Raymond III (1140–1187) was the count of Tripoli (in modern-day
Lebanon) from 1152 until his death. The son of Raymond II and Hodierna
of Jerusalem, he was a minor when he succeeded his father. After
reaching the age of majority in 1155, he fought the powerful Muslim
ruler Nur ad-Din, and hired pirates to pillage Byzantine territories.
>From 1164, he spent nearly ten years in Muslim captivity. Marrying the
wealthy heiress Eschiva of Bures made him prince of Galilee in the
Kingdom of Jerusalem. A close relative of the royal family, he ruled
Jerusalem as regent for Baldwin IV between 1174 and 1176, and for the
child Baldwin V from 1185 to 1186. After the child king's death, he
could not prevent the coronation of Baldwin V's mother Sibylla and her
husband Guy of Lusignan. He paid homage to Guy only after Jerusalem was
invaded by Saladin, the Muslim ruler of Egypt and Syria. One of the few
crusader leaders who escaped from the battlefield at Hattin, he died
soon after, probably of pleurisy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_III,_Count_of_Tripoli>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1843:
B'nai B'rith (membership certificate pictured), the world's
oldest continually operating Jewish service organization, was founded in
New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%27nai_B%27rith>
1917:
At least 30,000 people witnessed the Miracle of the Sun in the
fields of Cova da Iria near Fátima, Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_Sun>
1961:
Newly elected Burundian prime minister Louis Rwagasore was
assassinated by his political rivals.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rwagasore>
2013:
During the Hindu festival of Navaratri at a temple in Madhya
Pradesh, India, rumours about an impending bridge collapse caused a
stampede that resulted in 115 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Madhya_Pradesh_stampede>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
covey:
1. A brood or family of partridges (family Phasianidae), which includes
game birds such as grouse (tribe Tetraonini) and ptarmigans (tribe
Tetraonini, genus Lagopus).
2. (by extension)
3. A group of other birds, such as quail (superfamily Phasianoidea).
4. (figurative) A group or party of people; also, a group or set of
things.
5. (intransitive) To gather into a group. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/covey>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As many here know, Hamas launched its attack on Simchat Torah.
This is the day that Jews celebrate finishing the reading of the Torah.
This Saturday, Jews around the world will chant the first words of the
book of Genesis. They’ll read that in the beginning, there was
darkness; and then there was light. That the first person was alone
until a partner joined them. I’m standing here today alongside our
Israeli friends and all those who reject terror to help find the
glimmers of light, even in this moment of deep darkness, and to make
clear as that as long as there’s a United States, Israel will never be
alone.
--Antony Blinken
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antony_Blinken>
The Private Case is a collection of erotica and pornography held
initially by the British Museum and, from 1973, by the British Library.
The collection began between 1836 and 1870 and grew from the receipt of
books from legal deposit, and from requests made to the police following
seizures of obscene material. Access to the material in the Private Case
was restricted. At its height numbering some 4,000 items, the contents
of the Private Case shrank as works were moved to the general
collection, and grew with the arrival of bequests and donations from
collectors. From 1964, reflecting the changing social mores of the time,
the library began to review the Private Case, allowing public access to
its contents, a process that was completed in 1983. There have been no
new entries since 1990 and all new erotic and pornographic material is
put on open access in the general collection. There is no restriction on
access to Private Case material, except for some items which are in a
fragile condition.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_Case>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1890:
The Uddevalla Suffrage Association was founded in Uddevalla,
Sweden, with the purpose of bringing about universal suffrage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uddevalla_Suffrage_Association>
1928:
The iron lung (example pictured), a type of medical ventilator,
was used for the first time, to treat an eight-year-old girl paralyzed
by polio.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_lung>
1933:
The United States Department of Justice acquired a military
prison on Alcatraz Island, transforming it over the next year into the
last-resort Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Federal_Penitentiary>
1960:
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev reportedly pounded his shoe on
a desk during a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in
protest at a speech by Philippine delegate Lorenzo Sumulong.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoe-banging_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
winker:
1. A person or an animal that winks (“blinks with one eye; blinks with
one eye as a message, signal, or suggestion, usually with an implication
of conspiracy”).
2. A person who connives with another; a conniver.
3. A thing which is used to wink with, or which winks.
4. (automotive, informal) Synonym of turn signal (“each of the flashing
lights on each side of a vehicle which is used to indicate that the
vehicle is moving left or right”); a blinker, an indicator.
5. (equestrianism, also attributive and figurative) Chiefly in the
plural: synonym of blinker (“a shield attached to the bridle of a horse
or other domesticated animal to prevent it from seeing things behind it
and to its side”)
6. (music) A small bellows in an organ, regulated by a spring, which
controls variations of wind pressure.
7. (ornithology) The nictitating membrane (“transparent protective fold
of skin acting as an inner eyelid”) of a birds's eye.
8. (Britain, dialectal or slang) An eye.
9. (Britain, US, dialectal or slang) An eyelash. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/winker>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No one can ever forget what the terrorists did in Israel.
Thousands of missiles against peaceful cities. Shooting people in cars
on the roads. Men, women, children. No one was spared. Streets covered
in blood. Hostages. The terrorists themselves gave the world footage of
the atrocities, and were proud of them. Women who were beaten. Elderly
people who were kidnapped from their homes. Abducted children. And we do
not yet know how many people were captured and brutally taken away by
the terrorists. They even tried to humiliate the dead by mocking their
bodies. We saw all of this in Israel. And the Israelis themselves —
Israeli journalists who were here in Ukraine, who were in Bucha, are now
saying that they saw the same evil where Russia came. The same evil, and
the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that
attacked Israel, and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine.
The intentions declared are different, but the essence is the same. You
see it. You see the same blood on the streets. You see the same civilian
cars shot up. You see the same bodies of people who have been tortured.
--Volodymyr Zelenskyy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Volodymyr_Zelenskyy>
William Edward Sanders (1883–1917) was a New Zealand recipient of the
Victoria Cross (VC), the highest British and Commonwealth combat award
for gallantry. He took up a seafaring career in 1899 and earned a
master's certificate in 1914, after the outbreak of World War I. He
served on troopships until April 1916, when he was commissioned in the
Royal Naval Reserve. He was appointed second in command of Helgoland, a
Q-ship operating against German submarines. He was given his own
command, HMS Prize, in February 1917. Sanders was awarded the VC for
his actions while on his first patrol as captain, when Prize engaged and
drove off a German U-boat that had attacked and damaged the ship. He was
killed in action when Prize was sunk by a U-boat on her fourth patrol.
His VC is currently held by the Auckland War Memorial Museum. His
memorials include the Sanders Cup, a sailing trophy for 14-foot (4.3 m)
yachts.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Edward_Sanders>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1852:
The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, was
inaugurated two years after being established by the University of
Sydney Act.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Sydney>
1865:
The Morant Bay rebellion, led by Paul Bogle and George William
Gordon, began in Jamaica; after protestors burned down the courthouse,
it was brutally suppressed by Governor Edward John Eyre.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morant_Bay_rebellion>
1937:
Edward, Duke of Windsor, and Wallis, Duchess of Windsor,
arrived at Berlin Friedrichstraße station to begin a tour of Nazi
Germany, where they were greeted by Nazi salutes and dined with high-
ranking members of the state apparatus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1937_tour_of_Germany_by_the_Duke_and_Duchess_…>
1973:
Typhoon Nora, the fourth-most intense tropical cyclone on
record, dissipated after killing 40 people and leaving more than a
million homeless across Taiwan and the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Nora_%281973%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
of one's own accord:
On one's (or its) own initiative; under one's (or its) own power,
without being commanded or controlled.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/of_one%27s_own_accord>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In this moment, we must be crystal clear: We stand with Israel.
We stand with Israel. And we will make sure Israel has what it needs to
take care of its citizens, defend itself, and respond to this attack.
There is no justification for terrorism. There is no excuse. Hamas does
not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-
determination. Its stated purpose is the annihilation of the State of
Israel and the murder of Jewish people.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>
Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a 1991 American science fiction action
film directed by James Cameron, who co-wrote the script with William
Wisher. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick
(pictured), and Edward Furlong, it is the sequel to The Terminator
(1984). In the film, Skynet, a malevolent artificial intelligence, sends
a Terminator android (Patrick) back in time to 1995 to kill the young
John Connor (Furlong), the future leader of the human resistance. The
resistance sends back a less-advanced Terminator (Schwarzenegger),
reprogrammed to protect Connor. The film had an estimated $94–102
million budget, making it the most expensive film made up to that time.
Industrial Light & Magic created a computer-generated main character,
the first in a blockbuster film. Terminator 2 was the highest-grossing
film of 1991 worldwide, at $520 million. Critics praised the visual
effects, action sequences, and cast, especially Patrick. The film won
Saturn, BAFTA, and Academy awards.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminator_2:_Judgment_Day>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1903:
Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Social and Political
Union, a militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the
United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Social_and_Political_Union>
1911:
The Xinhai Revolution began with the Wuchang Uprising, marking
the beginning of the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the establishment
of the Republic of China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuchang_Uprising>
1943:
World War II: The Kempeitai, the military police arm of the
Imperial Japanese Army, arrested and tortured fifty-seven civilians and
civilian internees on suspicion of their involvement in a raid on
Singapore Harbour.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Tenth_incident>
2004:
Eight-year-old Huang Na was abducted and murdered; her body was
found three weeks later after a search across Singapore and Malaysia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Huang_Na>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
downcast:
1. Of the eyes, a facial expression, etc.: looking downwards, usually as
a sign of discouragement, sadness, etc., or sometimes modesty.
2. Of a person or thing: cast or thrown to the ground.
3. Of a thing: directed downwards.
4. (figurative)
5. Of a person: feeling despondent or discouraged.
6. Of a person or thing: defeated, overthrown; also, destroyed, ruined.
[...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/downcast>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are embarking on a long and difficult war. The war was forced
upon us by a murderous attack by Hamas.
--Benjamin Netanyahu
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benjamin_Netanyahu>
Airport Central railway station is an underground Transperth commuter
rail station at terminals one and two of Perth Airport in Western
Australia. The station is located on the Airport line and is one of
three stations that were built as part of the Forrestfield–Airport
Link project, which consists of 8 kilometres (5 mi) of twin bored
tunnels and three stations. Construction began in May 2017 following
preparatory work. By January 2018, excavation was complete, and in
May 2018 the two tunnel boring machines reached the station after
tunnelling from High Wycombe. The machines left the station tunnelling
north-west in July, and construction of the rest of the station started.
A 280-metre (920 ft) elevated walkway was built linking the station to
the airport's terminal one. Originally planned to open in 2020, the line
and station officially opened on 9 October 2022. The journey to Perth
station takes eighteen minutes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airport_Central_railway_station>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1740:
European soldiers and Javanese collaborators massacred Chinese
Indonesians in the port city of Batavia, modern-day Jakarta.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1740_Batavia_massacre>
1888:
The Washington Monument in Washington, D.C., at the time the
world's tallest building, officially opened to the general public.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument>
1952:
A footman shot and killed two colleagues and wounded the lady
of the house at Knowsley Hall, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowsley_Hall_shootings>
1986:
The Phantom of the Opera, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and
currently the longest-running Broadway show in history, opened in
London's West End.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_%281986_musical%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pith:
1. (botany)
2. The soft, spongy substance inside plant parts; specifically, the
parenchyma in the centre of the roots and stems of many plants and
trees.
3. The albedo (“whitish inner portion of the rind”) of a citrus fruit.
4. (by extension)
5. Senses relating to humans and animals.
6. The soft tissue inside a human or animal body or one of their organs;
specifically, the spongy interior substance of a horn or the shaft of a
feather.
7. Chiefly of animals: the soft tissue inside a spinal cord; the spinal
marrow; also, the spinal cord itself.
8. (obsolete) Synonym of diploe (“the thin layer of soft, spongy, or
cancellate tissue between the bone plates which constitute the skull”)
9. (obsolete, rare) The soft tissue of the brain.
10. (Ireland, Southern England, West Country) The soft inner portion of
a loaf of bread.
11. (figurative)
12. The central or innermost part of something; the core, the heart.
13. The essential or vital part of something; the essence. Synonyms:
crux, gist, heart, heart and soul, kernel, marrow, meat, nitty-gritty,
nub, quintessence, soul, spirit, substance; see also Thesaurus:gist
14. Physical power or strength; force, might.
15. A quality of courage and endurance; backbone, mettle, spine.
16. The energy, force, or power of speech or writing; specifically, such
force or power due to conciseness; punch, punchiness.
17. Chiefly in of (great) pith and moment: gravity, importance,
substance, weight.
18. To render insensate or kill (an animal, especially cattle or a
laboratory animal) by cutting, piercing, or otherwise destroying the
spinal cord.
19. To extract the pith from (something or (figurative) someone). [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pith>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To everything in this world there comes an end; there even comes
an end to the torments suffered in those intermediate states of
transition when the last secret tear of one's soul is bitterly
swallowed, and the crisis passes, resolving itself into some new sort of
phase, which even as it comes into existence is fated in turn to pass
away, to disappear in the eternal changing of the times and seasons.
--Nikolai Bukharin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikolai_Bukharin>
The affine symmetric groups are a family of mathematical structures that
describe the symmetries of the number line and the regular triangular
tiling of the plane (pictured), as well as related higher-dimensional
objects. They may also be defined as collections of permutations
(rearrangements) of the integers that are periodic in a certain sense,
or in purely algebraic terms as a group with certain generators and
relations. They are studied in the fields of combinatorics and
representation theory. Each of these groups is an infinite extension of
a finite symmetric group, and many important combinatorial properties of
the finite symmetric groups can be extended to the corresponding affine
symmetric groups. The affine symmetric groups have close relationships
with other mathematical objects, including juggling patterns and certain
complex reflection groups. Many of their combinatorial and geometric
properties extend to the broader family of affine Coxeter groups.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affine_symmetric_group>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
World War I: After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during
the Meuse–Argonne offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, American
Corporal Alvin York led the 7 remaining men on an attack against a
German machine gun nest; 25 German soldiers were killed and 132
captured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_York>
1932:
The Indian Air Force was founded as an auxiliary air force of
the British Royal Air Force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Air_Force>
2016:
Yemen War: A funeral in Sanaa was hit by two consecutive
airstrikes by a Saudi-led coalition, leaving 143–155 civilians dead
and more than 525 injured.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanaa_funeral_airstrike>
2019:
Anti-government protests calling for free and fair elections
began in Baku, Azerbaijan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Baku_protests>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
refusenik:
1. (Soviet Union, historical, slang) One of the citizens of the former
Soviet Union who was refused permission to emigrate (typically but not
exclusively a Jewish citizen denied permission to emigrate to Israel).
2. (by extension, informal) A person who refuses to do something,
usually as a protest; for example, one who refuses conscription or
vaccination. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/refusenik>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Political extremism involves two prime ingredients: an
excessively simple diagnosis of the world's ills, and a conviction that
there are identifiable villains back of it all. Such extremism comes
easily to men who have doped themselves with delusions of their own
overriding virtue and the rascality of others.
--John W. Gardner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_W._Gardner>
Boukephala and Nikaia were two cities founded by Alexander the Great on
either side of the Hydaspes river during his invasion of the Indian
subcontinent. The cities, two of many founded by Alexander, were built
shortly after his victory over the Indian king Porus at the Battle of
the Hydaspes in early 326 BC. It is not certain which settlement had
which name. Built on the site of the battlefield, the city on the
eastern bank was most likely called Nikaia, while its western companion
was probably named after Alexander's horse Bucephalus, who died during
or after the battle. Their construction was supervised by Craterus, one
of Alexander's leading generals. Boukephala seems to have had a more
distinguished legacy than Nikaia: it was mentioned by Roman authors and
appears on later manuscripts. The cities' precise locations are unknown,
but it is considered likely that Boukephala was located in the vicinity
of modern Jalalpur, Pakistan, and that Nikaia was across the river near
present-day Mong.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boukephala_and_Nikaia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1878:
The state funeral of Mindon Min, who ruled Myanmar for 25
years, took place; his death was reportedly preceded by strange omens,
and his senior princes were unable to attend as they had all been
arrested.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_and_state_funeral_of_Mindon_Min>
1916:
Georgia Tech defeated Cumberland University 222–0 in the most
lopsided college football game in American history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916_Cumberland_vs._Georgia_Tech_football_game>
1991:
Croatian War of Independence: The Yugoslav People's Army
conducted an air strike on Banski Dvori, the official residence of the
president of Croatia in Zagreb.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_the_Banski_Dvori>
2008:
2008 TC3 exploded above the Nubian Desert in Sudan, in the
first time that an asteroid impact had been predicted prior to
atmospheric entry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_TC3>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
batten:
1. (transitive, obsolete)
2. To cause (an animal, etc.) to become fat or thrive through plenteous
feeding; to fatten.
3. (rare) To enrich or fertilize (land, soil, etc.).
4. (intransitive)
5. To become better; to improve in condition; especially of animals, by
feeding; to fatten up.
6. Of land, soil, etc.: to become fertile; also, of plants: to grow
lush.
7. (often passive voice) Followed by on: to eat greedily; to glut.
8. (figurative) Followed by on: to prosper or thrive, especially at the
expense of others.
9. (figurative) To gloat at; to revel in.
10. (figurative) To gratify a morbid appetite or craving.
11. To furnish (something) with battens (noun sense 1).
12. (chiefly nautical) Chiefly followed by down: to fasten or secure (a
hatch, opening, etc.) using battens (noun sense 2.2).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/batten>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel
Peace Prize for 2023 to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the
oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and
freedom for all. Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal
costs. Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her
five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154
lashes. … In awarding her this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the
Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour her courageous fight for
human rights, freedom, and democracy in Iran. This year’s Peace Prize
also recognises the hundreds of thousands of people who, in the
preceding year, have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s
policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women. Only by
embracing equal rights for all can the world achieve the fraternity
between nations that Alfred Nobel sought to promote. The award to Narges
Mohammadi follows a long tradition in which the Norwegian Nobel
Committee has awarded the Peace Prize to those working to advance social
justice, human rights, and democracy. These are important preconditions
for lasting peace.
--Norwegian Nobel Committee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norwegian_Nobel_Committee>
Mercy Point is an American science fiction medical drama that aired for
seven episodes on UPN in 1998 and 1999. It was adapted from a film
screenplay by Trey Callaway (pictured); production on the film project
had ended due to the poor commercial performance of the 1997 film
Starship Troopers. Starring Joe Morton, Maria del Mar, Alexandra Wilson,
Brian McNamara, Salli Richardson, Jordan Lund, and Joe Spano, the series
focuses on the doctors and nurses in a 23rd-century hospital space
station. It was filmed in Vancouver, Canada. Storylines initially
focused on ethical and medical cases, but later shifted to the
characters' personal relationships, to better fit UPN's primarily teen
demographic. The show suffered from low ratings, and has never been
released on DVD or Blu-ray. Some commentators praised the show's
characterization and use of science fiction elements, while others found
it to be uninteresting and unoriginal.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercy_Point>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1927:
The Jazz Singer, one of the first feature-length motion
pictures with a synchronized recorded music score, was released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Singer>
1998:
Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, was attacked and
fatally wounded near Laramie, Wyoming, U.S., dying six days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard>
2002:
Al-Qaeda bombed the oil tanker Limburg, causing oil to leak
into the Gulf of Aden.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_Jewel>
2008:
The MESSENGER probe discovered Mercury's Rembrandt
(pictured) – the second largest impact crater on the planet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt_%28crater%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unfull:
Not full or complete; incomplete, imperfect.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unfull>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Anyone who tries to predict the future is inevitably a fool.
Present company included. A prophet without a sense of humor is just
stupid.
--David Brin
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Brin>
Prior to 1926, a successful ministerial by-election was required for
members of the British House of Commons (pictured) to regain their seats
after being made ministers. This requirement originated from 17th-
century ideas of parliamentary independence from the Crown, which
appoints the ministers; while early attempts were made to fully separate
ministers and Parliament in a manner similar to that of the future
United States, a compromise was reached instead to merely require new
ministers to face a by-election to join Parliament. This by-election was
in practice usually, but not always, an uncontested formality, and was
gradually reformed before finally being abolished in 1926. Ministerial
by-elections spread to British colonies in modern-day Canada and
Australia, where they were likewise all abolished by the mid-20th
century, ending with Western Australia in 1947; in Canada, they played a
major role in the 1926 King–Byng affair before being abolished
federally in 1931.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministerial_by-election>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1869:
During construction of the Eastman tunnel in St. Anthony,
Minnesota (now Minneapolis), the Mississippi River broke through the
tunnel's limestone ceiling, nearly destroying Saint Anthony Falls.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_tunnel>
1970:
The environmental organization Greenpeace was incorporated as
the Don't Make a Wave Committee in British Columbia, Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenpeace>
1999:
Two trains collided head-on in Ladbroke Grove, London, killing
31 people, injuring 417, and severely damaging public confidence in the
management and regulation of safety of Britain's privatised railway
system.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ladbroke_Grove_rail_crash>
2011:
Two Chinese cargo ships were attacked and their crews murdered
on a stretch of the Mekong River in far northern Thailand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mekong_River_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
maven:
(chiefly US) An expert in a given field; also, a person who is
interested in and knowledgeable about a particular activity or thing; an
aficionado.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maven>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Yes, the universe had a beginning. Yes, the universe continues to
evolve. And yes, every one of our body's atoms is traceable to the big
bang and to the thermonuclear furnace within high-mass stars. We are not
simply in the universe, we are part of it. We are born from it. One
might even say we have been empowered by the universe to figure itself
out — and we have only just begun.
--Neil deGrasse Tyson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_deGrasse_Tyson>
WSNS-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Chicago broadcasting the
Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned and operated by the
network and shares its studios in the NBC Tower (pictured), and its
transmitter on the Willis Tower, with WMAQ-TV. WSNS-TV was built as an
English-language independent station by the local Essaness Theatres
Corporation in 1970; it broadcast local sports, most notably the Chicago
White Sox, among other local programs. In 1980, the station began
broadcasting ON TV, a pay subscription television service with 120,000
local subscribers at its height in 1982; the station nearly had its
broadcast license revoked by the Federal Communications Commission for
its lack of local programming during this time. After ON TV folded in
1985, channel 44 became the city's first full-time Spanish-language
television station, including local newscasts. Telemundo bought WSNS in
1996; NBC bought Telemundo in 2002, leading to the merger of WMAQ-TV and
WSNS-TV.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WSNS-TV>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1363:
Red Turban Rebellions: The rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang won the
Battle of Lake Poyang by deploying ships intentionally set aflame when
the emperor tried to escape.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lake_Poyang>
1918:
An ammunition plant in Sayreville, New Jersey, U.S., exploded,
killing around 100 people and destroying more than 300 buildings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._A._Gillespie_Company_Shell_Loading_Plant_e…>
1957:
The Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1, the first artificial
satellite to orbit the Earth, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1>
2003:
A suicide bomber killed 21 people, including a two-month-old
baby, and injured 60 others inside a restaurant in Haifa, Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_restaurant_suicide_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hacker:
1. Someone who hacks.
2. One who cuts with heavy or rough blows.
3. One who is inexperienced or unskilled at a particular activity,
especially (sports, originally and chiefly golf), a sport such as golf
or tennis.
4. [...]
5. [...]
6. (computer security, telecommunications) One who uses a computer to
gain unauthorized access to data stored in, or to carry out malicious
attacks on, computer networks or computer systems.
7. (by extension, computer security, telecommunications) Synonym of
white hat (“a computer security professional who hacks computers for a
good cause, or to aid a company, organization, or government without
causing harm (for example, to identify security flaws)”)
8. (by extension, video games, slang) Someone who cheats or gains an
unfair advantage in a video game by means of a disallowed modification
to the game.
9. (computing, dated) One who is expert at programming and solving
problems with a computer.
10. (by extension) One who applies a novel method, shortcut, skill, or
trick to something to increase ease, efficiency, or productivity.
11. (obsolete) Synonym of hackster (“a violent bully or ruffian; also,
an assassin, a murderer”)
12. Something that hacks; a device or tool for hacking; specifically, an
axe used for cutting tree branches or wood.
13. (Britain, regional) A fork-shaped tool used to harvest root
vegetables. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hacker>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Change is not merely necessary to life; it is life.
--Alvin Toffler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alvin_Toffler>