Boroughitis was the creation in the 1890s, usually by referendum, of
many small boroughs in the U.S. state of New Jersey, particularly in
Bergen County (map shown). A previously little-used law that allowed
parts of existing townships to vote by referendum to form independent
boroughs was amended in 1894 to allow boroughs formed from parts of two
or more townships to elect a representative to the county Board of
Chosen Freeholders. This 1894 act, in combination with another to
consolidate school districts, made it easy and attractive for
dissatisfied communities to break away and become boroughs, in order to
gain a seat on the county board or to keep control of the local school.
Forty new boroughs were formed in 1894 and 1895, with the bulk in Bergen
County, where townships were broken up or greatly reduced in size; there
are few of them there today. The state legislature scuttled the right to
elect a freeholder in 1895, and ended the formation of boroughs by
referendum in 1896.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boroughitis>
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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>
1854:
The paddle steamer SS Arctic sank after a collision with
SS Vesta 50 miles (80 km) off the coast of Newfoundland, killing
approximately 320 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Arctic_disaster>
1988:
Led by pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, the political
party National League for Democracy was founded in Burma.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_League_for_Democracy>
1996:
The Taliban drove Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani out of
Kabul, tortured and murdered former president Mohammad Najibullah, and
established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Najibullah>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
giddy:
1. Feeling a sense of spinning in the head, causing a perception of
unsteadiness and being about to fall down; dizzy.
2. Causing or likely to cause dizziness or a feeling of unsteadiness.
3. Moving around something or spinning rapidly.
4. (by extension)
5. Unable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited; impulsive;
also, lightheartedly silly; frivolous.
6. (dated) Used as an intensifier.
7. Joyfully elated; overcome with excitement or happiness.
8. (Britain, dialectal) Feeling great anger; furious, raging.
9. (Britain, dialectal, agriculture, veterinary medicine) Of an animal,
chiefly a sheep: affected by gid (“a disease caused by parasitic
infestation of the brain by tapeworm larvae”), which may result in the
animal turning around aimlessly.
10. (obsolete, figuratively) Of a thing, especially a ship: unsteady, as
if dizzy.
11. Someone or something that is frivolous or impulsive.
12. (Britain, agriculture, veterinary medicine) Synonym of gid (“a
disease caused by parasitic infestation of the brain by tapeworm
larvae”)
13. (transitive) To make (someone or something) dizzy or unsteady; to
dizzy.
14. (intransitive)
15. To become dizzy or unsteady.
16. (obsolete) To move around something or spin rapidly; to reel; to
whirl.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/giddy>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are showing that planetary defense is a global endeavor, and
it is very possible to save our planet.
--Bill Nelson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Nelson>