Al-Walid I (c. 674 – 715) was the sixth Umayyad caliph, ruling
from October 705 until his death. The eldest son of Caliph Abd al-Malik
(r. 685–705), he continued his father's efforts to centralize
government, impose a more Arabic and Islamic character on the state, and
expand its borders. He heavily depended on al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf, his
father's powerful viceroy over the eastern half of the caliphate. During
his reign, armies commissioned by al-Hajjaj conquered Sind and
Transoxiana in the east, while the troops of Musa ibn Nusayr, the
governor of Ifriqiya, conquered the Maghreb and Hispania in the west,
bringing the caliphate to its largest territorial extent. Al-Walid
financed impressive public works, including the Great Mosque of
Damascus, the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, and the Prophet's Mosque in
Medina. He was the first caliph to institute programs for social
welfare, and his reign was marked by domestic peace and prosperity.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Walid_I>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1843:
SS Great Britain, the first ocean-going ship with both an iron
hull and a screw propeller, was launched in Bristol, England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Britain>
1845:
A fire in Manhattan, New York, destroyed 345 buildings, killed
30 people, and caused at least $5 million in damage.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_New_York_City_Fire_of_1845>
1903:
French cyclist Maurice Garin won the first edition of the Tour
de France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1903_Tour_de_France>
2014:
Gunmen perpetrated an armed assault against an Egyptian
military checkpoint in the Libyan Desert, killing 22 soldiers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Farafra_ambush>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
blare:
1. (transitive)
2. Often followed by out: of a device such as a loudspeaker or a radio:
to produce (music, a sound, etc.) loudly and piercingly.
3. (figuratively) To express (ideas, words, etc.) loudly; to proclaim.
4. (intransitive)
5. To make a loud sound, especially like a trumpet.
6. (archaic except Britain, dialectal) To make a lengthy sound, as of a
person crying or an animal bellowing or roaring.
7. A loud sound.
8. (figuratively) Of colour, light, or some other quality: dazzling,
often garish, brilliance.
9. (obsolete except Britain, dialectal) A lengthy sound, as of a person
crying or an animal bellowing or roaring.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/blare>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is frequently insufficient to identify the motives that guide
our conduct, or that shape our attitudes and our thinking, just by
observing vaguely that there are various things we want. That often
leaves out too much. In numerous contexts, it is both more precise and
more fully explanatory to say that there is something we care about.
--Harry Frankfurt
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Harry_Frankfurt>
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