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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 26: History of Alaska

2005-10-25T21:03:00.000-07:00

The history of Alaska dates back to the Paleolithic Era when it was
inhabited by people who crossed the Bering Land Bridge in western
Alaska. At the time of European contact by the Russian explorers, the
area was populated by the Eskimos and a variety of Native American
groups. Vitus Bering, a Danish navigator in the service of the Russian
Navy aboard the St. Peter, is often is credited with the discovery of
Alaska. William H. Seward, the U.S. Secretary of State engineered the
Alaskan purchase on April 9, 1867 for US$7.2 million (approximately
US$90 million in 2005 dollars). The nearby Yukon Territory in Canada
and Alaska itself were the site of a gold rush in the 19th century,
and they remained a significant source of mining even after gold
reserves diminished. On July 7, 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
signed the Alaska Statehood Act into law which paved the way for
Alaska's admission into the Union as the 49th State on January 3,
1959.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Alaska

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1863:
The Football Association, the oldest governing body in football, was
formed in London in England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Football_Association)

1881:
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place in Tombstone, Arizona,
United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral)

1955:
Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem declared himself President of South
Vietnam, replacing Nguyen Emperor Bao Dai as the head of state.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngo_Dinh_Diem)

1979:
President Park Chunghee of South Korea was assassinated by the
director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and a long-time
friend, Kim Jaekyu.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chunghee)

2001:
U.S. President George W. Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I know that it will hurt, I know that it will break your heart, the
way things are, and the way they've been. Don't spread the discontent,
don't spread the lies, don't make the same mistakes with your own
life." -- Natalie Merchant
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Natalie_Merchant)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 25: French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in schools

2005-10-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

The French law on secularity and conspicuous religious symbols in
schools is an amendment to the French Code of Education banning
students from wearing conspicuous religious symbols in French public
primary and secondary schools. The law expands principles founded in
existing French law, especially the constitutional requirement of
laïcité: the separation of state and religious activities. The bill
passed France's national legislature and was signed into law by
President Jacques Chirac on March 15, 2004 and came into effect on
September 2, 2004, at the beginning of the new school year. The law
does not mention any particular symbol, though it is considered by
many to specifically target the wearing of headscarves (hijab) by
Muslim schoolgirls. The law was controversial: while its proponents
contended that it protected young Muslim women from peer pressure to
wear the veil, critics claimed that it infringed on religious freedom.

Read the rest of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_law_on_secularity_and_conspicuous_religious_symbols_in_schools

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1415:
Hundred Years' War: Henry V of England and his lightly armored
infantry and archers defeated the heavily armored French cavalry in
the Battle of Agincourt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt)

1854:
Charge of the Light Brigade: Lord Cardigan led his cavalry to
disaster in the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge_of_the_Light_Brigade)

1944:
The Battle of Leyte Gulf sealed the defeat of the Imperial Japanese
Navy in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leyte_Gulf)

1971:
People's Republic of China replaced the Republic of China as China's
representative at the United Nations.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_and_the_United_Nations)

1983:
Operation Urgent Fury: The United States and Caribbean allies
invaded Grenada, six days after Bernard Coard seized power in a
violent coup d'état.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Few men during their lifetime come anywhere near exhausting the
resources dwelling within them. There are deep wells of strength that
are never used." -- Richard E. Byrd
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_E._Byrd)

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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 24: Schizophrenia

2005-10-24T14:37:00.000-07:00

Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder denoting an often chronic,
major mental illness primarily affecting thinking, with attendant
difficulties in perception of reality, which in turn can affect
behavior and emotion. The primary sign of schizophrenia is considered
to be fragmentation of basic thought structure and cognition, and the
inability to distinguish between internal and external experience.
People with schizophrenia may report hallucinations or be observed
responding to them and may express clearly delusional beliefs. Social
or occupational dysfunction, a number of secondary signs, and the lack
of an identifiable organic cause may be used to confirm the diagnosis.
Mainstream research has suggested that both biological and
sociocultural influences are important contributing factors, with
current research often focusing on the influences of biochemical and
genetic factors on the neurobiology of the brain. The status of
schizophrenia is considered controversial by some, who claim a lack of
objectivity in the stated diagnostic criteria. There is no objective
biological test for schizophrenia, and diagnosis is based on the basis
of the self-reported experiences of the patient combined with the
observations of the psychiatrist or other responsible clinician.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1260:
The Cathedral of Chartres was dedicated in the presence of King
Louis IX of France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Chartres)

1648:
The Peace of Westphalia was signed, ending the Thirty Years' War and
"officially" recognizing the United Provinces and Swiss Confederation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Westphalia)

1929:
The Great Depression: The New York Stock Exchange crashed on "Black
Thursday", setting off a chain of bankruptcies and triggering a
worldwide economic depression.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_1929)

1930:
History of Brazil: A bloodless coup d'état ousted President
Washington Luís Pereira de Sousa and President-elect Júlio Prestes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Brazil_%281930-1945%29)

1945:
The UN Charter, the constitution of the United Nations, entered into
force.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Charter)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The world is a comedy to those that think, a tragedy to those who
feel." -- Horace Walpole
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Horace_Walpole)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 21: "England expects that every man will do his duty"

2005-10-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

"England expects that every man will do his duty" was a signal sent by
Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson from his ship HMS Victory
as the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) was about to commence. Trafalgar was
the decisive naval engagement of the Napoleonic Wars. It gave the
United Kingdom control of the seas, removing all possibility of a
French invasion and conquest of Britain. The phrase has become
extremely well-known in Britain as a result of Lord Nelson's fame and
the importance of the Battle of Trafalgar in British history. The
phrase is known so widely in Britain that it has entered the British
popular consciousness. Today "England expects…", as an abbreviated
version of the phrase, is often adapted for use in the media,
especially in relation to the expectations for the victory of English
sporting teams.

Read the rest of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_expects_that_every_man_will_do_his_duty

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1805:
Napoleonic Wars: Lord Nelson led the British fleet to victory in the
Battle of Trafalgar, defeating Pierre-Charles Villeneuve and his
combined French and Spanish navy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trafalgar)

1824:
English stonemason, bricklayer and inventor Joseph Aspdin patented
Portland cement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Aspdin)

1854:
Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the
Crimean War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale)

1944:
World War II: HMAS Australia was hit in the first kamikaze attack; 30
crewmen were killed, including the commanding officer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamikaze)

1945:
Argentine military officer and politician Juan Domingo Peron married
popular actress Eva Duarte, better known as Evita.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Per%C3%B3n)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent
perspiration." -- Thomas Alva Edison"
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Alva_Edison)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 20: Mercantilism

2005-10-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

Mercantilism is the economic theory holding that the prosperity of a
nation depends upon its supply of capital and that the global volume
of trade is unchangeable. The amount of capital, represented by
bullion (amount of precious metal held by the state), is best
increased through a favorable balance of trade with large exports and
low imports. Mercantilism suggests that the government should advance
these goals by playing an active, protectionist role in the economy by
encouraging exports and discouraging imports, especially through the
use of tariffs. Mercantilism was the dominant school of economics
throughout the early modern period (from the 16th to the 18th
century). Domestically, this led to some of the first instances of
significant government intervention and control over the economy, and
it was during this period that much of the modern capitalist system
was established. Internationally, mercantilism encouraged the many
European wars of the period and fueled European imperialism. Belief in
mercantilism began to fade in the late 18th century, as the arguments
of Adam Smith and the other classical economists won out.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercantilism

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1740:
Maria Theresa assumed the throne of Austria, following the Pragmatic
Sanction of 1713.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_of_Austria)

1827:
An allied British, French, and Russian naval force destroyed a
combined Turkish and Egyptian fleet at the Battle of Navarino, a
decisive moment in the Greek War of Independence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Navarino)

1968:
Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping
business magnate Aristotle Onassis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis)

1973:
Sydney Opera House in Sydney, Australia, was formally opened by
Queen Elizabeth II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House)

1991:
The Oakland Hills firestorm killed 25 people and destroyed 3,469
homes in Oakland, California, United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Hills_firestorm)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I think for it to be unhip to be idealistic is weird, you know? I
mean, even all the best rebels to me had some sense of hope in them."
-- Tom Petty
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Petty)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 19: History of Poland (1945-1989)

2005-10-19T00:10:00.000-07:00

The History of Poland from 1945 to 1989 was shaped by the influence of
Soviet Communism and opposition to it from the Roman Catholic Church,
trade unions and other groups. In the aftermath of the Second World
War, forces of Nazi Germany were driven from Poland by the advancing
Red Army of the Soviet Union. A liberalizing "thaw" in Eastern Europe
followed the death of Stalin in early 1953, sparking the desire for
further reform. However, de-Stalinization left Poland's Communist
Party in a difficult position. In the 1970s, Edward Gierek's economic
program brought a rise in living standards and expectations, but it
faltered unexpectedly because of worldwide recession and increased oil
prices following the 1973 world oil crisis. A vicious economic cycle
ensued, and slowed only with the election of John Paul II, a Pole, as
Pope in 1978. In 1980, electrician Lech Walesa and his independent
"Solidarity" trade union led a wave of strikes at the Gdansk
Shipyards. In 1990 Wojciech Jaruzelski resigned as Poland's leader and
was succeeded by Walesa. By the end of August, a Solidarity-led
coalition government was formed, and in December Walesa was elected
president; the Communist People's Republic of Poland became the
Republic of Poland.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_%281945-1989%29

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1469:
: Ferdinand II of Aragon wedded Isabella of Castile, a marriage that
paved the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single
country, Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_Aragon)

1781:
: After losing the Battle of Yorktown, British forces led by Lord
Charles Cornwallis officially surrendered, ending the American
Revolutionary War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War)

1943:
: Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was
first isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptomycin)

1987:
: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22% on Black Monday, the
largest one-day decline in history.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_%281987%29)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Traditionalists are pessimists about the future and optimists about
the past." -- Lewis Mumford
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Mumford)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 14: Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 1968

2005-10-13T17:06:00.000-07:00

The Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention of 1968 elected
Pierre Elliott Trudeau as the new leader of the Liberal Party. Trudeau
was the unexpected winner in what was one of the most important
leadership conventions in the history of the Liberal Party of Canada.
The Globe and Mail newspaper report the next day called it "the most
chaotic, confusing, and emotionally draining convention in Canadian
political history." The convention was held following the retirement
of Lester B. Pearson, who was a much respected party leader and prime
minister of Canada, but had failed to win a majority government in two
attempts. Eight high profile cabinet ministers entered the race, but
by the time the convention began on April 3 the charismatic Trudeau
had emerged as the front runner. He was strongly opposed by the
party's right wing, but this faction was divided between former
Minister of Trade and Commerce Robert Winters and Minister of
Transport Paul Hellyer, and failed to mount a united opposition.
Trudeau won the leadership on the fourth ballot of the convention.

Read the rest of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Party_of_Canada_leadership_convention%2C_1968

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1066:
Battle of Hastings: The Norman invasion forces of William the
Conqueror defeated the English army and killed Harold Godwinson, the
last Anglo-Saxon king of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings)

1926:
The children's book featuring A. A. Milne's fictional bear
Winnie-the-Pooh was first published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh)

1947:
Flying a Bell X-1, test pilot Chuck Yeager became the first man to
break the sound barrier.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager)

1953:
Qibya massacre: Israeli military commander Ariel Sharon and his Unit
101 special forces were ordered to "inflict heavy damage on the
inhabitants" of a village on the West Bank.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qibya_massacre)

1981:
Hosni Mubarak was elected President of Egypt, one week after Anwar
Sadat was assassinated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"love is the every only god" -- e. e. cummings
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/E._E._Cummings)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 13: Hubble Deep Field

2005-10-13T04:56:00.000-07:00

The Hubble Deep Field is the result of a series of observations by the
Hubble Space Telescope of a small region of the northern celestial
hemisphere. It was assembled from 342 separate exposures taken with
the Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 over 10
consecutive days between December 18 and December 28, 1995. The field
is small enough that only a few foreground stars in the Milky Way lie
within it; thus, almost all of the 3,000 objects in the image are
galaxies, some of which are among the youngest and most distant known.
By revealing such large numbers of very young galaxies, the HDF has
become a landmark image in the study of the early universe, and it has
been the source of almost 400 scientific papers since it was created.
Three years after the HDF observations were taken, a region in the
south celestial hemisphere was imaged in a similar way and named the
Hubble Deep Field South. The similarities between the two regions
strengthened the belief that the universe is uniform over large scales
and that the Earth occupies a typical region in the universe (the
cosmological principle).

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Deep_Field

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

54:
Claudius was fatally poisoned by his wife Agrippina the younger,
making her seventeen-year-old son Nero the next Roman Emperor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero)

1307:
Thousands of members of the Knights Templar
were simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair and
subsequently tortured into "admitting" heresy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar)

1812:
War of 1812: British troops and Mohawk warriors repelled an American
invasion from across the Niagara River in the Battle of Queenston
Heights.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Queenston_Heights)

1843:
The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, the oldest
continually-operating Jewish service organization in the world, was
founded in New York City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%27nai_Brith)

1943:
World War II: With a new government led by General Pietro Badoglio,
parts of Italy switched sides to the Allies and declared war on the
Axis Powers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Badoglio)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Forgive us the breach of positive commands and negative commands,
whether or not they involve an act, whether or not they are known to
us." -- Liturgy for Yom Kippur
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3AYom_Kippur)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 11: Wario

2005-10-10T19:42:00.000-07:00

Wario is a fictional Nintendo video-game character who was created as
an antagonist to Mario and has since become the protagonist of his own
games. He first appears in the 1992 video game Super Mario Land 2: 6
Golden Coins as the main villain and final boss. He is voiced by
Charles Martinet, who also voices the Mario, Luigi, and Waluigi
characters. The name "Wario" can be taken to be a blending of Mario's
name with the Japanese adjective warui meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad
Mario". In the United States, the name is often seen as a play on the
word "war" and on the fact that the letter W resembles an upside-down
M. As Wario is Mario's evil counterpart, his actions are often the
opposites of Mario's, just as the first letters in their names appear
to be opposites.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wario

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1865:
The Morant Bay rebellion, led by Paul Bogle and George William
Gordon, began in Jamaica. It was brutally suppressed by Governor
Edward John Eyre.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morant_Bay_rebellion)

1954:
Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh took control of North Vietnam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Minh)

1962:
Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council, the first Roman
Catholic ecumenical council in 92 years.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council)

1968:
NASA launched Apollo 7, the first manned mission of the Apollo
program.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_7)

1975:
Saturday Night Live, an American weekly comedy-variety show, was
broadcast for the first time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"You always fall when you’re training, that’s sort of part of the
process. If you’re not falling, you’re not training hard enough."
-- Michelle Trachtenberg
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michelle_Trachtenberg)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 10: Isaac Brock

2005-10-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

Isaac Brock was a British major-general and administrator, who served
in various parts of the Empire for nearly thirty years, serving in the
Caribbean, Denmark, and elsewhere. During that time he challenged
duelists, nearly died from fever, was injured in battle, faced both
desertions and near mutinies, and also had the privilege of serving
alongside Lord Nelson. However, he is best remembered for his actions
while assigned to the Canadian colonies. Brock was assigned to Canada
in 1802, eventually reaching the rank of Major-General. In this
capacity, he was responsible for defending Canada from the United
States during the War of 1812. While many in Canada and in England
believed war could be averted, Brock began preparing the army, the
militia, and the populace for what was to come. Thus, when war broke
out, Canada was prepared, and quick victories at Fort Mackinac, and in
the Battle of Detroit, which crippled American invasion efforts,
secured Brock's reputation as a brilliant leader and strategist. His
death in the Battle of Queenston Heights was a crushing blow to
British leadership. Brock's efforts earned him accolades, a
knighthood, and the moniker 'The Hero of Upper Canada'.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Brock

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

732:
Battle of Tours: Charles Martel and the Franks defeated a large
Andalusian Muslim army led by Abd er Rahman near Tours and Poitiers,
stopping the northward advance of Islam from the Iberian Peninsula.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours)

1911:
The Xinhai Revolution began with the Wuchang Uprising, marking the
beginning of the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuchang_Uprising)

1973:
U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew <small>(pictured)</small> resigned
after being charged with tax evasion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiro_Agnew)

1982:
St. Maximilian Kolbe, who had volunteered to die in place of another
man in a Nazi concentration camp, was canonized by the Roman Catholic
Church.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Kolbe)

1987:
After two military coups in Fiji led by Sitiveni Rabuka, the
military government revoked the constitution and declared Fiji a
republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiji_coups_of_1987)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The truth is that there is only one terminal dignity — love. And
the story of a love is not important — what is important is that one
is capable of love. It is perhaps the only glimpse we are permitted of
eternity." -- Helen Hayes
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Helen_Hayes)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 9: Moorgate

2005-10-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

Moorgate was one of the old minor gates of the old London Wall
surrounding the City of London, the historic and financial centre of
Greater London in the United Kingdom. The name survives as the name of
a major street in the heart of the City connecting it with Islington,
and in the name of a mainline terminus and London Underground train
station. Several major investment and commercial banks congregate in
this area. There is a mixture of historic and contemporary office
buildings, including Moorhouse, which was designed by Foster and
Partners, and stands at the corner of Moorgate and London Wall.
Moorgate is named after Moorfields, one of the last pieces of open
land in the City. Moorgate station is best known for an incident on
February 28, 1975, when a Northern Line tube train terminating at
Moorgate failed to stop and crashed into a brick wall beyond a
platform, killing 43 people. This resulted in automatic systems for
stopping trains at dead-ends being installed on all dead-ends on the
Underground. These systems are known as Moorgate control.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorgate

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1514:
Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII of England, became queen consort of
France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Tudor_%28queen_consort_of_France%29)

1831:
John Capodistria, the Greek head of state, was assassinated in
Náfplio.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Capodistria)

1888:
The Washington Monument, then the world's tallest building,
officially opened to the general public.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument)

1919:
The Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds "defeated" "Shoeless Joe"
Jackson <small>(pictured)</small> and the Chicago White Sox to "win"
the World Series major league baseball championship by 5 games to 3.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919_World_Series)

1963:
A landslide displaced large amounts of water from the Vajont Dam in
northern Italy, causing waves and floods that quickly swept away
several villages and killed almost 2,000 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I think the ultimate sense of security will be when we come to
recognize that we are all part of one human race. Our primary
allegiance is to the human race and not to one particular color or
border." -- Mohamed ElBaradei
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mohamed_ElBaradei)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 7: Flag of Belarus

2005-10-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

The current national flag of Belarus was formally adopted on June 7,
1995, following the result of a referendum voted on by the Belarusian
people in the previous month. This new design replaced a historical
flag that Belarus had used before becoming a Soviet Republic, and
again after it regained its independence in 1991. The current flag is
a modification of the 1951 flag used while the country was a republic
of the Soviet Union. The 1995 flag has been the basis of several flags
used by government bodies. A few groups have continued to use the
previous flag, though its use in Belarus has been restricted by the
government of president Alexander Lukashenko. The 1991 flag is still
used in protests against the government. Independent observers have
said that the referendum that selected the current flag did not meet
democratic standards.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Belarus

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

3761 BCE:
The epoch of the modern Hebrew calendar.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar)

1571:
The Ottoman Empire was decisively defeated by the Christian West for
the first time, as a multinational fleet led by Don John of Austria
crushed the Turkish navy near the Gulf of Corinth in the Battle of
Lepanto.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto_%281571%29)

1949:
The German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Berlin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany)

1985:
The Mediterranean ocean liner Achille Lauro was hijacked by
Palestine Liberation Front terrorists while sailing from Alexandria to
Port Said.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_Lauro)

2001:
War on Terrorism: The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan began at 16:30
UTC with an aerial bombing campaign targeting Taliban and Al-Qaida
forces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._invasion_of_Afghanistan)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the
opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth." --
Niels Bohr
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 4: BC Rail

2005-10-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

BC Rail was a railway that operated in the Canadian province of
British Columbia between 1912 and 2004. It was a class II regional
railway and the third largest in Canada, operating 1,441 miles (2,320
kilometres) of mainline track. It was owned by the provincial
government from 1918 until 2004, when it was sold to Canadian National
Railway. Chartered in 1912, the railway was acquired by the provincial
government in 1918 after running into financial difficulties. A
railway that ran from "nowhere to nowhere" for over 30 years, neither
passing through any major city nor interchanging with any other
railway, it expanded significantly between 1949 and 1984. Primarily a
freight railway, it also offered passenger service, as well as some
excursion services, most notably the Royal Hudson excursion train. The
railway's operations have not always been profitable, and its debts
have made it the centre of political controversy on multiple
occasions.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BC_Rail

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1830:
Belgian Revolution: A provisional government in Brussels declared
the creation of the independent and neutral state of Belgium, in
revolt against the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Revolution)

1883:
The Orient Express began operations.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orient_Express)

1910:
Manuel II, the last King of Portugal, fled to the United Kingdom when
a revolution erupted in Lisbon and his palace was shelled. The
Portuguese First Republic was proclaimed the next day.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_II_of_Portugal)

1957:
Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1 was launched by an R-7 rocket from
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakh SSR and became the first artificial
satellite to orbit the Earth.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1)

1993:
Russian Constitutional Crisis: Tanks bombarded the White House in
Moscow, a government building that housed the Russian parliament,
where demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rallied outside.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_constitutional_crisis_of_1993)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"If we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be
understandable in broad principle by everyone, not just a few
scientists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, and just
ordinary people, be able to take part in the discussion of the
question of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the
answer to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason —
for then we would know the mind of God." -- Stephen Hawking
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 3: Thunderball

2005-10-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

Thunderball is the ninth novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series. It
was created with the intention of being turned into a film, and is
officially credited as being "based on a screen treatment by Kevin
McClory, Jack Whittingham and Ian Fleming", a shared credit which has
been the subject of much controversy. The novel was published in 1961
and stands, technically, as the first novelisation of a James Bond
screenplay, even though at the time it was written and published, no
such film had yet been produced. It was subsequently adapted as a
daily comic strip beginning in 1961. Thunderball has, to date, been
adapted twice for the cinema. The first adaptation was released in
1965, with Sean Connery as James Bond. It was the fourth official Bond
movie in EON Productions' series. McClory later produced an unofficial
remake, 1983's Never Say Never Again, which again starred Connery as
Bond. Thunderball was originally scheduled to have been the first
James Bond film, in 1962, but this was later changed to Dr. No due to
a lawsuit brought about by McClory.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderball

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1283:
Dafydd ap Gruffydd the Prince of Wales, the last native ruler of Wales
to resist English domination, was executed by drawing and quartering.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dafydd_ap_Gruffydd)

1935:
Italy invaded Ethiopia, igniting the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Italo-Abyssinian_War)

1990:
German reunification: The five re-established German states
(Bundesländer) of East Germany formally joined West Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reunification)

1993:
Soldiers from Malaysian, Pakistani and U.S. armed forces attempted to
capture Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid in the Battle of
Mogadishu.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Everyone seems to be playing well within the boundaries of his usual
rule set. I have yet to hear anyone say something that seemed likely
to mitigate the idiocy of this age." -- John Perry Barlow
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Perry_Barlow)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 2: Economy of India

2005-10-01T21:54:00.000-07:00

The economy of India is the fourth largest in the world, with a GDP of
$3.363 trillion at PPP, and is the tenth largest in the world, with a
GDP of $691.9 billion at 2004 USD exchange rates and has a real GDP
growth rate of 6.2% at PPP. However India's huge population results in
a relatively low per capita income ($3,100 at PPP). Services are the
major source of economic growth in India today, though two-thirds of
Indian workforce earn their livelihood directly or indirectly through
agriculture. In recent times, India has also capitalised on its large
number of highly-educated populace fluent in the English language to
become a major exporter of software services, financial services and
software engineers. For most of India's independent history, a
socialist inspired approach was adhered to, with strict government
control and regulation on private sector participation, foreign trade
and foreign direct investment. Since the early 1990s, India has
gradually opened up its markets through economic reforms by reducing
government controls on foreign trade and investment. The
socio-economic problems India faces are the burgeoning population,
growing inequality, lack of infrastructure, growing unemployment and
growing poverty.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_India

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1187:
The Siege of Jerusalem: Ayyubid forces led by Saladin captured
Jerusalem, prompting the Third Crusade.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_%281187%29)

1535:
French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed along the St. Lawrence River
and reached an Iroquois fort on the island now known as Montréal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Montreal)

1835:
Mexican dragoons dispatched to disarm settlers at Gonzales, Texas
encountered stiff resistance from a Texian militia in the Battle of
Gonzales, the first armed engagement of the Texas Revolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gonzales)

1928:
Saint Josemaría Escrivá founded Opus Dei, a worldwide organization of
lay members of the Roman Catholic Church.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opus_Dei)

1950:
Peanuts, a syndicated comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, featuring
Charlie Brown and his pet beagle Snoopy, was first published in major
newspapers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanuts)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a
dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the
middle ground between light and shadow, between science and
superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the
summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is
an area which we call the Twilight Zone." -- Rod Serling in The
Twilight Zone
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rod_Serling)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] October 1: Louisville, Kentucky

2005-09-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

Louisville is Kentucky's largest city and the 16th largest city of the
United States. The settlement that became the City of Louisville was
founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis
XVI of France. Louisville is most famous as the home of the Kentucky
Derby, the most widely watched event in American horse racing.
Louisville is situated on the Kentucky-Indiana border at the only
natural obstacle in the Ohio River, the Falls of the Ohio. As of the
2000 census, Louisville had a total population of 256,231. However, in
2003, the city and Jefferson County merged into a single consolidated
city-county government.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville%2C_Kentucky

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1936:
Generalísimo Francisco Franco became the head of the Spanish State.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco)

1958:
NASA began operations, replacing the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics (NACA).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA)

1964:
To-kaido- Shinkansen, the first Shinkansen line of high-speed
railways in Japan, opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinkansen)

1977:
Brazilian football star Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as
Pelé, played his last professional football game.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%C3%A9)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary,
it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live
together in peace by killing each other's children." -- Jimmy Carter
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 30: Single Transferable Vote

2005-09-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a preferential voting system
designed to minimise wasted votes and provide proportional
representation in multi-candidate elections while ensuring that votes
are explicitly for candidates rather than party lists. STV voting
systems achieve this by initially allocating an individual's vote to
their most preferred candidate and then subsequently transferring
unneeded or unused votes after candidates are either elected or
eliminated according to the voter's stated preferences. STV is
promoted as a proportional representation method in multi-party
multi-seat elections. In Australia, it is known as the Hare-Clark
Proportional method, while the same system with parties able to
indicate preferences is called simply STV. When STV methods are
applied to single-seat elections, they simplify to instant-runoff
voting and have different proportionality implications for a similar
ballot due to the existence of only one winner.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Transferable_Vote

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1399:
The Duke of Lancaster deposed Richard II to become Henry IV of
England, merging the Duchy of Lancaster with the crown.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_England)

1966:
Seretse Khama became the first President of Botswana when the
Bechuanaland Protectorate gained independence from the United Kingdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seretse_Khama)

1980:
Ethernet specifications were first published by Xerox, Intel and
Digital Equipment Corporation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet)

1982:
The sitcom Cheers was first broadcast on U.S. television.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers)

1991:
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a coup
d'état and replaced by General Raoul Cédras. A large-scale exodus of
boat people ensued.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Bertrand_Aristide)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all
the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." -- Jalal
al-Din Muhammad Rumi
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jalal_al-Din_Muhammad_Rumi)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 28: Miles Davis

2005-09-27T17:02:00.000-07:00

Miles Davis was one of the most influential and innovative musicians
of the twentieth century. Davis was a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and
composer. Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development
of jazz after the Second World War. He played on some of the important
early bebop records, the first cool jazz records were recorded under
his name, he was largely responsible for the development of modal
jazz, and jazz fusion arose from Davis's bands of the late sixties and
early seventies and the musicians who worked with him. Davis was in a
line of jazz trumpeters that started with Buddy Bolden and ran through
Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie.
Many of the major figures in postwar jazz played in one of Davis's
groups at some point in their career. Some authorities consider Davis
to have been the first person really to understand the difference
between live and recorded music.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1066:
Norman Conquest: William the Conqueror and his fleet of around 600
ships reached England and landed at Pevensey, Sussex.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Conquest)

1542:
Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the first European to
travel along the California coast, landed on what is now the U.S. city
of San Diego.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Rodr%C3%ADguez_Cabrillo)

1972:
Paul Henderson scored the game-winning goal against Vladislav
Tretiak, securing a Canadian victory in the Summit Series over the
Soviet ice hockey team.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Series)

1994:
The ferry M/S Estonia sank while commuting between Tallinn, Estonia,
and Stockholm, Sweden, claiming 852 lives in one of the worst maritime
accidents in the Baltic Sea.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%2FS_Estonia)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

In the season of white wild roses We two went hand in hand: But now in
the ruddy autumn Together already we stand. -- Francis Turner Palgrave
--
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Turner_Palgrave)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 27: History of Arizona

2005-09-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

The documented history of Arizona began when Marcos de Niza, a
Franciscan, explored the area in 1539. Coronado's expedition entered
the area in 1540?42 during its search for Cibola. All of present-day
Arizona became part of Mexico's northwest frontier upon the Mexican
assertion of independence from Spain in 1810. The United States took
possession of most of Arizona at the end of the Mexican War in 1848.
In 1853, the land below the Gila River was acquired from Mexico in the
Gadsden Purchase. Arizona was administered as part of the Territory of
New Mexico until it was organized into a separate Arizona Territory on
February 24, 1863. With the encouragement of Brigham Young, Mormons
went from Utah in the mid-to-late 1800s to the Phoenix Valley (or
Valley of the Sun), Mesa, Tempe, Prescott, Snowflake, Heber, and many
other Arizona towns to settle there. Arizona was admitted into the
Union?officially becoming a U.S. state?on February 14, 1912.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Arizona

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1825:
Locomotion No. 1 hauled the first train on opening day of the Stockton
and Darlington Railway, the first railway to use steam locomotives and
carry passengers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockton_and_Darlington_Railway)

1905:
Albert Einstein published the article "Does the Inertia of a Body
Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E%3Dmc%C2%B2)

1940:
World War II: The Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin by the major
Axis Powers ? Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact)

1988:
Led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy was founded
in Burma (now known as Myanmar).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi)

1996:
The Taliban drove President Burhanuddin Rabbani of Afghanistan out of
Kabul, executed former President Mohammad Najibullah, and established
the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

Could you see the storm rising?
Could you see the guy who was driving?
Could you climb higher and higher?
Could you climb right over the top?
-- Kate Bush
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Bush)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 22: The Giver

2005-09-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

The Giver is a soft science fiction novel written by Lois Lowry in
1993. It is set in a future society which is at first presented as a
utopia and gradually appears more and more dystopian. The novel
follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life.
Jonas's society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to
"Sameness", a move which has also eradicated emotional depth from
their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of
Memory", the man who stores all the memories of the time before
Sameness, in case they are ever needed. As Jonas receives the memories
from his predecessor—the Giver—he discovers how shallow his
Community's life has become. Despite controversy and adverse criticism
from some readers, who profess concern that the book's subject
material is inappropriate for young children, The Giver won the 1994
Newbery Medal and has sold more than 3.5 million copies. In Lowry's
native United States, it is a part of many middle-school or
junior-high reading lists. The novel forms a loose trilogy with
Gathering Blue (2000) and Messenger (2004), two other books set in the
same future period.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1776:
Captain Nathan Hale, an American Revolutionary spy from the
Continental Army, was hanged by British forces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Hale)

1862:
History of slavery in the United States: President Abraham Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in
Confederate territory by January 1, 1863.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation)

1869:
Das Rheingold, the first of four operas in Der Ring des Nibelungen
by German composer Richard Wagner, debuted in Munich.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Rheingold)

1961:
The U.S. Congress authorized President John F. Kennedy's executive
order creating the Peace Corps. Within two years, over 7,300 Peace
Corps volunteers were serving in 44 countries.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Corps)

1980:
Iraq launched an invasion of Iran, starting the Iran-Iraq War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq_War)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird
I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." -- George
Eliot
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 21: Sylvia (ballet)

2005-09-20T18:01:00.000-07:00

Sylvia is a full-length ballet in two or three acts, first
choreographed by Louis Mérante to music by Léo Delibes in 1876.
Sylvia is a typical classical ballet in many respects, yet it has many
interesting features which make it unique. Sylvia is notable for its
mythological Arcadian setting, creative choreographies, expansive
sets, great influence on the arts and, above all, its remarkable
score. The ballet's orgins are in Tasso's 1573 poem "Aminta," which
describes the basic plot of Delibes' work. Jules Barbier and Baron de
Reinach adapted this for the Paris Opera where it inspired the a great
musician to compose Sylvia. This piano arrangement was composed in
1876 and the orchestral suite was done in 1880. When Sylvia premiered
on June 14, 1876 at the Palais Garnier, it went largely unnoticed. In
fact, the first seven productions of Sylvia were not successful. It
was the 1952 revival, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, that
popularized the ballet.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_%28ballet%29

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1792:
French Revolution: The National Convention voted to abolish the
monarchy, and the First Republic was proclaimed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Convention)

1823:
According to Joseph Smith, Jr., the angel Moroni appeared to him and
revealed the location of the hidden Golden Plates, which contained the
ancient sacred texts of the Book of Mormon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroni_%28Mormonism%29)

1898:
The Hundred Days' Reform in China was abruptly terminated when
Empress Dowager Cixi (pictured) forced the reform-minded Guangxu
Emperor into seclusion and took over the government as regent.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days%27_Reform)

1937:
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, a prequel to The Lord of the Rings,
was first published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit)

1942:
The prototype model of the B-29 Superfortress flew for the first
time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-29_Superfortress)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Hope is a good thing — maybe the best of things. And no good thing
ever dies." -- "Andy Dufresne" in The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen
King
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 20: IFKGöteborg

2005-09-19T18:09:00.000-07:00

IFK Göteborg is a Swedish football club located in Gothenburg. The
club, formed 4 October 1904, has won 17 national championship titles,
4 national cup titles, and two UEFA Cups. IFK Göteborg, Malmö FF,
and AIK are often considered to be the three biggest and most classic
Swedish football clubs with 42 championship titles in total. IFK
Göteborg is also the only Swedish team to have won a European cup
competition, the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987. They are currently playing
in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, where they have played the
majority of the seasons during their existence. The last time they
played in a lower league was in 1976.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFK_G%C3%B6teborg

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

451:
Flavius Aëtius, with the help of Roman foederati, defeated Attila
in the Battle of Chalons, and halted the invasion of Gaul by the Huns
and their allies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavius_A%C3%ABtius)

1378:
Papal Schism: Unhappy with Pope Urban VI, a group of cardinals
elected a rival papacy in Antipope Clement VII, throwing the Roman
Catholic Church into a turmoil.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism)

1854:
The Crimean War began with a Franco-British victory over Russian
forces in the Battle of Alma (pictured).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alma)

1946:
The first Cannes Film Festival opened. Eleven films shared the Palme
d'Or that year.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannes_Film_Festival)

1973:
Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets in an
internationally televised tennis match dubbed the "Battle of the
Sexes".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Jean_King)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the
creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you
love. When you learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated
age." -- Sophia Loren
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sophia_Loren)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 19:Montréal-Mirabel International Airport

2005-09-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

Montréal-Mirabel International Airport is a large airport located in
Mirabel, Quebec, near Montréal. The airport serves mainly cargo
flights, and is a manufacturing base of Bombardier Aerospace, where
final assembly of CRJ700 and CRJ900 aircraft is conducted. It is part
of the National Airports System. Despite being intended to become the
eastern air gateway to Canada, the airport's location and lack of
transport links, as well as Montréal's economic decline relative to
Toronto, made it unpopular with airlines. Eventually it was relegated
to the simple role of a cargo airport. The airport, while initially a
source of pride, eventually became an embarrassment, and is widely
regarded in Canada as being a boondoggle and one of the worst examples
of a failed megaproject.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montr%C3%A9al-Mirabel_International_Airport

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1692:
Giles Corey, who had refused to enter a plea, was pressed to his
death during the Salem witch trials.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials)

1893:
New Zealand became the first country to introduce universal
suffrage, following the women's suffrage movement led by Kate
Sheppard.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage)

1982:
":-)" and ":-(" were first proposed by Scott Fahlman for use as
emoticons .
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon)

1985:
A magnitude-8.1 earthquake devastated Mexico City, killing at least
five thousand people and leaving up to 90,000 homeless.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City)

1995:
The Unabomber Manifesto was published in The Washington Post and The
New York Times, almost three months after it was submitted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Kaczynski)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"There comes a point when a dream becomes reality and reality becomes
a dream." -- Frances Farmer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frances_Farmer)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 18: Columbine High School massacre

2005-09-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999
at Columbine High School near Denver and Littleton, Colorado, in the
United States. Two teenage students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold,
carried out a shooting rampage, killing twelve fellow students and a
teacher before committing suicide. It is considered to be the worst
school shooting in U.S. history. As a result of the massacre,
questions arose regarding gun control and the availability of assault
weapons in the United States. Much discussion was prompted regarding
the role of violent movies and video games in American society. Soon,
other topics of focus surfaced including the nature of high school
cliques and bullying. Several of the victims who were believed to have
been killed due to their religious beliefs became a source of
inspiration to others, notably Christians, and led some to lament the
decline of religion in public education and society in general. The
shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security,
and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, heavy metal music, and
violent video games.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

96:
Nerva (pictured) was appointed by the Senate to become Roman
Emperor, the first of the Five Good Emperors.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerva)

1850:
The United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Law_of_1850)

1895:
Daniel David Palmer made the first chiropractic adjustment.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_David_Palmer)

1931:
The Mukden Incident: A section of the Japanese-built South Manchuria
Railway was allegedly destroyed by Chinese terrorists, providing an
excuse for the Japanese annexation of Manchuria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident)

1998:
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a
non-profit organization that manages the assignment of domain names
and IP addresses in the Internet, was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest
blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks." --
Samuel Johnson
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 17: Templon

2005-09-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

A templon is a Byzantine architectural feature first appearing in
Christian churches about the fifth century AD and is still found in
some Eastern Christian churches. It eventually evolved into the modern
iconostasis, still found in Orthodox churches today. It separates the
laity in the nave from the priests preparing the sacraments at the
altar. It is usually composed of carved wood or marble colonnettes
supporting an architrave (a beam resting on top of columns). Three
doors, a large central one and two smaller flanking ones, lead into
the sanctuary. The templon did not originally obscure the view of the
altar, but as time passed, icons were hung from the beams, curtains
were placed in between the colonnettes, and the templon became more
and more opaque. It is often covered with icons and can be very
elaborate.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templon

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1787:
The text of the United States Constitution was finalized in
Philadelphia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution)

1809:
The Treaty of Fredrikshamn concluded the Finnish War between Russia
and Sweden, with Finland becoming an autonomous Grand Duchy under Czar
Alexander I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fredrikshamn)

1894:
The Imperial Japanese Navy and the Beiyang Fleet of Qing China
clashed in the Battle of Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of
the First Sino-Japanese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yalu_River_%281894%29)

1908:
Thomas Selfridge became the first passenger to die in a plane crash.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Selfridge)

1978:
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of
Israel signed the Camp David Accords after twelve days of secret
negotiations at Camp David (pictured).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords_%281978%29)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I've never seen anybody really find the answer — they think they
have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke
mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries
bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."
-- Ken Kesey
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 16: Cerebellum

2005-09-16T04:30:00.000-07:00

The cerebellum is a region of the brain that plays an important role
in the integration of sensory perception and motor output. Many neural
pathways link the cerebellum with the motor cortex—which sends
information to the muscles causing them to move—and the
spinocerebellar tract—which provides feedback on the position of the
body in space (proprioception). The cerebellum integrates these two
functions, using the constant feedback on body position to fine-tune
motor movements. Because of this 'updating' function of the
cerebellum, lesions within it are not so debilitating as to cause
paralysis, but rather present as feedback deficits resulting in
disorders in fine movement, equilibrium, posture, and motor learning.
Initial observations by physiologists during the 18th century
indicated that patients with cerebellar damage show problems with
motor coordination and movement. Modern research has shown that the
cerebellum has a broader role in a number of key cognitive functions,
including attention and the processing of language, music, and other
sensory temporal stimuli.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1597:
Twelve Korean ships commanded by Admiral Yi Soon Shin sank 31 enemy
ships and defeated a Japanese invasion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_Sun-sin)

1810:
Miguel Hidalgo, the parish priest in Dolores, Guanajuato, delivered
the Grito de Dolores to his congregation, instigating the Mexican War
of Independence against Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Hidalgo)

1941:
Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran was forced to abdicate in favour of his
son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_Pahlavi)

1963:
Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore merged to form Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia)

1982:
A Lebanese militia led by Elie Hobeika carried out a massacre in the
Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_Massacre)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"A planned life is a dead life." -- Lauren Bacall
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lauren_Bacall)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 15: Krag-Petersson

2005-09-14T17:03:00.000-07:00

The Krag-Petersson rifle was the first repeating rifle adopted by the
armed forces of Norway, and one of the first repeating arms adopted
anywhere in the world. Developed by Ole Herman Johannes Krag, the
action of the Krag-Petersson was uniquely actuated by the oversized
hammer. Another distinguishing feature is that the cartridge rising
from the magazine is not seated automatically, but has to be pushed
into the breech of the rifle. Testing by the Norwegian military
revealed that the Krag-Peterssen was a robust, accurate and quick
firing weapon, and the Royal Norwegian Navy adopted the rifle in 1876.
The rifle was also extensively tested by other nations, but not
adopted. After being phased out around 1900, the remaining rifles were
sold off to civilians, and often extensively rebuilt. Today it is so
difficult to find one in original condition that the Krag-Petersson
has been described as "the rifle everybody has heard about, but hardly
anybody has ever seen". It was the first rifle designed by Ole H. J.
Krag that was adopted by an armed force.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krag-Petersson

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1644:
Giovanni Battista Pamphili became Pope Innocent X.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_X)

1835:
Aboard the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin reached the Galápagos
Islands, where he began to develop his theories of evolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands)

1916:
Tanks, the "secret weapons" of the British Army during World War I,
were first used in combat at the Battle of the Somme.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme_%281916%29)

1935:
Nazi Germany enacted the Nuremberg Laws, which deprived German Jews
of citizenship, and adopted a new national flag emblazoned with a
swastika.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_policy_of_Nazi_Germany)

1950:
Korean war: U.S. armed forces landed at Incheon, Korea.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_war)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Crime is terribly revealing. Try and vary your methods as you will,
your tastes, your habits, your attitude of mind, and your soul is
revealed by your actions." -- Agatha Christie
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 14: San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge

2005-09-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge spans the San Francisco Bay and
links the California cities of Oakland and San Francisco in the United
States. The bridge consists of two major segments connecting a central
island, Yerba Buena Island, with each shore. The western segment
terminating in San Francisco consists of two suspension bridges
end-to-end with a central anchorage. The eastern span terminating in
Oakland consists of a truss causeway, five medium-span truss bridges
and a double-tower cantilever span, scheduled to be replaced by an
entirely new structure now under construction. The original bridges
were designed by Ralph Modjeski. The bridge was built at the same time
as San Francisco's other famous bridge – the Golden Gate.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco-Oakland_Bay_Bridge

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1752:
The British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar, skipping eleven
days (September 2 was followed directly by September 14).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar)

1812:
Napoleon's invasion of Russia: Napoleon and his Grande ArmÃ©e
captured Moscow, only to find the city deserted and burning.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow)

1901:
Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States upon the
assassination of McKinley.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt)

1959:
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 2 crashed onto and became the
first man-made object to reach the Moon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2)

1960:
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was
founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I've had enough of breakdowns and diagramsâ€” judging from picture
books, apparently Heaven is a partly cloudy place." -- Jenny Lewis
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jenny_Lewis)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 12: Sandy Koufax

2005-09-12T04:58:00.000-07:00

Sandy Koufax is a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball
who played his entire career for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers
from 1955 to 1966. He is best known for his string of six amazing
seasons from 1961 to 1966 before arthritis ended his career at the age
of 31. A notoriously difficult pitcher to hit against, he was the
first major leaguer to pitch more than three no-hitters, the first to
allow fewer than seven hits per nine innings pitched over his career,
and the first to strike out more than nine batters per nine innings
pitched in his career. Among National League pitchers with at least
2000 innings pitched who have debuted since 1913, he has both the
highest career winning percentage (.655) and the lowest career earned
run average (2.76); his 2396 career strikeouts ranked seventh in major
league history upon his retirement, and trailed only Warren Spahn's
total of 2583 among left-handers. Retiring virtually at the peak of
his career, Koufax later became–at age 36–the youngest person ever
elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Koufax

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1683:
Great Turkish war: Polish troops led by Jan III Sobieski joined forces
with an Habsburg army to defeat the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of
Vienna.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vienna)

1933:
Leó Szilárd conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3_Szil%C3%A1rd)

1942:
The Laconia incident: RMS Laconia, carrying some 80 civilians and 268
British soldiers, and about 1800 Italian POWs with 160 Polish soldiers
on guard, was struck by a torpedo from a U-boat off the coast of West
Africa and sank.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laconia_incident)

1977:
South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko was killed in police
custody.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Biko)

1992:
Abimael GuzmÃ¡n, leader of the Peruvian Maoist guerrilla organization
Shining Path, was captured in Lima.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shining_Path)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error
is identical with the discovery of the truth â€” that error and truth
are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world
turns to, when it has been cured of one error, is usually simply
another error, and maybe one worse than the first one." -- H. L.
Mencken
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/H._L._Mencken)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 11: Italian Renaissance

2005-09-11T09:16:00.000-07:00

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a
period of great cultural change and achievement from the 14th to the
16th century. The word renaissance means "rebirth," and the era is
best known for the renewed interest in the culture of classical
antiquity. The Italian Renaissance began in northern Italy, centering
in Florence. It then spread south, having an especially significant
impact on Rome, which was largely rebuilt by the Renaissance popes.
The Italian Renaissance is best known for its cultural achievements.
This includes works of literature by such figures as Petrarch,
Castiglione, and Machiavelli; artists such as Michaelangelo and
Leonardo da Vinci, and great works of architecture such as The Duomo
in Florence and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. At the same time,
present-day historians also see the era as one of economic regression
and of little progress in science. Furthermore, some historians argue
that the lot of the peasants and urban poor, the majority of the
population, worsened during this period.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Renaissance

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1297:
: Scots under William Wallace defeated English troops in the Battle of
Stirling Bridge.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stirling_Bridge)

1922:
: The British Mandate of Palestine began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_of_Palestine)

1955:
: The Bern Switzerland Temple, the first Temple of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints in Europe, was dedicated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bern_Switzerland_Temple)

1973:
: A military coup in Chile headed by Augusto Pinochet overthrew the
government of President Salvador Allende. In total, some 3,000 people
were killed or disappeared.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusto_Pinochet)

2001:
: September 11 Attacks: Three passenger airliners were hijacked to
destroy the World Trade Center in New York City and part of The
Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth crashed in Pennsylvania. In
total, almost 3,000 people were killed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11%2C_2001_attacks)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"September 11 was, and remains, above all an immense human tragedy.
But September 11 also posed a momentous and deliberate challenge not
just to America but to the world at large. The target of the
terrorists was not only New York and Washington but the very values of
freedom, tolerance and decency which underpin our way of life." --
Tony Blair
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tony_Blair)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 9: Anarcho-capitalism

2005-09-08T22:22:00.000-07:00

Anarcho-capitalism is a socio-economic ideology based on the idea of
individual sovereignty (or "self-ownership"), an unlimited right to
private property, and a prohibition against initiatory coercion and
fraud, with contracts between sovereign individuals being the basis of
law. From this is derived a rejection of the state (an entity claiming
a territorial monopoly on the use of force) and the embrace of
absolute laissez-faire capitalism. Anarcho-capitalists would protect
individual liberty and property by replacing a government monopoly
that is involuntarily funded through taxation, with private and
competing businesses. The philosophy embraces stateless capitalism as
one of its foundational principles. The first well-known version of
anarcho-capitalism to identify itself with this term was developed by
Austrian School economists and libertarians Murray Rothbard and Walter
Block in the mid-20th century as an attempted synthesis of Austrian
School economics, classical liberalism, and 19th-century American
individualist anarchism. While Rothbard bases his philosophy on
natural law, others, such as David Friedman take a pragmatic
consequentialist approach by arguing that anarcho-capitalism should be
implemented on the basis that such a system would have superior
consequences than other alternatives.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalism

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1000:
: King Olaf I of Norway fell overboard during the Battle of Svolder
and disappeared in the Baltic Sea.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Svolder)

1513:
: King James IV of Scotland (pictured right) was killed at the Battle
of Flodden Field in Northumberland while leading an invasion of
England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_IV_of_Scotland)

1850:
: As part of the Compromise of 1850, California was admitted into the
United States as a free state.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_California)

1971:
: The Attica Prison riots broke out at the Attica Correctional
Facility in Attica, New York, United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attica_Prison_riots)

2001:
: Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, was
assassinated in Afghanistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Shah_Massoud)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only
because I love." -- Leo Tolstoy
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 8: Wladyslaw Sikorski

2005-09-07T23:03:00.000-07:00

Wladyslaw Sikorski was a Polish military and political leader.
Before World War I, he became a founder and member of several
underground organizations that promoted the cause of Polish
independence. He fought with distinction during the Polish-Soviet War,
in which he played a prominent role in the decisive Battle of Warsaw.
During World War II he became Prime Minister of the Polish Government
in Exile, Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces, and a staunch
advocate of the Polish cause on the diplomatic scene. He supported the
reestablishment of diplomatic relations between Poland and the Soviet
Union, which had been severed after the Soviet alliance with Germany
in the 1939 invasion of Poland. In April 1943, however, Soviet
dictator Joseph Stalin broke off Soviet-Polish diplomatic relations
following Sikorski's request that the International Red Cross
investigate the Katyn Massacre. In July 1943, Sikorski was killed in a
plane crash into the sea immediately on takeoff from Gibraltar. The
exact circumstances of his death remain in dispute, which has given
rise to ongoing conspiracy theories.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%3Fadys%C5%3Faw_Sikorski

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1331:
: Stefan Dusan (pictured right) of the House of NemanjiÄ‡ declared
himself Tsar of Serbia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Du%C5%A1an)

1504:
: David, a marble statue by Michelangelo, was unveiled in Florence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo%27s_David)

1888:
: The inaugural season of The Football League in England began with
six matches.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Football_League)

1923:
: The Honda Point Disaster: Twenty-three sailors died when nine U.S.
Navy destroyers ran aground off the coast of California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Point_Disaster)

1978:
: Hundreds of demonstrators in Tehran were killed on Black Friday
during the Iranian Revolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Freedom of choice is more to be treasured than any possession earth
can give." -- David O. McKay
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_O._McKay)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 7: Hong Kong

2005-09-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic
of China. It located on the southeastern coast of China. As a former
British colony, Hong Kong has one of the world's most free economies
and is a major international center of finance and trade. Though
administered by the PRC under the policy of "one country, two
systems," Hong Kong is legally entitled to a high degree of legal and
cultural autonomy, retaining its own legal system, currency, and
immigration laws. Hong Kong even maintains its own rules of the road,
with traffic continuing to drive on the left. Only national defense
and diplomatic relations are responsibilities of the government in
Beijing.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1191:
: Ayyubid forces under Saladin were defeated in the Battle of Arsuf
during the Third Crusade.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arsuf)

1812:
: Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande ArmÃ©e under Napoleon I forced
the Russian army of Alexander I to withdraw in the Battle of Borodino.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Borodino)

1818:
: Carl III of Sweden was crowned king of Norway.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_XIV_of_Sweden)

1940:
: The Blitz began when Nazi Germany's bombs landed on London, the
first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz)

1986:
: Desmond Tutu became the first black to lead the Anglican Church in
South Africa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it."
-- Edith Sitwell
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edith_Sitwell)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 6: Jean Schmidt

2005-09-05T21:43:00.000-07:00

Jean Schmidt is an American politician. She is a U.S.
Representative-elect of the Republican Party from the U.S. state of
Ohio who is scheduled to be sworn in at 6:30 p.m. EDT on September 6,
2005, after winning a special election on August 2 in the state's
second district to replace Rob Portman. Schmidt is the second Ohio
woman of her party to be elected to Congress without succeeding her
husband and the first woman to represent southwestern Ohio in
Congress. Schmidt is a lifelong resident of Clermont County and won an
11-candidate primary on June 14, 2005. Schmidt faced Democratic
nominee Paul Hackett, an attorney and Marine who served in the Iraq
War in the special election, in which she won by 3.5 percent amid
national attention. The narrowness of her victory in a district
accustomed to Republican landslides led many Democrats to claim a
victory for their party and forecast trouble for the Republicans in
the 2006 House election.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Schmidt

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

394:
: The Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius I defeated the pagan usurper
Eugenius in the Battle of Frigidus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius_I)

1522:
: The Victoria returned to SanlÃºcar de Barrameda, Spain, with Juan
SebastiÃ¡n Elcano and 17 survivors of Ferdinand Magellan's 265-man
expedition, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the globe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Sebasti%C3%A1n_Elcano)

1941:
: Holocaust: All Jews over the age of 6 were required to wear the Star
of David in areas controlled by Nazi Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_David)

1955:
: Ethnic Greeks in Istanbul were attacked by an overwhelming Turkish
mob during the Istanbul Pogrom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Pogrom)

1995:
: Baltimore Oriole shortstop Cal Ripken, Jr. played his 2131st
consecutive major league baseball game, breaking the 56-year old
record set by New York Yankee first baseman Lou Gehrig.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Ripken%2C_Jr.)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"No one is fanatically shouting that the sun is going to rise
tomorrow. They know it's going to rise tomorrow. When people are
fanatically dedicated to political or religious faiths or any other
kinds of dogmas or goals, it's always because these dogmas or goals
are in doubt." -- Robert M. Pirsig
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_M._Pirsig)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] September 1: Zambezi

2005-08-31T22:22:00.000-07:00

The Zambezi is the fourth longest river in Africa, and the largest
flowing into the Indian Ocean. The 2,574 km (1,599 mi) long river has
its source in Zambia and flows through Angola, along the border
Zambia and Zimbabwe, to Mozambique, where it empties into the Indian
Ocean. The Zambezi's most spectacular feature is Victoria Falls, one
of the world's largest waterfalls. Other notable falls include the
Chavuma Falls at the border between Zambia and Angola, and Ngonye
Falls, near Sioma in Western Zambia. Over its entire course, the
Zambezi is spanned by only five bridges: at Chinyingi, Katima Mulilo,
Victoria Falls, Chirundu and Tete. There are two main sources of
hydroelectric power on the river. These are the Kariba Dam, which
provides power to Zambia and Zimbabwe and the Cabora-Bassa Dam in
Mozambique which provides power to South Africa.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zambezi

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1715:
Louis XIV of France, the "Sun King", died after a reign of 72 years,
longer than any other French or other major European monarch.
1923:
The Great Kanto earthquake devastated Tokyo and Yokohama,
about 100,000 people.
1939:
Germany launched the Polish Campaign and attacked Poland at Wieluń and
Westerplatte, starting World War II.
1951:
Australia, New Zealand and the United States signed a mutual defence
pact known as the ANZUS Treaty.
1983:
The civilian airliner Korean Air Flight 007, carrying 246
and 23 crew, was shot down by Soviet fighter aircraft.

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

It takes a real storm in the average person's life to make him realize
how much worrying he has done over the squalls." -- Bruce Fairchild
Barton
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bruce_Fairchild_Barton)
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Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 30: Menstrual cycle

2005-08-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

The menstrual cycle is the recurring physiological changes in a
female's body that are under the control of the reproductive hormone
system and necessary for reproduction. In women, menstrual cycles
occur typically on a monthly basis between puberty and menopause.
Besides humans, only great apes exhibit menstrual cycles, in contrast
to the estrus cycle of most mammalian species. During the menstrual
cycle, the sexually mature female body releases one egg (or
occasionally two, which might result in non-identical twins) at the
time of ovulation. The lining of the uterus, the endometrium, builds
up in a synchronised fashion. After ovulation, this lining changes to
prepare for potential implantation of the fertilized egg to establish
a pregnancy. If fertilisation and pregnancy do not ensue, the uterus
sheds the lining and a new menstrual cycle begins.us.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cycle

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1800:
Gabriel Prosser attempted a slave rebellion in Virginia, United
States.

1813:
Napoleonic Wars: An Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance defeated the
French forces in the Battle of Kulm.

1862:
American Civil War: James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson led their
Confederate troops to a decisive victory in the Second Battle of Bull
Run.

1992:
Michael Schumacher won his first Formula One race at the Belgian Grand
Prix.

1999:
The people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a
referendum.

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we
stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven,
we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it— but we
must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor." -- Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Sr.
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes%2C_Sr.)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 25: African American literature

2005-08-24T22:21:00.000-07:00

African American literature is literature written by, about, and
sometimes specifically for African Americans. The genre began during
the 18th and 19th centuries with writers such as poet Phillis Wheatley
and orator Frederick Douglass, reached an early high point with the
Harlem Renaissance, and continues today with authors such as Toni
Morrison and Maya Angelou being ranked among the top writers in the
United States. Among the themes and issues explored in African
American literature are the role of African Americans within the
larger American society, African American culture, racism, slavery,
and equality. As African Americans' place in American society has
changed over the centuries, so too has the focus of African American
literature. Before the American Civil War, African American literature
primarily focused on the issue of slavery, as indicated by the popular
subgenre of slave narratives. During the American Civil Rights
movement, authors like Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about
issues of segregation and black nationalism. Today, African American
literature has become accepted as an integral part of American
literature, with books in the genre, such as Roots: The Saga of an
American Family by Alex Haley and The Color Purple by Alice Walker,
achieving both best-selling and award-winning status.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_literature

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1814:
Washington, D.C. was burnt down during the War of 1812.

1835:
The New York Sun perpetrated the Great Moon Hoax.

1912:
The Kuomintang was founded by Sung Chiao-jen and Dr. Sun Yat-sen in:
Guangdong, China.

1920:
In the Polish-Soviet War, the Battle of Warsaw ended with a Russian:
defeat.

1989:
The Voyager 2 spacecraft reached Neptune, the last planet it could:
visit before leaving the solar system.

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which
carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me,
but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.
-- Jorge Luis Borges
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges)
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Questions or comments? Contact dal-feedback@wikimedia.org

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 24: Autism

2005-08-23T17:56:00.000-07:00

Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests
itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability,
patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. Although the specific
etiology of autism is unknown, genetic factors appear to be important.
By definition, autism must manifest delays in "social interaction,
language as used in social communication, or symbolic or imaginative
play," with "onset prior to age 3 years." (DSM-IV) There have been
large increases in the reported incidence of autism, for reasons that
are heavily debated in the scientific community. There are cases of
autistic children who have improved their social and other skills to
the point where they can fully participate in mainstream education and
social events, but there are lingering concerns that an absolute cure
from autism is impossible with current technology since it involves
aspects of neurological brain structure determined very early in
development. However, some autistic children and adults who are able
to communicate at a functional level are opposed to attempts to cure
their condition.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

79:
Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum,
and Stabiae with volcanic ash.

410:
The Visigoths under Alaric I sacked Rome.

1572:
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre: a massacre of Huguenots began. An
estimated 70,000 people were killed in France in the following weeks.

1821:
The Treaty of Córdoba was signed, ratifiying the Plan de Iguala and
concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.

1992:
Hurricane Andrew, the costliest natural disaster to ever strike the
United States, made landfall in South Florida as a Category Five
storm.

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.
-- William Wallace
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wallace)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 23: A. E. J. Collins

2005-08-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

A. E. J. Collins was a cricketer and soldier, most famous for his
achievement, as a schoolboy, of the highest-ever recorded score in
cricket, 628 not out, over four afternoons in June 1899. Collins'
record-making innings drew a large crowd and increasing media
interest: spectators at the Old Cliftonian match being played nearby
were drawn away to watch a junior school house cricket match. Collins
joined the British Army in 1902. He studied at the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich, before becoming an officer in the Royal Engineers.
He served in France during World War I, where he was killed in action
in 1914.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._J._Collins

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1305:
After a show trial, William Wallace, leader of the Scottish resistance
against England, was executed in Smithfield Market, London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace)

1866:
Prussia defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War, and dissolved the
German Confederation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Prussian_War)

1939:
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty between the
Soviet Union and the German Third Reich, was signed in Moscow.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov-Ribbentrop_Pact)

1944:
King Michael dismissed the pro-Nazi government of General Ion
Antonescu, putting Romania on the side of the Allies for the remainder
of World War II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Antonescu)

1948:
The World Council of Churches was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Council_of_Churches)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject." --
William Wallace
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wallace)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 22: Congress of the United States

2005-08-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the
federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising
the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House consists of 435
members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves
for a two-year term. Seats in the House are apportioned among the
states on the basis of population; by contrast, each state is
represented in the Senate by two members, regardless of population.
There are a total of 100 Senators, who serve six-year terms. The
United States Constitution vests all the legislative powers of the
federal government in the Congress. The powers of Congress are limited
to those expressly enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers
are reserved to the states and the people, except where the
Constitution provides otherwise. Significant powers of Congress
include the authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, to
levy taxes, to establish federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court,
and to declare war. The Senate is fully equal to the House of
Representatives, and not a mere "chamber of review," as is the case
with the upper houses of the bicameral legislatures of many other
nations.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_the_United_States

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1485:
The Battle of Bosworth Field decisively ended the Wars of the Roses.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bosworth_Field)

1851:
The first America's Cup was won by the yacht America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Cup)

1864:
Twelve European nations signed the First Geneva Convention, which
marked the beginning of the Red Cross movement led by Henry Dunant.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Geneva_Convention)

1911:
The theft of the Mona Lisa was discovered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa)

1989:
Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson, becoming the first major
league baseball pitcher to record 5000 strikeouts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Ryan)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"By a free country, I mean a country where people are allowed, so long
as they do not hurt their neighbours, to do as they like. I do not
mean a country where six men may make five men do exactly as they
like." -- Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Lord Salisbury
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Gascoyne-Cecil%2C_3rd_Marquess_of_Salisbury)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 21: Anschluss

2005-08-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Anschluss was the 1938 incorporation of Austria in "Greater Germany"
under the Nazi regime. The events of March 12, 1938 were the first
major step in Adolf Hitler's long-desired expansion of the Third
Reich, preceding the inclusion of the Sudentenland later in 1938 and
the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, and finally leading to World
War II with the assault on Poland. Although the Wehrmacht entered into
Austria to enforce the Anschluss, no fighting took place, in part
because of prior political pressure exerted by Germany, but primarily
because of the well-planned internal overthrow by the Austrian Nazi
Party of Austria's state institutions in Vienna on March 11, the day
before German troops marched across the border. The international
response to the Anschluss was moderate: the United Kingdom held to its
policy of appeasement and did not enforce the Treaty of Versailles,
which ended World War I and specifically prohibited any attachment of
Germany and Austria. Austria ceased to exist as an independent nation
until a preliminary Austrian government was finally reinstated on
April 27, 1945, and was legally recognized by the Allies in the
following months.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1680:
Pueblo Indians captured Santa Fe from the Spanish.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_people)

1772:
A coup led by Gustav III was completed by adopting a new Instrument of
Government, ending the Age of Liberty in Sweden.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_III_of_Sweden)

1831:
Nat Turner led a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner)

1959:
Hawaii was admitted as the 50th U.S. state.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii)

1986:
Toxic gas erupted from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing over
1700 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos_tragedy)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

If you want the world to knowWe won't let hatred growPut a little love
in your heart. -- Jackie DeShannon --
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jackie_DeShannon)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 20: Porgy and Bess

2005-08-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

Porgy and Bess is an opera with music by George Gershwin and libretto
by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on Heyward's novel
Porgy and the play of the same name that he co-wrote with his wife
Dorothy. All three works deal with African American life in the
ficticious Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina in the early
1930s. Originally conceived by Gershwin as an "American folk opera",
the work was first performed in various forms in the fall of 1935, but
was not widely accepted in the United States as a legitimate opera
until the late 1970s and 1980s: it is now considered part of the
standard operatic repertoire. Porgy and Bess is also regularly
performed internationally, and several recordings of the complete
work, including Gershwin's cuts, have been made. "Summertime" is by
far the best-known piece from the work, and countless interpretations
of this and other individual numbers have also been recorded and
performed. The opera is admired for Gershwin's innovative synthesis of
European orchestral techniques with American jazz and folk music
idioms.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porgy_and_Bess

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

636:
Arab forces led by Khalid bin Walid took control of Syria and
Palestine in the Battle of Yarmuk, marking the first great wave of
Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yarmuk)

917:
Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria invaded Thrace and drove the Byzantines out.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_I_of_Bulgaria)

1882:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuted in Moscow.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture)

1968:
"Prague Spring" abruptly ended when 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and
5,000 tanks invaded Czechoslovakia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring)

1991:
Estonia regained its independence in the Singing Revolution as part of
the collapse of the Soviet Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The Government of the State of Israel and the Palestinian team
representing the Palestinian people agree that it is time to put an
end to decades of confrontation and conflict, recognize their mutual
legitimate and political rights, and strive to live in peaceful
coexistence and mutual dignity and security to achieve a just, lasting
and comprehensive peace settlement and historic reconciliation through
the agreed political process." -- The Oslo Accords
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3AOslo_Accords)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 19: Blaise Pascal

2005-08-19T15:34:00.000-07:00

Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious
philosopher. Pascal's earliest work was in the natural and applied
sciences. His important contributions to these fields include the
construction of mechanical calculators, the study of fluids, and
clarification of concepts such as pressure and vacuum by expanding the
work of Evangelista Torricelli. Pascal also lent his pen to the
defense of the scientific method. In mathematics, Pascal did
groundwork in projective geometry, writing a significant treatise on
the subject at the age of sixteen. In correspondence with Fermat
beginning in 1654, Pascal helped establish probability theory. His
ideas in this area have had major ramifications in economics and the
social sciences. Following a mystical experience in late 1654, he fell
away from mathematics and physics and devoted himself to reflection
and writing about philosophy and theology. This period was
characterized by the composition of his two most famous works, the
Lettres provinciales and the PensÃ©es.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1848:
California Gold Rush: The New York Herald reported news to the East
Coast of the United States that a gold rush was on in California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush)

1942:
World War II: Allied forces raided Dieppe, France in the Dieppe Raid.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe_Raid)

1953:
Operation Ajax: The government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran was
overthrown. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mossadegh)

1960:
Russian space dogs Belka ("Squirrel") and Strelka ("Little Arrow")
began to orbit the Earth aboard the Korabl-Sputnik-2 spacecraft.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_space_dogs)

1991:
Mikhail Gorbachev was announced as "ill and had been relieved of his
state post as President" in a failed Soviet coup attempt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_coup_attempt_of_1991)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Truth has such a face and such a mien as to be lov'd needs only to be
seen." -- John Dryden (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Dryden)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 8: Geology of the Death Valley area

2005-08-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

The exposed geology of the Death Valley area records many events
associated with plate tectonics. The oldest rocks in the area that now
comprise Death Valley National Park and environs are extensively
metamorphosed by intense heat and pressure and are at least 1700
million years old. Rifting of the supercontinent Rodinia some 700 to
800 million years ago (mya) allowed sea water to invade until the
continental crust broke, giving birth to the Pacific Ocean. The
region's first known fossils of complex life were buried at the base
of the submerged precipice. Some 80 million years ago a subduction
zone formed off the coast as the Farallon Plate started to dive below
the North American Plate; volcanoes and uplifting mountains were
created in the region as a result. Stretching of the crust under
western North America started around 16 mya, creating the Basin and
Range province. By 2 to 3 mya this province had spread to the Death
Valley area, ripping it apart and creating Death Valley, Panamint
Valley and surrounding ranges. These valleys partially filled with
sediment and, during the wet times of ice ages, with lakes such as
Lake Manly. By 10,500 years ago these lakes were increasingly cut off
from glacial melt from the Sierra Nevada, starving them of water and
concentrating salts and minerals. The desert environment seen today
developed after these lakes dried up.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Death_Valley_area

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1876:
Thomas Edison received a patent for his mimeograph machine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mimeograph_machine)

1929:
German airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin embarked on a flight to
circumnavigate the world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_127_Graf_Zeppelin)

1930:
Betty Boop made her first appearance as an animated cartoon character
in Max Fleischer's Talkartoon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boop)

1938:
Holocaust: The Mauthausen concentration camp was opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauthausen-Gusen_concentration_camp)

1967:
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand founded
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Southeast_Asian_Nations)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting
beauty in one's equations, and if one has really a sound insight, one
is on a sure line of progress." -- Paul Dirac
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 13: Helen Gandy

2005-08-12T18:43:00.000-07:00

Helen Gandy was an American civil servant. Gandy, who at age 21 left
her native New Jersey for Washington, D.C., was for 54 years the
secretary to Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover.
Hoover called her "indispensable" and she exercised great
behind-the-scenes influence on Hoover and the workings of the Bureau;
Hoover's biographers, Theoharis and Cox, describe her as "a
wraith-like, grim-faced spinster from New Jersey" whose "stern face
recalled Cerberus at the gate". Following Hoover's death in 1972, she
spent weeks destroying his "Personal File," thought to be where the
most incriminating material he used to manipulate and control the most
powerful figures in Washington was kept.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Gandy

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1521:
Conquistador Hernan Cortes captured the Aztec capital of
Tenochtitlan, destroying most of the city.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan)

1704:
The Battle of Blenheim, a pivotal event of the War of the Spanish
Succession, took place. England and Austria claim victory over France
and Bavaria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blenheim)

1913:
Harry Brearley developed stainless steel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Brearley)

1920:
The Battle of Warsaw began during the Polish-Soviet War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Warsaw_%281920%29)

1961:
Construction of the Berlin Wall, a long barrier separating West Berlin
from East Berlin and the surrounding territory of East Germany, began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Berlin)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I think, with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today
do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and
to speak at all in public has been earned." -- Lucy Stone
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lucy_Stone)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 12: Battle of Jutland

2005-08-11T18:21:00.000-07:00

The Battle of Jutland was the largest naval battle of World War I, and
the only full-scale clash of battleships in that war. It was fought on
31 May–1 June 1916, in the North Sea near Jutland. The combatants were
the Kaiserliche Marine's High Seas Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral
Reinhard Scheer, and the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, commanded by
Admiral Sir John Jellicoe. The Germans planned to lure Vice Admiral
Sir David Beatty's battlecruiser squadrons into the path of the main
German battle fleet and so destroy them. But the British had learned
from signal intercepts that a major fleet operation was in prospect,
and on 30 May Jellicoe sailed with the Grand Fleet to rendezvous with
Beatty. On the afternoon of 31 May, Beatty and Hipper encountered each
other, and in a running battle Hipper drew the British into the path
of the High Seas Fleet. Fourteen British and eleven German ships were
sunk with great loss of life. Both sides claimed victory. The British
had lost more ships and many more sailors, but Scheer's plan of
destroying Beatty's squadrons had failed. For the remainder of the
war, the German High Seas Fleet stayed in port. and never again
contested control of the seas. Instead, the German Navy turned its
efforts and resources to unrestricted submarine warfare.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jutland

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1099:
The First Crusade concluded with the Battle of Ascalon, and Fatimid
forces under Al-Afdal Shahanshah retreating to Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ascalon)

1676:
John Alderman shot and killed Metacomet the Wampanoag war chief,
ending King Philip's War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Philip%27s_War)

1851:
Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Singer)

1953:
History of nuclear weapons: Joe 4, the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb
was detonated at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_atomic_bomb_project)

1985:
Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashed in Gunma Prefecture, Japan, killing
520 of 524 on board in the world's worst single-aircraft aviation
disaster.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines_Flight_123)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition
there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our
mistakes." -- George Soros
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Soros)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 11: Tasmanian Devil

2005-08-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

The Tasmanian Devil is a carnivorous marsupial found exclusively on
the Australian island of Tasmania. At the size of a small dog, but
stocky and muscular, the Tasmanian Devil is the largest carnivorous
marsupial in the world. The devil is characterised by its black fur,
offensive odour when stressed, extremely loud and disturbing screech,
and vicious temperament when feeding. Known to hunt, as well as to
scavenge carrion, communal eating is one of the few social activities
in which the usually solitary devil participates. The Tasmanian Devil
became extinct on the Australian mainland about 400 years prior to
European settlement in 1788. Seen as a threat to livestock, humans
hunted devils in Tasmania until 1941, when they were officially
protected. Since the late 1990s devil facial tumour disease has
reduced the devil population significantly and threatens the survival
of the species. The impact of the disease on devil population may lead
to listing of the devil as an endangered species.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_Devil

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1492:
Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia was elected pope and became known as Pope
Alexander VI.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI)

1919:
The Weimar Republic adopted its constitution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic)

1970:
A trademark application for the word Spork was published by the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spork)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I do not believe that the tendency is to make men and women brave and
glorious when you tell them that there are certain ideas upon certain
subjects that they must never express; that they must go through life
with a pretence as a shield; that their neighbors will think much more
of them if they will only keep still; and that above all is a God who
despises one who honestly expresses what he believes." -- Robert G.
Ingersoll
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_G._Ingersoll)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 10: Augustan literature

2005-08-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Augustan literature is a style of English literature whose origins
correspond roughly with the reigns of Queen Anne, King George I, and
George II. In contemporary critical parlance, it refers to the
literature of 1700 up to approximately 1760. It is a literary epoch
that featured the rapid development of the novel, an explosion in
satire, the mutation of drama from political satire into melodrama,
and an evolution toward poetry of personal exploration. The
chronological anchors of the era are generally vague, largely since
the label's origin in contemporary 18th-century criticism has made it
a shorthand designation for a somewhat nebulous age of satire. This
new Augustan period exhibited exceptionally bold political writings in
all genres, with the satires of the age marked by an arch, ironic
pose, full of nuance, and a superficial air of dignified calm that hid
sharp criticisms beneath.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustan_literature

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1792:
French Revolution: Insurrectionists stormed the Tuileries Palace,
effectively ending the French monarchy until it was restored in 1814.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_of_August_%28French_Revolution%29)

1809:
History of Ecuador: After nearly three centuries of Spanish rule, the
first cry for independence was heard in Quito.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quito)

1846:
Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the Congress of the United
States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution)

1920:
Representatives of Sultan Mehmed VI signed the Treaty of SÃ¨vres,
recognizing the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of
World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_S%C3%A8vres)

1990:
The Magellan space probe reached Venus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellan_probe)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"There's a whole industry of conservatives saying, 'Ah, it's those
damn liberals,' and a whole group of liberals saying, 'It's all those
damn conservatives.'..." -- Peter Jennings
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Jennings)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 9: Sharon Tate

2005-08-08T23:18:00.000-07:00

Sharon Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small
roles in television, before starting her film career. After receiving
positive reviews as a light comedienne, she was hailed as one of
Hollywood's promising newcomers. Tate's celebrity status and role as a
style icon of the "Swinging Sixties" increased after fashion magazines
began featuring her as a model and cover girl. Married to the film
director Roman PolaÅ„ski, Tate was eight months pregnant when she,
along with four others, was murdered in her Benedict Canyon home by
followers of Charles Manson, in a crime that shocked the nation. A
decade after the murders, her mother Doris Tate, appalled at the
growing cult status of the killers and the possibility that any of
them might be granted parole, joined a campaign to ensure they
remained in prison. This was part of the catalyst which led to
amendments to California law in 1982, which allowed crime victims and
their families to make victim impact statements.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Tate

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1173:
The construction of a campanile which would eventually become the
Leaning Tower of Pisa began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa)

1945:
USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb named Fat Man,
devastating Nagasaki, Japan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man)

1974:
The Watergate scandal: Richard Nixon became the first U.S. President
to resign from office.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon)

1988:
Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles
Kings in one of the most controversial player transactions in ice
hockey history.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Gretzky)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"TCP implementations will follow a general principle of robustness: be
conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from
others." -- Jon Postel
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3ATransmission_Control_Proto

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 6: Grunge music

2005-08-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

Grunge music is an independent-rooted music genre that was inspired by
hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock. The genre became
commercially successful in the late 1980s and early 1990s, peaking in
mainstream popularity between 1991 and 1994. Bands from cities in the
U.S. Pacific Northwest such as Seattle, Washington, Olympia,
Washington, and Portland, Oregon, were responsible for creating grunge
music and later made it popular with mainstream audiences. The genre
is closely associated with Generation X, due to its popularization
being in tandem with the popularizing of the generation's name. The
popularity of grunge was one of the first phenomena that distinguished
the popular music of the 1990s from that of the 1980s.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge_music

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1806:
The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved when Francis II, the last Holy
Roman Emperor, was forced to abdicate.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire)

1890:
William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in an electric
chair.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/electric_chair)

1945:
World War II: Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress of the U.S. Army Air
Force, dropped an atomic bomb named Little Boy on Hiroshima, Japan,
killing an estimated 80,000 people instantly.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki)

1991:
Tim Berners-Lee released files describing his idea for a "World Wide
Web."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee)

2001:
U.S. President George W. Bush received a daily briefing warning of an
imminent attack by Osama bin Laden.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_Daily_Briefing)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn't necessary to hit
them with that awful thing." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 5: Tooth enamel

2005-08-04T20:22:00.000-07:00

Tooth enamel is the most highly mineralized and hardest substance of
the body. Enamel is one of the three major parts of the human tooth,
the others being dentin and cementum. It is the normally visible
dental tissue of a tooth, and must be supported by underlying dentin.
Minerals compose 96% of enamel, with water and organic material
composing the rest. Since enamel is semi-translucent, the color of
dentin and any restorative dental material underneath the enamel
highly affects the outer appearance of the tooth. The color of enamel
is a light yellow to grayish white. It varies in thickness over the
surface of the tooth. Often, enamel is thickest at the cusp, up to 2.5
mm, and the thickness tapers down to a miniscule amount at its border,
which is seen clinically as the cementoenamel junction.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth_enamel

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

642:
Penda of Mercia defeated and killed Oswald of Northumbria in the
Battle of Maserfield, becoming the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon
rulers of the time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penda_of_Mercia)

1100:
Henry I was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England)

1858:
Cyrus West Field and colleagues completed the first transatlantic
telegraph cable.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/transatlantic_telegraph_cable)

1861:
The U.S. government issued its first income tax: 3% of all incomes
over 800 dollars (later rescinded in 1872).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/income_tax)

1995:
Operation Storm: Croatian forces recovered the town of Knin from the
Republic of Serbian Krajina.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knin)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live
forever." -- Mohandas Gandhi
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mohandas_Gandhi)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 4: Carl Friedrich Gauss

2005-08-03T23:14:00.000-07:00

Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist who
contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory,
analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, magnetism, astronomy and
optics. Sometimes known as "the prince of mathematicians", Gauss
introduced concepts which have had a profound impact in many areas and
his work is ranked alongside that of Newton and Archimedes. Gauss was
a child prodigy, and he made his first ground-breaking mathematical
discoveries while still a teenager. He completed Disquisitiones
Arithmeticae, his magnum opus, at the age of 24. This work was
fundamental in consolidating number theory as a discipline, and it has
shaped the direction of modern research up to the present day.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1578:
King Sebastian of Portugal disappeared in the Battle of Alcazarquivir,
leading to a dynastic crisis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_of_Portugal)

1790:
A newly passed tariff act in the United States established the Revenue
Cutter Service.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_Cutter_Service)

1914:
World War I: Adhering to the terms in the 1839 Treaty of London, the
United Kingdom declared war on Germany in response to the German
invasion of Belgium.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_London%2C_1839)

1964:
Gulf of Tonkin Incident: Two destroyers of the U.S. Navy were
reportedly attacked by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Incident)

1983:
A coup d'Ã©tat led by Blaise CompaorÃ© made Thomas Sankara President
of Upper Volta.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sankara)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty,
and despair!" Nothing beside remains: round the decay Of that colossal
wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.
-- Percy Bysshe Shelley --
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 3: Marshall, Texas

2005-08-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

Marshall, Texas, is a major cultural and educational center in Northeast
Texas, located near the Louisiana and Arkansas borders in the Ark-La-Tex
region. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of
23,935. The county seat of Harrison County, the city is known for its
Civil War, railroad, and civil rights movement history, for holding one
of the largest light festivals in the United States, the Wonderland of
Lights, and, as the self-proclaimed Pottery Capital of the World, for
its sizable pottery industry. It is also known variously as the
Cultural Capital of East Texas, the Gateway of Texas, the Athens of
Texas, and the City of Seven Flags. Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall%2C_Texas

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

435:
Nestorius, the originator of Nestorianism, was exiled by Byzantine
Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorius)

1916:
Sir Roger Casement was hanged for his role in the Easter Rising in
Ireland. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement)

1923:
Calvin Coolidge was inaugurated as the 30th President of the United
States, succeeding Warren G. Harding.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge)

1940:
World War II: Approximately 175,000 Italian troops invaded British
Somaliland, beginning the East African Campaign.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Campaign)

1948:
Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss of being a communist and a Soviet
spy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"When I talk of the purpose of life, I am thinking not only of human
life, but of all life on Earth and of the life which must exist upon
other planets throughout the universe. It is only of life on Earth,
however, that one can speak with any certainty. It seems to me that all
life on Earth, the sum total of life upon the Earth, has purpose." --
Clifford D. Simak (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 2: Common Unix Printing System

2005-08-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

The Common Unix Printing System is a modularised computer printing
system for Unix-like operating systems that allows computers to act as
powerful print servers. A computer running CUPS is a host which can
accept print jobs from client computers, process them, and send them
to the appropriate printer. CUPS consists of a Unix print spooler and
scheduler, a filter system that convert the print data to a format
that the printer will understand, and a backend system that sends this
data to the print device. CUPS uses the Internet Printing Protocol as
the basis for managing print jobs and queues. It also provides the
traditional System V and Berkeley command line interfaces, along with
limited support for the server message block protocol. The device
drivers CUPS supplies are based on the PostScript Printer Description.
There are a number of user interfaces for different platforms that can
configure CUPS, and it has an inbuilt web-based interface.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Unix_Printing_System

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1870:
Tower Subway, the world's first underground railway, opened in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Subway)

1903:
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization and Bulgarians in
the Ottoman Empire carried out the Ilinden Uprising.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden-Preobrazhenie_Uprising)

1934:
Adolf Hitler became FÃ¼hrer of Nazi Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrer)

1990:
Iraq invaded Kuwait, triggering the Gulf War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"When are you people going to learn? It's not about who's right or
wrong. No denomination's nailed it yet, and they never will because
they're all too self-righteous to realize that it doesn't matter what
you have faith in, just that you have faith. Your hearts are in the
right place, but your brains need to wake up. I have issues with
anyone who treats faith as a burden instead of a blessing. You people
don't celebrate your faith; you mourn it." -- "Serendipity" in Dogma,
by Kevin Smith
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dogma)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] August 1: Henry Moore

2005-07-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

Henry Moore was an artist and sculptor. Born into a poor mining family
in Castleford, he became well known for his large scale abstract cast
bronze and carved marble sculptures; substantially supported by the
British art establishment, Moore helped to introduce a particular
strand of modernism into Britain. His ability to satisfy large-scale
commissions, led him to become exceptionally wealthy towards the end
of his life, although he spent little and the bulk of his wealth went
to endow the Henry Moore Foundation which continues to support
education and promotion of the arts. His signature form is a pierced
reclining figure, first influenced by a Toltec-Maya sculpture known as
"Chac Mool," which he had seen as a plaster cast in Paris in 1925.
Early versions are pierced conventionally as a bent arm reconnects
with the body; later more abstract versions are pieced directly
through the body, in order to explore the concave and convex shapes.
These more extreme piercings developed in parallel with Barbara
Hepworth's sculptures, when she first pierced a torso after misreading
a review of one of Henry Moore's early shows.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moore

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1774:
Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen, corroborating the prior discovery
of this chemical element by Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/oxygen)

1798:
French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile started between
French and British fleets.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile)

1927:
People's Liberation Army was established in China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Liberation_Army)

1944:
The Warsaw Uprising against Nazi occupation began in Poland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising)

1981:
MTV debuted with the song Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"From without, no wonderful effect is wrought within ourselves, unless
some interior, responding wonder meets it. That the starry vault shall
surcharge the heart with all rapturous marvelings, is only because we
ourselves are greater miracles, and superber trophies than all the
stars in universal space." -- Herman Melville
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herman_Melville)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 31: Chagas disease

2005-07-30T20:59:00.000-07:00

Chagas disease is a human tropical parasitic disease which occurs in
the Americas, particularly in South America. Its pathogenic agent is a
flagellate protozoan named Trypanosoma cruzi, which is transmitted to
humans and other mammals mostly by hematophagous insects of the
subfamily Triatominae. Those insects are known by numerous common
names varying by country, including assassin bug, benchuca, and
kissing bug. Other forms of transmission are possible, though, such as
ingestion of food contaminated with parasites, blood transfusion and
fetal transmission. T. cruzi is in the same genus as the infectious
agent of African sleeping sickness, but its clinical manifestations,
geographical distribution, life cycle and insect vectors are quite
different.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagas_disease

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1667:
The Treaty of Breda ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Breda)

1790:
The U.S. Patent Office issued the first patent in the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/patent)

1917:
The Battle of Passchendaele began on the Western Front in World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passchendaele)

1941:
Holocaust: Hermann GÃ¶ring ordered SS general Reinhard Heydrich to
develop a final solution to the Jewish question.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/final_solution)

1971:
Apollo program: The first Lunar Rover was used during the Apollo 15
moon mission.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Rover)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I think I'd most like to spend a day with Harry. I'd take him out for
a meal and apologise for everything I've put him through." -- J. K.
Rowling
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._K._Rowling)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 30: Hero of Belarus

2005-07-29T23:38:00.000-07:00

Hero of Belarus is the highest title that can be bestowed on a citizen
of Belarus. Created in 1995 by President Alexander Lukashenko, the
title is awarded to those who perform great deeds in the name of
Belarus. The deed can be for military performance, economic excellence
or great service to the State and society. The design of the medal is
similar to its predecessor, Hero of the Soviet Union. Similar titles
to the Hero of Belarus include the Russian Hero of the Russian
Federation and the Ukrainian Hero of Ukraine. This title has only been
awarded to five people since its inception — Uładzimir Karvat,
Alaksandar Dubko, Michajił Karčmit, Vital Kramko and Pavieł
Maryjaŭ. Of those, only Kramko and Maryjaŭ are living today.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero_of_Belarus

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1619:
The first representative assembly in the Americas, Virginia's House of
Burgesses, convened for the first time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Burgesses)

1825:
Malden Island (now one of Kiribati's Line Islands) was discovered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malden_Island)

1864:
American Civil War: Union forces attempted to break Confederate lines
in the Battle of the Crater.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Crater)

1966:
England won the Football World Cup, beating Germany 4 to 2.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_World_Cup)

2003:
The last 'old style' VW Beetle rolled off the assembly line in Puebla,
Mexico.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VW_Beetle)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

No coward soul is mine, No trembler in the world's storm-troubled
sphere: I see Heaven's glories shine, And Faith shines equal, arming
me from Fear. -- Emily Brontë --
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%83%C2%AB)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 29: Open cluster

2005-07-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

An open cluster is a group of up to a few thousand stars that were
formed from the same giant molecular cloud, and are still
gravitationally bound to each other. Open clusters are found only in
spiral and irregular galaxies, in which active star formation is
occurring. They are usually less than a few hundred million years old:
they become disrupted by close encounters with other clusters and
clouds of gas as they orbit the galactic centre, as well as losing
cluster members through internal close encounters. Young open clusters
may still be contained within the molecular cloud from which they
formed, illuminating it to create an H II region. Over time, radiation
pressure from the cluster will disperse the molecular cloud.
Typically, about 10% of the mass of a gas cloud will coalesce into
stars before radiation pressure drives the rest away. Open clusters
are very important objects in the study of stellar evolution. Because
the stars are all of very similar age and chemical composition, the
effects of other more subtle variables on the properties of stars are
much more easily studied than they are for isolated stars.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_cluster

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1030:
– King Olaf II fought and died in the Battle of Stiklestad, trying to
regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stiklestad)

1907:
– The Scouting movement began with the first scout camp at Brownsea
Island in Dorset, England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouting)

1947:
– ENIAC, the world's first all-electronic digital computer, was turned
on; it remained in continuous operation until October 2, 1955.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC)

1954:
– The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of The Lord of the Rings,
was published in the United Kingdom.

1957:
–- The International Atomic Energy Agency was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Energy_Agency)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"All parts should go together without forcing. You must remember that
the parts you are reassembling were disassembled by you. Therefore, if
you can't get them together again, there must be a reason. By all
means, do not use a hammer." -- IBM maintenance manual (1925)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 28: Tony Blair

2005-07-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Tony Blair is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He has
led the Labour Party since July 1994, and brought Labour into power
with a landslide victory in the 1997 general election, replacing John
Major as Prime Minister and ending 18 years of Conservative
government. He is now the Labour Party's longest-serving Prime
Minister. He moved the Labour Party towards the centre of British
politics, using the term "New Labour" to distinguish what he calls
"modern social democracy" and his party's refusal to reverse
privatisation and support for a market economy from its past belief in
nationalisation and Fabian socialism. Since the advent of the "War on
Terror" much of his agenda has been dominated by foreign affairs and
he has supported many aspects of the foreign policy of George W. Bush.
His party won an unprecedented third term in the 2005 general
election, but its majority in the House of Commons was reduced
considerably.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Blair

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1794:
Reign of Terror leader Maximilien Robespierre was guillotined.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilien_Robespierre)

1914:
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, starting World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I)

1976:
The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 magnitude
flattened Tangshan, China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangshan_earthquake)

1990:
Alberto Fujimori became President of Peru and the first person of East
Asian descent to become executive head of state of a non-Asian nation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Fujimori)

1996:
The remains of the prehistoric Kennewick Man were discovered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennewick_Man)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Whenever a theory appears to you as the only possible one, take this
as a sign that you have neither understood the theory nor the problem
which it was intended to solve." -- Karl Popper
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Popper)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 23: Blackface

2005-07-25T21:51:00.000-07:00

Blackface is a style of theatrical makeup that originated in the
United States, used to affect the countenance of an iconic, racist,
American archetype, that of the "darky." Blackface also refers to a
genre of musical and comedic theatrical presentation in which
blackface makeup is worn. White blackface performers in the past used
burnt cork, then later greasepaint, to affect jet-black skin and
exaggerated lips, often wearing woolly wigs, gloves, tails or ragged
clothes to complete the transformation. Later, black artists also
performed in blackface. Blackface was an important performance
tradition in the American theater for over 100 years and was extremely
popular overseas, as well. The negative archetypes that comprised the
stock characters of blackface minstrelsy played a seminal role in
cementing and proliferating racist images and perceptions of, and
attitudes about, blacks worldwide. By the mid-20th century, changing
attitudes about race and racism effectively ended the prominence of
blackface performance in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackface

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1139:
Afonso the Conqueror became the first king of an independent Portugal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afonso_I_of_Portugal)

1822:
José de San Martín met with Simón Bolívar in Guayaquil to plan for the
future of South America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guayaquil)

1887:
L. L. Zamenhof published Dr. Esperanto's International Language.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto)

1953:
Fidel Castro led an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus
beginning the Cuban Revolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moncada_Barracks)

1963:
Syncom 2 became the world's first geosynchronous satellite.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syncom)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea. -- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 23: Monty Hall problem

2005-07-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

The Monty Hall problem is a puzzle in probability that is loosely
based on the American game show Let's Make a Deal. The name comes from
the show's host Monty Hall. In this puzzle a player is shown three
closed doors; behind one is a car, and behind each of the other two is
a goat. The player is allowed to open one door, and will win whatever
is behind the door. However, after the player selects a door but
before opening it, the game host opens another door revealing a goat.
The host then offers the player an option to switch to the other
closed door. Does switching improve the player's chance of winning the
car? The answer is yes — switching results in a 2/3 chance of winning
the car. The problem is also called the Monty Hall paradox, in the
sense that the solution is counterintuitive, although the problem is
not a logical self-contradiction.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Hall_problem

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1926:
Fox Film Corporation bought the patents of the Movietone sound system
for recording sound onto film.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Film_Corporation)

1952:
Farouk of Egypt abdicated after a coup d'état.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_of_Egypt)

1962:
Telstar relayed the first live transatlantic television signal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar)

1967:
The 12th Street Riot began in the predominantly African American inner
city area of Detroit, Michigan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_Street_Riot)

1983:
Air Canada flight 143, the "Gimli Glider", crash-landed in Gimli,
Manitoba without loss of life.

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The private detective of fiction is a fantastic creation who acts and
speaks like a real man. He can be completely realistic in every sense
but one, that one sense being that in life as we know it such a man
would not be a private detective." -- Raymond Chandler
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 22: Caile Ferate Romane

2005-07-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

Caile Ferate Romane is the official designation of the state railway
carrier of Romania. CFR manages the fourth-largest railway network in
Europe, in terms of volume of passengers and freight. The network is
significantly interconnected with other European railway networks,
providing pan-European passenger and freight services. CFR, which as
an entity has been operating since 1880, is divided into four
autonomous companies: CFR Calatori, which is responsible for
passenger services; CFR Marfa, responsible for freight transport; CFR
Infrastructura, which manages the infrastructure on the Romanian
railway network; Societatea Feroviara de Turism, or SFT, which
manages scenic and tourist railways. CFR is headquartered in
Bucharest, Romania, and has regional divisions in Cluj-Napoca,
Craiova, Iasi and Brasov.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C4%83ile_Ferate_Rom%C3%A2ne

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1864:
American Civil War: Confederate forces unsuccessfully attacked Union
troops in the Battle of Atlanta.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Atlanta)

1933:
Wiley Post became the first pilot to fly a fixed-wing aircraft solo
around the world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_Post)

1934:
Bank robber John Dillinger, named "Public Enemy Number One" by the
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, was ambushed outside Biograph
Theater in Chicago.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dillinger)

1946:
An Irgun bomb destroyed the headquarters of the British Mandate of
Palestine at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 90.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_David_Hotel_bombing)

2003:
U.S. forces attacked a compound in Mosul, Iraq, killing Saddam
Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uday_Hussein)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door! -- Emma Lazarus
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma_Lazarus)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 21: The Ashes

2005-07-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

The Ashes is a biennial Test cricket contest played between England
and Australia. The series is named after the trophy, which is a small
wooden urn said to contain the burnt bails from an 1882 game at The
Oval. Each Ashes series typically consists of five Test matches, and
the series alternate between the two countries. In the cricketing
world, the Ashes is regarded as one of the sport's most famous and
fierce rivalries. Particularly notable Ashes series took place in
1932/33 (the Bodyline tour), 1948 (Sir Donald Bradman's "Invincibles"
Australian side) and 1981 (in which an England team spearheaded by Ian
Botham won a thrilling series).

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashes

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1298:
Edward I of England defeated William Wallace's Scottish rebels at
the Battle of Falkirk.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Falkirk_%281298%29)

1831:
In Brussels, Leopold I was inaugurated as the first King of the
Belgians.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I_of_Belgium)

1861:
The First Battle of Bull Run, the first major battle in the American
Civil War, began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Bull_Run)

1970:
The Aswan High Dam in Egypt was completed after 11 years of
construction.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aswan_Dam)

1995:
The Chinese People's Liberation Army began firing missiles into the
waters north of Taiwan, starting the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Taiwan_Strait_Crisis)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"We've arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements
profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged
things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This
is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for awhile,
but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is
going to blow up in our faces." -- Carl Sagan
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 20: Robert Heinlein

2005-07-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Robert Heinlein was one of the most influential and controversial
authors in the science fiction genre. He became the first science
fiction writer to break into major general magazines in the late 1940s
with true, undisguised science fiction, and the first bestselling
novel-length science fiction in the 1960s. For many years he, Isaac
Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the Big Three of science
fiction. The major themes of Heinlein's work were social: radical
individualism, libertarianism, religion, the relationship between
physical and emotional love, and speculation about unorthodox family
relationships. His iconoclastic beliefs have led to wildly divergent
perceptions of him. The novel Stranger in a Strange Land put him in
the unexpected role of Pied Piper of the sexual revolution and 1960s
counterculture, but he has also been cast as a fascist, based on the
contemporaneous Starship Troopers.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Heinlein

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1927:
– Five-year old Michael I became King of Romania upon the death of his
father Ferdinand I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_I_of_Romania)

1940:
– Billboard magazine published its first "Music Popularity Chart."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_magazine)

1944:
– Adolf Hitler survived the July 20 Plot, an assassination attempt led
by Claus von Stauffenberg.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_20_Plot)

1960:
– Sirimavo Bandaranaike was elected Prime Minister of Ceylon, thus
becoming the world's first elected female head of government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirimavo_Bandaranaike)

1969:
– The Apollo 11 lunar module landed; Neil Armstrong became the first
man to walk on the moon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11)

1976:
– Viking 1 landed on Mars, marking the first visit from Earth.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_1)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." -- Neil
Armstrong on first stepping onto the surface of the moon, 20th July
1969.
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 19: Polish September Campaign

2005-07-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

The Polish September Campaign was the conquest of Poland by the armies
of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small contingent of Slovak
forces during the Second World War. The campaign began on 1 September
1939 following a German-staged attack. This military operation, which
saw the first use of Blitzkrieg tactics, marked the start of the
Second World War in Europe as the invasion led Poland's allies, the
United Kingdom and France, to declare war on Germany on September 3.
On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Red Army invaded the eastern regions
of Poland. The Soviets were acting in co-operation with Nazi Germany,
carrying out their part of the secret appendix of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (the division of Europe into Nazi and Soviet
spheres of influence). The campaign ended on 6 October, 1939, with
Germany and the Soviet Union occupying the entirety of Poland.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_September_Campaign

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

711:
– Roderic and the Visigoths in Iberia were defeated in the Battle of
Guadalete by Moorish Umayyad invaders led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roderic)

1553:
– Lady Jane Grey was replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England
after holding that title for just nine days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England)

1848:
– The two-day Women's Rights Convention opened in Seneca Falls, New
York, United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Falls_Convention)

1870:
– France declared war on Prussia, starting the Franco-Prussian War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War)

1947:
– Burmese nationalist Aung San was assassinated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San)

1979:
– Sandinista rebels overthrew the US-backed government of the Somoza
family in Nicaragua.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandinista)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on
the battlefield will think hard before starting a war." -- Otto von
Bismarck
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 17: Antarctic krill

2005-07-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

The Antarctic krill is a species of krill found in the Antarctic
waters of the Southern Ocean. Antarctic krill are shrimp-like
invertebrates that live in large schools, called swarms, sometimes
reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 individual animals per cubic
meter. They feed directly on minute phytoplankton, thereby using the
primary production energy that the phytoplankton originally derived
from the sun in order to sustain their pelagic (open ocean) life
cycle. They grow to a length of 6 cm, weigh up to 2 grams, and can
live for up to six years. They are the key species in the Antarctic
ecosystem and are likely, in terms of biomass, the most successful
animal species on the planet.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_krill

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1815:
Napoleonic Wars: Napoléon surrendered to British forces at Rochefort,
France, ending the Hundred Days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France)

1945:
Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman met at the
Potsdam Conference to decide how to administer post-World War II
Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Conference)

1975:
History of East Timor: East Timor was annexed and became the 27th
province of Indonesia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_East_Timor)

1996:
Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 exploded off the coast of Long Island, New
York, killing all 230 on board.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800)

1998:
Biologists reported in the journal Science how they sequenced the
genome of the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treponema_pallidum)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Most of the books, music and movies ever released are not available
for sale, anywhere in the world. In the brief time that P2P nets have
flourished, the ad-hoc masses of the Internet have managed to put just
about everything online. What's more, they've done it far cheaper
than any other archiving/revival effort ever." -- Cory Doctorow
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 16: 1755 Lisbon earthquake

2005-07-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

The 1755 Lisbon earthquake took place on November 1, 1755, at 9:20 in
the morning. It was one of the most destructive and deadly earthquakes
in history, killing well over 100,000 people. The quake was followed
by a tsunami and fire, resulting in the near total destruction of
Lisbon. The earthquake accentuated political tensions in Portugal and
profoundly disrupted the country's 18th century colonial ambitions.
The event was widely discussed by European Enlightenment philosophers,
and inspired major developments in theodicy and in the philosophy of
the sublime. The first to be studied scientifically for its effects
over a large area, the quake signalled the birth of modern seismology.
Geologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake approached magnitude 9
on the Richter scale, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about
200 km west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

622:
Beginning of the Islamic calendar.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar)

1918:
Russian Revolution: Bolsheviks executed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
and his family at Ekaterinburg.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia)

1945:
Manhattan Project: "Trinity", the first nuclear test explosion, was
detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_test)

1979:
Saddam Hussein took over as President of Iraq, succeeding Ahmed
Hassan al-Bakr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein)

1994:
The planet Jupiter was hit by fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9
comet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoemaker-Levy_9)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"By the declining day, lo! man is a state of loss, save those who
believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort
one another to endurance." -- The Qur'an, Surah 103
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Qur%27an)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 15: George Moore (novelist)

2005-07-14T17:07:00.000-07:00

George Moore was an Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, art
critic, memoirist and dramatist. Moore came from a Roman Catholic
landed family, originally intended to be an artist, and studied art in
Paris during the 1870s. Here he befriended many of the leading French
artists and writers of the day. As a writer, he was amongst the first
English language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists,
being particularly influenced by the works of Ã‰mile Zola. He was also
a key figure in the Celtic Revival. His short stories influenced the
early writings of James Joyce. Although a number of his books remain
in print, Moore's work remains somewhat outside the mainstream of both
Irish and British literature; he founded no school or movement and has
had few, if any followers.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Moore_%28novelist%29

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1410:
– The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the
Teutonic Knights in the Battle of Grunwald.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grunwald)

1685:
– James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, was executed for his role in the
Monmouth Rebellion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monmouth_Rebellion)

1799:
– French soldiers uncovered the Rosetta Stone in the Egyptian port
city of Rashid.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone)

1806:
– The Pike expedition, led by Zebulon Pike to explore the Louisiana
Territory, began near St. Louis, Missouri.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_expedition)

1974:
– Archbishop Makarios, President of Cyprus, was overthrown in a coup
d'Ã©tat.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makarios_III)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Eternal vigilance must be maintained to guard against those who seek
to stifle ideas, establish a narrow orthodoxy, and divide our nation
along arbitrary lines of race, ethnicity, and religious belief or
non-belief." -- Jesse Ventura
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesse_Ventura)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 13: Xiangqi

2005-07-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

Xiangqi is a Chinese game in a family of strategic board games of
which Western chess and Japanese shogi are also members. The Chinese
name is literally translatable as either "elephant chess" but is
commonly called Chinese chess in the West. The ancestry of Xiangqi is
disputed with some historians contending that it originated from Liubo
and others stating that it is a relative of the 6th century Indian
game of chaturanga. It is one of the most popular board games of the
chaturanga family in the world, especially in Asia. Distinctive
features of xiangqi include the unique movement of the pao ("cannon")
piece, a rule prohibiting the generals (similar to chess kings) from
facing each other directly, and the river and palace board features,
which restrict the movement of some pieces.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1174:
William the Lion, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, was captured
at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_of_1173-1174)

1772:
HMS Resolution set sail from Plymouth, England, under the command of
Captain James Cook.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Resolution_%28Cook%29)

1793:
Jean-Paul Marat, a leader in the French Revolution, was murdered in
his bathtub by Charlotte Corday.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Marat)

1878:
The major powers redrew the map of the Balkans in the Treaty of
Berlin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Berlin%2C_1878)

1985:
Live Aid benefit concerts, organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to
raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held in London and
Philadelphia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Aid)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in
order to take others— that is why you are so dangerous. But I know
you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our
free society and I can show you why you will fail." -- Ken
Livingstone, Mayor of London
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Livingstone)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 12: Civil Air Patrol

2005-07-12T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Civil Air Patrol is the official civilian auxiliary of the United
States Air Force. It was created just days before the Attack on Pearl
Harbor in 1941, and is credited with sinking at least two German
U-boats during the War. It was seen as a way to use America's civil
aviation resources to aid the war effort, rather than grounding them,
as was the case in the United Kingdom. Today, the Civil Air Patrol is
a volunteer organization dedicated to education and national service,
including people from all backgrounds and all walks of life. It
performs three key missions: Emergency services (including search and
rescue), aerospace education for youth and the general public, and
cadet programs. The September 11, 2001 attacks demonstrated the
importance of the Civil Air Patrol, as it was this organization's
aircraft that flew blood to victims of the attack as well as providing
the first aerial pictures of the World Trade Center site.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Air_Patrol

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1862:
The U.S. Army Medal of Honor was first authorized by the U.S.
Congress.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor)

1967:
Race riots began in Newark, New Jersey, leading to 27 deaths in four
days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark%2C_New_Jersey)

1975:
São Tomé and Príncipe declared independence from Portugal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Tom%C3%A9_and_Pr%C3%ADncipe)

1979:
The Gilbert Islands gained independence and became known as Kiribati.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiribati)

1993:
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off the shore of Hokkaidō?, Japan launched
a devastating tsunami, killing 202 on the small island of Okushiri.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to
please everybody." -- Bill Cosby
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 11: Gbe languages

2005-07-10T17:42:00.000-07:00

The Gbe languages form a cluster of about 20 related languages
stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria.
The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and
eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is Ewe, followed by
Fon. The Gbe languages belong to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo
languages, and break up into five major dialect clusters: Ewe, Fon,
Aja, Gen, and Phla-Pherá. In the late 18th century, many speakers of
Gbe were enslaved and transported to the New World, causing Gbe
languages to play a role in the genesis of several Caribbean creole
languages. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Africanist
Diedrich Hermann Westermann was one of the most prolific contributors
to the study of Gbe. The first internal classification of the Gbe
languages was published in 1988 by H.B. Capo, followed by a
comparative phonology in 1991. The Gbe languages are tonal, isolating
languages and the basic word order is Subject Verb Object.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gbe_languages

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1533:
King Henry VIII of England was excommunicated by Pope Clement VII.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England)

1798:
The United States Marine Corps was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps)

1804:
U.S. statesman Alexander Hamilton was fatally wounded in a duel with
Aaron Burr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton)

1811:
Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro published his memoir about molecular
content of gases.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Avogadro)

1859:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities)

1921:
The Irish War of Independence ended with a truce between the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Irish Republican Army.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_War)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men
honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse." -- John
Quincy Adams
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 10: Island Fox

2005-07-09T17:07:00.000-07:00

The Island Fox is a small fox that is native to six of the eight
Channel Islands of California. It is the smallest fox species in the
United States. There are six subspecies of the fox, each unique to the
island it inhabits, reflecting its evolutionary history. Introduced
diseases or parasites can decimate Island Fox populations. Because
Island Foxes are isolated they have no immunity to parasites and
diseases brought in from the mainland and are especially vulnerable to
those domestic dogs may carry. A canine distemper outbreak in 1998
killed approximately 90% of Santa Catalina Island's fox population. In
addition, Golden Eagle predation and human activities decimated fox
numbers on several of the Channel Islands in the 1990s. Four Island
Fox subspecies were federally protected as an endangered species in
2004, and efforts to rebuild fox populations and restore the
ecosystems of the Channel Islands are being undertaken.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Fox

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1913:
Death Valley, California hit 134 °F (~56.7 °C) which is the highest
temperature recorded in the United States (as of 2004).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley)

1985:
After a storm of controversy surrounding a change in its cola's
formula, Coca-Cola re-introduced the old formula as "Coca-Cola
Classic."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke)

1998:
Catholic priests' sex abuse scandal: The Diocese of Dallas agreed to
pay USD 23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were
sexually abused by former priest Rudolph Kos.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cases_of_child_sexual_abuse_in_the_Roman_Catholic_Church)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combatted,
suppressedâ€” only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more
triumphantly from the struggle." -- Nikola Tesla
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 9: Piccadilly Circus

2005-07-08T17:25:00.000-07:00

Piccadilly Circus is a plaza and traffic intersection in the West End
in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, near Soho and
Theatreland. It is renowned for its video display and neon signs in
the northwestern corner, as well as the Shaftesbury memorial fountain
and statue known as The Angel of Christian Charity or Eros. It is
surrounded by several noted buildings, including the London Pavilion
and Criterion Theatre. Directly underneath the plaza is the London
Underground station Piccadilly Circus. Built in 1819 to connect Regent
Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly (the "circus"
refers to "circular open space at a street junction"), it now links
directly to the theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue as well as the
Haymarket, Coventry Street (onwards to Leicester Square) and
Glasshouse Street. Its proximity to major shopping and entertainment
areas, its central location at the heart of the West End, and its
status as a major traffic intersection have made Piccadilly Circus a
busy meeting point and a tourist attraction in its own right.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadilly_Circus

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1900:
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gave royal assent to an act
creating the Commonwealth of Australia, thus uniting separate colonies
on the continent under one federal government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Australia)

1922:
Johnny Weissmuller swam the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds,
breaking a world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Weissmuller)

1942:
Holocaust: Anne Frank's family went into hiding in an attic above her
father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)

2002:
The African Union was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Union)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"God never deserted our people. Right through the ages there were
Jews. Through the ages they suffered, but it also made us strong." --
Anne Frank
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 8: David Helvarg

2005-07-07T19:08:00.000-07:00

David Helvarg is an American journalist and environmental activist. He
is the founder and president of the marine conservation lobbying
organization Blue Frontier Campaign, a part of the Seaweed rebellion,
which arose from his second book, Blue Frontier. His first book, The
War against the Greens, puts a case that violent organised resistance
is being orchestrated against the environmental movement. Helvarg
began his career as a freelance journalist before becoming a war
correspondent and then returning to news journalism. He writes about
politics, AIDS, and sea life. He has reported from every continent and
he has been published in specialist and popular magazines, and US
newspapers both locally and in syndication. His experience of military
conflict, civil conflict and marine biology is the basis of his
lobbying.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Helvarg

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1497:
Vasco da Gama set sail on first direct European voyage to India.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama)

1709:
Battle of Poltava: In Ukraine, Peter I of Russia defeated Charles XII
of Sweden at Poltava, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major
power in Europe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Poltava)

1889:
The first issue of the Wall Street Journal was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Journal)

1947:
Newspapers in Roswell, New Mexico, United States, reported the
military's capture of a "flying saucer".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident)

1997:
Mayo Clinic researchers warned that the dieting drug "fen-phen" can
cause severe heart and lung damage.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo_Clinic)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with
the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one
of the people." -- Jean de La Fontaine
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Fontaine)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 7: Geography of India

2005-07-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

The geography of India is extremely diverse, with landscape ranging
from snow-capped mountain ranges to deserts, plains, hills and
plateaus. Climate ranges from equatorial in the far south, to tundra
in the Himalayan altitudes. India comprises most of the Indian
subcontinent and has a long coastline of over 7,000 km (4,300 miles),
most of which lies on a peninsula that protrudes into the Indian
Ocean. India is bounded in the west by the Arabian Sea and in the east
by the Bay of Bengal. The fertile Indo-Gangetic plain occupies most of
northern, central and eastern India, while the Deccan Plateau occupies
most of southern India. To the west of the country is the Thar Desert,
which consists of a mix of rocky and sandy desert, while India's east
and northeastern border consists of the high Himalayan range.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_India

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1456:
Joan of Arc was acquitted posthumously.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc)

1846:
American forces led by Commodore John Drake Sloat occupied Monterey
and Yerba Buena, beginning the annexation of California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California)

1898:
The United States annexed Hawai'i.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii)

1937:
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident marked the beginning of the Second
Sino-Japanese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_Bridge_Incident)

1946:
Mother Cabrini, the first U.S. saint, was canonized.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Cabrini)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The more you love, the more you can loveâ€” and the more intensely
you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person
had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and
just." -- Robert A. Heinlein
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 6: Kreutz Sungrazers

2005-07-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Kreutz Sungrazers are a family of comets, characterized by orbits
which take them extremely close to the Sun at perihelion. They are all
believed to originate from the fragmentation of one very large comet
several centuries ago, and are named for the astronomer Heinrich
Kreutz, who first demonstrated that they were related. Several members
of the Kreutz family have become Great Comets, occasionally visible
near the Sun in the daytime sky. The most recent of these was Comet
Ikeya-Seki in 1965, which may have been one of the brightest comets in
the last millennium. Many hundreds of smaller members of the family
have been discovered since the launch of the SOHO satellite in 1995.
Some are just a few metres across; none has survived its perihelion
passage. Amateur astronomers have been very successful at discovering
Kreutz comets in the data available in real time via the Internet.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kreutz_Sungrazers

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1609:
Bohemia was granted freedom of religion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/freedom_of_religion)

1785:
The dollar was unanimously chosen as the money unit for the United
States. This was the first time a nation had adopted a decimal
currency system.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar)

1885:
Louis Pasteur successfully tested his vaccine against rabies on Joseph
Meister.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur)

1887:
David Kalakaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, was forced at
gunpoint, at the hands of Americans, to sign the Bayonet Constitution
giving Americans more power in Hawaii while stripping Hawaiian
citizens of their rights.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonet_Constitution)

1957:
Althea Gibson won the Wimbledon championships, becoming the first
black athlete to do so.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althea_Gibson)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I have not yet begun to fight!" -- John Paul Jones
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 5: Order of Canada

2005-07-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

The Order of Canada is Canada's highest civilian honour, awarded to
those who adhere to the Order's motto Desiderantes meliorem patriam
meaning "they desire a better country." Created in 1967, it was
established to recognize the lifetime contributions made by Canadians
who made a major difference to Canada. The Order also recognizes
efforts made by non-Canadians who made the world better by their
actions. Musicians, politicians, artists, TV stars and benefactors and
many more have been accepted into the Order. The Queen of Canada,
Queen Elizabeth II, is Sovereign of the Order and the serving Governor
General of Canada is its Chancellor and Principal Companion. Since
1967, more than 5,000 people have been appointed to the Order of
Canada.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Canada

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1687:
Volume One of Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia
Mathematica was published for the first time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiae_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica)

1811:
Venezuela declared its independence from Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuela)

1951:
William Shockley invented the junction transistor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor)

1962:
Algeria became independent from France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algeria)

1989:
Oliver North was sentenced for his part in the Iran-Contra Affair.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"From time to time the exceptional is necessary. For events as well as
for men, the stock company is not enough; geniuses are needed among
men, and revolutions among events. Great accidents are the law; the
order of things cannot get along without them; and, to see the
apparitions of comets, one would be tempted to believe that Heaven
itself is in need of star actors." -- Victor Hugo in ''Les Misérables
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo)

[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 4: Spam (electronic)

2005-07-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

Spamming is the use of any electronic communications medium to send
unsolicited messages in bulk, indiscriminately – unlike sending to a
selected group in normal marketing. In the popular eye, the most
common form of spam is that delivered in e-mail as a form of
commercial advertising. However, over the short history of electronic
media, people have done things comparable to spamming for many
purposes other than the commercial, and in many media other than
e-mail. Spammers have developed a variety of spamming techniques,
which vary by media: e-mail spam, instant messaging spam, Usenet
newsgroup spam, Web search engines spam, weblogs spam, and mobile
phone messaging spam. Spamming (the name of which derives from a Monty
Python sketch about SPAM brand processed meat) is economically viable
because it allows advertisers to shift their operating costs to the
public, as Internet service providers must add extra capacity to cope
with the deluge. Spamming is widely reviled, and has been the subject
of legislation in a number of jurisdictions, including the U.S.
CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_%28electronic%29

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1054:
Chinese astronomers observed a supernova in the Crab Nebula.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula)

1187:
Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan at the Battle of Hattin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hattin)

1776:
The Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies approved a
Declaration of Independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_%28United_States%29)

1802:
At West Point, New York, the United States Military Academy opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States)

1976:
Operation Entebbe: Israeli commandos raided Uganda's Entebbe Airport
to free hostages taken by PLO and RAF militants.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness." -- ''The Declaration of Independence of the United States
of America
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3ADeclaration_of_Independence_%28United_States%29)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 3: Panavision

2005-07-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

Panavision is a motion picture equipment company specializing in
camera, lens, and grip equipment, along with related accessories.
After starting out as a small partnership that created anamorphic
attachments for projection lenses, they have slowly but steadily
expanded their operations and product lines while maintaining a high
level of design and quality, making for a prestigious brand name in
the eyes of film crews. Unlike most of their competition, including
rival Arri, Panavision operates exclusively as a rental house and owns
their entire inventory. (Ironically, their comprehensive offerings of
in-house and externally produced camera models means they are also one
of Arri's top customers.) The company is currently based in Woodland
Hills, California, United States. Any major production that uses
Panavision's services is contractually obligated to provide a credit
that says "Filmed with Panavision Cameras and Lenses" if using
spherical lenses, or "Filmed in Panavision" if using anamorphic
lenses.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panavision

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

323:
Constantine the Great defeated Licinius.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great)

987:
Hugh Capet was crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian
dynasty that ruled France till the French Revolution in 1792.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Capet_of_France)

1608:
Quebec City was founded by Samuel de Champlain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City)

1863:
Pickett's Charge occurred during the final and bloodiest day of
fighting in the Battle of Gettysburg, marking a turning point in the
American Civil War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickett%27s_Charge)

1938:
The LNER Mallard reached a speed of 203 km/h (126 mph), a world
record for a steam railway locomotive.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LNER_Class_A4_4468_Mallard)

1964:
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
prohibiting racial segregation in public places in the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The splendor of life forever lies in wait about each one of us in all
its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It
is there, though; not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon
it by the right word, by its right name, it will come." -- Franz Kafka
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 2: Convention on Psychotropic Substances

2005-07-01T18:52:00.000-07:00

The Convention on Psychotropic Substances is a United Nations treaty
designed to control psychoactive drugs such as amphetamines,
barbiturates and LSD. During the 1960s, drug use and abuse exploded
worldwide, especially in the Western developed nations. Availability
of stimulants soared as manufacturers and traffickers took advantage
of the inconsistent patchwork of national laws to circumvent
restrictions on production and trade. The Single Convention on
Narcotic Drugs of 1961 could not regulate the plethora of
newly-discovered psychotropics, due to its limited scope. On February
21, 1971, plenipotentiaries signed the Convention, which was worded
broadly enough to be capable of encompassing almost any mind-altering
substance. Today, 175 nations are Parties to the treaty, which
contains import and export restrictions and other rules aimed at
limiting drug use to scientific and medical purposes. Many laws have
been passed to implement the Convention, including the U.S. Controlled
Substances Act, the U.K. Misuse of Drugs Act, and the Canadian
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Psychotropic_Substances

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1644:
The Battle of Marston Moor, one of the decisive encounters of the
English Civil War, was fought near York.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marston_Moor)

1839:
A cargo of 53 African slaves mutinied on the slave ship Amistad off
the coast of Cuba.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad)

1900:
First Zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen, Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin)

1937:
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific
Ocean.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart)

1976:
North and South Vietnam united to form the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Republic_of_Vietnam)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to
communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated,
but not wisdom." -- Hermann Hesse
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 28: Whale song

2005-06-27T17:33:00.000-07:00

A whale song is the collection of sounds made by whales to
communicate. The word "song" is used in particular to describe the
pattern of predictable and repetitious sounds made by certain species
of whales (notably the humpback whale) in a manner that to cetologists
is reminiscent of human singing. The biological processes used to
produce sound vary from one family of cetaceans to another. However,
all whales, dolphins, and porpoises are much more dependent on sound
for communication and sensation than their terrestrial cousins because
the absorption of light by water makes sight difficult and because the
relatively slow movement of water compared to air decreases the
effectiveness of the sense of smell. Increased ambient noise in the
world's oceans due to shipping gives rise to environmentalists'
concerns that humans are destroying this important feature of the
marine habitat.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_song

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1880:
Australian outlaw and folk hero Ned Kelly was captured in Glenrowan,
Victoria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly)

1914:
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, was killed by Serb nationalist
Gavrilo Princip in the Assassination in Sarajevo, catalysing the
outbreak of World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_in_Sarajevo)

1919:
The Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles)

1978:
The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of
California v. Bakke 438 US 265 1978, barred quota systems in college
admissions but affirmed the constitutionality of programs giving
advantage to minorities.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regents_of_the_University_of_California_v._Bakke)

1990:
Paperback Software, a company founded by Adam Osborne, was found
guilty by a U.S. court of copyright violation for copying the
appearance and menu system of Lotus 1-2-3 in its competing spreadsheet
program.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Osborne)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Now you see, Lone Starr, that evil will always triumph, because good
is dumb." -- "Dark Helmet" in Spaceballs by Mel Brooks
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Spaceballs)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 27: Seabiscuit

2005-06-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

Seabiscuit was a champion thoroughbred race horse in the United
States. From an inauspicious start, Seabiscuit became an unlikely
champion, and during the Great Depression became a symbol of hope to
many Americans. At the peak of his fame in 1938, it was suggested that
he had generated more newsprint in the U.S. than either Adolf Hitler
or Franklin D. Roosevelt, but this is an urban legend. In 2001,
Seabiscuit became the subject of a book (Seabiscuit: An American
Legend) and later a Universal Studios film (Seabiscuit).

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabiscuit

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1846:
Irish potato famine: An Irish newspaper ran a story about a new potato
blight.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_potato_famine)

1967:
The world's first automatic teller machine was installed in the London
Borough of Enfield.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_teller_machine)

1969:
The Stonewall riots began in New York City, starting the modern
gay rights movement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots)

1979:
Muhammad Ali announced his retirement from boxing.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali)

1986:
The International Court of Justice ruled against the United States in
Nicaragua v. United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_v._United_States)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Some potentates I would kill by any and all means at my disposal.
They are Ignorance, Superstition, and Bigotry— the most sinister and
tyrannical rulers on earth." -- Emma Goldman
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emma Goldman)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 26: Palace of Westminster

2005-06-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

The Palace of Westminster is the location at which the two Houses of
the Parliament of the United Kingdom (the House of Lords and the House
of Commons) conduct their sittings. The Palace lies on the west bank
of the River Thames in the London borough of the City of Westminster.
The oldest extant part of the Palace, Westminster Hall, dates to 1097.
The Palace originally served as a royal residence; however, no monarch
has lived in it since the sixteenth century. One of the Palace's most
famous features is the Clock Tower, a notable London tourist
attraction that houses Big Ben and is often erroneously referred to by
this name. The Palace includes over one thousand rooms, and is the
site of important state ceremonies, most notably the State Opening of
Parliament. The Palace is very closely associated with the two Houses,
as evidenced by the use of "Westminster" as a metonym for
"Parliament."

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Westminster

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1409:
Western Schism: The Catholic church is led into a double schism as
Petros Philargos is crowned Pope Alexander V after the Council of
Pisa, joining Pope Gregory XII in Rome and Pope Benedict XII in
Avignon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism)

1940:
Under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union gave Romania an
ultimatum requiring it to cede territory.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov-Ribbentrop_Pact)

1945:
The United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco, California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Charter)

1959:
The Saint Lawrence Seaway, a system of canals connecting the Great
Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, was officially opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lawrence_Seaway)

1963:
John F. Kennedy uttered "Ich bin ein Berliner."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ich_bin_ein_Berliner)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The sons of torture victims make good terrorists." -- André Malraux
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Malraux)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 25: Libertarianism

2005-06-24T22:03:00.000-07:00

Libertarianism is a political philosophy that holds that individuals
should be allowed complete freedom of action as long as they do not
infringe on the freedom of others. This is usually taken by
libertarians to mean that no one may initiate coercion, which they
define as the use of physical force, the threat of such, or the use of
fraud to prevent individuals from having wilful use of their person or
property. In the economic realm, they generally oppose taxation and
government regulation of business activities, and aim to reduce the
size and scope of government. To the extent that libertarians advocate
any government at all, its functions tend to be limited to protecting
civil liberties and economic liberties (by protecting private property
and a free market) through a police force, a military (with no
conscription), and the courts.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1876:
Colonel George Armstrong Custer is killed at the Battle of the Little
Big Horn.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Little_Big_Horn)

1950:
The Korean War, between the United Nations and North Korean forces,
began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War)

1991:
Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence from Yugoslavia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia)

1993:
Kim Campbell was chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative
Party and became the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Campbell)

1996:
The Khobar Towers bombing in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, left 19 U.S.
servicemen dead.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khobar_Towers_bombing)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Political language— and with variations this is true of all
political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists— is designed to
make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an
appearance of solidity to pure wind." -- George Orwell
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Orwell)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 24: Our Gang

2005-06-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Our Gang, also known as The Little Rascals, was a long-lived series of
comedy short films about a troupe of poor neighborhood children and
the adventures they had together. Created by comedy producer Hal
Roach, Our Gang was produced at the Roach studio starting in 1922 as a
silent short subject series. Roach changed distributors from Pathé to
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1927, went to sound in 1929, and continued
production until 1938, when he sold the series to MGM, which continued
producing the comedies until 1944. A total of 220 shorts and one
feature film, General Spanky, were eventually produced, featuring over
forty-one child actors. The series, one of the best-known and most
successful in cinema history, is noted for its showcase of natural,
convincing child talent, in contrast to a number of previous,
contemporary, and future child actors.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Gang

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1128:
Alfonso I of Portugal fought the Battle of São Mamede, the first step
toward Portuguese independence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_S%E3o_Mamede)

1314:
Scotland regained independence as forces led by Robert the Bruce
defeated Edward II of England in the Battle of Bannockburn.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bannockburn)

1441:
Eton College in Berkshire, England, was founded by King Henry VI to
provide free education to poor students who would then go on to King's
College, Cambridge.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eton_College)

1535:
The Anabaptist state of Münster was conquered and subsequently
disbanded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%FCnster_Rebellion)

1597:
The first Dutch voyage to the East Indies reached Bantam on Java.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28island%29)

1947:
First known sighting of UFOs: Kenneth Arnold saw nine luminous disks
in the form of saucers flying above the U.S. state of Washington.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/unidentified_flying_object)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

Conservative, n. A statesman enamored of existing evils, as opposed to
a Liberal, who wants to replace them with new ones. -- Ambrose Bierce
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 23: Treaty of Devol

2005-06-22T17:01:00.000-07:00

The Treaty of Devol was an agreement made in 1108 between Bohemund I
of Antioch and Byzantine Emperor Alexius I, in the wake of the First
Crusade. Although it was not initially enforced, it was intended to
make the Principality of Antioch a vassal state of the Byzantine
Empire. It is a typical example of the Byzantine tendency to settle
disputes through diplomacy rather than warfare, and was both a result
of and a cause for the distrust between the Byzantines and their
Western European neighbors. The question of the status of Antioch and
the adjacent Cilician cities troubled the Empire for many years
afterwards. The Treaty of Devol seems to have been considered void
after Bohemund's death, but Alexius' son John attempted to impose his
authority in Antioch. It was not until 1158, during the reign of
Manuel I Comnenus, that Antioch truly became a vassal of the empire,
after Manuel forced Prince Raynald of Chatillon to swear fealty to him
in punishment for Raynald's attack on Byzantine Cyprus.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Devol

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1713:
After Queen Anne's War, French residents of Acadia were given one year
to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadia)

1887:
Canada's first national park, Banff, was created.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banff_National_Park)

1894:
The International Olympic Committee was founded at the Sorbonne in
Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Olympic_Committee)

1941:
June independence: Members of Lithuanian Activist Front declared
independence from the Soviet Union and formed an underground
government in Lithuania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_independence)

1947:
President Harry S. Truman's veto of the Taft-Hartley Act was
overridden by the Congress of the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taft-Hartley_Act)

1985:
Air India Flight 182 blew-up 31,000 feet above the Atlantic Ocean,
south of Ireland, killing all 329 on board.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_India_Flight_182)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary
condition." -- Alan Turing
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Turing)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 22: Korean name

2005-06-21T17:01:00.000-07:00

A Korean name consists of a family name and a given name, both of
which are generally composed of Hanja. In Korean, a given name follows
a family name. In non-East Asian language contexts, especially Western
languages, some Koreans keep the original order and others reverse
their names to match the European or North American naming order,
which is the given name followed by the family name, as is done by
members of many other East Asian socities in these contexts. Each
family name is divided into one or more clans, identified by the city
that the clan office is located in. The most populous clan is Gimhae
(Kimhae) Kim; that is, the Kim clan based in the city of Gimhae (near
Busan). Every 30 years, each clan publishes a comprehensive genealogy.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_name

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1854:
The British Parliament abolished feudalism and the seigneurial system
in British North America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/seigneurial_system)

1937:
Camille Chautemps became Prime Minister of France in the second
Popular Front ministry.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Chautemps)

1941:
Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Barbarossa)

1986:
Argentine footballer Diego Maradona scored both the Hand of God goal
and the Goal of the Century against England during the quarter-final
match of the FIFA World Cup in Mexico City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_God_goal)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The sea does not reward those who are too anxious, too greedy, or too
impatient... Patience, patience, patience, is what the sea teaches.
Patience and faith. One should lie empty, open, choiceless as a
beach— waiting for a gift from the sea." -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Morrow_Lindbergh)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 21: Anne of Great Britain

2005-06-20T17:06:00.000-07:00

Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702.
Anne's life was marked by many crises relating to succession to the
Crown. Her Roman Catholic father, James II, had been forcefully
deposed in 1688; her sister and brother-in-law then became Queen and
King as Mary II and William III. The failure of Anne and of her sister
to produce a child who could survive into adulthood precipitated a
succession crisis, which ultimately produced the Act of Union 1707.
When, on 1 May 1707, England and Scotland combined into a single
Kingdom, Anne became the first Sovereign of Great Britain. Anne was
the last British monarch of the House of Stuart; she was succeeded by
a distant cousin, George I, of the House of Hanover. Anne's reign was
also marked by the development of the two-party system. Anne
personally preferred the Tory Party, but endured the Whigs. Her
closest friend, and perhaps her most influential advisor, was Sarah
Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, whose husband, John Churchill, 1st
Duke of Marlborough, led the English armies in the War of the Spanish
Succession.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Great_Britain

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1734:
A black slave known as Marie-Joseph Angélique was tortured and then
hanged in New France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Joseph_Ang%E9lique)

1788:
New Hampshire ratified the U.S. Constitution and was admitted as the
9th U.S. state.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire)

1813:
Laura Secord set out to warn British forces of an impending American
attack at Queenston, Ontario.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Secord)

1864:
Maori Wars: The Tauranga Campaign ended.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauranga_Campaign)

1985:
Greenland officially adopted its own flag, adding support to its
independence movement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Greenland)

2000:
The anti-gay amendment known as Section 28 was repealed in Scotland
with a 99 to 17 vote.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Life has no meaning a priori... It is up to you to give it a meaning,
and value is nothing but the meaning that you choose." -- Jean-Paul
Sartre
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 20: Myxobolus cerebralis

2005-06-19T17:05:00.000-07:00

Myxobolus cerebralis is a myxosporean parasite of salmonids (salmon,
trout, and their allies) that causes whirling disease, an important
condition in both salmon and trout farming and wild fish populations.
It was first described from rainbow trout in Germany a century ago,
but its range has spread, and it has now been reported from most of
Europe (including Russia), the United States, South Africa and other
countries. In the 1980s, it was discovered that M. cerebralis needs to
infect a tubificid oligochaete (a kind of segmented worm) to complete
its life-cycle. The parasite infects its hosts by injecting them with
some of its cells after piercing them with polar filaments ejected
from nematocyst-like capsules. Though not transmissible to humans, it
is one of the most economically important myxozoans in fish as well as
one of the most pathogenic. It was the first myxosporean whose
pathology and symptoms were described scientifically.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myxobolus_cerebralis

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1756:
A British garrison was imprisoned in the Black Hole of Calcutta.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hole_of_Calcutta)

1789:
577 Deputies of the French Third Estate (commoners) took the Tennis
Court Oath, starting the French Revolution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis_Court_Oath)

1837:
Queen Victoria succeeded to the British throne.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_of_the_United_Kingdom)

1947:
A Mafia hitman murdered gangster Bugsy Siegel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugsy_Siegel)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions."
-- Lillian Hellman
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lillian_Hellman)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 19: Link (Legend of Zelda)

2005-06-18T17:01:00.000-07:00

Link is the name of the fictional protagonist from Nintendo's Legend
of Zelda video game series. Link was created by Shigeru Miyamoto, and
first appeared in the 1987 game The Legend of Zelda, as a generic
sword-fighting hero, typical of fantasy adventure games though later
games revealed significantly more details about him. The game's
success — over 6.5m copies sold worldwide and that of its numerous
sequels made Link one of Nintendo's most well-known characters. An
important singularity of the character is that are several different
incarnations of Link throughout the whole Legend of Zelda series,
although they share a number of distinctive characteristics. The
existence of multiple Links is made obvious on many occasions in the
games, where games explicitly mention an ancient, legendary champion,
identical in appearance to Link.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_%28Legend_of_Zelda%29

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1846:
The first baseball game (using modern rules) was played in Hoboken,
New Jersey.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_baseball_in_the_United_States)

1865:
The Emancipation Proclamation reached Galveston, Texas, beginning the
tradition of Juneteenth celebrations.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth)

1867:
Maximilian I of the Mexican Empire was executed by firing squad in
Querétaro.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico)

1953:
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed as Soviet spies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_and_Julius_Rosenberg)

1961:
Kuwait declared her independence from the United Kingdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuwait)

1978:
The comic strip Garfield first appeared.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"True eloquence makes light of eloquence, true morality makes light of
morality... To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher."
-- Blaise Pascal
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 18: Swedish language

2005-06-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

Swedish is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden,
part of Finland, and on the autonomous Åland islands, by a total of
over 9 million speakers. Standard Swedish is the national language
that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and
was well-established by the first decades of the 20th century. While
distinct regional varieties still exist, influenced by the older rural
dialects, the spoken and written language is uniform and standardized,
with a 99% literacy rate among adults. Some of the genuine dialects
differ considerably from the standard language in grammar and
vocabulary and are not always mutually intelligible with Standard
Swedish. These dialects are confined to rural areas and spoken by a
rather limited group of people of low education and social mobility.
Swedish is distinguished by its prosody, which differs considerably
between varieties. It includes both lexical stress and some tonal
qualities. Swedish is also notable for the voiceless dorso-palatal
velar fricative, a sound found in many dialects, including the more
prestigious forms of the standard language.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_language

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1812:
The United States declared war against Great Britain, beginning the
War of 1812.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_1812)

1815:
Napoléon Bonaparte fought and lost his final battle, the Battle of
Waterloo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo)

1858:
Charles Darwin received a manuscript by Alfred Russel Wallace on
evolution, which prompted him to publish his theory.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace)

1873:
Woman suffrage activist Susan B. Anthony was fined $100 for attempting
to vote in the 1872 presidential election.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony)

1979:
The SALT II treaty was signed by the United States and the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SALT_II)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." -- Paul
McCartney
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 17: Warren County Canal

2005-06-16T17:07:00.000-07:00

The Warren County Canal was a branch of the Miami and Erie Canal in
southwestern Ohio about 20 miles (30 km) in length that connected the
Warren County seat of Lebanon to the main canal at Middletown. Lebanon
was at the crossroads of two major roads, the highway from Cincinnati
to Columbus (later U.S. Route 42) and the road from Chillicothe to the
College Township (Oxford), but Lebanon businessmen and civic leaders
wanted better transportation facilities and successfully lobbied for
their own canal, part of the canal fever of the first third of the
19th Century. Because of the low volume of traffic, the Warren County
Canal was never successful, operating less than a decade before the
state abandoned it.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_County_Canal

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1775:
American Revolutionary War: British forces took Bunker Hill outside of
Boston.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bunker_Hill)

1789:
French Revolution: The Third Estate of France declared itself the
National Assembly.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Assembly_%28French_Revolution%29)

1961:
Canada's New Democratic Party was founded with the merger of the CCF
and organized labour.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party)

1972:
Watergate scandal: Five men were arrested for burglarizing the offices
of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_scandal)

1994:
O. J. Simpson was chased down and arrested on suspicion of murdering
his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I observed, 'Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the
commandment.' It is not only 'the first and great' command, but all
the commandments in one. 'Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever
things are pure, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise,' they
are all comprised in this one word, love. -- John Wesley
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wesley)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 16: Book of Kells

2005-06-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

The Book of Kells is an ornately illustrated manuscript, produced by
Celtic monks around AD 800. It is one of the most lavish illuminated
manuscripts to survive the mediæval period. Because of its technical
brilliance and great beauty, it is considered by many scholars to be
one of the most important works in the history of mediæval art. It
contains the four gospels of the Bible, in Latin, along with prefatory
and explanatory matter, all decorated with numerous colourful
illustrations and illuminations. Today it is on permanent display at
the Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland where it is catalogued
as MS 58.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1487:
The Battle of Stoke Field, the final battle of the Wars of the Roses,
was fought.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Stoke_Field)

1745:
During King George's War, British colonial forces led by William
Pepperrell captured the French stronghold at Fortress Louisbourg on
Cape Breton Island after a six-week siege.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_Louisbourg)

1846:
Pius IX was elected pope, beginning the longest reign of all popes
since the days of the apostles.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_IX)

1963:
Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentina_Tereshkova)

1976:
Police in Soweto, South Africa opened fire on schoolchildren
protesting against the imposition of Afrikaans as a medium of
instruction in township schools, triggering a series of nationwide
demonstrations, strikes, riots and violence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector_Pieterson)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I cannot think we are useless or Usen would not have created us. He
created all tribes of men and certainly had a righteous purpose in
creating each." -- Geronimo
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Geronimo)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 15: Cat's Eye Nebula

2005-06-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

The Cat's Eye Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation of
Draco. Structurally, it is one of the most complex nebulae known, with
high resolution Hubble Space Telescope observations revealing
remarkable structures such as knots, jets and sinewy arc-like
features. It was discovered by William Herschel on February 15, 1786,
and was the first planetary nebula whose spectrum was investigated, by
the English amateur astronomer William Huggins in 1864. Modern studies
reveal several mysteries. The intricacy of the structure may be caused
in part by material ejected from a binary central star, but as yet
there is no direct evidence that the central star has a companion.
Also, measurements of chemical abundances reveal a large discrepancy
between two measurement methods, the cause of which is uncertain.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_Eye_Nebula

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1215:
King John of England put his seal to the Magna Carta.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta)

1389:
In the Battle of Kosovo, Turks defeated Serbs and Bosnians.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kosovo)

1752:
Benjamin Franklin conducted an experiment to prove that lightning is
electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin)

1904:
The General Slocum burned in New York's East River, over 1,000 died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Slocum)

1954:
The Union of European Football Associations was founded in Basel,
Switzerland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"If fate means you to lose, give him a good fight anyhow." -- William
McFee
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_McFee)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 13: James K. Polk

2005-06-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

James K. Polk was an American politician and the eleventh President of
the United States, serving from March 4, 1845 to March 4, 1849. Polk
was born in North Carolina, but primarily lived in and represented the
state of Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as Speaker of the House
(1835–1839) and Governor of Tennessee (1839–1841) prior to becoming
president. He is the only former Speaker of the House to become
President. He is noted for his expansionist beliefs, for his pledge to
serve only one term, and for becoming the first "dark horse" (a
candidate who unexpectedly gains the party nomination) to win the
presidency. His term is remembered for the Mexican-American War, the
opening of the U.S. Naval Academy and Washington Monument, and the
issuance of the first postage stamps in the United States.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_K._Polk

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1898:
Yukon Territory was formed, with Dawson chosen as its capital.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yukon)

1966:
The Miranda v. Arizona ruling established the Miranda Warning.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_v._Arizona)

1967:
Thurgood Marshall was nominated as the first African American justice
of the U.S. Supreme Court.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thurgood_Marshall)

1971:
Vietnam War: The New York Times began to publish the Pentagon Papers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentagon_Papers)

1983:
Pioneer 10 became the first man-made object to leave the solar system.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_10)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"Talent perceives differences, Genius unity." -- William Butler Yeats
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Butler_Yeats)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 12: Habsburg Spain

2005-06-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

During the reign of Charles I, who inherited the throne from his
father Philip, Habsburg Spain controlled territory ranging from
Argentina to the Netherlands, and was among Europe's greatest powers.
For this reason, this period of Spanish history has also been referred
to as the "Age of Expansion." Although usually associated with its
role in the history of Central Europe, the Habsburg family extended
its realm into Spain from 1516 to 1700. Under Habsburg rule, Spain
reached the zenith of its influence and power, but also began its slow
decline. Spain's maritime supremacy was symbolized by the victory over
the Ottomans at Lepanto in 1571, but in the following decades they
suffered defeat at sea against England and the Netherlands. On land,
Spain became embroiled in the Thirty Years' War, and in the second
half of the 17th century they were defeated by the French, led by King
Louis XIV. Habsburg rule came to an end in Spain with the death in
1700 of Charles II which resulted in the War of the Spanish
Succession. The Habsburg years were also a Spanish Golden Age of
cultural efflorescence. Some of the outstanding figures of the period
were Diego Velázquez, El Greco, Miguel de Cervantes, and Pedro
Calderón de la Barca.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habsburg_Spain

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1864:
Union General Ulysses S. Grant pulled his troops out of the Battle of
Cold Harbor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cold_Harbor)

1889:
The Armagh rail disaster killed 88 people near Armagh, Northern
Ireland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armagh_rail_disaster)

1964:
Anti-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison
by the South African government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela)

1979:
A human-powered aircraft named Gossamer Albatross flew across the
English Channel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gossamer_Albatross)

1987:
U.S. President Ronald Reagan publicly challenged Mikhail Gorbachev to
tear down the Berlin Wall.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be
useful or bring enjoyment to people, even those I've never met. I want
to go on living even after my death! And that's why I'm grateful to
God for having given me this gift, which I can use to develop and to
express all that's inside me!" -- Anne Frank
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 11: MTR

2005-06-10T20:06:00.000-07:00

MTR is the metro system of Hong Kong. First opened for service in
1979, the network has since expanded to encompass seven metro lines
and 53 stations, with further expansions planned. It is an affordable
mode of public transport in Hong Kong, with an average of 2.45 million
journeys recorded each day. The system has proven so popular because
of its efficiency and affordability. Construction of the MTR was
prompted by a government-commissioned study released in 1967. The
government of Hong Kong commissioned the study in the 1960s to find
solutions to the growing traffic problem caused by expansion of the
colony's economy. Construction started soon after release of the
study, and the first line was opened in 1979. In 2000, the
government-owned MTR Corporation was partially privatised and renamed
the MTR Corporation Limited. MTR Corporation has always been reliant
on developing properties next to railway stations for its profits
(although the rail lines are profitable themselves); many recently
built stations are incorporated into large housing estates or shopping
complexes.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTR

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1509:
King Henry VIII of England married Catherine of Aragon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Aragon)

1770:
Captain James Cook ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef)

1899:
Pope Leo XIII dedicated the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of
Jesus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Heart)

1963:
The University of Alabama was desegregated as Governor George Wallace
stepped aside after a stand in the schoolhouse door.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"The good writing of any age has always been the product of someone's
neurosis, and we'd have a mighty dull literature if all the writers
that came along were a bunch of happy chuckleheads." -- William Styron
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Styron)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 10: Sudoku

2005-06-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

Sudoku is a number placement puzzle. The aim of the puzzle is to enter
a number from 1 through 9 in each cell of a grid, frequently a 9×9
grid made up of 3×3 subgrids (called "regions"), starting with various
numbers given in some cells (the "givens"). Each row, column and
region must only contain one instance of each number. Completing the
puzzle requires only patience and modest logical ability, although
some puzzles can be fiendishly difficult. Its classic grid layout is
reminiscent of other newspaper puzzles such as crosswords and chess.
Sudoku initially became immensely popular in Japan in 1986 and in the
UK, Israel, and Canada in 2005, stimulating international interest.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudoku

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1190:
Third Crusade: Frederick I Barbarossa drowned in a river in Anatolia
while leading an army to Jerusalem.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)

1829:
Oxford beat Cambridge in the first Boat Race.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boat_Race)

1864:
Confederates defeated a much larger Union force at the Battle of
Brice's Crossroads.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Brice%27s_Crossroads)

1935:
Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio. This is the
traditional date of the first day of sobriety of the co-founder of AA,
Dr. Bob Smith.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholics_Anonymous)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"A novel is balanced between a few true impressions and the multitude
of false ones that make up most of what we call life. It tells us that
for every human being there is a diversity of existences, that the
single existence is itself an illusion in part, that these many
existences signify something, tend to something, fulfill something; it
promises us meaning, harmony and even justice." -- Saul Bellow
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Bellow)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 9: Mumbai

2005-06-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) is the capital of the Indian state
of Maharashtra and the most populous Indian city. Mumbai is located on
an island off the west coast of India. The city, which has a deep
natural harbour, is also the largest port in western India, handling
over half of India's passenger traffic. Mumbai is the commercial
capital of India, and houses important financial institutions such as
the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the corporate
headquarters of many Indian companies. Owing to the immense business
opportunities available in Mumbai and relatively high standard of
living, it has attracted migrants from all over India and South Asia,
making the city a potpourri of various communities and cultures.
Within Mumbai is located Bollywood, the epicentre of the country's
Hindi film and television industry, producing the world's highest
number of films annually. Mumbai is also one of the rare cities to
accommodate a National Park within its municipal limits.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbai

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1534:
Jacques Cartier became the first European to reach the Saint Lawrence
River.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lawrence_River)

1915:
World War I: U.S. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan resigned
over a disagreement regarding the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan)

1934:
Donald Duck debuted in the Silly Symphonies cartoon The Wise Little
Hen.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Duck)

1973:
Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes, earning him the Triple Crown.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretariat_%28racehorse%29)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"There are always good parts. They may not pay what you want, and they
may not have as many days' work as you want, they may not have the
billing that you want, they may not have a lot of things, but—the
content of the role itself—I find there are many roles." -- Anne
Bancroft
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Bancroft)
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[Wikipedia Daily Article] June 8: United Kingdom corporation tax

2005-06-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

The United Kingdom corporation tax is a tax levied in the United
Kingdom on the profits made by UK-resident companies and associations.
It is also levied on non-UK resident companies and associations which
trade in the UK through a permanent establishment. The tax was
introduced by the Finance Act 1965, which simultaneously removed
companies and associations that became liable to corporation tax from
the charge to the income tax. The tax borrowed its basic structure and
many of its rules from income tax. Recently the tax has come under
pressure from a number of sources. Tax competition between
jurisdictions has reduced the headline charge to 30 percent; judgments
from the European Court of Justice have found that certain aspects of
UK corporate tax law are discriminatory under European Union treaties
and are expected to continue to do so; and tax avoidance schemes
marketed by the big accountancy and law firms and by banks have
threatened the tax base. The British government has responded to the
last two by introducing ever more complex legislation to counter the
threats.

Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_corporation_tax

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1887:
Herman Hollerith received a patent for his punch card calculator.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/punch_card)

1949:
George Orwell's dystopic political novel Nineteen Eighty-Four was
first published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four)

1953:
Flint-Worcester Tornadoes: A tornado hit in Flint, Michigan, killing
115. This was the last tornado to claim more than 100 lives.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint-Worcester_Tornadoes)

1967:
Six-Day War: The intelligence ship USS Liberty was attacked by Israel
Defense Forces in the USS Liberty incident, killing 34 Americans.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Liberty_incident)

2001:
Popular editorial site suck.com published its final article: "Gone
Fishin'."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/suck.com)

_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:

"I have something to tell you today. Mac OS X has been leading a
secret double life— for the past five years." -- Steve Jobs
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Steve_Jobs)
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