Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997) was an American religious leader who founded the Heaven's Gate religious group and organized their mass suicide in 1997. It was the largest mass suicide in America. Applewhite and his friend Bonnie Nettles discussed mysticism at length and concluded that they were divine messengers. They traveled around America, gaining a group of committed followers, who were told that extraterrestrials would provide them with new bodies. Applewhite initially stated that they would physically ascend to a spaceship, where their bodies would be transformed, but later believed that their souls would be placed into new bodies. In 1985, Nettles died, leaving Applewhite distraught and challenging his views on physical ascension. In 1996, they learned of the approach of Comet Hale–Bopp and rumors of an accompanying spaceship. Believing that their souls would ascend to the spaceship and be given new bodies, all the group members killed themselves in their mansion. Some commentators attributed his followers' willingness to commit suicide to his skill as a manipulator, while others argued that their willingness was due to their faith in the narrative that he constructed.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1461:

The Empire of Trebizond, the longest surviving Byzantine successor state, was conquered by Ottoman sultan Mehmed II following a month-long siege. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_Trebizond

1812:

War of 1812: Potawatomi warriors destroyed the United States Army's Fort Dearborn in what is now Chicago, Illinois, and captured the survivors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Dearborn

1914:

The Panama Canal (construction pictured) opened to traffic, providing a shortcut from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through the Isthmus of Panama. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal

1944:

World War II: Allied forces began their invasion of southern France. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dragoon

1998:

A car bomb attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army killed 29 people and injured approximately 220 others in Omagh, Northern Ireland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omagh_bombing

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

avail: 1. (transitive, often reflexive) To turn to the advantage of. 2. (transitive) To be of service to. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avail

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

 The Flag links up the past and the present. It is the legacy bequeathed to us by the architects of our liberty. … The world is full of misunderstandings, suspicions and distrusts. In these difficult days it depends on us under what banner we fight. Here we are Putting in the very centre the white, the white of the Sun's rays. The white means the path of light … the ideal light, the light of truth … The Asoka's wheel represents to us the wheel of the Law, the wheel Dharma. Truth can be gained only by the pursuit of the path of Dharma, by the practice of virtue. ...the orange, the Bhagwa colour, represents the spirit of renunciation. All forms of renunciation are to be embodied in Raja Dharma. … Our leaders must be disinterested. They must be dedicated spirits … The green is there, our relation to the soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends. We must build our Paradise, here on this green earth... This flag tells us "Be ever alert, be ever on the move, go forward, work for a free, flexible, compassionate, decent, democratic society in which Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists will all find a safe shelter." Let us all unite under this banner and rededicate ourselves to the ideas our flag symbolizes.   --Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sarvepalli_Radhakrishnan