.png?auto=format,compress&fit=crop&w=280&h=280&q=93)
.jpg?fit=crop&w=200&h=200&crop=faces&auto=format,compress)
A handful of powerful companies control the majority market share of almost 80% of dozens of grocery items bought regularly by ordinary Americans, new analysis reveals.
A joint investigation by the Guardian and Food and Water Watch found that consumer choice is largely an illusion – despite supermarket shelves and fridges brimming with different brands. Read Full Article
William Wallace, Scottish leader of the resistance against English rule, is captured by English forces near Glasgow. He was betrayed by John Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward I, and handed over to the English. Wallace was taken to London, where he was condemned as a traitor and executed on August 23, 1305. Menteith received large land grants in Knapdale and Kintyre for his service.
The Badge of Military Merit is announced by General George Washington to the Continental Army to honor soldiers wounded in battle. Designed by Washington in the form of a purple heart, It was intended as a military order for soldiers who exhibited, "not only instances of unusual gallantry in battle, but also extraordinary fidelity and essential service in any way". This is thought to be the first time in modern history that military honor awards had been presented to common soldiers.
It is believed that only three people received the Badge of Military Merit during the American Revolutionary War, The first Badge of Military Merit (“a heart of purple cloth with a narrow lace or binding”) was awarded to 26 year old Sergeant Elijah Churchill of Enfield, Connecticut, a member of the Fourth Troop of the Second Continental Dragoons. In 1932, the United States War Department authorized the new Purple Heart Medal, officially considered the "successor decoration" to the Badge of Military Merit. More
American forces land on the Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida. on the morning of August 7,1942. After some fierce fighting, the US Marines cleared Tulagi and Florida by August 9. The main forces on Guadalcanal met little resistance on their way inland to secure the airfield at Lunga Point, Almost immediately, however, Japanese naval aircraft attacked transport and escort ships, and Japanese reinforcements arrived in the area. More
Guadalcanal Image: The National WWII Museum, 2002.069.144.
Love the new UI - it is fun to be able to easily look up specific days, years and months throughout history. I must control me ADHD 😳🙂
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:
This stunning starfield spans about three full moons (1.5 degrees) across the heroic northern constellation of Perseus. It holds the famous pair of open star clusters, h and Chi Persei. Also cataloged as NGC 869 (right) and NGC 884, both clusters are about 7,000 light-years away and contain stars much younger and hotter than the Sun. Separated by only a few hundred light-years, the clusters are both 13 million years young based on the ages of their individual stars, evidence that both clusters were likely a product of the same star-forming region. Always a rewarding sight in binoculars or small telescopes, the Double Cluster is even visible to the unaided eye from dark locations.
Photo by Ron Brecher
Zernez, Wildenberg Castle in Zernez. Garden shed in the inner garden.
Agnes Monkelbaan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:
What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a small pebble from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy's far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor, the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks next week, although this year the meteors will have to outshine a sky brightened by a nearly full moon.
Photo by Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
Bunker 26 in the Dülmen-Visbeck special ammunition depot, Dernekamp hamlet, Kirchspiel, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Dietmar Rabich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:
Why is this nebula so complex? The Webb Space Telescope has imaged a nebula in great detail that is thought to have emerged from a Sun-like star. NGC 6072 has been resolved into one of the more unusual and complex examples of planetary nebula. The featured image is in infrared light with the red color highlighting cool hydrogen gas. Study of previous images of NGC 6072 indicated several likely outflows and two disks inside the jumbled gas, while the new Webb image resolves new features likely including one disk's edge protruding on the central left. A leading origin hypothesis holds that the nebula's complexity is caused or enhanced by multiple outbursts from a star in a multi-star system near the center.
View from Okrążek rock in Piekary towards Vistula River, southern Poland. Tyniec Abbey on the right and Camaldolese Monastery on the left.
Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day:
What are these gigantic blue arcs near the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)? Discovered in 2022 by amateur astronomers, the faint arcs -- dubbed SDSO 1 -- span nearly the same angular size as M31 itself. At first, their origin was a mystery: are they actually near the Andromeda Galaxy, or alternatively near to our Sun? Now, over 550 hours of combined exposure and a collaboration between amateur and professional astronomers has revealed strong evidence for their true nature: SDSO 1 is not intergalactic, but a new class of planetary nebula within our galaxy. Dubbed a Ghost Planetary Nebula (GPN), SDSO 1 is the first recognized member of a new subclass of faded planetary nebulas, along with seven others also recently identified. Shown in blue are extremely faint oxygen emission from the shock waves, while the surrounding red is a hydrogen-emitting trail that indicates the GPN's age.
Photo by Ogle et al.
U.S. President Barack Obama's official photograph in the Oval Office on 6 December 2012. Today is his birthday.
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. View source.
Did you know that we have a whole section dedicated to your local community?
Post or read about current happenings or bits of local history. Serious or fun. Invite your friends and neighbors to join. Click the image below to see more.
.jpg?format,compress&fit=crop&w=280&h=280&q=93)
.jpg?format,compress&fit=crop&w=280&h=280&q=93)
QUICK LINKS
