The Mandan are a Native American tribe that historically lived along
the banks of the Missouri River and its tributaries, the Heart and
Knife rivers in the present-day North and South Dakotas. The Mandan
were the only tribe in the Great Plains region to establish
agricultural and permanent villages. These villages were composed of
round earthen lodges surrounding a central plaza. In addition to
farming, the Mandan gathered wild plants and berries and hunted
buffalo. By the turn of the 19th century, because of attacks by
neighboring tribes and epidemics of smallpox and whooping cough, the
numbers of the Mandan had diminished dramatically. With such meager
numbers, the Mandan banded together with two neighboring tribes, the
Arikara and Hidatsa. With the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, the
Mandan officially merged with the Hidatsa and the Arikara into the
"Three Affiliated Tribes," known as the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara
Nation. About half of the Mandan still reside in the area of the
reservation, the rest residing around the United States and in Canada.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandan
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1897:
Stage actress, journalist and leading suffragette Marguerite Durand
founded the feminist newspaper La Fronde.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Durand)
1905:
Legislation on the separation of church and state in France was
adopted, causing civil disobedience by French Catholics.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_French_law_on_the_separation_of_Church_an…)
1946:
The Doctors' Trial, the trial for crimes committed in Nazi human
experimentation during World War II, began in Nuremberg, Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_Trial)
1958:
The John Birch Society was founded to fight the perceived threat of
communism in the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society)
1960:
Coronation Street, the longest-running television soap opera in the
United Kingdom, was first broadcast on ITV.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"We take men for what they are worth — and that is why we hate the
government of man by man, and that we work with all our might —
perhaps not strong enough — to put an end to it." -- Peter Kropotkin
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin)
Michel Foucault was a French philosopher and held a chair at the
Collège de France, a chair to which he gave the title "The History of
Systems of Thought". His writings have had an enormous impact on other
scholarly work: Foucault's influence extends across the humanities and
social sciences, and across many applied and professional areas of
study. Foucault is well known for his critiques of various social
institutions, most notably psychiatry, medicine and the prison system,
and also for his ideas on the history of sexuality. His general
theories concerning power and the relation between power and
knowledge, as well as his ideas concerning "discourse" in relation to
the history of Western thought have been widely discussed and applied.
Foucault was also opposed to all social constructs that implied an
identity, which included everything from the identity of male/female
and homosexuality, to that of criminals and political activists. A
philosophical example of Foucault's theories on identity was an
observation of the history of homosexual identity, which progressed
over the years from an implied act to an implied identity.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1732:
The Royal Opera House opened at Covent Garden in London, England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Opera_House)
1815:
Michel Ney, Marshal of France, was executed by a firing squad near the
Luxembourg Garden in Paris for supporting Napoleon Bonaparte.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Ney)
1941:
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy made its attack on Pearl
Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/attack_on_Pearl_Harbor)
1965:
East-West Schism: Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople and Pope
Paul VI issued the Catholic-Orthodox joint declaration and
simultaneously lifted mutual excommunications that had been in place
since 1054.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East-West_Schism)
1995:
The Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter, a little more than six
years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission
STS-34.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_spacecraft)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and
great." -- Willa Cather
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather)
Roy Orbison was one of the most influential American
singer-songwriters and a pioneer of rock and roll whose recording
career spanned more than four decades. By the mid-1960s, He was
internationally recognized for his ballads of lost love, rhythmically
advanced melodies, three octave vocal range, and characteristic dark
sunglasses. Notable hits written and recorded by Orbison on Rolling
Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time include "Only The
Lonely", "Oh, Pretty Woman", "In Dreams" and "Crying". He was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. Orbison suffered a heart
attack and died just before midnight on 1988 December 6 at the age of
52. In 1989, Roy Orbison was posthumously inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Orbison
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1768:
The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica)
1917:
Halifax Explosion: A ship in Halifax Harbour carrying trinitrotoluene
(TNT) and picric acid caught fire after a collision with another ship
and exploded, devastating Halifax, Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion)
1922:
The Irish Free State came into existence, one year after the signing
of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Free_State)
1957:
Project Vanguard: An attempt to launch the first American satellite
failed with an explosion on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral
(pictured).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Vanguard)
1989:
Marc Lépine killed 14 women in the École Polytechnique Massacre in
Montreal, leading to new gun control laws in Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%3Fcole_Polytechnique_massacre)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Love is made out of ecstasy and wonder;Love is a poignant and
accustomed pain.It is a burst of Heaven-shaking thunder;It is a
linnet's fluting after rain. -- Joyce Kilmer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joyce_Kilmer)
Arrested Development is a character-driven comedy television series
about a formerly wealthy, habitually dysfunctional family. The show is
presented like a documentary, complete with narration, archival
photos, and historical footage. Although set in Newport Beach and
Balboa Island, California, it is primarily filmed on location around
Culver City and Marina Del Rey. Created by Mitchell Hurwitz, since
debuting on November 2 2003, the series has received six Emmy awards
and a Golden Globe. However, despite critical acclaim, Arrested
Development has never climbed in the ratings. As a result, the episode
orders for the second and third seasons were cut. This has left many
critics and fans believing that the show will be cancelled, although
Fox is not expected to make an official announcement until next fall's
schedule is released in the spring.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrested_Development
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1492:
Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the
island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola)
1791:
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died without completing his Requiem mass in D
minor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_%28Mozart%29)
1933:
Prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States officially
ended when the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition)
1936:
The 1936 Soviet Constitution, also known as the "Stalin" constitution,
was adopted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Soviet_Constitution)
1945:
Flight 19, a squadron of five Avenger TBM torpedo bombers of the U.S.
Navy, disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermuda_Triangle)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"If you can dream it, you can do it. Always remember that this whole
thing was started with a dream and a mouse." -- Walt Disney
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Disney)
Acetic acid is an organic chemical compound best recognized for giving
vinegar its sour taste and pungent smell. Pure water-free acetic acid
is a colourless hygroscopic liquid that freezes below 16.7°C to a
colourless crystalline solid. Acetic acid is corrosive, and its vapour
is irritating to eyes and nose, although it is a rather weak acid
based on its ability to dissociate in aqueous solutions. Acetic acid
is one of the simplest carboxylic acids. It is an important chemical
reagent and industrial chemical that is used in the production of
polyethylene terephthalate mainly in soft drink bottles; cellulose
acetate, mainly for photographic film; and polyvinyl acetate for wood
glue, as well as many synthetic fibres and fabrics. In households
dilute acetic acid is often used in descaling agents. In the food
industry acetic acid is used under the food additive code E260 as an
acidity regulator. The global demand of acetic acid is around
6.5 million tonnes per year (Mt/a), of which approximately 1.5 Mt/a is
met by recycling; the remainder is manufactured from petrochemical
feedstocks
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetic_acid
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1804:
The Crown of Charlemagne was used at the coronation of Napoleon I of
France at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_of_Napoleon)
1823:
U.S. President James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine, a proclamation
of opposition to European colonialism in the New World.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine)
1942:
The Manhattan Project: Scientists led by Enrico Fermi initiated the
first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in the experimental
nuclear reactor Chicago Pile-1.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project)
1971:
Abu Dhabi, Ajmān, Dubai, Fujairah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Qaiwain merged
to form the United Arab Emirates.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Emirates)
1975:
The Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government in Vientiane, forcing
King Savang Vatthana to abdicate, and established the Lao People's
Democratic Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I do not believe that friendship today can flower out — can come
out — of political life. I do believe that if there is something
like a political life-to-be — to remain for us, in this world of
technology — then it begins with friendship." -- Ivan Illich
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich)
Rosa Parks was an African American civil rights activist and
seamstress whom the United States Congress dubbed the "Mother of the
Modern Day Civil Rights Movement". Parks is famous for her refusal in
1955 to obey a bus driver's demand that she give up her bus seat to a
white passenger. Her subsequent arrest and trial for this act of civil
disobedience ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest
and most successful mass movements against racial segregation in
history, and launched Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the organizers
of the boycott, to the forefront of the civil rights movement. Her
role in American history earned her an iconic status in American
culture, and her actions have left an enduring legacy for worldwide
civil rights movements.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1640:
John IV was declared King of Portugal, resulting in a war with Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_IV_of_Portugal)
1822:
Pedro I was crowned the first Emperor of Brazil.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_I_of_Brazil)
1913:
The world's first moving assembly line was installed in Highland Park,
Michigan for the mass production of automobiles.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/assembly_line)
1958:
The colony of Ubangi-Shari became an autonomous territory within the
French Community and took the name Central African Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_African_Republic)
1990:
Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France met 40
metres beneath the English Channel seabed, establishing the first
ground connection between the island of Great Britain and the mainland
of Europe since the last ice age.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"The important thing, I think, is not to be bitter... if it turns
about that there is a God, I don't think that he is evil. I think that
the worst thing you could say is that he is, basically, an
under-achiever." -- Woody Allen
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woody_Allen)