Cliff Clinkscales (born 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Halifax Hurricanes of the National Basketball League of Canada (NBL Canada). A 6-foot-1-inch (1.85 m) point guard, he was named an NBL Canada All-Star in 2014 and was the captain of his league champion team in 2016. In fifth grade in Jamaica, Queens, in New York, Clinkscales' performance at a local basketball camp led to a feature in Slam Magazine and appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Rosie O'Donnell Show. He received recruitment letters from the Kansas Jayhawks and University of Southern California Trojans. He first played high school basketball at Shores Christian Academy in Ocala, Florida. He played with the DePaul Blue Demons at the collegiate level, and was the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I leader in assist-to- turnover ratio as a senior. He has been playing professionally since 2008 for the Erie BayHawks, Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Panama City Breeze, Halifax Rainmen and Halifax Hurricanes in the National Basketball Association Development League, the American Basketball League, and the NBL Canada.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Clinkscales

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1806:

Napoleonic Wars: When squadrons of British and French ships of the line engaged in the Battle of San Domingo in the Caribbean Sea, the French ships Impérial and Diomède ran aground to avoid capture, but were caught and destroyed anyway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Domingo

1851:

The largest bushfire in a populous region in Australian history swept across Victoria, resulting in approximately five million hectares (twelve million acres) burnt. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Thursday_bushfires

1862:

Union forces earned one of their first important victories in the American Civil War at the Battle of Fort Henry in western Tennessee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Henry

1952:

Elizabeth II ascended to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and three other Commonwealth countries upon the death of her father, George VI. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_VI

2000:

Second Chechen War: Russia captured Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen government into exile. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_(1999%E2%80%932000)

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

mana: 1. Power, prestige; specifically, a form of supernatural energy in Polynesian religion that inheres in things or people. 2. (fantasy role-playing games) Magical power. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mana

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and, above all, responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill.   --Ronald Reagan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan