The Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 was a high-performance version of the
S-Class luxury sedan. Built on its own assembly line by Daimler-Benz
AG (now DaimlerChrysler) in Stuttgart and based on the long-wheelbase
version of the "W116" chassis introduced in 1973, the 6.9, as it was
generally referred to in the company's own literature to separate it
from the regular 450SEL, was first shown to the motoring press at the
Geneva Auto Show in 1974 and produced between 1975 and 1981 in
extremely limited numbers. It was billed as the flagship of the
Mercedes-Benz car line and the successor to Mercedes-Benz's original
high-performance sedan, the 300SEL 6.3. The 6.9 also has the
distinction of being among the first vehicles ever with optional
anti-lock brakes, first introduced by Mercedes-Benz and Bosch in 1978.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes%2dBenz_450SEL_6.9
Today's selected anniversaries:
1939 Soviet forces invaded Finland, starting the Winter War, but were
stalled at the Mannerheim Line.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War)
1954 In Sylacauga, Alabama, a meteorite hit Elizabeth Hodges, bruising
her thigh, in the only unequivocally known case of a human being
hit by a space rock.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite)
1979 Rock band Pink Floyd released the mega-selling rock opera The Wall.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wall)
1999 Tens of thousands converged to protest the World Trade Organization
at their meeting in Seattle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Organization)
Wikiquote of the day:
"Find the good -- and praise it." ~ Alex Haley
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alex_Haley)
The Celtic Tiger is a nickname for the Republic of Ireland during its
period of rapid economic growth between the 1990s and 2001 or 2002.
Many economists credit Ireland's low taxation rate (10 to 12.5
percent throughout the late 1990s) and business-friendly regulation
policies as responsible for much of the growth. A more sceptical
interpretation is that much of the growth was due to the fact that
the economy of Ireland had lagged the rest of northwestern Europe for
so long that it had become the one of few remaining sources of a
relatively large, low-wage labour pool left in Western Europe.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Tiger
Today's selected anniversaries:
1777 San José de Guadalupe, the first town in the Spanish colony
of California, was founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose%2C_California)
1890 The Diet of Japan, modelled after the German Reichstag,
first met, when the Meiji Constitution went into effect in
Japan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_of_Japan)
1929 Rear Admiral Richard Byrd and two passengers completed the
first flight over the South Pole.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Byrd)
1947 The United Nations General Assembly voted to partition the
British Mandate of Palestine between Arabs and Jews.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Mandate_of_Palestine)
Wikiquote of the day:
"Arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty
abused to licentiousness." ~ George Washington
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington)
Mozilla Firefox is a free web browser developed by the Mozilla
Foundation and hundreds of volunteers. Before its 1.0 release on
November 9, 2004, Firefox had already garnered a great deal of
acclaim from the media, ranging from Forbes to the Wall Street
Journal. With over 5 million downloads in the first 12 days of its
release, Firefox 1.0 is one of the most-used open source applications
among home users. With Firefox, the Mozilla Foundation aims to
develop a small, fast, simple, and highly extensible web browser
(separate from the larger Mozilla Suite). Firefox has become the main
focus of Mozilla development along with the Mozilla Thunderbird email
client and has replaced the Mozilla Suite as the official browser
release of the Mozilla Foundation. Firefox has attracted attention as
an alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer, since Internet
Explorer has come under fire by the media for insecurity, lack of
features, disregard for Web standards, and vulnerability to spyware
and malware installation.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Firefox
Today's selected anniversaries:
1660 At Gresham College, 12 men met after a lecture by
Christopher Wren and founded what later became known as the
Royal Society.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society)
1905 Irish nationalist Arthur Griffith founded Sinn
Féin as a political party with the goal of
independence for all of Ireland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_F%E9in)
1912 Albania declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albania)
1943 The Teheran Conference between U.S. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and
Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teheran_Conference)
Wikiquote of the day:
"I would rather be able to appreciate things I can not have than to
have things I am not able to appreciate." ~ Elbert Hubbard
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elbert_Hubbard)
The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution amended the
provisions of Article II relating to presidential elections.
Originally, the U.S. Electoral College would elect both the President
and the Vice President in a single election; the person with a
majority would become President and the runner-up would become Vice
President. The election of 1800, however, demonstrated some problems
with the system. The Twelfth Amendment, proposed by Congress on
December 9, 1803 and ratified by the requisite number of state
legislatures on June 15, 1804, required electors to cast two distinct
votes: one for President and another for Vice President.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constit…
Today's selected anniversaries:
1095 At the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called for the
First Crusade.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Clermont)
1978 San Francisco mayor George Moscone and openly gay
supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by supervisor Dan
White.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Moscone)
1990 The British Conservative Party selected John Major as Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Major)
2001 A hydrogen atmosphere was discovered on the extrasolar
planet Osiris by the Hubble Space Telescope.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiris_%28planet%29)
Wikiquote of the day:
"When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his
or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her
attitude toward gratitude." ~ Elie Wiesel
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elie_Wiesel)
Athanasius Kircher was a German Jesuit scholar who published around
40 works in the 17th century, most in the fields of oriental studies,
geology and medicine. He made an early study of Egyptian hieroglyphs.
He was ahead of his time in proposing that the plague was caused by
an infectious microorganism and in suggesting effective measures to
prevent the spread of the disease. A scientific star in his day,
towards the end of his life he was eclipsed by the rationalism of
Ren� Descartes and others. In the late 20th century, however, the
aesthetic qualities of his work have again begun to be appreciated.
He has been described by one scholar, Edward Schmidt, as "the last
Renaissance man."
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_Kircher
Today's selected anniversaries:
1778 In the Hawaiian Islands, Captain James Cook became the
first European to discover Maui.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maui)
1917 The National Hockey League was formed with its first six
teams.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hockey_League)
1922 Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon became the first people to
enter the tomb of Egyptian King Tutankhamun in over 3000
years.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun)
1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir: Chinese volunteers moved into
North Korea and launched a massive counterattack against
South Korean and United States armed forces, ending any
thought of a quick end to the Korean War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chosin_Reservoir)
Wikiquote of the day:
"Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in
the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If
you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in
yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones
to fools and robs the spirit of its vision." ~ Tecumseh
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tecumseh)
The history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th
century to the present day. Over this period, English poets have
written some of the most enduring poems in European culture, and the
language and its poetry have spread around the globe. Consequently,
the term English poetry is unavoidably ambiguous. It can mean poetry
written in England (and, by extension, the United Kingdom), or poetry
written in English. With the growth of British trade and the British
Empire, the English language has been widely used outside England. In
the twenty-first century, only a small percentage of the world's
native English speakers live in England, and there is also a vast
population of non-native speakers of English who are capable of
writing poetry in the language. A number of major national poetries,
including the American, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian poetry
have emerged and developed. Since 1922, Irish poetry has also been
increasingly viewed as a separate area of study.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_poetry
Today's selected anniversaries:
1034 Malcolm II of Scotland died. Duncan, the son of his second
daughter, instead of Macbeth, the son of his eldest
daughter, inherited the throne.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_II_of_Scotland)
1960 The Mirabal sisters, who opposed the dictatorship of
military strongman Rafael Leonidas Trujillo in the
Dominican Republic, were beaten and strangled to death.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabal_sisters)
1984 Band Aid: 36 of Britain and Ireland's top pop musicians
gathered in a Notting Hill studio to record the song "Do
They Know It's Christmas" in order to raise money for
famine relief in Ethiopia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_Aid_%28band%29)
1993 Velvet Divorce: Legislators in Czechoslovakia voted to
split the country into the Czech Republic and Slovakia,
effective January 1, 1993.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velvet_Divorce)
Wikiquote of the day:
"Great minds have purposes, others have wishes. Little minds are
tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them."
~ Washington Irving
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Washington_Irving)
The history of Buddhism spans from the 6th century BCE to the
present, starting with the birth of the Buddha Siddharta Gautama.
This makes it one of the oldest religions practiced today. Throughout
this period, the religion evolved as it encountered various countries
and cultures, adding to its original Indian foundation Hellenistic as
well as Central Asian, East Asian and Southeast Asian cultural
elements. In the process, its geographical extent became considerable
so as to affect at one time or another most of the Asian continent.
The history of Buddhism is also characterized by the development of
numerous movements and schisms, foremost among them the Theravada,
Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, punctuated by contrasting periods
of expansion and retreat.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Buddhism
Today's selected anniversaries:
1642 Abel Tasman led the first European expedition to reach
Tasmania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmania)
1859 The Origin of Species by British naturalist Charles Darwin
was first published, and it immediately sold out its
initial print run.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Origin_of_Species)
1904 The first successful caterpillar track was made.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_track)
1963 Alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald was mortally wounded
when Jack Ruby shot him in Dallas, Texas on live national
television.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ruby)
1998 America Online announced it would acquire Netscape
Communications in a stock-for-stock transaction worth
US$4.2 billion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape_Communications)
Wikiquote of the day:
"Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the
conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty
that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out." ~
Václav Havel
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/V%C3%A1clav_Havel)
William I of Orange was the main leader of the Dutch revolt against
the Spanish that set off the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the
formal independence of the Netherlands in 1648. A wealthy nobleman,
William originally served at the court of the Spanish regent. Unhappy
with the lack of political power for the local nobility and the
Spanish persecution of Dutch Protestants, William joined the Dutch
uprising and turned against his former masters. The most influential
and politically capable of the rebels, William led the Dutch to
several military successes in the fight against the Spanish. Declared
an outlaw by the Spanish king in 1580, he was assassinated by
Balthasar Gérard in Delft at a time when his popularity was waning.
In the Netherlands, he is also known as the Vader des vaderlands
("Father of the Fatherland") and the Dutch national anthem, the
Wilhelmus, is named for him and commemorates his life.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_I_of_Orange
Today's selected anniversaries:
1644 Areopagitica, a speech to Parliament for freedom of
printing, was published by John Milton.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Areopagitica)
1869 In Dumbarton, Scotland the clipper ship Cutty Sark was
launched.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutty_Sark)
1890 King William III of the Netherlands died without a male
heir and a special law was passed to allow his daughter
Princess Wilhelmina to become Queen.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmina_of_the_Netherlands)
1971 The People's Republic of China was given China's
permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_and_the_United_Nations)
2003 Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze resigned following
weeks of mass protests over flawed elections.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Shevardnadze)
Wikiquote of the day:
"I'd rather be a climbing ape than a falling angel." ~ Terry
Pratchett
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett)
The Indus Valley Civilization (fl. 2800 BCE–1800 BCE) was an ancient
civilization that is so named because its first excavated sites,
Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, were on the Indus river in the northwest of
the Indian sub-continent in present day Pakistan. At its height
around 2200 BCE, the Indus Civilization covered an area larger than
Europe, centered on Mohenjo Daro on the Indus River. The nomenclature
Sindhu-Sarasvati Civilization was introduced into Indian textbooks in
2002, as a new designation for the well-known Indus Valley
civilization. The addition of "Saraswati," an ancient river central
to Hindu myth, is meant to show (or make believe) that Indus Valley
civilization was actually part of Vedic civilization. Research which
identifies the civilization's location with the Vedic Sarasvati river
system mentioned in ancient literature is speculative.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_Valley_Civilization
Today's selected anniversaries:
1718 Off the coast of North Carolina, English pirate Edward
Teach (best known as "Blackbeard") was killed in battle by
a boarding party from HMS Pearl.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbeard)
1963 In Dallas, Texas, U.S. President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was
sworn-in as the 36th President of the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination)
1975 Juan Carlos was declared King of Spain following the death
of Francisco Franco.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_of_Spain)
1986 Mike Tyson became the youngest world heavyweight-boxing
champion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Tyson)
Wikiquote of the day:
"Fame is something which must be won; honor is something which must
not be lost." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer)
ROT13 is a simple Caesar cipher for obscuring text by replacing each
letter with the letter thirteen places down the alphabet. A becomes
N, B becomes O and so on. The algorithm is used in online forums as a
means of hiding joke punchlines, puzzle solutions, movie and story
spoilers and offensive materials from the casual glance. ROT13 has
been described as the "Usenet equivalent of a magazine printing the
answer to a quiz upside down". ROT13 originated in Usenet Internet
discussions in the early 1980s, and has become a de facto standard.
As a Caesar cipher, ROT13 provides no real cryptographic security and
is not used for such; in fact it is often used as the canonical
example of weak encryption. Because ROT13 scrambles only letters,
more complex schemes have been proposed to handle numbers and
punctuation, or arbitrary binary data.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROT13
Today's selected anniversaries:
1783 Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent
made the first untethered hot air balloon flight.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_air_balloon)
1877 Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph)
1969 The first ARPANET link was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET)
2002 NATO invited Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania,
Slovakia and Slovenia to become members.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO)
Wikiquote of the day:
"The one important thing I have learned over the years is the
difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's
self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is
disastrous." ~ Margot Fonteyn
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margot_Fonteyn)