New York Dolls is the debut album by the American hard rock band New
York Dolls (pictured). It was released in 1973 by Mercury Records. In
the years leading up to the album, the Dolls had developed a local
fanbase by playing regularly in lower Manhattan after forming in 1971.
Most music producers and record companies were reluctant to work with
them because of their onstage cross-dressing and blatant vulgarity. The
album – a mix of carefree rock and roll, influences from Brill
Building pop, and campy sensibilities – explores themes of urban
youth, teen alienation, adolescent romance, and authenticity, as
rendered in lead singer David Johansen's colloquial and ambiguous
lyrics. New York Dolls was met with widespread critical acclaim but sold
poorly and polarized listeners. Despite its commercial failure, New York
Dolls was an influential precursor to the 1970s punk rock movement. It
has been named in various publications as one of the best debut records
in rock music.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Dolls_%28album%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1834:
Most of the Palace of Westminster in London was destroyed in a
fire caused by the burning of wooden tally sticks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Parliament>
1916:
Margaret Sanger established the United States' first family
planning clinic in Brooklyn, New York.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger>
1943:
The Holocaust: The Gestapo conducted a raid on the Roman
Ghetto, capturing 1,259 members of the Jewish community, most of whom
were sent to Auschwitz.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_the_Roman_Ghetto>
2013:
In Laos's deadliest air accident, Lao Airlines Flight 301
crashed into the Mekong River, resulting in the deaths of all 49 people
aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_Airlines_Flight_301>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cryptolect:
(linguistics) A secretive language form used by a subculture; an arcane
cant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cryptolect>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Question not, but live and labour Till yon goal be won, Helping
every feeble neighbour, Seeking help from none; Life is mostly
froth and bubble; Two things stand like stone, Kindness in another's
trouble, Courage in your own.
--Adam Lindsay Gordon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adam_Lindsay_Gordon>
"The Riddle of the Sphinx" is the third episode of the third series of
the British dark comedy anthology television programme Inside No. 9.
Written by the programme's creators, Steve Pemberton and Reece
Shearsmith, and directed by Guillem Morales, it first aired on
28 February 2017 on BBC Two. It stars Alexandra Roach as Nina, a young
woman seeking answers to the Varsity cryptic crossword, Pemberton as
Professor Squires, who sets the crossword using the pseudonym Sphinx,
and Shearsmith as Dr Tyler. The same crossword was published in The
Guardian on the day the episode aired, and the episode is filled with
references to the puzzle. Influences for the episode include Anthony
Shaffer's 1970 play Sleuth, the works of Anton Chekhov, and the 1989
film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover. Critics lauded the
writing and the precise attention to detail in the production. Roach's
performance was praised, as was the direction of Morales.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riddle_of_the_Sphinx_%28Inside_No._9%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1773:
French astronomer Charles Messier discovered the Whirlpool
Galaxy, an interacting, grand design spiral galaxy located an estimated
31 million light-years away.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy>
1917:
At least 30,000 people witnessed the Miracle of the Sun in the
fields of Cova da Iria near Fátima, Portugal.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_Sun>
1961:
Newly elected Burundian prime minister Louis Rwagasore was
assassinated by his political rivals.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rwagasore>
2013:
During the Hindu festival of Navaratri at a temple in Madhya
Pradesh, India, rumours about an impending bridge collapse caused a
stampede that resulted in 115 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Madhya_Pradesh_stampede>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
overegg:
(transitive, idiomatic, originally UK, regional) Chiefly in over-egg the
pudding: to spoil (something) by exaggerating it, or an aspect of it; to
overdo.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overegg>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
For every idealistic peacemaker willing to renounce his self-
defence in favour of a weapons-free world, there is at least one
warmaker anxious to exploit the other's good intentions.
--Margaret Thatcher
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher>
On 12 October 1984 an assassination attempt was made by the Provisional
Irish Republican Army (IRA) on members of the British government,
including the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Five people were killed
and more than thirty injured; Thatcher was unharmed. The bombing was a
key moment in the Troubles, the conflict in Northern Ireland between
unionists and republicans, which took place in the late 20th century.
The IRA decided to assassinate Thatcher during the 1981 hunger strike.
Three weeks before the conference, the IRA member Patrick Magee planted
a long-delay time bomb in the Grand Brighton Hotel, which the IRA knew
would be occupied by Thatcher. The explosion dislodged a hotel chimney
stack, which crashed through several floors (damage pictured). Thatcher
decided to continue the conference as normal, which reopened six and a
half hours after the explosion. A partial palm print was found on
Magee's room registration card and after an eight-month investigation he
was sent to prison for eight life sentences.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brighton_hotel_bombing>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1890:
The Uddevalla Suffrage Association was founded in Uddevalla,
Sweden, with the purpose of bringing about universal suffrage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uddevalla_Suffrage_Association>
1928:
The iron lung (example pictured), a type of medical ventilator,
was used for the first time at the Boston Children's Hospital to treat
an eight-year-old girl paralyzed by polio.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_lung>
1933:
The United States Department of Justice acquired a military
prison on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, to be transformed into
the last-resort Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz_Federal_Penitentiary>
2013:
Twelve people were killed in an apartment-building collapse in
Medellín, leading to new construction laws being passed in Colombia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse_of_the_Space_Building>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lass:
1. A girl; also (by extension), a young woman.
2. (specifically) A female member of the Salvation Army; a hallelujah
lass.
3. (especially Geordie, Wearside) A sweetheart.
4. (Northern England, Scotland) A female servant; a maid, a maidservant.
5. (Scotland, familiar) A term of address for a woman, or a female
animal.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lass>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel
Peace Prize for 2024 to the Japanese organisation Nihon Hidankyo. This
grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, also known as Hibakusha, is receiving the Peace Prize for its
efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating
through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.
--Norwegian Nobel Committee
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Norwegian_Nobel_Committee>
Tomorrow Speculative Fiction was a science fiction magazine edited by
Algis Budrys (pictured), published in print and online in the US from
1992 to 1999. It was launched by Pulphouse Publishing, but cash flow
problems led Budrys to buy the magazine after the first issue and
publish it himself. There were 24 issues as a print magazine from 1993
to 1997, mostly on a bimonthly schedule. The magazine lost money, and in
1997 Budrys moved to online publishing, rebranding the magazine as
tomorrowsf. Readership grew while the magazine was free on the web, but
fell when Budrys began charging for subscriptions. In 1998 Budrys
stopped acquiring new fiction, only publishing reprints of his own
stories, and in 1999 he shut the magazine down. Tomorrow published many
new writers, though few of them went on to successful careers. Well-
known authors who appeared in the magazine included Gene Wolfe, Ursula
K. Le Guin, and Harlan Ellison. Tomorrow was a finalist for the Hugo
Award for Best Semiprozine in 1994 and 1995.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_Speculative_Fiction>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1968:
Apollo 7, the first manned mission of NASA's Apollo program,
and the first three-man American space mission, launched from Complex 34
in Cape Kennedy, Florida.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_7>
1987:
Sri Lankan Civil War: The Indian Peace Keeping Force began
Operation Pawan to take control of Jaffna from the Tamil Tigers and
enforce their disarmament as a part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pawan>
2002:
A bomb exploded in the Myyrmanni shopping center in Helsinki,
Finland, (aftermath pictured) resulting in 7 deaths and 159 injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myyrmanni_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Heinz 57:
1. (countable) A thing comprising parts from many different sources; a
complete mix; a hodgepodge, a mishmash.
2. An animal (chiefly a dog) of mixed breed or uncertain origin; a
mongrel, a mutt.
3. (sometimes derogatory) A person of mixed ethnic or racial ancestry.
4. (uncountable, poker) A variety of draw poker in which the five and
seven playing cards are wild cards.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Heinz_57>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We must know what we think and speak out, even at the risk of
unpopularity. In the final analysis, a democratic government represents
the sum total of the courage and the integrity of its individuals. It
cannot be better than they are. … In the long run there is no more
exhilarating experience than to determine one's position, state it
bravely and then act boldly.
--Eleanor Roosevelt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt>
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee (pictured) published in
1960 and considered a classic of modern American fiction. The novel is
loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors,
as well as an event that occurred near her hometown in 1936, when she
was 10 years old. The narrator's father, Atticus Finch, has served as a
moral hero for many readers, and a model of integrity for lawyers. As a
Southern Gothic novel and a bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill
a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence,
but scholars have also noted that Lee addresses the issues of class
tensions, courage and compassion, and gender roles in the American Deep
South. The book, which won a Pulitzer Prize, is widely taught in schools
in English-speaking countries with lessons that emphasize tolerance and
decry prejudice. Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been the
target of various campaigns to have it removed from public classrooms.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1933:
In the first proven act of sabotage in the history of
commercial aviation, a Boeing 247 operated by United Airlines exploded
in mid-air near Chesterton, Indiana, killing all seven people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Air_Lines_Flight_23>
1963:
The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits all test
detonations of nuclear weapons except for those conducted underground,
went into effect.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial_Nuclear_Test_Ban_Treaty>
1973:
U.S. vice president Spiro Agnew resigned after being charged
with tax evasion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew>
1992:
After 20 years of construction, Vidyasagar Setu, the longest
cable-stayed bridge in India, opened, joining Kolkata and Howrah.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidyasagar_Setu>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
breakdown:
1. (countable) A failure, particularly one which is mechanical in
nature.
2. (physics, uncountable) The sudden (and usually damaging) transition
of an electrical insulator to a conductor when subjected to a
sufficiently strong voltage, caused by the partial or complete
ionization of the insulator; (countable) an instance of this; also, the
minimum voltage at which this occurs.
3. (countable) Something, such as a vehicle, that has experienced a
mechanical failure.
4. (uncountable) Separation of a thing into components; decomposition,
fragmentation; (countable) an instance of this.
5. (uncountable) Detailed categorization, or itemization or listing, of
the components of a thing; (countable) an instance of this.
6. (chemistry, uncountable) Breaking of chemical bonds within a compound
to produce simpler compounds or elements; (countable) an instance of
this.
7. (film, television, countable) A detailed description of a forthcoming
project or screenplay which identifies all the required elements, such
as the cast, costumes, equipment, props, and special effects.
8. (figurative)
9. (countable) A failure in a relationship; a failure or loss of
organization in a system.
10. (uncountable) (Sudden) worsening of physical health or (more
commonly) mental stability, resulting in an inability to carry on normal
activities; (countable) an instance of this.
11. (veterinary medicine, uncountable) Injury to a horse's leg causing
lameness; (countable) an instance of this.
12. (originally and chiefly New Zealand, countable, chiefly attributive)
An act of splitting logs of wood using a large saw in a sawmill; also,
the saw used; or (rare) the building in which the process is carried
out.
13. (music, countable)
14. A part of a piece of music or a song which differs from the other
parts in that it features improvisation or is stripped down (for
example, played by fewer instruments or a solo performer).
15. Synonym of percussion break (“a percussion-focused segment of a
song, chosen by a hip-hop DJ to manipulate through cutting, mixing, and
other techniques in order to create rhythmic music”)
16. (chiefly Southern US, countable)
17. (dance, dated) A noisy, rapid, shuffling dance engaged in
competitively by a number of individuals or pairs in succession, common
among African-Americans from the Southern United States; also, a lively
event, chiefly in a rural setting, at which such dancing is done; a
hoedown, a shindig.
18. (music) A piece of music played for such a dance, especially a rapid
bluegrass tune featuring a five-string banjo.
19. (obsolete, countable) An act of a structure or other thing breaking
and collapsing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/breakdown>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I like spring, but it is too young. I like summer, but it is too
proud. So I like best of all autumn, because its leaves are a little
yellow, its tone mellower, its colours richer, and it is tinged a little
with sorrow and a premonition of death. Its golden richness speaks not
of the innocence of spring, nor of the power of summer, but of the
mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the
limitations of life and is content. From a knowledge of those
limitations and its richness of experience emerges a symphony of
colours, richer than all, its green speaking of life and strength, its
orange speaking of golden content and its purple of resignation and
death.
--Lin Yutang
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lin_Yutang>
The Birds is the fifth collection by Alexander McQueen for his fashion
house. It was inspired by ornithology and the Alfred Hitchcock film The
Birds. The collection centred around sharply tailored garments and
emphasised female sexuality. The runway show was staged on 9 October
1994 and the venue was a warehouse in the London district of King's
Cross. The Birds was styled with imagery of violence and death; some
models were covered in tyre tracks and others wore white contact lenses.
Reception was generally positive, although the styling drew accusations
of misogyny. The show's success allowed McQueen to secure the financial
backing to stage his next show, Highland Rape. Garments from The Birds
appeared in both stagings of the retrospective exhibition Alexander
McQueen: Savage Beauty. Seán McGirr heavily referenced The Birds for
Autumn/Winter 2024, his debut collection as creative director for the
Alexander McQueen brand.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birds_%28Alexander_McQueen_collection%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1874:
The Universal Postal Union, then known as the General Postal
Union, was established with the signing of the Treaty of Bern to unify
disparate postal services and regulations so that international mail
could be exchanged easily.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union>
1914:
World War I: The civilian authorities of Antwerp surrendered
and allowed the German army to capture the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Antwerp_%281914%29>
2019:
Syrian civil war: Turkish forces began an offensive into north-
eastern Syria following the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Turkish_offensive_into_north-eastern_Syr…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
glimpse:
1. (transitive)
2. To see or view (someone, or something tangible) briefly and
incompletely.
3. (figurative) To perceive (something intangible) briefly and
incompletely.
4. (intransitive)
5. Chiefly followed by at or upon: to look at briefly and incompletely;
to glance.
6. To shine with a faint, unsteady light; to glimmer, to shimmer.
7. (archaic or poetic) To appear or start to appear, especially faintly
or unclearly; to dawn.
8. (rare) Sometimes followed by out: to provide a brief and incomplete
look.
9. Chiefly followed by of: a brief and incomplete look; a glance, a
peek.
10. (archaic) A brief, sudden flash of light; a glimmer.
11. (figurative)
12. A faint or imprecise idea; an inkling.
13. (rare) A brief, unspecified amount of time; a moment.
14. (obsolete) A faint (and often temporary) appearance; a tinge, a
trace.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glimpse>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Last year was "All You Need Is Love." This year it's "Give Peace
a Chance." Remember love. The only hope for any of us is peace. Violence
begets violence. If you want to get peace, you can get it as soon as you
like if we all pull together. You're all geniuses and you're all
beautiful. You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you
are. You are what you are. Get out there and get peace. Think peace,
live peace, and breathe peace and you'll get it as soon as you like.
--John Lennon
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Lennon>
Thunderbirds is a British science fiction television series created by
Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. It was their fifth series to be made using
Supermarionation (a form of electronic marionette puppetry) combined
with scale model effects sequences. Two series were made, totalling 32
episodes. Thunderbirds follows the exploits of International Rescue, a
lifesaving organisation led by ex-astronaut Jeff Tracy. Its missions are
carried out using the Thunderbird machines (one pictured), a fleet of
five vehicles piloted by Jeff's sons. Thunderbirds premiered on the ITV
network on 30 September 1965 and has aired in at least 66 countries.
Widely considered the Andersons' most popular and commercially
successful series, it has been praised for its effects, music and title
sequence. A real-life search and rescue service, the International
Rescue Corps, took its name from the series. Thunderbirds was followed
by two feature films in the 1960s, a live-action film in 2004 and a
remake, Thunderbirds Are Go, in 2015.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbirds_%28TV_series%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1849:
American writer Edgar Allan Poe died under mysterious
circumstances at Washington Medical College four days after being found
on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, in a delirious and incoherent
state.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Edgar_Allan_Poe>
1914:
Japan captured Pohnpei from Germany, eventually leading to
large-scale Japanese immigration to Micronesia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Micronesians>
1944:
The Holocaust: Sonderkommando work-unit members in Auschwitz
concentration camp revolted upon learning that they were due to be
killed; although a few managed to escape, most were massacred on the
same day.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonderkommando>
2006:
Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist and human-rights
activist, was assassinated in the elevator of her apartment block in
Moscow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Anna_Politkovskaya>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Art Deco:
(architecture, art, also attributive) A style of decorative art (often
used in household objects) and architecture originating in the 1920s and
1930s, characterized by bold geometric forms, strong contrasting
colours, and simple composition.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Art_Deco>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are effectively destroying ourselves by violence masquerading
as love.
--Ronald David Laing
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_David_Laing>
Markham's storm petrel (Hydrobates markhami) is a seabird native to the
Pacific Ocean around Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. It is a large and slender
storm petrel; its plumage is black to sooty brown with a grayish bar
that runs diagonally across the upper side of the wings. A colonial
breeder, the species nests in natural cavities in salt crusts in
northern Chile and Peru; 95 percent of the known colonies are found in
the Atacama Desert. Pairs produce one egg per season, which is laid on
bare ground without any nesting material. Parents will attend their
brood only at night, returning to the sea before dawn. The diet of
Markham's storm petrel consists mainly of fish, cephalopods and
crustaceans. Despite its relatively large population, the species is in
decline and listed as near threatened. Primary threats are habitat
destruction and light pollution, which attracts or disorients fledglings
on their first flight to the sea.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markham%27s_storm_petrel>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1934:
Catalonia's autonomous government, led by Lluís Companys,
declared a general strike, an armed insurgency, and the establishment of
the Catalan State in reaction to the inclusion of conservatives in the
Spanish republican regime.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Events_of_6_October>
1976:
Two bombs placed by the CIA-linked Cuban dissident group
Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations exploded on Cubana
Flight 455, killing all 73 aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordination_of_United_Revolutionary_Organiza…>
1989:
About 200 members of the San Francisco Police Department
instigated a police riot in the Castro following a peaceful protest held
by the political group ACT UP.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castro_Sweep>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
weaksauce:
1. (originally and chiefly US, informal) Lacking in interest or
substance; boring, disappointing, lacklustre.
2. (countable) Someone or something that is lacking in interest or
substance.
3. (uncountable)
4. The quality or state of lacking in interest or substance; boringness,
disappointment.
5. Synonym of weak tea (“weak or feeble arguments, efforts, or
proposals”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/weaksauce>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of
masses brought together in light. Our eyes are made to see forms in
light; light and shade reveal these forms; cubes, cones, spheres,
cylinders or pyramids are the great primary forms which light reveals to
advantage; the image of these is distinct and tangible within us without
ambiguity. It is for this reason that these are beautiful forms, the
most beautiful forms. Everybody is agreed to that, the child, the savage
and the metaphysician.
--Le Corbusier
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier>
The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in
South West England. Arising from its source in the Thorney Mills springs
in the hills around Chedington, Dorset, it flows northwest through the
Somerset Levels to its mouth at Burnham-on-Sea, into the nature reserve
at Bridgwater Bay on the Bristol Channel, draining about 50 per cent of
Somerset's land area. The 37-mile-long (60 km) river is tidal for 27
miles (43 km) up to Oath. During the Roman era, the Parrett was crossed
by a ford, and in Anglo-Saxon times formed a boundary between Wessex and
Dumnonia. From the medieval period, the river served the Port of
Bridgwater, enabling cargoes to be transported inland. The arrival of
the railways led to a decline and now commercial shipping only docks at
Dunball. Along with its connected waterways and network of drains, the
Parrett supports an ecosystem that includes several rare species of
flora and fauna. The River Parrett Trail has been established along the
banks of the river.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Parrett>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
French Revolution: Upset about the high price and scarcity of
bread, thousands of Parisian women and allies marched on the Palace of
Versailles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_March_on_Versailles>
1869:
During construction of the Eastman tunnel in St. Anthony,
Minnesota (now Minneapolis), the Mississippi River broke through the
tunnel's limestone ceiling, nearly destroying Saint Anthony Falls.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastman_tunnel>
1994:
Swiss police found the bodies of 48 members of the Order of the
Solar Temple, who had died in a cult mass murder-suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Solar_Temple_massacres>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
formative:
1. Capable of forming something.
2. (biology) Capable of producing new tissue.
3. (linguistic morphology) Pertaining to the formation of words;
specifically, of an affix: forming words through inflection.
4. Of or pertaining to the formation and subsequent growth of something.
5. (education) Of a form of assessment: used to guide learning rather
than to quantify educational outcomes.
6. A thing which causes formation to occur.
7. (linguistic morphology)
8. A language unit, typically a morph, that has a morphological function
(that is, forming a word from a root or another word).
9. Synonym of derivative (“a word that derives from another one”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/formative>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Today's world, as we all know, is faced with multiple threats.
>From whichever angle I look at this menace, I always come to the
conclusion that salvation can only come through a profound awakening of
man to his own personal responsibility, which is at the same time a
global responsibility. Thus, the only way to save our world, as I see
it, lies in a democracy that recalls its ancient Greek roots: democracy
based on an integral human personality personally answering for the fate
of the community.
--Václav Havel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel>
The Olmec colossal heads are at least 17 monumental stone
representations of human heads sculpted from large basalt boulders. The
heads date from at least before 900 BC and are a distinctive feature of
the Olmec civilization of ancient Mesoamerica. All portray mature men
with fleshy cheeks, flat noses and slightly crossed eyes; their physical
characteristics correspond to a type that is still common among the
inhabitants of Tabasco and Veracruz. The boulders were brought from the
Sierra de los Tuxtlas, a mountain range in Veracruz. It is thought that
the finished monuments represent portraits of powerful individual Olmec
rulers. Each is given a distinctive headdress. The heads were variously
arranged in lines or groups at major Olmec centres. Dating the monuments
remains difficult due to the movement of many from their original
context prior to archaeological investigation. Most have been dated to
the Early Preclassic period (1500–1000 BC) with some to the Middle
Preclassic period (1000–400 BC).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmec_colossal_heads>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1363:
Red Turban Rebellions: The rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang won the
Battle of Lake Poyang by deploying ships intentionally set aflame when
the emperor tried to escape.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lake_Poyang>
1918:
An ammunition plant in Sayreville, New Jersey, U.S., exploded,
killing around 100 people and destroying more than 300 buildings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._A._Gillespie_Company_Shell_Loading_Plant_e…>
1957:
The Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1, the first artificial
satellite to orbit the Earth, was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1>
2003:
A suicide bomber killed 21 people, including a two-month-old
baby, and injured 60 others inside a restaurant in Haifa, Israel.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxim_restaurant_suicide_bombing>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
pomace:
1. The pulp or pulplike matter remaining from a substance pressed to
extract its juice or oil.
2. Such residue from apples used in the process of cidermaking; also, a
mass of crushed apples before the juice is pressed out.
3. Such residue from grapes used in winemaking.
4. (historical) Such residue (especially castor bean cake or fish scrap)
used as fertilizer.
5. (UK, regional, archaic) Synonym of pulp (“a soft, moist mass formed
by mashing something”)
6. (by extension, obsolete) Sheep offal.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pomace>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Watch his mind as it contemplates a hostile universe whose
violent whims Buster understands, withstands and, miraculously, tames.
Watch his camera taking his picture (Keaton directed or supervised all
his best films); it is as cool as the star it captured in its glass...
The medium was still in its infancy; comics were pioneering the craft of
making people laugh at moving images. Keaton, it turns out, knew it all
— intuitively.
--Richard Corliss
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Corliss>