Dendrocollybia is a genus of fungus in the family Tricholomataceae of
the order Agaricales. It consists of the single species Dendrocollybia
racemosa, a somewhat rare fungus found in the Northern Hemisphere,
including the Pacific Northwest region of western North America, and
Europe. It usually grows on the decaying fruit bodies of other
agarics—such as Lactarius and Russula—although the host mushrooms
may be decayed to the point of being difficult to recognize.
Dendrocollybia racemosa fruit bodies have small pale grayish-white or
grayish-brown caps and thin stems. The species is characterized by its
unusual stem, which is covered with short lateral branches. The branches
often produce spherical slimeheads of translucent conidiophores on their
swollen tips. The conidiophores produce conidia (asexual spores) by
mitosis. Because the fungus can rely on either sexual or asexual modes
of reproduction, fruit bodies sometimes have reduced or even missing
caps. The unusual stems originate from black pea-sized structures called
sclerotia. It is able to reproduce at relatively low temperatures, an
adaptation believed to improve its ability to grow quickly and fruit on
decomposing mushrooms.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dendrocollybia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1579:
Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church,
was discovered underground in Kazan, present-day Tatarstan, Russia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Kazan>
1758:
French and Indian War: French forces defeated the British at
Fort Carillon on the shore of Lake Champlain in the British Colony of
New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carillon>
1808:
Joseph Bonaparte approved the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter
intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonne_Statute>
1994:
Upon the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il became the Supreme
Leader of North Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Jong-il>
2004:
After a 19-month trial, U.S. Marine Corps Major Michael Brown
was convicted by a court in Naha, Okinawa, for an attempted indecent
assault on a Filipina bartender.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Brown_Okinawa_assault_incident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
maw:
1. The upper digestive tract (where food enters the body), especially the
mouth and jaws of a ravenous creature.
2. Any great, insatiable or perilous opening.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maw>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
By the work one knows the workman.
--Jean de La Fontaine
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Fontaine>
Killer7 is an action-adventure video game developed by Grasshopper
Manufacture and published by Capcom. Suda51 wrote and directed the game,
his first to be released outside Japan on July 7, 2005. Killer7 features
first-person shooter elements and a unique "on rails" control scheme,
but the core adventure-style gameplay has been compared to Myst and
Snatcher. The game follows an elite group of assassins called the
"killer7". The assassins, physical manifestations of one man Harman
Smith, perform hits on behalf of the United States government. Through
these missions, the killer7 uncover a deeper conspiracy regarding the
role of Japan in US politics and secrets about the nature of their
organization. The game received polarized reviews due to its
unconventional control scheme and complex noir plot. Jack Thompson, an
outspoken video game activist, alleged that the game contains "full-
blown sex sequences", but his claims were ultimately refuted. Despite
these setbacks, Killer7's cult appeal led to remakes of Suda51's older
works and the successful launch of No More Heroes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer7>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1777:
American Revolutionary War: British forces caught up with
American troops withdrawing from Ticonderoga and captured over 200 men.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hubbardton>
1897:
The Philippine revolutionary secret society Katipunan (co-
founder Andres Bonifacio pictured) was founded by anti-Spanish Filipinos
in Manila.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katipunan>
1928:
The Chillicothe Baking Company in Chillicothe, Missouri, first
produced sliced bread, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the
baking industry since bread was wrapped", which then led to the popular
phrase "the greatest thing since sliced bread".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliced_bread>
1994:
Troops from the former North Yemen captured Aden, ending the
Yemeni civil war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_civil_war_in_Yemen>
2007:
Pope Benedict XVI issued the Apostolic Letter Summorum
Pontificum, removing restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summorum_Pontificum>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sanguinary:
1. Attended with bloodshed.
2. Eager to shed blood; bloodthirsty.
3. Consisting of, covered with or similar in appearance to blood.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanguinary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Sin is cruelty and injustice, all else is peccadillo. Oh, a sense of sin
comes from violating the customs of your tribe. But breaking custom is
not sin even when it feels so; sin is wronging another person. in
--Glory Road
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Glory_Road>
The Calgary Stampede is an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held
every July in Calgary, Canada. The ten-day event attracts over one
million visitors per year and features a parade, midway, stage shows,
concerts, agricultural competitions, chuckwagon racing and First Nations
exhibitions. The first Stampede was held in 1912, organized by American
promoter Guy Weadick and supported by four area ranchers as a
celebration of their lifestyle. A second Stampede was held in 1919 and
it became an annual event in 1923 when it merged with the Calgary
Industrial Exhibition. It is one of Canada's largest festivals and has
become synonymous with Calgary's identity. It is a significant tourist
attraction for the city which takes on a party atmosphere: businesses
decorate their buildings in cowboy and western themes and hundreds of
community events are held throughout the city. The Stampede is one of
the premier events on the professional rodeo and chuckwagon circuits.
Both are televised nationally in Canada and offer one of the largest
prize funds in each sport. Some events, particularly chuckwagon racing,
are controversial and have become the target of international criticism
by animal welfare groups.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calgary_Stampede>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1560:
Scotland and England signed the Treaty of Edinburgh to formally
conclude the Siege of Leith and replace the Scottish–French Auld
Alliance.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Edinburgh>
1887:
King Kalākaua of Hawai'i was forced to sign the Bayonet
Constitution, stripping the Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority
as well as disfranchising all Asians, most native Hawaiians, and the
poor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1887_Constitution_of_the_Kingdom_of_Hawaii>
1962:
The United States conducted the Sedan nuclear test as part of
Operation Plowshare, a program to investigate the use of nuclear
explosions for civilian purposes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedan_(nuclear_test)>
1989:
A Palestinian Islamic Jihad member carried out a suicide attack
by hijacking a bus and forcing it into a ravine near Kiryat Ye'arim,
Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_Aviv_Jerusalem_bus_405_suicide_attack>
1997:
The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of
unrest began in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_nationalist_riots_in_Northern_Ireland>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Higgs boson:
(physics) A hypothetical elementary particle predicted by the Standard
Model; a boson with zero spin, it is thought to give mass to other
particles.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Higgs_boson>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our gains are not measured in the losses of others. They are counted in
the conflicts we avert, the prosperity we share and the peace we extend.
--George W. Bush
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_W._Bush>
Hygeberht was the Bishop of Lichfield from 779 and Archbishop of
Lichfield after the elevation of Lichfield to an archdiocese some time
after 787, during the reign of the powerful Mercian king Offa. Little is
known of Hygeberht's background, although he was probably a native of
Mercia. Offa succeeded in having Lichfield elevated to an archbishopric,
but the rise in Lichfield's status was unpopular with Canterbury, the
other southern English archbishopric. Offa was probably motivated by a
desire to increase the status of his kingdom and to free his kingdom's
ecclesiastical affairs from the control of another kingdom's
archbishopric, and possibly the need to secure the coronation of Offa's
successor, which the Archbishop of Canterbury had opposed. After Offa's
death his distant relative Coenwulf became king, and petitioned the pope
to have Lichfield returned to a simple bishopric. The pope agreed to do
so in 803, by which time Hygeberht was no longer even considered a
bishop: he is listed as an abbot at the council that oversaw the
demotion of Lichfield in 803. The date of his death is unknown.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygeberht>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
The Second Continental Congress of Britain's Thirteen Colonies
adopted the Olive Branch Petition in the hopes of avoiding war with
Great Britain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Branch_Petition>
1954:
BBC News (logo pictured) aired its first televised news
broadcast from leased studios within Alexandra Palace in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_News>
1977:
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Pakistani Prime Minister
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in a military coup d'état.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Zia-ul-Haq>
1987:
The Black Tigers of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam made
its first suicide bombing against the Sri Lanka Army in Nelliady, Sri
Lanka.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tigers>
1989:
United States National Security Council member Oliver North was
sentenced for his part in the Iran-Contra Affair.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gruntled:
(humorous) Satisfied.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gruntled>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One is either judge or accused. The judge sits, the accused stands. Live
on your feet.
--Jean Cocteau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau>
Garret Hobart (1844–1899) was the 24th Vice President of the United
States (1897–1899), serving under President William McKinley. He was
the sixth American vice president to die in office. Hobart served in
local governmental positions, and then successfully ran for office as a
Republican, serving in both the New Jersey General Assembly and the New
Jersey Senate. Hobart was a longtime party official, and New Jersey
delegates went to the 1896 Republican National Convention determined to
nominate the popular lawyer for vice president. Hobart's political views
were similar to those of McKinley, who was the presumptive Republican
presidential candidate. With New Jersey a key state in the upcoming
election, McKinley and his close adviser, future senator Mark Hanna,
decided to have the convention select Hobart. The vice-presidential
candidate emulated his running mate with a front porch campaign, though
spending much time at the campaign's New York City office. McKinley and
Hobart were elected. As vice president, Hobart proved a popular figure
in Washington and was a close adviser to McKinley. Hobart's tact and
good humor were valuable to the President. Hobart died in November 1899
of heart disease at age 55; his place on the Republican ticket in 1900
was taken by New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garret_Hobart>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1610:
Polish–Muscovite War: The outnumbered forces of the Polish-
Lithuanian Commonwealth defeated the Russians at the Battle of Klushino.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Klushino>
1862:
In a rowing boat on the River Thames from Oxford to Godstow,
author Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that
would eventually form the basis for his book Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland>
1950:
The United States' anti-communist propaganda source Radio Free
Europe made its first broadcast aimed at Czechoslovakia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Free_Europe/Radio_Liberty>
1965:
The first Annual Reminder, a series of early pickets organized
by homophile organizations, one of the earliest LGBT demonstrations in
the United States, took place at Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annual_Reminder>
1976:
Israel Defense Forces raided Uganda's Entebbe International
Airport to free hostages taken by hijackers on Air France Flight 139.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
auteur:
A creative artist, especially a film director, seen as having a
specific, recognisable artistic vision, and who is seen as the single or
preeminent ‘author’ of their works.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/auteur>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
So many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun
to think that very few things indeed were really impossible. in
--Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland>
The Great Auk was a large, flightless alcid that became extinct in the
mid-19th century. It lived in the North Atlantic, and bred on rocky,
isolated islands with easy access to both the ocean and a plentiful food
supply, a rarity in nature that provided only a few breeding sites for
it. The Great Auk was 75 to 85 centimetres (30 to 33 in) tall and
weighed around 5 kilograms (11 lb), making it the largest alcid. It had
a black back and a white belly. The black beak was heavy and hooked with
grooves on its surface. During summer, the Great Auk had a white patch
over each eye. During winter, the auk lost this patch, instead
developing a white band stretching between the eyes. The auk was a
powerful swimmer, a trait that it used in hunting. Humans had hunted the
Great Auk for more than 100,000 years, and by the 19th century, its
growing rarity increased interest from European museums and private
collectors in obtaining skins and eggs of the bird. The last two
confirmed specimens were killed off the coast of Iceland on July 3,
1844. The last credible observation is from 1852.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Auk>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
987:
Hugh Capet was crowned King of France, becoming the first
monarch of the Capetian dynasty, which ruled France continuously until
overthrown during the French Revolution in 1792.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet>
1608:
French explorer Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City>
1778:
American Revolutionary War: Loyalists and Iroquois killed over
300 Patriots at the Battle of Wyoming in Pennsylvania.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wyoming>
1940:
Second World War: The British Navy attacked the French fleet
(French destroyer Mogador pictured), fearing that the ships would fall
into German hands after the armistice between those two nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Mers-el-K%C3%A9bir>
1988:
United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air
Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Panglossian:
1. (pejorative) Naively or unreasonably optimistic.
2. (pejorative) Of or relating to the view that this is the best of all
possible worlds.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Panglossian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
An artist is the magician put among men to gratify — capriciously —
their urge for immortality. The temples are built and brought down
around him, continuously and contiguously, from Troy to the fields of
Flanders. If there is any meaning in any of it, it is in what survives
as art, yes even in the celebration of tyrants, yes even in the
celebration of nonentities. What now of the Trojan War if it had been
passed over by the artist's touch? Dust. A forgotten expedition prompted
by Greek merchants looking for new markets. A minor redistribution of
broken pots. But it is we who stand enriched, by a tale of heroes, of a
golden apple, a wooden horse, a face that launched a thousand ships —
and above all, of Ulysses, the wanderer, the most human, the most
complete of all heroes — husband, father, son, lover, farmer, soldier,
pacifist, politician, inventor and adventurer.
--Tom Stoppard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Stoppard>
The Battle of Schellenberg was fought on 2 July 1704 during the War of
the Spanish Succession. The engagement was part of the Duke of
Marlborough's campaign to save the Habsburg capital of Vienna from a
threatened advance by King Louis XIV's Franco-Bavarian forces ranged in
southern Germany. Marlborough had commenced his 250 mile (400 km) march
from Bedburg, near Cologne, on 19 May. En route, the Allies needed to
secure a fortified bridgehead and magazine on the Danube through which
their supplies could cross to the south of the river into the heart of
Bavaria. For this purpose, Marlborough selected the town of Donauwörth.
Once the French knew of the Allies' objective, they dispatched Count
d'Arco with an advance force of 12,000 men from their main camp at
Dillingen to strengthen and hold the Schellenberg heights above the
town. Rejecting a protracted siege Marlborough decided in favour of a
quick assault before the position could be made impregnable. After two
failed attempts to storm the barricades the Allied commanders, acting in
unison, finally managed to overwhelm the defenders. The deliberate
devastation of the Elector's lands in Bavaria failed to bring Max
Emanuel. Only when Marshal Tallard arrived with reinforcements, and
Prince Eugene of Savoy arrived from the Rhine to bolster the Allies, was
the stage finally set for the decisive action at the Battle of Blenheim
the following month.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Schellenberg>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
626:
During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Prince Li Shimin led his forces
to assassinate his rival brothers, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Prince
Li Yuanji, in a bloody palace coup for the Tang Dynasty throne.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanwu_Gate_Incident>
1644:
The combined forces of the Scottish Covenanters and the English
Parliamentarians defeated the Royalists at the Battle of Marston Moor,
one of the decisive encounters of the English Civil War, near York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marston_Moor>
1937:
Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan
disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an attempt to make a
circumnavigational flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart>
1997:
The Thai baht rapidly lost half of its value, marking the
beginning of the Asian financial crisis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Asian_financial_crisis>
2002:
American aviator Steve Fossett became the first person to fly
solo nonstop around the world in a balloon, completing an almost 14-day
trip after landing in Queensland, Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Fossett>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
geodesy:
Scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation
of earth, its gravitational field and geodynamic phenomena (polar
motion, earth tides, and crustal motion) in three‐dimensional,
time‐varying space.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/geodesy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the
very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the
world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That
is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred; that is why
every man, as long as he lives and fulfills the will of nature, is
wondrous, and worthy of every consideration. In each individual the
spirit has become flesh, in each man the creation suffers, within each
one a redeemer is nailed to the cross.
--Hermann Hesse
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse>
Yogo sapphires are a variety of corundum found only in Yogo Gulch,
Montana, part of the Little Belt Mountains in Judith Basin County, on
land once inhabited by the Piegan Blackfeet people. Yogos are typically
cornflower blue in color, a result of trace amounts of iron and
titanium. Many gemologists consider them among the finest sapphires in
the world. They have high uniform clarity and maintain their brilliance
under artificial light. Because Yogo sapphires occur within a vertically
dipping resistive igneous dike, mining efforts have been sporadic and
rarely profitable. It is estimated that at least 28,000,000 carats
(5,600 kg) of Yogos are still in the ground. The Smithsonian
Institution first reported on Yogos in the museum's annual report on
June 30, 1899. Jewelry containing Yogos was given to First Ladies
Florence Harding and Bess Truman; in addition, many gems were sold in
Europe. Today, several Yogo sapphires are part of the Smithsonian
Institution's gem collection. In 1969, the sapphire was co-designated
along with the agate as Montana's state gemstones.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogo_sapphire>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
French acrobat Charles Blondin crossed Niagara Gorge on a
tightrope, turning him into one of the world's most famous tightrope
walkers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blondin>
1908:
A massive explosion occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska
River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, knocking over 80 million
trees (sample pictured) over 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event>
1922:
The United States and the Dominican Republic signed an
agreement that ended the former's occupation of the latter two years
later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_the_Dominican_Rep…>
1972:
The International Time Bureau added the first leap second to
the Coordinated Universal Time time scale.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_second>
2009 - Schoolgirl Bahia Bakari was the sole survivor when Yemenia Flight
626 crashed into the Indian Ocean killing 152 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemenia_Flight_626>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
miserabilist:
One who is unhappy, or extols being miserable as a virtue; a philosopher
of pessimism.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/miserabilist>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I see myself as a huge fiery comet, a shooting star. Everyone stops,
points up and gasps "Oh look at that!" Then — whoosh, and I'm gone...
and they'll never see anything like it ever again ... and they won't be
able to forget me — ever.
--Jim Morrison
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jim_Morrison>
Olivia Shakespear (1863–1938) was a British novelist, playwright, and
patron of the arts. She wrote six books that are described as "marriage
problem" novels. Her works sold poorly, sometimes only a few hundred
copies. Her last novel, Uncle Hilary, is considered her best. She wrote
two plays in collaboration with Florence Farr. In 1894 her literary
interests led to a friendship with William Butler Yeats that became
physically intimate in 1896. Following their consummation he declared
that they "had many days of happiness" to come, but the affair ended in
1897. They nevertheless remained lifelong friends and corresponded
frequently. Yeats went on to marry Georgie Hyde-Lees, Olivia's step-
niece and her daughter Dorothy's best friend. Olivia began hosting a
weekly salon frequented by Ezra Pound and other modernist writers and
artists in 1909, and became influential in London literary society.
Dorothy Shakespear married Pound in 1914, despite the less-than-
enthusiastic blessing of her parents. After their marriage, Pound would
use funds received from Olivia to support T. S. Eliot and James Joyce.
When Dorothy gave birth to a son, Omar Pound, in France in 1926, Olivia
assumed guardianship of the boy. He lived with Olivia until her death on
3 October 1938.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivia_Shakespear>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1613:
The original Globe Theatre in London burned to the ground after
a cannon employed for special effects misfired during a performance of
William Shakespeare's Henry VIII and ignited the theatre's roof.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globe_Theatre>
1659:
Russo-Polish War: The hetman of Ukraine Ivan Vyhovsky and his
allies defeated the armies of Russian Tsardom led by Aleksey Trubetskoy
at the Battle of Konotop in the present-day Sumy Oblast of Ukraine.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Konotop>
1864:
Canada's worst railway accident took place when a passenger
train fell through an open swing bridge into the Richelieu River near
present-day Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St-Hilaire_train_disaster>
1974:
Russian dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet
Union while on tour with the Bolshoi Ballet in Toronto.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Baryshnikov>
2002:
North and South Korean patrol boats clashed along a disputed
maritime boundary near Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Yeonpyeong>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
enterolith:
A mineral concretion in the intestinal tract.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/enterolith>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is another of the miraculous things about mankind that there is no
pain nor passion that does not radiate to the ends of the earth. Let a
man in a garret but burn with enough intensity and he will set fire to
the world.
--Antoine de Saint Exupéry
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint_Exup%C3%A9ry>
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's relations with the Belyayev circle, which
lasted from 1887 until Tchaikovsky's death, influenced all of their
music and briefly helped shape the next generation of Russian composers.
This group was named after timber merchant Mitrofan Belyayev, an
influential music patron and publisher. By 1887, Tchaikovsky was firmly
established as one of the leading composers in Russia. A favorite of
Tsar Alexander III, he was widely regarded as a national treasure. As a
result of the time Tchaikovsky spent with the Belyayev circle's leading
composers—Alexander Glazunov, Anatoly Lyadov and Nikolai Rimsky-
Korsakov—the somewhat fraught relationship he had previously endured
with The Five would eventually meld into something more harmonious. Over
the long term, though, Tchaikovsky's influence over the Belyayev
composers was not as great as his influence on The Five. They continued
writing overall in a style more akin to Rimsky-Korsakov than to
Tchaikovsky, falling back stylistically on their predecessors instead of
developing their own individual voices. Even Glazunov backed away from
echoing Tchaikovsky strongly in his mature work, instead amalgamating
nationalistic and cosmopolitan styles in an eclectic approach. The
Belyayev composers also spread the nationalist musical aesthetic to
Russia on the whole and were themselves an influence on composers well
into the Soviet era.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky_and_the_Belyayev_cir…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
American Revolutionary War: South Carolina militia repelled a
British attack on Charleston.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sullivan%27s_Island>
1895:
The United States Court of Private Land Claims ruled that the
title claimed by James Reavis to 18,600 sq mi (48,000 km2) in present-
day Arizona and New Mexico was "wholly fictitious and fraudulent".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Reavis>
1942:
World War II: The German Wehrmacht launched Case Blue, a
strategic summer offensive intended to knock the Soviet Union out of the
war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Blue>
1956:
Workers demanding better conditions held massive protests in
Poznań, Poland, but were violently repressed by the following day by
400 tanks and 10,000 soldiers of the People's Army of Poland and the
Internal Security Corps.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozna%C5%84_1956_protests>
1989:
President of Serbia Slobodan Milošević gave a speech in which
he described the possibility of "armed battles" in the future of
Serbia's national development.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gazimestan_speech>
2009:
Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was ousted by local military
forces following his attempt to hold a referendum to change the Honduran
constitution so he could serve a second term.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Honduran_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
röck döts:
(informal, humorous) Heavy metal umlauts; umlauts over letters in the
name of a heavy metal band (as in "Motörhead", "Queensrÿche" and
"Mötley Crüe"), added gratuitously for mere stylistic effect.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/r%C3%B6ck_d%C3%B6ts>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.
--Jean-Jacques Rousseau
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau>