RAF Northolt is a Royal Air Force station situated in South Ruislip,
2 NM (3.7 km; 2.3 mi) east by northeast of Uxbridge in the London
Borough of Hillingdon, West London. Approximately 10 km (6.2 mi) north
of London Heathrow Airport, the station also handles a large number of
private civil flights; its location near to the A40 road link with
central London and close proximity to Ruislip Gardens tube station has
also made it popular with business people and politicians. Northolt has
one runway in operation, spanning 1,684 m × 46 m (5,525 ft
× 151 ft), with a grooved asphalt surface. Originally established for
the Royal Flying Corps, it has the longest history of continuous use of
any RAF airfield. Before the outbreak of the Second World War, the
station was the first to take delivery of the Hawker Hurricane. The
station played a key role during the Battle of Britain, when fighters
from several of its units, including No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron,
engaged enemy aircraft as part of the defence of London. More recently
the station has become the hub of British military flying operations in
the London area. RAF squadrons, including No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron
are based at RAF Northolt.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Northolt>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1227:
High Duke of Poland Leszek I the White was assassinated during
a diet of the Piast dukes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leszek_I_the_White>
1642:
A Dutch expedition led by Abel Tasman reached present-day
Tasmania, Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Tasman>
1863:
American Civil War: As part of the Chattanooga Campaign in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, Union forces captured Lookout Mountain, helping
them to begin breaking the Confederate siege of the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lookout_Mountain>
1922:
Irish Civil War: Author and Irish nationalist Robert Erskine
Childers was executed by the Irish Free State for illegally carrying a
semi-automatic pistol.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Erskine_Childers>
1976:
The Çaldıran-Muradiye earthquake in eastern Turkey killed at
least 4,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_%C3%87ald%C4%B1ran-Muradiye_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scriptorium:
A room set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of
manuscripts and records, especially such a room in a monastery.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scriptorium>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As men's habits of mind differ, so that some more readily embrace one
form of faith, some another, for what moves one to pray may move another
to scoff, I conclude ... that everyone should be free to choose for
himself the foundations of his creed, and that faith should be judged
only by its fruits; each would then obey God freely with his whole
heart, while nothing would be publicly honoured save justice and
charity.
--Baruch Spinoza
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baruch_Spinoza>
Microsoft Security Essentials is an antivirus software product that
provides protection against different types of malware such as computer
viruses, spyware, rootkits and Trojan horses. It runs on Windows XP,
Windows Vista and Windows 7, but not on Windows 8, which has a built-in
AV component. The license agreement allows home users and small
businesses to install and use the product free of charge. It replaces
Windows Live OneCare, a discontinued commercial subscription-based AV
service, and the free Windows Defender, which until Windows 8 only
protected users from adware and spyware. Built upon the same virus
definitions and scanning engine as other Microsoft antivirus products,
MSE provides real-time protection, constantly monitoring activities on
the computer and scanning new files as they are downloaded or created
and disabling detected threats. The product received generally positive
reviews praising its user interface, low resource usage and freeware
license. It passed secured AV-TEST.org certification, having
demonstrated its ability to eliminate all widely encountered malware.
According to a March 2012 report by anti-malware specialist OPSWAT, MSE
was the most popular AV product in North America and the second most
popular in the world.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Security_Essentials>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1876:
William "Boss" Tweed (pictured), a New York City politician who
had been arrested for embezzlement, was handed to US authorities after
having escaped from prison to Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_M._Tweed>
1924:
Edwin Hubble's discovery that Andromeda, previously believed to
be a nebula, is actually another galaxy, and that the Milky Way is only
one of many such galaxies in the universe, was first published in a
newspaper.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hubble>
1955:
The Cocos Islands in the Indian Ocean were transferred from
British to Australian control.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocos_(Keeling)_Islands>
1996:
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was hijacked, then crashed into
the Indian Ocean near Comoros after running out of fuel, killing 125 of
the 175 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961>
2010:
In response to artillery exercises held near the border between
the two nations, North Korea bombarded Yeonpyeong Island, killing four
South Korean soldiers and injuring 19 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombardment_of_Yeonpyeong>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
yowzah:
an indication of surprise, excitement, or amazement.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yowzah>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who thinks we are to pitch our tent here, and have attained the
utmost prospect of reformation that the mortal glass wherein we
contemplate can show us, till we come to beatific vision, that man by
this very opinion declares that he is yet far short of truth. in
--Areopagitica
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Areopagitica>
The conservation of slow lorises, nocturnal primates in the rain forests
of South and Southeast Asia, faces threats from deforestation, the
exotic pet trade, traditional medicine, and the bushmeat trade. Five
species of slow loris are listed as either "Vulnerable" or "Endangered"
by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Their
conservation status was originally listed as "Least Concern" in 2000
because of imprecise population surveys and the frequency in which these
primates were found in animal markets. Because of their rapidly
declining populations and local extinctions, their status was updated
and in 2007 the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) elevated them to Appendix I, which
prohibits international commercial trade. Local laws also protect slow
lorises, but enforcement is lacking in most areas. Slow lorises are
regularly smuggled and sold as exotic pets in Japan, the United States,
and Europe. Their popularity is largely due to their "cute" appearance
and highly viewed pet videos on YouTube.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_slow_lorises>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
Polish troops and civilians began a three-day pogrom against
Jews and Ukrainian Christians in Lwów (now Lviv, Ukraine).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lw%C3%B3w_pogrom_(1918)>
1950:
Two trains collided near Valemount, British Columbia, Canada;
the subsequent trial catapulted future Prime Minister of Canada John
Diefenbaker into the political limelight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canoe_River_train_crash>
1974:
Explosives placed in two central pubs in Birmingham, England,
killed 21 people and injured 182 others, and eventually led to the
arrest and imprisonment of six people who were later exonerated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_pub_bombings>
1980:
Over 83 million people watched the Dallas TV episode "Who Done
It" to find out "Who shot J. R.?".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Done_It_(Dallas)>
2009:
An explosion in a coal mine in Heilongjiang, China, killed 108
miners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Heilongjiang_mine_explosion>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
koine:
1. A lingua franca.
2. A regional language that becomes standard over time.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/koine>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The principles of terrorism unavoidably rebound to the fatal injury of
liberty and revolution. Absolute power corrupts and defeats its
partisans no less than its opponents. A people that knows not liberty
becomes accustomed to dictatorship: fighting despotism and counter-
revolution, terrorism itself becomes their efficient school. Once on the
road of terrorism, the State necessarily becomes estranged from the
people.
--Alexander Berkman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Berkman>
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in
the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with
the British royal family and for its architecture. The original motte-
and-bailey castle, built after the Norman invasion by William the
Conqueror, was designed to protect Norman dominance around the outskirts
of London and to oversee a strategically important part of the River
Thames. The castle's lavish early 19th-century State Apartments are
architecturally significant, and the 15th-century St George's Chapel is
an outstanding example of English Perpendicular Gothic design. Since the
time of Henry I it has been used by a succession of monarchs and is the
longest-occupied palace in Europe. A popular tourist attraction, it is
used as a venue for hosting state visits, and is the Queen's preferred
weekend home. It was used as a refuge for the royal family during the
Second World War and survived a fire on 20 November 1992. More than five
hundred people live and work in Windsor, making it the largest inhabited
castle in the world.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_Castle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1845:
Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata: The Argentine
Confederation were defeated in the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado, but
Chile and Brazil were inspired to join forces with them afterwards.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vuelta_de_Obligado>
1936:
Spanish Civil War: Founder of the fascist Falange Española
José Antonio Primo de Rivera was executed by the republican government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Antonio_Primo_de_Rivera>
1969:
A group of Native American activists began a 19-month
occupation of Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz>
1979:
A group of armed insurgents attacked and took over the Masjid
al-Haram in Mecca, declaring that one of their leaders, Muhammad bin abd
Allah al-Qahtani, was the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mosque_Seizure>
1994:
In accordance with the Lusaka Protocol, the Angolan government
signed a ceasefire with UNITA rebels in a failed attempt to end the
Angolan Civil War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusaka_Protocol>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bleg:
(Internet slang) To create an entry on a blog requesting information or
contributions.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bleg>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Censorship is never over for those who have experienced it. It is a
brand on the imagination that affects the individual who has suffered
it, forever.
--Nadine Gordimer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nadine_Gordimer>
HMS New Zealand was one of three Indefatigable-class battlecruisers
built for the defence of the British Empire. The ship was funded by the
government of New Zealand as a gift to Britain, and she was commissioned
into the Royal Navy in 1912. She had been intended for the China
Station, but was released by the New Zealand government at the request
of the Admiralty for service in British waters. After a tour of the
British Dominions, with an emphasis on a visit to her namesake nation,
she was back in British waters at the start of World War I, and
operated as part of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, in opposition to the
German High Seas Fleet. During the war, the battlecruiser participated
in all three of the major North Sea battles—Heligoland Bight, Dogger
Bank, and Jutland. New Zealand contributed to the destruction of two
cruisers during her wartime service, but was hit by enemy fire only once
and sustained no casualties; her status as a "lucky ship" was attributed
by the crew to a Māori piupiu (warrior's skirt) and tiki (pendant) worn
by the ship's captain during battle. After the war, New Zealand was
broken up for scrap in 1922 in compliance with Britain's tonnage limit
in the disarmament provisions of the Washington Naval Treaty.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_New_Zealand_(1911)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1816:
The University of Warsaw, currently the largest university in
Poland, was established as Congress Poland found itself a territory
without a university.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Warsaw>
1942:
World War II: Soviet troops launched Operation Uranus at the
Battle of Stalingrad, with the goal of encircling Axis forces, turning
the tide of the battle in the Soviet Union's favour.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Uranus>
1969:
Playing for Santos against Vasco da Gama in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazilian footballer Pelé scored his 1000th goal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%C3%A9>
1985:
Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President
Ronald Reagan held the first of five summit meetings between them in
Geneva.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Summit_(1985)>
2010:
The first of four explosions took place at the Pike River Mine
in the West Coast Region of New Zealand in the nation's worst mining
disaster in nearly a century.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_River_Mine_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pace:
The collective noun for donkeys.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pace>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Arrogance is a killer, and wearing ambition on one's sleeve can have the
same effect. There is a fine line between arrogance and self-confidence.
Legitimate self-confidence is a winner. The true test of self-confidence
is the courage to be open — to welcome change and new ideas regardless
of their source. Self-confident people aren't afraid to have their views
challenged. They relish the intellectual combat that enriches ideas.
--Jack Welch
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Welch>
Luke P. Blackburn (1816–1887) was a physician, philanthropist and
politician from Kentucky. Early in his career, he gained national fame
for effecting the first successful quarantine against yellow fever in
the Mississippi River valley and was regarded as an expert on the
disease. During the Civil War, he aided Confederate blockade runners in
Canada and traveled to Bermuda to combat a yellow fever outbreak
threatening Confederate blockade-running operations. A Confederate
double agent accused him of collecting linens and garments used by the
yellow fever patients and smuggling them into the North to start a
yellow fever epidemic to hamper the Union war effort. (It was not yet
known that yellow fever is spread by mosquitos.) He was acquitted, and
historians disagree regarding the evidence against him. In 1868,
Blackburn returned to the U.S. and rehabilitated his public image by
rendering aid in yellow fever outbreaks in Tennessee, Florida, and
Kentucky, propelling him to the governorship of Kentucky in 1879. His
signature accomplishments were in penal reform, and he is known as "the
father of prison reform in Kentucky".
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luke_P._Blackburn>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1812:
Napoleonic Wars: During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, Marshal
Michel Ney's leadership in the Battle of Krasnoi earned him the nickname
"the bravest of the brave" despite the overwhelming French defeat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Krasnoi>
1865:
American author Mark Twain's story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog
of Calaveras County", his first great success as a writer, was
published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Celebrated_Jumping_Frog_of_Calaveras_Coun…>
1872:
American suffragette Susan B. Anthony was arrested and fined
$100 for having voted in the U.S. presidential election in Rochester,
New York, two weeks prior.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony>
1987:
In London, an underground fire killed 31 people at King's Cross
St Pancras.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King%27s_Cross_fire>
1991:
Croatian War of Independence: Yugoslav People's Army forces
captured the Croatian city of Vukovar, ending an 87-day siege.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vukovar>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
coherent:
1. Unified; sticking together; making up a whole.
2. Orderly, logical and consistent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/coherent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A love thought: I love you so much that I could wish I had been born
your brother, or had brought you into the world myself.
--Cesare Pavese
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cesare_Pavese>
Metroid Prime is a video game developed by Retro Studios and Nintendo
for the Nintendo GameCube, released in North America in 2002 and in
Japan and Europe the following year. It is the first 3D game in the
Metroid series, the fifth main installment, and is classified by
Nintendo as a first-person adventure rather than a first-person shooter,
due to the large exploration component of the game and its precedence
over combat. Like previous games in the series, Metroid Prime has a
science fiction setting, in which players control the bounty hunter
Samus Aran. The story follows Samus as she battles the Space Pirates and
their biological experiments on the planet Tallon IV. The game was a
collaborative effort between Retro's staff in Austin, Texas, and
Japanese Nintendo employees, including producer Shigeru Miyamoto, who
was the one who suggested the project after visiting Retro's
headquarters in 2000. Despite initial backlash from fans due to the
first-person perspective, the game was released to both universal
acclaim and commercial success, selling more than a million units in
North America alone.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metroid_Prime>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1558:
Elizabeth I became Queen of England and Ireland, marking the
beginning of the Elizabethan era.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_I_of_England>
1796:
French Revolutionary Wars: French forces defeated the Austrians
at the Battle of the Bridge of Arcole in a manoeuvre to cut the latter's
line of retreat.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bridge_of_Arcole>
1855:
Explorer David Livingstone became the first European to see
Victoria Falls (pictured), one of the largest waterfalls in the world,
on what is now the Zambia–Zimbabwe border.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls>
1905:
Influenced by the result of the Russo-Japanese War, the Empire
of Japan and the Korean Empire signed the Eulsa Treaty, effectively
depriving Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan%E2%80%93Korea_Treaty_of_1905>
1968:
NBC controversially cut away from the American football game
between the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets to broadcast Heidi,
denying viewers in the Eastern United States from seeing the game's
dramatic ending.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
maraud:
1. (intransitive) To move about in roving fashion looking for plunder.
2. (transitive) To raid and pillage
3. To act aggressively.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maraud>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Miss Goldman is a communist; I am an individualist. She wishes to
destroy the right of property, I wish to assert it. I make my war upon
privilege and authority, whereby the right of property, the true right
in that which is proper to the individual, is annihilated. She believes
that co-operation would entirely supplant competition; I hold that
competition in one form or another will always exist, and that it is
highly desirable it should. But whether she or I be right, or both of us
be wrong, of one thing I am sure; the spirit which animates Emma Goldman
is the only one which will emancipate the slave from his slavery, the
tyrant from his tyranny — the spirit which is willing to dare and
suffer.
--Voltairine de Cleyre
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Voltairine_de_Cleyre>
Hoodwinked! is a 2005 computer-animated film that retells the folktale
Little Red Riding Hood as a police investigation, using flashbacks to
show multiple characters' points of view. It was directed and written by
Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech and was among the earliest
computer-animated films to be completely independently funded. Due to
its small budget, the animation was produced in the Philippines with a
less realistic design inspired by stop motion films. Its structure was
inspired by the Japanese film Rashomon and it is part of the fairy tale
parody genre. Released shortly after the first two installments in the
successful Shrek series, Hoodwinked! intentionally deviated from that
series in its style of humor and in certain plot elements. The Weinstein
Company signed on as the distributor near the end of production, and
while the company recast many roles, it otherwise made few changes.
Critical reception to the film was varied; although its script and cast
were praised by many reviews, its animation quality was heavily
criticized. It was a commercial success, earning over ten times its
budget. A sequel, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil, was released in 2011.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodwinked!>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1272:
While en route to Sicily during the Ninth Crusade, Edward I
became King of England, upon the death of his father Henry III, but did
not return to England for nearly two years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England>
1885:
After a five-day trial following the North-West Rebellion,
Louis Riel (pictured), Canadian rebel leader of the Métis and "Father
of Manitoba", was executed by hanging for high treason.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel>
1938:
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann first synthesized the psychedelic
drug LSD at the Sandoz Laboratories in Basel, Switzerland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysergic_acid_diethylamide>
1989:
Eight employees of Universidad Centroamericana "José Simeón
Cañas" in San Salvador, including six Catholic priests, were murdered
by a Salvadoran Army "death squad".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murdered_scholars_of_UCA>
1992:
In Suffolk, England, an amateur metal detectorist found the
largest hoard of Roman gold, silver and bronze coins from the late
fourth and early fifth centuries ever discovered within the former Roman
Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoxne_Hoard>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blobbily:
In a blobby manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blobbily>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Utopia is a meta-utopia: the environment in which Utopian experiments
may be tried out; the environment in which people are free to do their
own thing; the environment which must, to a great extent, be realized
first if more particular Utopian visions are to be realized stably.
--Robert Nozick
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Nozick>
David Suzuki: The Autobiography is the 2006 autobiography of Canadian
science writer and broadcaster David Suzuki (pictured). The book focuses
mostly on his life since the 1987 publication of his first
autobiography, Metamorphosis: Stages in a Life. It begins with a
chronological account of his childhood, academic years, and broadcasting
career. In later chapters, Suzuki adopts a memoir style, writing about
themes such as his relationship with Australia, his experiences in
Brazil and Papua New Guinea, the founding of the David Suzuki
Foundation, and his thoughts on climate change, celebrity status,
technology, and death. Throughout, Suzuki highlights the continuing
impact of events from his childhood. Critics have called the book
candid, sincere, and charming, with insightful commentary if
occasionally flat stories. Suzuki's scientific background is reflected
in the writing's rational and analytic style. Suzuki's autobiography
spent four weeks atop the Maclean's list of non-fiction best-sellers and
six weeks at number 6 on the Globe and Mail's list. The book won two
awards in 2007: the Canadian Booksellers' Association's Libris Award for
Non-Fiction Book of the Year and the British Columbia Booksellers'
Choice Award.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Suzuki:_The_Autobiography>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1688:
Prince William of Orange landed at Brixham in Devon, on his way
to depose his father-in-law King James II, the last Catholic monarch of
England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glorious_Revolution>
1864:
American Civil War: Union Army General William T. Sherman began
his "March to the Sea", inflicting significant damage to property and
infrastructure on his way from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tecumseh_Sherman>
1968:
Vietnam War: American forces launched Operation Commando Hunt,
a large-scale bombing campaign to prevent the People's Army of (North)
Vietnam from transporting personnel and supplies along the Ho Chi Minh
trail.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Commando_Hunt>
1988:
The Soviet Buran spacecraft, a reusable vehicle built in
response to NASA's Space Shuttle program, was launched, unmanned, on her
first and only space flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buran_(spacecraft)>
1988:
PLO leader Yasser Arafat proclaimed the creation of the State
of Palestine as "the state of Palestinians wherever they may be".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_Declaration_of_Independence>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
batman:
(military) A servant or valet to an army officer.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/batman>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Wisdom too often never comes, and so one ought not to reject it merely
because it comes late.
--Felix Frankfurter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Felix_Frankfurter>
Thomas Baker (1897–1918) was an Australian soldier, aviator and flying
ace of the First World War. He was employed as a clerk with the Bank of
New South Wales before he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in
July 1915, for service in the First World War. Posted to an artillery
unit on the Western Front, he was awarded the Military Medal for
carrying out numerous repairs on a communications line while subject to
severe artillery fire. In June 1917, Baker was awarded a bar to his
decoration, for his part in quelling a fire in one of the artillery gun
pits that was endangering approximately 300 rounds of shrapnel and high
explosive. In September 1917, Baker applied for a position as a mechanic
in the Australian Flying Corps. He was instead selected for flight
training, and was posted to courses in the United Kingdom. He graduated
as a pilot and was commissioned a second lieutenant in March 1918.
Posted for active duty in France that June, Baker joined the ranks of
No. 4 Squadron AFC. Over the next four months, he rose to the rank of
captain and was credited with bringing down twelve German aircraft. He
was shot down and killed on 4 November 1918. In February 1919, he was
posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Baker_(aviator)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1941:
Second World War: After suffering torpedo damage the previous
day, the British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (91) sank as it was
being towed to Gibraltar for repair.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Ark_Royal_(91)>
1952:
Al Martino's "Here in My Heart" became the first song to be
listed at the top of the UK Singles Chart.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Singles_Chart>
1970:
Southern Airways Flight 932, chartered by the Marshall
University football team, crashed into a hill near Ceredo, West
Virginia, US, killing all 75 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Airways_Flight_932>
1995:
As a result of budget conflicts between President Bill Clinton
and the United States Congress led by Newt Gingrich, the federal
government was forced to shut down non-essential services.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_shutdown_of_…>
2003:
Astronomers Michael E. Brown, Chad Trujillo, and David L.
Rabinowitz discovered the trans-Neptunian object 90377 Sedna (artist's
impression pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/90377_Sedna>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rhubarb rhubarb:
1. (chiefly UK, film) Background noise of several "conversations," none of
which are decipherable since all the actors are actually just repeating
the word rhubarb (chosen because it contains no very sharp or
recognisable phonemes), or other words with similar attributes.
2. (chiefly UK) Blah blah; etc, etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rhubarb_rhubarb>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Where freedom is menaced or justice threatened or where aggression takes
place, we cannot be and shall not be neutral.
--Jawaharlal Nehru
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru>