The Founding Ceremony of the Nation is a 1953 oil painting by Chinese
artist Dong Xiwen. It depicts Mao Zedong and other Communist officials
inaugurating the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen Square in
Beijing on October 1, 1949. A prominent example of socialist realism,
it is one of the most celebrated works of official Chinese art. After
the Communists took control of China, they sought to memorialize their
success with art. Dong was chosen to reproduce the October 1 ceremony
in a painting, and completed it in a folk art style, drawing on
historical Chinese art. When Mao viewed it and liked it, it was assured
of success, and was widely reproduced. After government purges, Dong was
ordered to remove Gao Gang in 1954 and Liu Shaoqi in 1967. In 1972 a
copy was made by other artists to accommodate another deletion. After
the purged officials were rehabilitated, the replica was modified in
1979 to include them. Both canvases are in the National Museum of China
in Beijing.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Founding_Ceremony_of_the_Nation>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1386:
The Wonderful Parliament met at Westminster Abbey to address
King Richard II's need for money, but soon changed focus to the reform
of his administration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_Parliament>
1890:
At the encouragement of preservationist John Muir and writer
Robert Underwood Johnson, the U.S. Congress established Yosemite
National Park in California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park>
1918:
First World War: British and Arab troops captured Damascus from
the Ottoman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Damascus>
2003:
A levy was imposed on the hiring of foreign domestic helpers in
Hong Kong, who numbered in the hundreds of thousands at the time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_domestic_helpers_in_Hong_Kong>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
healthspan:
The length of time in one's life where one is generally in good health.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/healthspan>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When combined, the small individual contributors of caring,
friendship, forgiveness, and love, each of us different from our next-
door neighbors, can form a phalanx, an army, with great capability.
--Jimmy Carter
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter>
The Ole Miss riot of 1962 was a violent disturbance at the University of
Mississippi (commonly called Ole Miss) in Oxford, Mississippi, as
segregationist rioters sought to prevent the enrollment of James
Meredith, an African-American. In the wake of the Supreme Court's 1954
decision Brown v. Board of Education, Meredith applied to Ole Miss in
1961. His admission was delayed and obstructed, including by Mississippi
governor Ross Barnett, who even had him temporarily jailed. Meredith's
multiple attempts to enroll, accompanied by federal officials, were
physically blocked. A riot erupted on campus when a mob assaulted
reporters and federal officers, burned and looted property, and hijacked
vehicles. Two civilians were murdered and 160 marshals were injured,
including 28 who received gunshot wounds. U.S. President John F. Kennedy
invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 and mobilized more than 30,000
troops, quelling the riot. A statue of Meredith on campus commemorates
the event.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Miss_riot_of_1962>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1791:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, composed
shortly before his death, premiered at Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magic_Flute>
1920:
Times Square Theater opened on Broadway with a production of
The Mirage, a play written by its owner, Edgar Selwyn.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Square_Theater>
1939:
NBC broadcast the first televised American football game,
between the Fordham Rams and the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939_Waynesburg_vs._Fordham_football_game>
2000:
Twelve-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah was shot dead in the Gaza
Strip; the Israel Defense Forces initially accepted responsibility but
retracted it five years later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Muhammad_al-Durrah>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
grimdark:
1. (fandom slang) Of a film, television programme, video game, written
work, etc.: having a gloomy, dystopian atmosphere.
2. (literature) The literary genre of speculative fiction that is
amoral, dystopian, or violent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grimdark>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You were born with wings. Why prefer to crawl through life?
--Rumi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rumi>
The Aston Martin Lagonda Taraf is a full-size luxury car with four doors
that was manufactured in 2015 and 2016 by the British carmaker Aston
Martin under its Lagonda marque. Aston Martin began developing the car
in February 2014 at its design studio in Gaydon, Warwickshire.
Development was completed eight months later, and the design of the car,
based on the vertical–horizontal platform, was done by Marek Reichman.
The car debuted in Dubai in December 2014, and production began in
early 2015 at the Gaydon production facility. Initially, Aston Martin
planned to manufacture 100 units exclusively for the Middle Eastern
market, but the plan expanded to include other markets and a total of
120 cars were produced. The Taraf features an aluminium structure and a
carbon-fibre exterior, giving it a weight comparable to the
significantly shorter Aston Martin Rapide. Manufacture of the Taraf
ceased at the end of 2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagonda_Taraf>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
World War I: The Battle of St Quentin Canal took place, which
led to the British Fourth Army making the first breach of the German
defensive Hindenburg Line.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_Line>
1954:
Willie Mays of the New York Giants made The Catch, one of the
most famous defensive plays in the history of Major League Baseball.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catch_%28baseball%29>
1964:
Mafalda, a popular comic strip by Quino, was first published in
newspapers in Argentina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafalda>
2004:
Archaeologists and volunteers began excavation of the remains
of Fort Tanjong Katong in Singapore.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Tanjong_Katong>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
decorous:
1. Marked by behaviour, manners, etc., regarded as proper, tasteful, and
in accordance with accepted standards; becoming, seemly.
2. (obsolete) Appropriate, suitable.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/decorous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth;
and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your
prince.
--Book of Daniel
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Book_of_Daniel>
Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) was a Russian composer and conductor,
considered one of the most important and influential composers of the
20th century and a pivotal figure in modernist music. He studied music
under Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov until the latter's death in 1908. Soon
after, Stravinsky met the impresario Sergei Diaghilev, who commissioned
the composer to write three ballets for the Ballets Russes's Paris
seasons: The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring
(1913), the last of which caused a near-riot at the premiere due to its
avant-garde nature. His compositional style varied greatly, being
influenced at different points by Russian folklore, neoclassicism, and
serialism. His ideas influenced the composers Aaron Copland, Philip
Glass, Béla Bartók, and Pierre Boulez, who were all challenged to
innovate beyond traditional tonality, rhythm, and form. Stravinsky died
in 1971, leaving six memoirs, an earlier autobiography, and a series of
lectures.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Stravinsky>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1066:
William the Conqueror and his fleet of around 600 ships landed
at Pevensey, Sussex, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Conquest>
1901:
Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas killed more than
forty American soldiers in a surprise attack on the town of Balangiga on
the island of Samar.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balangiga_massacre>
1928:
Scottish biologist and pharmacologist Alexander Fleming
discovered penicillin when he noticed a bacteria-killing mould growing
in his laboratory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Fleming>
1975:
An attempted robbery of Spaghetti House, a restaurant in
Knightsbridge, London, turned into a six-day hostage situation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_House_siege>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
punched tape:
(computing, historical) Synonym of paper tape (“an early sequential
digital storage medium originally used with teletype machines,
consisting of a long roll of paper, each character being encoded as a
pattern of punched holes”)
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/punched_tape>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our hope is less to last through Art Than deeper searching of
the heart, Than broader range of uttered truth.
--Francis Turner Palgrave
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Turner_Palgrave>
Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena, or what people
ought to do. It includes three main branches: normative ethics, which
seeks general principles for how people should act; applied ethics,
which addresses specific real-life ethical issues like abortion; and
metaethics, which explores underlying concepts and assumptions.
Influential normative theories are consequentialism, deontology, and
virtue ethics. According to consequentialists, an act is right if it
leads to the best consequences. Deontologists focus on acts themselves,
saying that they must adhere to duties, like telling the truth. Virtue
ethicists, such as Aristotle (pictured), see the manifestation of
virtues, like courage, as the fundamental principle of morality. The
history of ethics dates back to ancient civilizations and has evolved
through religious influences in the medieval period to a more secular
approach in the modern era, with the emergence of metaethics in the 20th
century.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1851:
The British East India Company inaugurated the Horsburgh
Lighthouse on the rocky outcrop of Pedra Branca, Singapore, which later
became the subject of a territorial dispute.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedra_Branca,_Singapore>
1917:
The Broadhurst Theatre opened in New York City with a
performance of Misalliance by George Bernard Shaw.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadhurst_Theatre>
1975:
Two members of ETA political-military and three members of the
Revolutionary Antifascist Patriotic Front, sentenced to death for
murder, became the last people to be executed in Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_use_of_capital_punishment_in_Spain>
1983:
American software developer Richard Stallman announced plans
for the Unix-like operating system GNU, the first free software
developed by the GNU Project.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
busman's holiday:
(idiomatic) A holiday or vacation during which one does something
similar to what one does as work.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/busman%27s_holiday>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Did the protection we received annul our rights as men, and lay
us under an obligation of being miserable? Who among you, my countrymen,
that is a father, would claim authority to make your child a slave
because you had nourished him in infancy?
--Samuel Adams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Adams>
The 2023 World Snooker Championship took place from 15 April to 1 May
2023 at the Crucible Theatre (pictured) in Sheffield, England. The
qualifying rounds produced a 115 break by Ng On-yee, the highest by a
woman in the tournament's history. The defending champion Ronnie
O'Sullivan made a record 31st appearance at the tournament's main stage,
surpassing the 30 appearances by Steve Davis, but he lost 10–13 in the
quarter-finals to Belgian player Luca Brecel. Si Jiahui became the first
Crucible debutant to reach the semi-finals since Andy Hicks at the 1995
event. Brecel came from 5–14 behind to defeat Si 17–15, the first
player to win a match at the Crucible after trailing by nine frames.
Brecel went on to defeat Mark Selby 18–15 in the final, becoming the
sport's first world champion from mainland Europe. Two maximum breaks
were made at the main stage, one by Kyren Wilson in the first round and
the other by Selby, who became the first player to make a 147 in a world
final.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_World_Snooker_Championship>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1580:
English explorer Francis Drake's galleon the Golden Hind
(replica pictured) sailed into Plymouth, completing his circumnavigation
of the globe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Hind>
1928:
The Nationalist government of China adopted Gwoyeu Romatzyh as
the official system for the romanization of Mandarin Chinese.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwoyeu_Romatzyh>
1983:
Cold War: Soviet lieutenant colonel Stanislav Petrov averted a
potential nuclear war by identifying as a false alarm signals that
appeared to indicate an impending U.S. missile attack.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident>
2010:
Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove and three Afghan colleagues
were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Linda_Norgrove>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
any port in a storm:
(idiomatic) One should accept any passable option when time is of the
essence in an adverse situation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/any_port_in_a_storm>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do not let me hear Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their
folly, Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession, Of
belonging to another, or to others, or to God. The only wisdom we can
hope to acquire Is the wisdom of humility: humility is endless.
--The Four Quartets
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Four_Quartets>
SMS Helgoland was a dreadnought battleship of the Imperial German Navy.
Her design improved from the Nassau class, including an increase in the
bore diameter of the main guns. Her keel was laid down at the
Howaldtswerke shipyards in Kiel; she was launched on 25 September 1909,
and commissioned on 23 August 1911. During World War I the ship
participated in several sweeps into the North Sea as the covering force
for the battlecruisers of the I Scouting Group. She saw limited duty in
the Baltic Sea against the Russian Navy, including serving as part of a
support force during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August 1915.
Helgoland was present at the Battle of Jutland from 31 May to 1 June
1916, though she was located in the center of the German line of battle
and not as heavily engaged as the ships in the lead. She was ceded to
Great Britain after the war and broken up for scrap in the early 1920s.
Her coat of arms is preserved in the Bundeswehr Military History Museum
in Dresden.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Helgoland_%281909%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1790:
Peking opera was born with the introduction of Hui opera to
Beijing by the "Four Great Anhui Troupes" in honour of the Qianlong
Emperor's 80th birthday.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peking_opera>
1890:
Sequoia National Park was established to conserve giant sequoia
trees in an area affected by logging in the southern Sierra Nevada in
California.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequoia_National_Park>
1983:
In one of the largest prison escapes in British history, 38
Provisional Irish Republican Army prisoners hijacked a meals lorry and
broke out of HM Prison Maze in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maze_Prison_escape>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lapsus oculi:
(formal, rare) An error that results from looking in the wrong place,
especially one that occurs while copying or translating a body of text.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lapsus_oculi>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and
compassion, against injustice and lying and greed. If you, not just you
in this room tonight, but in all the thousands of other rooms like this
one about the world today and tomorrow and next week, will do this …
as individuals, men and women, you will change the earth; in one
generation all the Napoleons and Hitlers and Caesars and Mussolinis and
Stalins and all the other tyrants who want power and aggrandizement, and
the simple politicians and time-servers who themselves are merely
baffled or ignorant or afraid, who have used, or are using, or hope to
use, man’s fear and greed for man’s enslavement, will have vanished
from the face of it.
--William Faulkner
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Faulkner>
Pinkerton is the second studio album by the American rock band Weezer,
released on September 24, 1996, by DGC Records. To better capture their
live sound, the band self-produced Pinkerton, creating a darker, more
abrasive album than their 1994 debut Weezer. The lyrics express
loneliness and disillusionment with the rock lifestyle, and reference
Japanese culture. Pinkerton produced the singles "El Scorcho" and "The
Good Life". It debuted at number 19 on the Billboard 200, failing to
match sales of Weezer's debut, and received mixed reviews; Rolling Stone
readers voted it the third-worst album of 1996. For subsequent albums,
Weezer returned to more traditional pop songwriting and less personal
lyrics. In subsequent years, Pinkerton was reassessed; several
publications named it one of the best albums of the 1990s, and it was
certified platinum in 2016.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_%28album%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1869:
Jay Gould, James Fisk, and other speculators plotted but failed
to control the United States gold market, causing prices to plummet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%281869%29>
1890:
Wilford Woodruff, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, wrote the first draft of a manifesto that
officially disavowed the future practice of plural marriage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_Manifesto>
1941:
Operation Barbarossa: A Wehrmacht training event known as the
Mogilev Conference began, marking an increase in violence against Jews
and other civilians in the areas under General Max von Schenckendorff's
command.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mogilev_Conference>
1993:
Norodom Sihanouk became King of Cambodia with the restoration
of the monarchy after a 23-year interregnum.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norodom_Sihanouk>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
a whole nother:
(US, informal) An intensified form of another: an entirely different; a
whole other.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_whole_nother>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you
and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them,
makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a
way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand.
--F. Scott Fitzgerald
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/F._Scott_Fitzgerald>
Arthur Oswin Austin (1879–1964) was an American electrical engineer
and inventor. He is best known as the inventor of the Austin
transformer, used to supply power for lighting circuits on radio towers.
Austin's work included improvements to radio transmission equipment and
the effects of lightning on high-voltage transmission lines and
aircraft. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers and of the Institute of Radio Engineers, and was known as an
expert in high-voltage insulators and fittings. His work on transmitting
antennas included both military and civilian projects. Born in
California, Austin graduated from Stanford University with a degree in
electrical engineering. He spent most of his adult life in Ohio where he
worked for the Ohio Brass Company and founded the Austin Insulator
Company. He bought a large estate in Barberton, Ohio, lived in the
mansion, and built an extensive outdoor electrical laboratory on the
grounds.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_O._Austin>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1642:
First English Civil War: The Battle of Powick Bridge, the first
engagement between the primary field armies of the Royalists and the
Parliamentarians, ended in a Royalist victory.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Powick_Bridge>
1884:
The French steamship Arctique ran aground on the northern coast
of Cape Virgenes in Argentina; gold was discovered during the rescue
effort, triggering the Tierra del Fuego gold rush.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tierra_del_Fuego_gold_rush>
1920:
The Louisiana hurricane dissipated over Kansas after forcing
around 4,500 people to evacuate and causing $1.45 million in damages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920_Louisiana_hurricane>
2010:
Teresa Lewis became the first woman to be executed by the U.S.
state of Virginia since 1912, and the first woman in the state to be
executed by lethal injection.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Lewis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Nintendocore:
(music, video games) An aggressive genre of modern rock music influenced
by chiptunes (“music that samples or emulates the audio capabilities of
older sound chips”) and video game music.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Nintendocore>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I hold that mortal foolish who strives against the stress of
necessity.
--Euripides
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Euripides>
Qalaherriaq (c. 1834 – 1856) was an Inughuit hunter from Cape York
in northwestern Greenland. Born around 1834 and baptized Erasmus
Augustine Kallihirua, he was taken aboard the British barque
HMS Assistance in 1850 as an interpreter during the search for
Franklin's lost expedition. He guided the ship to Wolstenholme Fjord to
investigate rumors of a massacre of Franklin's crew, but found the
corpses of local Inughuit and crew from an unrelated British vessel.
Poor sea conditions prevented the Assistance from returning to
Qalaherriaq's family, and he was instead taken to England and placed in
the custody of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. He was
enrolled in St Augustine's College at Canterbury and studied English
and Christianity. In 1855, he was tasked by Edward Feild, Bishop of
Newfoundland, to join him on a mission to the Labrador Inuit.
Qalaherriaq's health problems, which he had developed during his service
as an interpreter, worsened after his arrival in Newfoundland, and he
died at St. John's in 1856 around 22 years old.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qalaherriaq>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
The office of United States Postmaster General was formally
established.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Postmaster_General>
1957:
François Duvalier, nicknamed Papa Doc, was elected President
of Haiti as a populist before consolidating power and ruling as a
dictator for the rest of his life.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier>
2003:
Dolphin, the first emulator for the GameCube that could run
commercial video games, was released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin_%28emulator%29>
2013:
Insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: All Saints Church in
Peshawar, Pakistan, was attacked by two suicide bombers who killed 127
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshawar_church_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
abjure:
1. (transitive)
2. To solemnly reject (someone or something); to abandon (someone or
something) forever; to disavow, to disclaim, to repudiate.
3. (historical) To renounce (something) upon oath; to forswear;
specifically, to recant or retract (a heresy or some other opinion); to
withdraw.
4. (historical) To cause (someone) to recant or retract (a heresy or
some other opinion).
5. (chiefly law, historical)
6. Especially in abjure the realm: to swear an oath to leave (a place)
forever.
7. (obsolete, rare) To cause or compel (someone) to leave a place
forever; to banish.
8. (intransitive)
9. To solemnly reject; to abandon forever.
10. (historical) To recant or retract a heresy on oath.
11. (chiefly law, historical) To swear an oath to leave a place forever.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abjure>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The manner is often as important as the matter, sometimes more
so.
--Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Stanhope,_4th_Earl_of_Chesterfield>