Hurricane Vince was an unusual hurricane that developed in the
northeastern Atlantic basin. Forming in October during the 2005 Atlantic
hurricane season, the waters over which it developed were considered too
cold for tropical development. Vince was the twentieth named tropical
cyclone and twelfth hurricane of the extremely active season. Vince
developed from an extratropical system on October 8, becoming a
subtropical storm southeast of the Azores. The National Hurricane Center
(NHC) did not officially name the storm until the next day, shortly
before Vince became a hurricane. The storm weakened at sea and, on
October 11, made landfall on the Iberian Peninsula as a tropical
depression. Vince was the first tropical system to do so since the 1842
Spain hurricane. It dissipated over Spain, bringing much needed rain to
the region, and its remnants passed into the Mediterranean Sea.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Vince>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1540:
King Henry VIII of England had his chief minister Thomas
Cromwell executed for treason and heresy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cromwell>
1932:
U.S. President Herbert Hoover ordered the eviction of the
"Bonus Army"—a group of veterans who were occupying government
property to demand immediate payment for money owed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonus_Army>
1935:
The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber aircraft, which
dropped more bombs than any other U.S. aircraft in World War II, made
its first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_B-17_Flying_Fortress>
1976:
An earthquake measuring at least 8.2 on the Richter magnitude
scale, one of the deadliest in history, flattened Tangshan, China,
killing at least 240,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Tangshan_earthquake>
1996:
The remains of the prehistoric Kennewick Man were discovered on
a bank of the Columbia River near Kennewick, Washington, US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
doula:
A support person, usually female, who may not have medical or midwifery
training, who provides emotional assistance to a mother or pregnant
couple before, during or after childbirth.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doula>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Always remember that it is impossible to speak in such a way that you
cannot be misunderstood: there will always be some who misunderstand
you.
--Karl Popper
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Popper>
Nick Adenhart (1986–2009) was an American right-handed baseball
starting pitcher who played two seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB)
for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. In four career games, Adenhart
pitched 18 innings and posted a win-loss record of 1–0, with nine
strikeouts and a 6.00 earned run average (ERA). A graduate of
Williamsport High School, Adenhart was highly touted as a high school
prospect until an injury in his final game required Tommy John surgery.
He was drafted by the Angels in the 14th round of the 2004 Major League
Baseball Draft, and began playing in their minor league system after the
surgery was a success. He spent three full years in the minor leagues
before making his major league debut on May 1, 2008. After appearing in
three games, Adenhart spent the rest of 2008 in the minor leagues
developing his skills, and in 2009 he earned a spot in the Angels'
starting rotation. Just after pitching his first start of 2009, Adenhart
was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Both the Angels and the
Salt Lake Bees, for whom Adenhart played in 2008, suspended their next
games. There were many tributes to him over the course of the season,
including his former teammates spraying champagne and beer on one of his
jerseys after they clinched the 2009 American League West division
championship.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Adenhart>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
American Revolutionary War: French and British fleets fought to
a standoff west of Ushant, which led to political disputes in both
countries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ushant_(1778)>
1916 - British mariner Charles Fryatt was executed at Bruges, Belgium
after a court-martial found him to be a franc-tireur.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fryatt>
1919:
Red Summer: Race riots erupted in Chicago after a racial
incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and
537 injuries over a five-day period.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Race_Riot_of_1919>
1949:
The de Havilland Comet, the world's first commercial jet
airliner to reach production, made its maiden flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Comet>
1953:
An armistice was signed to end hostilities in the Korean War,
officially making the Division of Korea indefinite by creating an
approximately 4 km (2.5 mi) wide demilitarized zone running across the
Korean Peninsula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Demilitarized_Zone>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
portend:
1. (transitive) To serve as a warning or omen.
2. (transitive) To signify; to denote.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/portend>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Write as the wind blows and command all words like an army!
--Hilaire Belloc
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hilaire_Belloc>
The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest living
terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant. Its specific name refers to
its camel-like face and the patches of color on its fur, which bear a
vague resemblance to a leopard's spots. The giraffe is noted for its
extremely long neck and legs, as well as its horn-like ossicones. It is
classified under the family Giraffidae, along with its closest extant
relative, the okapi. The giraffe's scattered range extends from Chad in
the north to South Africa in the south, and from Niger in the west to
Somalia in the east. Giraffes usually inhabit savannas, grasslands, and
open woodlands. Their primary food source is acacia leaves, which they
can browse at heights that most other herbivores cannot reach. Giraffes
are preyed on by lions, and calves are also targeted by leopards,
spotted hyenas and wild dogs. Adult giraffes do not have strong social
bonds, though they do gather in loose aggregations if they happen to be
moving in the same general direction. The giraffe has intrigued various
cultures, both ancient and modern, for its peculiar appearance, and has
often been featured in paintings, books and cartoons. It is classified
by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as Least
Concern, but has been extirpated from many parts of its former range,
and some subspecies are classified as Endangered.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1882:
Richard Wagner's opera Parsifal, loosely based on Wolfram von
Eschenbach's epic poem Parzival about Arthurian knight Percival and his
quest for the Holy Grail, officially premiered at the Festspielhaus in
Bayreuth, Bavaria (present-day Germany).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsifal>
1887:
L. L. Zamenhof published Unua Libro, the first publication to
describe Esperanto, a constructed international language.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto>
1936:
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial (pictured), a memorial site
near Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, France, dedicated to the memory of Canadian
Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War, was
unveiled.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_National_Vimy_Memorial>
1953:
Fidel Castro and his brother Raúl led a group of approximately
160 rebels in an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus
beginning the Cuban Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moncada_Barracks>
2007:
After widespread controversy throughout Wales, Shambo, a black
Friesian bull that had been adopted by the local Hindu community, was
slaughtered due to concerns about bovine tuberculosis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lethargy:
A condition of extreme drowsiness or apathy.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lethargy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
--George Bernard Shaw
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw>
Georg Solti (1912–1997) was an orchestral and operatic conductor, best
known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and
London, and as a long-serving music director of the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra. In the 1930s, he was a répétiteur at the Hungarian State
Opera and worked at the Salzburg Festival for Arturo Toscanini. His
career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis. After conducting a
season of Russian ballet in London at the Royal Opera House he found
refuge in Switzerland, where he remained during the Second World War.
After the war, he was appointed musical director of the Bavarian State
Opera in 1946, the Frankfurt Opera in 1952, and the Covent Garden Opera
Company in London in 1961. In 1969 Solti was appointed music director of
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for 22 years. He restored
the orchestra's reputation after it had been in decline for most of the
previous decade. Known in his early years for the intensity of his music
making, Solti was widely considered to have mellowed as a conductor in
later years. He recorded many works two or three times at various stages
of his career, and was a prolific recording artist, making more than 250
recordings, including 45 complete opera sets. The most famous of his
recordings is probably Decca's complete set of Wagner's Der Ring des
Nibelungen, made between 1958 and 1965.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Solti>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1139:
Prince Afonso Henriques led Portuguese troops to victory over
the Almoravid Moors at the Battle of Ourique.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ourique>
1609:
The crew of British sailing ship Sea Venture grounded her on
the reefs of Bermuda, which is widely believed to have inspired
Shakepeare's The Tempest.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Venture>
1814:
War of 1812: In present-day Niagara Falls, Ontario, the United
States and Great Britain engaged in one of the deadliest battles ever
fought on Canadian soil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lundy%27s_Lane>
1909:
French aviator Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel in a
heavier-than-air flying machine, flying from near Calais, France, to
Dover, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Bl%C3%A9riot>
1978:
Louise Brown, the world's first baby conceived through in vitro
fertilisation, was born in Oldham, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_vitro_fertilisation>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eviscerate:
1. (transitive) To disembowel, to remove the viscera.
2. (transitive) To destroy or make ineffectual or meaningless.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eviscerate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Free men are aware of the imperfection inherent in human affairs, and
they are willing to fight and die for that which is not perfect. They
know that basic human problems can have no final solutions, that our
freedom, justice, equality, etc. are far from absolute, and that the
good life is compounded of half measures, compromises, lesser evils, and
gropings toward the perfect. The rejection of approximations and the
insistence on absolutes are the manifestation of a nihilism that loathes
freedom, tolerance, and equity.
--Eric Hoffer
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Hoffer>
Phạm Ngọc Thảo (1922–1965), a major provincial leader in South
Vietnam and infiltrator of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN),
was a communist agent of the Vietminh and later the Vietnam People's
Army. As the overseer of Ngo Dinh Nhu’s Strategic Hamlet Program in
the early 1960s, he deliberately forced the program forward at
unsustainable speeds, constructing poorly equipped and poorly defended
villages, in order to foster rural resentment against the regime of
President Ngo Dinh Diem, Nhu's elder brother. Thao was posthumously
promoted by the ARVN to the rank of one-star general and awarded the
title of Heroic war dead (Vietnamese: Liệt sĩ). After the Fall of
Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, the communist government awarded
him the same title and paid war pensions to his family, claiming him as
one of their own.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ph%E1%BA%A1m_Ng%E1%BB%8Dc_Th%E1%BA%A3o>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
Ottoman forces captured the city of Shkodër to put down the
Albanian Revolt of 1910.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albanian_Revolt_of_1910>
1938:
A combined German–Austrian team became the first team to
climb the north face of the Eiger, one of the six great north faces of
the Alps.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiger>
1959:
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. Vice President
Richard Nixon held an impromptu debate at the opening of the American
National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitchen_Debate>
1980:
At the Moscow Olympics, Australia's Quietly Confident Quartet
swimming team won the gold medal in the men's 4 x 100 metre medley
relay, the only time that the United States, who were boycotting these
games, has not won the event at Olympic level.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swimming_at_the_1980_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%9…>
2009:
The MV Arctic Sea, reportedly carrying timber, was allegedly
boarded by hijackers off the coast of Sweden, but much speculation
remains as to the actual cargo and events.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Arctic_Sea>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sagacity:
The quality of being sage, wise, or able to make good decisions; wisdom.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sagacity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound) That sav'd a wretch like me! I once
was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.
--John Newton
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Newton>
Ed, Edd n Eddy is an animated television series created by Danny
Antonucci and produced by Canada-based a.k.a. Cartoon. It premiered on
Cartoon Network on January 4, 1999, and ended on November 8, 2009 with
the premiere of the series' TV movie finale, Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big
Picture Show. Designed to resemble classic cartoons from the 1940s to
the 1970s, the series revolves around three adolescent boys known as
"the Eds", who constantly invent schemes to make money from their peers
to purchase jawbreakers. Their plans usually fail, leaving them in
various predicaments. Before signing a contract with Cartoon Network,
Antonucci approached Nickelodeon, but the channel demanded creative
control of the show, which Antonucci did not agree to. Several specials,
shorts, and video games either based on the series or featuring the
series' characters have been produced. Viewed from 31 million households
in 29 countries by both children and adults, Ed, Edd n Eddy received
positive reviews and several awards and nominations. It remains the
longest-running original Cartoon Network series and Canadian-made
animated series to date.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed,_Edd_n_Eddy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1881:
The International Federation of Gymnastics, the world's oldest
international sport federation, was founded in Liège, Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_Internationale_de_Gymnas…>
1914:
Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with an ultimatum to allow
them to investigate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, that
Serbia would ultimately reject, leading to World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_Crisis>
1942:
The Holocaust: The gas chambers at Treblinka extermination camp
began operation, killing 6,500 Jews that had been transported from the
Warsaw Ghetto the day before.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treblinka_extermination_camp>
1983:
The Sri Lankan Civil War began after members of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam ambushed a convoy of Sri Lanka Army soldiers in
northern Sri Lanka, which was followed by large-scale riots carried out
by Sinhalese against Tamils that became known as Black July.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Civil_War>
1986:
Sarah Ferguson married Prince Andrew, Duke of York at
Westminster Abbey, joining the British Royal Family as the Duchess of
York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah,_Duchess_of_York>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
levity:
1. Lightness of manner or speech, frivolity.
2. The state or quality of being light, buoyancy.
3. (countable) A lighthearted or frivolous act.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/levity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.
--Raymond Chandler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler>
1
0
July 22: Pi
by English Wikipedia Article of the Day
21 Jul '12
21 Jul '12
π (or pi) is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's
circumference to its diameter. It is approximately equal to 3.14159. π
is an irrational number, which means that it cannot be expressed exactly
as a ratio of two integers, although it is roughly approximated by 22/7.
It is a transcendental number – a number that cannot be produced with
a finite sequence of algebraic operations (sums, products, powers, and
roots). The transcendence of π implies that it is impossible to solve
the ancient challenge of squaring the circle with a compass and ruler.
The digits in the decimal representation of π appear to be random.
Because its definition relates to the circle, π is found in many
formulae in trigonometry and geometry, such as Euler's identity,
eiπ + 1 = 0. It is also found in formulae from other branches of
science, such as cosmology, number theory, statistics, fractals,
thermodynamics, mechanics, and electromagnetism.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
Two days after becoming the first recorded European to complete
a transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico, Scottish-
Canadian explorer Alexander Mackenzie reached the westernmost point of
his journey and inscribed his name on a rock.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Mackenzie_(explorer)>
1802:
Gia Long conquered Hanoi and unified modern-day Vietnam, which
had experienced centuries of feudal warfare.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gia_Long>
1934:
Bank robber John Dillinger (pictured), whose exploits were
sensationalized across the United States, was shot dead by police in an
ambush outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dillinger>
1991:
American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after police discovered human remains in his
apartment.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Dahmer>
2002:
The Israeli Defense Forces dropped a bomb on the home of Salah
Shehade, the leader of the military arm of Hamas, killing him and his
family.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salah_Shehade>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
roundelay:
(music) A poem or song having a line or phrase repeated at regular
intervals.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roundelay>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is better the truth should come little by little. I have learned
that, being a priest. Perhaps, in the old days, they ate knowledge too
fast. Nevertheless, we make a beginning. It is not for the metal alone
we go to the Dead Places now — there are the books and the writings.
They are hard to learn. And the magic tools are broken — but we can
look at them and wonder. At least, we make a beginning. And, when I am
chief priest we shall go beyond the great river. We shall go to the
Place of the Gods — the place newyork — not one man but a company.
We shall look for the images of the gods and find the god ASHING and the
others — the gods Lincoln and Biltmore and Moses. But they were men
who built the city, not gods or demons. They were men. I remember the
dead man's face. They were men who were here before us. We must build
again.
--Stephen Vincent Benét
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Vincent_Ben%C3%A9t>
Eduard Streltsov (1937–1990) was a Soviet football forward who
represented Torpedo Moscow and the Soviet national team. He was widely
regarded as one of the Soviet Union's finest players, earning the
nickname "the Russian Pelé". Streltsov joined Torpedo in 1953, aged 16,
and made his international debut two years later; he then played a key
role in winning the gold medal for the USSR at the 1956 Melbourne
Olympics. Ranked among the top seven footballers in Europe during 1957,
he was accused of rape the following year. Evidence against Streltsov
was inconclusive, but government agents told him that he would be
retained in the USSR's 1958 World Cup team if he confessed. When he did
so, he was instead convicted and sentenced to twelve years in the Gulag.
He was released after five, and received a hero's welcome from fans when
he resumed his football career with Torpedo Moscow in 1965. In the first
season of Streltsov's comeback, Torpedo won the Soviet Championship. He
returned to the national team in 1966, and was twice named Soviet
Footballer of the Year before he retired in 1970. Since Streltsov's
death in 1990, Torpedo's home stadium has been renamed after him, and
two statues depicting his likeness have been erected in Moscow.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Streltsov>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
356 BC:
The Temple of Artemis (model pictured) in Ephesus, one of the
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was destroyed in an act of arson by
a man named Herostratus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Artemis>
1774:
The Russo-Turkish War officially ended after the Russian Empire
and the Ottoman Empire signed the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, with the
latter ceding parts of the Yedisan region to the former.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Turkish_War_(1768%E2%80%931774)>
1861:
In the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle in
the American Civil War, the Confederate Army under Joseph E. Johnston
and P. G. T. Beauregard routed Union Army troops under Irvin McDowell.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Bull_Run>
1925:
American high school biology teacher John T. Scopes was found
guilty of violating Tennessee's Butler Act by teaching evolution in
class.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial>
2007:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the
popular Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, was released to record
sales of 15 million copies in its first 24 hours, making it the fastest-
selling book in history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Deathly_Hallows>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mither:
1. (intransitive, Northern England) To make an unnecessary fuss, moan,
bother.
2. (transitive) To pester or irritate someone. Usually directed at
children.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mither>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.
--Robin Williams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robin_Williams>
The nature fakers controversy was an early 20th-century American
literary debate highlighting the conflict between science and sentiment
in popular nature writing. Following a period of growing interest in the
natural world beginning in the late 19th century, a new literary
movement, in which the natural world was depicted in a compassionate
rather than realistic light, began to take shape. Works such as Ernest
Thompson Seton's Wild Animals I Have Known (1898) and William J. Long's
School of the Woods (1902) popularized this new genre and emphasized
sympathetic and individualistic animal characters. In March 1903,
naturalist and writer John Burroughs published an article entitled "Real
and Sham Natural History" in the Atlantic Monthly. Lambasting writers
for their seemingly fantastical representations of wildlife, he also
denounced the booming genre of realistic animal fiction as "yellow
journalism of the woods". Burroughs' targets responded in defense of
their work in various publications, as did their supporters, and the
resulting controversy raged in the public press for nearly six years.
Dubbed the "War of the Naturalists", the controversy effectively ended
when President Theodore Roosevelt publicly sided with Burroughs,
publishing his article "Nature Fakers" in the September 1907 issue of
Everybody's Magazine. Roosevelt popularized the negative colloquialism
by which the controversy would later be known to describe one who
purposefully fabricates details about the natural world.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_fakers_controversy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1779:
Tekle Giyorgis I began the first of his five reigns as Emperor
of Ethiopia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tekle_Giyorgis_I_of_Ethiopia>
1807:
French brothers Claude and Nicéphore Niépce received a patent
for their Pyréolophore (diagram pictured), one of the world's first
internal combustion engines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyr%C3%A9olophore>
1922:
The German protectorate of Togoland was divided into the League
of Nations mandates of French Togoland and British Togoland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Togoland>
1969:
The Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the Sea of Tranquillity,
where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the
moon six-and-a-half hours later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11>
1992:
Czechoslovak President Václav Havel resigned, saying that he
would not preside over the country's breakup.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel>
2001:
Twenty-three-year-old Italian anti-globalist Carlo Giuliani was
shot dead by a police officer while protesting during the 27th G8 summit
in Genoa, Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Carlo_Giuliani>
2005:
The Civil Marriage Act received its Royal Assent, legalizing
same-sex marriage in Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Marriage_Act>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
punctilious:
1. Strictly attentive to detail; meticulous or fastidious, particularly to
codes or conventions.
2. Precise or scrupulous; finicky or nitpicky.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/punctilious>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love is the crowning grace of humanity, the holiest right of the soul,
the golden link which binds us to duty and truth, the redeeming
principle that chiefly reconciles the heart to life, and is prophetic of
eternal good.
--Petrarch
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Petrarch>
The Manchester Ship Canal is a river navigation 36 miles (58 km) long
in the North West of England. Starting at the Mersey Estuary near
Liverpool, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey
and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire.
Major landmarks along its route include the Barton Swing Aqueduct and
Trafford Park. By the late 19th century the Mersey and Irwell Navigation
had fallen into disrepair and was often unusable, and Manchester's
business community viewed Liverpool's dock and the railway companies'
charges as excessive. A ship canal was proposed as a way of giving
ocean-going vessels direct access to Manchester. Construction began in
1887; it took six years and cost about £15 million. When the ship
canal opened in January 1894 it was the largest river navigation canal
in the world. Although it enabled the newly created Port of Manchester
to become Britain's third busiest port—despite the city being about 40
miles (64 km) inland—the canal never achieved the commercial success
its sponsors had hoped for. Ships often returned to sea loaded with
ballast rather than goods for export, and gradually the balance of
traffic moved to the west, resulting in the closure of the terminal
docks at Salford. As of 2011, traffic had decreased from its peak in
1958 of 18 million long tons (20 million short tons) of freight each
year to about 7 million long tons (7.8 million short tons). The canal
is now privately owned by Peel Ports.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Ship_Canal>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1702:
Great Northern War: A numerically superior Polish–Saxon army
of Augustus II the Strong, operating from an advantageous defensive
position, was defeated by a Swedish army half its size in the Battle of
Klissow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Klissow>
1843:
SS Great Britain (pictured), the first ocean-going ship that
had both an iron hull and a screw propeller, launched from Bristol, UK.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Britain>
1848:
The two-day Women's Rights Convention, the first women's rights
and feminist convention held in the United States, opened in Seneca
Falls, New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Falls_Convention>
1908:
Feyenoord Rotterdam, today one of the "big three" professional
football teams in the Netherlands, was founded as the club Wilhelmina in
a pub.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feyenoord>
1947:
Burmese nationalist Aung San and six members of his newly
formed cabinet were assassinated during a cabinet meeting.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San>
1997:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army permanently resumed its
ceasefire to end its 25-year campaign against British rule in Northern
Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Provisional_Irish_Republican_Army_campaign_19…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
reliquary:
A container to hold or display religious relics.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reliquary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We didn't start the fire — It was always burning Since the world's
been turning. We didn't start the fire — No we didn't light it But we
tried to fight it.
--Billy Joel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Billy_Joel>