In Michigan, US Highway 45 (US 45) runs through the Upper Peninsula, from the Wisconsin border near Watersmeet north to Ontonagon. US 45 extends south from Michigan to Mobile, Alabama, on the Gulf Coast. The Michigan segment, part of the state trunkline highway system maintained by the Michigan Department of Transportation, runs for approximately 55 miles (89 km) through the Ottawa National Forest, parallel to the Ontonagon River. In the 1930s, when the highway was extended into Michigan, it replaced sections of M-26 and M-35. An 8-mile (13 km) segment was significantly reconstructed in the late 1950s, and an alignment change in the 1970s moved the routing of US 45 near Rockland before it was reversed soon afterwards. A segment of roadway that formerly carried US 45 is the site of the Paulding Light, an intermittent reflection whose origins were scientifically described in 2010.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_45_in_Michigan

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1813:

Creek War: A force of Creeks belonging to the Red Sticks faction killed hundreds of settlers in Fort Mims in Alabama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Mims_massacre

1918:

Fanny Kaplan shot and wounded Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, one of the events leading to the Red Terror in Russia, a period of repression against political opponents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror

1981:

President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran were assassinated in a bombing committed by the People's Mujahedin of Iran. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1981_Iranian_Prime_Minister%27s_office_bombing

2014:

Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane fled to South Africa, claiming that the army had launched a coup d'état. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Lesotho_political_crisis

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

sweet spot: 1. Any place which is optimum for a certain action to occur. 2. (slang, euphemistic) The clitoris, prostate gland, or other center of sexual pleasure. 3. (physics, slang) The center of percussion. 4. (sports) The optimal place on a bat, racquet, etc., with which to hit a ball, resulting in the latter rebounding with the maximum possible velocity. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sweet_spot

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The free market’s the best mechanism ever devised to put resources to their most efficient and productive use. … The government isn’t particularly good at that. But the market isn’t so good at making sure that the wealth that’s produced is being distributed fairly or wisely. Some of that wealth has to be plowed back into education, so that the next generation has a fair chance, and to maintain our infrastructure, and provide some sort of safety net for those who lose out in a market economy. And it just makes sense that those of us who’ve benefited most from the market should pay a bigger share. … When you get rid of the estate tax, you’re basically handing over command of the country’s resources to people who didn’t earn it. It’s like choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the children of all the winners at the 2000 Games.   --Warren Buffett https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett