In 1948, Harry S. Truman contested the presidency of the United States.
Truman (pictured), a Democrat, ascended to the presidency upon the death
of Franklin D. Roosevelt. His pro–civil rights views were opposed by
most of the Southern Democrats; when the Democratic National Convention
adopted his civil rights plank, a large group of Southerners walked out.
Truman selected Alben W. Barkley as his running mate. Campaigning
against Thomas E. Dewey, the Republican candidate, Truman called the
Republican-controlled 80th Congress a "do-nothing Congress". He
conducted a whistle-stop tour giving speeches in different states. With
the split of the Democratic Party, most of the polls predicted Truman to
lose the election. On the election day, before the declaration of final
results, an early edition of the Chicago Daily Tribune printed the
headline "Dewey Defeats Truman", boldly anticipating Dewey's victory.
Truman won the election in one of the greatest upset victories,
receiving 303 electoral votes.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman_1948_presidential_campaign>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
In a boat on the River Thames from Oxford to Godstow, author
Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters a story that later
formed the basis for his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland>
1892:
Western Samoa changed the International Date Line, causing
Monday (July 4) to occur twice, resulting in a year with 367 days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Date_Line>
1918:
World War I: Allied forces led by the Australian general John
Monash won the Battle of Hamel, demonstrating the effectiveness of
combined-arms techniques in trench warfare.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hamel>
1982:
Four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped after they were stopped
at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon by Lebanese Phalange forces; their
fates remain unknown.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_kidnapping_of_Iranian_diplomats>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Fourth of July:
1. (chiefly US) The national holiday of Independence Day in the United
States, celebrated on the fourth day in July to mark the anniversary of
the signing of the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in
1776.
2. (chiefly US) A cocktail containing one part grenadine syrup, one part
vodka, and one part blue curaçao, reminiscent of the red, white, and
blue colours of the United States flag, often poured in layers so that
the colours do not mix when the drink is served.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Fourth_of_July>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Democracy is not a tearing down; it is a building up. It is not
denial of the divine right of kings; it supplements that same with the
assertion of the divine right of all men. It does not destroy; it
fulfills. It is the consummation of all theories of government, the
spirit of which all the nations of the earth must yield. It is the great
constructive course of the ages. It is the alpha and omega of man's
relation to man, the beginning and the end. There is, and can be, no
more doubt of the triumphs of democracy in human affairs than there is
of the triumph of gravitation in the physical world. The only question
is how and when. Its foundation lays hold upon eternity.
--Calvin Coolidge
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge>
The common tern (Sterna hirundo) is a seabird with four subspecies
breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North
America. This tern is migratory, wintering in warmer coastal regions.
Adults have light grey upperparts, whiter underparts, a black cap,
orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed black-tipped red or all-black
bill. The bird nests on any flat bare surface close to water, including
rafts. The nest is a scrape lined with whatever is available. It lays up
to three blotchy camouflaged eggs, incubated by both sexes, that hatch
in around 21 to 22 days. The downy chicks fledge in 22 to 28 days. This
tern feeds by plunge-diving for fish in the sea or freshwater. Eggs and
young are vulnerable to predation by mammals and large birds. The
common tern's large population and huge breeding range mean that it is
classed as being of least concern. Despite international protection, in
some areas populations are threatened by habitat loss or the disturbance
of breeding colonies.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_tern>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1754:
French and Indian War: George Washington surrendered Fort
Necessity in Pennsylvania, the only military surrender in his career.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Necessity>
1952:
SS United States departed New York Harbor on her maiden
voyage, on which completion she became the fastest ocean liner to cross
the Atlantic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States>
1970:
Dan-Air Flight 1903 crashed into the slopes of the Montseny
Massif in Catalonia, Spain, killing all 112 people aboard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan-Air_Flight_1903>
2005:
Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain with the coming into
effect of a law passed by the Cortes Generales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Spain>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mali:
1. (India, South Asia) A member of a caste in South Asia whose
traditional occupation is gardening; hence, any South Asian gardener.
2. (South Africa) Money, cash.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mali>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We cross our bridges when we come to them, and burn them behind
us, with nothing to show for our progress except a memory of the smell
of smoke, and a presumption that once our eyes watered.
--Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_%26_Guildenstern_Are_Dead_%28film…>
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman is a 1792 book of feminist
philosophy by Mary Wollstonecraft. Wollstonecraft argues that women
ought to have an education commensurate with their position in society,
claiming that women are essential to the nation because they educate its
children and could be "companions" to their husbands. Instead of viewing
women as ornaments or property, she maintains that they are human beings
deserving of the same fundamental rights as men. Wollstonecraft was
prompted to write the Rights of Woman by Charles-Maurice de
Talleyrand-Périgord's 1791 report to the French National Assembly which
stated that women should only receive a domestic education; she
commented to launch a broad attack against sexual double standards and
to indict men for encouraging women to be excessively emotional. She
wrote the Rights of Woman hurriedly in order to respond quickly; she
died before completing a more thoughtful second volume. (This article
is part of a featured topic: Mary Wollstonecraft.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Mary_Wollstonecraft>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1816:
The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of
present-day Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft,
depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raft_of_the_Medusa>
1890:
The U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first
United States government action to limit monopolies.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_Antitrust_Act_of_1890>
1917:
Amidst weeks of race riots in East St. Louis, Illinois, white
residents burned sections of the city and shot black inhabitants as they
escaped the flames.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_St._Louis_riots>
2013:
A Mw 6.1 strike-slip earthquake killed at least 35 people and
injured 276 others in the Indonesian province of Aceh on the northern
end of Sumatra.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Aceh_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fray:
1. (transitive)
2. To rub or wear away (something); to cause (something made of strands
twisted or woven together, such as cloth or rope) to unravel through
friction; also, to irritate (something) through chafing or rubbing; to
chafe.
3. (specifically) Of a deer: to rub (its antlers or head) against a
tree, etc., to remove the velvet from antlers or to mark territory;
also, to rub its antlers against (a tree, etc.) for that purpose.
4. To force or make (a path, way, etc.) through.
5. (obsolete) To bruise (someone or something); also, to take the
virginity of (someone, usually a female person); to deflower.
6. (intransitive)
7. To become unravelled or worn; to unravel.
8. To rub.
9. (specifically) Of a deer: to rub its antlers against a tree, etc., to
remove the velvet or to mark territory.
10. (figuratively) Of a person's mental strength, nerves, temper, etc.:
to become exhausted or worn out.
11. (archaic or obsolete) A consequence of rubbing, unravelling, or
wearing away; a fraying; also, a place where fraying has occurred.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fray>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All the tasks are in themselves small, but each one has to be
carried out at its proper hour, and the day has far more tasks than
hours. That is well; one would not want it to be different. But if we
ever think, between classroom, archives, secretariat, consulting room,
meetings, and official journeys — if we ever think of the freedom we
possessed and have lost, the freedom for self-chosen tasks, for
unlimited, far-flung studies, we may well feel the greatest yearning for
those days, and imagine that if we ever had such freedom again we would
fully enjoy its pleasures and potentialities.
--Hermann Hesse
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse>
SMS Kaiser Friedrich III was the lead ship of the Kaiser Friedrich III
class of five pre-dreadnought battleships. Laid down in Wilhelmshaven in
March 1895, the ship was launched in July 1896, entered service in
October 1899, and became the flagship of I Squadron of the German Home
Fleet in 1900. The battleship was armed with a main battery of four
24-centimeter (9.4 in) guns, supported by a secondary battery of
eighteen 15 cm (5.9 in) guns. In 1901, the vessel was severely damaged
striking submerged rocks; this led to design changes in later German
battleships. Kaiser Friedrich III was extensively modernized in 1908
and placed in the Reserve Formation in 1910. Though obsolete, the aging
battleship served as a coastal defence ship in the early months of World
War I. The vessel was withdrawn from service by February 1915, and was
later employed as a prison ship and a barracks ship, before being broken
up in 1920. (This article is part of a featured topic: Battleships of
Germany.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Battleships_of_Germ…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1922:
Seven of the sixteen American railroad labor organizations
staged a nationwide strike (striking workers pictured) that lasted two
months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Railroad_Strike_of_1922>
1979:
Sony introduced the Walkman, a portable audio player that
changed listening habits by offering users the ability to play one's own
choice of music.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman>
2002:
Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and DHL Flight 611 collided
in mid-air over Überlingen, Germany, killing all 71 people aboard both
aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_%C3%9Cberlingen_mid-air_collision>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dossard:
(cycle racing) A bib attached to the back of a cyclist's shirt that
carries the cyclist's race number.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dossard>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have dedicated my career to public service because I love this
country and our Constitution and the rights that make us free. … It
has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be
selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States — but
we've made it. … So as I take on this new role, I strongly believe
that this is a moment in which all Americans can take great pride. We
have come a long way toward perfecting our union. In my family, it took
just one generation to go from segregation to the Supreme Court of the
United States. And it is an honor — the honor of a lifetime — for
me to have this chance to join the Court, to promote the rule of law at
the highest level, and to do my part to carry our shared project of
democracy and equal justice under law forward, into the future.
--Ketanji Brown Jackson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ketanji_Brown_Jackson>
Carsten Borchgrevink (1864–1934) was an Anglo-Norwegian polar explorer
and a pioneer of modern Antarctic travel. He was a precursor of Robert
Falcon Scott, Ernest Shackleton, Roald Amundsen and others associated
with the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. He began his exploring
career in 1894 by joining a Norwegian whaling expedition, from which he
brought back a collection of the first specimens of vegetable life
within the Antarctic Circle. From 1898 to 1900 Borchgrevink led the
British-financed Southern Cross Expedition, which in 1899 became the
first to overwinter on the Antarctic mainland and the first to visit the
Great Ice Barrier in nearly 60 years. There he set a Farthest South
record at 78° 50′ S. He was one of three scientists sent to the
Caribbean in 1902 by the National Geographic Society to report on the
aftermath of the Mount Pelée disaster. Recognised and honoured by
several countries, he received a handsome tribute in 1912 from Amundsen,
conqueror of the South Pole.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carsten_Borchgrevink>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1894:
London's Tower Bridge, a combined bascule and suspension bridge
over the River Thames, was inaugurated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Bridge>
1922:
An agreement was signed to end the United States occupation of
the Dominican Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_occupation_of_the_Dominican_Rep…>
1960:
The Belgian Congo gained independence from colonial rule,
beginning a period of instability that would lead to the dictatorship of
Joseph-Désiré Mobutu.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo_Crisis>
2015:
An Indonesian Air Force military transport aircraft crashed
near a residential neighborhood in Medan, killing 139 people total.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Sumatra_Indonesian_Air_Force_C-130_crash>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
at the best of times:
(idiomatic) Even under the most favourable conditions.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/at_the_best_of_times>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We, the Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic
Alliance, have gathered in Madrid as war has returned to the European
continent. We face a critical time for our security and international
peace and stability. We stand together in unity and solidarity and
reaffirm the enduring transatlantic bond between our nations. NATO is a
defensive Alliance and poses no threat to any country. … We are united
in our commitment to democracy, individual liberty, human rights, and
the rule of law. We adhere to international law and to the purposes and
principles of the Charter of the United Nations. … We condemn
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine in the strongest possible
terms. Russia bears full responsibility for this humanitarian
catastrophe. … We will continue and further step up political and
practical support to our close partner Ukraine as it continues to defend
its sovereignty and territorial integrity against Russian aggression.
… Today, we have decided to invite Finland and Sweden to become
members of NATO, and agreed to sign the Accession Protocols. In any
accession to the Alliance, it is of vital importance that the legitimate
security concerns of all Allies are properly addressed. … The
accession of Finland and Sweden will make them safer, NATO stronger, and
the Euro-Atlantic area more secure.
--NATO
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/NATO>
Edward Mitchell Bannister (1828–1901) was a Canadian-born New England
oil painter of the American Barbizon school. He and his wife Christiana
were active in the African-American abolitionist community in Boston.
Bannister won first prize for his art at the 1876 Philadelphia
Centennial Exhibition and was a founding member of the Providence Art
Club and the Rhode Island School of Design. His style and pastoral
subjects were influenced by Jean-François Millet and the French
Barbizon school. He also looked to the seaside for inspiration for his
often experimental and Idealistic use of color and atmosphere. He worked
as a photographer and portraitist before progressing to landscapes. His
style fell out of favor later in his life; he and Christiana moved out
of College Hill in Providence to Boston and then a smaller house in
Providence. He was overlooked after his death in 1901, until the
National Museum of African Art and others returned him to national
attention in the 1960s and 1970s.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Mitchell_Bannister>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1864:
A passenger train fell through an open swing bridge into the
Richelieu River near present-day Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, killing as
many as 99 people and injuring 100 others in Canada's worst railway
accident (wreckage pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St-Hilaire_train_disaster>
1967:
Actress Jayne Mansfield, her boyfriend Sam Brody, and their
driver were killed in a car accident outside of New Orleans, while her
children Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska Hargitay escaped with only minor
injuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayne_Mansfield>
1995:
Atlantis became the first U.S. Space Shuttle to dock with the
Russian space station Mir as part of the Shuttle–Mir program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle%E2%80%93Mir_program>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
jaggery:
1. A traditional dark-brown unrefined sugar made from palm tree sap
which is used throughout South and Southeast Asia; (by extension) other
types of unrefined sugar.
2. (by extension) A small-scale production plant that processes sugar
cane to make sugar.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jaggery>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our nation is preserved by those who abide by their oaths to our
Constitution. Our nation is preserved by those who know the fundamental
difference between right and wrong.
--Liz Cheney
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Liz_Cheney>
The red panda is a mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and
southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly
and legs, and a ringed tail. It has a head-to-body length of
51–63.5 cm (20–25 in) and a 28–48.5 cm (11–19 in) tail, and
it weighs between 3.2 and 15 kg (7 and 33 lb). It is genetically close
to raccoons, weasels and skunks. Solitary, largely arboreal and well
adapted to climbing, it inhabits coniferous, temperate broadleaf and
mixed forests, favouring steep slopes with dense bamboo cover close to
water sources. It uses elongated wrist bones ("false thumbs") to grasp
bamboo. It feeds mainly on bamboo shoots and leaves. Red pandas mate in
early spring, giving birth to up to four cubs in summer. On the IUCN
Red List as endangered since 2015, the species is threatened by poaching
and deforestation-based habitat destruction and fragmentation. It is
featured in animated movies, video games and comic books, and is also
the namesake of companies and music bands.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_panda>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1841:
Giselle (title role pictured), a ballet by the French composer
Adolphe Adam, was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Académie Royale
de Musique in Paris.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giselle>
1904:
In the worst maritime disaster involving a Danish merchant
ship, SS Norge ran aground on Hasselwood Rock and sank in the North
Atlantic, resulting in more than 635 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Norge>
1942:
World War II: The Wehrmacht launched Case Blue, a strategic
German offensive to capture oil fields in the south of the Soviet Union.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_Blue>
1978:
In Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the U.S.
Supreme Court barred quota systems in college admissions but held that
affirmative-action programs advantaging minorities were constitutional.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Ba…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tau:
1. The letter Τ/τ in the Greek, Hebrew, and ancient Semitic alphabets;
being the nineteenth letter of the Classical and Modern Greek, and the
twenty-first letter of the Old and Ancient Greek alphabets.
2. A Τ-shaped object or sign; a Saint Anthony's cross, sometimes
regarded as a sacred symbol.
3. (Christianity) A crosier with a Τ-shaped head.
4. The ankh symbol (☥).
5. (astronomy) Chiefly written τ: used to designate the nineteenth star
(usually according to brightness) in a constellation.
6. (finance) A measurement of the sensitivity of the value of an option
to changes in the implied volatility of the price of the underlying
asset.
7. (mathematics, neologism) Chiefly written τ: an irrational and
transcendental constant representing the ratio of the circumference of a
Euclidean circle to its radius, equal to twice the value of pi (2π;
approximately 6.2831853071).
8. (neurology) Short for tau protein (“a protein abundant especially in
the neurons of the human central nervous system that stabilizes
microtubules, and when misfolded is associated with forms of dementia
such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases”).
9. (physics) Chiefly written τ.
10. Short for tau lepton or tau particle (“an unstable elementary
particle which is a type of lepton, having a mass almost twice that of a
proton, a negative charge, and a spin of ½; it decays into hadrons
(usually pions) or other leptons, and neutrinos; a tauon”).
11. (historical) Short for tau meson, now known as a kaon.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tau>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Hope for the best. Expect the worst. The world's a stage. We're
unrehearsed. No way of knowing which way it's going. Take your
chances, there are no answers. Hope for the best. Expect the worst.
--Mel Brooks
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mel_Brooks>
Will P. Brady (1876–1943) was an American lawyer, the first district
attorney for Texas's 70th judicial district from 1909 to around 1914,
and the judge for the El Paso County Court at Law from 1917 to 1919.
Brady was born to a pioneering Austin family and grew up there. After
service as a teacher in Travis County, Texas, he served as county school
superintendent from 1900 to 1904. He then became a lawyer, and spent
several years in private practice. As district attorney, Brady
prosecuted several high-profile murder cases, including one that has
since been termed a "legal lynching", a death penalty case of a Mexican
boy charged with killing a white woman. Brady moved to El Paso in 1915
and resumed private practice, but was soon named a judge. He resigned in
1919 and moved to California to pursue interests in oil. Brady was a
Democrat and deeply involved in public affairs throughout his adult
life. He also incorporated both the Cruces Oil Corporation and the
Pecos Valley Southern Railway.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_P._Brady>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1899:
A. E. J. Collins scored 628 runs not out, the highest
recorded score in cricket until being surpassed in 2016.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._J._Collins>
1954:
The Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant near Moscow was connected to
the electrical grid, becoming the world's first nuclear power plant to
produce electricity industrially.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obninsk_Nuclear_Power_Plant>
1989:
Convention 169, a major binding international convention
concerning indigenous peoples, and a forerunner of the 2007 Declaration
on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, was adopted by the International
Labour Organization.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_and_Tribal_Peoples_Convention,_1989>
2018:
The Japanese space probe Hayabusa2 (artist's impression
pictured) arrived at the asteroid Ryugu to collect samples for return to
Earth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/162173_Ryugu>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lesbiandom:
1. The quality or state of being a lesbian.
2. Lesbians collectively.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lesbiandom>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If I regarded my life from the point of view of the pessimist, I
should be undone. I should seek in vain for the light that does not
visit my eyes and the music that does not ring in my ears. I should beg
night and day and never be satisfied. I should sit apart in awful
solitude, a prey to fear and despair. But since I consider it a duty to
myself and to others to be happy, I escape a misery worse than any
physical deprivation.
--Helen Keller
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Helen_Keller>
J. K. Rowling is a pen name of Joanne Rowling, the British author of
the children's fantasy series Harry Potter, the crime series Cormoran
Strike and other works. Before her first Potter novel was published on
26 June 1997, her mother died from multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1990 and
she lived on state assistance as a single parent after her marriage
failed in 1993. Separation and loss are reflected in the Potter novels,
with death and the divide between good and evil as central themes.
Despite receiving mixed reviews for perceived conventional writing,
Rowling became the world's highest-paid author by 2008. The series has
sold over 500 million copies and spawned a media franchise including
films and video games. Rowling has used her wealth to advance political
causes, as well as charitable causes centered around MS, women and
children. Her views on transgender rights have led to controversy, with
critics deeming them transphobic. She has received many accolades for
literature and philanthropy.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1886:
French chemist Henri Moissan successfully isolated elemental
fluorine (pictured in liquid state), for which he later won the Nobel
Prize in Chemistry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine>
1907:
Organized by Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, among others,
Bolshevik revolutionaries robbed a bank stagecoach in Tiflis, present-
day Georgia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1907_Tiflis_bank_robbery>
1997:
J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the
first book in the Harry Potter fantasy novel series, is released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
languid:
1. Of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from
weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness;
faint, listless.
2. Of a person or their movement: showing a dislike for physical effort;
leisurely, unhurried.
3. Of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive,
emotion, or enthusiasm; apathetic, listless, spiritless, unenthusiastic.
4. Of a colour: not bright; dull, muted.
5. Of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting.
6. Of a period of time: characterized by lack of activity; pleasant and
relaxed; unstressful.
7. Of a thing: lacking energy, liveliness, or strength; inactive, slow-
moving, weak. [...]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/languid>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The real importance of Swedenborg lies in the doctrines he
taught, which are the reverse of the gloom and hell-fire of other
breakaway sects. He rejects the notion that Jesus died on the cross to
atone for the sin of Adam, declaring that God is neither vindictive nor
petty-minded, and that since he is God, he doesn't need atonement. It is
remarkable that this common-sense view had never struck earlier
theologians. God is Divine Goodness, and Jesus is Divine Wisdom, and
Goodness has to be approached through Wisdom. Whatever one thinks about
the extraordinary claims of its founder, it must be acknowledged that
there is something very beautiful and healthy about the Swedenborgian
religion. Its founder may have not been a great occultist, but he was a
great man.
--Colin Wilson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colin_Wilson>
The Thing is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed by
John Carpenter (pictured) and written by Bill Lancaster. Based on the
1938 John W. Campbell Jr. novella Who Goes There?, it tells the story of
American researchers in Antarctica who encounter a parasitic
extraterrestrial life-form that assimilates and imitates other
organisms. The group is overcome by paranoia and conflict as they learn
that they can no longer trust each other. The film stars Kurt Russell
and also features A. Wilford Brimley, T. K. Carter, David Clennon, and
Keith David. Of the film's $15 million budget, $1.5 million was spent
on Rob Bottin's creature effects, a mixture of chemicals, food products,
rubber, and mechanical parts used to represent an alien capable of
taking on any form. The Thing was released on June 25, 1982, to very
negative reviews and earned $19.6 million during its theatrical run,
but has been favorably reappraised. It found an audience when released
on home video and television.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_%281982_film%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1910:
The United States Congress passed the Mann Act, which
prohibited the interstate transport of females for "immoral purposes".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_Act>
1950:
The Korean War began with North Korean forces launching a pre-
dawn raid over the 38th parallel into South Korea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War>
1967:
More than an estimated 400 million people viewed Our World, the
first live international satellite television production.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_World_%281967_TV_program%29>
2009:
Singer Michael Jackson died as a result of the combination of
drugs in his body.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Michael_Jackson>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
fathom:
1. (chiefly nautical, historical) Originally, the distance between an
adult man's arms stretched out away from the sides of his torso so that
they make a straight line perpendicular to his body, measured from the
tips of the longest fingers of each hand, generally reckoned to be six
feet (about 1.8 metres); subsequently used as a unit for water depth but
now generally replaced by the metre.
2. (figuratively)
3. (chiefly in the plural) An unspecified depth.
4. (archaic or obsolete) Depth of insight; mental reach or scope.
5. (obsolete)
6. The act of stretching out one's arms away from the sides of the torso
so that they make a straight line perpendicular to the body.
7. Someone or something that is embraced.
8. (figuratively) Control, grasp.
9. (transitive)
10. (also figuratively) To measure the depth of (water); to take a
sounding of; to sound.
11. (archaic or obsolete) To encircle (someone or something) with
outstretched arms; specifically, to measure the circumference or (rare)
length of something.
12. (figuratively) Often followed by out: to deeply understand (someone
or something); to get to the bottom of.
13. (obsolete) To embrace (someone or something).
14. (intransitive)
15. To measure a depth; to sound.
16. (figuratively) To conduct an examination or inquiry; to investigate.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fathom>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Today, the Supreme Court of the United States expressly took away
a constitutional right from the American people that it had already
recognized. They didn’t limit it. They simply took it away.
That’s never been done to a right so important to so many Americans.
But they did it. And it’s a sad day for the Court and for the
country.
--Joe Biden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden>