Frozen II is an American animated musical fantasy film produced by Walt
Disney Animation Studios and released in the U.S. on November 22, 2019,
as the sequel to Frozen (2013). Directed by Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee,
it stars the voices of Kristen Bell (pictured), Idina Menzel, Josh Gad,
and Jonathan Groff. It follows sisters Anna (played by Bell) and Elsa
(Menzel), and their companions, Kristoff and his reindeer Sven (both
Groff) and Olaf (Gad), as they travel to an enchanted forest to unravel
the origin of Elsa's magical power. The film's animation technology,
involving an interdepartmental collaboration, was more complex than that
in Frozen. Frozen II was translated into 46 languages and was
accompanied by Into the Unknown: Making Frozen II, a documentary
series. It was the third-highest-grossing film of 2019 worldwide, at
$1.453 billion. Critics generally reviewed the film positively, and it
was nominated for Best Original Song at the 92nd Academy Awards, among
numerous other accolades.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frozen_II>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1700:
A papal conclave, which had been deadlocked due to concerns
over how a successor would respond to the impending death of Charles II
of Spain, ended with the election of Clement XI.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_papal_conclave>
1867:
The Manchester Martyrs were hanged in Manchester, England, for
killing a police officer while helping two Irish nationalists escape
from police custody.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Martyrs>
1876:
William "Boss" Tweed, a New York City politician who had been
arrested for embezzlement, was handed over to US authorities after
having escaped from prison and fled to Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Tweed>
1963:
The first episode of Doctor Who, the world's longest-running
science fiction television show, was broadcast on BBC television,
starring William Hartnell as the first incarnation of the title role.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Unearthly_Child>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
osturducken:
(cooking, probably humorous) An ostrich stuffed with a turducken; that
is, a boned chicken stuffed with some sort of breadcrumb or sausage
stuffing, inside a boned duck, inside a boned turkey, inside a boned
ostrich.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/osturducken>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about...?
--An Unearthly Child
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/First_Doctor>
The assassination of John F. Kennedy, the 35th U.S. president, occurred
on November 22, 1963, while Kennedy was riding in a motorcade through
Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. He was shot from the Texas School Book
Depository by Lee Harvey Oswald. Kennedy was pronounced dead at Parkland
Memorial Hospital. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as
president later that day. Oswald was arrested and charged with murder.
Two days later, he was shot dead by Jack Ruby on live television. The
Warren Commission concluded that Oswald killed Kennedy, acting alone;
most later federal investigations have agreed with its general findings.
The event is still the subject of debate and conspiracy theories, in
which many Americans believe. Kennedy's killing had a profound impact
and was the first of four major assassinations during the 1960s in the
U.S., including that of Kennedy's brother Robert in 1968. Kennedy was
the fourth U.S. president to be assassinated and the most recent to have
died in office.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_John_F._Kennedy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1797:
The Geisel School of Medicine, the fourth oldest medical school
in the United States, was founded by the physician Nathan Smith.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisel_School_of_Medicine>
1968:
The Beatles released their eponymous double album, popularly
known as the White Album.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_%28album%29>
1987:
Two television stations in Chicago had their broadcast signals
hijacked with footage of an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask
and costume.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Headroom_signal_hijacking>
2013:
Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen defeated India's
Viswanathan Anand to become world chess champion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Carlsen>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
assassinee:
(nonstandard, often humorous) One who is assassinated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/assassinee>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always
subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never
fear to negotiate. … Together let us explore the stars, conquer the
deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts
and commerce. … All this will not be finished in the first one
hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days,
nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime
on this planet. But let us begin.
--John F. Kennedy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy>
The sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II dates to the 6th century BC and was
unearthed in 1855 near Sidon, in modern-day Lebanon. It contained the
body of a Phoenician king of Sidon and is one of only three Ancient
Egyptian sarcophagi found outside Egypt. It was likely carved in Egypt
from local amphibolite and captured during Cambyses II's conquest of
Egypt in 525 BC. The sarcophagus has two sets of Phoenician
inscriptions, one on its lid and a partial copy of it around the
curvature of the head. This was the first Phoenician language text to be
discovered in Phoenicia proper and the most detailed found to that
point. More than a dozen scholars rushed to translate it, noting the
similarities between the Phoenician language and Hebrew. The translation
allowed them to identify the king buried inside, his lineage, and his
construction feats. The inscriptions also warn against disturbing
Eshmunazar II's place of repose. Today the sarcophagus is a highlight
of the Louvre's Phoenician collection.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcophagus_of_Eshmunazar_II>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1877:
Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph, a
device able to record and play sound.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph>
1950:
Two trains collided near Valemount, Canada, killing 21 people;
the subsequent trial brought future prime minister John Diefenbaker to
greater political attention.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoe_River_train_crash>
1961:
La Ronde, the first revolving restaurant in the United States,
was inaugurated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Ronde_%28restaurant%29>
2009:
An explosion in a coal mine in Heilongjiang, China, killed 108
miners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Heilongjiang_mine_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
packed like sardines:
(simile, informal) Extremely packed; tightly squeezed together; crammed.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/packed_like_sardines>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nothing is so common as to imitate one's enemies, and to use
their weapons.
--Voltaire
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltaire>
The Quine–Putnam indispensability argument reasons that we should
believe in abstract mathematical objects such as numbers and sets
because mathematics is indispensable to science. One of the most
important ideas in the philosophy of mathematics, it is credited to
W. V. Quine and Hilary Putnam (pictured). The roots of the argument can
be traced back to thinkers such as Gottlob Frege and Kurt Gödel, but
Quine introduced its key components, including naturalism and
confirmational holism. Putnam gave Quine's argument its first detailed
formulation, although he later expressed disagreement with some aspects
of the argument. Many counterarguments have been raised against the
idea. An influential argument by Hartry Field holds that mathematical
entities are dispensable to science. Other philosophers, such as
Penelope Maddy, have argued that we do not need to believe in all of the
entities that are indispensable to science.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quine%E2%80%93Putnam_indispensability_argument>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1945:
The Nuremberg trials (defendants pictured) of 24 leading Nazis
involved in the Holocaust and various war crimes during World War II
began in Nuremberg, Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_trials>
1947:
Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George VI, married
Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who was given the title Duke of
Edinburgh.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip,_Duke_of_Edinburgh>
1990:
Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific
serial killers, was arrested in Novocherkassk.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Chikatilo>
2003:
Suicide bombers blew up the British consulate and the
headquarters of HSBC Bank in Istanbul, killing 31 people, including
consul general Roger Short and actor Kerem Yılmazer.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Istanbul_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
alderliefest:
(archaic or obsolete) Often used as an epithet when addressing someone:
most beloved.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alderliefest>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
America reaches out all across the Pacific, building bridges
mightier than the Golden Gate, spanning … more space and time than the
great expanse that the water has. Bridges linking pride in our past.
The immigrants and workers who sunk their sweat … in the foundations
of this nation. And our hope for the future and the untold heights to
which we're going to climb together. Bridges connecting diverse
communities. All across the traditions, cultures, and languages, we
find the common dreams we share for ourselves and for our children.
Bridges that carry the ideas of entrepreneurs: "What if? Why not? What
next?"… I'm looking forward to seeing all the progress we're going to
make and all the bridges between our people we're going to continue to
build in the months and years ahead.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
"To Be Loved" is a song by English singer Adele (pictured) from her
fourth studio album, 30 (2021). Adele wrote the song with Tobias
Jesso Jr., who produced it with Shawn Everett. It was released by
Columbia Records as the album's 11th track on 19 November 2021. A torch
ballad, "To Be Loved" has piano instrumentation and sets Adele's echoey
vocals over minimalistic production. The song is about the sacrifices
one must make upon falling in love and addresses Adele's divorce from
Simon Konecki, attempting to justify to her son why their marriage did
not succeed. It received universal acclaim from music critics, who
compared Adele's vocal performance to those of Whitney Houston and
highlighted it as her all-time best. Several publications included "To
Be Loved" in their lists of the best songs of 2021. The song reached the
top 40 in Australia, Canada, Sweden, and the United States and entered
the charts in some other countries. Adele vowed never to perform it live
due to its emotional nature.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Be_Loved_%28Adele_song%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1921:
Rioting broke out in Bombay, India, during the visit of Edward,
Prince of Wales, leading to at least 58 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Wales_riots>
1933:
The Union of the Right, a coalition of right-wing parties, won
the majority of seats in the 1933 Spanish general election, the first
election in the country with suffrage extended to women.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Spanish_general_election>
1985:
The first of five summits between Soviet general secretary
Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. president Ronald Reagan began in Geneva.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Summit_%281985%29>
2013:
A double suicide bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut,
Lebanon, killed 23 people and injured at least 160 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Iranian_embassy_bombing_in_Beirut>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
to a man:
Including every person; without exception; unanimously.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/to_a_man>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nothing is more uncertain than the result of any one throw; few
things more certain than the result of many throws. When applied to
human life, the law of averages exhibits many striking results.
--James A. Garfield
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_A._Garfield>
Alan Shepard (November 18, 1923 – July 21, 1998) was an American
astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot, and businessman. In 1961 he became
the second person and the first American to travel into space, and in
1971 he walked on the Moon (pictured). Shepard saw action with the
surface navy during World War II. He became a naval aviator in 1947,
and a test pilot in 1951. He was one of NASA's original Mercury Seven
astronauts in 1959, and in May 1961 he made his first spaceflight:
Mercury-Redstone 3, the first crewed Project Mercury flight. In 1971,
he commanded the Apollo 14 mission, piloting the Apollo Lunar Module
Antares. He became the fifth and the oldest person to walk on the Moon,
and the only one of the Mercury Seven astronauts to do so. He was
promoted to rear admiral in 1971, and was the first astronaut to reach
that rank. He was Chief of the Astronaut Office from November 1963 to
July 1969, and from June 1971 to April 1974. He retired from NASA and
the United States Navy in July 1974.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shepard>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1977:
The Solomon Islands ratified the adoption of a new flag
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Solomon_Islands>
1978:
Jim Jones led more than 900 members of the Peoples Temple to
mass murder/suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, hours after some of its
members assassinated U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Ryan>
2003:
With its ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health,
the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court made the state the first in the
U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodridge_v._Department_of_Public_Health>
2017:
Cyclone Numa, a rare "medicane", made landfall in Greece to
become the worst weather event that the country had experienced since
1977.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Numa>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
the world is someone's oyster:
All opportunities are open to someone; the world is theirs.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/the_world_is_someone%27s_oyster>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Whatever stage of development it may reach, China will never
pursue hegemony or expansion, and will never impose its will on others.
China does not seek spheres of influence, and will not fight a cold war
or a hot war with anyone. … No matter how the global landscape
evolves, the historical trend of peaceful coexistence between China and
the United States will not change.
--Xi Jinping
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping>
Australiformis is a monotypic genus of acanthocephalans (thorny-
headed or spiny-headed parasitic worms) that infest marsupials in
Australia and New Guinea. The worm's body consists of a long trunk and a
proboscis armed with hooks, which it uses to pierce and hold the gut
wall of its host. The only species in the genus, Australiformis semoni,
resembles species in the genus Moniliformis but lacks spiral muscles in
the outer wall of the proboscis receptacle. The proboscis is armed with
12 rows of 13 to 15 hooks which are used to attach themselves to the
small or large intestine of the host. The female worms range from 95 to
197 mm long, virtually all of which is the trunk, and 1.75 to 3.5 mm
wide. There is pronounced sexual dimorphism in this species as females
are around twice the size of the males, whose trunks range from 46 to
80 mm long and are about 2 mm wide. Infestation of marsupials by
A. semoni may cause debilitating inflammation of the stomach
(gastritis) with granulomatous ulcers.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australiformis>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1943:
World War II: Australian forces launched an assault on
Sattelberg, New Guinea, against Japanese forces, initiating the Battle
of Sattelberg.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sattelberg>
1989:
Walt Disney Pictures released The Little Mermaid to theatres,
starting the Disney Renaissance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Mermaid_%281989_film%29>
1997:
Sixty-two people were killed by Islamist terrorists outside
Deir el-Bahari in Luxor, one of Egypt's top tourist attractions.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxor_massacre>
2013:
An outbreak of 77 confirmed tornadoes occurred in seven U.S.
states; it became the largest November tornado outbreak in Illinois and
Indiana.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_November_17,_2013>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cousin:
1. Chiefly with a qualifying word: any relation (especially a distant
one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's
extended family; a kinsman or kinswoman.
2. (specifically) Preceded by an ordinal number, as first, second,
third, etc.: a person descended from a common ancestor by the same
number of generations as another person.
3. (specifically) When used without a qualifying word: the child of a
person's parent's brother (that is, an uncle) or sister (an aunt); a
cousin-german, a first cousin.
4. (chiefly in the plural) A person of an ethnicity or nationality
regarded as closely related to someone of another ethnicity or
nationality.
5. Used as a term of address for someone whom one is close to; also,
(preceding a first name, sometimes capitalized as Cousin) a title for
such a person.
6. Used by a monarch to address another monarch, or a noble;
specifically (Britain) in commissions and writs by the Crown: used in
this way to address a viscount or another peer of higher rank.
7. (figurative, also attributive) Something kindred or related to
something else; a relative.
8. (obsolete)
9. (cant) A female sexual partner who is not a person's wife;
specifically, a prostitute.
10. (cant) A person who is swindled; a dupe.
11. (rare) A person who womanizes; a seducer, a womanizer.
12. (transitive, rare)
13. To address (someone) as "cousin".
14. (also reflexive) To regard (oneself or someone) as a cousin to
another person.
15. (intransitive, chiefly US, informal or regional)
16. To associate with someone or something on a close basis.
17. To visit a cousin or other relation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cousin>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I never thought I could feel this way And I've got to say that
I just don't get it. I don't know where we went wrong, But the
feeling's gone And I just can't get it back.
--Gordon Lightfoot
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gordon_Lightfoot>
In Tennessee, Interstate 40 (I-40) runs from west to east, from the
Mississippi River at the Arkansas border to the Blue Ridge Mountains at
the North Carolina state line. Paralleling the older U.S. Route 70
corridor, I-40 passes through Tennessee's three largest
cities—Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville—and serves the Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, the most-visited national park in the United
States. At 455.28 miles (732.70 km), the Tennessee segment of I-40 is
the longest of those in the eight states through which the highway
passes and the state's longest Interstate Highway. Built in segments,
I-40 in Tennessee was mostly complete by the late 1960s. The
construction of the highway resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court decision
Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe (1971), increasing the scope
for judicial review of administrative actions. The case caused the state
to realign I-40's route through Memphis onto what was originally a
section of I-240.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_40_in_Tennessee>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1973:
U.S. president Richard Nixon signed an act authorizing the
construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline to transport oil from the
Beaufort Sea to the Gulf of Alaska.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Alaska_Pipeline_System>
1997:
Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng, released on ostensibly medical
grounds after spending eighteen years in prison, was deported to the
United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wei_Jingsheng>
2002:
The first case of SARS, a zoonotic respiratory coronavirus
disease, was recorded in Guangdong, China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SARS>
2020:
The El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino and Riverside counties,
United States, was extinguished after 71 days, having destroyed 20
structures and killed one firefighter.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Dorado_Fire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
woof:
1. (weaving)
2. The set of yarns carried by the shuttle of a loom which are placed
crosswise at right angles to and interlaced with the warp; the weft.
3. (by extension) A woven fabric; also, the texture of a fabric.
4. (by extension, loosely, chiefly poetic) The thread or yarn used to
form the weft of woven fabric; the fill, the weft.
5. (obsolete, rare) Synonym of weaving (“the process of making woven
material on a loom”)
6. (figurative)
7. Something which is interwoven with another thing.
8. An underlying foundation or structure of something; a fabric.
9. The sound a dog makes when barking; a bark.
10. (by extension) A sound resembling a dog's bark; specifically (sound
engineering), a low-frequency sound of bad quality produced by a
loudspeaker. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/woof>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
This week we saw the horrible images and stories from Israel and
Gaza, and I know what you're thinking: "Who better to comment on it than
Pete Davidson?" Well, in a lot of ways, I am a good person to talk
about it because when I was seven years old, my dad was killed in a
terrorist attack. So I know something about what that's like. I saw so
many terrible pictures this week of children suffering — Israeli
children and Palestinian children. And It took me back to a really
horrible, horrible place. No one in this world deserves to suffer like
that, especially not kids, ya know? … My heart is with everyone whose
lives have been destroyed this week. But tonight, I'm gonna do what I've
always done in the face of tragedy, and that's try to be funny.
Remember, I said TRY.
--Pete Davidson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pete_Davidson>
Jessie Murray (1867–1920) was a British psychoanalyst and suffragette
who studied medicine at the University of Durham and University College
London. Murray and her close friend Julia Turner opened the Medico-
Psychological Clinic (site pictured) in 1913, a pioneering entity that
provided psychological evaluation and treatment that was affordable for
middle-class families. Several of the staff who worked and trained at
the clinic became leading psychoanalysts. The clinic closed in 1922,
although it laid the foundation of psychological evaluation in the UK.
Murray was a member of the Women's Freedom League and the Women's Tax
Resistance League, two organisations that took direct action for women's
suffrage. In 1910 she and the journalist Henry Brailsford took
statements from the suffragettes who had been mistreated during the
Black Friday demonstrations. Their memorandum was published, with a
formal request for a public inquiry. The home secretary, Winston
Churchill, refused to establish one.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessie_Murray>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1908:
As a result of numerous atrocities in the territory, the Congo
Free State was annexed to Belgium to form the Belgian Congo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrocities_in_the_Congo_Free_State>
1922:
During a general strike in Guayaquil, Ecuador, police and
military fired into a crowd, killing at least 300 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1922_Guayaquil_general_strike>
1943:
The Holocaust: In the Romani Holocaust, Nazi official Heinrich
Himmler ordered that the Romani were to be put "on the same level as
Jews and placed in concentration camps".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_Holocaust>
1988:
The Soviet spacecraft Buran, a reusable vehicle built in
response to NASA's Space Shuttle program, was launched, uncrewed, on its
only flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_%28spacecraft%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
iniquitous:
1. Characterized by iniquity (“deviation from what is right”).
2. Morally objectionable; sinful, wicked.
3. Grossly unfair or unjust.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/iniquitous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Israel's lasting future depends on its government's willingness
to enter into a genuine peace agreement with the Palestinians. That this
also goes for the Palestinians grouped around Hamas hardly needs to be
stressed. Both sides have to understand that they must live together for
better or worse and that hatred, terror and territorial, ethnic and
religious exclusion have never produced peace, but rather have led to
killing and more killing.
--Daniel Barenboim
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Daniel_Barenboim>
Sedna is a trans-Neptunian object with the minor-planet number 90377. It
was discovered on November 14, 2003, by the astronomers Michael Brown,
Chad Trujillo, and David Rabinowitz. As of 2023, Sedna is 84
astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, which is almost three times the
distance between Neptune and the Sun. Sedna's orbit is an ellipse and
its aphelion is approximately 937 AU (140 billion km). For most of
its orbital period, Sedna is farther from the Sun than any known dwarf
planet candidate of its size. Sedna is one of the reddest objects in the
Solar System. It is mostly composed of water, methane, and nitrogen ices
with tholins. It may have formed within the same open cluster where the
Sun was born as some astronomers suggest that Sedna is a celestial body
captured by the Sun from another star system. Brown considers Sedna to
be the most important trans-Neptunian object ever discovered, because
its unusual orbit may yield information about the origin and early
evolution of the Solar System.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90377_Sedna>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1941:
World War II: German troops, aided by local auxiliaries,
murdered nine thousand residents of the Słonim Ghetto in a single day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%82onim_Ghetto>
1960:
Ruby Bridges and the McDonogh Three became the first black
children to attend an all-white elementary school in Louisiana as part
of the New Orleans school desegregation crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_school_desegregation_crisis>
1991:
Croatian War of Independence: Croatian naval commandos attacked
the Yugoslav patrol boat Mukos, starting the Battle of the Dalmatian
Channels.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Dalmatian_Channels>
2015:
A train derailed in Eckwersheim, France, while performing
trials on the high-speed rail line LGV Est.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eckwersheim_derailment>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gist:
1. (countable) The main idea or substance, or the most essential part,
of a longer or more complicated matter; the crux, the heart, the pith.
2. (countable, law, dated) The essential ground for action in a lawsuit,
without which there is no cause of action; the gravamen.
3. (uncountable, Nigeria) Gossip, rumour; (countable) an instance of
this.
4. (transitive) To extract and present the main ideas or substance, or
the most essential parts of (a document, piece of writing, etc.); to
abridge, to summarize.
5. (intransitive, Nigeria) To talk idly; chat; also, to gossip. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gist>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Violence is interesting. This is a great obstacle to world peace
and also to more thoughtful television programming.
--P. J. O'Rourke
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke>