18 August 2013

détente

[dey-tahnt; French dey-tahnt]

noun, plural dé·tentes [dey-tahnts; French dey-tahnt]

– a relaxing of tension, especially between nations, as by negotiations or agreements, e.g. The USA and USSR reached a détente regarding the escalating missile crisis.

Also, de·tente.

Origin:
1905–10; < French; see detent

Today’s aphorism

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

– Maya Angelou

On this day

18 August 1931 – the flooded Yangtze River, China, peaks in what becomes the worst natural disaster of the 20th century, killing up to 3.7 million people.

18 August 1948 – Australia’s greatest cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman, plays his last game of test cricket. It was played at the Oval in Britain against the English cricket team. Bradman was bowled for a duck, which left him 4 runs short of a career average of 100 runs. Bradman’s first test was in 1928. Over his 20 year test career, he played 52 tests, scored 6,996 runs, with a top score of 334 and an average of 99.94. Throughout his first-grade career, he played 234 games, scored 28,067 runs, with a top score of 452 not out and an average of 95.14.