Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United
States. From the southern edge of Mission Bay in San Diego, California,
it runs eastward across the Cuyamaca Mountains and the Imperial Valley.
Crossing the Colorado River into Arizona, it continues through the city
of Yuma across the Sonoran Desert, to the junction with I-10, between
Phoenix and Tucson. The first route over the Cuyamaca Mountains was
dedicated in 1912, and a plank road served as the first road across the
Imperial Valley to Yuma; east of there, the Gila Trail continued east to
Gila Bend. Several controversies erupted during I-8's construction
process; questionable labor practices in Imperial County led to the
federal conviction of mobster Jimmy Fratianno, and the Arizona
government was found to have mismanaged financial resources by a U.S.
House of Representatives subcommittee. The route was completed in 1975
through California, and by 1977 through Arizona, though the bridge over
the Colorado River was not completed until 1978. A portion of the
freeway in Imperial County had to be rebuilt following damage by the
remnants of Hurricane Kathleen.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_8>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1169:
Saladin was inaugurated as vizier of Egypt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin>
1812:
The Boston Gazette printed a cartoon coining the term
"gerrymander", named after Governor Elbridge Gerry's approval of
legislation that created oddly shaped electoral districts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbridge_Gerry>
1917:
First World War: Attempting to advance into Palestine, the
British were defeated by Ottoman troops at the First Battle of Gaza.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Gaza>
1974:
A group of peasant women in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand,
India, used their bodies to surround trees in order to prevent loggers
from felling them, giving rise to the Chipko movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipko_movement>
2010:
An explosion allegedly caused by a North Korean torpedo sank
the South Korean warship ROKS Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROKS_Cheonan_sinking>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
steampunk:
1. (uncountable, neologism) A subgenre of speculative science fiction set
in an anachronistic 19th-century society.
2. (countable) A writer of steampunk fiction.
3. (countable, cosplay) A person cosplaying as a steampunk character.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/steampunk>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
--Robert Frost
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost>