Guy Fawkes (1570–1606) was one of a group of English Catholics who
planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which is commemorated in
Britain every 5 November as Guy Fawkes Night. He converted to
Catholicism and fought for Spain in the Eighty Years' War against
Protestant Dutch reformers in the Low Countries. In Spain he sought
support for a Catholic rebellion in England, but the court of
Philip III was unwilling to help him. He later met Thomas Wintour,
returned to England, and was introduced to Robert Catesby, who planned
to assassinate King James I and restore a Catholic monarch to the
throne. The plotters leased an undercroft beneath the House of Lords in
Westminster Palace, and Fawkes was placed in charge of the gunpowder
that they stockpiled there. The authorities found Fawkes guarding the
explosives. He was arrested and died after falling from the scaffold
where he was to be hanged. (This article is part of a featured topic:
Gunpowder Plot.).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Gunpowder_Plot>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1828:
Greek War of Independence: The French Morea expedition
(memorial pictured) to recapture Morea (now known as the Peloponnese)
ended when the last Ottoman forces departed the peninsula.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morea_expedition>
1943:
World War II: An unknown aircraft dropped four bombs on Vatican
City, which maintained neutrality during the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_the_Vatican>
1967:
A train derailed near Hither Green maintenance depot in London,
killing 49 people and injuring 78 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hither_Green_rail_crash>
2009:
U.S. Army major Nidal Hasan went on a shooting rampage at Fort
Hood, Texas, the worst shooting ever to take place on an American
military base, killing 13.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Fort_Hood_shooting>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
swole:
1. (chiefly African American Vernacular, slang) Having large, well-
developed muscles; muscular.
2. (slang) Of the penis: erect; of a person: with an erection of the
penis; aroused, hard.
3. (slang) Followed by up: upset; experiencing strong negative emotion.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swole>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Americans who know nothing else about firearms are all too
familiar with the name AR-15. It’s the semi-automatic weapon that
murderers have used in many of the most notorious and highest-casualty
gun killings of recent years: Aurora, Colorado. Newtown, Connecticut.
Orlando, Florida. San Bernardino, California. Now, with modified
versions, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Sutherland Springs, Texas … A
little bullet pays off so much in wound ballistics. That is what people
who choose these weapons know.
--James Fallows
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Fallows>