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Today (May 29)
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May 29  The Beulé Gate is a fortified gate leading to the Propylaia of the Acropolis of Athens, Greece. It was constructed largely of repurposed material taken from the 4th-century BCE Choragic Monument of Nikias and integrated into the Post-Herulian Wall, a late Roman fortification built around the Acropolis in the years following the city's sack by the Germanic Heruli people in 267 or early 268 CE. Its construction marked the beginning of a new phase in the Acropolis's use, in which it came to be seen more as a defensive position than a religious sanctuary. During the medieval period, the gate was further fortified, before being built over with a bastion in Ottoman times. The monument was discovered by the French archaeologist Charles Ernest Beulé on 29 May 1852, and excavated in 1852 and 1853. Archaeologists and Greek commentators criticised the aggressive excavation – particularly the use of explosives. In modern times, the gate has served primarily as an exit for tourists from the Acropolis. (Full article...)
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May 29: Feast day of Saint Paul VI (Catholicism) _from_southwest,_2012.jpg) Hawthorne Bridge
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Tomorrow (May 30)
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May 30 .jpg) Firefighter watching the Boundary Fire The Boundary Fire was a 2017 wildfire in Arizona that burned 17,788 acres (7,199 ha) of the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests. The fire was ignited on June 1 when lightning struck a spot on the northeast side of Kendrick Peak within the Coconino National Forest. The fire spread rapidly because of high temperatures, steep terrain, leftovers from a wildfire in 2000, and high wind speeds. The winds blew smoke over local communities and infrastructure, leading to the closure of U.S. Route 180 from June 8 to June 21. Smoke was also visible from the Grand Canyon. The Boundary Fire burned out on July 3, 2017, after 32 days of firefighting. The cost of managing the fire was $9.4 million (equivalent to $11.5 million in 2023). Damage to the area's foliage increased the risk of landslides into 2018. The Boundary Fire was one of 2,321 wildfires in Arizona in 2017 that burned a total of 429,564 acres (173,838 ha). (Full article...)
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May 30: Statehood Day in Croatia (1990)  Johann Sebastian Bach
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May 30
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In two days (May 31)
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May 31  Castle of Guînes in 2012 The siege of Guînes took place from May to July 1352 when a French army under Geoffrey de Charny unsuccessfully attempted to recapture the French castle (pictured) at Guînes which had been seized by the English the previous January. The siege was part of the Hundred Years' War and took place during the uneasy and ill-kept truce of Calais. The strongly fortified castle had been taken by the English during a period of nominal truce and the English king, Edward III, decided to keep it. Charny led 4,500 men and retook the town but was unable to either recapture or blockade the castle. After two months of fierce fighting, a large English night attack on the French camp inflicted a heavy defeat and the French withdrew. Guînes was incorporated into the Pale of Calais. The threat posed by this enclave caused the French to garrison 60 fortified positions around it, at ruinous expense. The castle was besieged by the French in 1436 and 1514, but was relieved each time, before falling to the French in 1558. (Full article...)
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 Bessarion
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May 31  Marc Lieb As of 2023, 135 drivers and 51 teams have won a European Le Mans Series title. The European Le Mans Series (ELMS) is a European endurance motor racing championship organised by the umbrella organisation Le Mans Endurance Management and administered by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO). The ACO awards European championships and trophies to the most successful drivers and teams in each of the series' categories over the course of a season. Marc Lieb (pictured) is the most successful ELMS driver, with four championships; and Proton Competition are the series's most successful team, with six titles. There have been 83 drivers and 33 teams who have won a title in the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) classes. Paul-Loup Chatin and Emmanuel Collard have earned the most LMP drivers' titles, with three each; and G-Drive Racing have achieved the most LMP teams' championships, with four. (Full list...) | |||
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In three days (June 1)
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June 1  Palace with northern courtyard Ludwigsburg Palace is a 452-room palace complex of 18 buildings in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the largest palatial estate in the country and has been called the "Versailles of Swabia". Eberhard Louis, Duke of Württemberg, began construction of the palace in 1704. The son of his successor, Charles Eugene, completed it and refurbished parts in the Rococo style, especially its theatre. Charles Eugene abandoned the palace in 1775, and it began a decline until the future Duke, and then King, Frederick moved in in 1795. As King, Frederick, and his Queen, Charlotte, renovated the entirety of the palace in the Neoclassical style. The palace was opened to the public in 1918. It underwent periods of restoration, including for its tricentenary in 2004. It has hosted the Ludwigsburg Festival annually since 1947. The palace is surrounded by gardens named Blooming Baroque (Blühendes Barock), laid out in 1954 as they might have appeared in 1800. (Full article...)
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 The Defence at the Battle of the First of June, 1794
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June 1 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 four days (June 2)
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June 2  Hall's A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary John Richard Clark Hall (1855–1931) was a British scholar of Old English, and a barrister. Hall's A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (shown) became a widely used work upon its 1894 publication, and after multiple revisions remains in print as of 2021. His 1901 prose translation of Beowulf was still the canonical introduction to the poem into the 1960s; some later editions included a prefatory essay by J. R. R. Tolkien. Hall's other work on Beowulf included a metrical translation in 1914, and the translation and collection of Knut Stjerna's Swedish papers on the poem in the 1912 work Essays on Questions Connected with the Old English Poem of Beowulf. In the final decade of his life, Hall's writings took to a Christian theme. The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge published two of his works in this time: Herbert Tingle, and Especially his Boyhood, and Birth-Control and Self-Control. Hall worked as a clerk at the Local Government Board in Whitehall, becoming principal clerk in 1898. (Full article...)
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June 2: Festa della Repubblica in Italy (1946) .jpg) Elizabeth II on her coronation day
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In five days (June 3)
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June 3  James and Margaret 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: Anniversary of Khomeini's Death in Iran (1989); Martyrs Day in Uganda; King's Official Birthday in New Zealand (2024); Western Australia Day (2024)  One of the last two great auks
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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 prize. (Full list...) | |||
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June 3
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In six days (June 4)
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June 4  550 Madison Avenue is a postmodern skyscraper on Madison Avenue between 55th and 56th Streets 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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In seven days (June 5)
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June 5  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 (shown) on the reverse. 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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