27 October 2018

accoutrement

[uh-koo-ter-muh nt, -truh-]

noun

1. personal clothing, accessories, etc.
2. the equipment, excluding weapons and clothing, of a soldier.

Also, especially British, accoutrement.

Origin of accouterment

Middle French

1540-1550 From the Middle French word accou(s)trement, dating back to 1540-50. See accouter, -ment

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for accouterment

Contemporary Examples

These gentlemen, said Clausewitz in brief, had the misfortune of mistaking the accoutrements of war for its essential nature.
How Clausewitz Invented Modern War
James A. Warren
November 24, 2014

Power, and the accoutrements of power, would fill the vacuum created by the absence of ideas.
Why Pakistan’s Mohammed Ali Jinnah Was No Nelson Mandela
Kapil Komireddi
April 7, 2013

As with other accoutrements of the high-end lifestyle, not all backup generators are created equal.
After Storm, Who’s Got the Real Power? Look for Backup Generators
Daniel Gross
October 30, 2012

Historical Examples

Their accoutrements clattered and clinked in the intense stillness.
The Crimson Tide
Robert W. Chambers

To pass, the uniform and accoutrements of a soldier are not enough.
New York Times Current History; The European War, Vol 2, No. 5, August, 1915
Various

The cavalry dashed off amid a jingling of swords and accoutrements.
The Coming Conquest of England
August Niemann

At the foot you will find my uniform, rifle, and accoutrements.
Through Three Campaigns
G. A. Henty

They had not discarded their accoutrements and each man had his sword by his side.
“Unto Caesar”
Baroness Emmuska Orczy

He stared at them, fascinated by the jingling and clattering of their accoutrements.
The Northern Iron
George A. Birmingham

Each of these carried one hundred men with their arms and accoutrements.
The Naval History of the United States
Willis J. Abbot.

Word Origin and History for accouterment

n.

1540s, from Middle French accoustrement (Modern French accoutrement), from accoustrer probably from Old French acostrer “arrange,” originally “sew up” (see accouter )

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Anagram

recontact emu
account meter
centaur comet

Today’s quote

When other little girls wanted to be ballet dancers I kind of wanted to be a vampire.

– Angelina Jolie

On this day

27 October 1728 – birth of Captain James Cook, British explorer. Made three major voyages in which he discovered many of the islands of the south pacific, including the east coast of Australia. Cooktown, Queensland, is named after him. The house he grew up in was relocated from Yorkshire, England, to Melbourne, Australia and is open to visits (now known as Captain Cook’s Cottage and is situated in Fitzroy Gardens, Melbourne). Died 14 February 1779 after being stabbed by Hawaiians who credited their Chief Kalanimanokahoowaha (Kanaina) with the kill. Captain Cook’s body was then subjected to a funeral ritual that was normally reserved for a Chief.

27 October 1923 – birth of Roy Lichtenstein, American pop artist. Died 29 September 1997.

27 October 1927 – death of Joseph Theodore Leslie (Squizzy) Taylor, Australian gangster, earned money from sly-grog, two-up, illegal bookmaking, extortion, prostitution, cocaine dealing. Died from a gunshot wound inflicted by ‘Snowy’ Cutmore. Born 29 June 1888.

27 October 1932 – birth of Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist and short story writer. Born in Boston, she travelled to the UK and studied at Cambridge University. It was here that she met British poet, Ted Hughes. In 1957 they married. For a while they lived in Boston, before returning to England and living in London and later Devon. Plath often wrote about her experiences, particularly with depression. She advanced the genre of ‘confessional poetry’. Plath struggled with the loneliness of Devon and returned to London, renting a unit in house in which the poet, William Butler Yeats once lived. The unit was owned by Assia and David Wevill. Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes, was captivated by Assia’s beauty. In September 1962, Plath left Hughes after discovering he’d been having an affair with Assia. Plath suffered bipolar disorder and had made numerous suicide attempts throughout her life. In February 1963, she suicided by turning the gas on in her oven and placing her head in it. She had sealed her children’s rooms with wet towels to avoid poisoning them. Plath had published a number of poetry collections and some were published post-humously. In 1982, she was awarded a post-humous Pulitzer Prize for her poetry. She is considered one of the great poets of the 20th century. Died 11 February 1963.

27 October 2013 – death of Lou Reed (Lewis Allan Reed), American glam rock musician, singer and song-writer. Was lead singer of 60s alternative band, Velvet Underground, before going solo and having hits such as ‘Walk on the Wild Side’, ‘Vicious’, ‘Satellite of Love’ and ‘Perfect Day’. His albums Transformer and Berlin are considered among the most influential albums of the 20th century. Reed coined the term ‘Ostrich tuning’ in relation to a type of trivial tuning of strings. The six strings of a guitar are normally tuned to EADGbe. However in his 1964 song, The Ostrich (performed by the Primitives, which later became Velvet Underground) Reed tuned all six strings of his guitar to a single D note: DDDDdd. Born 2 March 1942.

26 October 2018

susurration

[soo-suh-rey-shuh n]

noun

1. a soft murmur; whisper.

Origin of susurration

Middle English, Late Latin

1350-1400; Middle English < Late Latin susurrātiōn- (stem of susurrātiō), equivalent to susurrāt(us) (past participle of susurrāre; see susurrus, -ate1) + -iōn- -ion

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for susurration

Historical Examples

His own name, pronounced in the utmost compression of susurration, they say, he catches at a quarter furlong interval.
The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb
Charles Lamb

If he had read his Biffin he would have known that the correct terms are a ” susurration of sparrows” and a “pop of weasels.”
Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, December 9, 1914
Various

Word Origin and History for susurration

n.

“whisper, murmur,” c.1400, from Latin susurrationem (nominative susurratio), from past participle stem of susurrare, from susurrus “murmur, whisper,” a reduplication of the PIE imitative base *swer- (2) “to buzz, whisper” (cf. Sanskrit svarati “sounds, resounds,” Greek syrinx “flute,” Latin surdus “dull, mute,” Old Church Slavonic svirati “to whistle,” Lithuanian surmo “pipe, shawm,” German schwirren “to buzz,” Old English swearm “swarm”).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Anagram

sari outruns
Uranus riots
ruinous tsar
our sun sitar

Today’s quote

What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr’s cause has ever been stilled by an assassin’s bullet. No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled or uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of the people.

– Robert Kennedy

On this day

26 October 1863 – Football Association forms in England, standardising the rules of soccer.

26 October 1881 – Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, the most famous gunfight in the Wild West. It is believed the gunfight lasted around 30 seconds and was between outlaws Billy Clanton, Ike Clanton, Billy Claiborne, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury and lawmen Wyatt Earp, Virgil Earp, Morgan Earp, Doc Holliday. Three of the outlaws were killed, Billy Clanton, Tom McLaury and Frank McLaury. The gunfight has been immortalised in a number of movies and songs.

26 October 1917 – birth of Felix the Cat, legendary cartoon character.

26 October 1940 – Brisbane’s beer riot shuts down the CBD, with trams and traffic brought to a standstill as hundreds of soldiers and civilians take to the streets protesting against the 8pm hotel closing time. Although 8pm had been the closing time for years, it hadn’t been enforced until this time when temperance organisations pressured the government. As the hotels were forced to close by police, hundreds of drinkers poured out of the hotels and into the street attacking trams, traffic and kicking in doors and windows of nearby businesses. The angry mob stormed down Queen Street chanting ‘roll out the barrel, we want beer’. Some of them kicked in the doors of the Grand Central Hotel in Ann Street and stole a beer barrel, which they managed to crack open. Civilian and military police were brought in and the riot was finally quelled in the early hours of the next morning.

25 October 2018

withy

[with -ee, with-ee] Chiefly British

noun, plural withies.

1. a willow.
2. a pliable branch or twig, especially a withe.
3. a band, loop, halter, or rope of slender twigs; widdy.
adjective, withier, withiest.
4. made of pliable branches or twigs, especially of withes.
5. flexible; pliable.

Origin of withy

Middle English, Old English
1000 before 1000; Middle English; Old English wīthig; akin to withe, Old Norse vīthir, Old High German wīda, Greek ītéa willow, Latin vītis vine

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for withy

Historical Examples

The withy bands were but weak; it is no great marvel that he shook them off.
Museum of Antiquity
L. W. Yaggy

A blasted oak will tumble to the earth, if struck by a thunderbolt,—like a withy.
The Buccaneer
Mrs. S. C. Hall

Would you mind taking a turn with me in the withy walk, Harriet Roe?
Johnny Ludlow. First Series
Mrs. Henry Wood

As she was passing the top of the withy walk, their voices reached her ear.
Johnny Ludlow. First Series
Mrs. Henry Wood

With a wire there is little risk of that; but then the withy does not cut its way into the fish.
The Gamekeeper at Home
Richard Jefferies

So much white will not look amiss in this place, and withy is easily worked.
Rustic Carpentry
Paul N. Hasluck

I tied a withy round the pat and led it home; but it was all lost by the way.’
Tales from the Fjeld
P. Chr. Asbjrnsen

In this Nera goes to tie a withy to the foot of a man who has been hung.
The Religion of the Ancient Celts
J. A. MacCulloch

It is, however, the plantations of withy or osier that are most important.
Hodge and His Masters
Richard Jefferies

The fox had been found in a spinney running down to withy Brook, and his race for life had begun.
Vanishing Roads and Other Essays
Richard Le Gallienne

Anagram

why it

Today’s quote

Cherish all your happy moments; they make a fine cushion for old age.

– Booth Tarkington

On this day

25 October 1854 – Charge of the Light Brigade. A famous cavalry charge led by Lord Cardigan of Britain, against the Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. The Russians were victorious. The charge was immortalised in the poem of the same name by poet laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The poem can be read here: http://www.ram.org/contrib/the_charge_of_the_light_brigade.html

25 October 1917 – October Revolution. This is the traditional date (old style Julian calendar) for the October Revolution, which corresponds with 7 – 8 November 1917 (new style Gregorian calendar) for the October Revolution. Part of the Russian Revolution which commenced with the February Revolution (8-12 March 1917) and which overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and replaced it with the Soviet government.

25 October 1923 – the first jar of vegemite rolls off the production lines. It was developed by a chemist named Dr Cyril P. Calister, under direction of the Fred Walker Company (which later became Kraft). Australia’s iconic vegemite is a yeast extract spread, great for toast, crumpets, pikelets, gravy, stews, soups and anything else.

25 October 1941 – birth of Helen Reddy, legendary 1970’s Australian singer, with hit songs such as I Am Woman, and Delta Dawn.

25 October 1964 – Zambian Independence. Formerly, Northern Rhodesia, the British government grants independence. The first president is Kenneth Kaunda of the United National Independence Party.

25 October 1993 – death of Vincent Price, American actor, starred in a number of horror films, including House of Wax, House of Usher and The Raven. He also acted in the 1960s television series Batman, in which he played the evil mastermind, Egghead; a master criminal with a fixation on eggs. Price provided a voice-over on Alice Cooper’s 1975 album Welcome to My Nightmare. In 1976, Price recorded a cover version of Bobby Pickett song, Monster Mash. Born 27 May 1911.

24 October 2018

sanbenito

[san-buh-nee-toh]

noun, plural sanbenitos. (under the Spanish Inquisition)

1. an ornamented garment worn by a condemned heretic at an auto-da-fé.
2. a penitential garment worn by a confessed heretic, of yellow for the penitent, of black for the impenitent.

Origin of sanbenito

1550-1560; < Spanish, named after San Benito Saint Benedict, from its resemblance to the scapular believed to have been introduced by him

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for sanbenito

Historical Examples

I would rather have put on a sanbenito myself than have gone there.
The Spanish Brothers
Deborah Alcock

He had received 150,000 maraveds by selling to penitents exemptions from wearing the sanbenito, or penitential garment.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 1
Henry Charles Lea

This saco bendito became known as the sanbenito or, more commonly, abito and was necessarily inherited by the new Inquisition.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3
Henry Charles Lea

Two years and a half were spent on the trials of Diego and Ana, ending with a sentence of irremissible prison and sanbenito.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3
Henry Charles Lea

He continued his apostolate and, on a second trial, he was condemned to perpetual prison and sanbenito.
A History of the Inquisition of Spain; vol. 3
Henry Charles Lea

Valer’s sanbenito was displayed for a long time in the metropolitan church of Seville.
The Story of Seville
Walter M. Gallichan

Anagram

into beans
Bosnia Ten
Bonsai net
neon baits
nine boats
bone satin

Today’s quote

Someone told me the other day that he felt bad for single people because they are lonely all the time. I told him that’s not true. I’m single and I don’t feel lonely. I take myself out to eat, I buy myself clothes. I have great times by myself. Once you know how to take care of yourself, company becomes an option and and not a necessity.

– Keanu Reeves

On this day

24 October 1648 – signing of the Treaty of Munster, between the Holy Roman Emperor, France and their respective allies. This treaty was the second in a series of peace treaties known as the Peace of Westphalia which paved the way for the modern sovereign state. The first was the Peace of Munster, signed on 30 January 1648, the third being the Treaty of Osnabruck, signed on 24 October 1648.

24 October 1648 – signing of the Treaty of Osnabruck, between the Holy Roman Emperor, the empire, Sweden and their respective allies. This treaty was the third in a series of peace treaties known as the Peace of Westphalia which paved the way for the modern sovereign state. The first was the Peace of Munster, signed on 30 January 1648, the second being the Treaty of Munster signed on 24 October 1648.

24 October 1929 – Black Thursday, one week before Wall Street’s infamous Black Tuesday and in a harbinger of the impending crash, investors dumped 13 million shares and the market lost 11% in value.

24 October 1930 – birth of Jiles Perry ‘J.P.’ Richardson Jr, otherwise known as the Big Bopper. 1950s rock and roll star, famous for songs such as ‘Chantilly Lace’ and ‘Running Bear’. Died in a plane crash on 3 February 1959 with other musicians, Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the pilot, Roger Peterson. Their deaths were immortalised in the Don McLean song, ‘American Pie’, when he sang about the day the music died.

24 October 1945 – UN Day. The Charter of the United Nations took effect and the United Nations General Assembly declared that it ‘shall be devoted to making known to the peoples of the world the aims and achievements of the United Nations and to gaining their support for its work’.

23 October 2018

catechism

[kat-i-kiz-uh m]

noun

1. Ecclesiastical.
an elementary book containing a summary of the principles of the Christian religion, especially as maintained by a particular church, in the form of questions and answers.
the contents of such a book.
2. a similar book of instruction in other subjects.
3. a series of formal questions put, as to political candidates, to bring out their views.
4. catechetical instruction.

Origin of catechism

1495–1505; Late Latin catēchismus apparently equivalent to catēch(izāre) to catechize + -ismus -ism

Related forms

cat·e·chis·mal, adjective

Can be confused

cataclysm catechism

Dictionary.com

Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for catechism

examination, exam, questioning

Anagram

schematic
mice chats

Today’s quote

Fifty percent of people won’t vote, and fifty percent don’t read newspapers. I hope it’s the same fifty percent.

– Gore Vidal

On this day

23 October 4004BC – The day the world was created, according to Archbishop James Ussher.

23 October 42BC – death of Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger, for a while known as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus before returning to his original name. He is more commonly known as Brutus, Roman senator. He led a group who assassinated then Emperor Julius Caesar. Brutus suicided after his Army was defeated during the Roman civil wars at the Second Battle of Philippi, by Mark Antony and Octavian.

23 October 1959 – birth of ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic, American parody singer-songwriter.

23 October 1998 – Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, establish a ‘Land for Peace’ deal regarding the West Bank, after a marathon 21 hour negotiation.

22 October 2018

brazier(1)or brasier

[brey-zher]

noun

1. a metal receptacle for holding live coals or other fuel, as for heating a room.
2. a simple cooking device consisting of a container of live coals covered by a grill or thin metal top upon which the food, usually meat, is placed.

Origin of brazier(1)

1680-1690; earlier brasier < F. See braise, -er2

brazier(2)or brasier

[brey-zher]

noun

1. a person who makes articles of brass.

Origin

1275-1325; Middle English brasier, equivalent to Old English bræsi(an) to work in brass + -er -er1

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for brazier

Contemporary Examples

Photos: Remnants of Lives Lost on MH17 brazier was not “sick.”
To Truly Shame Putin, Show Us the Bodies of MH17
Tim Teeman
July 22, 2014

One of the relatives of a man who died in the incident has branded brazier “sick.”
To Truly Shame Putin, Show Us the Bodies of MH17
Tim Teeman
July 22, 2014

“You whisked in, hard, some egg white and then poured it, bit by bit, onto the yolks in a bowl,” brazier later recalled.
The Queen of the French Kitchen
Katie Baker
March 26, 2014

Anagram

bizarre

Today’s quote

Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.

– Earl Nightingale

On this day

22 October 1797 – Andre-Jacques Garnerin becomes the world’s first sky-diver after jumping out of a balloon above Paris.

22 October 1920 – birth of Timothy Leary, American psychologist and author. Leary was a major proponent of the use of pscyhedelic drugs, particularly LSD and psilocybin (mushrooms). He conducted numerous psychiatric experiments using psychedelics, particularly during the 1950s and and 1960s, when the drugs were legal. LSD was banned by the USA in 1966. Leary popularised 1960′s catch-phrases such as ‘turn on, tune in and drop out’, ‘set and setting’, and ‘think for yourself and question authority’. He was friends with beat generation poets, such as Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac. Leary was arrested numerous times over his possession and use of drugs. He wrote a number of books on the benefits of psychedelic drugs. Leary became fascinated with computers, declaring that ‘the PC is the LSD of the 1990s’. He encouraged bohemians to ‘turn on, boot up, jack in’. Leary was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1995. He chose to stream his dying moments over the internet. Seven grams of Leary’s ashes were placed aboard a Pegasus rocket, launched on 21 April 1997. It remained in orbit around the Earth for six years until it burned up in atmosphere. Died 31 May 1996.

22 October 1934 – Notorious gangster, Pretty Boy Floyd, shot to death by FBI agents in Ohio. Born 3 February 1904.

21 October 2018

cinnabar

[sin-uh-bahr]

noun

1. a mineral, mercuric sulfide, HgS, occurring in red crystals or masses: the principal ore of mercury.
2. red mercuric sulfide, used as a pigment.
3. bright red; vermillion.

Origin of cinnabar

Middle English Latin Greek

1350-1400; Latin cinnabaris < Greek kinnábari?; replacing Middle English cynoper < Medieval Latin, Latin as above

Related forms

cinnabarine [sin-uh-buh-reen, -ber-in, -bahr-ahyn, -een] (Show IPA), cinnabaric [sin-uh-bar-ik], adjective

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for cinnabar

Historical Examples

Only one deposit of cinnabar has so far been discovered, that was in 1867.
British Borneo
W. H. Treacher

For I have seen the Roof-ridge red in the sunlight as if it were painted with cinnabar.
The House of the Wolfings
William Morris

Them men as works in cinnabar sooner or later gets salviated.
Mrs. Skaggs’s Husbands and Other Stories
Bret Harte

cinnabar is an object which constrains us to think it as heavy and red.
A Commentary to Kant’s ‘Critique of Pure Reason’
Norman Kemp Smith

Anagram

ran cabin
a crab inn

Today’s quote

There’s no geographical solution to an emotional problem.

– Tony Soprano (Played by James Gandolfini, The Sopranos Season 6, Part 2, episode 4)

On this day

21 October 1492 – Christopher Columbus discovers America.

21 October 1772 – birth of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, English poet. Died 25 July 1834.

21 October 1833 – birth of Alfred Bernhard Nobel, Swedish chemist and armaments manufacturer, inventor of dynamite and the Nobel Prizes. Was known as the ‘Merchant of Death’. A newspaper stated that he ‘became rich by finding ways to kill people faster than ever before‘. As a result, he decided to leave a better legacy than that and used his estate to establish and fund the Nobel Prizes, which included the Nobel Peace Prize. Died 10 December 1896.

21 October 1966 – The Aberfan disaster in which the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip in the Welsh village of Aberfan, killed 116 children and 28 adults.

21 October 1967 – Thousands of anti-Vietnam-war protestors attempt to storm the Pentagon.

21 October 1969 – death of Jack Kerouac, American beat-generation writer, ‘On the road‘. Born 12 March 1922.

21 October 2015 – Back to the Future Day. At 4.29pm on 21 October 2015, Doc Emmett Brown and Marty McFly arrived from the year 1955 in a time machine made from a Delorean in the hit 1989 film, Back to the Future 2. Apart from the time machine, the most famous invention featured in the movie was the hoverboard.

19 October 2018

encomienda

[en-koh-mee-en-duh, -kom-ee-; Spanish eng-kaw-myen-dah]

noun, plural encomiendas [en-koh-mee-en-duh z, -kom-ee-; Spanish eng-kaw-myen-dahs] (formerly in Spanish America)

1. the system, instituted in 1503, under which a Spanish soldier or colonist was granted a tract of land or a village together with its Indian inhabitants.
2. the land or village together with its inhabitants.
Origin of encomienda Expand

1800-1810; Spanish: charge, commission, recommendation. See en-1, commend

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for encomienda

Historical Examples

This was known as the system of Repartimiento, or encomienda.
The History of Cuba, vol. 1
Willis Fletcher Johnson

The encomienda of Taytay is inhabited by five hundred Indians.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume V., 1582-1583
Various

Temanduque is also an encomienda, with five hundred Indians.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume V., 1582-1583
Various

The encomienda of Maragondon, with four hundred and fifty men.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803, Volume V., 1582-1583
Various

The said encomienda is instructed and visited with difficulty.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume VIII (of 55), 1591-1593
Emma Helen Blair

Where it was already under cultivation by the native peasants, they were turned into serfs attached to the encomienda.
South America Observations and Impressions
James Bryce

The régime of the encomienda, the mitas and the yanaconazgo had produced only a formal subjection of the natives.
The Social Evolution of the Argentine Republic
Ernesto Quesada

Your Majesty has commanded that no offices or places of profit shall be given to those who hold Indians in encomienda.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898: Volume XIV., 1606-1609
Various

Consequently, the encomienda of that large island was very desirable.
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 – Volume 41 of 55, 1691-1700
Various

But abuses arose and the encomienda system was gradually abolished.
The Colonization of North America
Herbert Eugene Bolton

Contemporary definitions for encomienda

noun

in the US, a land grant system started in 1503 which gave certain Spaniards an estate or tract of land in America as well as the Native American inhabitants of that land; also, this tract of land and its inhabitants

Examples

Encomienda provided for Indian tribute in exchange for protection and Christian instruction.
Usage Note
encomendero n

Dictionary.com’s 21st Century Lexicon
Copyright © 2003-2014 Dictionary.com, LLC

Word Origin and History for encomienda

n. 1810, from Spanish, “commission,” from encomendar “to commit, charge.” Estate granted to a Spaniard in America with powers to tax the Indians.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Anagram

canine mode
canoed mine
menaced ion
iceman done
nomad niece
named on ice
damn ice eon
code in name

Today’s quote

In a serious struggle there is no worse cruelty than to be magnanimous at an inopportune time.

– Leon Trotsky

On this day

19 October 1924 – Leon Trotsky, one of the founders of the Soviet Union and founder of the Red Army, is thrown out of the Soviet Politburo and his followers persecuted after he opposed Stalin. Trotsky was eventually expelled from the Communist Party and in 1929 was deported from the Soviet Union. He continued his opposition to Stalinism from his base in Mexico.

19 October 1944 – birth of Peter Tosh, Jamaican reggae singer and musician. From 1963 to 1974, Tosh was a member of Bob Marley and Wailers until going solo. His most famous song is ‘Legalize It’, about legalising marijuana. Tosh’s album, ‘Bush Doctor’, included a duet with Mick Jagger in the song, ‘Don’t Look Back’. Tosh was a Rastafarian. He campaigned against apartheid, which he sang about on his album ‘Equal Rights’. Tosh was murdered on 11 September 1987, after three men broke into his house and tortured him in an effort to extort money. After several hours, one of the men shot Tosh in the head, killing him. Two other friends of Tosh’s were also killed.

19 October 2001 – 353 asylum seekers drown when the boat they are on sinks 70km south of Java. The victims included 146 children, 142 women and 65 men. They were travelling from Indonesia to Australia and were predominantly Iraqi. Australian authorities labelled the boat SIEV-X (SIEV is short for ‘Suspected Illegal Entry Vehicle’). The incident became a major political issue and coupled with other incidents, such as the ‘Tampa crisis’ and the ‘Children Overboard affair’, resulted in major changes to Australia’s migration laws, including excising 4,600 islands from Australia’s migration zone and introduction of the controversial ‘Pacific Solution’.