Horseshoe Curve is a 3,485-foot (1,062 m), triple-tracked railroad
curve on the Norfolk Southern Railway's Pittsburgh Line in Logan
Township, Blair County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. It is close
to 1,300 feet (400 m) in diameter and has a grade of almost
two percent. As a train travels west from Altoona, it ascends almost 60
feet (20 m) in the 0.66-mile (1.06 km) segment that makes up the curve
and rotates 220 degrees. The curve was completed in 1854 by the
Pennsylvania Railroad as a means of lessening the grade to the summit of
the Allegheny Mountains by increasing the distance. It was built as
alternative to the time-consuming Allegheny Portage Railroad, the only
other method of traversing the mountains. It has formed an important
part of the region's transportation infrastructure since its opening,
and during World War II was targeted by Nazi Germany in 1942 as a part
of Operation Pastorius. Horseshoe Curve was added to the National
Register of Historic Places and designated a National Historic Landmark
in 1966. It was also designated a National Historic Civil Engineering
Landmark in 2004.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseshoe_Curve_(Pennsylvania)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1954:
Great Britain defeated France at the Parc des Princes in Paris
to win the first Rugby League World Cup.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_World_Cup>
1982:
South Korean boxer Duk Koo Kim suffered fatal brain injuries
during a match with American Ray Mancini near Las Vegas' Caesars Palace,
leading to significant rule changes in the sport.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duk_Koo_Kim>
1985:
The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupted, causing a volcanic
mudslide that buried the town of Armero, Colombia, and killed
approximately 23,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armero_tragedy>
1990:
A man began shooting people indiscriminately in Aramoana, New
Zealand, killing thirteen people in the country's deadliest criminal
shooting.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramoana_massacre>
2007:
An explosion hit the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City,
the Philippines, killing Congressman Wahab Akbar and at least four
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batasang_Pambansa_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Streisand effect:
A phenomenon in which attempting to suppress an item of information
attracts additional unwanted attention to it, thus furthering the
spreading of the information.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Streisand_effect>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do not fear but that He will go on to supply what is yet wanting when
once I have begun to use what He has already given. For a possession
which is not diminished by being shared with there, if it is possessed
and not shared, is not yet possessed as it ought to be possessed.
--Augustine of Hippo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo>
Edmund Sharpe (1809–1877) was an English architect, architectural
historian, railway engineer, and sanitary reformer. Sharpe's main focus
was on churches, and he was a pioneer in the use of terracotta as a
structural material in church building, designing what were known as
"pot" churches. He also designed secular buildings, including domestic
properties and schools, and worked on the development of railways in
Northwest England, designing bridges and planning new lines. In 1851 he
resigned from his architectural practice, and in 1856 he moved from
Lancaster, spending the remainder of his career mainly as a railway
engineer. Sharpe was involved in Lancaster's civic affairs. He was an
elected town councillor and served as mayor in 1848–49. Concerned
about the town's poor water supply and sanitation, he championed the
construction of new sewers and a waterworks. Sharpe achieved national
recognition as an architectural historian. He published books of
detailed architectural drawings, wrote a number of articles on
architecture, devised a scheme for the classification of English Gothic
architectural styles, and in 1875 was awarded the Royal Gold Medal of
the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Sharpe>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1892:
William Heffelfinger was paid $525 by the Allegheny Athletic
Association, becoming the first professional American football player on
record.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Heffelfinger>
1912:
The bodies of Robert Falcon Scott and his companions were
discovered, roughly eight months after their deaths during the ill-fated
British Antarctic Expedition 1910.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Falcon_Scott>
1928:
Approximately 111 people, mostly women and children, died after
the British ocean liner SS Vestris was abandoned as it sank in the
western Atlantic Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Vestris>
1991:
In Dili, East Timor, Indonesian forces opened fire on student
demonstrators protesting the occupation of East Timor, killing at least
250 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Cruz_massacre>
2001:
American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into residential buildings
five minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in
New York, killing a total of 265 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_587>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hobbledehoy:
An awkward adolescent boy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hobbledehoy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
An idea or institution may arise for one reason and be maintained for
quite a different reason.
--Joseph McCabe
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_McCabe>
In 1896, William Jennings Bryan ran for President of the United States.
The former Democratic congressman from Nebraska, who gained his party's
presidential nomination in July of that year after electrifying the
Democratic National Convention with his Cross of Gold speech, was
defeated in the general election by the Republican candidate, former
Ohio governor William McKinley. Born in 1860, Bryan grew up in rural
Illinois and in 1887 moved to Nebraska, where he practiced law and
entered politics. He won election to the House of Representatives in
1890, and was re-elected in 1892, before mounting an unsuccessful Senate
campaign. Despite the loss, he set his sights on higher office,
believing he could be elected president in 1896 even though he remained
a relatively minor figure in the Democratic Party. In anticipation of a
presidential run, he spent much of 1895 and early 1896 making speeches
across the United States; his compelling oratory increased his
popularity in his party. After gaining the nomination, he undertook an
extensive tour by rail to bring his campaign to the people, speaking
some 600 times, to an estimated 5,000,000 listeners. His campaign
focused on prosperity through bimetallism (or free silver), an issue
which failed to appeal to the urban voter.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan_presidential_campaign,…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
American Revolutionary War: British forces and their Seneca
allies attacked a fort and the village of Cherry Valley, New York,
killing 14 soldiers and 30 civilians.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Valley_massacre>
1889:
Washington, named in honor of the first U.S. president, was
admitted to the United States as the 42nd state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_(state)>
1934:
The Shrine of Remembrance, a memorial to all Australians who
have served in war, opened in Melbourne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrine_of_Remembrance>
1942:
World War II: The Allies (Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery
pictured) defeated the Axis at the Second Battle of El Alamein, Egypt,
turning the tide in the North African Campaign by ending Axis hopes of
taking control of the Suez Canal and thus gaining access east to the
Middle Eastern oil fields.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein>
1965:
Southern Rhodesia, led by Prime Minister Ian Smith,
unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom to become
Rhodesia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Smith>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
papaverous:
Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the poppy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/papaverous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I didn't learn until I was in college about all the other cultures, and
I should have learned that in the first grade. A first grader should
understand that his or her culture isn't a rational invention; that
there are thousands of other cultures and they all work pretty well;
that all cultures function on faith rather than truth; that there are
lots of alternatives to our own society. Cultural relativism is
defensible and attractive. It's also a source of hope. It means we don't
have to continue this way if we don't like it.
--Kurt Vonnegut
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut>
The history of Sesame Street began with its conception in 1966 during
discussions between television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and Carnegie
Corporation vice president Lloyd Morrisett. Their goal was to create a
children's television show that would "master the addictive qualities of
television and do something good with them", such as helping young
children prepare for school. After two years of research, the newly
formed Children's Television Workshop (CTW) received a combined grant of
$8 million from the Carnegie Corporation, the Ford Foundation, and the
U.S. federal government to create and produce a new children's
television show. Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969. Featuring
animation, live shorts, humor, celebrity appearances, and Jim Henson's
Muppets such as Big Bird (star pictured), it was the first television
program of its kind to base its contents and production values on
laboratory and formative research, and the first to include a curriculum
"detailed or stated in terms of measurable outcomes". Initial responses
to the show included adulatory reviews, some controversy, and high
ratings. By its 40th anniversary in 2009, Sesame Street was broadcast in
over 120 countries, and 20 independent international versions had been
produced.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sesame_Street>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
The United States Marine Corps was founded as the Continental
Marines by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress during the
American Revolutionary War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps>
1945:
Indonesian National Revolution: Following the killing of the
British officer Brigadier A. W. S. Mallaby a few weeks prior, British
forces began their retaliation by attacking Surabaya, Indonesia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Surabaya>
1958:
Merchant Harry Winston donated the Hope Diamond, the "most
famous diamond in the world", to the Smithsonian Institution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hope_Diamond>
1975:
The SS Edmund Fitzgerald (pictured), the largest boat on North
America's Great Lakes, sank in Lake Superior with the loss of 29 lives.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald>
2006:
Prominent Sri Lankan Tamil politician and human rights lawyer
Nadarajah Raviraj was assassinated in Colombo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadarajah_Raviraj>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ooze:
1. To secrete or slowly leak.
2. (figuratively) To give off a sense of (something).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ooze>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There's no such thing as chance; And what to us seems merest accident
Springs from the deepest source of destiny.
--Friedrich Schiller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller>
William Warelwast (died 1137) was a medieval Norman cleric and Bishop of
Exeter in England. Warelwast was a native of Normandy, but little is
known about his background before 1087, when he appears as a royal clerk
for King William II of England. Most of his royal service to William
was as a diplomatic envoy, as he was heavily involved in the king's
dispute with Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, which was the
beginning of the Investiture Controversy in England. He went several
times to Rome as an emissary to the papacy on business related to
Anselm, one of whose supporters, the medieval chronicler Eadmer, alleged
that Warelwast bribed the pope and the papal officials to secure
favourable outcomes for King William. Possibly present at King William's
death in a hunting accident, Warelwast served as a diplomat to the
king's successor, Henry I. After the resolution of the Investiture
Controversy Warelwast was rewarded with the bishopric of Exeter in
Devon, but he continued to serve Henry as a diplomat and royal judge. He
began the construction of a new cathedral at Exeter, and he probably
divided the diocese into archdeaconries. Warelwast went blind after
1120, and following his death in 1137 was succeeded by his nephew,
Robert Warelwast.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Warelwast>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1330:
The Battle of Posada between Basarab I of Wallachia and
Charles I Robert of Hungary began near the present-day border of
Oltenia and Severin, Romania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Posada>
1888:
Mary Jane Kelly was murdered in London, widely believed to be
the fifth and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer
Jack the Ripper.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane_Kelly>
1914:
First World War: In the Cocos Islands, the Australian light
cruiser HMAS Sydney sank SMS Emden, the last active Central Powers
warship in the Indian or Pacific Ocean.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cocos>
1967:
French comic book heroes Valérian and Laureline first appeared
in the pages of Pilote magazine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val%C3%A9rian_and_Laureline>
2005:
The European Space Agency launched the Venus Express mission
(artist's impression pictured), the first long-term observation of the
Venusian atmosphere.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_Express>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
whence:
>From where; from which place or source.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whence>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding.
Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary
home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant,
even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows
much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most
astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place
within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind
us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that
knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends
powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos in which we float like
a mote of dust in the morning sky.
--Carl Sagan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan>
Abuwtiyuw is one of the earliest domestic animals whose name is known. A
lightly built Egyptian hunting dog similar to a greyhound, with erect
ears and a curly tail, he is believed to have been a royal guard dog of
the 6th Dynasty (2345–2181 BC). He received an elaborate ceremonial
burial in the Giza Necropolis at the behest of an unknown pharaoh. An
inscribed stone listing the gifts donated by the pharaoh for Abuwtiyuw's
funeral was discovered by Egyptologist George A. Reisner in October
1935. It was apparently part of the spoil material incorporated into the
structure of a 6th-Dynasty mastaba (pharaonic-era tomb) in Cemetery
G 2100 in Giza West Field, close to the western side of the Great
Pyramid of Giza. The inscription on the white limestone tablet, which
measures 54.2×28.2×23.2 cm (21.3×11.1×9.1 in), is composed of ten
vertical rows of hieroglyphs, separated by vertical lines. The stone was
probably originally installed in the demolished funerary chapel of
Abuwtiyuw's owner.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuwtiyuw>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1602:
The Bodleian Library (pictured), one of Europe's oldest
libraries, opened on the grounds of the University of Oxford in England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodleian_Library>
1892:
Despite racial divisions, black and white union members united
in a general strike in New Orleans, Louisiana, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1892_New_Orleans_general_strike>
1912:
First Balkan War: The Greek Army accepted the surrender of the
Ottoman garrison at Thessaloniki, one day before the Bulgarian Army
arrived to do the same.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thessaloniki>
1940:
The Italian invasion of Greece failed as outnumbered Greek
units repulsed the Italians in the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Elaia%E2%80%93Kalamas>
1987:
A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded during a
Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing at
least eleven people and injuring sixty-three others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nubcake:
(Internet slang, pejorative or humorous) A noob; a newb; a newbie.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nubcake>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If any such lover be in earth which is continually kept from falling, I
know it not: for it was not shewed me. But this was shewed: that in
falling and in rising we are ever preciously kept in one Love.
--Julian of Norwich
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich>
Banksia ilicifolia is a tree in the family Proteaceae. Endemic to
southwest Western Australia, it belongs to Banksia subg. Isostylis, a
subgenus of three closely related Banksia species with inflorescences
that are dome-shaped heads rather than characteristic Banksia flower
spikes. It is generally a tree up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall with a
columnar or irregular habit. Both the scientific and common names arise
from the similarity of its foliage to that of the English holly Ilex
aquifolium; the glossy green leaves generally have very prickly serrated
margins, although some plants lack toothed leaves. The inflorescences
are initially yellow but become red-tinged with maturity; this acts as a
signal to alert birds that the flowers have opened and nectar is
available. Robert Brown described Banksia ilicifolia in 1810. Although
the tree is variable in growth form, with low coastal shrubby forms on
the south coast near Albany, there are no recognised varieties as such.
Distributed broadly, the species is restricted to sandy soils. Unlike
its close relatives which are killed by fire and repopulate from seed,
Banksia ilicifolia regenerates after bushfire by regrowing from
epicormic buds under its bark.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_ilicifolia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of the British Colony of
Virginia, signed a proclamation promising freedom for slaves of Patriots
if they joined the British Armed Forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunmore%27s_Proclamation>
1861:
American Civil War: Future U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant
engaged in his first combat leadership role in the Battle of Belmont in
Mississippi County, Missouri.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Belmont>
1917:
Vladimir Lenin led a Bolshevik insurrection against the
Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky, starting the Bolshevik
Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution>
1987:
Zine El Abidine Ben Ali deposed and replaced Habib Bourguiba as
President of Tunisia, declaring him medically unfit for the duties of
the office.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zine_El_Abidine_Ben_Ali>
2007:
A Finnish high school student shot and killed eight people at
Jokela High School in Tuusula before committing suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jokela_school_shooting>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
megaron:
(architecture, historical) The rectangular great hall in a Mycenaean
building, usually supported with pillars.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/megaron>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I don’t know whether this world has a meaning that transcends it. But
I know that I cannot know that meaning and that it is impossible for me
just now to know it. What can a meaning outside my condition mean to me?
I can understand only in human terms. What I touch, what resists me —
that I understand. And these two certainties — my appetite for the
absolute and for unity and the impossibility of reducing this world to a
rational and reasonable principle — I also know that I cannot
reconcile them. What other truth can I admit without lying, without
bringing in a hope I lack and which means nothing within the limits of
my conditions?
--Albert Camus
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus>
Carlson's patrol was an operation by the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion of
the U.S. Marine Corps under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Evans
Carlson. It took place from 6 November to 4 December 1942 during the
Guadalcanal Campaign, which aimed to deny the Imperial Japanese Army use
of the Solomon Islands as bases for threatening the supply routes
between the U.S. and Australia, and to assist the offensives against
Japan. In the operation, the 2nd Raiders attacked forces under the
command of Toshinari Shōji, which were escaping from an attempted
encirclement in the Koli Point area on Guadalcanal and attempting to
rejoin other Japanese army units on the opposite side of the U.S. Lunga
perimeter. In a series of small unit engagements over 29 days, the 2nd
Raiders (who had been trained to operate as a guerrilla force) killed
almost 500 Japanese soldiers while suffering only 16 killed. The
raiders also captured a Japanese artillery cannon (pictured) that was
delivering harassing gunfire on Henderson Field, the Allied airfield at
Lunga Point on Guadalcanal. Seventeen raiders were wounded, and many
others developed malaria, dysentery, or other illnesses; one lieutenant
said that the living conditions were worse than the combat.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlson%27s_patrol>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
Pope Pius VI appointed Father John Carroll as the first
Catholic bishop in the United States.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carroll_(bishop)>
1939:
As part of their plan to eradicate the Polish intellectual
elite, the Gestapo arrested 184 professors, students and employees of
Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderaktion_Krakau>
1963:
Nguyen Ngoc Tho was appointed to head the South Vietnamese
government by the military junta of General Duong Van Minh, five days
after the latter deposed and assassinated President Ngo Dinh Diem.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Ngoc_Tho>
1995:
Madagascar's Rova of Antananarivo, which served as the royal
palace from the 17th to 19th centuries, was destroyed by fire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rova_of_Antananarivo>
2004:
A man attempting to commit suicide parked his car on the
railway tracks in Ufton Nervet, Berkshire, England, causing a derailment
that killed seven people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufton_Nervet_rail_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
presidentialness:
The quality of being presidential; suitability for the presidency.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/presidentialness>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I write to reach eternity.
--James Jones
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Jones>
Thomas Percy (c. 1560–1605) was a member of the group of provincial
English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Little
is known of his life before 1596 when a distant relation, Henry Percy,
9th Earl of Northumberland, appointed him constable of Alnwick Castle.
Percy acted as the earl's intermediary in a series of confidential
communications with King James VI of Scotland. After James acceded to
the English throne in 1603, Percy became disenchanted with him,
supposing that the new king had reneged on promises of toleration for
English Catholics. He met Robert Catesby in 1603, and the following year
joined his conspiracy to kill James and his ministers by blowing up the
House of Lords with gunpowder. Percy provided the group with funding and
secured the leases to certain properties in London, including the
undercroft directly beneath the House of Lords, into which the gunpowder
was placed. When the plot was exposed on 5 November 1605, Percy fled to
the Midlands. He and Catesby were killed on 8 November, during a siege
of Holbeche House in Staffordshire, by the Sheriff of Worcester and his
men.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Percy_(Gunpowder_Plot)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1138:
Ly Anh Tong was enthroned as emperor of Đại Việt at the
age of two, starting a 37-year reign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ly_Anh_Tong>
1925:
Sidney Reilly, the first "super-spy" of the 20th century and
one of the inspirations for James Bond, was executed by the Soviet
secret police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Reilly>
1967:
A train derailed near Hither Green maintenance depot in London,
killing 49 people and injuring 78 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hither_Green_rail_crash>
1983:
Five workers on the Byford Dolphin semi-submersible oil rig
were killed in an explosive decompression while drilling in the Frigg
gas field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byford_Dolphin>
1995:
André Dallaire was thwarted in his attempt to assassinate
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien when Chrétien's wife locked the
door.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Dallaire>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
photobomb:
To unexpectedly appear in a photograph, especially so as to ruin the
picture.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/photobomb>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the
improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and
the only real revolutionaries are philosophers and saints.
--Will Durant
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Durant>
Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) was one of the foremost French composers of
his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century
composers. His music has been described as linking the end of
Romanticism with the modernism of the second quarter of the 20th
century. He trained as an organist and choirmaster in Paris, where his
teachers included Camille Saint-Saëns, who became a lifelong friend. In
later life, when he was organist of the Église de la Madeleine and
director of the Paris Conservatoire, he retreated to the countryside in
his summer holidays to concentrate on composing. By his last years,
Fauré was recognised in France as the leading French composer of his
day. Outside France, his music took decades to become widely accepted,
except in Britain, where he had many admirers during his lifetime. His
best-known works include Pavane, Requiem, nocturnes for piano, and the
songs "Après un rêve" and "Clair de lune". Although his best-known and
most accessible compositions are generally his earlier ones, Fauré
composed many of his greatest works in his later years, in a
harmonically and melodically much more complex style.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Faur%C3%A9>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
American Civil War: Nathan Bedford Forrest led a cavalry
division in an attack on a Union Army supply base at Johnsonville,
Tennessee, capturing 150 prisoners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Johnsonville>
1890:
London's City and South London Railway, the first deep-level
underground railway in the world, opened, running a distance of 5.1 km
(3.2 mi) between the City of London and Stockwell.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_and_South_London_Railway>
1912:
Construction on USS Nevada, the first "super-dreadnought" of
the United States Navy, began as the keel was laid down.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nevada_(BB-36)>
1921:
The remains of an unknown soldier were buried with an eternal
flame at the Altare della Patria in Rome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altare_della_Patria>
1995:
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by Yigal
Amir while at a peace rally at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
termitarium:
A termite colony.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/termitarium>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The battle for the airwaves cannot be limited to only those who have the
bank accounts to pay for the battle and win it. Democracy is in danger.
Seats in Congress, seats in the state legislature, that big seat in the
White House itself, can be purchased by those who have the greatest
campaign resources, who have the largest bank accounts or own riches.
That, I submit to you, is no democracy. It is an oligarchy of the
already powerful.
--Walter Cronkite
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walter_Cronkite>