THE NP CHRONICLE : 18TH SEPTEMBER

The NP Chronicle 

18th September

Samuel Johnson (18 September [O.S. 7 September] 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer and polymath who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer (creator of dictionaries). The work for which he is best known is his 42,733-entry Dictionary of the English Language (1755). For this and other contributions in and to the English language, the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has called him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".

"Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last."

-- Samuel Johnson

"Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect."

-- Samuel Johnson

"I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read."

-- Samuel Johnson

Lance Edward Armstrong (born September 18, 1971) is an American former professional road racing cyclist. He achieved international fame for winning the Tour de France a record seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005, but was stripped of his titles in 2012 after an investigation into doping allegations found that Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs over his career. Armstrong has been banned for life from all sanctioned bicycling events since 2012, though he retired from professional cycling in 2011.

"Knowledge is power, community is strength and positive attitude is everything."

-- Lance Armstrong

"If you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on."

-- Lance Armstrong

Today is:

▪︎ International Equal Pay Day

▪︎ World Water Monitoring Day

▪︎ World Bamboo Day

▪︎ Chile Independence Day

▪︎ Birth anniversary of Samuel Johnson, Lance Armstrong 

CHILE

Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the Southern Cone of southwestern South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, extending along a narrow strip of land between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. According to the 2024 census, Chile had an enumerated population of 18.5 million. The country covers a territorial area of 756,102 square kilometers (291,933 sq mi), sharing borders with Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage to the south. It also administers several Pacific islands, including Juan Fernández, Isla Salas y Gómez, Desventuradas, and Easter Island, and claims about 1,250,000 square kilometers (480,000 sq mi) of Antarctica as the Chilean Antarctic Territory.The capital and largest city is Santiago, and the official and national language is Spanish.

Chile holds notable global and regional rankings across various development, economic, and quality-of-life indices.

▪︎ Human Development Index (HDI): Ranks 45th globally and leads Latin America with a score of 0.878, placing it in the "very high human development" category.

▪︎ Sustainable Development: Ranks 33rd worldwide in the Sustainable Development Report.

▪︎ Overall Country Rank: Ranks 43rd in the U.S. News Best Countries rankings.

▪︎ GDP Rank: Ranks 44th in nominal GDP and 42nd by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) globally.

▪︎ Global Innovation Index: Ranks 51st among 139 economies evaluated by WIPO.

▪︎ Passport Index: Ranks 15th globally with a mobility score of 159, allowing visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to numerous countries.

▪︎ Military Strength: Ranks 49th out of 145 countries evaluated in the annual Global Firepower review.