4 June 2014

caprice

[kuh-prees]

noun

1. a sudden, unpredictable change, as of one’s mind or the weather.
2. a tendency to change one’s mind without apparent or adequate motive; whimsicality; capriciousness: With the caprice of a despotic king, he alternated between kindness and cruelty.
3. Music. capriccio ( def 1 ) .

Origin:
1660–70; < French < Italian; see capriccio

Synonyms
1. vagary, notion, whim, fancy.

Anagram

rice cap
care pic

Today’s aphorism

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.

– Vincent Van Gogh

On this day

4 June 1988 – death of Sir Douglas Nichols KCVO, OBE. Aboriginal activist, raising awareness of aboriginal issues, including treating aborigines with dignity and as people. He played for Carlton football club in the A-grade Victorian Football League (VFL), leaving after racist treatment and joining the Northcote football club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA). Nicholls became a minister and social worker. In 1957, he was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE). In 1972 he was the first aborigine to be knighted. In 1976, he became the 28th governor of South Australia, the first aborigine to be appointed to a vice-regal position. He was born on 9 December 1906.

4 June 1989 – Tiananmen Square massacre, Beijing, China. Around a million people had flooded into Tiananmen Square over the past few days, protesting for democracy. On 4 June, the Chinese Army stormed the Square with tanks and armoured cars, killing hundreds of protestors, while arresting thousands of others.