Hiram Wesley Evans (1881–1966) was Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux
Klan, an American white supremacist group, from 1922 to 1939. Evans, a
dentist, joined the Klan's Dallas chapter in 1920. He quickly rose
through the ranks and, after ousting William J. Simmons as Imperial
Wizard, sought to transform the group into a political juggernaut.
Although Evans had led the kidnapping and torture of a black man while
leader of the Dallas Klan, as Imperial Wizard he publicly discouraged
vigilante actions. He also led major gatherings and marches, endorsed
several successful candidates in state elections, and promoted the Klan
as a nativist, Protestant group. Despite these efforts, the Klan was
buffeted by damaging publicity in the early 1920s, and the Great
Depression of the 1930s severely damaged the Klan's finances and Evans'
own income. In 1939 Evans, having lost favor within the Klan for
disavowing anti-Catholicism, was succeeded by James A. Colescott; the
following year he was fined $15,000 for price fixing. Historians credit
Evans with refocusing the Klan on political activities and recruiting
outside the Southern United States but note that the political influence
and membership gained were transitory.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Wesley_Evans>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1571:
Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi established a
council to govern the city of Manila, now the capital of the
Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila>
1717:
The first Masonic Grand Lodge, the Premier Grand Lodge of
England, was founded in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Grand_Lodge_of_England>
1880:
"O Canada" (audio featured), today the national anthem of
Canada, was first performed in Quebec City, Quebec, during a Saint-Jean-
Baptiste Day banquet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Canada>
1937:
The United States' first two "fast battleships", the North
Carolina class, were ordered from the New York and Philadelphia Naval
Shipyards.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina-class_battleship>
1994:
A United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress based at
Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane County, Washington, crashed, killing
all four crew members, and later providing a case study on the
importance of compliance with safety regulations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base_B-52_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dead tree edition:
(idiomatic, pejorative, humorous) Paper version of a publication that
can be found online.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dead_tree_edition>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have said that God is pleased with nothing but love; but
before I explain this, it will be as well to set forth the grounds on
which the assertion rests. All our works, and all our labours, how grand
soever they may be, are nothing in the sight of God, for we can give Him
nothing, neither can we by them fulfil His desire, which is the growth
of our soul. As to Himself He desires nothing of this, for He has need
of nothing, and so, if He is pleased with anything it is with the growth
of the soul; and as there is no way in which the soul can grow but in
becoming in a manner equal to Him, for this reason only is He pleased
with our love.
--John of the Cross
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_of_the_Cross>
Laura Secord (1775–1868) was a Canadian heroine of the War of 1812,
who undertook a 20-mile (32 km) walk out of American-occupied territory
to warn British forces of an impending American attack. Secord's husband
James was wounded at the Battle of Queenston Heights in 1812, and was
still recovering when the Americans invaded the Niagara Peninsula in
1813. During the occupation, Secord learned of a planned American
attack, and stole away on the morning of 23 June to inform Lieutenant
James FitzGibbon in the territory still controlled by the British. The
information helped the British and their Mohawk warrior allies repel the
invading Americans at the Battle of Beaver Dams. Her contribution to the
war was little known during her lifetime, but since her death she has
been frequently honoured by Canada. Honours bestowed on her include
schools and a chocolate company named after her, as well as monuments, a
museum, a memorial stamp, and a statue at the Valiants Memorial in the
Canadian capital. Her story has taken on mythological overtones in her
home country, with many embellished versions of the tale, and she is the
subject of books, poetry, and plays.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Secord>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1280:
Reconquista: Troops of the Emirate of Granada defeated those of
the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Leon in the Battle of Moclín.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mocl%C3%ADn_(1280)>
1780:
American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army victory in the
Battle of Springfield effectively put an end to British ambitions in New
Jersey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Springfield_(1780)>
1926:
The College Board administered the first SAT, a major
standardized test for university and college admissions in the United
States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT>
1956:
Gamal Abdel Nasser became President of Egypt, a post he would
hold until his death in 1970.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamal_Abdel_Nasser>
1991:
The video game Sonic the Hedgehog was first released,
propelling the Sega Genesis 16-bit console into mass popularity.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic_the_Hedgehog_(1991_video_game)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unbeknownst:
(followed by to) Without the knowledge of.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unbeknownst>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not
intend. Art isn't your pet — it's your kid. It grows up and talks back
to you.
--Joss Whedon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon>
Plunketts Creek Bridge No. 3 was a rubble masonry stone arch bridge
over Plunketts Creek in Plunketts Creek Township, Lycoming County, in
the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It was built between 1840 and 1875,
probably closer to 1840, when the road along the creek between the
villages of Barbours and Proctor was constructed. It was named as the
third bridge to cross the creek, and was 75 feet (23 m) long. Its arch
spanned 44 feet (13 m), and its deck was 18 feet 8 inches (5.69 m)
wide. It carried a single lane of traffic, about 450 vehicles a day in
1996. The lumber, leather, and coal industries used the bridge and its
road in the 19th century. These almost all left by the early
20th century, and the villages declined. The area the bridge served
reverted mostly to second growth forest and it was used to access
Pennsylvania State Game Lands and a state pheasant farm. Plunketts Creek
Bridge No. 3 was considered "significant as an intact example of mid-
19th century stone arch bridge construction", and was added to the
National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on June 22, 1988. The bridge
was demolished after severe flood damage in January 1996, and it was
removed from the NRHP in 2002.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plunketts_Creek_Bridge_No._3>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1593:
Ottoman forces were crushingly defeated by the Habsburgs at
Sisak (now in Croatia), triggering the Long War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sisak>
1807:
The British warship HMS Leopard pursued and attacked the
American frigate USS Chesapeake in the belief that the latter had
deserters from the Royal Navy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesapeake%E2%80%93Leopard_Affair>
1941:
World War II: As over 4.5 million Axis troops began their
invasion of the Soviet Union, the Lithuanian Activist Front started an
uprising to liberate Lithuania from Soviet occupation and establish a
new government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Uprising_in_Lithuania>
1969:
The surface of the Cuyahoga River in Ohio, US, caught on fire,
helping to spur the environmental movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River>
2009:
Citing declining sales due to the emergence of digital
photography, the Eastman Kodak Company announced that it would
discontinue sales of the Kodachrome reversal film, concluding its
74-year run as a photography icon.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodachrome>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
avocation:
1. A hobby or recreational or leisure pursuit.
2. Pursuits; duties; affairs which occupy one's time; usual employment;
vocation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avocation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach. One can
collect only a few, and they are more beautiful if they are few.
--Anne Morrow Lindbergh
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Morrow_Lindbergh>
Ezra Meeker (1830–1928) was an American pioneer who traveled the
Oregon Trail by ox-drawn wagon in 1852, migrating from Iowa to the
Oregon Territory with his wife and newborn son. Although they endured
hardships in the journey of nearly six months, the entire Meeker party
survived. In 1862, he settled at the present site of Puyallup,
Washington, where he grew hops for use in brewing beer. His business
made him wealthy, and he served as Puyallup's first mayor, but an
infestation of hop aphids in 1891 destroyed his crops and took much of
his fortune. He made four trips to the Klondike during the gold rush
there, bringing groceries in an unsuccessful attempt to recoup his
losses. After the turn of the 20th century, Meeker, convinced that the
Oregon Trail was being forgotten, determined to bring it publicity. In
1906–1908, although in his late 70s, he retraced his steps along the
Oregon Trail by wagon, seeking to build monuments in communities along
the way; he reached New York and Washington, D.C., where he met
President Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote several books, and traveled the
Trail again several times in the final two decades of his life,
including by airplane in 1924.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ezra_Meeker>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1529:
War of the League of Cognac: The French army under Francis de
Bourbon was destroyed in Lombardy, present-day Italy, by the Spanish
army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Landriano>
1826:
Greek War of Independence: A combined Egyptian and Ottoman army
began their invasion of the Mani Peninsula, but they were initially held
off by the Maniots at the fortifications of Vergas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Egyptian_invasion_of_Mani>
1848:
In the Wallachian Revolution, Ion Heliade Rădulescu and
Christian Tell proclaimed a new republican government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallachian_Revolution_of_1848>
1963:
Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected as Pope
Paul VI (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_VI>
2004:
SpaceShipOne completed the first privately funded human
spaceflight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
angst:
1. A feeling of acute but vague anxiety or apprehension often accompanied
by depression, especially philosophical anxiety.
2. More commonly, painful sadness or emotional turmoil, as teen angst.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/angst>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Cause, Principle, and One eternal From whom being, life, and
movement are suspended, And which extends itself in length, breadth, and
depth, To whatever is in Heaven, on Earth, and Hell; With sense, with
reason, with mind, I discern, That there is no act, measure, nor
calculation, which can comprehend That force, that vastness and that
number, Which exceeds whatever is inferior, middle, and highest; Blind
error, avaricious time, adverse fortune, Deaf envy, vile madness,
jealous iniquity, Crude heart, perverse spirit, insane audacity, Will
not be sufficient to obscure the air for me, Will not place the veil
before my eyes, Will never bring it about that I shall not Contemplate
my beautiful Sun.
--Giordano Bruno
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno>
Odyssey Number Five is the fourth studio album by Australian rock band
Powderfinger (lead guitarist Ian Haug pictured), produced by Nick DiDia
and released on 4 September 2000. The album was the band's shortest
yet, focusing on social, political, and emotional issues that had
appeared in prior works, especially Internationalist. The album produced
four singles. The most successful, "My Happiness", reached number 4 on
the ARIA Singles Chart, won the 2001 ARIA Music Award for "Single of
the Year", and topped Triple J's Hottest 100 in 2000. The album also
featured "These Days", which topped Triple J's Hottest 100 in 1999. The
album was also ranked at number 1 in Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian
Albums of All Time poll in 2011. Many critics lauded the album as
Powderfinger's best work; one stated that the album was "the Finger's
Crowning Glory", however, others were critical of the "imitation"
contained in the album. Overall, the album won five ARIA Music Awards in
2001 and was certified platinum seven times. Odyssey Number Five was
Powderfinger's first album to chart in the United States, and the band
toured extensively around North America to promote its release.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey_Number_Five>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1685:
Monmouth Rebellion: The Duke of Monmouth declared himself King
of England at Bridgwater.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Scott,_1st_Duke_of_Monmouth>
1887:
Victoria Terminus, now the busiest railway station in India,
opened in Bombay on the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhatrapati_Shivaji_Terminus_railway_station>
1900:
Boxer Rebellion: The Imperial Chinese Army began a 55-day siege
of the Legation Quarter in Beijing.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_the_International_Legations>
1947:
A Mafia hitman murdered gangster Bugsy Siegel in Beverly Hills,
California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugsy_Siegel>
1963:
The so-called "red telephone" was established between the White
House and the Kremlin, after the Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated that
direct communications between the two nations were necessary.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow%E2%80%93Washington_hotline>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
demagogue:
(pejorative) An orator or leader who gains favor by pandering to or
exciting the passions and prejudices of the audience.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/demagogue>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It's time to start believing — Oh yes Believing who you are:
You are a shining star.
--Lionel Richie
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lionel_Richie>
Angelina Jolie (born 1975) is an American actress, film director, and
screenwriter. She has received an Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress (for her performance in the 1999 drama Girl, Interrupted), two
Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named
Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie
promotes humanitarian causes as a Special Envoy and former Goodwill
Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. She
has often been cited as the world's "most beautiful" woman. Jolie made
her screen debut as a child alongside her father Jon Voight in Lookin'
to Get Out (1982). Her first leading role in a major film was in the
cyber-thriller Hackers (1995). She achieved wide fame after her
portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
(2001), and received critical acclaim for her performances in the dramas
A Mighty Heart (2007) and Changeling (2008). She made her directorial
debut with the wartime drama In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011).
Divorced from actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, Jolie now
lives with actor Brad Pitt, in a relationship notable for fervent media
attention.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelina_Jolie>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1269:
Louis IX of France imposed a fine of ten livres of silver on
Jews found in public without a yellow badge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_badge>
1816:
The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, rival fur-
trading companies, engaged in a violent confrontation in present-day
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Seven_Oaks>
1953:
Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed as spies who
passed U.S. nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg>
1991:
The last Red Army soldiers left Hungary, ending the Soviet
occupation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_occupation_of_Hungary>
2009:
The War in Afghanistan: British forces began Operation
Panther's Claw, in which more than 350 troops made an aerial assault on
Taliban positions in Southern Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Panther%27s_Claw>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
salad dodger:
(informal) An overweight person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/salad_dodger>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Is it not proven beyond all dispute that there is no limit to the
enormities which men will commit when they are once persuaded that they
are keepers of other men's consciences? To spread religion by any means,
and to crush heresy by all means is the practical inference from the
doctrine that one man may control another's religion. Given the duty of
a state to foster some one form of faith, and by the sure inductions of
our nature slowly but certainly persecution will occur. To prevent for
ever the possibility of Papists roasting Protestants, Anglicans hanging
Romish priests, and Puritans flogging Quakers, let every form of state-
churchism be utterly abolished, and the remembrance of the long curse
which it has cast upon the world be blotted out for ever.
--Charles Spurgeon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Spurgeon>
A midshipman is an officer cadet or a commissioned officer of the junior
most rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth
navies. In the 17th century, a midshipman was a rating for an
experienced seaman, and the word derives from the area aboard a ship,
amidships, where he worked or was berthed. Beginning in the 18th
century, a commissioned officer candidate was rated as a midshipman, and
the seaman rating began to slowly die out. By the Napoleonic era
(1793–1815), a midshipman (pictured) was an apprentice officer who had
previously served at least three years as a volunteer, officer's servant
or able seaman, and was roughly equivalent to a present day petty
officer in rank and responsibilities. After serving at least three years
as a midshipman, he was eligible to take the examination for lieutenant.
Midshipmen in the US Navy were trained and served similarly to those in
the Royal Navy, although a midshipman was a warrant officer rank until
1912. During the 19th century, changes in naval officer training in the
Royal Navy and the US Navy replaced apprenticeship aboard ships with
schooling in a naval college, and "midshipman" began to mean an officer
cadet.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midshipman>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
618:
Li Yuan became Emperor Gaozu of Tang, initiating three centuries
of the Tang Dynasty in China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_Dynasty>
1053:
Humphrey of Hauteville led the armies of the Normans in the
Battle of Civitate against the combined forces of Pope Leo IX and the
Holy Roman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Civitate>
1858:
Charles Darwin received a manuscript by fellow naturalist
Alfred Russel Wallace on natural selection, which prompted Darwin to
publish his theory of evolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace>
1983:
Aboard Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Sally Ride became
the first American woman in space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Ride>
1994:
The Troubles: Members of the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force
attacked a crowded bar in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland, with assault
rifles, killing six.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughinisland_massacre>
2012:
Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud was appointed crown prince of
Saudi Arabia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_bin_Abdulaziz_Al_Saud>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
chiaroscuro:
An artistic technique developed during the Renaissance, referring to the
use of exaggerated light contrasts in order to create the illusion of
volume.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chiaroscuro>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A plot is about things that happen. A story is about people who
behave. To admire a story you must be willing to listen to the people
and observe them.
--Roger Ebert
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert>
Lynn Hill (born 1961) is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as
one of the leading competitive sport climbers in the world during the
late 1980s and early 1990s, she made the first ascent without aid of the
difficult sheer rock face of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley
and the first free ascent in 24 hours. Hill shaped rock climbing for
women and became a public spokesperson, helping it gain wider popularity
and arguing for gender equity. She has publicized climbing by appearing
on television shows and documentaries and writing an autobiography,
Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World. She took to climbing at a
young age and became a part of the climbing community in Southern
California and Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley. During the early 1980s, she
traveled around the United States, climbing increasingly difficult
routes and setting records not only for first female ascents but also
for first ascents. From 1986 to 1992 she won over thirty international
titles, including five victories at the Arco Rock Master; she left
competitive climbing in 1992. She has been described as both one of the
best female climbers in the world and one of the best climbers of all
time.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Hill>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1579:
Explorer Francis Drake landed in a region of present-day
California, naming it New Albion and claiming it for England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Albion>
1843:
New Zealand Wars: An armed posse of Europeans set out from
Nelson to arrest Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha and clashed with Māori,
resulting in 26 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wairau_Affray>
1900:
Boxer Rebellion: Allied naval forces captured the Taku Forts
after a brief but bloody battle.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dagu_Forts_(1900)>
1972:
Five men were arrested for attempted burglary on the offices of
the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate complex in
Washington, D.C., igniting the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to
the resignation of U.S. President Richard Nixon more than two years
later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_complex>
1982:
The body of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, known as "God's
Banker" due to his close association with the Vatican, was found hanging
from scaffolding beneath London's Blackfriars Bridge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roberto_Calvi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
postilion:
A rider mounted on the near, leading horse pulling a carriage who guides
the team.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/postilion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The global community has become irreversibly interdependent, with
the constant movement of people, ideas, goods and resources. In such a
world, we must combat terrorism with an infectious security culture that
crosses borders — an inclusive approach to security based on
solidarity and the value of human life. In such a world, weapons of mass
destruction have no place.
--Mohamed ElBaradei
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mohamed_ElBaradei>
The Aylesbury duck is a large white breed of domesticated duck. Raising
white ducks became popular in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England in the
18th century owing to the demand for white feathers as a filler for
quilts. Over the 19th century selective breeding for size, shape and
colour led to the Aylesbury duck. The opening of a railway to Aylesbury
in 1839 gave access to the markets of London, making rearing Aylesbury
ducks highly profitable. By the beginning of the 20th century
competition from the Pekin duck, inbreeding and disease in the pure-bred
Aylesbury strain and the rising cost of duck food meant the Aylesbury
duck industry was in decline; the two world wars further damaged the
industry. By the 1950s only one significant flock of Aylesbury ducks
remained in Buckinghamshire, and by 1966 there were no duck breeding or
rearing businesses of any size remaining in Aylesbury itself. Although
there is only one surviving flock of pure Aylesbury ducks in the United
Kingdom and the breed is critically endangered in the United States, the
Aylesbury duck remains a symbol of the town, and appears on its coat of
arms and on the club badge of Aylesbury United.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aylesbury_duck>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1407 - During the Ming–Hồ War, the Chinese Ming armies captured Hồ
Quý Ly and his sons, thus ending the Vietnamese Ho dynasty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming%E2%80%93H%E1%BB%93_War>
1815:
Napoleonic Wars: French Marshal Michel Ney earned a strategic
victory against the Anglo-Dutch army in the Battle of Quatre Bras.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Quatre_Bras>
1883:
Over 180 out of 1,100 children died in the Victoria Hall
disaster in Sunderland, England, when they stampeded down the stairs to
collect gifts from the entertainers after the end of a variety show.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Hall_disaster>
1967:
The first widely promoted and heavily attended rock festival,
the Monterey Pop Festival, began in Monterey, California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monterey_Pop_Festival>
2010:
Bhutan became the first country to institute a total ban on
tobacco.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobacco_Control_Act_of_Bhutan_2010>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
abeyance:
1. (law) Expectancy; condition of being undetermined; undetermined
ownership.
2. Suspension; temporary suppression.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abeyance>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Values exist in a transcendental realm, beyond space and time.
They can neither be fought for, nor destroyed.
--Enoch Powell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Enoch_Powell>
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is the first science fiction film in Disney's
animated features canon and the 41st overall. Set in 1914, the film
tells the story of a young man who gains possession of a sacred book,
which he believes will guide him and a crew of adventurers to the lost
city of Atlantis. Linguist Marc Okrand created an Atlantean language for
the film (letter "A" pictured). Atlantis made greater use of computer-
generated imagery than any of Disney's previous animated features; it
remains one of the few to have been shot in anamorphic format. Atlantis,
which adopted the distinctive visual style of comic book creator Mike
Mignola, is one of the few Disney animated features not to have songs.
The film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California,
on June 3, 2001, and went into general release on June 15. Due to the
film's poorer-than-expected box-office performance, Disney quietly
canceled both a spin-off television series and an underwater attraction
at its Disneyland theme park. Some critics praised it as a unique
departure from typical Disney animated features, while others disliked
it due to the unclear target audience and absence of songs.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis:_The_Lost_Empire>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1215:
King John of England put his seal to Magna Carta.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta>
1878:
Eadweard Muybridge took a series of photographs to prove that
all four feet of a horse leave the ground when it runs (animation
pictured); the study became the basis of motion pictures.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallie_Gardner_at_a_Gallop>
1919:
After nearly 16 hours, the Vickers Vimy flown by John Alcock
and Arthur Whitten Brown crash-landed in County Galway, Ireland, to
complete the first non-stop transatlantic flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_flight_of_Alcock_and_Brown>
1978:
King Hussein of Jordan married American Lisa Halaby, who became
known as Queen Noor of Jordan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Noor_of_Jordan>
2001:
Leaders of the People's Republic of China, Russia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan formed the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Cooperation_Organisation>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
encapsulate:
1. To cover something as if in a capsule.
2. To epitomize something by expressing it as a brief summary.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/encapsulate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Someday, maybe, there will exist a well-informed, well considered
and yet fervent public conviction that the most deadly of all possible
sins is the mutilation of a child’s spirit; for such mutilation
undercuts the life principle of trust, without which every human act,
may it feel ever so good and seem ever so right is prone to perversion
by destructive forms of conscientiousness.
--Erik Erikson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erik_Erikson>