The sinking of the RMS Titanic in the early morning of 15 April 1912,
four days into the ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York
City, was one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history,
killing more than 1,500 people. The largest passenger liner in service
at the time, Titanic had an estimated 2,224 people on board when she
struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic. The ship had received six
warnings of sea ice but was travelling at near maximum speed when the
lookouts sighted the iceberg. Unable to turn quickly enough, the ship
suffered a glancing blow that buckled the starboard (right) side and
opened five of sixteen compartments to the sea. The disaster caused
widespread outrage over the lack of lifeboats, lax regulations, and the
unequal treatment of the three passenger classes during the evacuation.
Inquiries recommended sweeping changes to maritime regulations, leading
to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (1914),
which continues to govern maritime safety.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_RMS_Titanic>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1638:
A rebellion by Catholic Japanese peasants in Shimabara over
increased taxes was put down by the Tokugawa shogunate, resulting in
greater enforcement of the policy of national seclusion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimabara_Rebellion>
1738:
Serse (audio featured), an opera by Baroque composer George
Frideric Handel loosely based on Xerxes I of Persia, premiered in
London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serse>
1936:
A group of Arabs in British Mandatory Palestine killed two Jews
at a roadblock, an act widely viewed as the beginning of the violence
within the Arab revolt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Tulkarm_shooting>
1958:
On Walter O'Malley's initiative, the Los Angeles Dodgers and
San Francisco Giants played in the first Major League Baseball game on
the U.S. West Coast.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_O%27Malley>
1995:
At a GATT ministerial meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco,
representatives of 124 countries and the European Communities signed an
agreement to establish the World Trade Organization.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Leonardeschi:
A group of artists who worked in the studio of, or under the influence
of, Leonardo da Vinci.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Leonardeschi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who thinks little, errs much.
--Leonardo da Vinci
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci>
Urse d'Abetot (c. 1040 – 1108) was a Sheriff of Worcestershire and
royal official under Kings William I, William II and Henry I. Urse's
lord in Normandy was present at the Battle of Hastings, and Urse moved
to England shortly after the Norman Conquest, where he was appointed
sheriff around 1069. His castle in the town of Worcester encroached on
the cathedral cemetery there, angering the Archbishop of York. He helped
to put down a rebellion against King William I in 1075, and quarrelled
with the Church in his county over the jurisdiction of the sheriffs. He
continued in the service of William's sons after the king's death, and
was appointed constable under William II and marshal under Henry I. He
earned a reputation for extortion, and during the reign of William II,
he was considered second only to the king's minister Ranulf Flambard in
his greediness. Through his daughter, Urse is an ancestor of the
Beauchamp family, who eventually became Earls of Warwick.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urse_d%27Abetot>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1561:
In Nuremberg, a mass sighting of celestial phenomena
(illustration pictured) took place of an "aerial battle" between odd-
shaped objects.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1561_celestial_phenomenon_over_Nuremberg>
1908:
The first Hauser Dam in the U.S. state of Montana failed and
caused severe flooding and damage downstream.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauser_Dam>
1945:
The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroyed the
German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher
Vokes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Razing_of_Friesoythe>
2014:
Boko Haram kidnapped 276 female students from the Government
Secondary School in the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chibok_schoolgirls_kidnapping>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
consistent:
1. Of a regularly occurring, dependable nature.
2. Compatible, accordant.
3. (logic) Of a set of statements: such that no contradiction logically
follows from them.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/consistent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time,
it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable
direction.
--James Branch Cabell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell>
Carousel (1945) is the second musical by the team of Richard Rodgers
(music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (book and lyrics), after their hit
Oklahoma! (1943). It was adapted from Ferenc Molnár's 1909 play Liliom,
transplanting the setting to the U.S. state of Maine. Carousel barker
Billy Bigelow's romance with millworker Julie Jordan cost them their
jobs; after he attempts a robbery that goes tragically wrong, he is
given a chance to make things right. The show includes the songs "If I
Loved You", "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" and "You'll Never Walk
Alone". It opened on Broadway on April 19, 1945, and was an immediate
hit with both critics and audiences. It initially ran there for 890
performances, and duplicated its success in the West End in 1950. It has
been repeatedly revived and recorded. A 1992 production by Nicholas
Hytner enjoyed success in London, in New York, and on tour. Rodgers
later wrote that Carousel was his favorite of all his musicals. In 1999,
Time magazine named it the best musical of the 20th century.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carousel_(musical)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1111:
Henry V, the last ruler of the Salian dynasty, was crowned Holy
Roman Emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1829:
The Roman Catholic Relief Act was granted royal assent,
removing the most substantial restrictions on Catholics in the United
Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Relief_Act_1829>
1943:
World War II: German news announced the discovery of a mass
grave in Katyn, Russia, of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet
forces, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile
and the USSR.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre>
1958:
In the midst of the Cold War, American pianist Van Cliburn won
the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Cliburn>
1984:
Indian forces launched Operation Meghdoot, a preemptive attack
on the disputed Siachen Glacier region of Kashmir, triggering a military
conflict with Pakistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siachen_conflict>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
magnality:
A great or wonderful thing; a marvel.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/magnality>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of
our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights; that
confidence is every where the parent of despotism; free government is
founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy, and not
confidence, which prescribes limited constitutions to bind down those
whom we are obliged to trust with power; that our Constitution has
accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no farther, our confidence
may go; and let the honest advocate of confidence read the Alien and
Sedition Acts, and say if the Constitution has not been wise in fixing
limits to the government it created, and whether we should be wise in
destroying those limits; let him say what the government is, if it be
not a tyranny, which the men of our choice have conferred on the
President, and the President of our choice has assented to and accepted,
over the friendly strangers, to whom the mild spirit of our country and
its laws had pledged hospitality and protection; that the men of our
choice have more respected the bare suspicions of the President than the
solid rights of innocence, the claims of justification, the sacred force
of truth, and the forms and substance of law and justice. In questions
of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man, but bind him
down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.
--Thomas Jefferson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson>
Imogen Holst (12 April 1907 – 9 March 1984) was a British composer,
arranger, conductor, teacher and festival administrator. In the 1940s
she helped to establish Dartington Hall as a major centre of music
education, and for the next 20 years was the joint artistic director of
the Aldeburgh Festival. The only child of the composer Gustav Holst, she
attended the Royal College of Music, but was unable for health reasons
to follow her ambitions to be a pianist or a dancer, and became a full-
time organiser for the English Folk Dance and Song Society. In the early
1950s she became Benjamin Britten's musical assistant. In later years
she concentrated on the preservation of her father's musical legacy, and
wrote several books on his life and works. The music she wrote is not
widely known and has received little critical attention. She received
numerous academic honours, and was appointed Commander of the Order of
the British Empire in 1975.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imogen_Holst>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
627:
King Edwin of Northumbria was converted to Christianity by
Bishop Paulinus of York, who had previously saved his life.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_of_Northumbria>
1807:
The Froberg mutiny at Fort Ricasoli in Malta came to a close
when the rebels blew up 600 barrels of gunpowder and escaped, although
they were later caught.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Froberg_mutiny>
1861:
Confederate forces began firing at Fort Sumter in the harbor of
Charleston, South Carolina, starting the American Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter>
1910:
SMS Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the
Austro-Hungarian Navy, was launched.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Zr%C3%ADnyi>
1994:
Husband-and-wife law partners Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel
posted the first massive commercial spam on Usenet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_Canter_and_Martha_Siegel>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
horses for courses:
(chiefly Britain, idiomatic) Different people are suited for different
jobs or situations; what is fitting in one case may not be fitting in
another.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/horses_for_courses>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The drafters of the Constitution had made one simple but far-
reaching error. They'd assumed that the people selected by The People to
manage the nation would be as honest and honorable as they'd been. One
could almost hear the "Oops!" emanating from all those old graves.
--Tom Clancy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Clancy>
State Route 520 (SR 520) is a 13-mile (21 km) state highway and
freeway in the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of
Washington. Connecting Seattle to the Eastside region of King County
across the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge on Lake Washington, it
intersects Interstate 5 (I-5) in Seattle, I-405 in Bellevue, and SR 202
in Redmond. It was designated as a freeway in 1964, but was not fully
constructed until the late 1970s. Increased traffic on the corridor,
spurred in part by expansion of the Microsoft headquarters in Overlake,
led to the addition of high-occupancy vehicle lanes and new interchanges
in the 1990s. In April 2016, the original floating bridge was replaced
by a wider one as part of a multibillion-dollar expansion program that
is scheduled to be completed in the 2020s. The program includes the
construction of a new bicycle and pedestrian path, bus stations, and
interchanges.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_State_Route_520>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed, ending the War of the
Sixth Coalition, and forcing Napoleon to abdicate as ruler of France and
sending him into exile on Elba.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fontainebleau_(1814)>
1913:
The Nevill Ground's pavilion was destroyed (damage pictured) in
the only suffragette arson attack on a cricket ground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevill_Ground>
1968:
Rudi Dutschke, the most prominent leader of the German student
movement, survived an assassination attempt, which led to the largest
protests to that date in Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudi_Dutschke>
1993:
Inmates at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility near
Lucasville, Ohio, U.S., rioted and took over the facility for 11 days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ohio_Correctional_Facility>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
folding stuff:
(slang) Banknotes, paper money.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/folding_stuff>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In this arid wilderness of steel and stone I raise up my voice
that you may hear. To the East and to the West I beckon. To the North
and to the South I show a sign proclaiming: Death to the weakling,
wealth to the strong! Open your eyes that you may see, Oh men of
mildewed minds, and listen to me ye bewildered millions! For I stand
forth to challenge the wisdom of the world; to interrogate the "laws" of
man and of "God"! I request reason for your golden rule and ask the why
and wherefore of your ten commandments. … I break away from all
conventions that do not lead to my earthly success and happiness. I
raise up in stern invasion the standard of the strong!
--Anton LaVey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anton_LaVey>
Æthelstan A is the name given by historians to an unknown scribe who
drafted charters (example pictured) for land grants made by King
Æthelstan of England between 928 and 935. Providing far more
information than other charters of the period, they contain the date and
place of the grants and an unusually long list of witnesses, including
kings of Wales and occasionally Scotland and Strathclyde. The charters
commence shortly after Æthelstan conquered Northumbria in 927, making
him the first king to rule the whole of England. They give him titles
such as "King of the English" and "King of the Whole of Britain",
reflecting his claim to a higher status than previous West Saxon kings.
The charters are written in the elaborate hermeneutic style of Latin, a
hallmark of the English Benedictine Reform; the style became dominant in
Anglo-Latin literature in the mid-tenth century. The scribe stopped
drafting charters after 935, and his successors returned to a simpler
style, suggesting that he was working on his own rather than as a member
of a royal scriptorium.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelstan_A>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
Mount Tambora in Indonesia began one of the most violent
volcanic eruptions in recorded history, killing at least 71,000 people,
and affecting worldwide temperatures for the next two years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora>
1858:
Big Ben, the bell in the Palace of Westminster's clock tower in
London, was cast after the original bell had cracked during testing.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben>
1944:
The Holocaust: Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escaped from
Auschwitz; their report was one of the earliest and most detailed
descriptions of the mass killings in the camp.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Vrba>
1992:
Nagorno-Karabakh War: At least 40 Armenian civilians were
massacred in Maraga, Azerbaijan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maraga_massacre>
2009:
Fijian President Ratu Josefa Iloilo announced that he had
suspended the constitution and assumed all governance in the country
after it was ruled that the government of Prime Minister Frank
Bainimarama was illegal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Fijian_constitutional_crisis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
caveat:
1. (regarded by some as nonstandard) To qualify a statement with a caveat
or proviso.
2. (law) To lodge a formal notice of interest in land under a Torrens land-
title system.
3. (law, dated) To issue a notice requesting that proceedings be suspended.
4. (obsolete) To warn or caution against some event.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caveat>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The true barbarian is he who thinks every thing barbarous but his
own tastes and prejudices.
--William Hazlitt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Hazlitt>
The Lesser Antillean macaw (Ara guadeloupensis) was a parrot of the
Guadeloupe islands. There are no conserved specimens, but this macaw is
known from several contemporary accounts, and the bird is the subject of
some illustrations. Austin Hobart Clark made a species description based
on these accounts in 1905. A phalanx bone from the island of Marie-
Galante confirmed the existence of a similar-sized macaw predating the
arrival of humans, and was correlated with the Lesser Antillean macaw in
2015. According to contemporary descriptions, the body was red, the
wings were red, blue and yellow, and the solid red tail feathers were
between 38 and 51 cm (15 and 20 in) long; apart from the tail feathers
and its smaller size, this description matches the scarlet macaw. These
accounts also said that it ate fruit (including the poisonous
manchineel), nested in trees and laid two eggs once or twice a year.
Although it was said to be abundant in Guadeloupe, by 1760 it was
becoming rare and was soon eradicated, probably by disease and hunting.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesser_Antillean_macaw>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1860:
On his phonautograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de
Martinville made the oldest known recording of an audible human voice,
when he recorded himself singing "Au clair de la lune" (audio featured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89douard-L%C3%A9on_Scott_de_Martinville>
1866:
The Civil Rights Act of 1866, the United States' first federal
law to affirm that all citizens are equally protected by the law, was
enacted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1866>
1940:
During the German invasion of Norway, Vidkun Quisling seized
control of the government in a Nazi-backed coup d'état.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidkun_Quisling>
1948:
Fighters from the Zionist paramilitary groups Irgun and Lehi
attacked Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Yassin_massacre>
2003:
Invasion of Iraq: Coalition forces captured Baghdad and the
statue of Saddam Hussein in Firdos Square was toppled.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firdos_Square_statue_destruction>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sully:
1. (transitive) To soil or stain; to dirty.
2. (transitive) To corrupt or damage.
3. (intransitive) To become soiled or tarnished.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sully>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"Life is like a sewer — what you get out of it depends on what
you put into it." It's always seemed to me that this is precisely the
sort of dynamic, positive thinking that we so desperately need today in
these trying times of crisis and universal brouhaha.
--Tom Lehrer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Lehrer>
Withypool Stone Circle is a Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age ring of
thirty small gritstones near the village of Withypool, in Exmoor in the
south-western English county of Somerset. It is one of many stone
circles built across Britain, Ireland and Brittany as part of a
megalithic tradition between 3300 and 900 BCE. Archaeologists speculate
that they may be prehistoric religious sites with supernatural
associations. Although many monuments were built on Exmoor during the
Bronze Age, only one other stone circle survives in this area, at
Porlock. The Withypool ring sits in an area of heathland on the south-
western slope of Withypool Hill. It is about 36.4 metres (119 feet 5
inches) in diameter. There may originally have been around 100 stones;
there are conspicuous gaps on the northern and western sides of the
monument. The site was rediscovered in 1898 and surveyed by the
archaeologist Harold St George Gray in 1905.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Withypool_Stone_Circle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
876:
Forces of the Abbasid Caliphate decisively defeated those of the
Saffarid emir Ya'qub ibn Laith, forcing the latter to halt his advance
into Iraq.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dayr_al-%27Aqul>
1740:
War of the Austrian Succession: The Royal Navy captured the
Spanish ship of the line Princesa and mustered her into British service.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Princess_(1740)>
1943:
Otto and Elise Hampel were executed in Berlin for their
resistance activities against the Third Reich.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_and_Elise_Hampel>
1968:
BOAC Flight 712 had an engine fire shortly after take-off from
London Heathrow, leading to the deaths of five people on board,
including flight attendant Jane Harrison, who was later awarded a
posthumous George Cross for heroism.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Jane_Harrison>
2008:
On board Soyuz TMA-12, Yi So-yeon became the first Korean
person, and second Asian woman, to go into space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_So-yeon>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
enhypostasia:
(Christianity (Christology)) The state of the human nature of Jesus
Christ being entirely dependent on, and not existing independently of,
the divine nature of God as a whole (which is the hypostasis of the Holy
Trinity comprising God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit), or individual persons of the Trinity such as the Father and the
Holy Spirit.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enhypostasia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Only an idiot fights a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the
throne of the kingdom of idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts.
--J. Michael Straczynski
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._Michael_Straczynski>
Drama dari Krakatau (Drama of Krakatoa) is a 1929 vernacular Malay novel
written by Kwee Tek Hoay, first published as a serial in his magazine
Panorama between 7 April and 22 December 1928. Inspired by Edward
Bulwer-Lytton's 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii and the 1883
eruption of Krakatoa, the book centres on two families in 1920s Batam
with siblings who were separated in 1883. The brother becomes a
political figure, while the sister marries a Baduy priest-king who
ultimately sacrifices himself to calm a stirring Krakatoa. Before the
final instalment had been published, the novel had already been adapted
for the stage. Although Kwee was known as a realist and researched the
volcano before writing, Drama dari Krakatau is replete with mysticism.
Thematic analyses have focused on the depiction of indigenous cultures
by Kwee (himself ethnic Chinese), as well as geography and nationalism.
As with other works of Chinese Malay literature, the book is not
considered part of the Indonesian literary canon.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drama_dari_Krakatau>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1724:
Johann Sebastian Bach debuted the St John Passion, a musical
representation of the Passion, at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_Passion>
1788:
American pioneers established the town of Marietta (now in
Ohio), the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest
Territory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_pioneers_to_the_Northwest_Territory>
1896:
An Arctic expedition led by Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen
reached 86°13.6'N, almost three degrees beyond the previous Farthest
North mark.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fridtjof_Nansen>
1948:
The United Nations established the World Health Organization to
act as a coordinating authority on international public health.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization>
2010:
Thousands rioted in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, resulting in
the collapse of the Kurmanbek Bakiyev government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyrgyz_Revolution_of_2010>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pharmacovigilance:
(medicine, pharmacology) The detection, assessment, understanding and
prevention of adverse effects of medicines.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pharmacovigilance>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We need not war to awaken human energy. There is at least equal
scope for courage and magnanimity in blessing, as in destroying mankind.
The condition of the human race offers inexhaustible objects for
enterprise, and fortitude, and magnanimity.
--William Ellery Channing
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Ellery_Channing>
The 2003 Atlantic hurricane season was unusually active, with tropical
cyclone activity both before June and after November for the first time
in 50 years. There were three major hurricanes, and the sixteen named
storms tied for the sixth highest total on record. The strongest
hurricane of the season was Isabel, which reached Category 5 on the
Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale northeast of the Lesser Antilles, and
later struck North Carolina at Category 2, causing damage worth
$3.6 billion and 51 deaths across the Mid-Atlantic United States. In
early September, Hurricane Fabian struck Bermuda as a Category 3
hurricane, the strongest since 1926; it caused four deaths and
$300 million in damage (example pictured) on the island. Hurricane Juan
wreaked considerable destruction on Nova Scotia, particularly Halifax,
as a Category 2 hurricane, the first of significant strength there
since 1893. The minimal hurricanes Claudette and Erika struck Texas and
Mexico, respectively.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Atlantic_hurricane_season>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1712:
In New York City, a group of 23 slaves set a building on fire
and escaped, but were soon recaptured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Slave_Revolt_of_1712>
1812:
Peninsular War: After a three-week siege, the Anglo-Portuguese
Army, under the Earl of Wellington, captured Badajoz, Spain, and forced
the surrender of the French garrison.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Badajoz_(1812)>
1886:
Vancouver, one of British Columbia's youngest cities, was
incorporated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver>
1945:
Second World War: The Battle of Slater's Knoll on Bougainville
Island concluded with a decisive victory for the Australian Army's 7th
Brigade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Slater%27s_Knoll>
2005:
Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani was elected by the Iraqi National
Assembly as the first non-Arab President of Iraq.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jalal_Talabani>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pornocracy:
1. (Roman Catholicism, historical, sometimes capitalized) The period of the
papacy known as the saeculum obscurum (Latin for “dark age”), and
also as the “Rule of the Harlots”, which began with the installation
of Pope Sergius III in 904 and lasted for sixty years until the death of
Pope John XII in 964, during which time the popes were strongly
influenced by the Theophylacti, a powerful and corrupt aristocratic
family.
2. (derogatory, often figuratively) A government by, or dominated by,
prostitutes or corrupt persons.
3. (derogatory) A societal culture dominated by pornography.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pornocracy>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of the laws of nature on which the condition of man depends, that
which is attended with the greatest number of consequences is the
necessity of labor for obtaining the means of subsistence, as well as
the means of the greatest part of our pleasures. This is no doubt the
primary cause of government; for if nature had produced spontaneously
all the objects which we desire, and in sufficient abundance for the
desires of all, there would have been no source of dispute or of injury
among men, nor would any man have possessed the means of ever acquiring
authority over another. The results are exceedingly different when
nature produces the objects of desire not in sufficient abundance for
all. The source of dispute is then exhaustless, and every man has the
means of acquiring authority over others in proportion to the quantity
of those objects which he is able to possess. In this case the end to be
obtained through government as the means, is to make that distribution
of the scanty materials of happiness which would insure the greatest sum
of it in the members of the community taken altogether, preventing every
individual or combination of individuals from interfering with that
distribution or making any man to have less than his share.
--James Mill
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Mill>