SMS Markgraf was the third battleship of the four-ship König class and
served in the German Imperial Navy during World War I. The battleship
was launched on 4 June 1913 and commissioned into the Imperial Navy on 1
October 1914, just over two months after the outbreak of war in Europe.
Armed with ten 30.5-centimeter (12.0Â in) guns in five twin turrets, she
could steam at a top speed of 21 knots (39Â km/h; 24Â mph). Markgraf was
named in honor of the royal family of Baden; the name Markgraf is a rank
of German nobility. She took part in most of the fleet actions during
the war, including the Battle of Jutland in 1916 and Operation Albion,
the conquest of the Gulf of Riga, in late 1917. After Germany's defeat,
Markgraf was one of the ships interned by the Royal Navy in Scapa Flow
while the Allied powers negotiated the final version of the Treaty of
Versailles. On 21 June 1919, days before the treaty was signed, the
commander of the interned fleet ordered the fleet to be scuttled to
ensure that the British would not be able to seize the ships. Unlike
most of the scuttled ships, Markgraf was never raised for scrapping; the
wreck is still sitting on the bottom of the bay.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Markgraf>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1855:
Major Henry C. Wayne departed New York aboard the USSÂ Supply
to procure camels to establish the U.S. Camel Corps.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Camel_Corps>
1913:
Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United
Kingdom, was fatally injured when she was trampled by King George V's
horse at the Epsom Derby.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison>
1920:
The Kingdom of Hungary lost 72% of its territory and 64% of its
population with the signing of the Treaty of Trianon in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon>
1944:
A United States Navy task group captured German submarine U-505
(pictured), which survives today as a museum ship at the Museum of
Science and Industry in Chicago.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_submarine_U-505>
1996:
The maiden flight of the Ariane 5 failed, with the rocket self-
destructing 37 seconds after launch because of a malfunction in the
control software—one of the most expensive computer bugs in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_(spacecraft)>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sexton:
A church official who looks after a church and its graveyard and may act
as a gravedigger and bell-ringer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sexton>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Love the battle between chaos and imagination. Â
--Robert Fulghum
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Fulghum>
The Huế chemical attacks occurred on June 3, 1963, when soldiers of
the Army of the Republic of Vietnam poured liquid chemicals from tear
gas grenades onto praying Buddhists in Huế, South Vietnam (location of
attacks pictured). The Buddhists were protesting against religious
discrimination by the regime of President Ngo Dinh Diem, a Roman
Catholic. The attacks caused 67Â people to be hospitalised for skin
blistering and respiratory ailments, and led the United States to
threaten privately to withdraw support for Diem. The protests were part
of a Buddhist campaign for religious equality after nine people were
killed while defying a ban on flying the Buddhist flag. An inquiry
determined that the chemical used failed to vapourise as it should have
done, exonerating the soldiers from charges that they had used poison or
mustard gas. However, Diem had already been forced to appoint a panel of
three cabinet ministers to meet with Buddhist leaders for negotiations
regarding religious equality. The talks led to the signing of the Joint
Communique, but the policy changes it provided were not implemented and
widespread protests continued, leading to the assassination of Diem in a
military coup.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu%E1%BA%BF_chemical_attacks>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1658:
Pope Alexander VII appointed François de Laval as vicar
apostolic of New France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_de_Laval>
1781:
American Revolutionary War: Jack Jouett made a "midnight ride"
to warn Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia legislature of coming British
cavalry who had been sent to capture them.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Jouett>
1943:
Off-duty US sailors fought with Mexican American youths in Los
Angeles, spawning the Zoot Suit Riots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoot_Suit_Riots>
1973:
At the Paris Air Show, a Tupolev Tu-144 broke up in mid-flight
and disintegrated, killing the six members of the crew and eight
bystanders on the ground.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Paris_Air_Show_crash>
1982:
An assassination attempt on Shlomo Argov, the Israeli
ambassador to the United Kingdom, failed; this was later used as
justification for the 1982 Lebanon War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shlomo_Argov>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
guardian angel:
A spirit believed to protect and to guide a particular person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/guardian_angel>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 If the Internet teaches us anything, it is that great value
comes from leaving core resources in a commons, where they're free for
people to build upon as they see fit. Â
--Lawrence Lessig
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig>
The Boeing 767 is a mid-size, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner built
by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It was the manufacturer's first wide-
body twinjet and its first airliner with a two-crew glass cockpit. The
aircraft features two turbofan engines, a conventional tail, and for
reduced aerodynamic drag, a supercritical wing design. Designed as a
smaller wide-body airliner than preceding aircraft such as the 747, the
767 has a capacity of 181Â to 375Â persons and a design range of 3,850
to 6,385 nautical miles (7,130 to 11,825 km), depending on variant. The
original 767-200 entered service in 1982, followed by the 767-300 in
1986 and the 767-400ER, an extended-range variant, in 2000. Versions for
freight and military use have also been created. The aircraft was
initially flown on domestic and transcontinental routes, before becoming
the first twin-engined airliner to receive regulatory approval for
extended overseas flights. In 1986, Boeing initiated studies for a
higher-capacity 767, ultimately leading to the development of the 777, a
larger wide-body twinjet. In the 1990s, the 767 became the most
frequently used airliner for transatlantic flights between North America
and Europe.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_767>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1615:
The first Recollect missionaries arrived in Quebec City in New
France (now in Quebec, Canada) from Rouen.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recollects>
1805:
Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptured Diamond
Rock, an uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to Fort-
de-France, from the British.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diamond_Rock>
1848:
As part of the Pan-Slavism movement, the Prague Slavic Congress
began in Prague, the first of several times that voices from all Slav
populations of Europe were heard in one place.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Slavic_Congress,_1848>
1910:
Charles Rolls (pictured), co-founder of Rolls-Royce, became the
first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by
plane.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rolls>
1983:
After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire,
twenty-three passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 were killed when a
flashover occurred as the plane's doors opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada_Flight_797>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
superannuate:
1. (transitive) To retire or put out of use due to age.
2. (intransitive) To become obsolete or antiquated.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/superannuate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't
save the people, if you don't serve the people. Â
--Cornel West
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cornel_West>
The Cotswold Olimpick Games is an annual public celebration of games and
sports held near Chipping Campden, in the Cotswolds of England. They
probably began in 1612, and have continued on and off since
(1636Â depiction shown). They were started by a local lawyer, Robert
Dover, with the approval of King James. Events included horse-racing,
coursing with hounds, running, dancing, sledgehammer throwing, fighting
with swords, and wrestling. By the time of James's death in 1625, many
Puritan landowners had forbidden their workers to attend, and the
outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642 brought the Games to an end.
Revived after the Restoration of 1660, they gradually degenerated into a
drunk and disorderly country festival. They ended again in 1852, when
the common land on which they had been staged was partitioned and
enclosed. Since 1966 the Games have been held each year on the Friday
after Spring Bank Holiday. Events have included the tug of war,
gymkhana, shin-kicking, dwile flonking, motor cycle scrambling, judo,
piano smashing, and morris dancing. The British Olympic Association has
recognised the Cotswold Olimpick Games as "the first stirrings of
Britain's Olympic beginnings".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotswold_Olimpick_Games>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1223:
Mongol invasions: Mongol forces defeated a combined army of
Kiev, Galich, and the Cumans at the Kalchik River in present-day
Ukraine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Kalka_River>
1669:
Citing poor eyesight, English naval administrator and Member of
Parliament Samuel Pepys recorded his last entry in his diary, one of the
most important primary sources for the English Restoration period.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pepys>
1935:
A 7.7 Mw earthquake struck Balochistan in the British Raj, now
part of Pakistan, killing anywhere between 30,000 and 60,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1935_Balochistan_earthquake>
1981:
An organized mob of police and government-sponsored
paramilitias began burning the public library in Jaffna, Sri Lanka,
destroying over 97,000 items in one of the most violent examples of
ethnic biblioclasm of the 20th century.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Jaffna_library>
2009:
American physician George Tiller who was nationally known for
being one of the few doctors in the United States to perform late-term
abortions, was shot and killed by Scott Roeder, an anti-abortion
activist.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_George_Tiller>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
omnishambles:
(UK, chiefly politics) A situation that is bad or mismanaged in every
way.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omnishambles>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Our problem is to become acquainted with our own selves, letting
our personalities loose upon the world for the sheer adventure of their
full development and in the positive hope that they may in their own way
lift the level of humanity. Â
--Norman Vincent Peale
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norman_Vincent_Peale>
Percy Fender (1892–1985) was an English cricketer who played 13 Tests
and captained Surrey between 1921 and 1931. An all-rounder, he was a
belligerent middle-order batsman who bowled mainly leg spin and
completed the cricketer's double seven times. In 1914, he was named one
of Wisden's Cricketers of the Year, and in 1920 hit the fastest recorded
first-class century, reaching three figures in 35 minutes (which remains
a record in 2013). In county cricket, he was an effective performer with
bat and ball, and a forceful though occasionally controversial leader;
contemporaries judged him the best captain in England. From 1921, he
played occasionally in Tests for England but was never particularly
successful. Despite press promptings, he was never appointed Test
captain, and his England career was effectively ended by a clash with
the influential Lord Harris in 1924. Further disagreements with the
Surrey committee over his approach and tactics led to his replacement as
county captain in 1932 and the end of his career in 1935. Cartoonists
enjoyed caricaturing his distinctive appearance, but he was also well
known outside cricket for his presence in society.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Fender>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1830:
U.S. President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act
into law, authorizing him to negotiate with Native Americans for their
removal from their ancestral homelands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Removal_Act>
1936:
English mathematician Alan Turing introduced the Turing machine
(model pictured), a basic abstract symbol-manipulating device that can
simulate the logic of any computer algorithm.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing>
1940:
World War II: On the same day that Belgium surrendered to
Germany, Allied forces gained their first major victory on land when
they recaptured Narvik, Norway.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Narvik>
1977:
A fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate, Kentucky,
US, killed 165 patrons.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Hills_Supper_Club_fire>
2003:
As a result of criticism of his conduct, Peter Hollingworth
resigned from his post as Governor-General of Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hollingworth>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
crown molding:
(finish carpentry, interior decorating) A molding at the edge of a room
between ceiling and wall.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crown_molding>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I feel that in my own life anything I have done of possible worth
has happened in spite of my gross, worldly self. I have been no more
than the vessel used to convey ideas above my intellectual capacities.
When people praise passages I have written, more often than not I can
genuinely say, "Did I write that?" I don't think this is due to my
having a bad memory, because I have almost total recall of trivialities.
I see it as evidence of the part the supernatural plays in lives which
would otherwise remain earthbound. Â
--Patrick White
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Patrick_White>
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan is the second studio album by the American
singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963 by Columbia
Records. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are original
compositions by Dylan. The album opens with "Blowin' in the Wind", which
would become one of the anthems of the 1960s, and several other songs
which came to be regarded as amongst Dylan's best compositions and
classics of the 1960s folk scene: "Girl from the North Country",
"Masters of War", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and "Don't Think Twice,
It's All Right". Dylan's lyrics embraced stories ripped from the
headlines about civil rights and he articulated anxieties about the fear
of nuclear warfare. Balancing this political material were love songs,
sometimes bitter and accusatory, and material that features surreal
humor. Freewheelin' showcased Dylan's songwriting talent for the first
time, propelling him to national and international fame. The album
reached number 22 in the US (eventually going platinum), and later
became a number 1 hit in the UK. In 2003, the album was ranked number
97 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all
time.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Freewheelin%27_Bob_Dylan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1199:
John, who would posthumously become known as one of the most
reviled Kings of England, was crowned.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John,_King_of_England>
1703:
Russian Tsar Peter I founded Saint Petersburg after
reconquering the Ingrian land from Sweden during the Great Northern War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Saint_Petersburg>
1919:
The Curtiss NC-4 flying boat arrived in Lisbon, Portugal,
becoming the first fixed-wing aircraft to complete a transatlantic
flight under its own power.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_NC-4>
1967:
Australians overwhelmingly approved two amendments to the
Australian Constitution granting the government the power to make laws
to benefit Indigenous Australians and to count them in the national
census.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_referendum,_1967_(Aboriginals)>
1995:
American actor Christopher Reeve was thrown from his horse,
leaving him a quadriplegic; he later became an activist on behalf of
people with spinal cord injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Reeve>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
antaphrodisiac:
Capable of reducing the sex drive.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/antaphrodisiac>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Blessed are the people whose leaders can look destiny in the eye
without flinching but also without attempting to play God. Â
--Henry Kissinger
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Kissinger>
Heinrich Bär (1913–57) was a German Luftwaffe flying ace in World
War II. He flew more than 1,000 combat missions, and fought in all
major German theatres of the war, including the Western, Eastern and
Mediterranean fronts. He was shot down on 18Â occasions and was credited
with 220Â aerial victories, around 16Â of which were in the
Messerschmitt Me 262, an early jet fighter. Bär joined the Reichswehr
in 1934 and transferred to the Luftwaffe in 1935. Serving first as a
mechanic, then as a pilot on transport aircraft, he was informally
trained as a fighter pilot. He claimed his first aerial victory in
September 1939 on the French border. By the end of the Battle of
Britain, his tally of victories was 17. Transferred to the Eastern front
to participate in Operation Barbarossa, he quickly accumulated further
kills, earning the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and
Swords for 90 aerial victories in February 1942. Hermann Göring's
personal dislike of Bär, coupled with Bär's insubordinate character
and lack of military discipline, deprived him of higher awards. After
the war, Bär continued as an aviator, and was killed in a flying
accident near Braunschweig.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_B%C3%A4r>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
451:
Armenian rebels were defeated by forces of the Sassanid Empire
on the Avarayr Plain in Vaspurakan, but the loss played a major factor
in their being granted religious freedom 33 years later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Avarayr>
1644:
Portuguese Restoration War: Portuguese and Spanish forces both
claimed victory in the Battle of Montijo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montijo>
1906:
Vauxhall Bridge in London opened, crossing the River Thames
between Vauxhall and Westminster.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vauxhall_Bridge>
1938:
The House Un-American Activities Committee was established to
investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities by people or
organizations suspected of having communist or fascist ties.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Un-American_Activities_Committee>
1991:
Lauda Air Flight 004 experienced an uncommanded thrust reverser
deployment of an engine and broke apart in mid-air, killing all 223
people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauda_Air_Flight_004>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eyrie:
1. A bird of prey's nest.
2. Any high and remote but commanding place.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eyrie>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I was frustrated that computer hardware was being improved faster
than computer software. I wanted to invent some software that was
completely different, that would grow and change as it was used.
That’s how wiki came about. Â
--Ward Cunningham
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ward_Cunningham>