The Lancashire Fusiliers War Memorial is a First World War memorial
originally dedicated to members of the Lancashire Fusiliers killed in
that conflict, and later rededicated to all fusiliers killed in action.
It was unveiled on 25 April 1922, the seventh anniversary of the landing
at Cape Helles, part of the Gallipoli Campaign in which the regiment
suffered particularly heavy casualties. It is now located outside the
Fusilier Museum in Gallipoli Gardens in Bury, Greater Manchester
(historically in Lancashire), in north-west England. The prominent
architect Edwin Lutyens, whose father and great uncle were officers in
the regiment, designed a tall, slender obelisk in Portland stone, with
inscriptions containing the regiment's motto and a dedication, and the
regiment's cap badge carved near the top. The memorial was designated a
Grade II listed building in 1992. It was upgraded to II* in 2015, and
later that year was recognised as part of a national collection of
Lutyens' war memorials.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_Fusiliers_War_Memorial>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
799:
Pope Leo III was attacked by partisans of his predecessor Adrian
I, but was rescued and taken to Charlemagne, as described in the epic
Karolus magnus et Leo papa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karolus_magnus_et_Leo_papa>
1846:
An open conflict between the military forces of the United
States and Mexico began over the disputed border of Texas north of the
Rio Grande and south of the Nueces River, later serving as a primary
justification for the Mexican–American War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thornton_Affair>
1915:
First World War: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed
at Anzac Cove while British and French troops landed at Cape Helles to
begin the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman
Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_Campaign>
1990:
Violeta Chamorro took office as the President of Nicaragua, the
first woman elected in her own right as a head of state in the Americas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violeta_Chamorro>
2015:
A 7.8 MW earthquake struck Nepal, resulting in 8,964 deaths and
21,952 injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2015_Nepal_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
monimolimnion:
The lower, dense stratum of a meromictic lake (one with permanently
stratified layers) that does not mix with the waters above.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monimolimnion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they
behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine.
--Tertullian
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tertullian>
The 1867 Manhattan earthquake struck Riley County, Kansas, in the United
States on April 24. The strongest earthquake to originate in the state,
it measured 5.1 on a seismic scale based on reports of how strongly it
was felt in the area. Its epicenter was near the town of Manhattan. On
the Mercalli intensity scale, its maximum perceived intensity was VII,
"very strong". There were reports of minor damage in Kansas, Iowa, and
Missouri, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It was felt as far
away as Indiana and Illinois, and perhaps Ohio, though the latter
reports have been questioned. Manhattan is near the Nemaha Ridge, a long
anticline structure that is bounded by several faults. A 2016 hazard
map from the U.S. Geological Survey estimated a 1% or lower risk for a
major earthquake in Kansas for the following year, though the nearby
Humboldt Fault Zone continues to pose a threat to the city, and
scientists from the agency think an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 remains
possible.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1867_Manhattan,_Kansas_earthquake>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
The Library of Congress (building pictured), the de facto
national library of the United States, was established as part of an act
of Congress providing for the transfer of the nation's capital from
Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Congress>
1914:
The Franck–Hertz experiment, the first electrical measurement
to clearly demonstrate quantum mechanics, was presented to the German
Physical Society.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franck%E2%80%93Hertz_experiment>
1980:
Eight U.S. servicemen died in Operation Eagle Claw, a failed
attempt to rescue the captives in the Iran hostage crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Eagle_Claw>
2013:
A building in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh,
collapsed, killing 1,134 people, making it the deadliest accidental
structural failure in modern history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
platitudinous:
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/platitudinous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The best way to be thankful is to use the goods the gods provide
you.
--Anthony Trollope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope>
The Destroying Angel and Daemons of Evil Interrupting the Orgies of the
Vicious and Intemperate is an oil painting by English artist William
Etty, first exhibited in 1832. With this openly moral piece, Etty hoped
to respond to critics who found his nude paintings indecent and in poor
taste. It depicts a classical temple under attack from a destroying
angel and a group of daemons. Some of the occupants are dead or
unconscious; others flee in terror or struggle against the daemons. When
first exhibited The Destroying Angel was widely praised for its
technical brilliance, but critics were divided on the subject matter.
Some praised its vividness and ability to mix fear and beauty without
descending into tastelessness; others criticised its theme as
inappropriate, and chastised Etty for wasting his talents. Joseph
Whitworth donated the painting in 1882 to the Manchester Art Gallery,
where it remains.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroying_Angel_and_Daemons_of_Evil_Inte…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1516:
The most well-known version of the Reinheitsgebot, the German
Beer Purity Law, was adopted across the entirety of Bavaria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot>
1661:
Charles II, King of England, Ireland, and Scotland was crowned
at Westminster Abbey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1918:
First World War: The British Royal Navy conducted an
unsuccessful raid on the German-occupied port of Bruges-Zeebrugge in
Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeebrugge_Raid>
1951:
American journalist William N. Oatis was arrested for espionage
by the Communist government of Czechoslovakia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_N._Oatis>
1985:
The Coca-Cola Company replaced its flagship soft drink, Coca-
Cola, with "New Coke", which generated so much negative response that
the company put the previous formula back on the market less than three
months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tarn:
1. (Northern England) A small mountain lake, especially in Northern
England.
2. (US, chiefly Montana) One of many small mountain lakes or ponds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tarn>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet
airs, that give delight, and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twangling
instruments Will hum about mine ears; and sometimes voices, That, if I
then had wak'd after long sleep, Will make me sleep again; and then, in
dreaming, The clouds methought would open and show riches Ready to
drop upon me, that, when I wak'd, I cried to dream again.
--The Tempest
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Tempest>
The Gloucestershire Regiment (1881–1994) was a line infantry regiment
of the British Army, formed from two regiments originally raised in 1694
and 1758, which first saw action in the Second Boer War. During the
First World War, 16 battalions fought under the regiment’s colours,
winning 72 different battle honours. In the Second World War, the 2nd
and 5th Battalions fought in the Battle of France. Most of the 2nd
Battalion soldiers were taken prisoner in the Battle of Dunkirk, but the
rebuilt unit returned to France on D-Day at Gold Beach. The 1st
Battalion saw action during the Japanese conquest of Burma, and the 10th
Battalion fought in the Burma Campaign 1944–45. During the Korean War,
the 1st Battalion held out for three nights against overwhelming Chinese
forces in the Battle of the Imjin River, and received the American
Presidential Unit Citation. The stand was described by the commander of
the United Nations forces as "the most outstanding example of unit
bravery in modern war".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloucestershire_Regiment>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew landed
in present day Brazil and claimed the land for Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_%C3%81lvares_Cabral>
1889:
Over 50,000 people rushed to claim a piece of the available two
million acres (8,000 km2) in the Unassigned Lands, the present-day U.S.
state of Oklahoma, entirely founding the brand-new Oklahoma City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_Rush_of_1889>
1915:
The Germans released chlorine gas in the Second Battle of
Ypres, causing over 6,000 casualties, with many deaths within ten
minutes by asphyxiation in the first large-scale successful use of
poison gas in World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Ypres>
1948:
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: The Jewish paramilitary group
Haganah captured Haifa from the Arab Liberation Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Haifa_(1948)>
2013:
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested two men who were
plotting to commit terrorist attacks against Via Rail Canada operations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Via_Rail_Canada_terrorism_plot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Gaia:
1. (ecology) The ecosystem of the Earth regarded as a self-regulating
organism.
2. Alternative form of Gaea (“Greek goddess personifying the Earth”).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gaia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Despite the vision and farseeing wisdom of our wartime heads of
state, the physicists have felt the peculiarly intimate responsibility
for suggesting, for supporting, and in the end, in large measure, for
achieving the realization of atomic weapons. Nor can we forget that
these weapons, as they were in fact used, dramatized so mercilessly the
inhumanity and evil of modern war. In some sort of crude sense which no
vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the
physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot
lose.
--Robert Oppenheimer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Oppenheimer>
Neferirkare Kakai was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, the third king of the
Fifth Dynasty. The eldest son of the previous pharaoh, Sahure, he
reigned for eight to eleven years, sometime in the early-to-mid 25th
century BCE. His contemporaries viewed him as a kind and benevolent
ruler, willing to intervene on behalf of his courtiers. During his rule
the number of administration and priesthood officials increased, and
they used their expanded wealth to build sophisticated mastabas (tombs)
where they recorded their biographies for the first time. He was the
last pharaoh to significantly modify the royal naming conventions,
separating the throne name from the birth name, in front of which he
added the "Son of Ra" epithet. In the royal necropolis of Abusir he
started a pyramid for himself conceived as a step pyramid, a form not
seen since the Third Dynasty about 120 years earlier. A modified plan
represented the monument as a true pyramid, the largest in Abusir, but
this pyramid was never completed.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neferirkare_Kakai>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
43 BC:
During the Battle of Mutina, forces led by Mark Antony killed
Decimus Brutus, one of Julius Caesar's assassins.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mutina>
1509:
Henry VIII became King of England, following the death of his
father Henry VII, eventually becoming a significant figure in the
history of the English monarchy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England>
1926:
Al-Baqi cemetery, former site of the mausoleum of four of the
Twelve Imams of Shia Islam, was demolished by Wahhabis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolition_of_al-Baqi>
1970:
In response to a dispute over wheat production quotas, the
Principality of Hutt River proclaimed its secession from Western
Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River>
2010:
Ukraine and Russia signed the Kharkiv Pact to extend the
Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkiv_Pact>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gens:
1. (Ancient Rome, historical) A legally defined unit of Roman society,
being a collection of people related through a common ancestor by birth,
marriage or adoption, possibly over many generations, and sharing the
same nomen gentilicium.
2. (anthropology) A tribal subgroup whose members are characterized by
having the same descent, usually along the male line.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gens>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A "war against terrorism" is an impracticable conception if it
means fighting terrorism with terrorism. The feelings on both sides are
not that they are taking part in some evil and criminal act but risking
their lives heroically for what they consider to be a just cause.
--John Mortimer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Mortimer>
Knuckles' Chaotix is a side-scrolling platform game developed and
published by Sega for the 32X, first released on April 20, 1995. A spin-
off of the Sonic the Hedgehog series, the game features Knuckles the
Echidna and the four Chaotix, who try to prevent Doctor Robotnik and
Metal Sonic from conquering a mysterious island. Development of the game
can be traced to Sonic Crackers, a 1994 prototype for the Sega Genesis
featuring Sonic and Tails. Development transitioned to the 32X under the
working title Knuckles' Ringstar. Sonic and Tails were removed from the
game and replaced by Knuckles and four other characters, including
Mighty the Armadillo, who first appeared in the arcade game SegaSonic
the Hedgehog (1993). Critical reception to Knuckles' Chaotix has been
mixed, and the physics of a new tethering system was faulted as
cumbersome. Some characters and concepts introduced in the game were
featured in later Sonic games and media. Despite interest from fans, the
game has not been rereleased beyond a brief period through GameTap in
the mid-2000s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuckles%27_Chaotix>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1535:
The appearance of sun dogs over Stockholm, Sweden, inspired the
painting Vädersolstavlan, the oldest colour depiction of the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4dersolstavlan>
1818:
Four days after the Court of King's Bench in England upheld a
murder suspect's right to trial by battle in Ashford v Thornton, the
plaintiff declined to fight, allowing the defendant to go free.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashford_v_Thornton>
1968:
British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell made his
controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech in opposition to immigration and
anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the
Shadow Cabinet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech>
1978:
Soviet fighters shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 902 after it
violated Soviet airspace.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_902>
2008:
American Danica Patrick won the Indy Japan 300, becoming the
first woman to win an IndyCar auto race.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_Patrick>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
words fail someone:
(transitive, idiomatic) Of a person: to be incapable of describing
something with words, especially due to fear, shock, or surprise.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/words_fail_someone>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I can never regret. I can feel sorrow, but it's not the same
thing.
--The Last Unicorn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Last_Unicorn_(film)>
The 6th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia was a peacetime
infantry regiment that was activated by the Union army in the American
Civil War. On April 19, 1861, the regiment was on its way to Washington,
D.C. in response to President Abraham Lincoln's initial call for troops
when it was attacked by a crowd in Baltimore, Maryland, during the
Baltimore Riot. Private Luther C. Ladd of the 6th Massachusetts was
wounded and later died, becoming the war's first Union soldier to be
killed in action. April 19 was the anniversary of the battles of
Lexington and Concord, which began the American Revolution in 1775, and
the men of the 6th Massachusetts (some of whom were descended from
soldiers of that war) were often called the "Minutemen of '61". After
proceeding to Washington, the regiment returned to Baltimore to guard
locations within the city as well as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
station at Elkridge, Maryland. In April and May 1863, the regiment saw
action near Suffolk, Virginia, in the Siege of Suffolk and the Battle of
Carrsville.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6th_Regiment_Massachusetts_Volunteer_Militia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
797:
Byzantine emperor Constantine VI was captured, blinded, and
imprisoned by the supporters of his mother Irene.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_VI>
1713:
With no living male heirs, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI issued
the Pragmatic Sanction to ensure one of his daughters would inherit the
Habsburg lands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VI,_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1903:
A two-day anti-Jewish riot began in Kishinev, Bessarabia (now
in Moldova), causing the death of nearly 50 Jews and focusing worldwide
negative attention on the persecution of Jews in Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kishinev_pogrom>
1927:
American actress Mae West was sentenced to ten days in jail for
"corrupting the morals of youth" for her play Sex.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_West>
1971:
The first space station, Salyut 1, was launched from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR, USSR.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salyut_1>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dreamworker:
A person who attempts to discover what deeper meaning might be contained
in his or her own, or another person's, dreams.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dreamworker>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
For heaven's sake enjoy life. Don't cry over things that were or
things that aren't. Enjoy what you have now to the fullest. In all
honesty you really only have two choices; you can like what you do OR
you can dislike it. I choose to like it and what fun I have had. The
other choice is no fun and people do not want to be around a whiner. We
can always find people who are worse off and we don't have to look far!
Help them and forget self! I would certainly say, above all, seek God.
He will come to you if you look. There is absolutely NO down side.
--Barbara Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barbara_Bush>
Famous Fantastic Mysteries was an American science fiction and fantasy
pulp magazine published from 1939 to 1953, edited by Mary Gnaedinger. It
was launched by the Munsey Company to reprint stories from their
magazines, including Argosy. Frequently reprinted authors included
George Allan England, A. Merritt, and Austin Hall. The artwork,
including some of the best work of Virgil Finlay and Lawrence Stevens,
contributed to the success of the magazine. In late 1942 Popular
Publications acquired the title from Munsey, and Famous Fantastic
Mysteries stopped reprinting short stories from the earlier magazines.
It continued to reprint longer works, including titles by G. K.
Chesterton, H. G. Wells, and H. Rider Haggard. Original short fiction
also began to appear, including Arthur C. Clarke's "Guardian Angel",
which later formed the first section of his novel Childhood's End. In
1951 the publishers experimented briefly with a large digest format, but
returned quickly to the original pulp layout.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Fantastic_Mysteries>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1738:
By royal decree, Philip V of Spain established the Real
Academia de la Historia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_Academia_de_la_Historia>
1915:
World War I: French aviator Roland Garros landed his aircraft
behind enemy lines and was taken prisoner.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Georges_Garros>
1938:
Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, made his
debut in Action Comics #1, the first true superhero comic book.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman>
1958:
Controversial American poet Ezra Pound was released from St.
Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he had been incarcerated
for twelve years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Pound>
1996:
Israeli forces shelled Qana, Lebanon, during Operation Grapes
of Wrath, killing at least 100 civilians and injuring more than 110
others at a UN compound.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qana_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tit for tat:
(idiomatic) Equivalent retribution; an act of returning exactly what one
gets; an eye for an eye.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tit_for_tat>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Cultural and civilizational diversity challenges the Western and
particularly American belief in the universal relevance of Western
culture. … Normatively the Western universalist belief posits that
people throughout the world should embrace Western values, institutions,
and culture because they embody the highest, most enlightened, most
liberal, most rational, most modern, and most civilized thinking of
humankind. In the emerging world of ethnic conflict and civilizational
clash, Western belief in the universality of Western culture suffers
three problems: it is false; it is immoral; and it is dangerous.
--Samuel P. Huntington
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_P._Huntington>
Yvonne Fletcher was fatally wounded on 17 April 1984 by a shot coming
from the Libyan embassy on St James's Square in London. She had been
deployed as a constable of the Metropolitan Police to monitor a
demonstration against the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. During the
protest, two unknown gunmen opened fire with Sterling submachine guns,
killing Fletcher and wounding eleven Libyans. The inquest found that she
was "killed by a bullet coming from one of two windows on the west side
of the front on the first floor of the Libyan People's Bureau". After an
eleven-day siege of the embassy, those inside were expelled from the
United Kingdom, and diplomatic relations with Libya were severed. In
1999 a warming of diplomatic relations with Britain led to the payment
of compensation and a statement from the Libyan government admitting
culpability in Fletcher's shooting. British police continued their
investigation until 2017, but no one has been convicted of Fletcher's
murder.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Yvonne_Fletcher>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1080:
On the death of his brother Harald III, Canute IV, who later
became the first Dane to be canonized, became King of Denmark.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canute_IV_of_Denmark>
1362:
Lithuanian Crusade: After a month-long siege, the Teutonic
Order captured and destroyed Kaunas Castle (reconstruction pictured) in
Lithuania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Kaunas_(1362)>
1907:
The first of three dreadnought battleships for Brazil was laid
down, sparking a vastly expensive South American naval arms race.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American_dreadnought_race>
1951:
The Peak District was designated the first national park in the
United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_District>
1973:
George Lucas began writing a 13-page film treatment entitled
The Star Wars.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_(film)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kyriarchy:
A system of ruling and oppression in which many people may interact and
act as oppressor or oppressed.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kyriarchy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The idea that Anarchy can be inaugurated by force is as
fallacious as the idea that it can be sustained by force. Force cannot
preserve Anarchy; neither can it bring it. In fact, one of the
inevitable influences of the use of force is to postpone Anarchy. The
only thing that force can ever do for us is to save us from extinction,
to give us a longer lease of life in which to try to secure Anarchy by
the only methods that can ever bring it. But this advantage is always
purchased at immense cost, and its attainment is always attended by
frightful risk. The attempt should be made only when the risk of any
other course is greater.
--Benjamin Tucker
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tucker>
William T. Stearn (16 April 1911 – 9 May 2001) was a British botanist.
Born in Cambridge in 1911, he was largely self-educated. He was
librarian at the Royal Horticultural Society in London from 1933 to 1952
and then moved to the Natural History Museum as a scientific officer in
the botany department until 1976. After retirement, he became President
of the Linnean Society and taught botany at Cambridge University. He is
known for his work in botanical taxonomy, botanical history, and
botanical illustration and for his studies of the Swedish scientist Carl
Linnaeus. He is the author of Botanical Latin, as well as the Dictionary
of Plant Names for Gardeners, a popular guide to the Latin names of
plants. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in
1957. Considered one of the most eminent British botanists of his time,
he is the botanical authority for over 400 plants that he named and
described. An essay prize in his name from the Society for the History
of Natural History is awarded each year.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_T._Stearn>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1818:
The United States Senate ratified the Rush–Bagot Treaty,
which laid the basis for a demilitarized boundary between the U.S. and
British North America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush%E2%80%93Bagot_Treaty>
1847:
New Zealand Wars: A minor Māori chief was accidentally shot by
a junior British Army officer in the Petre settlement of New Zealand's
North Island, triggering the Wanganui Campaign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanganui_Campaign>
1912:
American Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across
the English Channel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Quimby>
1917:
Vladimir Lenin returned to Petrograd from Switzerland, and
joined the Bolshevik movement in Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin>
2014:
The South Korean ferry MV Sewol sank 1.5 km (0.93 mi)
offshore of Donggeochado, Jindo County, with around 300 of the 476
onboard killed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_MV_Sewol>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sprachbund:
(linguistics) A group of languages sharing a number of areal features
(similar grammar, vocabulary, etc.) which are primarily due to language
contact rather than cognation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sprachbund>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a
foolish thing.
--Anatole France
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anatole_France>