2 July 2014

hector

[hek-ter]

noun

1. Classical Mythology . the eldest son of Priam and husband of Andromache: the greatest Trojan hero in the Trojan War, killed by Achilles.
2. (lowercase) a blustering, domineering person; a bully.
3. a male given name.
verb (used with object)
4. (lowercase) to treat with insolence; bully; torment: The teacher hectored his students incessantly.
verb (used without object)
5. (lowercase) to act in a blustering, domineering way; be a bully.
Origin:
< Latin < Greek Héktōr, special use of adj. héktōr holding fast

Synonyms
4. torture, persecute; badger, harass.

Anagram
or etch

Today’s aphorism

About morals, I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

– Ernest Hemingway

On this day

2 July 1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 rebelling African slaves led by Joseph Cinqué take over the slave ship, Amistad. The 49 adults and four children had been captured in Sierra Leone and sold into slavery in Cuba. After commandeering the ship, the men demanded the ship’s navigator (Don Montez) to return them home. Montez deceived them and sailed up the USA east coast to Long Island. The USA took custody of the ship and a court-case ensued over the legal status of the slaves. In 1841, in the case of the United States v The Amistad, the US Supreme Court ruled that the slaves had been illegally transported and held as slaves. The Court ordered them to be freed. 35 of them returned to Africa in 1842.

2 July 1900 – the first Zeppelin flight takes place in Germany.

2 July 1937 – Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific while attempting an equatorial round-the-world flight.

2 July 1961 – death of Ernest Hemingway, American author. He wrote books including ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls‘ and ‘Old Man and the Sea‘. Born 21 July 1899.

2 July 1976 – The Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) falls to the Communist North Vietnam, resulting in the formation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.