[Daily article] August 31: Carrow Road Published On

Carrow Road is a football stadium located in Norwich, Norfolk, England,
and is the home of Norwich City Football Club. The stadium is on the
east side of the city, not far from Norwich railway station and the
River Wensum. The club originally played at Newmarket Road before moving
to The Nest. When The Nest was deemed inadequate for the size of crowds
it was attracting, the Carrow Road ground, named after the road on which
it is located, was purpose-built by Norwich City in just 82 days and
opened on 31 August 1935. The stadium has been altered and upgraded
several times during its history, including after a devastating fire
that destroyed the old City Stand in 1984. Having once accommodated
standing supporters, the ground has been all-seater since 1992, with a
current capacity of 27,244. The stadium's record attendance since
becoming an all-seater ground is 27,036, set during a Premier League
match versus Crystal Palace on 8 August 2015. When standing on the
terraces was permitted, Carrow Road saw a crowd of 43,984 when hosting
Leicester City for an FA Cup match in 1963. Carrow Road has also hosted
under-21 international football and a number of concerts, including
performances by Elton John and George Michael.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrow_Road>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1813:

Peninsular War: At the Battle of San Marcial, the Spanish Army
of Galicia under Manuel Alberto Freire turned back Nicolas Soult's last
major offensive against Arthur Wellesley's allied army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Marcial>

1876:

Abdul Hamid II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire when his
brother Murad V was deposed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Hamid_II>

1935:

In an effort to stay out of the growing European conflict, the
United States passed the first of its Neutrality Acts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutrality_Acts_of_1930s>

1945:

The Liberal Party of Australia, one of the two major Australian
political parties, was founded to replace the United Australia Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_of_Australia>

1965:

The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy, a large, wide-bodied cargo
aircraft used for ferrying outsized cargo components, made its first
flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

kore:
An Ancient Greek statue of a woman, portrayed standing, usually clothed,
painted in bright colours and having an elaborate hairstyle
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kore>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Jesus never said anything about absurdity, and he never
indicated for one flash of time that he was aware of the
preposterousness of his theory about himself. And he didn't even try to
make the theory understandable in terms of the reality and experience of
the rest of us. For if everybody else is also not what Jesus said he
was, what good is what he said?  
--William Saroyan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Saroyan>

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[Daily article] August 30: Judah P. Benjamin Published On

Judah Benjamin (1811–1884) was a lawyer and United States Senator from
Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his
escape to the United Kingdom at the end of the American Civil War, an
English barrister. He was the first person professing the Jewish faith
to be elected to the Senate, and the first Jew to hold a cabinet
position in North America. After attending Yale, Benjamin moved to New
Orleans, where he read law and passed the bar. He rose rapidly both at
the bar and in politics, becoming a wealthy slaveowner, and serving in
both houses of the Louisiana legislature prior to his election to the
Senate in 1852. There, he was an ardent supporter of slavery. When war
began, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him Attorney
General, and later Secretary of War. Made Secretary of State in 1862,
Benjamin unsuccessfully tried to gain recognition of the Confederacy by
France and the United Kingdom. When Davis fled from Virginia in early
1865, Benjamin went with him. He escaped to Britain and settled there,
becoming a barrister and again rising to the top of his profession
before retiring in 1883. He died in Paris the following year.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_P._Benjamin>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1835:

European settlers landing on the north banks of the Yarra River
in Southeastern Australia founded the city of Melbourne (Parliament
House pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne>

1896:

Philippine Revolution: In the Battle of San Juan del Monte, the
first real battle of the war, a Katipunan force temporarily captured a
powder magazine before being beaten back by a Spanish garrison.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Juan_del_Monte>

1914:

World War I: The Battle of Tannenberg resulted in the almost
complete destruction of the Russian Second Army by the German Eighth
Army.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tannenberg>

1959:

The title of National Hero of Indonesia was first given, the
recipient being the writer-cum-politician Abdul Muis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hero_of_Indonesia>

1995:

Bosnian War: NATO began its bombing campaign against the Army
of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Deliberate_Force>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

leech:
1. (transitive) To apply a leech medicinally, so that it sucks blood from
the patient.
2. (transitive) To drain (resources) without giving back
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leech>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy
to be broken.  
--Warren Buffett
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett#Disputed>

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[Daily article] August 29: Birchington-on-Sea Published On

Birchington-on-Sea is a village and seaside resort in north-east Kent,
England, with a population of around 10,000. It faces the North Sea,
east of the Thames Estuary, between Herne Bay and Margate. Its main
beach is Minnis Bay (pictured); three smaller beaches are surrounded by
chalk cliffs, cliff stacks and caves. Roman and prehistoric artefacts
indicate that the area was inhabited before the existence of the
village, and Minnis Bay was once the site of an Iron Age settlement. The
village was first recorded in 1240. Its parish church, All Saints',
dates to the 13th century and its churchyard is the burial place of the
19th-century Pre-Raphaelite artist, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Quex Park, a
local 19th-century manor house, is home to the Powell-Cotton Museum and
a twelve-bell tower built for change ringing. The museum displays
stuffed exotic animals collected by Major Percy Powell-Cotton on his
travels in Africa, and houses artefacts unearthed in and around
Birchington.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birchington-on-Sea>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1475:

After an invasion by England and the Duchy of Burgundy, France
signed the Treaty of Picquigny with England, freeing Louis XI to deal
with the threat posed by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Picquigny>

1842:

The Treaty of Nanking, an unequal treaty ending the First Opium
War, was signed, forcing the Chinese Qing dynasty to give control of the
island that is now the site of Hong Kong, and other concessions to the
British.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong>

1949:

The Soviet Union successfully conducted its first nuclear
weapons test, exploding the 22-kiloton RDS-1.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDS-1>

1991:

Italian businessman Libero Grassi was killed by the Sicilian
Mafia after taking a public stand against their extortion demands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libero_Grassi>

2005:

Storm surges of Hurricane Katrina caused multiple breaches in
levees around New Orleans, flooding about 80% of the city and
surrounding areas for weeks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

skyclad:
(Wicca) Naked outdoors
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/skyclad>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Lies run sprints but the truth runs marathons.  
--Michael Jackson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson>

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[Daily article] August 28: Twenty-cent piece (United States coin) Published On

The American twenty-cent piece was a coin struck from 1875 to 1878, but
only for collectors in the final two years. In 1874 Nevada's newly
elected senator, John P. Jones, began promoting his bill for a twenty-
cent piece to alleviate the shortage of small change in the Far West.
The bill passed Congress the following year, and Mint Director Henry
Linderman ordered pattern coins struck. Although the new coin's edge was
smooth rather than reeded, as with other silver coins, the new piece was
close to the size of, and immediately confused with, the quarter. Adding
to the bewilderment, the obverses (front faces) of the coins were almost
identical. After the first year, in which over a million were minted,
there was little demand, and the denomination was abolished in 1878. At
least a third of the total mintage was later melted by the government.
Numismatist Mark Benvenuto called the twenty-cent piece "a chapter of
U.S. coinage history that closed almost before it began".

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-cent_piece_(United_States_coin)>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1850:

German composer Richard Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin (2015
production pictured), containing the Bridal Chorus, was first performed
under the direction of Franz Liszt in Weimar, present-day Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lohengrin_(opera)>

1861:

American Civil War: The Union Army successfully extended its
blockage strategy by capturing two Confederate forts on North Carolina's
Outer Banks.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hatteras_Inlet_Batteries>

1909:

A military coup d'etat against the government of Dimitrios
Rallis began in the Goudi neighbourhood of Athens, Greece.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goudi_coup>

1955:

African American teenager Emmett Till was murdered near Money,
Mississippi, for flirting with a white woman, energizing the nascent
American Civil Rights Movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till>

1973:

Swedish police used gas bombs to end a seven-day hostage
situation in Stockholm; during the incident the hostages had bonded with
their captors, leading to the term "Stockholm syndrome".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

manumission:
Release from slavery or other legally sanctioned servitude; the giving
of freedom; the act of manumitting.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/manumission>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  ⨀ My name is Harrison Bergeron. I am a fugitive, and a public
threat. I am an abomination of the able. I am an exception to the
accepted. I am the greatest man you have never known. And for the last
six years, I have been held prisoner by the state — sentenced, without
trial, to torture without end. They… had hoped to destroy in me any
trace of the extraordinary … but the extraordinary, it seems, was
simply out of their reach. So now I stand before you today, beaten,
hobbled, and sickened … but, sadly, not broken. And I say to you, that
if it is greatness we must destroy, then let us drag our enemy out of
the darkness, where it has been hiding. Let us shine a light so, at
last, all the world can see!  
--2081
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/2081_(film)>

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[Daily article] August 27: Jim Thome Published On

Jim Thome (born 1970) played Major League Baseball for 22 years,
starting with the Cleveland Indians in 1991 and joining the Philadelphia
Phillies in 2002. Traded to the Chicago White Sox before the 2006
season, he won the American League Comeback Player of the Year Award
that year. After back pain limited him to being a designated hitter, he
had stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Indians and
Phillies before ending his career with the Baltimore Orioles. A prolific
power hitter, Thome hit 612 home runs during his career—the seventh-
most of all time. He was a member of five All-Star teams and won a
Silver Slugger Award in 1996. One of his trademarks was his unique
batting stance, pointing the bat at right field before the pitcher
threw, something he first saw in the film The Natural. He was known for
his consistent positive attitude and gregarious personality. An active
philanthropist during his playing career, he was honored with two Marvin
Miller Man of the Year Awards and a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thome>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1810:

Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeated the Royal Navy,
preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de la
Passe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grand_Port>

1832:

Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans,
surrendered to US authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_War>

1928:

Over sixty nations signed the Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing
war as an instrument of national policy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellogg%E2%80%93Briand_Pact>

1957:

The Constitution of Malaya came into force, three days before
the Federation of Malaya achieved formal independence from the United
Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Malaysia>

2000:

Moscow's Ostankino Tower caught fire, killing three people and
disrupting television and radio signals around the city.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostankino_Tower>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

wantokism:
The Melanesian cultural practice of relying on one's wantoks for any
need, and of sharing the fruits of one's personal success with one's
wantoks.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wantokism>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  I believe in man's capacity for achieving great things and in
the combined force resulting from encounters and exchanges. I plead for
greater liberty and a more open world … because it provides a setting
which liberates individuals and their creativity as no other system can.
It spurs the dynamism which has led to human, economic, scientific, and
technical advances, and which will continue to do so.  
--Johan Norberg
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johan_Norberg>

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[Daily article] August 26: Pather Panchali Published On

Pather Panchali is a 1955 Bengali drama film adapted from Bibhutibhushan
Bandopadhyay's 1929 Bengali novel of the same name. The debut film of
the Indian director Satyajit Ray, it depicts the lives of a family from
a poor Indian village with two children, Apu (Subir Banerjee) and his
elder sister Durga (Uma Dasgupta). The film, shot mainly on location in
rural India, took nearly three years to complete. Sitar virtuoso Ravi
Shankar composed the score. After a screening in May at New York's
Museum of Modern Art, it was officially released in Kolkata on August
26, 1955, and was enthusiastically received after a slow start. Many
critics have praised the film's realism and humanity, though a few have
found fault with its slow pace; other critics have condemned it,
claiming it romanticizes poverty. The tale of Apu's life is continued in
Aparajito (The Unvanquished, 1956) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu,
1959). The three films constitute the Apu Trilogy. Pather Panchali was a
pioneer film of the Parallel Cinema movement and was the first film from
independent India to attract major international attention, winning a
number of awards and establishing Ray as a major director. It has been
featured in lists of the greatest films ever made.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pather_Panchali>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1071:

Byzantine–Seljuq Wars: Seljuk Turks led by Alp Arslan
captured Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV at the Battle of Manzikert.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manzikert>

1789:

French Revolution: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of
the Citizen, defining a set of individual and collective rights of the
people, was approved by the National Constituent Assembly.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_the_Rights_of_Man_and_of_the_Citizen>

1883:

A massive eruption destroyed the volcanic island of Krakatoa,
ejecting so much ash that average global temperatures fell by as much as
1.2 °C (2.2 °F) over the next year.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa>

1968:

The US Democratic Party's National Convention began at the
International Amphitheatre in Chicago, sparking four days of clashes
between anti–Vietnam War protesters and police.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Democratic_National_Convention>

1977:

The National Assembly of Quebec declared French to be the only
official language of Quebec.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_French_Language>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

yeasayer:
1. One whose attitude is positive, optimistic, confidently affirmative.
2. (pejorative) One who habitually agrees uncritically.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yeasayer>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  I often feel that worse than the most fiendish Nazis were those
Germans who went along with the persecution of the Jews not because they
really disliked them but because it was the thing.  
--Christopher Isherwood
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Isherwood>

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[Daily article] August 25: Caloboletus calopus Published On

Caloboletus calopus, known as the bitter beech bolete, is a fungus of
the bolete family, found in Asia, Northern Europe and North America.
Appearing in coniferous and deciduous woodland in summer and autumn, the
stout mushrooms are attractively coloured, with a beige to olive cap up
to 15 cm (6 in) across, yellow pores, and a reddish stalk up to 15 cm
(6 in) long and 5 cm (2 in) wide. The pale yellow flesh stains blue
when broken or bruised. Christian Persoon first described Boletus
calopus in 1801. Modern molecular phylogenetics has shown that it is
only distantly related to the type species of Boletus, and it was placed
in a new genus as the type species of Caloboletus in 2014. It is not an
edible mushroom, rendered unpalatable by its intensely bitter taste,
which does not disappear with cooking. Its red stalk distinguishes it
from edible species such as Boletus edulis.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloboletus_calopus>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1248:

Ommen in the Netherlands received city rights and fortification
rights from Otto III, the Archbishop of Utrecht, after the town was
pillaged at least twice by a local robber baron.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ommen>

1609:

Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei demonstrated his first
telescope, a device that became known as a terrestrial or spyglass
refracting telescope, to Venetian lawmakers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei>

1825:

The Thirty-Three Orientals, a revolutionary group led by Juan
Antonio Lavalleja, declared Uruguayan independence from the Empire of
Brazil.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay>

1920:

Polish forces under Józef Piłsudski successfully forced the
Russians to withdraw from Warsaw at the Battle of Warsaw, the decisive
battle of the Polish–Soviet War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Warsaw_(1920)>

1967:

Founder of the American Nazi Party George Lincoln Rockwell was
assassinated by John Patler, a former member of his group.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lincoln_Rockwell>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

shirty:
(informal) Ill-tempered or annoyed.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shirty>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Traces of nobility, gentleness and courage persist in all people,
do what we will to stamp out the trend. So, too, do those
characteristics which are ugly. It is just unfortunate that in the
clumsy hands of a cartoonist all traits become ridiculous, leading to a
certain amount of self-conscious expostulation and the desire to join
battle. There is no need to sally forth, for it remains true that those
things which make us human are, curiously enough, always close at hand.
Resolve then, that on this very ground, with small flags waving and
tinny blast on tiny trumpets, we shall meet the enemy, and not only may
he be ours, he may be us.  
--Walt Kelly
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Kelly>

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[Daily article] August 24: Jethro Sumner Published On

Jethro Sumner (c. 1733 – 1785) was an officer in the Continental Army
during the American Revolutionary War. After serving in Virginia's
Provincial forces in the French and Indian War and later as Sheriff of
Bute County, North Carolina, he became a strident Patriot, and was
elected to North Carolina's Provincial Congress. He was named the
commanding officer of the 3rd North Carolina Regiment in the Continental
Army in 1776, seeing action in the Southern theater and Philadelphia
campaign. One of five brigadier generals from North Carolina, he served
with distinction in the battles of Stono Ferry and Eutaw Springs, but
recurring bouts of poor health often forced him to play an
administrative role, or to convalesce back home. Following a drastic
reduction in the number of North Carolinians serving with the
Continental Army, Sumner became a general in the state's militia, but
resigned in protest after the state Board of War awarded overall command
of the militia to William Smallwood, a Continental Army general from
Maryland. In 1783 Sumner helped establish the state chapter of the
Society of the Cincinnati, and became its first president. He died in
1785 with extensive landholdings.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jethro_Sumner>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

410:

Rome was sacked for the first time in 800 years, by the
Visigoths under Alaric I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Rome_(410)>

1456:

The oldest known version of the Gutenberg Bible, the first
major book produced on a printing press, was completed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutenberg_Bible>

1821:

The Treaty of Córdoba was signed in Córdoba, Veracruz,
ratifying the Plan of Iguala and concluding Mexico's War of Independence
from Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_C%C3%B3rdoba>

1941:

Adolf Hitler ordered the official termination of the T4
euthanasia program of the mentally ill and disabled, although killings
continued in secret for the remainder of the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_T4>

2012:

American cyclist Lance Armstrong was banned from all
competitions and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by the
United States Anti-Doping Agency for using illicit performance-enhancing
drugs.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Armstrong>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

resplendence:
The property of being, or that which causes something to be,
resplendent.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/resplendence>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  I would encourage people to look around them in their community
and find an organization that is doing something that they believe in,
even if that organization has only five people, or ten people, or twenty
people, or a hundred people. And to look at history and understand that
when change takes place it takes place as a result of large, large
numbers of people doing little things unbeknownst to one another. And
that history is very important for people to not get discouraged. …
History is instructive. And what it suggests to people is that even if
they do little things, if they walk on the picket line, if they join a
vigil, if they write a letter to their local newspaper. Anything they
do, however small, becomes part of a much, much larger sort of flow of
energy. And when enough people do enough things, however small they are,
then change takes place.  
--Howard Zinn
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Howard_Zinn>

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[Daily article] August 23: Queen Elizabeth Way Published On

The Queen Elizabeth Way is a 400-Series highway in the Canadian province
of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New
York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels
139.1 kilometres (86.4 mi) around the western shore of Lake Ontario,
ending at Highway 427, where the roadway continues as the Gardiner
Expressway into downtown Toronto. The freeway's history dates back to
1931, when work began to widen the Middle Road as a relief project
during the Great Depression, to bring it up to the quality of the nearby
Dundas Highway and Lakeshore Road. In 1934, the design was modified to
resemble German autobahns. When it was initially opened in 1937, it was
the first intercity divided highway in North America and featured the
longest stretch of consistent illumination in the world. While not a
true freeway at the time, it was gradually upgraded, widened and
modernized beginning in the 1950s, taking on more or less its current
form by 1975. Since then, various projects have continued to widen the
route.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_Way>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1572:

The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, a wave of Catholic mob
violence against the Huguenots, began, lasting for several months and
resulting in an estimated tens of thousands deaths across France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bartholomew%27s_Day_massacre>

1650:

General George Monck founded "Monck's Regiment of Foot", the
predecessor to the Coldstream Guards, in England's New Model Army,
making the regiment the oldest one in the Regular Army in continuous
active service.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coldstream_Guards>

1896:

Andrés Bonifacio and his Katipunan comrades in modern-day
Quezon City rose up in revolt against Spanish rule, marking the
beginning of the Philippine Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cry_of_Pugad_Lawin>

1927:

After a controversial trial, and despite worldwide protests,
Italian-born American anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti (both pictured) were
executed via electrocution in Massachusetts for the charges of murder
and theft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacco_and_Vanzetti>

1939:

Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed to the
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a 10-year, mutual non-aggression treaty,
which also included a secret protocol dividing Northern and Eastern
Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

budgie smugglers:
(Australia, New Zealand, informal, plural only) A style of tightfitting
men's swimming costume cut like underwear briefs that covers the
buttocks and groin but not the legs, especially worn in surf lifesaving
and in swimming races.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/budgie_smugglers>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  I can not be a traitor, for I owe him no allegiance. He is not my
Sovereign; he never received my homage; and whilst life is in this
persecuted body, he never shall receive it. To the other points whereof
I am accused, I freely confess them all. As Governor of my country I
have been an enemy to its enemies; I have slain the English; I have
mortally opposed the English King; I have stormed and taken the towns
and castles which he unjustly claimed as his own. If I or my soldiers
have plundered or done injury to the houses or ministers of religion, I
repent me of my sin; but it is not of Edward of England I shall ask
pardon.  
--William Wallace
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wallace>

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[Daily article] August 22: Maus Published On

Maus is a graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman (pictured
in 2007), serialized from 1980 to 1991. It depicts Spiegelman
interviewing his father, a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor. The book
is self-referential and postmodern—most strikingly in its depiction of
Jews as mice, Germans as cats, and non-Jewish Poles as pigs. The
narrative consists mostly of flashbacks to the war years, framed by the
interview that takes place in 1978 in the Rego Park section of New York
City. Much of the story revolves around Spiegelman's troubled
relationship with his father, and the impact of his mother's suicide
when he was 20. The book uses a minimalist drawing style with innovative
page and panel layouts, pacing, and structure. Maus was serialized as an
insert in Raw, an avant-garde comics and graphics magazine published by
Spiegelman and his wife, Françoise Mouly. It was one of the first
graphic novels to receive significant academic attention in the English-
speaking world, and in 1992 became the first to win a Pulitzer Prize.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maus>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1138:

English forces repelled a Scottish army at the Battle of the
Standard near Northallerton in Yorkshire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Standard>

1639:

The East India Company bought a small strip of land on what is
today Chennai (modern skyline pictured), the capital city of the Indian
state of Tamil Nadu, from the King of the Vijayanagara Empire, Peda
Venkata Raya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennai>

1791:

A slave rebellion erupted in the French colony of Saint-
Domingue, starting the Haitian Revolution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution>

1910:

Japan annexed Korea with the signing of the Japan–Korea
Annexation Treaty, beginning a period of Japanese rule of Korea that
lasted until the end of World War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule>

2012:

A series of ethnic clashes between the Orma and Pokomo tribes
of Kenya's Tana River District resulted in the deaths of at least 52
people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012%E2%80%9313_Tana_River_District_clashes>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

angleworm:
(Northern US) An earthworm, used as or destined to be used as bait to
catch fish.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/angleworm>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full
of people running about with lit matches. Every minority, be it
Baptist/Unitarian, Irish/Italian/Octogenarian/Zen Buddhist, Zionist
/Seventh-day Adventist, Women's Lib/Republican,
Mattachine/FourSquareGospel feels it has the will, the right, the duty
to douse the kerosene, light the fuse. Every dimwit editor who sees
himself as the source of all dreary blanc-mange plain porridge
unleavened literature, licks his guillotine and eyes the neck of any
author who dares to speak above a whisper or write above a nursery
rhyme.  
--Ray Bradbury
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury>

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[Daily article] August 21: Seorsumuscardinus Published On

Seorsumuscardinus, a genus of European dormice identified by fossils,
lived around 17 million years ago during the early Miocene. Fossils from
one species, S. alpinus, have been taken from rock strata in Oberdorf
am Hochegg in Austria, Karydia in Greece, and Tägernaustrasse in
Switzerland. A second species, S. bolligeri, was found at a single site
in Affalterbach, Germany. Identified from many isolated teeth, both
species were medium-sized dormice, with flat teeth characterized by long
transverse crests coupled with shorter ones. Seorsumuscardinus may be
related to Muscardinus, the genus of the living hazel dormouse, which
appears in the fossil record at about the same time, and the older
Glirudinus. Because the two known species lived at different times, the
paleontologist Jerome Prieto has suggested that the genus may be useful
for biostratigraphy, the use of fossils to determine the age of
deposits.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seorsumuscardinus>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1689:

Jacobite risings: Jacobite clans supporting the deposed king
James VII of Scotland clashed with a government regiment of Covenanters
supporting William of Orange, in the streets around Dunkeld Cathedral,
Dunkeld, Scotland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dunkeld>

1858:

The first of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen
A. Douglas (both pictured), candidates for an Illinois seat in the
United States Senate, was held in Ottawa, Illinois.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln%E2%80%93Douglas_debates>

1945:

American physicist Harry K. Daghlian, Jr. accidentally dropped
a tungsten carbide brick onto a delta phase plutonium bomb core and
exposed himself to a lethal dose of neutron radiation, becoming the
first known fatality due to a criticality accident 25 days later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_K._Daghlian,_Jr.>

1986:

A limnic eruption of a cloud of carbon dioxide from Lake Nyos
in Cameroon killed up to 1,700 people and 3,500 livestock in nearby
villages.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos>

2013:

Syrian Civil War: Rockets containing sarin struck the
opposition-controlled portions of the Ghouta suburbs of Damascus,
resulting in at least 281 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghouta_chemical_attack>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

water of crystallization:
(chemistry) The water present in the crystals of the salts of certain
metals; it is weakly bound by electrostatic forces and may normally be
removed by heating.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/water_of_crystallization>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  All we can do is live every single day and do our best to be
present with the ones that we love and with everybody that we come in
contact with … The timing of everything seems too divine sometimes to
ignore.  
--Alicia Witt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alicia_Witt>

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[Daily article] August 20: Battle of Grand Port Published On

The Battle of Grand Port was a naval battle between frigates from the
French Navy and the British Royal Navy, fought in August 1810 to control
the harbour of Grand Port on Isle de France (now Mauritius) during the
Napoleonic Wars. The British squadron of four frigates sought to
blockade the port, but four of the five French ships managed to break
past the blockade. They took shelter in a protected anchorage that was
only accessible through a series of complicated reefs and sandbanks,
requiring an experienced harbour pilot. When the British commander,
Samuel Pym, ordered his frigates to attack, they became trapped in the
narrow channels of the bay: two were irretrievably grounded, a third was
outnumbered and defeated, and a fourth, unable to close within effective
gun range, was later seized as it left the harbour. Although the French
ships were also badly damaged, the defeat was the worst the Royal Navy
suffered during the entire war, and it left the Indian Ocean and its
vital trade convoys exposed to attack from Commodore Jacques Hamelin's
frigates. In December a strong British battle squadron under Admiral
Albemarle Bertie rapidly invaded and subdued Isle de France.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grand_Port>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

636:

Rashidun forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid took control of Syria
and Palestine in the Battle of Yarmouk, marking the first great wave of
Muslim conquests after the death of Muhammad.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yarmouk>

1707:

The first Siege of Pensacola came to an end with the British
abandoning their attempt to capture Pensacola in Spanish Florida.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Pensacola_(1707)>

1882:

The 1812 Overture by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
was first performed at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture>

1940:

In the midst of the Battle of Britain, British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill delivered a speech thanking the Royal Air Force,
declaring, "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_was_so_much_owed_by_so_many_to_so_few>

1989:

The final stage of the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South
Australia, was completed, becoming the world's longest and fastest
guided busway with buses travelling a total of 12 km (7.5 mi) at
maximum speeds up to 100 km/h (62 mph) (example pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

kitchen-sinky:
1. (informal) Inclusive of too wide a variety of features or items,
typically with a resulting trade-off in efficiency or usefulness.
2. Of or pertaining to the kitchen sink drama; depicting social realities
in an unstylized and direct manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kitchen-sinky>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability
of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should voyage far.  
--H. P. Lovecraft
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft>

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[Daily article] August 19: Hermeneutic style Published On

The hermeneutic style of Latin, a style with many unusual and arcane
words, especially from Greek, became the nearly universal preference in
tenth-century England. It was first found in the work of Apuleius in the
second century and then in Europe in the later Roman period. In the
early medieval period some leading Continental scholars were exponents,
including Johannes Scotus Eriugena and Odo of Cluny; the most
influential hermeneutic writer was the English seventh-century bishop
Aldhelm. In England the hermeneutic style became increasingly
influential in the tenth century when Latin scholarship was reviving; in
continental Europe, the style was only ever used by a minority of
writers. It was the house style of the English Benedictine Reform, the
most important intellectual movement in later Anglo-Saxon England. The
style fell out of favour after the Norman Conquest, and the twelfth-
century chronicler William of Malmesbury described it as disgusting and
bombastic. Historians were equally dismissive until the late twentieth
century, when scholars such as Michael Lapidge argued that it should be
taken seriously as an important aspect of late Anglo-Saxon culture.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutic_style>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

295 BC:

The oldest known temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love,
beauty and fertility, was dedicated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(mythology)>

1895:

American outlaw and folk hero John Wesley Hardin was shot dead
by an off-duty lawman in El Paso, Texas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley_Hardin>

1945:

During the August Revolution against French colonial rule, the
Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh took control of Hanoi in northern Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Revolution>

1989:

Hungary opened its border with Austria as part of the Pan-
European Picnic, allowing several hundred East Germans to defect to the
West.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan-European_Picnic>

2005:

Thunderstorms in southern Ontario, Canada, spawned at least
three tornadoes that caused over C$500 million in damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Ontario_Tornado_Outbreak_of_2005>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

strumpet:
1. A female prostitute; a woman who is very sexually active.
2. A female adulterer.
3. A mistress.
4. (derogatory) A trollop; a whore.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/strumpet>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Behind the black portent of the new atomic age lies a hope
which, seized upon with faith, can work out salvation … Let us not
deceive ourselves: we must elect world peace or world destruction.
 
--Bernard Baruch
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bernard_Baruch>

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[Daily article] August 18: Ruby Laffoon Published On

Ruby Laffoon (1869–1941) was an American politician and the 43rd
governor of Kentucky, from 1931 to 1935. At age 17, Laffoon moved to
Washington, D.C. to live with his uncle, U.S. Representative Polk
Laffoon. In 1931, he defeated Republican William B. Harrison by what was
then the largest margin of victory ever in a Kentucky gubernatorial
election. To make up for a revenue shortfall during the Great
Depression, Laffoon advocated the enactment of the state's first sales
tax. This issue dominated most of his term in office and split the state
Democratic Party and his own administration; the tax was defeated three
times before he forged a bipartisan alliance to get it passed in a
special legislative session in 1934. Term-limited by the state
constitution, Laffoon supported political boss Tom Rhea to succeed him
as governor, but Rhea was beaten by Lieutenant Governor Happy Chandler
in the primary. Laffoon appointed a record number of Kentucky colonels,
including Harland Sanders, who used the title "Colonel" when he opened
his chain of Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruby_Laffoon>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1590:

On the third birthday of his granddaughter Virginia Dare, the
first English child born in the Americas, John White, governor of the
Roanoke Colony in present-day North Carolina, US, returned from England
only to find the settlement deserted.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony>

1612:

The trials of the Pendle and Samlesbury witches, among the most
famous of England's witch trials, began at the assizes in Lancaster.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samlesbury_witches>

1868:

Astronomer Pierre Janssen discovered helium while analyzing the
chromosphere of the sun during a total solar eclipse in Guntur, India.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium>

1920:

The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
(authors Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony pictured) was
ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage in America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution>

1976:

North Korean soldiers killed two American soldiers in the Joint
Security Area of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, heightening tensions
over a 100-foot (30 m) poplar tree that blocked the line of sight
between a United Nations Command checkpoint and an observation post.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_murder_incident>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

Beowulf cluster:
(computing) A cluster of standard personal computers linked by a local
area network, usually on the order of 10 nodes.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Beowulf_cluster>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Life was a pleasure; he looked back at its moments, many of them
as shrouded in mist as the opposite bank of the Thames. Objectively,
many of them held only misery, fear, confusion; but afterward, and even
at the time, he had known an exhilaration stronger than the misery,
fear, or confusion. A fragment of belief came to him from another epoch:
Cogito ergo sum. For him that had not been true; his truth had been:
Sentio ergo sum. I feel, so I exist. He enjoyed this fearful, miserable,
confused life, and not only because it made more sense than nonlife. He
could never explain that to anyone.  
--Brian Aldiss
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brian_Aldiss>

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[Daily article] August 17: Supernature (Goldfrapp album) Published On

Supernature is the third studio album by English electronic music duo
Goldfrapp, released on 17 August 2005 by Mute Records. It was their
first to incorporate pop and electronic dance music, a blend that was
complimented by most critics. Supernature debuted at number two on the
UK Albums Chart, selling 52,976 copies in its first week. It was
certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in January
2006, and had sold one million copies worldwide as of February 2008. The
album spawned four singles: "Number 1", "Ride a White Horse", "Fly Me
Away", and its lead single, "Ooh La La", which reached number four on
the UK Singles Chart, becoming the duo's highest-peaking single to date.
In North America, where "Number 1" was promoted as the first single, the
album was released in 2006 and did not perform well on the charts.
Supernature received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Electronic/Dance
Album in 2007.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernature_(Goldfrapp_album)>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1560:

The Scottish Parliament adopted a Protestant confession of
faith to initiate the Scottish Reformation and disestablishing
Catholicism as the national religion.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Reformation>

1676:

The Battle of Halmstad was fought at Fyllebro and was the last
battle in Halland between Denmark and Sweden.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halmstad>

1915:

American Jew Leo Frank was lynched by a mob of prominent
citizens in Marietta, Georgia, for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old
girl.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Frank>

1945:

Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaimed the independence of
Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch
Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_National_Revolution>

1998:

U.S. President Bill Clinton admitted in taped testimony that he
had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica
Lewinsky.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewinsky_scandal>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

quiddity:
1. (philosophy) The essence or inherent nature of a person or thing.
2. (law) A trifle; a nicety or quibble.
3. An eccentricity; an odd feature.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quiddity>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Maybe all poetry, insofar as it moves us and connects with us,
is a revealing of something that the writer doesn't actually want to
say but desperately needs to communicate, to be delivered of. Perhaps
it's the need to keep it hidden that makes it poetic — makes it
poetry.  
--Ted Hughes
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ted_Hughes>

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[Daily article] August 16: Corona Borealis Published On

Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, and Corona Australis, the Southern
Crown, are two small constellations among the 48 listed by the 2nd-
century astronomer Ptolemy. Corona Borealis, which generally represented
the crown given by the god Dionysus to the Cretan princess Ariadne, is
in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, while Corona Australis, associated
with Sagittarius or Centaurus, is in the Southern. Corona Borealis
boasts the highly variable stars R and T Coronae Borealis and the huge
Corona Borealis Supercluster. Corona Australis, lying alongside the
plane of the Milky Way, hosts Epsilon Coronae Australis, the brightest
example of a W Ursae Majoris variable in the southern sky. It also
contains one of the closest star-forming regions to our Solar System,
about 430 light years away—a dusty dark nebula known as the Corona
Australis Molecular Cloud, with stars at the earliest stages of their
lifespan.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_Borealis>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1819:

Fifteen people were killed and 400–700 others were injured
when cavalry charged into a crowd gathered at St Peter's Field,
Manchester, England, to demand the reform of parliamentary
representation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterloo_Massacre>

1863:

After Spain had annexed the Dominican Republic, rebels raised
the Dominican flag in Santiago de los Caballeros to begin the War of
Restoration.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Restoration_War>

1927:

The Dole Air Race began; eight fixed-wing aircraft competed to
fly from Oakland, California, to Honolulu, Hawaii, but only two
successfully completed the flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dole_Air_Race>

1960:

Joseph Kittinger parachuted from a balloon over New Mexico at
102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting records for high-altitude jump, free-
fall height, and fastest speed by a human without an aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Kittinger>

2009:

Y. E. Yang won the 2009 PGA Championship to become the first
Asian-born golfer to win a men's major golf championship.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Yong-eun>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

tormentress:
A female tormentor.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tormentress>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  True greatness is free, kind, familiar and popular; it lets
itself be touched and handled, it loses nothing by being seen at close
quarters; the better one knows it, the more one admires it.  
--Jean de La Bruyère
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Bruy%C3%A8re>

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[Daily article] August 15: Departures (film) Published On

Departures is a Japanese drama film directed by Yōjirō Takita and
starring Masahiro Motoki, Ryōko Hirosue, and Tsutomu Yamazaki. Loosely
based on Shinmon Aoki's memoir Coffinman, the film follows a young man
who becomes a nōkanshi—a traditional Japanese ritual mortician—and
overcomes the prejudices of those around him. The story was conceived
after Motoki, affected by a funeral ceremony he had seen along the
Ganges, read Coffinman and felt that the story would adapt well to film.
Departures took a decade to complete, and distributors only released it
after the film won the grand prize at the Montreal World Film Festival
in August 2008. It became Japan's highest-grossing domestic film that
year and won numerous awards, including the first Academy Award for Best
Foreign Language Film for Japan. It was praised for its humour and the
beauty of the encoffining ceremony (set pictured), but critics took
issue with the film's predictability and overt sentimentality. The
film's success spurred the development of tourist attractions at its
shooting sites, increased interest in encoffining ceremonies, and the
adaptation of the story for various media.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Departures_(film)>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

718:

Forces of the Umayyad Caliphate abandoned their year-long siege
of Constantinople, causing the caliphate to give up its goal of
conquering the Byzantine Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Constantinople_(717%E2%80%93718)>

1511:

Afonso de Albuquerque captured the city of Malacca, giving
Portugal control over the Strait of Malacca, through which all sea-going
trade between China and India was concentrated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511)>

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>

1915:

The New York World revealed that Germany had purchased excess
phenol from Thomas Edison that could be used to make explosives for the
war effort and diverted it to Bayer for aspirin production.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Phenol_Plot>

1945:

The Gyokuon-hōsō was broadcast in Japan, announcing the
unconditional surrender of the Japanese army and naval forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrender_of_Japan>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

beeline:
1. A very direct or quick path or trip.
2. (mining, chiefly historical) A dynamite fuse made with a small quantity
of dynamite powder along its length, so that the spark travels quickly
and at a specific known rate.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beeline>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  This Sanatana Dharma has many scriptures: The Veda, the Vedanta,
the Gita, the Upanishads, the Darshanas, the Puranas, the Tantras, nor
could it reject the Bible or the Koran, but its real, the most
authoritative scripture is in the heart in which the Eternal has his
dwelling.  
--Sri Aurobindo
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sri_Aurobindo>

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[Daily article] August 14: Tern Published On

Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae that are found worldwide,
generally near the sea, rivers or wetlands. They are slender, lightly
built birds with long forked tails, narrow wings, long bills and
relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below,
with a contrasting black cap, but the marsh terns, the Inca tern and
some noddies have dark plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes
are identical in appearance. They are birds of open habitats that
typically breed in noisy colonies and lay their eggs on bare ground with
little or no nest material. Many terns are long-distance migrants, and
the Arctic tern, migrating each year between the Arctic and Antarctic,
may see more daylight in a year than any other animal. They are long-
lived birds and are relatively free from natural predators and
parasites, but most species are declining in numbers through habitat
loss, polluted waters, human encroachment and predation by introduced
mammals. Three tern species are classed as endangered, and the Chinese
crested tern is critically endangered. International agreements provide
a measure of protection, but adults and eggs of some species are still
used for food in the tropics.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tern>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1816:

The United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha
archipelago, ruling it from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_da_Cunha>

1888:

A recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's The Lost
Chord (audio featured), one of the first recordings of music ever made,
was played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's
phonograph in London.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_Chord>

1941:

After a secret meeting off the Canadian coast, British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued
the Atlantic Charter, establishing a vision for a post-World War II
world despite the fact that the United States had yet to enter the war.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter>

1975:

The film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is still in
limited release today, making it the longest-running theatrical release
in film history, premiered in Los Angeles.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rocky_Horror_Picture_Show>

2005:

Helios Airways Flight 522 crashed into a mountain north of
Marathon and Varnava, Greece, killing all 121 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

atend:
1. (transitive, obsolete) To set on fire; kindle.
2. (intransitive, obsolete) To take or catch fire.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atend>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time
comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure,
but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the
world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes,
which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the
new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed,
finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment, we take the
pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the
still larger cause of humanity.  
--Jawaharlal Nehru
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jawaharlal_Nehru>

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[Daily article] August 13: Castell Coch Published On

Castell Coch is a 19th-century Gothic Revival castle built above the
village of Tongwynlais in South Wales. The first castle on the site was
built by the Normans after 1081 to protect the newly conquered town of
Cardiff. The castle's earth motte was reused by Gilbert de Clare as the
basis for a new stone fortification, built between 1267 and 1277. John
Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, inherited the castle ruins in
1848. One of Britain's wealthiest men, he employed the architect William
Burges to reconstruct the castle as a summer residence. Burges rebuilt
the outside before his death in 1881, and the interior work was finished
by his team in 1891; it featured elaborate decorations including
extensive use of symbolism drawing on classical mythology and legendary
themes. Crichton-Stuart planted a vineyard just below the castle, where
wine production continued until the First World War. In 1950 his
grandson, the 5th Marquess of Bute, placed the property into the care of
the state. Castell Coch is considered to be one of the best surviving
examples of Victorian architecture.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castell_Coch>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1624:

Cardinal Richelieu became the chief minister to King
Louis XIII, and under his supervision, France's feudal political
structure transformed into one with a powerful central government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Richelieu>

1704:

War of the Spanish Succession: The Duke of Marlborough led
Allied forces to a crucial victory in the Battle of Blenheim.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blenheim>

1898:

Spanish–American War: After a mock battle for Manila, the
Spanish commander surrendered to the U.S. in order to keep the city out
of Filipino rebel hands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1898)>

1942:

Major General Eugene Reybold of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers authorized the construction of facilities that would house the
Manhattan Project.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project>

1996:

Belgian man Marc Dutroux was arrested for the kidnapping of 14
-year-old Laetitia Delhez, revealing a number of other victims and one
of Belgium's biggest child molestation cases.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Dutroux>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

oobleck:
A mixture of cornstarch and water with unusual physical properties.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oobleck>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  The divine in man is our sole ground for believing that there is
anything divine in the universe outside of man. Man is the revealer of
the divine. At bottom, the world is to be interpreted in terms of joy,
but of a joy that includes all the pain, includes it and transforms it
and transcends it. The Light of the World is a light that is saturated
with the darkness which it has overcome and transfigured.
 
--Felix Adler
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Felix_Adler>

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[Daily article] August 12: Smyth Report Published On

The Smyth Report is the common name of an administrative history written
by physicist Henry DeWolf Smyth about the Manhattan Project, the Allied
effort to develop atomic bombs during World War II. It was released to
the public on August 12, 1945, just days after the atomic bombings of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Smyth was commissioned to write the report by
Major General Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project. The
Smyth Report was the first official account of the development of the
atomic bombs and the basic physical processes behind them. Since
anything in the declassified Smyth Report could be discussed openly, it
focused heavily on basic nuclear physics and other information which was
either already widely known in the scientific community or easily
deducible by a competent scientist. It omitted details about chemistry,
metallurgy, and ordnance, ultimately giving a false impression that the
Manhattan Project was all about physics. The Smyth Report sold almost
127,000 copies in its first eight printings, and was on the New York
Times best-seller list from mid-October 1945 until late January 1946. It
has been translated into over 40 languages.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smyth_Report>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

30 BC:

Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian
Ptolemaic dynasty, committed suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra>

1676:

Puritans and their Native American allies killed Wampanoag
sachem Metacomet (known as "King Philip"), essentially ending King
Philip's War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Philip%27s_War>

1883:

The last known quagga, a subspecies of the plains zebra, died
at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quagga>

1985:

Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed into the ridge of Mount
Takamagahara in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing 520 of 524 on board in
the world's worst single-aircraft aviation disaster.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123>

1990:

American paleontologist Sue Hendrickson found the most complete
skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus ever discovered near Faith, South Dakota,
US.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_(dinosaur)>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

cicada:
Any of several insects in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes
wide apart on the head and transparent, well-veined wings.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cicada>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  No self is of itself alone. It has a long chain of intellectual
ancestors. The "I" is chained to ancestry by many factors ... This is
not mere allegory, but an eternal memory.  
--Erwin Schrödinger
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erwin_Schr%C3%B6dinger>

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[Daily article] August 11: Arbiter (Halo) Published On

The Arbiter is a playable character from the Halo science fiction
universe, first voiced by Keith David in the 2004 video game Halo 2. A
different Arbiter appears in the 2009 real-time strategy game Halo Wars,
voiced by David Sobolov. Although the Arbiter is intended to die serving
the High Prophets, he survives his missions and the Prophets' subsequent
betrayal of his kind. When he learns that the Prophets' plans would doom
all sentient life in the galaxy to extinction, he allies with the
Covenant's enemies—humanity—to stop the Halo from being activated.
The entertainment website IGN lamented the loss of the Arbiter's
storyline in Halo 3, but the Arbiter character was not evenly received
by critics and fans, nor was the humanization of the Covenant in
general. The character's name was changed from "Dervish" to avoid
reinforcing a perceived US-versus-Islam allegory in the game's plot.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbiter_(Halo)>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

3114 BC:

The epoch of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, a non-
repeating, vigesimal calendar used by the Maya civilization and several
other Mesoamerican cultures, occurred.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar>

106:

The region of Dacia, comprising regions of modern Romania,
became a province of the Roman Empire.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Dacia>

1786:

Captain Francis Light founded the British colony of Penang
(City Hall pictured), beginning more than a century of British
involvement in Malaya.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penang>

1828:

William Corder was hanged at Bury St Edmunds, England, for the
murder of Maria Marten at the Red Barn.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Barn_Murder>

1945:

Amid rumors of kidnappings of children by Jews in Kraków, a
crowd of Poles engaged in a pogrom, which resulted in one dead and five
wounded victims.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_pogrom>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

metaknowledge:
1. (philosophy) Knowledge about knowledge itself.
2. (psychology, artificial intelligence) Knowledge about types, domains,
functions, or preconditions of knowledge.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/metaknowledge>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  The world is growing gentle, But few know what she owes To the
understanding lily And the judgment of the rose.  
--Nathalia Crane
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathalia_Crane>

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[Daily article] August 10: Entoloma sinuatum Published On

Entoloma sinuatum is a poisonous mushroom found across Europe and North
America. It is the largest mushroom of the Entoloma genus of pink-spored
fungi. Appearing in late summer and autumn, it is found in or near
deciduous woodlands on clay or chalky soils, sometimes in the form of
fairy rings. The ivory to light grey-brown cap is up to 20 cm (8 in)
across with a margin that is rolled inward. The sinuate gills are pale
and often yellowish, becoming pink as the spores develop. The thick
whitish stem has no ring. When young, it may be mistaken for the edible
St George's mushroom (Calocybe gambosa) or the miller mushroom
(Clitopilus prunulus). It has been responsible for many cases of
mushroom poisoning in Europe, causing primarily gastrointestinal
problems that have been described as highly unpleasant. Delirium and
depression are uncommon chronic side effects. It is generally not
considered to be lethal, although one source has reported deaths from
its consumption.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entoloma_sinuatum>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1512:

War of the League of Cambrai: England and a combined Franco-
Breton fleet engaged in the Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during which an
explosion destroyed each navy's most powerful ship.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Saint-Mathieu>

1793:

The Louvre (Louvre Pyramid pictured), today the world's most
visited museum, officially opened in Paris with an exhibition of 537
paintings.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre>

1864:

After Uruguay's governing Blanco Party refused Brazil's
demands, José Antônio Saraiva announced that the Brazilian military
would begin reprisals, beginning the Uruguayan War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_War>

1953:

First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from
Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central modern-day Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Camargue>

1990:

NASA's Magellan space probe reached Venus on a mission to map
its surface, fifteen months after its launch.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellan_(spacecraft)>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

inside baseball:
1. (US, idiomatic, sports) Technical matters concerning baseball not
apparent to spectators.
2. (US, idiomatic, by extension) Matters of interest only to insiders.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inside_baseball>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Sirs, ye are my men, my companions and friends in this journey:
I require you bring me so far forward, that I may strike one stroke with
my sword.  
--John of Bohemia
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_of_Bohemia>

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[Daily article] August 9: Love the Way You Lie Published On

"Love the Way You Lie" is a song recorded by American rapper Eminem with
Barbadian singer Rihanna, from Eminem's seventh studio album Recovery
(2010). Skylar Grey and Alex da Kid collaborated on a demo of the song,
which compares Grey's life in the music industry with an abusive
romantic relationship. Eminem rewrote the song and asked Rihanna to sing
the chorus, adding his own verses. The song describes two lovers in a
dangerous love–hate relationship who refuse to separate. Backed by
guitar, piano and violin, the track is a midtempo hip hop ballad with a
pop refrain, recorded in Ferndale, Michigan, and Dublin, Ireland. It was
released as the second single from Recovery in 2010. Critics praised its
melody but were divided over its representation of domestic violence.
Its accompanying music video, directed by Joseph Kahn, stars Dominic
Monaghan and Megan Fox in a violent relationship, and shows Eminem and
Rihanna in front of a burning house. Critics listed "Love the Way You
Lie" as one of the best of the year. Eminem's best-selling single, it
received several awards and five Grammy nominations.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_the_Way_You_Lie>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1173:

Construction began on a campanile, which would eventually
become the Leaning Tower of Pisa (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa>

1877:

Nez Perce War: Both Nez Perce and United States Army sides
suffered numerous casualties as they fought to a stalemate in the Battle
of the Big Hole.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Big_Hole>

1902:

Edward VII and Alexandra of Denmark were crowned King and Queen
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_of_Denmark>

1965:

Malaysia expelled the state of Singapore from its federation
due to heated ideological conflict between their respective ruling
parties.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore>

2006:

British police arrested 24 people for conspiring to detonate
liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airliners travelling from
the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_plot>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

lah:
1. (Manglish and Singlish) Placed at the end of a sentence either for
emphasis or reassurance.
2. Don't think so much lah!
3. It's okay lah (It's all right. Don't worry about it.).
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lah>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  If I had foreseen Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I would have torn up
my formula in 1905.  
--Albert Einstein
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein>

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[Daily article] August 8: SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm Published On

SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm ("His Majesty's Ship Elector Friedrich
Wilhelm") was one of the first ocean-going battleships of the Imperial
German Navy, the fourth pre-dreadnought of the Brandenburg class. She
was laid down in 1890 in the Imperial Dockyard in Wilhelmshaven,
launched in 1891, and completed in 1893 at a cost of 11.23 million
Marks. She served as the flagship of the Imperial fleet from her
commissioning until 1900, seeing limited active duty during the
relatively peaceful late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her career
focused on training exercises and goodwill visits to foreign ports. She
saw only one major overseas deployment, to China in 1900 and 1901,
during the Boxer Rebellion. The ship underwent a major modernization in
1904 and 1905. In 1910, Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm was sold to the
Ottoman Empire and renamed Barbaros Hayreddin. She saw heavy service
during the Balkan Wars, primarily providing artillery support to ground
forces in Thrace. In a state of severe disrepair, the old battleship was
partially disarmed after the Ottoman Empire joined World War I's Central
Powers. On 8 August 1915 the ship was torpedoed and sunk off the
Dardanelles with heavy loss of life.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_Kurf%C3%BCrst_Friedrich_Wilhelm>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1576:

The cornerstone of Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe's observatory
Uraniborg was laid on the island of Hven.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uraniborg>

1918:

The Battle of Amiens began in Amiens, France, marking the start
of the Allied Powers' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front
lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Amiens_(1918)>

1969:

At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan took
the photo that was used for the cover of the Beatles album Abbey Road,
one of the most famous album covers in recording history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road>

1988:

A series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and riots, which
became known as the 8888 Uprising, began against the one-party state of
the Burma Socialist Programme Party.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8888_Uprising>

2010:

A massive mudslide of 1.8 million cubic metres
(2,400,000 cu yd) of mud and rocks in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, China, killed 1,471 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Gansu_mudslide>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

levant:
To abscond or run away, especially to avoid paying money or debts..
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/levant>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Our technical civilization has just reached its greatest level
of savagery. We will have to choose, in the more or less near future,
between collective suicide and the intelligent use of our scientific
conquests. … Let us be understood. If the Japanese surrender after the
destruction of Hiroshima, having been intimidated, we will rejoice. But
we refuse to see anything in such grave news other than the need to
argue more energetically in favor of a true international society, in
which the great powers will not have superior rights over small and
middle-sized nations, where such an ultimate weapon will be controlled
by human intelligence rather than by the appetites and doctrines of
various states. Before the terrifying prospects now available to
humanity, we see even more clearly that peace is the only goal worth
struggling for. This is no longer a prayer but a demand to be made by
all peoples to their governments — a demand to choose definitively
between hell and reason.  
--Albert Camus
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Camus>

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[Daily article] August 7: Hurricane Diane Published On

Hurricane Diane, the most destructive storm of the 1955 Atlantic
hurricane season, formed on August 7 and reached peak sustained winds
of 105 mph (170 km/h) as a Category 2 hurricane five days later.
Gradually weakening, it made landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina,
as a strong tropical storm on August 17, just five days after Hurricane
Connie struck near the same area. After Diane turned northeast, its rain
clouds were amplified by moisture coming off warm Atlantic waters.
Eastern Pennsylvania suffered record floods, largely in the Poconos and
along the Delaware River, that killed 101 people and breached or
destroyed 30 dams. Damage was heaviest in Connecticut, where rainfall
peaked at 16.86 inches (428 mm); the storm effectively split the state
in two by destroying bridges and cutting communications, flooding all
major streams and valleys. Record-high tides and flooded rivers heavily
damaged Woonsocket, Rhode Island. In Massachusetts, floodwater levels
surpassed those during the 1938 Long Island hurricane, breaching
multiple dams. Nationwide, Diane killed at least 184 people and
destroyed or damaged 15,000 homes. Losses, including lost revenue,
topped $1 billion. In the hurricane's wake, eight states were declared
federal disaster areas, and the name Diane was retired.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Diane>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1461:

Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the
Tianshun Emperor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_of_Cao_Qin>

1679:

Le Griffon, a brigantine built by René-Robert de La Salle,
became the first sailing ship to navigate the upper Great Lakes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Griffon>

1933:

An estimated 3,000 Assyrians were slaughtered by Iraqi troops
during the Simele massacre in the Dahuk and Mosul districts.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simele_massacre>

1985:

In Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, England, a local magistrate and
his family were murdered in what The Times described as "a classic
whodunit".
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Farm_murders>

1999:

The Chechnya-based Islamist militia group Islamic International
Brigade invaded the neighbouring Russian republic of Dagestan in support
of the Shura of Dagestan separatist movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Dagestan>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

green gown:
(now archaic, historical) A dress that has been stained green from
rolling in the grass; generally with allusion to sexual activity,
especially a woman's loss of virginity.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/green_gown>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on
Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more
power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than two thousand times the
blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the largest bomb ever
yet used in the history of warfare. The Japanese began the war from the
air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold. And the end is not
yet. With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase
in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces. In
their present form these bombs are now in production and even more
powerful forms are in development. It is an atomic bomb. It is a
harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the
sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the
Far East.… The fact that we can release atomic energy ushers in a new
era in man's understanding of nature's forces.  
--Harry S. Truman
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman>

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