Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always ending with a stinger. There are over 2,500 described species. They mainly live in deserts but have adapted to a wide range of environments. Most species give birth to live young, and the female cares for the juveniles while their exoskeletons harden, transporting them on her back. Scorpions primarily prey on insects and other invertebrates, but some species take vertebrates. They use their pincers to restrain and kill prey. Scorpions themselves are preyed on by larger animals. Their venomous sting can be used both for killing prey and for defense. Only about 25 species have venom capable of killing a human. In regions with highly venomous species, human fatalities regularly occur. Scorpions with their powerful stingers appear in art, folklore, mythology, and commercial brands.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1921:

The Tulsa race massacre, "the single worst incident of racial violence in American history", began in Tulsa, Oklahoma. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre

1961:

The Union of South Africa was dissolved by the Constitution Act and replaced by the Republic of South Africa. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa

1981:

An organized mob of police and government-sponsored Sinhalese paramilitary forces began three days of attacks that led to the burning of the Jaffna Library in Sri Lanka. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Jaffna_Public_Library

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

ether: 1. (uncountable, literary or poetic) The substance formerly supposed to fill the upper regions of the atmosphere above the clouds, in particular as a medium breathed by deities. 2. (by extension) The medium breathed by human beings; the air. 3. (by extension) The sky, the heavens; the void, nothingness. 4. (uncountable, physics, historical) Often as aether and more fully as luminiferous aether: a substance once thought to fill all unoccupied space that allowed electromagnetic waves to pass through it and interact with matter, without exerting any resistance to matter or energy; its existence was disproved by the 1887 Michelson–Morley experiment and the theory of relativity propounded by Albert Einstein (1879–1955). 5. (uncountable, colloquial) The atmosphere or space as a medium for broadcasting radio and television signals; also, a notional space through which Internet and other digital communications take place; cyberspace. 6. (uncountable, colloquial) A particular quality created by or surrounding an object, person, or place; an atmosphere, an aura. 7. (uncountable, organic chemistry) Diethyl ether (C4H10O), an organic compound with a sweet odour used in the past as an anaesthetic. 8. (countable, organic chemistry) Any of a class of organic compounds containing an oxygen atom bonded to two hydrocarbon groups. 9. (transitive, slang) To viciously humiliate or insult. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ether

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Weave lasting sure, weave day and night the weft, the warp, incessant weave, tire not, (We know not what the use O life, nor know the aim, the end, nor really aught we know, But know the work, the need goes on and shall go on, the death-envelop'd march of peace as well as war goes on,) For great campaigns of peace the same the wiry threads to weave, We know not why or what, yet weave, forever weave.   --Leaves of Grass https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leaves_of_Grass#Weave_in,_My_Hardy_Life