14 August 2016

liege

[leej, leezh]

noun

1. a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service.
2. a feudal vassal or subject.
adjective
3. owing primary allegiance and service to a feudal lord.
4. pertaining to the relation between a feudal vassal and lord.
5. loyal; faithful:
the liege adherents of a cause.

Origin of liege

Middle English Old French Germanic Latin

1250-1300; Middle English < Old French li (e) ge ≪ Germanic *lēt- vassal + Latin -icus -ic; compare Medieval Latin lētī barbarians allowed to settle on Roman land (< Germanic; perhaps akin to let1), laeticus for *lēticus, derivative of lētī

Examples from the Web for liege

Historical Examples

“Wait till you have seen the arrangements, my liege,” said Careless.
Boscobel: or, the royal oak
William Harrison Ainsworth

Allegiance: the duty due from a subject to his liege the sovereign.
The History of London
Walter Besant

The lace of Brussels and the fire-arms of liege are among the finest in the world.
Alden’s Handy Atlas of the World
John B. Alden

The province of liege was the cradle of the Christian faith.
Olla Podrida
Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)

Then taking the same view of gratitude which his liege and master took, home he went without delay to secure his privileges.
Cradock Nowell, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Richard Doddridge Blackmore

Her occupation as Dick’s liege lady, confidante, and tormentor would be gone.
Viviette
William J. Locke

“Your pardon, my liege, but I cannot answer the question,” replied Nicholas.
The Lancashire Witches
William Harrison Ainsworth

The defenses of liege were hardly worth an enemy’s gunfire before 1890.
The Story of the Great War, Volume II (of VIII)
Various

Our curiosity led us into an apartment where the noon meal was being prepared by a wife for her liege lord.
My Trip Around the World
Eleonora Hunt

Doubtless reports had come to him of the situation at liege.
The Story of the Great War, Volume II (of VIII)
Various

Anagram

I glee

Today’s quote

Everyone chases after happiness, not noticing that happiness is right at their heels.

– Bertolt Brecht

On this day

14 August 1248 – construction begins on the Cologne Cathedral in Germany.

14 August 1880 – construction of the Cologne Cathedral in Germany is finally completed … 632 years after commencement.

14 August 1947 – Pakistan Independence Day. At the stroke of midnight (14/15 August), India was partitioned and the nation of Pakistan created, independent of British and Indian rule.

14 August 1956 – death of Bertolt Brecht, German playwright, writer and theatre practitioner. Born 10 February 1898.

14 August 1963 – Considered to be the founding documents of Australia’s indigenous land rights (native title) movement, the first Bark Petition was presented to the Australian Government’s House of Representatives by Jock Nelson, Member for the Northern Territory on behalf of the Yolngu people of Yirrkala. The second Bark Petition was presented to the House of Representatives by then Opposition Leader, Arthur Calwell. The petitions were ochre paintings on bark and signed by 13 clan leaders of the Yolngu region (Gove peninsula), protesting the Commonwealth Government granting mining rights to Nabalco on Yolngu land . The petitions resulted in a parliamentary inquiry that recommended compensation be paid to the Yolngu people. It was the first recognition of native title in Australia.

13 August 2016

gossamer

[gos-uh-mer]

noun

1. a fine, filmy cobweb seen on grass or bushes or floating in the air in calm weather, especially in autumn.
2. a thread or a web of this substance.
3. an extremely delicate variety of gauze, used especially for veils.
4. any thin, light fabric.
5. something extremely light, flimsy, or delicate.
6. a thin, waterproof outer garment, especially for women.
adjective
7. Also, gossamery [gos-uh-muh-ree] (Show IPA), gossamered. of or like gossamer; thin and light.

Origin of gossamer

Middle English German
1275-1325; Middle English gosesomer (see goose, summer1); possibly first used as name for late, mild autumn, a time when goose was a favorite dish (compare German Gänsemonat November), then transferred to the cobwebs frequent at that time of year

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for gossamer

Historical Examples

There is something in the unselfish and self-sacrificing love of a brute, which goes directly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man.
Edgar Allan Poe

Fascinated, he watched the heavy dark drop hang in the glistening cloud, and pull down the gossamer.
Sons and Lovers
David Herbert Lawrence

I have no idea what place these gossamer threads occupy in the economy of nature.
Gossamer
George A. Birmingham

When tens of thousands of the used threads sink to earth, there is a “shower of gossamer.”
The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4)
J. Arthur Thomson

Anagram

gear moss
rose mags
smogs era
some rags
mars goes

Today’s quote

A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men’s lives should not stake their own.

– H. G. Wells

On this day

13 August 1784 – British Parliament enacts ‘Pitt’s India Act’, which brought the East India company under the control of the British government.

13 August 1899 – birth of Alfred Hitchcock, English movie director and producer.

13 August 1926 – birth of Fidel Castro, former Cuban President.

13 August 1946 – death of Herbert George ‘H.G.’ Wells, British science fiction writer, author of The War of the Worlds, Time Machine, Island of Dr Moreau, The War of the Worlds. Born 21 September 1866.

13 August 1961 – construction of the Berlin Wall commences.

11 August 2016

spondee

[spon-dee]

noun, Prosody.

1. a foot of two syllables, both of which are long in quantitative meter or stressed in accentual meter. Symbol: .

Origin of spondee

Middle English Latin Greek
1350-1400; Middle English sponde < Latin spondēus < Greek spondeîos, derivative of spondḗ libation

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for spondee

Historical Examples

The rudiment of verse may, possibly, be found in the spondee.
– Edgar Allan Poe

Pain is always by the side of joy, the spondee by the dactyl.
Notre-Dame de Paris
Victor Hugo

There is, in fact, no such thing as a spondee in ordinary speech.
The Voice and Spiritual Education
Hiram Corson

Again we find, especially in dactyllic and anapestic lines, a trochee or spondee thrown in to vary the movement.
Rhymes and Meters
Horatio Winslow

But in all the feet except the fifth, a spondee ( ) may take the place of the dactyl.
New Latin Grammar
Charles E. Bennett

The Doric steps consisted primarily of a trochee and a spondee, or time.
Critical & Historical Essays
Edward MacDowell

Now the medium of these is about fourteen syllables; because the dactyle is a more frequent foot in hexameters than the spondee.
Dryden’s Works (13 of 18): Translations; Pastorals
John Dryden

Anagram

speed on
deep son

Today’s quote

I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.

– Edith Sitwell

On this day

11 August 3114BC – ok, so there is an argument that the month of August didn’t exist in 3114BC, but humour me … some mathemetician type has calculated the equivalent Mesoamerican date using the Gregorian calendar and determined that it was on this day that the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, (aka the Mayan Calendar) came into being. It was used by a number of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures. Oddly enough, the creation of the calendar wasn’t a problem. The problem has arisen with the lack of fore-thought on the end-date. Inconveniently, some inconsiderate Mesoamerican culture (let’s blame the Mayans) decided the calendar would end on 21 December 2012, which has caused a little consternation amongst some of the inhabitants of Earth, who fear the calendar ends on that date because the world ends on that date … considering that the earth has managed to survive beyond 21/12/12, speculation is rife that perhaps the calendar ended on that date because its creator got bored, or was called in for dinner, or went hunting sabre-tooth tigers and never returned …

11 August 480BC – death of Leonidas, King of Sparta, famous for the Battle of Thermopylae in which he led an Army of 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans and managed to hold off Persian Army (estimated to be at least 100,000 strong) led by Xerxes. Leonidas was eventually over-run and killed. He would have been stoked to know a Hollywood movie would be made about him in 1962 and again in 2006. Born c. 540BC.

11 August 1897 – birth of Enid Blyton, British author of numerous series of children’s stories, including ‘Noddy‘, ‘Famous Five‘, and ‘Secret Seven‘. Died 28 November 1968.

11 August 1921 – birth of Alex Haley, U.S. author of ‘Roots‘, ‘Malcolm X‘. Died 10 February 1992.

11 August 1945 – Japan offers surrender, conditional on the retention of their Emperor, Hirohito. The U.S. rejects the offer, demanding that Emperor Hirohito subject himself to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces.

11 August 1994 – death of Peter Cushing OBE,English actor who mostly appeared in Hammer Horror films, including The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula (in which he played vampire hunter, Van Helsing). Born 26 May 1913.

10 August 2016

counterpole

[coun´ter`pole`]

noun

1. The exact opposite.

Example:

The German prose offers the counterpole to the French style.
– De Quincey.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by C. & G. Merriam Co.

Anagram

opulence rot
recount pole
ounce petrol

Today’s quote

You can sacrifice and not love. But you cannot love and not sacrifice.

– Kris Valloton

On this day

10 August 587BC – Solomon’s Temple (also known as the ‘First Temple’) destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzer II during the Siege of Jerusalem. The temple was later rebuilt.

10 August 70AD – Solomon’s Temple (also known as the ‘Second Temple’) set alight by Roman Army, led by future Emperor Titus.

10 August 1960 – birth of José Antonio Domínguez Banderas, Spanish actor, otherwise known as Antonio Banderas.

10 August 1964 – Following the Gulf of Tonkin incidents on 2 and 4 August 1964, the US Congress passes ‘The Southeast Asia Resolution’ (the ‘Gulf of Tonkin Resolution’), which authorised the United States ‘to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom‘. The passage of this Resolution led to US involvement in the Vietnam War.

9 August 2016

counterpose

[koun-ter-pohz]

verb (used with object), counterposed, counterposing.

1. to offer or place in opposition, response, or contrast.

Origin of counterpose

1585-1595; counter- + (pro)pose

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for counterpose

Historical Examples

To the fighting “Holy Alliances” of the governments, we counterpose the brotherhood of the free spirits of the world!
The Forerunners
Romain Rolland

Anagram

once troupes
steer coupon

Today’s quote

Dark brothers, first Australian race,
Soon you will take your rightful place
In the brotherhood long waited for,
Fringe-dwellers no more.

Sore, sore the tears you shed
When hope seemed folly and justice dead.
Was the long night weary? Look up, dark band,
The dawn is at hand.

– Oodgeroo Noonuccal, from her poem ‘The Dawn is at hand‘.

On this day

9 August – World Indigenous Day – to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous populations. It also recognises the achievements and contributions that indigenous people make to improve world issues.

9 August 1936 – Jesse Owens, an African-American athlete, wins his 4th gold medal at the Berlin Olympics – much to Adolf Hitler’s chagrin. Hitler had hoped the games would show-case white Aryan ideals, and was disgusted that a black athlete had achieved more than the white athletes.

9 August 1945 – USA drops an atomic bomb, called ‘Fat Boy’ on Nagasaki, Japan. It is estimated that between 60,000 to 80,000 people died within four months of the bombing, with half that number dying on the day of the bombing.

8 August 2016

cohere

[koh-heer]

verb (used without object), cohered, cohering.

1. to stick together; be united; hold fast, as parts of the same mass:
The particles of wet flour cohered to form a paste.
2. Physics. (of two or more similar substances) to be united within a body by the action of molecular forces.
3. to be naturally or logically connected:
Without sound reasoning no argument will cohere.
4. to agree; be congruous:
Her account of the incident cohered with his.

Origin of cohere

Latin

1590-1600; < Latin cohaerēre, equivalent to co- co- + haerēre to stick, cling

Synonyms

1. See stick2. 3. follow.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for cohere

Historical Examples

The electric waves are said to cause the filings to cohere —that is, to cling together more closely.
The Story of Great Inventions
Elmer Ellsworth Burns

But some things do not at all cohere with what is otherwise known of Albert.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1
Various

Then disintegration sets in, the social momentum is gradually relaxed, and society sinks back to a level at which it can cohere.
The Theory of Social Revolutions
Brooks Adams

Anagrams

he core
echo re

Today’s quote

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

– Martin Luther King

On this day

8 August 1864 – Formation of the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland.

8 August 1945 – The Soviet Union declares war on the Empire of Japan and invades the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. In late, July 1945 Japan, naively, had been petitioning the neutral Soviets to broker a peace deal favourable to the Japanese. While the invasion violated the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, it was in accordance with the secret Yalta Agreements that the Soviet Union made with the United States and the United Kingdom at the Crimea Conference held between 4-11 February 1945, in which Stalin agreed to attack Japan within 3 months of Germany’s surrender.

8 August 1953 – conclusion of negotiations for the 1953 London Debt Agreement which had begun on 27 February 1953, when West Germany was given debt relief by creditor nations, which included Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, Pakistan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa, the United States, Yugoslavia and others. The debt of 32 billion marks (16 billion owed to the United States and 16 billion to other nations) had accumulated since the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The London Agreement halved the debt to 15 billion marks to be paid out over 30 years. The repayments were capped at 3% of export earnings and were only required while West Germany had a trade surplus. This significantly boosted West Germany’s export market and directly resulted in Germany becoming an economic powerhouse.

8 August 1959 – death of Albert Namatjira, Australian Aboriginal artist. Born 28 July 1902.

8 August 1974 – USA President Richard Nixon resigns because of his impending impeachment for ‘obstruction of justice’, ‘abuse of power’, and ‘contempt of congress’, in relation to the Watergate Scandal.

8 August 1981 – birth of Roger Federer in Switzerland, champion tennis player.

8 August 1988 – The ‘8888’ Uprising in Burma, from which Aung Sun Suu Kyi gains popularity and becomes a national hero.

7 August 2016

naiad

[ney-ad, -uh d, nahy-]

noun, plural naiads, naiades [ney-uh-deez, nahy-]

1. (sometimes initial capital letter) Classical Mythology. any of a class of nymphs presiding over rivers and springs.
2. the juvenile form of the dragonfly, damselfly, or mayfly.
3. a female swimmer, especially an expert one.
4. Botany. a plant of the genus Najas, having narrow leaves and solitary flowers.
5. Entomology. an aquatic nymph.
6. a freshwater mussel.

Origin of naiad

Latin Greek< Latin Nāïad- (stem of Nāïas) < Greek Nāïás a water nymph

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for naiad

Contemporary Examples

First, a naiad is a water nymph in Greek myth—a woman who looked over the waterways.
The Crossword Puzzle Turns 100: The ‘King of Crossword’ on Its Strange History
Kevin Fallon
December 20, 2013

If you look in the dictionary today, it says “ naiad : any skillful female wimmer.”
The Crossword Puzzle Turns 100: The ‘King of Crossword’ on Its Strange History
Kevin Fallon
December 20, 2013

Historical Examples

The naiad willow, arching lowland brooks, speaks as water, very secretly.
Minstrel Weather
Marian Storm

Why it is thus, one knows in heaven above: But, a poor naiad, I guess not.
Endymion
John Keats

Anagram

an aid

Today’s quote

The nose of a mob is its imagination. By this, at any time, it can be quietly led.

– Edgar Allan Poe

On this day

7 October 1849 – death of Edgar Allan Poe, American poet and novelist, The Raven. Born 19 January 1809.

7 October 1913 – Henry Ford implements the moving assembly line … changing the face of manufacturing forever.

7 October 1931 – birth of Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop of South Africa. Won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

7 October 2001 – United States invades Afghanistan as they hunt for Osama Bin Laden and to take down the Taliban government for allowing him to live there. It was nearly 10 years later, in 2011, that US Special Forces captured and killed Bin Laden in Pakistan.

6 August 2016

valetudinarian

[val-i-tood-n-air-ee-uh n, -tyood-]

noun

1. an invalid.
2. a person who is excessively concerned about his or her poor health or ailments.
adjective
3. in poor health; sickly; invalid.
4. excessively concerned about one’s poor health or ailments.
5. of, relating to, or characterized by invalidism.

Origin of valetudinarian

1695-1705; valetudinary + -an

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for valetudinarian

Historical Examples

The valetudinarian is a man subject to some affliction, imaginary or real, or it may be both.
Talkers
John Bate

This valetudinarian majority should make the youngest of us pause and reflect.
The Passionate Elopement
Compton Mackenzie

“Which is certainly not suggestive of a valetudinarian,” remarked Lucian, looking hard at the stranger.
Cashel Byron’s Profession
George Bernard Shaw

And, Sir, he is a valetudinarian, one of those who are always mending themselves.
Life of Johnson
James Boswell

What is stranger still, with all this he was something of a valetudinarian.
Loss and Gain
John Henry Newman

At my time of life, a man must expect to be a valetudinarian, and it would be unjust to blame one’s native climate for that.
Tales And Novels, Volume 5 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth

His health was not always good, and he seems to have inclined to be a valetudinarian.
A Smaller History of Rome
William Smith and Eugene Lawrence

Like Voltaire and Rousseau, he was born dying, and he remained delicate and valetudinarian to the end.
Diderot and the Encyclopaedists (Vol 1 of 2)
John Morley

Old, used up, valetudinarian, he only revived after a sentence of death.
History of the Commune of 1871
P. Lissagary

In the vain hope of offspring Charles sacrificed his niece, Christina of Denmark, to the valetudinarian duke.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8
Various

Anagram

a natural divine
ail unit veranda
radial tuna vine

Today’s quote

People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly.

– Andy Warhol

On this day

6 August 1661 – Holland sells Brazil to Portugal for 8 million guilders.

6 August 1806 – The Holy Roman Empire comes to an inglorious end at the hands of Napoleon.

6 August 1928 – birth of Andy Warhol. (Born Andrew Warhola). American artist who was a pioneer of pop art. American writer, Gore Vidal, once said, ‘Andy Warhol is the only genius I’ve ever known with an IQ of 60‘. Died 22 February 1987.

6 August 1945 – USA drops an atomic bomb, called ‘Little Boy’ on Hiroshima, Japan. It is estimated that between 70,000 to 140,000 people died within the four months of the bombing, with half that number dying on the day of the bombing.

6 August 1965 – President Lydon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act which removed discriminatory voting practices against African Americans. Essentially it meant African Americans could vote freely, without having to meet qualifications that white Americans didn’t need to meet, such as literacy tests.

5 August 2016

turpitude

[tur-pi-tood, -tyood]

noun

1. vile, shameful, or base character; depravity.
2. a vile or depraved act.

Origin of turpitude

Latin

1480-1490; < Latin turpitūdō, equivalent to turpi (s) base, vile + -tūdō -tude

Synonyms

1. wickedness, vice, vileness, wrongdoing.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for turpitude

Historical Examples

There can be no turpitude under the sun in which the wretch doesnt wallow.
Ainslee’s magazine, Volume 16, No. 2, September, 1905
Various

The moral quality of the act is the same; the difference is wholly in the degree of turpitude.
Usury
Calvin Elliott

With him Nero could always throw off the mask, and display the depths of his own turpitude.
Darkness and Dawn
Frederic W. Farrar

I know the turpitude of these crows, and their lack of respect for merit and birth.
The Mesmerist’s Victim
Alexandre Dumas

Be comforted: your crime, morally or religiously considered, has no very deep dye of turpitude.
Life of Johnson
James Boswell

The whole earth seemed to him to be made of glass to reveal his turpitude.
Darkness and Dawn
Frederic W. Farrar

Mrs. Fox-Moore spoke as though detecting an additional proof of turpitude.
The Convert
Elizabeth Robins

From the turpitude of her daughter’s conduct, she proceeded to its consequences.
Self-control
Mary Brunton

For theirs are not spectacles of turpitude, as that Father justly calls those of his Time.
A Short View of the Immorality, and Profaneness of the English Stage
Jeremy Collier

There was an unlimited future for misery, ignorance, turpitude.
Recollections and Impressions
Octavius Brooks Frothingham

Anagram

tutu pride
I rutted up

Today’s quote

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

– Mahatma Gandhi

On this day

5 August 910 – Battle of Tettenhall, in which King Edward and Earl Aethelred defeat the last of the Viking armies to raid England.

5 August 1305 – Scottish revolutionary, William Wallace, captured by English forces near Glasgow. He was transported to London for trial and execution.

5 August 1861 – the United States Army abolishes flogging and increases enlistment terms from 3 months to 2 years.

5 August 1884 – construction of the Statue of Liberty commences in New York City with the laying of the cornerstone.

5 August 1930 – birth of Neil Armstrong, astronaut, first man on the moon. Died 25 August 2012.

5 August 1944 – The Cowra Breakout – The largest prisoner-of-war escape in World War 2, when 1104 Japanese prisoners attempted to breakout of the Australian internment camp at Cowra, New South Wales. Four Australian soldiers and 231 Japanese prisoners were killed during the manhunt. The remaining prisoners were captured and returned to prison.

5 August 1957 – the ‘Andy Capp’ comic strip makes its debut.

5 August 1962 – Marilyn Monroe found dead. She was 36 years old. It is believed she deliberately over-dosed on drugs, but questions remain around whether she administered it voluntarily or someone murdered her. Died 1 June 1926.

5 August 1966 – Datebook magazine quotes John Lennon controversially declaring that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus. Lennon had made the comment on 4 March 1966 in England, where no-one paid attention to it. When Datebook published it in August in the United States it caused an uproar. The full quote was ‘Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn’t argue about that; I’m right and I’ll be proved right. We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ‘n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me‘.

3 August 2016

catawampus

[kat-uh-wom-puh s]
Chiefly Midland and Southern U.S.

adjective

1. askew; awry.
2. positioned diagonally; cater-cornered.
adverb
3. diagonally; obliquely:
We took a shortcut and walked catawampus across the field.

Also, cattywampus.

Origin of catawampus

1830-1840 for earlier sense “utterly”; cata- diagonally (see cater-cornered ) + -wampus, perhaps akin to wampish

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for catawampus

Historical Examples

Whenever the barometer goes up two points catawampus must be remembered.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 98, 1890.05.10
Various

Word Origin and History for catawampus

adj.

also catawampous, cattywampus, catiwampus, etc. (see “Dictionary of American Slang” for more), American colloquial. First element perhaps from obsolete cater “to set or move diagonally” (see catty-cornered ); second element perhaps related to Scottish wampish “to wriggle, twist, or swerve about.” Or perhaps simply the sort of jocular pseudo-classical formation popular in the slang of those times, with the first element suggesting Greek kata-.

Earliest use seems to be in adverbial form, catawampusly (1834), expressing no certain meaning but adding intensity to the action: “utterly, completely; with avidity, fiercely, eagerly.” It appears as a noun from 1843, as a name for an imaginary hobgoblin or fright, perhaps from influence of catamount. The adjective is attested from the 1840s as an intensive, but this is only in British lampoons of American speech and might not be authentic. It was used in the U.S. by 1864 in a sense of “askew, awry, wrong” and by 1873 (noted as a peculiarity of North Carolina speech) as “in a diagonal position, on a bias, crooked.”

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Anagram

saw puma act

Today’s quote

We are as great as our belief in human liberty – no greater. And our belief in human liberty is only ours when it is larger than ourselves.

– Archibald MacLeish

On this day

3 August 1811 – birth of Elisha Graves Otis, American industrialist and founder of the Otis Elevator Company. In 1854, he put the finishing touches to his signature invention: a safety device to prevent elevators falling if the cable fails. Died 8 April 1861.

3 August 1905 – birth of Maggie Kuhn, activist and founder of the Gray Panthers, who campaigned for nursing home reform and opposed ageism. She also fought for human rights, social and economic justice, global peace, integration, and mental health issues. Died 22 April 1995.

3 August 1914 – World War I heats up: Germany invades Belgium and declares war on France, while Turkey signs a pact with Germany.

3 August 1914 – Formation of the World Alliance for International Friendship through the Churches. It’s purpose was to help churches promote peace, disarmament,rights of racial and religious minorities, conscientious objection, arms control, and the League of Nations.

3 August 1963 – birth of James Hetfield, US rock star, member of Metallica.

3 August 1973 – birth of Patrick Wilson, American actor, from movies such as ‘the Alamo‘, ‘Watchmen‘, ‘The A-Team‘, ‘Phantom of the Opera‘ – with Gerard Butler and Emma Rossum.

3 August 1973 – Fire kills 51 people at an amusement park on the Isle of Man.