[Daily article] February 29: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke Published On

Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978),
was a landmark Supreme Court decision upholding affirmative action. It
found diversity in the classroom to be a compelling state interest and
allowed race to be one of several factors in college admission policy,
but rejected specific quotas, such as the 16 out of 100 seats set aside
for minority students by the UC Davis School of Medicine. Although the
court had outlawed segregation in schools, it had not resolved the
legality of voluntary affirmative action programs initiated by
universities. Proponents deemed such programs necessary to make up for
past discrimination, while opponents believed they violated the Equal
Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The case fractured the
court: the nine justices issued a total of six opinions. The judgment of
the court was written by Justice Lewis Powell, and two different blocs
of four justices joined various parts of Powell's opinion. The decision
had little practical effect on most affirmative action programs. In 2003
the court upheld Powell's position in a majority opinion in Grutter v.
Bollinger.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1752:

Alaungpaya, a village chief in Upper Burma, founded the
Konbaung Dynasty; by the time of his death, he had unified all of
Myanmar, and driven out the French and the British.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaungpaya>

1768:

A group of Polish nobles established the Bar Confederation to
defend the internal and external independence of the Polish–Lithuanian
Commonwealth against Russian influence and against King Stanisław II
Augustus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar_Confederation>

1944:

The Admiralty Islands campaign during the Pacific War of World
War II began when American forces assaulted Los Negros Island, the
third largest of the Admiralty Islands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiralty_Islands_campaign>

1960:

Morocco's deadliest earthquake struck the city of Agadir,
killing at least 12,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_Agadir_earthquake>

2012:

Construction of Tokyo Skytree, the world's tallest tower and
second-tallest structure, was completed.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Skytree>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

leap day:
The extra day in a leap year, currently February 29th in countries that
use the Gregorian calendar and February 24th in the few communities
using the Julian calendar.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/leap_day>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  The Church is indeed, in its real Intent, An Assembly where
Nothing but Friendship is meant; And the utter Extinction of Foeship and
Wrath By the Working of Love in the Strength of its Faith. This gives it
its holy and catholic Name, And truly confirms its apostolic Claim;
Showing what the One Saviour's One Mission had been: "Go and teach all
the World," — every Creature therein. In the Praise ever due to the
Gospel of Grace Its Universality holds the first Place.  
--John Byrom
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Byrom>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 28: Pictor Published On

Pictor (Latin for "painter") is a small faint constellation between the
brilliant star Canopus and the Large Magellanic Cloud in the Southern
Celestial Hemisphere. Normally represented as an easel, Pictor was
invented and named by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. The
constellation's brightest star is Alpha Pictoris, a white main sequence
star of apparent magnitude 3.3. Pictor also hosts RR Pictoris, a
cataclysmic variable star system that flared up as a nova in 1925,
reaching magnitude 1.2. Pictor's second-brightest star, Beta Pictoris,
is surrounded by an unusual dust disk rich in carbon. HD 40307, an
orange dwarf, has six planets orbiting it, one of which—HD 40307
g—is a potential super-Earth in the circumstellar habitable zone.
Kapteyn's Star, the nearest star in Pictor to Earth, is a red dwarf
12.76 light-years away that was found to have two super-Earths in orbit
in 2014. Pictor A is a radio galaxy that is shooting a jet of plasma
800,000 light-years long from a supermassive black hole at its centre.
In 2006, a gamma ray burst—GRB 060729—was observed in Pictor; its
X-ray afterglow was detectable for nearly two years afterwards.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1874:

In one of the longest cases ever heard in an English court, the
defendant was convicted of perjury for attempting to assume the identity
of the heir to the Tichborne baronetcy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tichborne_case>

1893:

USS Indiana, the lead ship of her class and the first
battleship in the United States Navy comparable to foreign battleships
of the time, was launched.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Indiana_(BB-1)>

1914:

In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, Greeks living in southern
Albania proclaimed the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Republic_of_Northern_Epirus>

1986:

Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated by a lone
gunman in Stockholm while walking home from a movie theatre with his
wife Lisbet Palme.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme>

2002:

During the 2002 Gujarat violence in India, mobs of Hindus
attacked Muslims in Naroda Patiya and Chamanpura, resulting in 166
deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulbarg_Society_massacre>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

unbirthday:
A day that is not one's birthday but is celebrated as though it were
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unbirthday>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Wherever your life ends, it is all there. The advantage of living
is not measured by length, but by use; some men have lived long, and
lived little; attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will,
not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough.  
--Michel de Montaigne
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 27: Arthur W. Radford Published On

Arthur W. Radford (1896–1973) was a U.S. Navy admiral and naval
aviator. In over 40 years of military service, he held a variety of
posts including Vice Chief of Naval Operations, commander of the Pacific
Fleet and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Radford's first sea
duty was aboard the battleship USS South Carolina during World War I.
In the first years of World War II, he was the architect of the navy's
aviator training programs. In its final years he commanded aircraft
carrier divisions through several campaigns of the Pacific War. Noted as
a strong-willed and aggressive leader, Radford was a central figure in
the post-war debates on U.S. military policy, and was a staunch
proponent of naval aviation. He defended the Navy's interests in an era
of shrinking defense budgets during the 1949 "Revolt of the Admirals", a
contentious public fight over policy. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs,
he advocated a strong nuclear deterrent in support of the New Look
policy of President Dwight Eisenhower. He retired from the military in
1957. He was the namesake of the Spruance-class destroyer USS Arthur W.
Radford.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1560:

The Treaty of Berwick was signed, setting the terms under which
an English fleet and army could enter Scotland to expel French troops
defending the Regency of Mary of Guise (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Berwick_(1560)>

1870:

The current flag of Japan was first adopted as the national
flag for Japanese merchant ships.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Japan>

1940:

American biochemists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered the
radioactive isotope carbon-14, which today is used extensively as the
basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological,
geological, and hydrogeological samples.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-14>

1996:

The media franchise Pokémon was launched with the release of
the first version of the video game Pocket Monsters Aka and Midori.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon>

2015:

Russian statesman and politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated
in central Moscow while returning from a meal out.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Boris_Nemtsov>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

vituperation:
1. The act of vituperating; severely blaming or censuring.
2. Criticism or invective which is sustained and considered to be overly
harsh; abuse, severe blame or censure.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vituperation>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  In uncertainty I am certain that underneath their topmost layers
of frailty men want to be good and want to be loved. Indeed, most of
their vices are attempted short cuts to love. When a man comes to die,
no matter what his talents and influence and genius, if he dies unloved
his life must be a failure to him and his dying a cold horror. It seems
to me that if you or I must choose between two courses of thought or
action, we should remember our dying and try so to live that our death
brings no pleasure to the world. We have only one story. All novels, all
poetry, are built on the never-ending contest in ourselves of good and
evil. And it occurs to me that evil must constantly respawn, while good,
while virtue, is immortal. Vice has always a new fresh young face, while
virtue is venerable as nothing else in the world is.  
--East of Eden
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/East_of_Eden_(novel)>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 26: Halo Wars Published On

Halo Wars (released 2009) is a real-time strategy video game developed
by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox
360 video game console. The game is set in the science fiction universe
of the Halo series in the year 2531, 21 years before the events of Halo:
Combat Evolved. The player leads human soldiers aboard the warship
Spirit of Fire in an effort to stop an ancient fleet of ships from
falling into the hands of the genocidal alien Covenant. Halo Wars was
unveiled at the 2006 X06 Xbox show. Ensemble was closed by Microsoft
before the game's release, but Robot Entertainment was founded soon
after by many of Ensemble's former employees; this new company continued
to support Halo Wars with updates and downloadable content. The game
received generally positive reviews. Reviewers lauded the game's pre-
rendered cinematics, attention to detail in replicating the Halo
universe, and intuitive control scheme. Complaints against the game
included the lack of an option to play as the Covenant faction in
campaign mode as well as the lack of strategic options during play. The
game sold one million units worldwide through March 2009.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

747 BC:

According to Ptolemy, the reign of the Babylonian king
Nabonassar began and with it, a new era characterized by the systematic
maintenance of chronologically precise historical records.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonassar>

1233:

Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols captured Kaifeng, the capital of
the Jin dynasty, after besieging it for months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_siege_of_Kaifeng>

1936:

Over 1400 troops of the Imperial Japanese Army staged a coup
d'etat in Japan, occupying Tokyo, and killing Finance Minister Takahashi
Korekiyo and several other leading politicians.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_26_Incident>

1991:

British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee introduced
WorldWideWeb, the world's first web browser and WYSIWYG HTML editor.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WorldWideWeb>

2008:

In the first significant cultural visit from the United States
to North Korea since the Korean War, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra
performed in East Pyongyang Grand Theatre.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_New_York_Philharmonic_visit_to_North_Korea>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

piquant:
1. Engaging; charming.
2. Favorably stimulating to the palate; pleasantly spicy; stimulating.
3. (archaic) Causing hurt feelings; scathing.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/piquant>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Would you realize what Revolution is, call it Progress; and would
you realize what Progress is, call it Tomorrow.  
--Les Misérables
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Les_Mis%C3%A9rables>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 25: African river martin Published On

The African river martin (Pseudochelidon eurystomina) is a perching
bird, one of two members of the river martin subfamily of the swallow
family, Hirundinidae. First described by German zoologist Gustav
Hartlaub in 1861, the African river martin was not at first recognised
as a swallow, but was later placed in a separate subfamily shared with
the Asian white-eyed river martin. A large swallow with a variety of
unmusical calls, it is mainly black with a blue-green gloss to the head
and a greener tint to the back and wings, and has red eyes, a broad
orange-red bill and a square black tail. Young birds are similar in
appearance, but with browner plumage. It displays both in flight and on
the ground. The main breeding areas are in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo along the Congo River and its tributary, the Ubangi, in
habitats characterised by a mixture of tropical forest types including
swampy or seasonally flooded woodland. The African river martin is
migratory, wintering in coastal savanna in southern Gabon and the
Republic of the Congo. It nests in burrows in sand banks, and in winter
digs tunnels for night-time shelter.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

628:

Khosrow II, the last great king of the Sasanian Empire, was
overthrown by his son Kavadh II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khosrow_II>

1570:

Pope Pius V issued the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis to
excommunicate Queen Elizabeth I and her followers in the Church of
England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regnans_in_Excelsis>

1870:

Representing Mississippi in the Senate, Hiram Rhodes Revels
became the first African American to serve in the United States
Congress.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Rhodes_Revels>

1956:

In his speech "On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences"
to the 20th Party Congress, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev denounced
the personality cult and dictatorship of his predecessor Joseph Stalin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Cult_of_Personality_and_Its_Consequences>

1986:

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda were
ousted from power by the non-violent People Power Revolution, with
Corazon Aquino taking over the government.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Power_Revolution>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

satisfice:
(social sciences, intransitive) Of human behavior: to make a choice that
suffices to fulfill the minimum requirements to achieve an objective,
without special regard for utility maximization or optimization of one's
preferences.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/satisfice>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  I look at you all — see the love there that's sleeping While my
guitar gently weeps.  
--George Harrison
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Harrison>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 24: Æthelberht of Kent Published On

Æthelberht was King of Kent from about 589 until his death on 24
February 616. Bede lists him in the Ecclesiastical History of the
English People as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon
kingdoms, and he is called a bretwalda or "Britain-ruler" in the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle. Æthelberht's law, the earliest written code in any
Germanic language, instituted a complex system of fines. Coins may have
begun to circulate in Kent during his reign for the first time since the
Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. His marriage to Bertha, the Christian
daughter of Charibert, king of the Franks, built an alliance with the
most powerful Western European state. Æthelberht became the first
English king to convert to Christianity, shortly after the arrival of
Pope Gregory I's missionary Augustine in 597. Churches were established,
and wider-scale conversion to the religion began in the kingdom.
Æthelberht provided the new church with land in Canterbury, thus
establishing one of the foundation stones of what ultimately became the
Anglican church. He later came to be regarded as a saint; his feast day
is 25 February.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%86thelberht_of_Kent>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1525:

A Spanish-Imperial army defeated a French force in the Battle
of Pavia, the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–26.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pavia>

1711:

George Frideric Handel's Rinaldo, the first Italian language
opera written specifically for the London stage, premiered.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinaldo_(opera)>

1822:

The first Swaminarayan temple, Swaminarayan Mandir in present-
day Ahmedabad, India, was inaugurated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalupur_Swaminarayan_Mandir>

1946:

Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that
became known as Peronism, was elected to his first term as President of
Argentina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%B3n>

2006:

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state
of emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_state_of_emergency_in_the_Philippines>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

riven:
1. Torn apart.
2. Broken into pieces; split asunder.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/riven>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  The United States was made by men of all races and colors, not for
white men, but for the refuge and defense of man. If it does not rest
upon the natural rights of man, it rests nowhere. If it does not exist
by the consent of governed then any exclusion is possible, and it is a
shorter step from an exclusive white man's government to an exclusively
rich white man's government, than it is from a system for mankind to one
for white men. The spirit which excludes some men today because they are
of a certain color, may exclude others tomorrow because they are of a
certain poverty or a certain church or a certain birthplace. There is no
safety, no guarantee, no security in a prejudice. If we build strong and
long, we must build upon moral principle.  
--George William Curtis
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_William_Curtis>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 23: Early life and military career of John McCain Published On

The military career of John McCain included attack aircraft missions as
a naval aviator in the Vietnam War followed by internment for more than
five years as a prisoner of war. His father and grandfather were
admirals in the United States Navy. Born in 1936 in the Panama Canal
Zone, McCain graduated in 1958 from the U.S. Naval Academy, where his
rebellious attitude resulted in a low standing. Off the coast of
Vietnam, he narrowly escaped death in the 1967 Forrestal fire. On a
bombing mission in October 1967, he was shot down over Hanoi and badly
injured in the crash before enduring periods of torture as a prisoner of
war. In 1968, he refused a North Vietnamese offer of early release,
because it would have meant leaving before other prisoners who had been
held longer. He was released in 1973 after the Paris Peace Accords. Upon
his return, McCain studied at the National War College and commanded a
large training squadron in Florida. In 1979 he was promoted to captain
and became the director of the navy's Senate Liaison Office. McCain has
been a U.S. Senator from Arizona since 1987, and was the Republican
nominee in the 2008 presidential election.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1885:

Sino-French War: France gained an important victory in the
Battle of Đồng Đăng in the Tonkin region of what is now Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_%C4%90%E1%BB%93ng_%C4%90%C4%83ng>

1927:

German theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg wrote a letter
to fellow physicist Wolfgang Pauli in which he described his uncertainty
principle for the first time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg>

1941:

Plutonium was first chemically identified by chemist Glenn T.
Seaborg and his team at the University of California, Berkeley.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium>

1987:

Light from the supernova SN 1987A (remnant pictured) in the
Large Magellanic Cloud reached the Earth.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A>

2007:

A Virgin Trains Pendolino express train from London Euston to
Glasgow Central derailed near Grayrigg, Cumbria, UK, killing one person
and injuring 22.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grayrigg_derailment>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

apace:
Quickly, rapidly, with speed.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apace>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Herein lies the tragedy of the age: not that men are poor,— all
men know something of poverty; not that men are wicked — who is good?
not that men are ignorant, — what is Truth? Nay, but that men know so
little of men.  
--W. E. B. Du Bois
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 22: Banksia aemula Published On

Banksia aemula, commonly known as the wallum banksia, is a shrub of the
family Proteaceae. Found from Bundaberg south to Sydney on the
Australian east coast, it is encountered as a shrub or a tree up to 8 m
(26 ft) tall in coastal heath on deep sandy soil known as Wallum. It
has wrinkled orange bark and shiny green serrated leaves, with green-
yellow flower spikes, called inflorescences, appearing in autumn. The
flower spikes turn grey as they age and large grey follicles appear. B.
aemula resprouts from its woody lignotuber after bushfires. Aemula,
Latin for "similar", comes from its resemblance to the closely related
Banksia serrata. First described by the botanist Robert Brown in the
early 19th century, it was known for many years in New South Wales as
Banksia serratifolia. This name, originally coined by Richard Anthony
Salisbury, proved invalid, and since 1981 Banksia aemula has been
accepted as the scientific name. A wide array of mammals, invertebrates,
and birds, particularly honeyeaters, visit the inflorescences and are
instrumental in pollination. It is grown as a garden plant, but less
commonly than B. serrata.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1316:

The forces of the infante Ferdinand of Majorca fought against
those loyal to Princess Matilda of Hainaut in the Battle of Picotin on
the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Picotin>

1744:

War of the Austrian Succession: British ships began attacking
the Spanish rear of a Franco-Spanish combined fleet in the Mediterranean
Sea off the coast near Toulon, France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Toulon_(1744)>

1899:

Philippine–American War: Filipino forces launched their first
counterattack in a failed attempt aimed at recapturing Manila from the
Americans.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Caloocan>

1958:

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Syrian President
Shukri al-Quwatli signed a union pact to form the United Arab Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Republic>

2006:

At least six men staged Britain's biggest cash robbery ever at
a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, Kent.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securitas_depot_robbery>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

usurious:
1. Of or pertaining to usury.
2. Exorbitant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/usurious>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and
respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations
And Religions; whom we shall wellcome to a participation of all our
rights and previleges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they
appear to merit the enjoyment.  
--George Washington
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 21: Anarky Published On

Anarky is a fictional character in comic books published by DC Comics.
Co-created by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle, he first appeared in
Detective Comics No. 608 (November 1989), as an adversary of Batman. A
former child prodigy driven to overthrow governments to improve social
conditions, he has espoused environmentalism, antimilitarism, economic
equality, and especially anti-statism. Anarky was used as a sporadically
recurring character throughout the early 1990s, following a positive
reception by readers, and experienced a brief surge in media exposure
during the late 1990s. The 1997 spin-off series Anarky generated
positive reviews. In 2008, he reappeared in an issue of Robin, and then
became a recurring character in issues of Red Robin, authored by Fabian
Nicieza, until the series was cancelled in 2011. Since 2013 Anarky has
been featured more heavily in media adaptations of DC Comics properties,
across multiple platforms. He made his live action debut in 2015 in
Arrow, a television series based on the Green Arrow character, where he
was portrayed by Alexander Calvert, once again as a villain.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1543:

Led by the Ethiopian Emperor Galawdewos, the combined army of
Ethiopian and Portuguese troops defeated a Muslim army led by Imam Ahmad
ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wayna_Daga>

1804:

Built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, the first self-
propelled steam locomotive first ran in Wales.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_locomotive>

1919:

Bavarian socialist Kurt Eisner, who had organized the German
Revolution that overthrew the Wittelsbach monarchy and established
Bavaria as a republic, was assassinated.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Eisner>

1958:

British artist Gerald Holtom designed a logo for the Campaign
for Nuclear Disarmament that became internationally recognised as the
peace sign.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_symbols>

1973:

After accidentally having strayed into Israeli airspace, Libyan
Arab Airlines Flight 114 was shot down by two Israeli fighter aircraft.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libyan_Arab_Airlines_Flight_114>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

unicameral:
1. Of, or having, a single legislative chamber.
2. (linguistics, of a script) Making no distinction between upper and lower
case, but rather having only one case.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unicameral>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Loving other people starts with loving ourselves and accepting
ourselves. I know many of you have struggled with this. I draw upon your
strength and your support, and have, in ways you will never know. I'm
here today because I am gay. And because… maybe I can make a
difference. To help others have an easier and more hopeful time.
Regardless, for me, I feel a personal obligation and a social
responsibility. I also do it selfishly, because I am tired of hiding
and I am tired of lying by omission. I suffered for years because I was
scared to be out. My spirit suffered, my mental health suffered and my
relationships suffered. And I'm standing here today, with all of you,
on the other side of all that pain.  
--Ellen Page
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ellen_Page>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 20: Rehab (Rihanna song) Published On

"Rehab" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna (pictured) for
her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007). Def Jam Recordings
serviced the song to contemporary hit radio in the United States on
October 6, 2008, as the eighth and final single from the album, and
released it in Britain as a CD single on December 8. Development of
"Rehab" began while Rihanna was accompanying Timbaland on Justin
Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour in 2007. Timberlake wrote the song
in collaboration with its producers, Hannon Lane and Timbaland, and
provided additional vocals. It is a mid-paced R&B; song with an
emotional, melancholy chorus; the lyrics are about the protagonist's
painful memories of her former lover, who is portrayed metaphorically as
a disease. Critics were divided on the song's production and
composition, some comparing the structure to that of Timberlake's 2007
single "What Goes Around... Comes Around". The accompanying music video,
directed by Anthony Mandler, was shot in Vasquez Rocks Park near Los
Angeles, and won the Urban Music Award for Best Music Video.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rehab_(Rihanna_song)>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1816:

Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa The Barber of
Seville was hissed by the audience during its debut at the Teatro
Argentina in Rome.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barber_of_Seville>

1872:

New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, today the largest
art museum in the United States with a collection of over two million
works of art, opened.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art>

1959:

The Canadian government under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
cancelled the Avro CF-105 Arrow interceptor aircraft program amid much
political debate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow>

1988:

The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted to secede from
Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_War>

2009:

The Tamil Tigers attempted to crash two aircraft packed with
C-4 in suicide attacks on Colombo, Sri Lanka, but the planes were shot
down before they reached their targets.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_suicide_air_raid_on_Colombo>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

venire:
1. (law) A writ of venire facias.
2. (law, chiefly US) A group of persons summoned by a writ of venire
facias to appear in court for jury selection.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/venire>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Nature has two voices, the one high, the other low; one is in
sweet accord with reason and justice, and the other apparently at war
with both. The more men know of the essential nature of things, and of
the true relation of mankind, the freer they are from prejudice of every
kind. The child is afraid of the giant form of his own shadow. This is
natural, but he will part with his fears when he is older and wiser. So
ignorance is full of prejudice, but it will disappear with
enlightenment.  
--Frederick Douglass
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 19: Battle of Kalavrye Published On

The Battle of Kalavrye was fought in 1078 between the Byzantine imperial
forces of general (and future emperor) Alexios Komnenos (pictured) and a
force led by the rebellious governor of Dyrrhachium, Nikephoros
Bryennios the Elder. Bryennios had rebelled against Michael VII Doukas
(reigned 1071–78) and had won over the allegiance of the Byzantine
army's regular regiments in the Balkans. Even after Doukas's overthrow
by Nikephoros III Botaneiates (r. 1078–81), Bryennios continued his
revolt, threatening Constantinople. After failed negotiations,
Botaneiates sent the young general Alexios Komnenos to confront him. The
two armies clashed at Kalavrye on the Halmyros river. Komnenos, whose
army was considerably smaller and far less experienced, tried but failed
to ambush Bryennios's army, which in turn fell into disorder after its
own Pecheneg allies attacked its camp. Reinforced by Turkish
mercenaries, Alexios lured the troops of Bryennios into another ambush
through a feigned retreat. The rebel army broke, and Bryennios himself
was captured. This is one of the few battles that was described in
detail by Byzantine sources.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1674:

The Third Anglo-Dutch War ended with the signing of the Treaty
of Westminster, with England regaining New York, and the Netherlands
taking Suriname.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Dutch_War>

1811:

Peninsular War: An outnumbered French force under Édouard
Mortier routed and nearly destroyed the Spanish at the Battle of the
Gebora near Badajoz, Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Gebora>

1942:

World War II: US President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forcible relocation of over
112,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese people residing in the United
States to internment camps (Manzanar War Relocation Center pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans>

1986:

The first module of the Soviet space station Mir was launched,
establishing the first long-term research station in space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir>

2006:

A methane explosion in a coal mine in Nueva Rosita, Mexico,
trapped and killed 65 miners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta_de_Conchos_mine_disaster>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

tendentious:
1. Having a tendency; written or spoken with a partisan, biased or
prejudiced purpose, especially a controversial one.
2. Implicitly or explicitly slanted.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tendentious>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  When I want something to happen — or not happen — I begin to
look at all events and all things as relevant, an opportunity to take or
avoid.  
--Amy Tan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amy_Tan>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 18: 2012 Budweiser Shootout Published On

The 2012 Budweiser Shootout was the first exhibition stock car race of
the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was held on February 18, 2012,
before a crowd of 82,000 in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the Daytona
International Speedway, one of six superspeedways to hold NASCAR races.
The 82-lap race was won by Kyle Busch (pictured) of the Joe Gibbs Racing
team. It was Busch's first victory in the event; Tony Stewart finished
second and Marcos Ambrose came in third. The race saw twenty-six lead
changes, shared among thirteen drivers. Before the first turn, pole
position driver Martin Truex, Jr. was passed by Jeff Gordon, and at the
end of the first lap, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. led. On the ninth lap, a
multiple-car accident prompted the first caution flag. Sixteen laps
later the second caution was issued, with Jamie McMurray leading. During
the caution period, all teams made pit stops. On lap 62 Gordon reclaimed
the lead and held it until his car hit the wall and rolled over,
prompting the fifth and final caution. Stewart took the lead, but in the
final lap, Busch passed him to win. The race attracted 7.46 million
television viewers.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Budweiser_Shootout>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1766:

A mutiny by captive Malagasy began at sea on the slave ship
Meermin, leading to the ship's destruction on Cape Agulhas in present-
day South Africa and the recapture of the instigators.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meermin_slave_mutiny>

1878:

Competition between two merchants in Lincoln County, New Mexico
Territory, US, turned into a range war when a member of one faction was
murdered by the other.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_County_War>

1943:

Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister, delivered the
"total war speech" to motivate the German people when the tide of World
War II was turning against Germany.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportpalast_speech>

1977:

NASA's first Space Shuttle, Enterprise, made its first "flight"
atop a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Enterprise>

2010:

Rebels attacked the presidential palace in Niamey, Niger, and
replaced President Mamadou Tandja with a ruling junta, the Supreme
Council for the Restoration of Democracy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Nigerien_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

quoit:
1. A flat disc of metal or stone thrown at a target in the game of quoits.
2. A ring of rubber or rope similarly used in the game of deck-quoits.
3. The flat stone covering a cromlech.
4. The discus used in ancient sports.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quoit>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream
together is reality.  
--Yoko Ono
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yoko_Ono>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 17: Myles Standish Published On

Myles Standish (c. 1584 – 1656) was an English military officer hired
by the Pilgrims as military advisor for the Plymouth Colony. One of the
Mayflower passengers, Standish played a leading role in the
administration and defense of the colony from its inception. On February
17, 1621, the colony militia elected him as its first commander and
continued to re-elect him to that position for the remainder of his
life. He served as an agent of Plymouth Colony in England, and as
assistant governor and treasurer of the colony. He was also one of the
first settlers and founders of the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts. As a
military leader, Standish favored preemptive action, sometimes angering
Native Americans and disturbing more moderate members of the colony. By
the 1640s, he relinquished his role as an active soldier and settled
into a quieter life on his Duxbury farm. Several towns and military
installations have been named for Standish, and monuments have been
built in his memory. The popularity of the fictionalized book The
Courtship of Miles Standish by H.W. Longfellow helped to cement the
Pilgrim story in US culture.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1801:

The U.S. House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson as
President and Aaron Burr as Vice President, resolving an electoral tie
in the 1800 presidential election.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1800>

1859:

The French Navy captured the Citadel of Saigon, a fortress that
was manned by 1,000 Nguyễn Dynasty soldiers, en route to conquering
Saigon and other regions of southern Vietnam.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadel_of_Saigon>

1904:

Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly (Geraldine
Farrar in the title role pictured) premiered at La Scala in Milan,
generating negative reviews that forced him to rewrite the opera.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madama_Butterfly>

1959:

Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, was launched to
measure cloud cover distribution.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_2>

2006:

A massive landslide in the Philippine province of Southern
Leyte killed over 1,000 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Southern_Leyte_mudslide>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

suzerainty:
1. A relation between states in which a subservient nation has its own
government, but is unable to take international action independent of
the superior state; a similar relationship between other entities.
2. The status or power of a suzerain.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/suzerainty>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  While the broad principles of democracy are universal, the fact
remains that their application varies considerably … We are at the
beginning of the road, at the very beginning. We still have a long way
to go.  
--Boutros Boutros-Ghali
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Boutros_Boutros-Ghali>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 16: Fort Yellowstone Published On

Fort Yellowstone was established as a U.S. Army cavalry post in 1891 at
Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. The army administered
the park from then until 1918 when it was transferred to the newly
created National Park Service. The first structures (1891–1897) were
mainly wood-framed buildings in what has been called the "cottage
style", some with Colonial Revival elements. Later structures
(1908–1913), including the current park headquarters and the Horace
Albright Visitor Center, were primarily built from locally quarried
sandstone, and many of these are still in use as administrative offices,
residences for National Park Service employees, and museums. The army
left a legacy of policies and practices that served as precedents for
the National Park Service's management of national parks, including
wildlife management, protection of natural features, and prosecution of
illegal activities. A version of the campaign hat worn by members of the
army during the last years of their management of Yellowstone National
Park was adopted by the National Park Service's Park Rangers.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1270:

Livonian Crusade: In the Battle of Karuse, the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania achieved a decisive victory over the Livonian Order on the
frozen surface of the Baltic Sea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karuse>

1804:

United States Navy Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid to
destroy the captured USS Philadelphia in Tripoli, denying her use to the
Barbary States in the First Barbary War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Philadelphia_(1799)>

1918:

The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence of
Lithuania, proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania
governed by democratic principles, despite the presence of German troops
in the country during World War I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Independence_of_Lithuania>

1946:

The Sikorsky S-51, the first helicopter to be built for
civilian instead of military use, made its first flight.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_H-5>

1983:

The Ash Wednesday bushfires burned 513,979 acres (2,080 km2)
in South Australia and 518,921 acres (2,100 km2) in Victoria, killing
75 people and injuring 2,676 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_Wednesday_bushfires>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

finitary:
1. Of a function, taking a finite number of arguments to produce an output.
2. (logic) Pertaining to finite-length proofs, each using a finite set of
axioms.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/finitary>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  I know of nothing useful in life except what is beautiful or
creates beauty.  
--Henry Adams
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Adams>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 15: Chester A. Arthur Published On

Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886) was the 21st President of the United
States, from 1881 to 1885. After practicing law in New York City, he
served as quartermaster general in the New York Militia during the
American Civil War. Rising quickly in the Republican political machine
run by Senator Roscoe Conkling, he was appointed to the lucrative post
of Collector of the Port of New York in 1871. In 1878 the new president,
Rutherford B. Hayes, fired Arthur as part of a reform measure. When
James Garfield won the Republican nomination for president in 1880,
Arthur was nominated for vice president to balance the ticket. After
Garfield's assassination, Arthur took up the cause of reform, supporting
the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. He presided over the rebirth of
the U.S. Navy but was criticized for failing to alleviate a growing
federal budget surplus. Suffering from poor health, Arthur retired at
the close of his term. Journalist Alexander McClure later wrote, "No man
ever entered the Presidency so profoundly and widely distrusted as
Chester Alan Arthur, and no one ever retired ... more generally
respected, alike by political friend and foe." (Full article...).

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1898:

The United States Navy battleship USS Maine exploded and sank
in Havana, Cuba, killing more than 260 people and precipitating the
Spanish–American War.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(ACR-1)>

1900:

Second Boer War: British cavalry under Major-General John
French defeated Boer forces to end a 124-day siege of Kimberley,
present-day South Africa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Kimberley>

1954:

The Canadian and American governments agreed to jointly build
the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line), a line of radar stations
running across the high Arctic (radar station pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distant_Early_Warning_Line>

1976:

The current Constitution of Cuba, providing for a system of
government and law based on those of the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc
countries, was adopted by a national referendum.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_Cuba>

2003:

In one of the largest anti-war rallies in history, millions
around the world in approximately 800 cities took part in protests
against the impending invasion of Iraq.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_15,_2003,_anti-war_protests>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

voluntourist:
A tourist who takes part in voluntourism.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/voluntourist>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Life is too short to pursue every human act to its most remote
consequences; "for want of a nail, a kingdom was lost" is a commentary
on fate, not the statement of a major cause of action against a
blacksmith.  
--Antonin Scalia
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Antonin_Scalia>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 14: Asmara Moerni Published On

Asmara Moerni (Indonesian for True Love) is a 1941 romance film from the
Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) produced by Ang Hock Liem for Union
Films. The film was written by Saeroen and directed by Rd Ariffien. It
follows Dr. Pardi (Adnan Kapau Gani), who is stunned to find that his
childhood playmate, the family's maid Tati (Djoewariah), has grown up to
be a beautiful woman. When his mother tells him he should marry quickly,
he says only that he already has someone in mind, aware that his mother
would never approve an inter-class marriage. Tati, meanwhile, is engaged
to Amir (S. Joesoef), who falls victim to a car accident after many
adventures. On his deathbed, Amir asks Pardi to take care of Tati; the
two are later married. The black-and-white film was cast and advertised
to cater to the growing native intelligentsia: Ariffien was part of the
nationalist movement, Gani was a medical doctor, and advertisements
emphasised the film's departures from the stage traditions which
dominated the local film industry. Despite mixed reviews, Asmara Moerni
was a commercial success. As with most films of the Indies, it may be
lost.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1779:

English explorer James Cook was killed near Kealakekua when he
tried to kidnap Kalaniʻōpuʻu, the ruling chief of the Island of
Hawaii.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidnapping_of_Kalani%CA%BB%C5%8Dpu%CA%BBu_by_Captain_James_Cook>

1835:

The members of the original Quorum of the Twelve of the Latter
Day Saint movement were selected by the Three Witnesses.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quorum_of_the_Twelve>

1919:

The first serious armed conflict of the Polish–Soviet War
took place near present-day Biaroza, Belarus.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_War>

1943:

World War II: General Hans-Jurgen von Arnim's Fifth Panzer Army
launched a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sidi_Bou_Zid>

1991:

Upon the death of Carrie C. White, Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment
became the world's oldest living person, and she went on to have the
longest confirmed human life span in history, dying in 1997 at the age
of 122 years and 164 days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Calment>

2011:

A "Day of Rage" marked the beginning of the Bahraini uprising,
part of the Arab Spring.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahraini_uprising_of_2011>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

Arizona room:
(US) A room found in homes in Arizona, typically a patio that has been
covered and screened so as to create an outdoor feeling while avoiding
excessive heat and insects.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Arizona_room>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most
difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the
work for which all other work is but preparation.  
--Rainer Maria Rilke
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rainer_Maria_Rilke>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 13: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II in Australian service Published On

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) operated 24 McDonnell Douglas F-4E
Phantom II fighter-bombers between 1970 and 1973. The aircraft were
leased from the United States Air Force (USAF) as an interim measure
owing to delays in the delivery of the RAAF's General Dynamics F-111C
bombers. The F-4C Phantom was evaluated by the RAAF in 1963 as a
possible replacement for the English Electric Canberra, but was judged
unsuitable. The F-111 was selected instead, but when technical faults
delayed the project, the RAAF decided that the F-4E would be the best
alternative. The Australian and US governments negotiated an agreement
in 1970 for the RAAF to lease 24 F-4Es from the USAF. The Phantoms
entered service in September that year, and proved highly effective.
They prepared aircrew to operate the sophisticated F-111, and the
training program improved the RAAF's professional standards. One of the
F-4Es was destroyed in an accident in June 1971, and another was
repaired by the RAAF after it was damaged in a crash landing. The 23
surviving aircraft were returned to the USAF in two batches during
October 1972 and June 1973.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_F-4_Phantom_II_in_Australian_service>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1739:

During his invasion of the Mughal Empire, the forces of Nader,
Shah of Persia, defeated the Mughal army at Karnal within three hours,
despite being outnumbered six-to-one.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karnal>

1815:

The Cambridge Union Society, one of the oldest debating
societies in the world, was founded at the University of Cambridge in
Cambridge, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Union_Society>

1931:

New Delhi (India Gate pictured) was inaugurated as the new
capital of British India by Viceroy Lord Irwin.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Delhi>

1961:

American geode prospectors discovered what they claimed was a
500,000-year-old rock with a spark plug encased inside.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coso_artifact>

1991:

Gulf War: The United States Air Force dropped two laser-guided
"smart bombs" on an air-raid shelter in Baghdad, Iraq, which was
believed to be a military command site, killing at least 408 civilians.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiriyah_shelter_bombing>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

trigger warning:
A notice placed before the beginning of media content (usually an online
article, e-mail, or post) to warn of potential traumatic triggers it
contains.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trigger_warning>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  The priceless heritage of our society is the unrestricted
constitutional right of each member to think as he will. Thought control
is a copyright of totalitarianism, and we have no claim to it. It is not
the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into
error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from
falling into error. We could justify any censorship only when the
censors are better shielded against error than the censored.  
--Robert H. Jackson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_H._Jackson>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 12: Alpine chough Published On

The Alpine chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus) is a bird in the crow family,
one of two species in the genus Pyrrhocorax. Its two subspecies breed in
high mountains from Spain east through southern Europe and North Africa
to Central Asia, India and China. It has nested at 6,500 m (21,300 ft),
higher than any other bird species, and its eggs have adaptations that
improve oxygen intake and reduce water loss at these altitudes. This
bird has glossy black plumage, a yellow bill, and red legs. Widely
spread flight feathers allow acrobatic manoeuvres. A large bird with
distinctive whistling calls, it pairs for life and displays fidelity to
its breeding site, usually a cave or crevice in a cliff face. Building a
lined stick nest, it lays three to five brown-speckled pale beige eggs.
It feeds on fruit in winter and mainly invertebrate prey in grazed
grassland in summer. Although some localised populations have declined
due to predation, parasitism and changes in agricultural practices, this
widespread and abundant species is not threatened globally. Climate
change may present a long-term threat by shifting the bird's alpine
habitat even higher.

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1818:

On the first anniversary of its victory in the Battle of
Chacabuco, Chile formally declared its independence from Spain.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_Declaration_of_Independence>

1855:

Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, was
founded as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the United
States' first agricultural college.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_University>

1912:

Xinhai Revolution: Puyi, the last Emperor of China, abdicated
under a deal brokered by military official and politician Yuan Shikai,
formally replacing the Qing Dynasty with a new republic in China.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puyi>

1946:

Black United States Army veteran Isaac Woodard was severely
beaten by a South Carolina police officer to the point that he lost his
vision in both eyes, an incident that galvanized the Civil Rights
Movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Woodard>

1993:

Two-year-old James Bulger was led away from New Strand Shopping
Centre in Bootle, England, and brutally murdered by two ten-year-old
boys, who became the youngest convicted murderers in modern English
history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

gravitational wave:
(physics) A fluctuation in spacetime caused by accelerating mass, which
propagates as a wave at the speed of light.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gravitational_wave>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Slavery, I can not but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous
injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our
republican example of its just influence in the world; enables the
enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as
hypocrites; causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity,
and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst
ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil
liberty; criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that
there is no right principle of action.  
--Abraham Lincoln
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 11: Josiah Willard Gibbs Published On

Josiah Willard Gibbs (1839–1903) was an American scientist who made
important theoretical contributions to physics, chemistry, and
mathematics. His work on the applications of thermodynamics was
instrumental in transforming physical chemistry into a rigorous
deductive science. Together with James Clerk Maxwell and Ludwig
Boltzmann, he created statistical mechanics (a term that he coined),
explaining the laws of thermodynamics as consequences of the statistical
properties of large ensembles of particles. Gibbs also worked on the
application of Maxwell's equations to problems in physical optics. He
invented modern vector calculus, independently of Oliver Heaviside's
similar work. In 1863, Yale awarded Gibbs the first American doctorate
in engineering. He was a professor of mathematical physics at Yale from
1871 until his death. Working in relative isolation, he became the
earliest theoretical scientist in the United States to earn an
international reputation, and in 1901 he was awarded the Copley Medal of
the Royal Society of London. He was praised by Albert Einstein as "the
greatest mind in American history".

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

660 BC:

According to tradition, Emperor Jimmu founded Japan and
established his capital in Yamato.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Jimmu>

1858:

Fourteen-year-old peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous reported
the first of eighteen Marian apparitions in Lourdes, France, resulting
in the town becoming a major site for pilgrimages by Catholics.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lourdes_apparitions>

1929:

To help settle the "Roman Question", Italy and the Holy See of
the Roman Catholic Church signed the Lateran Treaty to establish Vatican
City as an independent sovereign enclave within Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Treaty>

1979:

The Pahlavi dynasty of Iran effectively collapsed when the
military declared itself "neutral" after rebel troops overwhelmed forces
loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in armed street fighting.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution>

1990:

Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela, a political prisoner
for 27 years, was released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South
Africa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

nosh:
(intransitive, usually with on) To eat a snack or light meal. […]
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nosh>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Government ought not to be invested with power to control the
affections, any more than the consciences of citizens. A man has at
least as good a right to choose his wife, as he has to choose his
religion. His taste may not suit his neighbors; but so long as his
deportment is correct, they have no right to interfere with his
concerns.  
--Lydia Maria Child
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lydia_Maria_Child>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 10: Telopea truncata Published On

Telopea truncata, commonly known as the Tasmanian waratah, is a plant in
the family Proteaceae. It is endemic to Tasmania where it is found on
moist acidic soils at altitudes of 600 to 1200 m (2000–4000 ft). A
component of alpine eucalypt forest, rainforest, and scrub
communities,T. truncata grows as a multistemmed shrub to a height of 3
metres (10 ft), or occasionally as a small tree, with red flower heads,
known as inflorescences, that appear over the Tasmanian summer (November
to February) and bear 10 to 35 individual flowers. Yellow-flowered forms
are occasionally seen, but do not form a population distinct from the
rest of the species. Collected by French botanist Jacques Labillardière
in 1792–93, T. truncata was first described in 1805. Genetically the
most distinctive of the five waratah species, Tasmanian waratah can be
cultivated in temperate climates, requiring soils with ample moisture
and good drainage and in partly shaded or sunny positions. Several
commercially available cultivars have been developed that are hybrids of
T. truncata with the New South Wales waratah (T. speciosissima) and
Gippsland waratah (T. oreades).

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

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1567:

After an explosion destroyed the house in Kirk o' Field,
Edinburgh, where he was staying, the strangled body of Henry Stuart,
Lord Darnley, the King consort of Scotland, was found in a nearby
orchard.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Stuart,_Lord_Darnley>

1763:

Britain, France, and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris to end
the Seven Years' War, significantly reducing the size of the French
colonial empire while at the same time marking the beginning of an
extensive period of British dominance outside of Europe.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_(1763)>

1936:

Second Italo-Abyssinian War: The Battle of Amba Aradam began,
ending nine days later in a decisive tactical victory for Italy and the
neutralisation of almost the entire Ethiopian army as a fighting force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Amba_Aradam>

1962:

"Rudolf Abel" (pictured on stamp), a Soviet spy arrested by the
FBI, was exchanged for Gary Powers, the pilot of the CIA spy plane that
had been shot down over Soviet airspace two years earlier.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Abel>

2009:

The first accidental hypervelocity collision between two intact
satellites in low Earth orbit took place when Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251
collided and destroyed each other.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_satellite_collision>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

beholden:
1. Obligated to provide, display, or do something for another; indebted,
obliged.
2. Bound by external expectations, such as fashion or morality.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beholden>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Courage is poorly housed that dwells in numbers; the lion never
counts the herd that are about him, nor weighs how many flocks he has to
scatter.  
--Aaron Hill
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aaron_Hill>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 9: Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm Published On

Youth on the Prow, and Pleasure at the Helm is an 1832 painting by
English artist William Etty. It was inspired by a metaphor in Thomas
Gray's poem The Bard in which the apparently bright start to the misrule
of Richard II of England was compared to a gilded ship whose occupants
are unaware of an approaching storm. Etty chose to illustrate Gray's
lines literally, showing a golden boat filled with and surrounded by
nude and near-nude figures. The Bard was about a curse on the House of
Plantagenet placed by a Welsh bard following Edward I's attempts to
eradicate Welsh culture, and critics felt that Etty had misunderstood
its point. Some reviewers praised the piece, and in particular Etty's
technical abilities, but audiences of the time found it hard to
understand, and the use of nudity led some critics to consider the
painting tasteless and offensive. It was bought in 1832 by Robert
Vernon. In 1847 Vernon donated his collection to the National Gallery,
which in turn transferred it to the Tate Gallery in 1949. Youth and
Pleasure remains one of Etty's best-known works, and formed part of
major exhibitions in 2001–02 and 2011–12.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youth_on_the_Prow,_and_Pleasure_at_the_Helm>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1825:

After no presidential candidate received a majority of
electoral votes, the U.S. House of Representatives elected John Quincy
Adams president.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams>

1920:

The Svalbard Treaty was signed, recognizing Norwegian
sovereignty over the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, but all signatories
were also given equal rights to engage in commercial activities on the
islands.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard>

1969:

The Boeing 747 made its first flight, with test pilots Jack
Waddell and Brien Wygle at the controls and Jess Wallick at the flight
engineer's station.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_747>

1976:

The Australian Defence Force was formed by the unification of
the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian
Air Force.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Defence_Force>

2001:

The American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally collided
with the Ehime Maru, a Japanese training vessel operated by the Uwajima
Fishery High School.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville_collision>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

Judas goat:
1. A goat trained to lead other goats to a place of slaughter.
2. A goat trained to find feral goats.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Judas_goat>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Ain't it good to know that you've got a friend When people can be
so cold They'll hurt you, yes, and desert you And take your soul if you
let them Oh, but don't you let them.  
--Carole King
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carole_King>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 8: Interactions (The Spectacular Spider-Man) Published On

"Interactions" (premiered March 8, 2008) is the second episode of the
animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, which is based on
the comic book character Spider-Man, created by Stan Lee and Steve
Ditko. In the episode, Spider-Man confronts the supervillain Electro,
who has been contaminated by genetically modified electric eels that
were being investigated as a potential source of clean energy.
"Interactions" was directed by Troy Adomitis and written by Kevin Hopps,
who researched all the available comic books that featured Electro.
Electro is drawn to match his comic book appearance, though designer
Victor Cook emphasized the color green and removed the character's
customary star-shaped mask. Voice actor Crispin Freeman sought to
reflect the character's declining sanity in his vocal style.
"Interactions" aired on the Kids WB! block of The CW network. Its 1.4/4
Nielsen rating was higher than that of the pilot, "Survival of the
Fittest". The episode received mixed reviews; IGN commended the episode
for "some notable moments" but found it inferior to the pilot episode.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactions_(The_Spectacular_Spider-Man)>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1601:

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex led a failed rebellion
against Queen Elizabeth I.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Earl_of_Essex_Rebellion>

1837:

Richard Mentor Johnson became the only person to be elected as
Vice President of the United States by the Senate.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Mentor_Johnson>

1879:

At a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute, engineer and
inventor Sandford Fleming first proposed the adoption of worldwide
standard time zones based on a single universal world time.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_time>

1968:

Local police in Orangeburg, South Carolina, fired into a crowd
of people who were protesting segregation, killing three and injuring
twenty-seven others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orangeburg_massacre>

1979:

Denis Sassou Nguesso was chosen as the new President of the
Republic of the Congo after Joachim Yhombi-Opango was forced from power.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Sassou_Nguesso>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

bifurcate:
1. Divided or forked into two; bifurcated.
2. Having bifurcations.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bifurcate>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Of course there is a monkey. There is always a monkey.  
--S.
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/S._(Dorst_novel)>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 7: 1928 Okeechobee hurricane Published On

The 1928 Okeechobee hurricane was the second deadliest tropical cyclone
ever in the United States, after the 1900 Galveston hurricane. The only
major hurricane of its season, it struck Guadeloupe as a Category 4
storm on September 12, causing 1,200 deaths. The islands of
Martinique, Montserrat, and Nevis also reported damage and fatalities.
After sustained winds peaked at 160 mph (260 km/h) the next day, the
storm became the only Category 5 hurricane ever to hit Puerto Rico;
24,728 homes were destroyed and 192,444 were damaged, leaving 312
people dead and over 500,000 homeless. Early on September 17, the storm
made landfall in Florida near Lake Okeechobee with winds of 145 mph
(233 km/h). The storm surge forced water out of the southern edge of
the lake, spreading floodwaters as high as 20 feet (6.1 m) over
hundreds of square miles. Houses were swept away in the cities of Belle
Glade, Canal Point, Chosen, Pahokee, and South Bay, and at least
2,500 people drowned. The tropical storm also hit Georgia and the
Carolinas. Overall, the system caused $100 million in damage and at
least 4,079 deaths.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1928_Okeechobee_hurricane>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

457:

Leo I was crowned Byzantine emperor, and went on to rule for
nearly 20 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_I_the_Thracian>

1497:

Supporters of the Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola
collected and publicly burned thousands of objects such as cosmetics,
art, and books in Florence, Italy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonfire_of_the_Vanities>

1904:

The Great Baltimore Fire in Maryland began, and destroyed over
1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Baltimore_Fire>

1907:

More than 3,000 women in London participated in the Mud March,
the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women's
Suffrage Societies, seeking women's suffrage in the United Kingdom.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mud_March_(Suffragists)>

1986:

President of Haiti Jean-Claude Duvalier fled the country after
a popular uprising, ending 28 years of one-family rule in the nation.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Duvalier>

1999:

Abdullah II became the reigning King of the Hashemite Kingdom
of Jordan following the death of his father King Hussein.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_II_of_Jordan>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

chuchotage:
The interpretation or translation of speech in a whisper to a single
person in proximity to other people.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chuchotage>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Euclid taught me that without assumptions there is no proof.
Therefore, in any argument, examine the assumptions. Then, in the
alleged proof, be alert for inexplicit assumptions. Euclid's notorious
oversights drove this lesson home.  
--Eric Temple Bell
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Temple_Bell>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 6: HMS Tiger (C20) Published On

Hugh Beadle (1905–1980) served as Rhodesia's Chief Justice from 1961
to 1977. Opening a law practice in 1931, he became a member of the
Southern Rhodesian Legislative Assembly for Godfrey Huggins's ruling
United Party in 1939. He was Huggins's Parliamentary Private Secretary
(1940–46), then a Cabinet minister until 1950, when he resigned to
become a High Court judge. In 1961 he was knighted and appointed Chief
Justice; three years later he joined the British Privy Council. As
independence talks between Britain and Rhodesia stalled, Beadle sought a
compromise. After Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence
(UDI) in 1965 he brought together Harold Wilson and Ian Smith, the prime
ministers, for talks aboard HMS Tiger. Wilson afterwards castigated
Beadle for not persuading Smith to settle. Beadle's recognition of
Smith's post-UDI administration as legal in 1968 drew accusations from
the British Prime Minister and others that he had furtively supported
UDI all along, but his true motives remain the subject of speculation.
He stayed in office after Rhodesia declared itself a republic in 1970,
and remained a Privy Counsellor for the rest of his life..

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Tiger_(C20)>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1778:

France and the United States signed the Treaty of Alliance and
the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, establishing military and commercial
ties respectively between the two nations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amity_and_Commerce_(United_States%E2%80%93France)>

1833:

Otto became the first modern King of Greece.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_of_Greece>

1958:

The aircraft carrying the Manchester United football club and
some fans and journalists crashed while attempting to take off from
Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany, killing eight players and
15 others.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_air_disaster>

1987:

Mary Gaudron was appointed as the first female Justice of the
High Court of Australia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gaudron>

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:

handwavy:
Of a demonstration, proof, or explanation, missing important details or
logical steps, perhaps instead appealing to common sense, tradition,
intuition, or examples.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/handwavy>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, None but ourselves can
free our minds.  
--Bob Marley
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bob_Marley>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Daily article] February 5: HMS Courageous (50) Published On

HMS Courageous was the lead ship of the Courageous-class cruisers built
for the Royal Navy during the First World War. Lightly armoured and
armed with only a few heavy guns, the ship was designed to support the
Baltic Project, a plan championed by First Sea Lord John Fisher to
invade the German coast north of Berlin. Courageous was completed in
late 1916 and spent the war patrolling the North Sea. The ship
participated in the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in November 1917
and was present when the German High Seas Fleet surrendered a year
later. Courageous was decommissioned after the war, but rebuilt as an
aircraft carrier during the mid-1920s. The ship could carry 48 aircraft
compared to the 36 carried by the comparable Furious on approximately
the same tonnage. After recommissioning and a new career operating off
Great Britain and Ireland, the ship briefly became a training carrier
until resuming patrols, a few months before the start of the Second
World War in September 1939. Courageous was torpedoed and sunk in the
opening weeks of the war, with the loss of more than 500 crew members.

Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Courageous_(50)>

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

62:

Pompeii was severely damaged by a strong earthquake, which may
have been a precursor to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed
the town 17 years later.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/62_Pompeii_earthquake>

1869:

Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discovered the
largest alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome Stranger"
(pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Stranger>

1909:

Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland announced the creation of
Bakelite, the world's first synthetic plastic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakelite>

1941:

Second World War: British and Free French forces began the
Battle of Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian
Eritrea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Keren>

2000:

Second Chechen War: As the Battle of Grozny came to a close,
Russian forces summarily executed at least 60 civilians in the city's
Novye Aldi suburb.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novye_Aldi_massacre>

_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:

pony keg:
1. (US) A container for beer holding 7.75 US gallons, equal to half the
size of a standard beer keg.
2. (Cincinnati, colloquial) A drive-through liquor store; by extension, any
convenience store.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pony_keg>

___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:

  My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to
be unpopular.  
--Adlai Stevenson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson>

_______________________________________________
Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit:
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l
Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org