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Today (June 3)
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June 3  James and Margret Reed of the Donner Party The Donner Party was a group of American pioneers who set out for California in a wagon train, but became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada mountains in November 1846. Running out of food, some resorted to cannibalism to survive. The journey west usually took between four and six months, but the Donner Party had been slowed by following a new route called the Hastings Cutoff, which crossed the Rocky Mountains' Wasatch Range and the Great Salt Lake Desert in present-day Utah. They lost many cattle and wagons in the rugged terrain, and divisions formed within the group. Their food supplies ran low after they became trapped by an early, heavy snowfall high in the mountains. In mid-December some of the group set out on foot and were able to obtain help. Of the 87 members of the party, 48 survived to reach California. Historians have described the episode as one of the most spectacular tragedies in California history. (Full article...)
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June 3: Martyrs Day in Uganda; King's Official Birthday in New Zealand (2024); Western Australia Day (2024)  Silhouette of Jack Jouett
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June 3 _in_1936_at_Princeton_University.jpg) Alan Turing The Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in the field of computer science and is often referred to as the "Nobel Prize of Computing". The award is named after Alan Turing (pictured), who was a British mathematician and reader in mathematics at the University of Manchester. Turing is often credited as being the founder of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence, and a key contributor to the Allied cryptanalysis of the Enigma cipher during World War II. The first recipient, in 1966, was Alan Perlis of Carnegie Mellon University. The youngest recipient was Donald Knuth, who won in 1974 at the age of 36, while the oldest recipient was Alfred Aho, who won in 2020 at the age of 79. As of 2024, 77 people have been awarded the Turing Prize. (Full list...) | |||
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June 3
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Tomorrow (June 4)
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June 4  550 Madison Avenue is a postmodern skyscraper on Madison Avenue between 55th Street and 56th Street in New York City. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee with associate architect Simmons Architects, the building was completed in 1984. It is a 647-foot-tall (197-meter), 37-story office tower with a facade made of pink granite. It was originally the headquarters of AT&T Corp., which relocated from 195 Broadway, the company's previous headquarters. Following the breakup of the Bell System in 1982, AT&T spun off subsidiary corporations and never occupied the entire building as it had originally intended. The building later became the American headquarters of Sony. An annex to the west was demolished and replaced in the early 2020s. Opinion of the building has been mixed ever since its design was first announced in March 1978. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building's exterior as a landmark in 2018. (Full article...)
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June 4: Trianon Treaty Day in Romania (1920)  Emily Davison
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June 4
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In two days (June 5)
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June 5  Reverse of the double sovereign The double sovereign is a gold coin of the United Kingdom with a nominal value of two pounds sterling (£2). It features the reigning monarch on its obverse and, most often, Benedetto Pistrucci's depiction of Saint George and the Dragon on the reverse (pictured). It was rarely issued in the first century and a half after its debut in 1820, usually in a new monarch's coronation year or to mark the institution of a new coinage portrait of the monarch. In addition to the usual coinage in Britain, specimens were struck at Australia's Sydney Mint in 1887 and 1902. Most often struck as a proof coin, the double sovereign has been issued for circulation in only four years, and few examples worn from commercial use are known. It is now a collector and bullion coin, and has been struck by the Royal Mint most years since 1980. In some years, it has not been issued and the Royal Mint instead placed gold versions of the commemorative £2 piece in the annual gold proof sets. (Full article...)
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 Antonio Luna
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June 5
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In three days (June 6)
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June 6  American Cemetery, where the film's opening and closing scenes are set Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set in 1944 in France during World War II, it follows a group of soldiers, led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), on their mission to locate Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), who is to be brought home after his three brothers are killed in action. Inspired by the books of Stephen E. Ambrose and accounts of the deaths of members of a single family such as the Niland brothers, Rodat drafted the script and Paramount Pictures hired him to finish the writing. Spielberg wanted to make Saving Private Ryan as authentic as possible, and hired Frank Darabont and Scott Frank to perform uncredited rewrites based on research and interviews with veterans. The cast went through a week-long boot camp to understand the soldier experience. Filming took place from June to September 1997 in England and Ireland. Saving Private Ryan earned critical acclaim for its graphic portrayal of combat. (Full article...)
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June 6: National Day of Sweden  Shivaji
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June 6
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In four days (June 7)
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June 7  Cover of the May 1911 edition Munsey's Magazine was an American magazine founded by Frank Munsey in 1889. Originally launched in 1889 as Munsey's Weekly, it became an illustrated monthly in 1891, printing both fiction and non-fiction. In 1893 the price was reduced from 25 to 10 cents and circulation rose to more than 250,000 issues. The same year Munsey became one of the first publishers to regularly feature a pretty girl on the cover. Circulation was also helped by the liberal use of illustrations, and reached a peak of about 700,000 in 1897, declining in the 1910s. Well-known writers appeared, including O. Henry, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, P. G. Wodehouse, and Joseph Conrad. In 1929 it was merged with Argosy, another of Munsey's magazines. Magazine historians consider Munsey's to have started a revolution in magazine publishing by setting a low price to increase circulation, and attracting sufficient advertising revenue to make a substantial profit. Other magazines quickly followed the example of Munsey's. (Full article...)
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 Mosaic of Aelia Eudocia
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June 7 .jpg) Jacinta Allan The premier of Victoria is the head of government in the state of Victoria, Australia. The premier leads the Cabinet of Victoria and selects its ministers to lead government. The premier is appointed by the governor of Victoria and is usually the leader of the political party that has a majority of lower house members. Elections are held every four years, on the last Saturday of November, and no term limits are imposed on the role. Currently, the premier is paid a total salary of A$481,190. Premiers who hold the office for more than 3,000 days are entitled to a statue, a milestone six premiers have achieved, however, only four have had their statues erected. Since the role's establishment in 1855, there have been 49 premiers. The longest-serving premier was Henry Bolte of the Liberal Party, who served for over 17 years. The shortest-serving premier, George Elmslie, served for only 13 days. The current premier, Jacinta Allan (pictured) of the Labor Party, assumed office on 27 September 2023. (Full list...)
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June 7 The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. | |
In five days (June 8)
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June 8  Bill Newton (8 June 1919 – 29 March 1943) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, honoured for his actions as a bomber pilot in Papua New Guinea during March 1943. Raised in Melbourne, he joined the Citizen Military Forces in 1938 and enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in February 1940. He served as a flying instructor in Australia before being posted to No. 22 Squadron, which began operating Boston light bombers in New Guinea late in 1942. Having just taken part in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, he was on his fifty-second mission when he was shot down. Newton was still posted as missing when given the Victoria Cross in October 1943. It later emerged that he was captured by the Japanese and beheaded. Newton was the only Australian airman to receive a Victoria Cross for action in the South West Pacific theatre of World War II, and the sole Australian to be so decorated while flying with an RAAF squadron. (Full article...)
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 Laki, as of July 2012
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June 8
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In six days (June 9)
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June 9  Mos Def
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 Meadow Stables racing colors
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June 9
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In seven days (June 10)
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June 10  Marasmius rotula, the pinwheel mushroom, is a fungus in the family Marasmiaceae. Widespread in the Northern Hemisphere, it was first described scientifically in 1772 by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. The mushrooms are characterized by thin whitish caps up to 2.0 cm (0.8 in) wide that are sunken in the center and pleated with scalloped margins. The wiry black hollow stalks measure up to 8.0 cm (3.1 in) long by 1.5 mm (0.06 in) thick. On the underside of the caps are widely spaced white gills, attached to a collar encircling the stalk. The mushrooms grow in groups or clusters on decaying wood such as moss-covered logs and stumps. Spore release is dependent upon sufficient moisture. Dried mushrooms may revive after rehydrating and release spores for up to three weeks, much longer than most gilled mushrooms. Although the mushrooms are not generally considered edible, they produce a unique peroxidase enzyme that is attracting research interest for use in bioengineering applications. (Full article...)
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June 10: Dragon Boat Festival in China (2024)  John Diefenbaker
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June 10 .jpg) SZA in 2013 American singer-songwriter SZA has released two studio albums, three extended plays (EPs), one live album, and forty-four singles. After self-releasing her first two EPs, she signed to the record label Top Dawg Entertainment, under which she released her 2017 debut studio album, Ctrl. The album peaked at number three in the US Billboard 200, spent over five years charting there, and earned her some of her first Grammy nominations in 2018. After a five-year wait, during which SZA appeared in three top-10 collaborations, she released SOS, her second studio album. It became SZA's first number-one album in several countries, was the US's third best-selling album of 2023, and spawned "Kill Bill", the third best-selling single of the year worldwide. SZA's next projects are a deluxe edition of SOS and her third studio album, Lana. Ctrl and SOS have been ranked by Rolling Stone as among the 500 greatest albums of all time. (Full list...)
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June 10 The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. | |