On This Day
2017 – A naming ceremony for the chemical element nihonium takes place in Tokyo, with then Crown Prince Naruhito in attendance.[34][35]
Nihonium is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Nh and atomic number 113. It is extremely radioactive; its most stable known isotope, nihonium-286, has a half-life of about 10 seconds. In the periodic table, nihonium is a transactinide element in the p-block. It is a member of period 7 and group 13 (boron group).
Nihonium was first reported to have been created in 2003 by a Russian–American collaboration at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) in Dubna, Russia, and in 2004 by a team of Japanese scientists at Riken in Wakō, Japan. The confirmation of their claims in the ensuing years involved independent teams of scientists working in the United States, Germany, Sweden, and China, as well as the original claimants in Russia and Japan. In 2015, the IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party recognised the element and assigned the priority of the discovery and naming rights for the element to Riken. The Riken team suggested the name nihonium in 2016, which was approved in the same year. The name comes from the common Japanese name for Japan (日本, nihon).
Very little is known about nihonium, as it has only been made in very small amounts that decay within seconds. The anomalously long lives of some superheavy nuclides, including some nihonium isotopes, are explained by the “island of stability” theory. Experiments support the theory, with the half-lives of the confirmed nihonium isotopes increasing from milliseconds to seconds as neutrons are added and the island is approached. Nihonium has been calculated to have similar properties to its homologues boron, aluminium, gallium, indium, and thallium. All but boron are post-transition metals, and nihonium is expected to be a post-transition metal as well. It should also show several major differences from them; for example, nihonium should be more stable in the +1 oxidation state than the +3 state, like thallium, but in the +1 state nihonium should behave more like silver and astatine than thallium. Preliminary experiments in 2017 showed that elemental nihonium is not very volatile; its chemistry remains largely unexplored.
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Born On This Day
What an awful outlook! Definitely not a kind Canadian
1868 – Emily Murphy, Canadian jurist, author, and activist (d. 1933)[61]
Emily Murphy (born Emily Gowan Ferguson; 14 March 1868 – 27 October 1933)[1] was a Canadian women’s rights activist, and author. In 1916, she became the first female magistrate in Canada, and in the British Empire. She is best known for her contributions to Canadian feminism, specifically to the question of whether women were “persons” under Canadian law.
Murphy is known as one of “The Famous Five” (also called “The Valiant Five”)[2]—a group of Canadian women’s rights activists that also included Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby. In 1927, the women launched the “Persons Case,” contending that women could be “qualified persons” eligible to sit in the Senate. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that they were not. However, upon appeal to the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council, the court of last resort for Canada at that time, the women won their case.[3]
However, there has been some criticism of her later work, mainly for her role in the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta and her allegations that a ring of immigrants from other countries, particularly China, would corrupt the white race by getting Canadians hooked on drugs.[4] In her book The Black Candle, she wrote: “It is hardly credible that the average Chinese peddler has any definite idea in his mind of bringing about the downfall of the white race, his swaying motive being probably that of greed, but in the hands of his superiors, he may become a powerful instrument to that end.”[5]
FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
William McChord Hurt[1][2] (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. He studied at the Juilliard School and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt’s film debut was in Ken Russell’s science-fiction feature Altered States, released in 1980, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination for New Star of the Year. In 1981 he played a leading role in the neo-noir Body Heat, with Kathleen Turner.
Hurt garnered three consecutive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor, for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Children of a Lesser God (1986), and Broadcast News (1987), winning for the first of these.
Hurt remained an active stage actor throughout the 1980s, appearing in Off-Broadway productions including Henry V, Fifth of July, Richard II and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Hurt received his first Tony Award nomination in 1985 for the Broadway production of Hurlyburly.
After playing character roles in the following decade, Hurt earned his fourth Academy Award nomination for his supporting performance in David Cronenberg’s crime thriller A History of Violence (2005). His later career films roles include turns in A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), The Village (2004), Syriana (2005), The Good Shepherd (2006), Mr. Brooks (2007), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010), and the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, in which he portrayed Thaddeus Ross.
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By Patrick Wood, NPR: Poland rebuilds abandoned rail tracks to Ukraine to help refugees fleeing the war
By Ashley Strickland, CNN: Newly discovered rainbow-colored fish lives in the ocean’s ‘twilight zone’
By Sy Montgomery, Daily Good: Shell Shock Compassion defies death at the turtle hospital
By Michael Hall, Texas Monthly: Trigger The life of a guitar.
By Emily Temple, Literary Hub: “Write a Sentence as Clean as a Bone” and Other Advice From James Baldwin You can never go wrong listening to this guy.
When you’ve finished a novel it means, “The train stops here, you have to get off here.” You never get the book you wanted, you settle for the book you get. I’ve always felt that when a book ended there was something I didn’t see, and usually when I remark the discovery it’s too late to do anything about it.
Writing is hard.
Every form is difficult, no one is easier than another. They all kick your a@@. None of it comes easy.
By Dotdash Meredith, Cision: Southern Living Announces Winners of 2022 South’s Best Awards Southern Living Announces Its South’s Best Survey Results Revealing Audiences’ Favorite Cities, Small Towns, Barbecue Joints, and More Across the South
By Rocky Parker, Beyond Bylines: A Big List of Women Bloggers You Need to Know
By Rocky Parker, Beyond Bylines: Even More Gardening Blogs We Love: Volume 5
By MessyNessy 13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. DXCIV): Meet the woman who builds the world’s most unique Airbnbs; An Orgone Accumulator; A reminder that Trees are Amazing; The neo-classical dreamland of this elegant, pastel hotel near Lake Maggiore; Oh, just some Nuns playing football/ soccer in Italy and more ->
By Mallory De Leon, Keyword Contributor: The women behind some of Google’s most impactful products
Instead of complaining about the cost of things & knowing it’ll get worse, here’s a different mindset.
I crawled into a warm bed last night & I know where I’m sleeping tonight. There is a roof over my head & the house is warm. The fridge & cupboards have food. My pups are safe , fed, & happy. I turn on the tap & have clean water.
I am blessed. If I have to take less trips, walk a bit further, so be it. We are luckier than most people that we share this world with.
Lisa Karwoski
My nephew’s fiance posted this with instructions to share.
(From my friend George! dlc)
Recipes
Just the Recipe: Paste the URL to any recipe, click submit, and it’ll return literally JUST the recipe- no ads, no life story of the writer, no nothing EXCEPT the recipe.
DamnDelicious
RecipeTinEats
- Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel June 12, 2026Firstly, thank you for the Jaffle love. 🥰 Hit the Jaffle button above to see what he got up to today! Secondly – cake. Specifically, Coffee Cake! A classic crumb cake with a jammy cinnamon ribbon, loaded with lots and lots of nubbly, extra crunchy cinnamon streusel. Outrageously good. Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel This... […]Nagi
- Introducing Jaffle! June 10, 2026Meet Jaffle! Future Chief Taste Tester. Son of a Dozer friend. A little bundle of golden, fluffy joy! 48 hours of instant happiness I didn’t expect to get a new puppy so soon after saying goodbye to Dozer. To be honest, I wasn’t sure when I’d be ready. And I had it in my head... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 14 June 14, 2026Picture of the day Wulfenite crystals with calcite, found in the Erupción Mine, Sierra de Los Lamentos, Ahumada Municipality, Chihuahua, Mexico.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 13 June 13, 2026Picture of the day An image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on a stained-glass window located in a church in St. Peters, Missouri. Today is the feast day of the Immaculate Heart in the Roman Catholic Church.
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Stump the Bookseller is a service offered by Loganberry Books to reconnect people to the books they love but can’t quite remember. In brief (for more detailed information see our About page), people can post their memories here, and the hivemind goes to work. After all, the collective mind of bibliophiles, readers, parents and librarians around the world is much better than just a few of us thinking. Together with these wonderful Stumper Magicians, we have a nearly 50% success rate in finding these long lost but treasured books. The more concrete the book description, the better the success rate, of course. It is a labor of love to keep it going, and there is a modest fee. Please see the How To page to find price information and details on how to submit your Book Stumper and payment.
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