Weymouth is a seaside town in Dorset, England, on the English Channel.
Situated on a sheltered bay at the mouth of the River Wey, the town had
a population of 53,427 in 2021, the third-largest in Dorset. The town
had roles in the spread of the Black Death, the settlement of the
Americas and the development of Georgian architecture. It was also a
major departure point for the Normandy landings during World War II.
Since 2019, the area has been governed by Dorset Council. Weymouth's
economy depends on tourism. Visitors are attracted by its harbour
(pictured) and position, approximately halfway along the Jurassic Coast.
Once a port for cross-channel ferries, Weymouth Harbour is now home to a
commercial fishing fleet, pleasure boats and private yachts, while
nearby Portland Harbour is the location of the Weymouth and Portland
National Sailing Academy, where the sailing events of the 2012 Summer
Olympics and Paralympics were held.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weymouth,_Dorset>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1943:
Second World War: The Royal Navy submarine HMS Seraph began
Operation Mincemeat to deceive Germany about the upcoming invasion of
Sicily.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat>
1963:
A refusal by the Bristol Omnibus Company and the Transport and
General Workers' Union to permit the employment of black bus crews led
to a bus boycott in Bristol, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Bus_Boycott>
1975:
American forces completed a helicopter evacuation (aircraft and
evacuees pictured) of U.S. citizens, South Vietnamese civilians and
others from Saigon, just before North Vietnamese troops captured the
city, ending the Vietnam War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Saigon>
2021:
A crowd crush during the annual pilgrimage to the tomb of Rabbi
Shimon bar Yochai in Israel, killed 45 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Meron_crowd_crush>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
obliterate:
1. (transitive)
2. To destroy (someone or something) completely, leaving no trace; to
annihilate, to wipe out.
3. To hide (something) by covering it; to conceal, to obscure.
4. (also figuratively) To make (a drawing, text which is printed or
written, etc.) indecipherable, either by erasing or obscuring it; to
blot out, to efface, to delete.
5. (biology, pathology, surgery, chiefly passive) To impair the function
and/or structure of (a body cavity, vessel, etc.) by ablating or
occluding it (in the latter case, chiefly by filling it with tissue).
6. (philately) To cancel (a postage stamp) with a postmark so it cannot
be reused.
7. (intransitive)
8. To remove completely, leaving no trace.
9. (biology, pathology) Of a body cavity, vessel, etc.: to close up or
fill with tissue; of perfusion or a pulse: to cease owing to
obstruction.
10. (except poetic) Completely destroyed or erased; effaced,
obliterated.
11. (entomology, rare) Of markings on an insect: difficult to
distinguish from the background; faint, indistinct.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/obliterate>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I write slowly. This is chiefly because I am never satisfied
until I have said as much as possible in a few words, and writing
briefly takes far more time than writing at length.
--Carl Friedrich Gauss
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss>