On This Day
1571 – Valletta is made the capital city of Malta.[2]
Valletta (/vəˈlɛtə/, Maltese: il-Belt Valletta, Maltese pronunciation: [vɐˈlːɛtːɐ]) is the administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 was 6,444.[3] According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered whole island and has a population of 480 134.[2][4] Valletta is the southernmost capital of Europe,[5][note 1] and at just 0.61 square kilometres (0.24 sq mi), it is the European Union’s smallest capital city.[6][7]
Valletta’s 16th-century buildings were constructed by the Knights Hospitaller. The city was named after Jean Parisot de Valette, who succeeded in defending the island from an Ottoman invasion during the Great Siege of Malta. The city is Baroque in character, with elements of Mannerist, Neo-Classical and Modern architecture, though the Second World War left major scars on the city, particularly the destruction of the Royal Opera House. The city was officially recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1980.[8] Today, with 320 monuments, is one of the most dense monuments areas in the world.[8] Sometimes called an “open-air museum”.[9] Valletta was chosen the European Capital of Culture 2018. Valletta is also the sunniest city in Europe.[10][11]
The city is noted for its fortifications, consisting of bastions, curtains and cavaliers, along with the beauty of its Baroque palaces, gardens and churches.
Born On This Day
1820 – John Plankinton, American businessman, industrialist, and philanthropist (d. 1891)[14]
John Plankinton (March 11, 1820 – March 29, 1891) was an American businessman. He is noted for expansive real estate developments in Milwaukee, including the luxurious Plankinton House Hotel designed as an upscale residence for the wealthy. He was involved with railroading and banking. The Plankinton Bank he developed became the leading bank of Milwaukee in his lifetime. He was involved in the development of the Milwaukee City Railroad Company, an electric railway.
Plankinton was a Milwaukee-based meatpacking industrialist. He started this trade as a butcher for his general store operating in the center part of the city. He was the city’s leading meat packer after his first year in the grocery business. He expanded this industry and eventually became acquainted with the meatpacking industrialist Philip D. Armour forming a company with him that lasted for 20 years.
Plankinton was noted for his generous philanthropy. He donated the land for the construction of the Perseverance Presbyterian church and supported the formation of a soup kitchen in Milwaukee for the poor that included the daily supply of meat needed. He also financed the construction of the first Milwaukee public library.
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Recipes
By Caroline Stanko, Taste of Home: 30+ Chicken Recipes for Two
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.
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- Ham and cheese omelette June 2, 2023I’ve updated the way I make omelettes. This “scrambled egg” approach is easier and yields a better result without having to worry about raw egg in the middle. Today’s omelette recipe is filled with ham and cheese. Sauté your ham first! Ham and cheese omelette I used to cook omelettes using the technique whereby you... […]Nagi
- Antipasto Chickpea Salad May 31, 2023I love this chickpea salad because it involves little more than opening jars, it keeps well for days and the chickpeas keep me full for longer. It’s like an antipasto platter, in the form of a protein-laden, good-for-you meal! Antipasto Chickpea Salad Professional food writers would probably describe chickpeas as a blank canvas for flavour.... […]Nagi
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- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 3 June 3, 2023Picture of the day Amphycribral vascular bundle of a Fern Rhizome Pteridium aquilinum. Big cells with red cell wall are tracheids. They serve in the transport of water. Around the xylem there are xylem parenchyma and phloem cells. A single row layer of small cells (with red content) located circumferentially is endoderm. In the parenchyma […]
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 2 June 2, 2023Picture of the day Ascent to the steeple of the St. Viktor Church, Dülmen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
AV Club Wiki Wormhole
- Elliot Page recounts the time a famous acquaintance told him being gay "doesn't exist" June 3, 2023Elliot Page’s new memoir, Pageboy, comes out next week—which means that excerpts from the non-fiction book are already starting to spread online. The book details Page’s life in the entertainment industry, starting from when he was a child star, up through coming out as gay in 2014 and as trans in 2020. As revealed by…Read […]William Hughes
- Matthew Broderick says John Hughes wasn't the chillest dude June 3, 2023Read more...Peter Scobel
- Anna Cathcart talks XO, Kitty and raps Ludacris' verse from "Baby" June 2, 2023Read more...Peter Scobel
- Barbie used up the world's supply of pink paint June 2, 2023One of the things that’s immediately eye-catching about Greta Gerwig’s upcoming Barbie—the Little Women director’s attempt to say something cinematically satirical and funny about the inner life of the iconic doll—is that so much of what Gerwig and her team have created for the film’s world has been done with…Read more...William Hughes
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