The English rock band the Kinks staged their first concert tour of the
United States in June and July 1965, following concerts in Australia,
New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore and a tour of the United Kingdom.
Initially one of the most popular British Invasion groups, the Kinks
(pictured) saw major commercial opportunity in the US, but the resultant
tour was plagued with issues between the band, their management, local
promoters and the American music unions. Promoters and union officials
filed complaints over the Kinks' conduct, prompting the US musicians'
union to withhold work permits from the band for the next four years,
effectively banning them from performing in the US. Their American
record sales declined, and bandleader Ray Davies shifted his songwriting
approach towards more overt English influences. Davies resolved the ban
in early 1969, and the Kinks staged a comeback tour later that year,
but they did not achieve regular commercial success in the US again
until the late 1970s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kinks%27_1965_US_tour>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1850:
The inaugural National Women's Rights Convention, presided over
by American activist Paulina Wright Davis, began in Worcester,
Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Women%27s_Rights_Convention>
1906:
Alberto Santos-Dumont flew his biplane 14-bis for 50 metres
(160 ft) at an altitude of about four metres (13 ft).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santos-Dumont_14-bis>
2001:
Grand Theft Auto III was released, helping to popularize open-
world and mature-content video games.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_III>
2022:
Myanmar civil war: Burmese military forces launched airstrikes
that killed at least 80 concertgoers in Kachin State.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hpakant_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
drench:
1. (transitive)
2. To cause (someone) to drink; to provide (someone) with a drink
3. (specifically, veterinary medicine) To administer a dose or draught
of liquid medicine to (an animal), often by force.
4. To make (someone or something) completely wet by having water or some
other liquid fall or thrown on them or it; to saturate, to soak; also
(archaic), to make (someone or something) completely wet by immersing in
water or some other liquid; to soak, to steep.
5. (obsolete) To drown (someone).
6. (obsolete, figurative) To overwhelm (someone); to drown, to engulf.
7. (intransitive, obsolete) To be drowned; also, to be immersed in
water.
8. An act of making someone or something completely wet; a soak or
soaking, a wetting.
9. An amount of water or some other liquid that will make someone or
something completely wet. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drench>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Book of History is the Bible of Irony.
--George Saintsbury
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Saintsbury>
The Second Battle of Independence was fought on October 22, 1864, near
Independence, Missouri, as part of Price's Missouri Expedition (map
pictured) during the American Civil War. In late 1864, Major General
Sterling Price led a Confederate force of cavalry into Missouri. Price
was opposed by Union Army and state militia forces to his west led by
Major General Samuel Ryan Curtis; Union cavalry under Major General
Alfred Pleasonton caught up to the Confederates from the east as Price
moved west along the Missouri River. On October 21, the Confederates
occupied Independence. The next day, while part of Price's command
broke through Curtis's line at the Big Blue River, Pleasonton attacked
the Confederates at Independence, pushing them back through town, and
after fresh troops arrived, towards the Big Blue River. By the end of
the day, almost all of Price's men were west of the river. On October
23, the Confederates were defeated in the Battle of Westport, and
Price's campaign ended in failure.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Independence>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1877:
Scotland's worst mining accident occurred when an explosion at
a colliery in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire, killed 207 miners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blantyre_mining_disaster>
1907:
A bank run forced New York's Knickerbocker Trust Company to
suspend operations, triggering the Panic of 1907 (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1907>
1936:
The Royal Navy cutlass was withdrawn from combat service.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Navy_cutlasses>
2015:
A sword-wielding man attacked students and teachers at a high
school in Trollhättan, killing three people in Sweden's deadliest
school attack.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trollh%C3%A4ttan_school_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
megalith:
1. (archaeology)
2. A large stone slab making up a prehistoric monument, or part of such
a monument.
3. A prehistoric monument made up of one or more large stones.
4. (by extension) A large stone or block of stone used in the
construction of a modern structure.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/megalith>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The universe is an intelligence test.
--Timothy Leary
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Timothy_Leary>
"Made You Look" is a song by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor
(pictured) from her fifth major-label studio album, Takin' It Back
(2022). Trainor wrote the song with Sean Douglas and its producer,
Federico Vindver. Epic Records released it as the album's second single
on October 31, 2022. A doo-wop song, "Made You Look" was inspired by
Trainor's body image insecurities and encourages listeners to embrace
their natural beauty. Critics called it flirtatious and compared it to
Trainor's past songs. Its dance challenge trended on TikTok. In the US,
it peaked at number 11, becoming Trainor's first top-20 single since
"Me Too" (2016). It reached the top 10 in Australia, Belgium, Canada,
Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, the UK, and Vietnam. Its
colorful music video features cameos by social media influencers.
Trainor performed the song on television shows such as Today and The
Tonight Show. (This article is part of two featured topics: Takin' It
Back and Meghan Trainor's Billboard Hot 100 entries.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Meghan_Trainor%27s_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1867:
The first and second of three treaties were signed near
Medicine Lodge, Kansas, between the United States federal government and
several Native American tribes in the Great Plains, requiring them to
relocate to areas in present-day western Oklahoma.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Lodge_Treaty>
1941:
World War II: German soldiers massacred nearly 2,800 Serbs in
Kragujevac in reprisal for insurgent attacks in the district of Gornji
Milanovac.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kragujevac_massacre>
1968:
At the height of the Japanese university protests, protestors
occupied Shinjuku Station and clashed violently with police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku_riot>
1994:
In Seoul, South Korea, 32 people were killed and 17 others
injured when a span of the Seongsu Bridge collapsed (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seongsu_Bridge_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
off-worlder:
(fantasy, science fiction) One who is not from the local world (whether
a dimension, plane, planet, or universe); an alien.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/off-worlder>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every reform, however necessary, will by weak minds be carried to
an excess, that itself will need reforming.
--Samuel Taylor Coleridge
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge>
Hurricane Willa was a powerful tropical cyclone that brought torrential
rains and destructive winds to the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Nayarit
in October 2018. It was the twenty-second named storm, thirteenth
hurricane, and tenth major hurricane of the 2018 Pacific hurricane
season, and tied a record as that season's third Category 5 hurricane.
Willa originated from a tropical wave in the southwestern Caribbean Sea
that crossed over Central America into the East Pacific without
significant organization. On October 20 the system developed into a
tropical depression, and strengthened later in the day into Tropical
Storm Willa. It peaked as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds
of 160 mph (260 km/h) two days later. On October 24, Willa made
landfall in Sinaloa as a marginal Category 3 hurricane. It killed nine
people, and caused more than MXN$16 billion (US$820 million) in
damage. (This article is part of a featured topic: Category 5 Pacific
hurricanes.) .
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Category_5_Pacific_…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1951:
African-American college football player Johnny Bright was the
victim of an on-field assault, eventually leading to changes in NCAA
football rules that mandated the use of more protective helmets with
face guards.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Bright_incident>
1967:
Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin filmed an unidentified
subject, which they claimed was Bigfoot, at Six Rivers National Forest
in California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patterson%E2%80%93Gimlin_film>
1984:
The Spanish trawler Sonia sank in British waters after a five-
hour chase by the Irish Naval Service patrol vessel Aisling, during
which almost 600 shots were fired.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Spanish_trawler_Sonia>
1991:
An earthquake struck the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing
at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Uttarkashi_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
millennial:
1. Thousand-year-old; also (by extension, loosely) thousands of years
old.
2. Occurring every thousand years.
3. Occurring at, or relating to, the beginning or end of a millennium.
4. Referring to the thousandth anniversary of an event or happening.
5. (by extension, originally US, demography) Often capitalized: of or
relating to, or characteristic of, people born in the last two decades
of the 20th century from around the early 1980s to the mid 1990s, and
who reached adulthood early in the third millennium C.E.
6. (Christianity) Synonym of millenarian (“pertaining to the belief in
an impending period of one thousand years of peace and righteousness
associated with the Second Coming of Christ and his reign on earth”)
7. (originally US, demography) Often capitalized: a person from the
generation born in the last two decades of the 20th century, from around
the early 1980s to the mid-1990s and who reached adulthood early in the
third millennium C.E., characterized by their familiarity with computer
technology and poorer financial prospects than their parents.
8. (obsolete) A thousandth anniversary; also, a celebration of such an
anniversary.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/millennial>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Well I fought for you; I fought too hard. To do it all again
babe, It's gone too far.
--Tom Petty
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Petty>
Spacewar! is a space combat video game developed in 1962 by Steve
Russell in collaboration with Martin Graetz, Wayne Wiitanen, Bob
Saunders, Steve Piner, and others. The first video game known to be
played at multiple computer installations, it was popular in the small
American programming community in the 1960s. Players wage a dogfight
between two spaceships with limited weaponry and fuel in the gravity
well of a star. Spacewar! was written for the newly installed Digital
Equipment PDP-1, a minicomputer, at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, and the public domain code was widely ported. Saunders built
an early gamepad controller for the game. It directly inspired many
electronic games, such as the first commercial arcade video games,
Galaxy Game and Computer Space (both 1971), and later games such as
Asteroids (1979). In 2007, Spacewar! was named to a list of the ten most
important video games of all time, which formed the start of the game
canon at the Library of Congress.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1752:
The Pennsylvania Gazette published a statement by Benjamin
Franklin describing a kite experiment (depicted) to determine the
electrical nature of lightning.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_experiment>
1914:
First World War: Allied forces began engaging German troops at
the First Battle of Ypres.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Ypres>
1987:
Iran–Iraq War: U.S. Navy forces destroyed two Iranian oil
platforms in the Persian Gulf in response to an Iranian missile attack
on a Kuwaiti oil tanker three days earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Nimble_Archer>
2013:
British YouTube collective the Sidemen were formed as a
Rockstar Games Social Club group in Grand Theft Auto Online.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidemen>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
honeycomb:
1. (uncountable) A substance made by bees (clade Anthophila) primarily
from beeswax which has hexagonal cells to hold their larvae, and for
storing pollen and honey to feed the larvae and themselves when other
food is scarce; it is also eaten by humans as part of comb-honey;
(countable) a single sheet made up of two layers of this substance.
2. (countable, by extension) Something resembling honeycomb (sense 1) in
having numerous cells or small holes.
3. (countable, geometry) A space-filling packing of polytopes in three-
or higher-dimensional space.
4. (countable, technology)
5. The texture of the surface of a solar cell, intended to increase its
surface area and capture more sunlight.
6. (archaic) A defect in a material (especially metal) where small holes
are present; specifically (construction), a defect in concrete
consisting of numerous voids resulting from the failure of mortar to
effectively fill the spaces among coarse aggregate particles.
7. (chiefly aviation) Material manufactured with small hollow cells,
sometimes sandwiched between two flat sheets, which is used to make
light, stiff structural components.
8. (countable, zoology) Short for honeycomb stomach (“the reticulum or
second compartment of the stomach of a cow or other ruminant”).
9. (uncountable, architecture) Short for honeycomb work (“especially in
Moorish architecture: a form of ceiling ornamentation (especially of an
arch or dome) made up of small vaulted arches”).
10. (countable, figurative) Something resembling honeycomb in sweetness;
hence, something desirable or pleasant.
11. (countable, archaic) Used as a term of endearment: honey,
sweetheart.
12. (uncountable, chiefly Australia, Britain, often attributive) A
crumbly confection usually made by boiling together golden syrup, sugar,
bicarbonate of soda, and water.
13. (transitive, often passive voice)
14. To riddle (something) with small holes, especially in a pattern
resembling a honeycomb (noun sense 1); also, to cause (something) to
become hollow or weakened in this way.
15. To bore cavities or tunnels inside (something).
16. To decorate (something) with a honeycomb pattern.
17. (figurative, chiefly passive voice) To make way deeply into
(something) so as to weaken it; to undermine.
18. (architecture) To ornament (a ceiling) with honeycomb work (see noun
sense 2.4).
19. (intransitive, also figurative, archaic) To become riddled with
small holes, especially in a pattern resembling a honeycomb; also, to
become hollow or weakened in this way.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/honeycomb>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I would die happy if I knew that on my tombstone could be written
these words, "This man was an absolute fool. None of the disastrous
things that he reluctantly predicted ever came to pass!".
--Lewis Mumford
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Mumford>
Growing Up Absurd is a 1960 book by Paul Goodman (pictured) on the
relationship between American juvenile delinquency and the lack of
societal opportunities to fulfill natural needs. It drew from his prior
works, psychotherapy practice, and personal experiences and
relationships. The book was rejected by nineteen publishers before
Norman Podhoretz used selections from it to relaunch the magazine
Commentary. Published in hardback by Random House in 1960, and in
paperback by Vintage Books in 1962, the book became a bestseller with
100,000 copies sold in its first three years, and was widely read across
1960s college campuses and by student activists and the New Left. The
book argues that young American men were justified in their disaffection
because their society lacked the preconditions for growing up, such as
meaningful work, honorable community, and sexual freedom. In later
years, it was criticized for excluding women from its analysis. It was
reissued in 2012 by New York Review Books.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growing_Up_Absurd>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1748:
The War of the Austrian Succession ended with the signing of
the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Aix-la-Chapelle_%281748%29>
1873:
Renton defeated Kilmarnock 2–0 in the opening match of the
inaugural Scottish Cup.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1873%E2%80%9374_Scottish_Cup>
1968:
At the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, American athlete Bob
Beamon achieved a distance of 8.90 m (29.2 ft) in the long jump event,
setting a world record that stood for 23 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Beamon>
2019:
Protests in Santiago that started 11 days prior escalated into
open battle against the Chilean national police, forcing President
Sebastián Piñera to declare a state of emergency.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932022_Chilean_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
stanch:
1. (transitive, archaic except poetic) To stop the flow of (water or
some other liquid).
2. To stop the flow of (blood); also, to stop (a wound) from bleeding.
3. To make (a building or other structure) watertight or weatherproof.
4. (transitive) To check or stop, or deter (an action).
5. To stop the progression of (an illness); also, to alleviate (pain);
often followed by of: to relieve (someone's) pain.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To extinguish or put out (a fire, anger,
etc.); also, to quench or satisfy (desire, hunger, thirst, etc.).
7. (intransitive, also reflexive) Of bleeding: to stop.
8. (intransitive, also reflexive, obsolete) Of an occurrence or other
thing: to come to an end; to cease; also, of persons: to stop acting
violently. [...]
9. A floodgate by which water is accumulated, for floating a boat over a
shallow part of a stream by its release; also, a dam or lock in a river.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stanch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than
other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.
--Moby-Dick
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Moby-Dick>
The planet Venus has been used as a setting in fiction since before the
19th century. Its impenetrable cloud cover gave writers free rein to
speculate on conditions at Venus's surface, which was often depicted as
warmer than Earth's but habitable. Images of a lush, verdant paradise,
an oceanic planet, or fetid swampland, often inhabited by dinosaur-like
beasts or other monsters, became common in early pulp science fiction,
particularly from the 1930s to the 1950s. Some stories portrayed the
surface as a desert, or invented more exotic settings. Venusians were
often portrayed as gentle, ethereal, beautiful, and female, after the
Roman goddess Venus. Since the discovery of Venus's harsh surface
conditions, the planet has mostly been portrayed as a hostile, toxic
inferno. Some stories have imagined the planet's colonization and
terraforming, although the vision of a tropical Venus has occasionally
been revisited in intentionally retro stories.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_in_fiction>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1931:
American gangster Al Capone was convicted on five counts of
income-tax evasion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone>
1952:
Indonesian Army elements surrounded the Merdeka Palace,
demanding that President Sukarno disband the Provisional People's
Representative Council.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_October_affair>
1973:
Yom Kippur War: Egyptian forces retreated from the Battle of
the Chinese Farm, allowing Israeli forces to build their first bridge
across the Suez Canal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Chinese_Farm>
2000:
A fatal rail accident at Hatfield, Hertfordshire, led to the
introduction of widespread speed limit reductions throughout the British
rail network and eventually caused the collapse of the railway
management group Railtrack.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railtrack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
emboss:
1. To cause (something) to stick out or swell; to extrude; also, to
cause (someone or something) to be covered in swellings.
2. To make (a design on a coin, an ornament on an object, etc.) stand
out from a surface.
3. To represent (a subject) on an object in relief; also, of a design or
subject: to stand out on (an object) in relief.
4. To decorate or mark (something) with a design or symbol in relief.
5. To decorate (something) with bosses (“ornamental convex
protuberances”); to boss; hence, to decorate (something) richly.
6. (figurative)
7. To cause (something) to be prominent or stand out.
8. (obsolete) To make (speech, etc.) unduly bombastic or grand.
9. (obsolete, rare) Synonym of boss (“a knob or projection”) [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/emboss>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Be grateful for the highs — and be grateful for the lows —
'cause it's in the lows where you learn.
--Suzanne Somers
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Suzanne_Somers>
Walt Disney (1901–1966) was an American animator, film producer and
entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he holds the
individual records for the most Academy Award wins (22) and nominations
(59). On October 16, 1923, he founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio
with his brother Roy. He created the character Mickey Mouse and, as the
studio grew, introduced synchronized sound, full-color three-strip
Technicolor and technical developments in cameras. He expanded into
feature-length cartoons, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
(1937), Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi
(1942), and made live-action films like Mary Poppins (1964). He opened
Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in 1955, and was working on another
theme park, Disney World, in 1965. Disney was shy and self-deprecating
in private but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He is widely
acknowledged as a national cultural icon.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
The Church of Scotland established Queen's College in Kingston,
Ontario, in Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_University_at_Kingston>
1923:
Roy and Walt Disney founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio
in Hollywood, which eventually grew to become one of the largest media
and entertainment corporations in the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company>
1964:
With the success of Project 596 (mushroom cloud pictured),
China became the world's fifth nuclear power.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_596>
1991:
A man drove his vehicle through the window of a Luby's
Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, and opened fire, killing 23 people before
fatally shooting himself.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luby%27s_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
abligurition:
(chiefly archaic, rare) Prodigal expenditure on food.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abligurition>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A function of free speech under our system of government is to
invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purposes when it
induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions
as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative
and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have
profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea.
--William O. Douglas
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas>
Kyriakos Pittakis (1798–1863) was a Greek archaeologist. The first
Greek to serve as the head of the country's archaeological service, he
carried out the conservation and restoration of monuments on the
Acropolis of Athens. Largely self-taught as an archaeologist, he was one
of the few native Greeks active in the field during the late Ottoman
period and the early years of the Kingdom of Greece, playing an
influential role in the early years of the archaeological service. A
founding member of the Archaeological Society of Athens, he was prolific
both as an excavator and as a writer, publishing by his own estimation
more than 4,000 inscriptions. He has been praised for his extensive
efforts to uncover and protect Greece's classical heritage, particularly
in Athens and the adjacent islands, but criticised for his unsystematic
and incautious approach. His reconstructions of ancient monuments often
prioritised aesthetics over fidelity to the original, and were largely
reverted after his death.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyriakos_Pittakis>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance
Committee in London, received the "From Hell" letter, allegedly from
Jack the Ripper.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Hell_letter>
1965:
Vietnam War protests: At an anti-war rally in New York City,
David J. Miller burned his draft card (example pictured), the first such
act to result in arrest under a new amendment to the Selective Service
Act.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft-card_burning>
1979:
President Carlos Humberto Romero of El Salvador was overthrown
and exiled in a military coup d'état.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Salvadoran_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dictionaryese:
(informal) The style of language used in dictionary definitions,
characterized by dry, straightforward, and occasionally awkward
phrasing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dictionaryese>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Few things in life can be so appalling as the difference between
a dry antiseptic statement of a principle by a well spoken man in a
quiet office, and what happens to people when that principle is put into
practice.
--John Kenneth Galbraith
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith>
The Tinder Fire was a wildfire that burned 16,309 acres (66.00 km2) of
the Coconino National Forest in the U.S. state of Arizona during April
and May 2018. The 2017 Arizona wildfires had been followed by drought,
including a historically dry winter season. The Tinder Fire was detected
from a lookout tower of the U.S. Forest Service on April 27, and
firefighters began working to contain its spread within the day. Stoked
by strong winds, low humidity, and high temperatures, the fire grew
rapidly over late April, prompting the closure of Arizona State
Route 87 and evacuation orders for 1,000 houses in Coconino County.
These orders remained until May 4. Almost 700 firefighters were
involved in combating the fire, which was fully contained on May 24. It
destroyed 96 buildings, including 33 homes, and cost $7,500,000 to
contain and suppress. An investigation determined that the Tinder Fire
was caused by an illegal campfire.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinder_Fire>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
French inventor Louis Le Prince filmed Roundhay Garden Scene
(featured), the earliest surviving motion picture, in Leeds, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundhay_Garden_Scene>
1956:
B. R. Ambedkar, a leader of India's "Untouchable" caste,
publicly converted to Buddhism and became the leader of the Dalit
Buddhist movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit_Buddhist_movement>
1979:
At least 75,000 people attended the National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington, D.C., to demand
equal civil rights for LGBT people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_March_on_Washington_for_Lesbian_and_…>
2021:
Approximately 10,000 John Deere employees went on strike in one
of the largest private-sector strikes in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_John_Deere_strike>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
annulus:
1. A ring- or donut-shaped area or structure.
2. (anatomy) A ring of fibrous tissue; specifically (cardiology), such a
ring around an opening of a heart valve, to which the valve leaflets and
muscle fibres of the atria and ventricles are attached; an annulus
fibrosus cordis.
3. (astronomy) A ring of light in a celestial body, especially when
caused by an annular eclipse (for example, when the Sun and Moon are in
line with the Earth, but the Moon does not completely cover the Sun's
disc).
4. (biology)
5. (botany) A structure surrounding a sporangium (or part of it) which
shrinks and causes it to rupture for spore dispersal; specifically, in a
fern: a structure around about two-thirds of the sporangium consisting
of differentially thick-walled cells which dry and distort the
sporangium; and in a moss: a complete ring of cells around the tip of
the sporangium which dissolves to cause the tip to detach.
6. (mycology) The membranous remnants of a partial veil which leaves a
ring on the stem of a mushroom.
7. (mathematics)
8. (geometry) The region in a plane between two concentric circles of
different radii.
9. (topology) Any topological space homeomorphic to the region in a
plane between two concentric circles of different radii.
10. (technology) In a well such as an oil well or water well: the space
between a pipe or tube and any pipe, tube, casing, or sides of a hole
surrounding it.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/annulus>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The hand of the aggressor is stayed by strength — and strength
alone.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower>