"Gender Bender" is the fourteenth episode of the television series The
X-Files. The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David
Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to
the paranormal, called X-Files. In this episode, they investigate a
series of murders following sexual encounters, and soon discover that a
member of a religious sect living in Massachusetts may be
responsible—and may not be human. Premiering on the Fox network on
January 21, 1994, it was directed by Rob Bowman and featured guest
appearances by Brent Hinkley and Nicholas Lea. The episode was inspired
by producer Glen Morgan's desire for "an episode with more of a sexy
edge"; however, the writers found it difficult to write a story that
showed sex as scary. This difficulty led to the introduction of an
Amish-like community as well. "Gender Bender" had mixed critical
responses, facing criticism for its abrupt deus ex machina ending.
Academic analysis of the episode has placed it within a science-fiction
tradition that attributes a powerful, supernatural element to physical
contact with aliens. It has also been seen as reflecting anxieties about
emerging gender roles in the 1990s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_Bender_(The_X-Files)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1796:
English physician Edward Jenner began testing cowpox as a
vaccine for protection against smallpox.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner>
1804:
The Lewis and Clark Expedition led by explorers Meriwether
Lewis and William Clark left Camp Dubois near present-day Hartford,
Illinois, and began the first American overland expedition to the
Pacific coast and back.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition>
1868:
Boshin War: Troops of the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the
Battle of Utsunomiya Castle and retreated north towards Nikkō and Aizu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Utsunomiya_Castle>
1925:
Mrs Dalloway, one the best-known novels of English modernist
author Virginia Woolf, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Dalloway>
1943:
Second World War: The Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was
attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland,
killing 268 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AHS_Centaur>
1973:
The NASA space station Skylab was launched from Cape Canaveral.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sumptuous:
Magnificent, splendid, extremely good.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sumptuous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The great wheel of Fate rolls on like a Juggernaut, and crushes
us all in turn, some soon, some late.
--H. Rider Haggard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._Rider_Haggard>
The State Trunkline Highway System in Michigan consists of all the state
highways, including those designated as Interstate, United States, or
State Trunkline highways. Maintained by the Michigan Department of
Transportation, the system comprises 9,716 miles (15,636 km) of
trunklines in all 83 counties of the state. Its components range in
scale from 10-lane urban freeways to two-lane rural undivided highways
to a non-motorized highway on Mackinac Island, where cars are forbidden.
The longest highway is nearly 400 miles (640 km) long, while the
shortest is about three-quarters of a mile (about 1.2 km). A
constitutional prohibition on state involvement in roads was removed in
the early 20th century and on May 13, 1913, the State Reward Trunk Line
Highways Act was passed, creating the system. Highway numbers were first
posted on signs in 1919, making Michigan the second state to do so.
Michigan's first freeways were built during the 1940s. Construction on
Michigan's Interstates started in the late 1950s and continued until
1992. Few additional freeways have been built since 1992, and in the
early years of the 21st century, projects are underway to bypass cities
with new highways.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_Trunkline_Highway_System>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
Princess Isabel of the Empire of Brazil signed the Lei Áurea
into law, formally abolishing slavery in Brazil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Brazil>
1909:
The first Giro d'Italia long distance road bicycle racing stage
race began in Italy, with Italian professional road racing cyclist Luigi
Ganna becoming the eventual winner.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giro_d%27Italia>
1917:
Ten-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Francisco and
Jacinta Marto reportedly began experiencing a Marian apparition near
Fátima, Portugal, now known as Our Lady of Fátima.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_F%C3%A1tima>
1958:
Australian Ben Carlin became the only person to circumnavigate
the world in an amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 80,000
kilometres (50,000 mi) by land and sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Carlin>
1992:
Li Hongzhi introduced Falun Gong in a public lecture in
Changchun, Jilin province, China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Hongzhi>
2005:
Uzbek Interior Ministry and National Security Service troops
fired into a crowd of protesters in Andijan, Uzbekistan, killing
anywhere from 187, the official count of the government, to a reported
5,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andijan_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mama bear:
(slang) A woman, especially a mother, who is extremely protective of a
child or children.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mama_bear>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Things pass, but the essence remains. You sit, therefore, in the
midst of a dream. Essence dreams it a dream of form. Forms pass, but the
essence remains, dreaming new dreams. Man names these dreams and thinks
to have captured the essence, not knowing that he invokes the unreal.
These stones, these walls, these bodies you see seated about you are
poppies and water and the sun. They are the dreams of the Nameless. in
--Lord of Light
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_of_Light>
Lady Grange (1679–1745) was the wife of James Erskine, Lord Grange, a
Scottish lawyer with Jacobite sympathies. After 25 years of marriage
and nine children, the Granges separated acrimoniously. When Lady Grange
produced letters that she claimed were evidence of his treasonable
plottings against the Hanoverian government in London, her husband had
her kidnapped from her home in Edinburgh on the night of 22 January
1732. She was incarcerated in various remote locations on the western
seaboard of Scotland, including the Monach Isles, Skye and the distant
islands of St Kilda. Lady Grange's father was convicted of murder when
she was about 10 years old and she is known to have had a violent
temper; initially her absence seems to have caused little comment. No
action was ever taken on her behalf by any of her children, the eldest
of whom would have been in their early twenties when she was abducted.
News of her plight eventually reached Edinburgh however, and an
unsuccessful rescue attempt was undertaken by her lawyer, Thomas Hope of
Rankeillor. She died in captivity, after being effectively imprisoned
for 13 years. Her life has been remembered in poetry, prose and a play.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Chiesley,_Lady_Grange>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1551:
The National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in
the Americas, was founded in Lima, Peru.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_University_of_San_Marcos>
1846:
Led by George Donner, the American pioneer group known as the
Donner Party, which would become known for resorting to cannibalism when
they became trapped in the Sierra Nevadas, left Independence, Missouri,
for California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party>
1941:
German engineer Konrad Zuse presented the Z3 (replica
pictured), the world's first working programmable, fully automatic
computer, to an audience of scientists in Berlin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)>
1955:
The Allied occupation of Austria came to an end, with the
nation regaining its independence ten years after the end of World
War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied-occupied_Austria>
1975:
The Cambodian navy seized the American container ship SS
Mayaguez in recognized international waters, but claimed as territorial
waters by Cambodia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayaguez_incident>
2008:
An earthquake measuring about 8.0 Ms struck the Sichuan
province of China, killing at least 69,000 people, injuring at least
374,000, and leaving at least 4.8 million others homeless.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Sichuan_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
deskfast:
Breakfast eaten at work, particularly while sitting at a desk.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/deskfast>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Ignorance is not bliss — it is oblivion. Determined ignorance
is the hastiest kind of oblivion.
--Philip Wylie
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Wylie>
Danie Mellor (born 1971) is a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist
and the winner of the 2009 National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander
Art Award for a mixed media work From Rite to Ritual. Born in Mackay,
Queensland, Mellor studied at North Adelaide School of Art, the
Australian National University and Birmingham Institute of Art and
Design. He then took up a post lecturing at Sydney College of the Arts.
He works in different media including printmaking, drawing, painting,
and sculpture. The dominant theme in Mellor's art is the relationship
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian cultures. Since 2000,
Mellor's works have been included regularly in National Aboriginal &
Torres Strait Islander Art Award exhibitions and in 2003 he was awarded
a "highly commended", for his print Cyathea cooperi. His other major
exhibitions have included the Primavera 2005 show at the Museum of
Contemporary Art, Sydney, and the National Indigenous Art Triennial at
the National Gallery of Australia in 2007. In 2012, his work was
included in the National Museum of Australia's exhibition Menagerie:
contemporary Indigenous sculpture and the second National Indigenous Art
Triennial.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danie_Mellor>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
868:
A copy of the Diamond Sutra was printed in China, making it the
world's oldest dated printed book.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Sutra>
1792:
Merchant sea captain Robert Gray became the first recorded
European to navigate the Columbia River in what is now the Pacific
Northwest United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gray%27s_Columbia_River_expedition>
1813:
William Lawson, Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth departed
westward from Sydney on an expedition to become the first Europeans
confirmed to cross the Blue Mountains.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Mountains_(New_South_Wales)>
1858:
Minnesota (flag pictured) was carved out of the eastern half of
the Minnesota Territory and admitted as the 32nd U.S. state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota>
1946:
The United Malays National Organisation, today Malaysia's
largest political party, was founded, originally to oppose the
constitutional framework of the Malayan Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Malays_National_Organisation>
1996:
A severe blizzard on Mount Everest caused the deaths of eight
climbers, helping make that year the deadliest in the mountain's
history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Mount_Everest_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
atheophobia:
Fear or hatred of atheism or atheists.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atheophobia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help
solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. ... No problem
is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
--Richard Feynman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman>
Phallus indusiatus, commonly called the bamboo fungus, bamboo pith, long
net stinkhorn, crinoline stinkhorn or veiled lady, is a fungus in the
family Phallaceae, or stinkhorns. It has a cosmopolitan distribution in
tropical areas, and is found in southern Asia, Africa, the Americas, and
Australia, where it grows in woodlands and gardens in rich soil and
well-rotted woody material. The fruit body of the fungus is
characterised by a conical to bell-shaped cap on a stalk and a delicate
lacy "skirt", or indusium, that hangs from beneath the cap and reaches
nearly to the ground. It was first described scientifically in 1798 by
French botanist Étienne Pierre Ventenat. Mature fruit bodies are up to
25 cm (9.8 in) tall with a conical to bell-shaped cap that is
1.5–4 cm (0.6–1.6 in) wide. The edible mushroom, grown
commercially and commonly sold in Asian markets, is rich in protein,
carbohydrates, and dietary fiber. It also contains various bioactive
compounds, and has antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. Phallus
indusiatus has a recorded history of use in Chinese medicine extending
back to the 7th century AD, and features in Nigerian folklore.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phallus_indusiatus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1503:
Christopher Columbus and his crew became the first Europeans to
visit the Cayman Islands, naming them Las Tortugas after the numerous
sea turtles there.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayman_Islands>
1857:
The Sepoy Mutiny against the company rule by the British East
India Company began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857>
1872:
Victoria Woodhull became the first woman to be nominated as a
candidate for President of the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Woodhull>
1916:
Ernest Shackleton and five companions completed one of
history's greatest small-boat journeys when they arrived at South
Georgia after an 800-nautical-mile (1,500 km) journey in a lifeboat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyage_of_the_James_Caird>
1924:
J. Edgar Hoover became the director of the Bureau of
Investigation, which would later become the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover>
1981:
François Mitterrand was elected to be the first socialist
President of the French Fifth Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Mitterrand>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cymotrichous:
(anthropology) Having wavy hair.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cymotrichous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It seemed — in 1968 — the possibilities of peace and
brotherhood could be realised that very year. We're still working on it.
--Donovan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Donovan>
Hurricane Debbie was the most powerful cyclone on record to strike
Ireland in September. The fourth named storm of the 1961 Atlantic
hurricane season, Debbie originated from a well-defined tropical
disturbance that was first identified in late August over Central
Africa. Tracking generally westward, the system moved off the coast of
Senegal on September 5 into the Atlantic Ocean. On September 6, Debbie
passed through the southern Cape Verde Islands as a strong tropical
storm and resulted in a plane crash that killed 60 people. Thereafter
its location was uncertain until September 10 and on the following day,
Debbie attained its peak intensity as a Category 3 hurricane on the
Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, with maximum winds of 120 mph
(195 km/h). Gradually weakening, it passed over the western Azores as a
minimal hurricane on September 15 and skirted the coast of Western
Ireland on September 16 as a powerful storm. It brought record winds to
much of the country, with a peak gust of 114 mph (183 km/h) measured
just offshore, causing widespread damage and disruption, killing
12 people (and a further 6 people in Northern Ireland) and caused
US$40–50 million in damage.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Debbie_(1961)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1671:
Irish-born Colonel Thomas Blood was caught trying to steal the
English Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blood>
1873:
Panic of 1873: The Vienna Stock Exchange crashed, following two
years of overexpansion in the German and Austro-Hungarian economies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1873>
1877:
Romanian Foreign Affairs Minister Mihail Kogălniceanu made a
speech in the Parliament that declared Romania was discarding Ottoman
suzerainty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihail_Kog%C4%83lniceanu>
1960:
The United States Food and Drug Administration announced it
would approve the use of Searle's Enovid for birth control, making it
the first oral contraceptive pill.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_oral_contraceptive_pill>
1979:
Prominent Iranian Jew Habib Elghanian was executed after having
been convicted by a revolutionary tribunal of various charges,
triggering a mass exodus of Jews from Iran.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habib_Elghanian>
2005:
Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his
predecessor Pope John Paul II, waiving the standard five years required
after the nominee's death.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatification_of_Pope_John_Paul_II>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
green gown:
(now archaic, historical) A dress that has been stained green from
rolling in the grass; generally with allusion to sexual activity,
especially a woman's loss of virginity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/green_gown>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When a new baby laughs for the first time a new fairy is born,
and as there are always new babies there are always new fairies.
--J. M. Barrie
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Barrie>
Operation Teardrop was a United States Navy operation of World War II
conducted during April and May 1945 to sink German U-boats that were
believed to be approaching the U.S. east coast armed with V-1 flying
bombs. It was planned during late 1944 in response to intelligence
reports which indicated that Germany was preparing a force of missile-
armed submarines. The plan was executed in April 1945 after several
Type IX submarines put to sea from Norway bound for the United States.
While severe weather conditions in the North Atlantic Ocean greatly
reduced the effectiveness of the four U.S. Navy escort carriers
involved, long patrol lines of destroyer escorts successfully detected
and engaged most of the submarines. Four were sunk with the loss of
their entire crew. Most of the crew of the other submarine to be sunk
were captured, with the specialists among the prisoners being brutally
interrogated. USS Frederick C. Davis (pictured) was also sunk with the
loss of most of her crew. The surviving U-boats surrendered in early May
as part of the general German surrender. After the war the Allies
determined that the submarines were not carrying missiles.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Teardrop>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
The Reign of Terror: Branded a traitor, French chemist Antoine
Lavoisier (pictured), a former royal tax collector with the Ferme
Générale, was tried, convicted, and guillotined on the same day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Lavoisier>
1842:
A train derailed and caught fire in Paris, killing between 52
and 200 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versailles_rail_accident>
1945:
A parade to celebrate the end of World War II turned into a
riot, followed by widespread disturbances and killings in and around
Sétif, French Algeria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9tif_and_Guelma_massacre>
1963:
In Huế, South Vietnam, soldiers of the Army of the Republic
of Vietnam opened fire into a crowd of Buddhist protestors against a
government ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesākha, killing
nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hu%E1%BA%BF_Ph%E1%BA%ADt_%C4%90%E1%BA%A3n_sho…>
1970:
Construction workers in New York City attacked students and
others protesting the Kent State shootings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Hat_Riot>
1987:
A British Army Special Air Service unit ambushed a Provisional
Irish Republican Army unit in Loughgall, Northern Ireland, killing eight
IRA members and a civilian.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loughgall_Ambush>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
adversity:
1. (uncountable) The state of adverse conditions; state of misfortune or
calamity.
2. (countable) An event that is adverse; calamity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/adversity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If man is not to do more harm than good in his efforts to improve
the social order, he will have to learn that in this, as in all other
fields where essential complexity of an organized kind prevails, he
cannot acquire the full knowledge which would make mastery of the events
possible. He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve,
not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but
rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment,
in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants.
--Friedrich Hayek
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek>
A Journey is a 2010 memoir by Tony Blair (pictured) discussing his
tenure as leader of the British Labour Party (1994–2007), and Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom (1997–2007). Under Blair's stewardship
the party was rebranded as New Labour and secured a party record of
three successive terms in office. Two of the book's major themes concern
Blair's strained relationship with his Chancellor Gordon Brown, and his
controversial decision to participate in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Blair discusses Labour's future after its defeat at the 2010 general
election, his relations with the Royal Family, and how he came to
respect President George W. Bush. A Journey received mixed reviews; some
criticised Blair's writing style, but others called it candid. Financial
Times editor Lionel Barber described it as "part psychodrama, part
treatise on the frustrations of leadership in a modern democracy". Blair
donated his £4.6 million advance, and all subsequent royalties, to the
British Armed Forces charity The Royal British Legion. It became the
fastest-selling autobiography of all time at the bookstore chain
Waterstones, but promotional events were marked by antiwar protests.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journey>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1782:
Construction began on the Grand Palace of Bangkok, the official
residence of the King of Thailand.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace>
1801:
French Revolutionary Wars: The outmanned and outgunned
HMS Speedy captured the 32-gun Spanish frigate El Gamo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_6_May_1801>
1882:
U.S. President Chester A. Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion
Act into law, implementing a ban on Chinese immigration to the United
States that eventually lasted for over 60 years until the 1943 Magnuson
Act.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act>
1937:
The German zeppelin Hindenburg caught fire and was destroyed
while trying to land at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey,
killing over 30 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_129_Hindenburg>
1941:
American entertainer Bob Hope performed the first of his many
shows for the United Service Organizations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hope>
1984:
Pope John Paul II canonized 103 of the Korean Martyrs, who were
the subjects of religious persecution against Christians in 19th-century
Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Martyrs>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
softly softly:
(UK, idiomatic) In a very tactful, careful, or nondisruptive manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/softly_softly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
They called me mad, and I called them mad, and damn them, they
outvoted me.
--Nathaniel Lee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Lee>
Elephants are large mammals found in sub-Saharan Africa, and South and
Southeast Asia. Traditionally, two species are recognised, the African
elephant (pictured) and the Asian elephant, although some evidence
suggests that African bush elephants and African forest elephants are
separate species. The largest living terrestrial animals, male African
elephants can reach a height of 4 m (13 ft) and weigh 7,000 kg
(15,000 lb). Distinctive features include the trunk, used for many
purposes, and tusks, which serve as tools and weapons. Females (or
"cows") tend to live in family groups; males (or "bulls") leave their
family groups when they reach puberty, and may live alone or with other
males. Adult bulls mostly interact with family groups when looking for a
mate. Elephants can live up to 70 years in the wild, and their
intelligence has been compared to primates and cetaceans. African
elephants are classed as vulnerable, while the Asian elephant is classed
as endangered. Elephants are threatened by poaching for the ivory trade,
habitat destruction and conflicts with local people. They are highly
recognisable and have been featured in art, folklore, religion,
literature and popular culture.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1860:
Led by Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi (pictured), the
volunteer Expedition of the Thousand set sail from Genoa on a campaign
to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expedition_of_the_Thousand>
1904:
Pitcher Cy Young of the Boston Americans threw the first
perfect game in the modern era of professional baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cy_Young>
1940:
World War II: A squad of 250 Norwegian volunteers in Hegra
Fortress finally surrendered to a vastly superior Nazi force after a
25-day siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hegra_Fortress>
1961:
Project Mercury: Aboard the American spacecraft Freedom 7, Alan
Shepard made a sub-orbital flight, becoming the second person to travel
into outer space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shepard>
1980:
The British Special Air Service stormed the Iranian Embassy in
London, six days after Iranian Arab separatists had seized it.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_siege>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Stakhanovite:
An extremely productive or hard-working worker, especially in the former
USSR, who may earn special rewards; a workaholic.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Stakhanovite>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Sin is in itself separation from the good, but despair over sin
is separation a second time.
--Søren Kierkegaard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/S%C3%B8ren_Kierkegaard>
George Harrison (1943–2001) was an English musician, singer, and
songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the
Beatles. By 1965 Harrison had begun to lead the other Beatles into folk
rock through his interest in the Byrds and Bob Dylan, and towards Indian
classical music through his use of the sitar on "Norwegian Wood (This
Bird Has Flown)". He developed an interest in the Hare Krishna movement
and became an admirer of Indian culture and mysticism, introducing them
to the other Beatles and their Western audience. Following the band's
break-up in 1970, Harrison released several best-selling singles and
albums as a solo performer, and in 1988 co-founded the platinum-selling
supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. A prolific recording artist, he was
featured as a guest guitarist on tracks by Badfinger, Ronnie Wood and
Billy Preston, and collaborated on songs and music with Bob Dylan, Eric
Clapton and Tom Petty, among others. He also organized the 1971 Concert
for Bangladesh with Ravi Shankar, a precursor to later benefit concerts
such as Live Aid. Harrison was also a music and film producer, founding
Dark Horse Records in 1974 and co-founding HandMade Films in 1978.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Harrison>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1436:
Swedish rebel and later national hero Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson
was assassinated in the midst of the Engelbrekt rebellion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engelbrekt_Engelbrektsson>
1836:
The Ancient Order of Hibernians, an Irish Catholic fraternal
organization, was founded in New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Order_of_Hibernians>
1959:
The inaugural Grammy Awards ceremony was held, recognizing
outstanding achievement in the American music industry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Awards>
1974:
An all-female Japanese team reached the summit of Manaslu in
the Himalayas, becoming the first women to climb an 8,000-meter peak.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manaslu>
1982:
Falklands War: HMS Sheffield was struck by an Exocet missile,
killing 20 sailors and leading to its sinking six days later—the first
Royal Navy ship sunk in action since World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Sheffield_(D80)>
1990:
The Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR declared the restoration
of independence of Latvia, stating that the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
and the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 were illegal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Restoration_of_Independence_of_the_Rep…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
effrontery:
1. (uncountable) Insolent and shameless audacity.
2. (countable) An act of insolent and shameless audacity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/effrontery>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we
stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of
inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little
more land, to add something to the extent and the solidity of our
possessions.
--T. H. Huxley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._H._Huxley>