Bodyline was a cricketing tactic devised by the English cricket team
for their 1932–33 tour of Australia, specifically to combat the
extraordinary batting skill of Australia's Don Bradman. It involved
bowlers deliberately aiming the cricket ball at the bodies of batsmen.
This caused several injuries to Australian players and led to
ill-feeling between the countries that rose to diplomatic levels.
Following the 1932–33 series, several authors, including many of the
players involved in it, released books expressing various points of
view about Bodyline. Many argued that it was a scourge on cricket and
must be stamped out, while some claimed not to understand what all the
fuss was about.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodyline
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1301:
Edward of Caernarvon, the future King Edward II, became the first
English heir apparent to hold the title as Prince of Wales.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II_of_England)
1940:
Pinocchio, the Academy Award-winning Disney animated film based on a
story by Carlo Collodi, was first released.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinocchio_%281940_movie%29)
1984:
NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II performed the first untethered
spacewalk using a Manned Maneuvering Unit.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra-vehicular_activity)
1992:
The Maastricht treaty, which led to the formation of the European
Union, was signed in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_treaty)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age
of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief,
it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was
the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter
of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we
were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other
way— in short, the period was so far like the present period, that
some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for
good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only." --
Charles Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens)
The poetry of the United States began as a literary art during the
colonial era. Unsurprisingly, most of the early poetry written in the
colonies and fledgling republic used contemporary British models of
poetic form, diction, and theme. However, in the 19th century a
distinctive American idiom began to emerge. By the later part of that
century, when Walt Whitman was winning an enthusiastic audience
abroad, American poets had begun to take their place at the forefront
of the English-language avant garde. By the 1960s, the young poets of
the British Poetry Revival looked to their American contemporaries and
predecessors as models for the kind of poetry they wanted to write.
Toward the end of the millennium, consideration of American poetry had
diversified, as scholars placed an increased emphasis on poetry by
women, Afro-Americans, Hispano-Americans and other subcultural
groupings.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry_of_the_United_States
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles founded Singapore, a new trading post for
the British East India Company.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stamford_Raffles)
1820:
Sponsored by the American Colonization Society, the first African
American immigrants established a settlement in present-day Liberia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Liberia)
1922:
France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States signed
the Washington Naval Treaty to limit naval armaments.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty)
1952:
The Duchess of Edinburgh ascended to the British throne while visiting
Kenya. She then came down from a treehouse as Queen Elizabeth II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom)
1959:
Jack Kilby filed the patent for the first integrated circuit.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/integrated_circuit)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left
or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a
left or right. There is only an up or down— up to a man's age-old
dream; the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and
order— or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of
their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our
freedom for security have embarked on this downward course." -- Ronald
Reagan
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan)
Isan is the northeast region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat
Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, and by
Cambodia to the south; to the west it is separated from Northern and
Central Thailand by the Phetchabun mountain range. Agriculture is the
main economic activity, but due to the poor conditions output trails
that of other parts of the country, and this is Thailand's poorest
region. The main language of the region is Isan (which is similar to
Lao), but Thai is also widespread and Khmer is spoken in the south.
Most of the population is of Lao origin, but the region's
incorporation into the modern Thai state has been largely successful.
Prominent aspects of Isan culture include mor lam music, muay Thai
boxing and the food, in which sticky rice and chillies are prominent.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isan
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1885:
King Leopold II of Belgium established the Congo Free State as his
personal possession in Africa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium)
1859:
Prince Alexander John Cuza of Wallachia and Moldavia merged his two
principalities to form Romania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Romania)
1924:
Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory
were first broadcast by the BBC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Time_Signal)
1988:
The first Red Nose Day raised £15 million in the United Kingdom for
charity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Relief)
2004:
Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front captured the
city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Haiti_rebellion)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I profoundly believe that there is on this horizon, as yet only dimly
perceived, a new dawn of conscience. In that purer light, people will
come to see themselves in each other, which is to say they will make
themselves known to one another by their similarities rather than by
their differences. Man's knowledge of things will begin to be matched
by man's knowledge of self. The significance of a smaller world will
be measured not in terms of military advantage, but in terms of
advantage for the human community. It will be the triumph of the
heartbeat over the drumbeat." -- Adlai Stevenson
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson)
The King James Version is an English translation of the Holy Bible,
commissioned for the benefit of the Church of England at the behest of
King James I of England. First published in 1611, it has had a
profound impact on not only most English translations that have
followed it, but also on English literature as a whole. The works of
famous authors such as John Bunyan, John Milton, Herman Melville, John
Dryden, and William Wordsworth are replete with inspiration apparently
derived from the King James Version. Bibles from the English Revised
Version to the New American Standard Bible, the Revised Standard
Version, and the New King James Version are revisions of its text; it
has deeply influenced Bibles such as the New International Version
that do not claim to be revisions of its text. It is no longer in
copyright in most parts of the world but is under perpetual Crown
copyright in the United Kingdom. It is considered to be an
instrumental founding block of modern English, and remains one of the
most widely-read literary works from its time, surpassed only by the
works of playwright William Shakespeare.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version_of_the_Bible
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
Constantin von Tischendorf found the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th century
uncial manuscript of the New Testament, in a monastery at the foot of
Mount Sinai in Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Sinaiticus)
1862:
Bacardi, one of the world's largest rum producer, was founded as a
small distillery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacardi)
1899:
The Philippine-American War began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine-American_War)
1945:
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at the
Yalta Conference.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference)
1957:
USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, logged her 60,000th
nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus
described in Jules Verne's novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nautilus_%28SSN-571%29)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Our ideals, laws and customs should be based on the proposition that
each generation, in turn, becomes the custodian rather than the
absolute owner of our resources and each generation has the obligation
to pass this inheritance on to the future." -- Charles Lindbergh
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh)
Mark Latham is an Australian politician and was leader of the federal
parliamentary Australian Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition in
Australia from December 2003 to January 2005. He succeeded Simon Crean
as leader in December 2003, defeating former leader Kim Beazley in a
close vote. Latham captured national attention with his innovative
policies and approaches, but also attracted controversy regarding his
interesting past. In the October 2004 federal election, Latham and his
party were soundly defeated by the incumbent Prime Minister John
Howard. Ill-health and deteriorating relations with his own party
forced him to step down as Leader on 18 January 2005.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Latham
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1488:
Bartholomeu Diaz of Portugal sailed around the Cape of Good Hope at
the southern tip of Africa and landed in Mossel Bay.
1867:
Crown Prince Mutsuhito ascended to the Japanese throne, beginning the
Meiji Era.
1959:
Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash on
"The Day The Music Died".
1966:
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 9 became the first probe to land on the
Moon and transmit pictures from the lunar surface to Earth.
1969:
Yasser Arafat became the leader of the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Anything different is good." -- Bill Murray as "Phil" in Groundhog
Day
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_%28movie%29)
An H II region is a cloud of glowing gas, sometimes several hundred
light years across, in which star formation is taking place. Young,
hot, blue stars which have formed from the gas emit copious amounts
of ultraviolet light, ionising the nebula surrounding them. H II
regions may give birth to thousands of stars over a period of several
million years. In the end, supernova explosions and strong stellar
winds from the most massive stars in the resulting star cluster will
evaporate the gases of the H II region, leaving behind a cluster such
as the Pleiades. H II (pronounced "H two") regions are named for the
large amount of ionised atomic hydrogen they contain, referred to as
H II by astronomers (H I being neutral atomic hydrogen, and H2 being
molecular hydrogen). H II regions can be seen out to considerable
distances in the universe, and study of extragalactic H II regions is
important in determining the distance and chemical composition of
other galaxies.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_II_region
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
Today:
Candlemas (Western Christianity); Groundhog Day in Canada and the
United States.
962:
Pope John XII crowned Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor, the first
in nearly 40 years.
1848:
The Mexican-American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, granting the United States the Mexican Cession.
1925: Medical supplies to combat an outbreak of diphtheria reached Nome,
Alaska on dog sleds, inspiring the annual Iditarod race across
Alaska.
1943:
The Battle of Stalingrad concluded, with 91,000 tired and starving
German soldiers taken captive by the Red Army.
1990:
President F.W. de Klerk declared the end of Apartheid in South
Africa.
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch" -- American proverb
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/American_proverbs)
Mahatma Gandhi was the charismatic intellectual and mass-movement
leader who brought the cause of independence for British colonial
India to world attention. His ideas, especially the satyagraha model
of non-violent protest, have influenced both nationalist and internal
movements throughout the world. By means of non-violent civil
disobedience, Gandhi helped bring about India's independence from
British rule, inspiring other colonial peoples to work for their own
independence and ultimately dismantle the British Empire and replace
it with the Commonwealth. Gandhi's principle of satyagraha ('"truth
force"), often roughly translated as "way of truth" or "pursuit of
truth," has inspired other democratic activists, including Martin
Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. He often stated his values were
simple, drawn from traditional Hindu beliefs: truth (satya), and
non-violence (ahimsa).
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1796:
The capital of Upper Canada was moved from Newark (now
Niagara-on-the-Lake) to York (now Toronto), which was judged to be
less vulnerable to attack by the Americans.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Canada)
1884:
The first fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_English_Dictionary)
1946:
Norwegian politician Trygve Lie was elected the first UN
Secretary-General.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trygve_Lie)
1958:
Egypt and Syria merged to form the United Arab Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Republic)
2003:
The NASA Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during
reentry into the Earth's atmosphere on its 28th and final mission.
This was the second total loss of a Space Shuttle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this
world of sin and woe... No one pretends that democracy is perfect or
all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of
government except all those other forms that have been tried from time
to time." -- Winston Churchill
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill)