The Trait du Nord is a breed of heavy draft horse developed in the area
of Hainaut in western Belgium and in northeastern France. Originating in
the fertile Flemish grasslands, it was bred for size and pulling power
for agricultural work. Horses of the breed are considered to be gentle
and easy to handle. They have many colors, although bay and roan are the
most common. Originally considered a subtype of the Ardennes horse, it
was recognized as an individual breed with the opening of a studbook in
1903. The Trait du Nord was used extensively in mining from the late
19th century through 1920 (and occasionally through the 1960s), and in
agriculture through World War II. During the mid-20th century, the breed
was in demand for the production of horse meat, but this demand began to
decline by the early 1970s, and the Trait du Nord, like many European
draft breeds, was in danger of extinction. In the 1990s the breed
experienced a slight revival through an increased interest in
recreational riding and driving, but it is still considered to be
endangered by the French government, with a high risk of inbreeding:
there are fewer than 100 new foal births a year. The national breed
registry in France is working with local groups to reverse the decline.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait_du_Nord>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1587:
Mary, Queen of Scots, was executed at Fotheringhay Castle for
her involvement in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin, Elizabeth I
of England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Queen_of_Scots>
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>
1915:
Film director D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (film
poster pictured) was released, becoming one of the most influential and
controversial films in the history of American cinema.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_a_Nation>
1965:
After taking evasive action to avoid a mid-air collision just
after takeoff from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport,
Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean and
exploded, killing all 84 people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_663>
2010:
A freak storm in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan
triggered a series of at least 36 avalanches that buried over 3.5 km
(2.2 mi) of road, killed at least 172 people and trapped over 2,000
travellers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Salang_avalanches>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
thanatocoenose:
A fossilized ecosystem: a collection of dead lifeforms, found together,
which previously interacted as a community within an ecosystem.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thanatocoenose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every morning I shall concern myself anew about the boundary
Between the love-deed-Yes and the power-deed-No And pressing forward
honor reality. We cannot avoid Using power, Cannot escape the compulsion
To afflict the world, So let us, cautious in diction And mighty in
contradiction, Love powerfully.
--Martin Buber
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Martin_Buber>
Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe (Jesus gathered the Twelve to Himself),
BWV 22, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, written for the
last Sunday before Lent. He composed it as an audition piece for the
position of director of church music in Leipzig, and first performed it
in a church service there at St. Thomas (pictured) on 7 February 1723.
The work begins with a scene from the Gospels in which Jesus predicts
his suffering in Jerusalem. The unknown poet of the cantata text took
the scene as a starting point for reflections in which the contemporary
Christian takes the place of the disciples who do not understand what
Jesus is telling them. The closing chorale is a stanza from Elisabeth
Cruciger's "Herr Christ, der einig Gotts Sohn". The work, structured in
five movements, shows that Bach had mastered the composition of a
dramatic scene, an expressive aria with obbligato oboe, a recitative
with strings, an exuberant dance, and a chorale in the style of Johann
Kuhnau, his predecessor in Leipzig. According to the Bach scholar
Richard D. P. Jones, elements such as a "frame of biblical text and
chorale around the operatic forms of aria and recitative" became
standards for Bach's Leipzig cantatas and even his Passions.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_nahm_zu_sich_die_Zw%C3%B6lfe,_BWV_22>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
457:
Leo I (pictured on solidus) was crowned Byzantine emperor, and
went on to rule for nearly 20 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_I_the_Thracian>
1795:
The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution,
limiting the ability of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to sue U.S.
states in federal courts, was ratified in order to overrule the Supreme
Court decision in Chisholm v. Georgia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Const…>
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)>
1940:
Walt Disney's Pinocchio, the first animated motion picture to
win a competitive Academy Award, was released to theaters by RKO
Pictures.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_(1940_film)>
1995:
Ramzi Yousef, one of the main perpetrators of the 1993 World
Trade Center bombing and the bombing of Philippine Airlines Flight 434,
was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramzi_Yousef>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tacit:
1. Expressed in silence; implied, but not made explicit: disengagement
represents a tacit rejection of governing institutions ("Developing
Democracy in Europe: An Analytical Summary", ISBN 9287155798).
2. (logic) Not derived from formal principles of reasoning; based on
induction rather than deduction.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tacit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has
many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
--Charles Dickens
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens>
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the ritual removal of some or all of
the external female genitalia. Typically conducted by a traditional
circumciser using a razor blade or knife (with or without anaesthesia),
FGM is concentrated in 27 African countries, Yemen and Iraqi Kurdistan,
and is also found elsewhere in Asia, the Middle East and among diaspora
communities around the world. The procedures take place from within days
of birth to puberty, and include removal of the clitoral glans, removal
of the inner labia and, in the most severe form, removal of the inner
and outer labia and closure of the vulva. In this last procedure, a
small hole is left for the passage of urine and menstrual blood, and the
vagina is opened for intercourse and childbirth. Health effects can
include infections, cysts, childbirth complications and fatal bleeding.
Over 130 million women and girls have undergone FGM in the 29 countries
in which it is concentrated. Rooted in gender inequality, ideas about
female purity and attempts to control women's sexuality, the practice is
usually initiated and carried out by women, who fear that failing to
have their daughters and granddaughters cut will expose the girls to
social exclusion.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_genital_mutilation>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1851:
The largest bushfire in a populous region in Australian history
swept across Victoria, resulting in approximately 5 million hectares
burnt.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Thursday_(1851)>
1922:
Britain, France, Japan, Italy and the United States signed the
Washington Naval Treaty to avoid a naval arms race.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty>
1952:
Elizabeth II ascended to the thrones of the United Kingdom,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand and three other Commonwealth countries
upon the death of her father, George VI.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_VI>
1976:
In testimony before a U.S. Senate subcommittee, Lockheed
president Carl Kotchian admitted that the company had paid out
approximately US$3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime
Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_bribery_scandals>
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:
galactagogue:
A substance that induces lactation.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/galactagogue>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We should ask, critically and with appeal to the numbers,
whether the best site for a growing advancing industrial society is
Earth, the Moon, Mars, some other planet, or somewhere else entirely.
Surprisingly, the answer will be inescapable — the best site is
"somewhere else entirely."
--Gerard K. O'Neill
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerard_K._O%27Neill>
Marcus Ward Lyon, Jr. (1875–1942) was an American mammalogist,
bacteriologist, and pathologist. Born into a military family, he
demonstrated an early interest in zoology by collecting local wildlife
around his father's army posts. He graduated from Brown University in
1897, and continued his studies at George Washington University while
working part-time at the United States National Museum. He received his
Ph.D. in 1913. Lyon published many papers on mammalogy, formally
describing six species, three genera, and one family. In 1919, he and
his wife Martha moved to South Bend, Indiana, to join a newly opened
clinic. He began to publish medical studies too, but continued his work
in mammalogy, with a particular focus on the local fauna of Indiana. He
published more than 160 papers during his career. Lyon acquired the
rank of major in the Medical Reserve Corps during World War I, and was
appointed president of the American Society of Mammalogists from 1931 to
1932. He was a member of Sigma Xi, the Society of American
Bacteriologists, the Indiana Academy of Science, and the Biological
Society of Washington. Lyon became a conservationist later in life.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Ward_Lyon,_Jr.>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
The first of five strong earthquakes hit the region of Calabria
on the Italian Peninsula killing more than 32,000 people over a period
of nearly two months.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1783_Calabrian_earthquakes>
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>
1958:
A Mark 15 nuclear bomb disappeared off the shores of Tybee
Island, Georgia, after it was jettisoned during a practice exercise when
the bomber carrying it collided in midair with a fighter plane.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision>
1994:
The Army of Republika Srpska carried out the first of two
bombardments against civilians in the marketplace in Sarajevo, which
were the stated reason for NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serb forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markale_massacres>
2008:
Eighty-seven tornadoes occurred over the course of the Super
Tuesday tornado outbreak across multiple U.S. states, causing 56 deaths
and over $1 billion in damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Super_Tuesday_tornado_outbreak>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
comestible:
Suitable to be eaten; edible.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comestible>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think that one of our most important tasks is to convince
others that there's nothing to fear in difference; that difference, in
fact, is one of the healthiest and most invigorating of human
characteristics without which life would become meaningless. Here lies
the power of the liberal way: not in making the whole world Unitarian,
but in helping ourselves and others to see some of the possibilities
inherent in viewpoints other than one's own; in encouraging the free
interchange of ideas; in welcoming fresh approaches to the problems of
life; in urging the fullest, most vigorous use of critical self-
examination.
--Adlai Stevenson
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson>
"Damien" is the tenth episode of the first season of the animated
television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in
the U.S. on February 4, 1998. In the episode, Damien is sent by his
father Satan to find Jesus and arrange a boxing match between the two.
Most South Park residents bet on the muscular Satan to win, but he
throws the fight to win their money. Directed by Trey Parker (pictured)
and written by Parker, Matt Stone and Dave Polsky, the episode satirizes
religion, commercialism and the cult of celebrity. "Damien" received
generally positive reviews and was the highest rated cable program the
week it aired, viewed by 3.2 million households. The episode marked the
first appearance of Satan, who would become a recurring South Park
character, as well as the character of Damien, inspired by the
antagonist of the 1976 horror film, The Omen. Parker and Stone said the
episode introduced several key characteristics of the Cartman character
that have endured throughout the series. Michael Buffer, the boxing ring
announcer best known for the catchphrase, "Let's get ready to rumble!",
makes a guest appearance in "Damien" as himself.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_(South_Park)>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
960:
Emperor Taizu began his reign in China, initiating the Song
dynasty period that would eventually last for more than three centuries.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_dynasty>
1169:
A strong earthquake struck the eastern coast of Sicily, causing
an estimated 15,000 deaths.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1169_Sicily_earthquake>
1899:
The Philippine–American War opened when an American soldier,
under orders to keep insurgents away from his unit's encampment, fired
upon a Filipino soldier in Manila.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1899)>
1969:
Yasser Arafat was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat>
1999:
Amadou Diallo, a 23-year-old immigrant from Guinea, was shot
and killed by four New York City Police Department plain-clothed
officers, prompting outrage both within and without New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Amadou_Diallo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
blemish:
1. A small flaw which spoils the appearance of something, a stain, a spot.
2. A moral defect; a character flaw.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blemish>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In some future incarnation from our life stream, we may even
understand the reason for our existence in forms of earthly life. The
growing knowledge of science does not refute man's intuition of the
mystical. Whether outwardly or inwardly, whether in space or in time,
the farther we penetrate the unknown, the vaster and more marvelous it
becomes.
--Charles Lindbergh
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh>
State Route 67 (SR 67) is a state highway in San Diego County,
California. It begins at Interstate 8 in El Cajon and continues to
Lakeside as the San Vicente Freeway before becoming an undivided highway
through the eastern part of Poway. The route ends in Ramona at SR 78
west of Julian. SR 67 provides direct access from the city of San Diego
to the East County region of San Diego County. Julian was accessible
from San Diego by stagecoach in 1872, and by railroad (to Foster) and
stagecoach in 1896. A highway known as the Julian road was built by
1913, and was designated as Legislative Route 198 in the state highway
system by 1935. This route was renumbered SR 67 in the 1964 state
highway renumbering. A freeway south of Lakeside was built in the late
1960s and opened to traffic in 1970. Since then, the undivided portion
of the highway north of Lakeside has become known for a high number of
traffic accidents and fatalities. The California Department of
Transportation has made several attempts to make the road safer.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Route_67>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
American Revolutionary War: British forces captured the Dutch
island of Sint Eustatius with only two shots fired.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Sint_Eustatius>
1813:
Argentine War of Independence: José de San Martín and his
Regiment of Mounted Grenadiers gained a largely symbolic victory against
a royalist army in the Battle of San Lorenzo.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Lorenzo>
1967:
Ronald Ryan became the last person to be legally executed in
Australia, sparking public protests across the country.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Ryan>
1989:
Alfredo Stroessner (pictured), whose rule as President of
Paraguay for 35 years was marked by an uninterrupted period of
repression in his country, was overthrown in a military coup by Andrés
Rodríguez.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Stroessner>
2010:
A cast of L'Homme qui marche I by Swiss sculptor Alberto
Giacometti sold for £65 million (US$103.7 million), setting the record
for most expensive sculpture sold at a public auction.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Homme_qui_marche_I>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
proppant:
Sand or similar particulate material suspended in water or other fluid
and used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to keep fissures open.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/proppant>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To anyone who does actually consent to directing his attention
and love beyond the world, towards the reality that exists outside the
reach of all human faculties, it is given to succeed in doing so. In
that case, sooner or later, there descends upon him a part of the good,
which shines through him upon all that surrounds him.
--Simone Weil
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil>
Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967–2014) was an American actor, director,
and producer of film and theater. Best known for his character roles –
typically lowlifes, bullies, and misfits – Hoffman gained recognition
for his supporting work in films like Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness
(1998), and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). For his portrayal of the
author Truman Capote in Capote (2005), he won multiple accolades
including the Academy Award for Best Actor. Three more Oscar nominations
came for his performances in Charlie Wilson's War (2007), Doubt (2008),
and The Master (2012). While he mainly worked in independent films,
including The Savages (2007) and Synecdoche, New York (2008), Hoffman
also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Mission: Impossible III
(2006) and The Hunger Games (2013–2015). He was also an accomplished
theater actor and director: his performances in three Broadway plays all
led to Tony Award nominations. Hoffman died in February 2014, of
combined drug intoxication, at age 46. He is remembered for his
fearlessness in playing reprehensible characters, and for bringing depth
and humanity to such roles.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Seymour_Hoffman>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
962:
Pope John XII crowned Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor, the
first in nearly 40 years.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1536:
An expedition to the New World led by Spanish conquistador
Pedro de Mendoza founded what is now Buenos Aires, Argentina.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires>
1848:
The Mexican–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave 1.36 million square kilometres
(530,000 sq mi) of Mexican territory known as the Mexican Cession to
the United States in exchange for US$15 million.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe_Hidalgo>
1943:
World War II: The Soviet Red Army captured 91,000 tired and
starving German soldiers, ending the Battle of Stalingrad, one of the
bloodiest battles in human history.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stalingrad>
1990:
President F.W. de Klerk declared the end of apartheid in South
Africa.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartheid>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
amerce:
(transitive) To impose a fine on; to fine.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amerce>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
On and on and on and on he strode, far out over the sands,
singing wildly to the sea, crying to greet the advent of the life that
had cried to him. Her image had passed into his soul for ever and no
word had broken the holy silence of his ecstasy. Her eyes had called him
and his soul had leaped at the call. To live, to err, to fall, to
triumph, to recreate life out of life! A wild angel had appeared to him,
the angel of mortal youth and beauty, an envoy from the fair courts of
life, to throw open before him in an instant of ecstasy the gates of all
the ways of error and glory. On and on and on and on!
--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man>
Przevalski's nuthatch (Sitta przewalskii) is a bird species in the
family Sittidae. Long regarded as a subspecies of the white-cheeked
nuthatch (Sitta leucopsis), it nevertheless differs significantly in
morphology and vocalizations. It is a medium-sized nuthatch, measuring
about 13 cm (5.1 in) in length. Its upper body is a dark gray-blue.
The cheeks and throat are a white buff-orange, turning to a rich
cinnamon on the underparts. The bird is endemic to areas in southeastern
Tibet and west central China, inhabiting coniferous mountain forests.
The species was first described in 1891 from a specimen collected in
China's Haidong Prefecture. The name commemorates the Russian explorer
Nikolaï Prjevalski, who discovered the species in 1884. Little is known
about its ecology. It was awarded the rank of full species in 2005,
separating it from the white-cheeked nuthatch. As of 2014, S.
przewalskii does not have a full threat-status evaluation by BirdLife
International or the IUCN. A 2014 phylogenetic study found the species
to be at the base of the nuthatch evolutionary tree, dispelling a
hypothesis that S. przewalskii could belong to the same species as S.
carolinensis.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Przevalski%27s_nuthatch>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1329:
The Teutonic Knights succeeded in their siege of a fortress in
Samogitia, Lithuania, and baptized the defenders in the Catholic rite.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Medv%C4%97galis>
1790:
The Supreme Court of the United States (modern buliding
pictured), the highest judicial body in the US and the head of the
judicial branch of the federal government, first convened at the
Merchants' Exchange Building in New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States>
1884:
The first fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary, a 352-page
volume that covered words from A to Ant, was published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary>
1968:
The Government of Canada merged the Royal Canadian Navy,
Canadian Army, and the Royal Canadian Air Force into a unified
structure, the Canadian Armed Forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Armed_Forces>
1985:
Aeroflot Flight 7841 crashed shortly after takeoff from Minsk
National Airport, killing fifty-eight people on board.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroflot_Flight_7841>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cascabel:
1. A small, round, hot variety of chili pepper, Capsicum annuum, which
rattles when dry.
2. A knob at the end of a cannon, cast onto the gunbarrel, to which ropes
are attached in order to control recoil.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cascabel>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us. I would like
an abundance of peace. I would like full vessels of charity. I would
like rich treasures of mercy. I would like cheerfulness to preside over
all. I would like Jesus to be present.
--Brigit of Kildare
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Brigit_of_Kildare>