Dave Lombardo, Slayer's drummer

Still Reigning is a live performance DVD by the thrash metal band Slayer, released in 2004 through American Recordings. Filmed at the Augusta Civic Center on July 11, 2004, the performance showcases Reign in Blood (1986), Slayer's third studio album and its first to enter the Billboard 200. The album was played in its entirety with the four original band members on a set resembling their 1986 Reign in Pain Tour. Still Reigning was voted "best live DVD" by the readers of Revolver magazine, and received gold certification in 2005. In the finale, the band is covered in stage blood while performing the song " Raining Blood", leading to a demanding audio mixing process plagued by production and technical difficulties. The DVD's producer Kevin Shirley spent hours replacing cymbal and drum hits one-by-one. Later, Shirley publicly aired his financial disagreements with the band and criticized the quality of the recording. ( Full article...)

Republica hickeyi leaf

• ... that fossil plants (leaf pictured) and damselflies from the Ypresian age are named after the city of Republic?
• ... that South Korean actress Na O-mi's stage name was inspired by the song " I Dream of Naomi"?
• ... that while reviewers generally praised The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs, one reviewer complained that the author was "so nice about his colleagues that it makes you long for a juicy academic vendetta"?
• ... that Joseph Tetley, a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council, defrauded several investors to the 2017 equivalent value of under NZ$7 million?
• ... that Cleo Hill Jr. coached the college basketball team for which his father played more than 60 years earlier?
• ... that according to the official history of the Song dynasty, Zhao Kuangyin's soldiers stormed his bedroom and proclaimed him emperor, to his surprise?
• ... that a video game consisting solely of a clickable image of a banana was briefly the second-most played game on Steam?
• ... that the album covers of Blue Note Records have been considered to be the "look" of jazz?
• ... that on July 11, 2022, millions of dollars worth of jewelry was stolen from the back of a truck while one driver was getting food at a California truck stop and the other one was asleep in the cab?

Hypericum sechmenii flowers

Hypericum sechmenii (Seçmen's St John's wort) is a rare species of flowering plant in the St John's wort family that is found in Eskişehir Province in central Turkey. It was first described and assigned to the genus Hypericum in 2009, and was later placed into the section Adenosepalum. H. sechmenii is a perennial herb that grows 3 to 6 centimeters (1 to 2 inches) tall and blooms in June and July. The stems of the plant are smooth and hairless, while the leaves are leathery and lack leafstalks. Its flowers are arranged in corymbs, and each has five bright yellow petals. Similar species are H. huber-morathii, H. minutum, and H. thymopsis. Found among limestone rocks, H. sechmenii has an estimated distribution of less than 10 square kilometers (4 square miles), with fewer than 250 surviving plants. Despite containing druse crystals and toxic chemicals that may deter herbivory, the species is threatened by overgrazing, as well as climate change and habitat loss. ( Full article...)

Masoud Pezeshkian

• The New Popular Front wins the most seats in the National Assembly in the French legislative election but does not achieve a majority.
• In Iran, the reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian (pictured) is elected president in the second round of the presidential election.
• The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election and Keir Starmer becomes prime minister.
• Hurricane Beryl, the earliest-recorded Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in a calendar year, leaves at least 15 people dead in the Caribbean, Venezuela, and the United States.

July 11: Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Genocide in Poland ( 1943)

Leicester balloon riot, 1864

• 1405 – An expeditionary fleet led by Zheng He set sail for foreign regions of the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, marking the start of Ming China's treasure voyages.
• 1846 – British soldier Frederick John White died after a flogging, leading to a campaign to end the practice in the British Army.
• 1864 – A riot broke out in Leicester, England, at the failed launching of a hot air balloon (pictured).
• 1928 – Ukrainian archaeologist Ivan Borkovský discovered a medieval skeleton at Prague Castle; competing factions claimed the skeleton as Germanic or Slavic in origin.
• 1936 – New York City's Triborough Bridge, the "biggest traffic machine ever built", opened to traffic.

July 12

Yitzhak Rabin in 1948

• 927 – King Æthelstan of England secured the submission of four northern rulers: Constantine II of Scotland, Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Ealdred I of Bamburgh, and Owain ap Dyfnwal of Strathclyde.
• 1488 – Choe Bu, an official of the Joseon dynasty, returned to Korea after months of shipwrecked travel in China.
• 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: A squadron of British ships of the line defeated a larger squadron of Spanish and French vessels in the Strait of Gibraltar.
• 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Israel Defense Forces officer Yitzhak Rabin (pictured) signed an order to expel Palestinians from the towns of Lydda and Ramle.
• 1962 – The English rock band the Rolling Stones played their first concert, at the Marquee Club in London.