The school that became Texas A&M; University, the first public institution of higher education in Texas, was founded in 1871 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. Established under the Morrill Act of 1862, it was originally proposed as a branch of the yet- to-be-created University of Texas, but the Texas legislature never gave that university any authority over Texas A&M.; For much of its first century, enrollment was restricted to white men who were willing to participate in the Corps of Cadets and receive military training. Shortly after World War II, the legislature redefined Texas A&M; as a university and the flagship school of the Texas A&M; University System, cementing the school's status as an institution separate from the University of Texas. In the 1960s, the state legislature renamed the school Texas A&M; University, with the "A&M;" becoming purely symbolic. Membership in the Corps of Cadets became voluntary, and the school became racially integrated and coeducational. Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Texas_A%26M_University> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1264: Second Barons' War: King Henry III was defeated at the Battle of Lewes and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_of_Lewes> 1868: Boshin War: Troops of the Tokugawa shogunate withdrew from the Battle of Utsunomiya Castle and retreated north towards Nikkō and Aizu. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Utsunomiya_Castle> 1943: Second World War: Australian Hospital Ship Centaur was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine off the coast of Queensland, killing 268 people aboard. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AHS_Centaur> 1948: David Ben-Gurion publicly read the Israeli Declaration of Independence at the present-day Independence Hall in Tel Aviv, officially establishing the state of Israel in parts of the former British Mandate of Palestine. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Declaration_of_Independence> 1973: The NASA space station Skylab was launched from Cape Canaveral. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: reseda: 1. (botany) Any of various plants of the genus Reseda, having small, pale grayish green flowers such as dyer's rocket (Reseda luteola) and mignonette (Reseda odorata). 2. (botany, horticulture, specifically) Mignonette (Reseda odorata). 3. A pale greyish-green colour like the flowers of a reseda plant; mignonette. 4. Having a pale greyish-green colour like the flowers of a reseda plant; mignonette. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reseda> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:   Pleasure's fun. It's great, but you can't keep it going forever; just accept the fact that it's here and it's gone, and maybe then again, it will come back, and you'll get to do it again. Joy lasts forever. Pleasure is purely self-centered. It's all about your pleasure: it's about you. It's a selfish, self-centered emotion, that is created by a self-centered motive of greed. Joy is compassion. Joy is giving yourself to somebody else, or something else. And it's a kind of thing that is, in its subtlety and lowness, much more powerful than pleasure. You get hung up on pleasure; you're doomed. If you pursue joy; you will find everlasting happiness.   --George Lucas <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Lucas>