigned from his post as Governor-General of Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hollingworth>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
repine:
1. (intransitive, now literary) To complain; to regret.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/repine>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The bugle echoes shrill and sweet, But not of war it sings to-
day. The road is rhythmic with the feet Of men-at-arms who come to
pray. The roses blossom white and red On tombs where weary soldiers
lie; Flags wave above the honored dead And martial music cleaves
the sky. Above their wreath-strewn graves we kneel, They kept the
faith and fought the fight. Through flying lead and crimson steel
They plunged for Freedom and the Right. May we, their grateful
children, learn Their strength, who lie beneath this sod, Who went
through fire and death to earn At last the accolade of God.
--Joyce Kilmer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joyce_Kilmer>
USS Orizaba was a transport ship for the U.S. Navy in World War I and
World War II, first commissioned on 27 May 1918. Orizaba made 15
transatlantic voyages for the Navy carrying troops to and from Europe in
World War I with the second-shortest average in-port turnaround time of
all Navy transports. The ship was turned over to the War Department in
1919 for use as Army transport USAT Orizaba. After the war, the
troopship reverted to the Ward Line, her previous owners. In World War
II the ship was requisitioned by the War Shipping Administration and
again assigned to the War Department, but was soon transferred to the
U.S. Navy as USS Orizaba (AP-24). The ship made several transatlantic
runs, was damaged in an air attack in the Allied invasion of Sicily,
made trips to South America, and served in the Pacific Theatre. In June
1945 the ship was transferred under Lend-Lease to the Brazilian Navy,
where she served as Duque de Caxias (U-11). Permanently transferred to
Brazil in 1953, the ship was decommissioned in 1959 and scrapped in
1963.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Orizaba>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1153:
Malcolm IV was crowned King of Scotland at the age of twelve.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_IV_of_Scotland>
1813:
War of 1812: The troops of the U.S. Army and vessels of the
U.S. Navy cooperated in a successful amphibious assault to capture Fort
George in Upper Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_George>
1874:
The first group of nomadic pastoralists known as Trekboer set
out on the Dorsland Trek, departing South Africa for Angola.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorsland_Trek>
1940:
World War II: Ninety-seven soldiers of the Royal Norfolk
Regiment were executed by German troops after surrendering.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Paradis_massacre>
1958:
The F-4 Phantom II, the principal air superiority jet fighter
for both the U.S. Navy and Air Force, made its first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II>
2001:
Members of the Islamist separatist group Abu Sayyaf kidnapped
20 tourists in Palawan, Philippines, triggering a hostage crisis that
lasted over a year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dos_Palmas_kidnappings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
faxlore:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/faxlore>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Everyone is trying to reach for their own stars, and all of those
stars aren’t light-years away. They are as close as our job, our
family, our children, our next-door neighbors and our good friends.
--Alan Bean
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Bean>
M-35 is a state trunkline highway in the Upper Peninsula (UP) of the US
state of Michigan. Running for 128 miles (206 km) in a generally
north–south direction, it connects the cities of Menominee, Escanaba
and Negaunee. It is part of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour and is the UP
Hidden Coast Recreational Heritage Trail in the Pure Michigan Byways
program. Along the southern section, the highway is the closest
trunkline to Green Bay, a section of Lake Michigan. The northern section
of the highway turns inland through wooded terrain, connecting rural
portions of Delta and Marquette counties. The road was designated as
M-35 with signposts erected by 1919. It was intended to run from
Menominee in the south to near Big Bay in the north, before turning
toward L'Anse to end at Ontonagon, but the section through the Huron
Mountains in northern Marquette and Baraga counties was never built.
Automobile pioneer Henry Ford helped halt this construction to gain
favor with the exclusive Huron Mountain Club.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-35_(Michigan_highway)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
946:
King Edmund I of England was killed while attending St
Augustine's Day Mass.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_I>
1637:
Pequot War: An allied Puritan and Mohegan force attacked a
fortified Pequot village in the Connecticut Colony, killing between 400
and 700 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic_massacre>
1906:
Vauxhall Bridge in London opened, crossing the River Thames
between Vauxhall and Westminster.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Bridge>
1938:
The House Un-American Activities Committee was established to
investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities by people or
organizations suspected of having communist or fascist ties.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee>
1991:
Lauda Air Flight 004 experienced an uncommanded thrust reverser
deployment of an engine and broke apart in mid-air, killing all 223
people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauda_Air_Flight_004>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pike:
1. A sharp point, such as that of the weapon.
2. A large haycock (“conical stack of hay left in a field to dry before
adding to a haystack”).
3. (diving, gymnastics) A position with the knees straight and a tight
bend at the hips with the torso folded over the legs, usually part of a
jack-knife.
4. (fashion, dated) A pointy extrusion at the toe of a shoe.
5. (chiefly Northern England) Especially in place names: a hill or
mountain, particularly one with a sharp peak or summit.  […] 
6. Any carnivorous freshwater fish of the genus Esox, especially the
northern pike, Esox lucius.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pike>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I actually enjoy complexity that's empowering. If it challenges
me, the complexity is very pleasant.
--Ward Cunningham
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham>