Kenneth Widmerpool is a fictional character in Anthony Powell's novel
sequence A Dance to the Music of Time, a 12-volume account of upper-
class and bohemian life in Britain between 1920 and 1970. Widmerpool is
the antithesis of the sequence's narrator-hero Nicholas Jenkins.
Initially presented as a comic, even pathetic figure, he becomes
increasingly formidable, powerful and ultimately sinister as the novels
progress, his only sphere of failure being his relationships with women.
Widmerpool's defining characteristics are lack of culture, small-
mindedness and a capacity for intrigue; he is able to achieve his
positions of dominance through dogged industry and self-belief. Thus he
represents the meritocratic middle class's challenge to the declining
power of the "establishment", revealed to have few defences against such
an assault. Among suggested real-life models have been Edward Heath, the
British prime minister 1970–74, and Reginald Manningham-Buller, who
was Britain's Attorney General in the 1950s; Powell gave little
encouragement to such theorising. The novel sequence ends with
Widmerpool's death, in bizarre circumstances arising from his
involvement with a New Age-type cult.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Widmerpool>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1661:
Charles II was crowned King of England, Ireland, and Scotland
at Westminster Abbey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1942:
Second World War: In retaliation for the Royal Air Force
bombing of Lübeck several weeks prior, the Luftwaffe began a series of
bombing raids in England, starting with Exeter.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baedeker_Blitz>
1954:
Batting against Vic Raschi of the St. Louis Cardinals, Hank
Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his then-record 755 home
runs in Major League Baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron>
1961:
In the midst of the Algerian War, French President Charles de
Gaulle delivered a televised speech calling on military personnel and
civilians to oppose a coup d'état attempt against him.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers_putsch_of_1961>
1985:
The Coca-Cola Company introduced "New Coke" to replace its
flagship soft drink Coca-Cola, which generated so much negative response
that the company put the previous formula back on the market less than
three months later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke>
2009:
Gamma ray burst GRB 090423 was detected, coming from the most
distant known astronomical object of any kind at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GRB_090423>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bardolator:
(usually pejorative) One who loves or worships the works of William
Shakespeare.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bardolator>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There
is one tree, the phoenix' throne, one phoenix At this hour reigning
there. in
--The Tempest
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Tempest>
The Western Jackdaw is a passerine bird in the crow family. The name
derives from the word "jack", meaning "small", and "daw", its native
English name. Found across Europe, western Asia and North Africa, it is
mostly resident, although northern and eastern populations migrate south
in winter. Four subspecies are recognised, which mainly differ in the
colouration of the plumage on the head and nape. Linnaeus first
described it formally. Later analysis of its DNA shows that, with its
closest relative the Daurian Jackdaw, it is an early offshoot from the
genus Corvus, and possibly distinct enough to warrant reclassification
in a separate genus, Coloeus. Measuring 34–39 centimetres
(13–15 in) in length, the Western Jackdaw has black plumage with a
grey nape and distinctive pale-grey irises. It is gregarious and vocal,
living in small groups with a complex social structure in farmland, open
woodland, on coastal cliffs, and in urban settings. An omnivorous and
opportunistic feeder, it eats a wide variety of plant material and
invertebrates, as well as food waste from urban areas. Western Jackdaws
are monogamous and build simple nests of sticks in cavities in trees,
cliffs, or buildings.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Jackdaw>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew landed
in Brazil and claimed the land for Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_%C3%81lvares_Cabral>
1622:
An Anglo-Persian force combined to take over the Portuguese
garrison at Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Ormuz_(1622)>
1930:
France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States
signed the London Naval Treaty, regulating submarine warfare and
limiting military ship building.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Naval_Treaty>
1948:
Civil War in Mandatory Palestine: The Jewish paramilitary group
Haganah captured Haifa from the Arab Liberation Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Haifa_(1948)>
1969:
British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston won the Sunday Times
Golden Globe Race to complete the first solo non-stop circumnavigation
of the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race>
1998:
Disney's Animal Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in
Florida opened, covering more than 500 acres (2 km2), making it the
largest single Disney theme park in the world.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney%27s_Animal_Kingdom>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
crosswordese:
The jargon of crossword puzzle answers, classically consisting of rare,
archaic, or dialectal words.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crosswordese>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love is the emblem of eternity; it confounds all notion of time;
effaces all memory of a beginning, all fear of an end.
--Anne Louise Germaine de Staël
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Louise_Germaine_de_Sta%C3%ABl>
Reginald Heber (1783–1826) was an English clergyman, traveller, man of
letters and hymn-writer, who served as the Anglican Bishop of Calcutta.
After graduating from Oxford University, where he gained a reputation as
a poet, he undertook an extended tour of Scandinavia, Russia and central
Europe at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. After ordination in 1807 he
took over his father's old parish of Hodnet in Shropshire, where he
combined his pastoral duties with other church offices and literary
work. He was consecrated Bishop of Calcutta in October 1823. During his
short episcopate he worked hard to improve the spiritual and general
living conditions of his flock, before a combination of arduous duties,
hostile climate and indifferent health brought about his collapse and
death at the age of 42. Monuments were erected to his memory in India
and in St Paul's Cathedral, London. Several of his hymns have survived
into the 21st century; one of these, "Holy, Holy, Holy", is a popular
and widely known hymn for Trinity Sunday. Some recent commentators have
asserted that the paternalism and imperial assumptions expressed in his
hymns are outdated and generally unacceptable in the modern world.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Heber>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
753 BC:
Romulus and Remus founded Rome, according to the calculations
by Roman scholar Varro Reatinus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus_and_Remus>
900:
A debt was pardoned by the Datu of Tondo on the island of Luzon,
as inscribed on the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, the earliest known
written document found in the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription>
1509:
Henry VIII became King of England, following the death of his
father Henry VII, eventually becoming a significant figure in the
history of the English monarchy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England>
1836:
Texan forces led by Sam Houston defeated General Antonio López
de Santa Anna and his Mexican troops in the Battle of San Jacinto near
La Porte, the decisive battle in the Texas Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Jacinto>
1863:
After the Ottoman Empire exiled him from Baghdad,
Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, began his twelve-day
stay in the Garden of Ridván where he declared his mission as "He whom
God shall make manifest".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27u%27ll%C3%A1h>
1970:
In response to a long-running dispute over wheat production
quotas, the Principality of Hutt River proclaimed its secession from
Western Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Hutt_River>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
overawe:
(transitive) To restrain, subdue, or control by awe; to cow.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overawe>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To love means to open ourselves to the negative as well as the
positive — to grief, sorrow, and disappointment as well as to joy,
fulfillment, and an intensity of consciousness we did not know was
possible before.
--Rollo May
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rollo_May>
Fairfax Harrison (1869–1938) was an American lawyer, businessman, and
writer. The son of the secretary to the Confederate President Jefferson
Davis, Harrison studied law at Yale University and Columbia University
before becoming a lawyer for the Southern Railway Company in 1896. By
1906 he was Southern's vice-president of finance, and in 1907 helped
secure funding to keep the company solvent. In 1913 he was elected
president of Southern, where he instituted a number of reforms in
company operations. By 1916, under Harrison's leadership, the Southern
had expanded to an 8,000-mile (13,000 km) network across 13 states,
its greatest extent until the 1950s. Following America's entry into
World War I the federal government took control of the railroads in
December 1917, running them through the United States Railroad
Administration, on which Harrison served. Harrison struggled to keep the
railroad afloat during the Great Depression, but by 1936 Southern was
once again showing a profit. Harrison retired in 1937, intending to
focus on his hobby of writing about historical subjects including the
roots of the American Thoroughbred horse, but he died three months later
in February 1938.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairfax_Harrison>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1535:
The appearance of sun dogs over Stockholm, Sweden, inspired the
painting Vädersolstavlan, the oldest colour depiction of the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4dersolstavlan>
1657:
Anglo-Spanish War: An English fleet under Admiral Robert Blake
attacked a Spanish treasure fleet at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the
Spanish Canary Islands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Santa_Cruz_de_Tenerife_(1657)>
1939:
Billie Holiday recorded her version of "Strange Fruit", which
gained fame as an emblem of the Civil Rights Movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Fruit>
1968:
British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell made his
controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech in opposition to immigration and
anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the
Shadow Cabinet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech>
1978:
Soviet fighters shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 902 after it
violated Soviet airspace.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_902>
2010:
An explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil rig in the
Gulf of Mexico, caused the largest accidental marine oil spill in the
history of the petroleum industry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
capias:
(law) An arrest warrant; a writ commanding officers to take a specified
person or persons into custody.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/capias>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When the last eagle flies over the last crumbling mountain And
the last lion roars at the last dusty fountain In the shadow of the
forest though she may be old and worn They will stare unbelieving at the
last unicorn. for The Last Unicorn by
--Peter S. Beagle
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_S._Beagle>
God of War: Chains of Olympus is a 2008 third-person action-adventure
video game for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Loosely based on Greek
mythology, it is the fourth installment in the God of War series and a
prequel to the original God of War. The player controls Kratos, a
Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian Gods. Kratos is instructed to
find the Sun God Helios, as the Dream God Morpheus has caused many of
the gods to slumber in Helios' absence. Morpheus, the Queen of the
Underworld Persephone and the Titan Atlas plan to destroy Mount Olympus.
The gameplay is very similar to that of its predecessors, with a focus
on combo-based combat. The game features quick time events that require
the player to complete game controller actions in a timed sequence to
defeat stronger enemies and bosses. The player can use magical attacks,
and the game also features puzzles and platforming elements. Debuting at
No. 5 on the North American charts, Chains of Olympus achieved the
highest composite score for a PSP title from Metacritic and
GameRankings. Considered one of the best games on the platform, it has
won several awards and had sold 3.2 million copies worldwide by
June 2012.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_War:_Chains_of_Olympus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1713:
With no living male heirs, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI
issued the Pragmatic Sanction to ensure one of his daughters would
inherit the Habsburg lands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VI,_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1775:
The American Revolutionary War began with the Battles of
Lexington and Concord in the British colony of Massachusetts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord>
1809:
War of the Fifth Coalition: The French won a hard-fought
victory over Austria in Lower Bavaria when their opponents withdrew from
the field of battle that evening.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Teugen-Hausen>
1943:
The Holocaust: Nazi troops entered the Warsaw Ghetto to round
up the remaining Jews, sparking the first mass uprising (burning
buildings pictured) in Poland against the German occupation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising>
1989:
A gun turret on board the United States Navy battleship Iowa
exploded, killing 47 sailors.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Iowa_turret_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
debauch:
1. (transitive) To morally corrupt (someone); to seduce.
2. (transitive) To debase (something); to lower the value of (something).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/debauch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Of greatest significance to me has been the insight that I
attained as a fundamental understanding from all of my LSD experiments:
what one commonly takes as "the reality," including the reality of one's
own individual person, by no means signifies something fixed, but rather
something that is ambiguous — that there is not only one, but that
there are many realities, each comprising also a different consciousness
of the ego.
--Albert Hofmann
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann>
Inocybe saliceticola is a fungal species found in moist habitats in
Nordic countries. The species produces brown mushrooms with caps of
varying shapes up to 40 millimetres (1.6 in) across, and tall, thin
stems up to 62 millimetres (2.4 in) long, at the base of which is a
large and well-defined "bulb". The stem varies in colour, with whitish,
pale yellow-brown, pale red-brown, pale brown and grey-brown all
observed. The species produces unusually shaped, irregular spores, each
with a few thick protrusions. This feature helps differentiate it from
other species that would otherwise be similar in appearance and habit.
It grows in mycorrhizal association with willow, and it is for this that
the species is named. However, particular species favoured by the fungus
are unclear and may include beech and alder taxa. The mushrooms grow
from the ground, often among mosses or detritus. The species was first
described in 2009, and within the genus Inocybe, it is a part of the
section Marginatae. The holotype (pictured) was collected from the shore
of a lake near Nurmes, Finland. The species has also been recorded in
Sweden and, at least in some areas, it is relatively common.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inocybe_saliceticola>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1506:
Construction of the current St. Peter's Basilica (interior
pictured) in Vatican City, to replace the old basilica built in the 4th
century, began.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica>
1689:
Provincial militia and citizens gathered in Boston, and
arrested officials of the Dominion of New England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1689_Boston_revolt>
1923:
The New York Yankees of Major League Baseball began playing
their games in the newly constructed Yankee Stadium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Stadium_(1923)>
1938:
Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, made his
debut in Action Comics #1, the first true superhero comic book.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman>
1947:
In one of the largest non-nuclear single explosive detonations
in history, the Royal Navy set off 4,000 tonnes of surplus ammunition in
an unsuccessful attempt to destroy the island of Heligoland, Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heligoland>
1949:
Ireland officially left the British Commonwealth and became a
republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ireland>
1996:
Israeli forces shelled Qana, Lebanon, during Operation Grapes
of Wrath, killing over 100 civilians and injuring over 110 others at a
UN compound.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_shelling_of_Qana>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
oubliette:
A dungeon only accessible by a trapdoor at the top.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oubliette>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The moral nature of man is more sacred in my eyes than his
intellectual nature. I know they cannot be divorced — that without
intelligence we should be Brutes — but it is the tendency of our
gaping, wondering dispositions to give pre-eminence to those faculties
which most astonish us. Strength of character seldom, if ever,
astonishes; goodness, lovingness, and quiet self-sacrifice, are worth
all the talents in the world.
--George Henry Lewes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Henry_Lewes>
Thistle is a ghost town in Utah County, Utah, about 65 miles (105 km)
southeast of Salt Lake City in the United States. During the era of
steam locomotives, the town's primary industry was servicing trains for
the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The fortunes of the town
were closely linked with those of the railroad until the changeover to
diesel locomotives, when the town started to decline. Just downstream
from Thistle, a slump had been in slow motion for years, with no serious
thought of investigation. The landslide situation deteriorated rapidly
in April 1983, with the town evacuated on April 17. The landslide
dammed the Spanish Fork River and almost completely destroyed the town;
only a few structures were left partially standing (schoolhouse
pictured). It also severed key transportation arteries and left parts of
eastern Utah isolated for months until replacements could be built.
Federal and state government agencies have claimed that it was the most
costly landslide in U.S. history, and it resulted in the first
presidential declared disaster area in the state of Utah. The remains of
Thistle are visible from U.S. Route 6 or from the California Zephyr
passenger train.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thistle,_Utah>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1797:
Citizens of Verona, Italy, began an unsuccessful eight-day
rebellion against the French occupying forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veronese_Easter>
1912:
Soldiers of the Russian Empire's army fired upon striking gold
miners in northeast Siberia near the Lena River, killing at least 150
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_massacre>
1951:
The Peak District was designated the first national park in the
United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_District>
1961:
Armed Cuban exiles backed by the CIA invaded Cuba, landing in
the Bay of Pigs, with the aim of overthrowing the Cuban government under
Fidel Castro.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion>
1975:
The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh, ending the
Cambodian Civil War, and established Democratic Kampuchea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Civil_War>
1982:
A new patriated Constitution of Canada, including the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms (pictured), a bill of rights intended to
protect certain political and civil rights of people in Canada, was
signed into law by Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act,_1982>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
kasha:
A porridge made from boiled buckwheat groats, or sometimes from other
cereal groats.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kasha>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If rules make you nervous and depressed, and not desirous of
participating in the Wiki, then ignore them and go about your business.
--Lee Daniel Crocker
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lee_Daniel_Crocker>
Be Here Now is the third studio album by English rock band Oasis
(vocalist Liam Gallagher pictured), released in August 1997. The album
was highly anticipated by music critics and fans after the band's
worldwide success with Definitely Maybe (1994) and (What's the Story)
Morning Glory? (1995). Be Here Now became the United Kingdom's fastest
selling album to date, selling over 350,000 units on the first day of
release. Oasis' management company Ignition sought to control access to
the album before its release to prevent overexposure, but its tactics
resulted in the alienation of members of the media. Although initial
reviews were positive, retrospectively the album is viewed by much of
the music press and by most members of the band as over-indulgent and
bloated. In 2007, Q magazine, having given it five stars on its release,
said that it is often thought of as "a disastrous, overblown folly—the
moment when Oasis, their judgement clouded by drugs and blanket
adulation, ran aground on their own sky-high self-belief." The album's
producer Owen Morris said of the recording sessions: "The only reason
anyone was there was the money." (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Here_Now_(album)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1520:
Citizens of Toledo, Castile, who were opposed to the rule of
the foreign-born Charles V, rose up in revolt when the royal government
attempted to unseat radical city councilors.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_of_the_Comuneros>
1853:
The first passenger line of what would become Indian Railways,
the state-owned railway company of India, opened between Bombay (now
Mumbai) and Thane.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways>
1881:
Famed lawman Bat Masterson of the American Old West engaged in
his last gun battle before later becoming a journalist.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_Masterson>
1917:
Vladimir Lenin returned to Petrograd from Switzerland, and
joined the Bolshevik movement in Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin>
1947:
American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch
first described the post–World War II tensions between the Soviet
Union and the United States as a "cold war".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War>
2001:
India and Bangladesh began a five-day conflict over their
disputed border, which ended in a stalemate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Indian%E2%80%93Bangladeshi_border_confli…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
heir apparent:
(usually monarchy) Someone who will definitely inherit, assuming he
survives the one from whom he is inheriting.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heir_apparent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The finest words in the world are only vain sounds, if you
cannot comprehend them.
--Anatole France
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anatole_France>
The Sumatran rhinoceros is the smallest of the five extant rhinoceroses.
Members of the species once inhabited rainforests, swamps, and cloud
forests in India, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, and China. They are now critically endangered, with only six
substantial populations in the wild: four on Sumatra, one on Borneo, and
one in the Malay Peninsula. Their numbers are difficult to determine
because they are solitary animals that are widely scattered across their
range, but they are estimated to number fewer than 275, and possibly as
low as 200. The decline in numbers is attributed primarily to poaching
for their horns, which are highly valued in traditional Chinese
medicine. The Sumatran rhino is a mostly solitary animal except for
courtship and offspring-rearing. Like the African species, it has two
horns; the larger is the nasal horn, typically 15–25 centimetres
(5.9–9.8 in), while the other horn is typically a stub. A coat of
reddish-brown hair covers most of its body. It is the most vocal rhino
species and also communicates through marking soil with its feet,
twisting saplings into patterns, and leaving excrement.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatran_rhinoceros>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
769:
The Lateran Council concluded proceedings intended to rectify
abuses in the papal electoral process that had led to the elevation of
the Antipopes Constantine II and Philip.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Council_(769)>
1071:
Norman forces, under the command of Robert Guiscard, conquered
the city of Bari, the capital of the Catepanate of Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Bari>
1638:
A rebellion by Catholic Japanese peasants in Shimabara over
increased taxes was put down by the Tokugawa shogunate, resulting in
greater enforcement of the policy of national seclusion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shimabara_Rebellion>
1755:
A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson was
first published, becoming one of the most influential dictionaries in
the history of English.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language>
1947:
Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break the
baseball color line, played his first game in Major League Baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson>
1989:
A human crush during an FA Cup semi-final match between
Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield,
England, caused 96 deaths, the most of any stadium-related disaster in
British history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillsborough_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eschatology:
1. (countable) System of doctrines concerning final matters, such as death.
2. (uncountable) The study of the end times — the end of the world,
notably in Christian theology the second coming of Christ, the
Apocalypse or the Last Judgment.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eschatology>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The acquisition of any knowledge is always of use to the
intellect, because it may thus drive out useless things and retain the
good. For nothing can be loved or hated unless it is first known.
--Leonardo da Vinci
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci>
Thurman Tucker (1917–93) was an American center fielder in Major
League Baseball who played for nine seasons in the American League with
the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians. In 701 career games,
Tucker recorded a batting average of .255 and accumulated 24 triples,
9 home runs, and 179 runs batted in. He was nicknamed "Joe E." Tucker
because of his resemblance to comedian Joe E. Brown. Born and raised in
Gordon, Texas, he was a three-sport athlete at high school, playing
baseball (where he was a second baseman), basketball, and track and
field. Tucker first played baseball professionally with the Siloam
Springs Travelers. After playing in minor league baseball, he was signed
by the Chicago White Sox before the 1941 season. His major league debut
came the following year and he spent two years as the White Sox's
starting center fielder until he enlisted in the armed forces during
World War II. Upon his return, Tucker played two more seasons for the
White Sox. Subsequently, he was traded to the Cleveland Indians, for
whom he played four years, and continued to play minor league baseball
throughout the 1950s. After his retirement, he became a major league
scout and insurance agent.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurman_Tucker>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
Actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth fatally
shot U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington,
D.C.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Abraham_Lincoln>
1906:
The Azusa Street Revival, the primary catalyst for the spread
of Pentecostalism in the 20th century, opened in Los Angeles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azusa_Street_Revival>
1931:
After King Alfonso XIII left Spain, the Second Spanish
Republic was proclaimed by a provisional government led by Niceto
Alcalá-Zamora (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Spanish_Republic>
1978:
Thousands of Georgians demonstrated in Tbilisi against an
attempt by the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR to change the
constitutional status of the Georgian language.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Georgian_demonstrations>
1999:
A storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in
Sydney and along the east coast of New South Wales, causing about A$2.3
billion in damages, the costliest natural disaster in Australian
insurance history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hapax legomenon:
A word occurring only once in a given corpus.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hapax_legomenon>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Criticism, whatever may be its pretensions, never does more than
to define the impression which is made upon it at a certain moment by a
work wherein the writer himself noted the impression of the world which
he received at a certain hour.
--James Branch Cabell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell>