The 2005 United States Grand Prix was the ninth race and only American
race of the 2005 Formula One season. Held at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway, it was won by Ferrari's Michael Schumacher (pictured). In the
days before the race, several Michelin tyres suffered failures on the
speedway's resurfaced track. Michelin advised its seven customer teams
(representing 14 cars in the race) that without a reduction in speed in
the last turn of the speedway, the tyres provided for the race would
only be safe for 10 laps—but Formula One rules in 2005 prohibited tyre
changes during the race. Unable to come to a compromise with the sport's
governing body, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, the
Michelin teams decided not to participate. They completed the parade lap
to avoid sanctions, but retired to the pits before the race started;
only the six cars from teams using Bridgestone tyres (Ferrari, Jordan
and Minardi) competed. The race generated negative publicity for the
sport, especially in the US, a market in which Formula One had struggled
to establish itself over the preceding 20 years.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_United_States_Grand_Prix>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1269:
Louis IX of France imposed a fine of ten livres of silver on
Jews found in public without a yellow badge.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_badge>
1816:
The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, rival fur-
trading companies, engaged in a violent confrontation in present-day
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Seven_Oaks>
1944:
World War II: The navies of the United States and Imperial
Japan engaged each other off the Mariana Islands in the Philippine Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Philippine_Sea>
1987:
Basque separatist group ETA detonated a car bomb at the
Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, killing 21 people and injuring 45
others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1987_Hipercor_bombing>
2010:
The royal wedding between Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden,
and Daniel Westling (both pictured) took place in Stockholm Cathedral.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_of_Victoria,_Crown_Princess_of_Sweden,_and_Daniel_Westling>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
salad dodger:
(informal) An overweight person.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/salad_dodger>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is a strong argument for democracy that governments regulated
by principles of accountability, respect for public opinion and the
supremacy of just laws are more likely than an all-powerful ruler or
ruling class, uninhibited by the need to honour the will of the people,
to observe the traditional duties of Buddhist kingship. Traditional
values serve both to justify and to decipher popular expectations of
democratic government.
--Aung San Suu Kyi
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi>