6 December 2013

Nous

[noos, nous]

noun

1. Greek Philosophy . mind or intellect. Example: ‘He had the technical nous to design the system’.
2. Neoplatonism. the first and purest emanation of the One, regarded as the self-contemplating order of the universe.
Origin:
1670–80; < Greek noûs, contracted variant of nóos mind

Today’s aphorism

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

– Barack Obama

On this day

6 December 1790 – The United States Capitol is relocated from New York to Philadelphia. Ten years later, the District of Columbia is completed and the capitol permanently relocates there.

6 December 1922 – Creation of the Irish Free State as a dominion under the Anglo-Irish Treaty. Northern Ireland was included in the State, but chose not to join.

6 December 1962 – a deadly smog, mainly containing sulfur dioxide, kills 90 people in London.

6 December 1969 – The Rolling Stones organise a free concert at the disused Altamont Speedway, Livermore, California, featuring themselves, as well as Jefferson Airplane, Santana, the Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Hell’s Angels were used as security. The concert was marred by the deaths of four people, including one who was stabbed by a member of the Hell’s Angels.