A bicycle is a pedal-driven land vehicle with two wheels attached to a
frame one in front of the other. First introduced in 19th century
Europe, it evolved quickly into its current design. With over one
billion in the world today, bicycles provide the principal means of
transportation in many regions and a popular form of recreation in
others. The bicycle has had considerable historical impact, in both
the cultural and industrial realms. In its early years, bicycle
construction drew on pre-existing technologies, while more recently
bicycle technology has contributed in turn to other, newer areas.
Beyond recreation and transportation, bicycles have been adapted for
use in many occupations, in the military, and in sports and
entertainment as well. A recurring theme in bicycling has been the
tension between bicyclists and drivers of motor vehicles, each of whom
argue for their fair share of the world's roadways.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1854:
Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy signed the Treaty of
Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Perry_%28naval_officer%29)
1889:
The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower)
1903:
New Zealander inventor Richard Pearse reportedly flew in one of the
first flying machines.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse)
1917:
The Danish West Indies became the U.S. Virgin Islands after the United
States paid Denmark US$25 million for the Caribbean islands.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Virgin_Islands)
1930:
Hollywood movie studios instituted the Production Code to avoid
government censorship.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Production_Code)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Good sense is of all things in the world the most equally
distributed, for everybody thinks he is so well supplied with it, that
even those most difficult to please in all other matters never desire
more of it than they already possess." -- René Descartes
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes)
George Fox was an English Dissenter and the founder of the Society of
Friends. At Derby in 1650 Fox was imprisoned for blasphemy; a judge
mocked Fox's exhortation to "tremble at the word of the Lord", calling
him and his followers "Quakers" — now the common name of the Society
of Friends . Living in a time of great social upheaval, he rebelled
against the religious and political consensus by proposing an unusual
and uncompromising approach to the Christian faith. His journal is a
text popular even among non-Quakers for its vivid account of his
personal journey.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Fox
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1867:
U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the purchase of
Alaska from Russia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Seward)
1912:
Sultan Abdelhafid signed the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French
protectorate.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Morocco)
1940:
World War II: Wang Jingwei was installed by Japan as head of the
puppet government in China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Jingwei)
1954:
The Toronto Transit Commission launched the first subway system in
Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Transit_Commission)
1964:
Merv Griffin's game show Jeopardy! made its debut on television.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy%21)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever
loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in
love is done well." -- Vincent van Gogh
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh)
Venus is the second planet from the Sun, named after the Roman goddess
Venus. It is a terrestrial planet, very similar in size and bulk
composition to Earth; it is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet"
as a result of this similarity. Although all planets' orbits are
elliptical, Venus' orbit is the most nearly circular of all, with an
eccentricity of less than 1%. Venus was known to ancient Babylonians
around 1600 BC, and probably was known long before in prehistoric
times given that it is the third brightest object in the sky after the
Sun and Moon. Its symbol is a stylized representation of the goddess
Venus' hand mirror: a circle with a small cross underneath.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_%28planet%29
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
193:
Praetorian Guards assassinated Roman Emperor Pertinax and sold the
throne in an auction to Didius Julianus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertinax)
845:
Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, captured Paris and held
the city for a huge ransom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar_Lodbrok)
1939:
Forces of the Spanish State led by Generalísimo Francisco Franco took
Madrid, ending the Spanish Civil War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Civil_War)
1964:
Radio Caroline began broadcasting as a pirate radio station from a
boat anchored in international waters.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Caroline)
1979:
A nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
suffered a partial meltdown.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"A leader must have the courage to act against an expert's advice." --
James Callaghan
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Callaghan)
Julia Stiles is an American stage and screen actress, hailed as "the
thinking teenagers' movie goddess" by a New York Times critic. After
beginning her theater career in small parts, she has moved on to
leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare
and David Mamet; her film career has been both a commercial and
critical success, ranging from teen romantic comedies such as 10
Things I Hate About You (1999) to dark art house pictures such as The
Business of Strangers (2001). When Stiles isn't working she actively
supports a variety of progressive and liberal issues.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Stiles
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1513:
Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León first sighted Florida while
searching for the Fountain of Youth in the New World.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Florida)
1794:
The United States Navy was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy)
1958:
Nikita Khrushchev became Premier of the Soviet Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev)
1964:
The Good Friday Earthquake struck Prince William Sound off the coast
of Alaska at a magnitude of 9.2, with subsequent tsunamis reaching as
far as California and Hawaii.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday_Earthquake)
1977:
Two Boeing 747 airliners collided in the Tenerife disaster on Tenerife
of the Canary Islands, killing 583 people in one of the worst aircraft
accidents in aviation history.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_disaster)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are
plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become
manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered." --
Yeshua (Jesus Christ)
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ)
Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that infects the mucus lining of
the human stomach. Many peptic ulcers and some types of gastritis are
caused by H. pylori infection, although most humans who are infected
will never develop symptoms. The bacterium lives in the human stomach
exclusively and is the only known organism that can thrive in that
highly acidic environment. It is helix shaped (hence the name
helicobacter) and can literally screw itself into the stomach lining
to colonize it. In 1875, German scientists found the bacteria in the
lining of the human stomach, although the results were forgotten. The
bacterium was rediscovered in 1982 by two Australian scientists Robin
Warren and Barry Marshall, who isolated and cultured organisms from
mucosal specimens from human stomachs. In their original paper, Warren
and Marshall contended that most stomach ulcers and gastritis were
caused by colonization with this bacterium, not by stress or spicy
food as had been assumed before. The medical community was slow to
recognize the role of this bacterium in stomach ulcers and gastritis,
but in 1994, the National Institutes of Health published an opinion
stating that most recurrent gastric ulcers were caused by H. pylori,
and recommended that antibiotics be included in the treatment regimen.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1707:
By the Act of Union, England and Scotland merged to form the United
Kingdom of Great Britain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Union_1707)
1871:
The Paris Commune was formally established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune)
1881:
Domnitor Carol I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was proclaimed the first
King of Romania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Romania)
1973:
The first of more than eight thousand episodes of the American soap
opera The Young and the Restless was broadcast on television.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Young_and_the_Restless)
1999:
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, an advocate for physician-assisted suicide, was
found guilty of murder in the death of a terminally ill patient.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, that wants it down."
-- Robert Frost
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost)
The military history of the Soviet Union began in the early days
following the 1917 October Revolution and the creation of the Russian
Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, which joined with other former
provinces of the Russian Empire to become the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics in 1922. In the 1940s, the Soviet Union took part
in World War II, assisting in the defeat of Nazi Germany and
militarily occupied many former Axis nations in eastern Europe, which
formed its satellite states in the Soviet bloc. Following the end of
World War II, the Soviet Union became one of two superpowers, rivaling
the United States. The Cold War between the two nations led to Soviet
military buildups, the arms race, and the Space Race. By the early
1980s, the Soviet armed forces were the world's largest by every
measure—in number of weapons, in manpower, and in size of their
military-industrial base. In the end, the Soviet Union fell in 1991
due to economic and political factors rather than due to military
defeat.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_Soviet_Union
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1306:
Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scotland at the Scone Palace in
Perth.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_I_of_Scotland)
1634:
The English colony of Maryland was founded by Lord Baltimore and a
group of Catholic settlers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland)
1655:
Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan, the largest natural satellite of
the planet Saturn.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29)
1957:
West Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, France and Belgium
signed the Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic
Community.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Community)
1995:
Ward Cunningham established the first wiki site, the Portland Pattern
Repository.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/wiki)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"If those who lead you say, 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the
birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the
sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of
you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then
you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the
sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you
dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty." -- Yeshua (Jesus
Christ)
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesus_Christ)
The known history of the Yosemite area started with Miwok and Paiute
peoples who inhabited the central Sierra Nevada region of California
that now includes Yosemite National Park. At the time the first
non-indigenous people entered the area, a band of Miwok called the
Ahwahnechee lived in Yosemite Valley. Conflict ensured in the mid 19th
century and the Mariposa Battalion pursued the Ahwahnechee into the
Valley. The Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoia
were ceded to California as a state park in 1864. Naturalist John Muir
and others soon became alarmed about over-exploitation of the area and
helped push through the creation of Yosemite National Park, in 1890.
It would not be until 1906 that the Valley and Grove would be added.
Park jurisdiction was at first under the United States Army's Fourth
Cavalry Regiment then in 1916 it was transfered to the National Park
Service. The failed fight to save Hetch Hetchy Valley from becoming a
reservoir and hydroelectric power plant in the early 20th century
sparked a great deal of controversy that polarized the nation. Since
then about 94% of the park has been set aside in a highly protected
wilderness area.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Yosemite_area
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1603:
King James I became the first British monarch to reign in Scotland,
England and Ireland simultaneously.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_I_of_England)
1882:
Robert Koch announced the discovery of the bacterium that causes
tuberculosis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tuberculosis)
1944:
World War II: Captured allied soldiers began "The Great Escape",
breaking out of Stalag Luft III, a prison camp operated by the
Luftwaffe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III)
1976:
Dirty War: President Isabel Perón of Argentina was kidnapped and
deposed in a bloodless coup d'état.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Mart%EDnez_de_Per%F3n)
1989:
The tanker Exxon Valdez spilled more than 11 million gallons of oil
into Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing a major environmental
disaster.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Love, work and knowledge are the well-springs of our life. They
should also govern it." -- Wilhelm Reich
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich)
The Pioneer Zephyr is a diesel-powered railroad trainset built by the
Budd Company in 1934 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
The train, which featured extensive use of stainless steel, was
originally named Zephyr and meant as a promotional tool to advertise
passenger rail service in the United States. The train's construction
included innovations such as shotwelding to join the stainless steel
and articulation to reduce the train's weight. The trainset entered
regular revenue service November 11 1934 between Kansas City,
Missouri, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. It was operated on this route
until its retirement in 1960 when it was donated to the Museum of
Science and Industry in Chicago where it remains on public display.
The train is generally regarded as the first successful streamliner on
American railroads.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_Zephyr
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
American Revolution: Patrick Henry made his "Give me liberty or give
me death" speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Henry)
1801:
Tsar Alexander I acceded to the Russian throne after his father Paul I
was brutally murdered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Russia)
1919:
In Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist movement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism)
1978:
The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission
along the Blue Line.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Line_%28Lebanon%29)
1996:
Lee Teng-hui was elected President of the Republic of China in the
first direct presidential election in Taiwan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Teng-hui)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties." -- Erich
Fromm
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erich_Fromm)
The current design of the Flag of South Africa was adopted on 27 April
1994 after the end of apartheid made it necessary to replace the
former national flag due to its racist connotations to most South
Africans. There was a public phase of the design of the new flag when
submissions for the new design were sent in by the public, however
none of the submissions received enthusiastic support from the
committee charged with selecting the final design. With the
inauguration of Nelson Mandela looming, an interim flag was designed
and released to the public just seven days before Mandela was sworn
into office. It was so well received that the interim version was made
the final, national flag in the South African Constitution. The flag
can best be described as two equal width horizontal bands of red (top)
and blue separated by a central green band which splits into a
horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side.
The Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are
separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated
from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_South_Africa
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
238:
Gordian I and Gordian II were proclaimed Roman Emperors.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_I)
1765:
The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Stamp Act, adding fuel to
the growing separatist movement in colonial America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765)
1888:
William McGregor, director of Aston Villa F.C. in Birmingham, England,
founded the Football League.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Football_League)
1945:
The Arab League was founded by 7 Arab states.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_League)
1995:
Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov of the Soyuz programme returned from
the Mir space station after 437 days in space, setting a record for
the longest spaceflight.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight_records)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Do not the most moving moments of our lives find us all without
words?" -- Marcel Marceau
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau)
Isaac Asimov was a Russian-born American author and biochemist, a
highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his
works of science fiction and for his science books for the lay person.
Asimov's most famous work is the Foundation Series, which he later
combined with two of his other series, the Galactic Empire Series and
Robot series. He also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as a great
amount of non-fiction. In fact, he wrote or edited over 500 volumes
and an estimated 90,000 letters or postcards, and has works in every
major category of the Dewey Decimal System except Philosophy. Asimov
recieved HIV infected blood during heart bypass surgery in 1983. His
death in 1992 was from AIDS-related complications, although this was
kept secret by his widow for over a decade after his death. Asimov was
a long-time member of Mensa, albeit reluctantly (he described them as
"intellectually combative"). The asteroid 5020 Asimov is named in his
honor, as is Honda's humanoid prototype robot ASIMO.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1556:
Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer of the Church of England was
burnt at the stake.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cranmer)
1800:
Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made
of papier-mâché.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_Tiara)
1804:
Code Napoléon was adopted as French civil law.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_code)
1935:
Shah Reza Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call
Persia by its native name, Iran, which means 'Land of the Aryans'.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Empire)
1990:
Namibia gained formal independence from South Africa, with Sam Nujoma
swearing in as the first President.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namibia)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Between individuals, as between nations, respect for the rights of
others is peace." -- Benito Juárez
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Benito_Ju%C3%A1rez)