4 is the fourth studio album by American singer Beyoncé (pictured),
released on June 24, 2011, by Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia
Records. In collaborations with songwriters and producers The-Dream,
Tricky Stewart, and Shea Taylor, Beyoncé aimed for a mellower rhythm
and blues tone with influences from funk, hip hop, and soul. She severed
professional ties with Mathew Knowles, her father and manager, to help
her develop an intimate, personal album. The lyrics emphasize monogamy,
female empowerment and self-reflection. The album received generally
positive reviews from music critics, and some put it on their year-end
lists. It was her fourth consecutive album to debut at number one on the
US Billboard 200, and it also reached number one in Brazil, France,
Ireland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It
spawned the international singles "Run the World (Girls)", "Best Thing I
Never Had", "Party", "Love On Top" and "Countdown".
"Love On Top" won
the Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B; Performance at the 55th
annual ceremony. The album has sold more than 1.5 million copies in the
United States.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_(Beyonc%C3%A9_album)>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1571:
Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi established a
council to govern the city of Manila (Manila Cathedral pictured), now
the capital of the Philippines.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manila>
1717:
The first Masonic Grand Lodge, the Premier Grand Lodge of
England, was founded in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_Grand_Lodge_of_England>
1880:
"O Canada", today the national anthem of Canada, was first
performed in Quebec City, during a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day banquet.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Canada>
1937:
The United States' first two "fast battleships", the North
Carolina class, were ordered from the New York and Philadelphia Naval
Shipyards.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina-class_battleship>
2010:
John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in the longest
match in tennis history (11 hours and 5 minutes, spread over three
days).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isner%E2%80%93Mahut_match_at_the_2010_Wimbledon_Championships>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
drayage:
1. Transportation by dray.
2. (by extension) The transport of goods over a short distance,
particularly from a terminal such as an ocean port to another
destination, usually as part of a longer transportation of the goods.
3. A fee paid for the provision of such transportation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drayage>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never
fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and
blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The
cynic puts all human actions into two classes — openly bad and
secretly bad.
--Henry Ward Beecher
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Ward_Beecher>
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