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March 6, 2025
Mar 6, 2025
Word
burke
verb
Definition
  1. to suppress quietly or indirectly
  2. bypass, avoid
Example
The governor attempted to discreetly burke all inquiries into his alleged misuse of state funds.
Origin
When an elderly pensioner died at the Edinburgh boarding house of William Hare in 1827, the proprietor and his friend William Burke decided to sell the body to a local anatomy school. The sale was so lucrative that they decided to make sure they could repeat it. They began luring nameless wanderers (who were not likely to be missed) into the house, getting them drunk, then smothering or strangling them and selling the bodies. The two disposed of at least 15 victims before murdering a local woman whose disappearance led to their arrest. At Burke's execution (by hanging), irate crowds shouted "Burke him!" As a result of the case, the word "burke" became a byword first for death by suffocation or strangulation and eventually for any cover-up.
Webster's Dictionary
Idiom
daisy chain
1. A series of connected events, activities, or experiences. For example, The daisy chain of lectures on art history encompassed the last 200 years. This metaphorical term alludes to a string of the flowers linked together. [Mid-1800s] 2. A line or circle of three or more persons engaged in simultaneous sexual activity. For example, A high-class call girl, she drew the line at daisy chains. [Vulgar slang; 1920s] 3. A series of securities transactions intended to give the impression of active trading so as to drive up the price. For example, The SEC is on the alert for unscrupulous brokers who are engaging in daisy chains. [1980s]
The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms
Fun facts
  1. The typewriter was invented in Milwaukee, WI in 1867.
  2. The nothingness of a black hole generates a sound in the key of B flat.
Snapple's under-the-cap 'Real Facts'
Artist
Kunisada
1786 - Jan 12, 1865

Utagawa Kunisada, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III, was the most popular, prolific and commercially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan. In his own time, his reputation far exceeded that of his contemporaries, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi.

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Wikipedia, Google Arts & Culture
Historical figure
Yusuf Dadoo
Sep 5, 1909 - Sep 19, 1983

Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo was a South African Communist and an anti-apartheid activist. During his life, he was chair of both the South African Indian Congress and the South African Communist Party, as well as being a major proponent of co-operation between those organisations and the African National Congress. He was a leader of the Defiance Campaign and a defendant at the Treason Trial in 1956. His last days were spent in exile in London, where he is buried at Highgate Cemetery; a few metres away from the Tomb of Karl Marx.

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Wikipedia, Google Arts & Culture
Historic event
Allied invasion of Sicily
Jul 9, 1943 - Aug 17, 1943

The Allied invasion of Sicily, codenamed Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II, in which the Allies took the island of Sicily from the Axis powers. It began with a large amphibious and airborne operation, followed by a six-week land campaign, and initiated the Italian Campaign.

To divert some of their forces to other areas, the Allies engaged in several deception operations, the most famous and successful of which was Operation Mincemeat. Husky began on the night of 9–10 July 1943, and ended on 17 August. Strategically, Husky achieved the goals set out for it by Allied planners; the Allies drove Axis air, land and naval forces from the island and the Mediterranean sea lanes were opened for Allied merchant ships for the first time since 1941. The Italian leader, Benito Mussolini, was toppled from power in Italy and the way was opened for the Allied invasion of Italy. The German leader, Adolf Hitler, "canceled a major offensive at Kursk after only a week, in part to divert forces to Italy", resulting in a reduction of German strength on the Eastern Front.

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Wikipedia, Google Arts & Culture
Quote
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Mark Twain