Article One of the United States Constitution establishes the
legislative branch of government, Congress, which includes the House
of Representatives and the Senate. The Article establishes the manner
of election and qualifications of members of each House. In addition,
it outlines legislative procedure and indicates the powers of the
legislative branch. Finally, it establishes limits on federal and
state legislative power. Article One is the longest of the seven
Articles forming the original United States Constitution. Amendments
to Article One, unlike amendments to other articles, are restricted by
the Constitution. No amendment made prior to 1808 could affect the
first and fourth clauses of Section Nine. The former clause concerns
prevented Congress from prohibiting the slave trade until 1808; the
latter required direct taxes to be apportioned among the states
according to their populations. Furthermore, the Constitution
precludes Congress from depriving a state of equal representation in
the Senate without its consent.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_One_of_the_United_States_Constitution
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
711:
Umayyad troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad landed at Gibraltar, beginning
the Moorish invasion of Iberia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar)
1789:
George Washington took office as the first President of the United
States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington)
1948:
The Organization of American States was established in Bogotá,
Colombia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States)
1975:
Liberation Day in Vietnam: North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon,
ending the Vietnam War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunification_Day)
1993:
CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to everyone.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the
act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment. When I have
clarified and exhausted a subject, then I turn away from it, in order
to go into darkness again." -- Carl Friedrich Gauss
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss)
The Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George
I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the ancient ceremony wherein
individuals participated in a vigil of fasting, prayer, and bathing on
the day before being knighted. Apart from the Sovereign and the Great
Master, before 1815 there were a maximum of thirty six 'Knights of the
Bath' (K.B.). After 1815 the number of classes and members were
increased several times; the Order now includes three classes in civil
and military divisions. The Order's motto is Tria juncta in uno (Latin
for "Three joined in one"), a reference to either the union of
England, Scotland and Ireland, or to the Holy Trinity. The Order is
the fourth-most senior in the British honours system, after Order of
the Garter, Order of the Thistle, and Order of St Patrick. The last of
the aformentioned Orders—which relates to Ireland, no longer a part of
the United Kingdom—still exists but is in disuse; no appointments have
been made to it since 1934.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Bath
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1429:
Battle of Orléans: French troops led by Joan of Arc lifted the English
siege of Orléans, a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Orl%E9ans)
1862:
Union forces under David Farragut captured New Orleans, securing
access into the Mississippi River during the American Civil War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut)
1945:
Adolf Hitler dictated his last will and testament to his secretary in
the Führerbunker, and then married Eva Braun in a brief ceremony.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_will_and_testament_of_Adolf_Hitler)
1992:
The acquittal of policemen who had beaten Rodney King sparked civil
unrest in Los Angeles.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason." --
Jerry Seinfeld
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jerry_Seinfeld)
The Republic of South Africa is a large republic in Southern Africa.
It is located at the southern tip of the continent, and borders
Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. Its economy is
the largest and most well developed of the entire African continent,
with modern infrastructure common in nearly all of the country. South
Africa has the largest population of people of European descent in
Africa, the largest Indian population outside of Asia, as well as the
largest Coloured community in Africa, making it one of the most
ethnically diverse countries on the continent. Racial and ethnic
strife between the white minority and the black majority have played a
large part in the country's history and politics. The National Party
began introducing the policy of apartheid after winning the general
election of 1948; however, it was the same party under the leadership
of F.W. de Klerk who started to dismantle it in 1990. The country is
one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular
free and fair elections are held since 1994, making it a regional
power and among the most stable democracies in Africa.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
Fletcher Christian led a mutiny aboard HMAV Bounty against Commander
William Bligh.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty)
1952:
Occupied Japan: Japan was once again an independent state, when the
Treaty of San Francisco entered into force.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupied_Japan)
1969:
Charles de Gaulle, the first President of the French Fifth Republic,
resigned.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle)
1996:
A spree shooter in the Port Arthur Massacre killed 35 people, and
seriously injuried 37 in Tasmania, Australia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Arthur_Massacre)
2001:
Dennis Tito became the world's first fee-paying space tourist, riding
the Soyuz TM-32 spacecraft to the International Space Station.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_tourism)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"It is well known that a vital ingredient of success is not knowing
that what you're attempting can't be done." -- Terry Pratchett
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett)
Kylie Minogue is an Australian singer and actress. She rose to
prominence in the late 1980s as a result of her role in the Australian
television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing her career as a
pop singer and recording artist. Signed to a contract by British
songwriters and record producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman, Minogue
achieved a string of hit records throughout the world, but her
popularity began to decline by the early 1990s, leading her to part
company from them in 1992. For several years she attempted to
establish herself as an independent performer and songwriter,
distancing herself from her earlier work. Her projects were widely
publicised, but despite a couple of hit singles, her albums failed to
attract a substantial audience, resulting in the lowest sales of her
career. In 2000, she returned to popularity as a dance/pop music
artist and became well-known for her provocative music videos and
expensively mounted stage shows. Minogue has established one of the
longest and most successful careers as a performer in contemporary pop
music, and in Europe and Australia has become one of her generation's
most recognisable celebrities and sex symbols.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kylie_Minogue
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1521:
Explorer Ferdinand Magellan was killed in the Battle of Mactan by
Filipino natives led by Lapu-Lapu.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mactan)
1667:
The blind and impoverished John Milton sold the copyright of Paradise
Lost for £10.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton)
1865:
An explosion destroyed the steamboat Sultana, killing 1,700 passengers
on the Mississippi River.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultana_%28steamboat%29)
1967:
The Expo 67 World's Fair opened in Montreal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_67)
1994:
Freedom day: The African National Congress was victorious in the first
non-racial elections in the history of South Africa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Day_%28South_Africa%29)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Independence I have long considered as the grand blessing of life,
the basis of every virtue; and independence I will ever secure by
contracting my wants, though I were to live on a barren heath." --
Mary Wollstonecraft
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft)
The 1896 Summer Olympics were the first celebration of the modern
Olympic Games, after the Ancient Olympic Games had been cancelled by
Roman emperor Theodosius in AD 393. At a 1894 congress organized by
Pierre de Coubertin in Paris, the International Olympic Committee was
established, and the Greek capital of Athens was appointed as the host
city of the first modern Olympics. The Greeks had little experience
with organizing sports events, and initially had financial troubles as
well, but managed to have everything ready in time. Although the
number of participating athletes was low by today's standards, it had
the largest international participation for any sports event to that
date. The athletic highlight for the Greeks was the marathon victory
by their compatriot Spiridon Louis. The most successful competitor in
terms of victories was German wrestler and gymnast Carl Schuhmann.
Barring the so-called Intercalated Games of 1906, the Olympics did not
return to Greece until the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_Summer_Olympics
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1478:
The Pazzi Conspiracy: Giuliano di Piero and Lorenzo de' Medici were
attacked in Florence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pazzi)
1865:
Boston Corbett shot and killed John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Corbett)
1933:
The Gestapo, the official secret police force in Nazi Germany, was
established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gestapo)
1937:
Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Guernica in Spain by the Legión
Cóndor resulted in a devastating firestorm.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/bombing_of_Guernica)
1986:
Chernobyl accident: A nuclear reactor in Chernobyl, Ukraine suffered a
steam explosion, resulting in a fire and a nuclear meltdown.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_accident)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"If people did not sometimes do silly things, nothing intelligent
would ever get done." -- Ludwig Wittgenstein
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein)
Hydrochloric acid is the aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl)
gas. It is a strong acid, facilitating wide use. As a highly corrosive
liquid, hydrochloric acid should be handled only with appropriate
safety precautions. Hydrochloric acid has been an important and
frequently-used chemical from early history, and was discovered by the
Islamic alchemist Jabir around 800. It was used throughout the Middle
Ages by alchemists in the quest for the philosopher's stone, and later
by several European scientists including Glauber, Priestley, and Davy.
During the Industrial Revolution, it became an important industrial
chemical for many applications. Applications include large scale
production of organic compounds such as vinyl chloride for PVC and
MDI/TDI for PUR.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrochloric_acid
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1719:
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe was first published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe)
1792:
The guillotine was first used to carry out capital punishment in
France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/guillotine)
1898:
Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress retroactively declared war on
Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-American_War)
1953:
A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by James Watson and Francis
Crick was published in Nature.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA)
1983:
Cold War: Soviet leader Yuri Andropov invited American schoolgirl
Samantha Smith to visit Moscow, Leningrad and the Artek Young Pioneer
camp.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate
prejudices— just recognize them." -- Edward R. Murrow
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow)
Diego Velázquez was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court
of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the
contemporary baroque period, important as a portrait artist. His two
visits to Italy while part of the Spanish court are well-documented.
In addition to numerous renditions of scenes of historical and
cultural significance, he created scores of portraits of the Spanish
royal family, other notable European figures, and commoners,
culminating in the production of his masterpiece, Las Meninas.
Starting in the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Velázquez's
artwork proved a model for the realist and impressionist painters, in
particular Édouard Manet. Since that time, more modern artists,
including Spain's Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, have paid tribute
to Velázquez by recreating several of his most famous works.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diego_Vel%E1zquez
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
La Marseillaise, the national anthem of France, was composed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Marseillaise)
1913:
The opening ceremony of the Woolworth Building was held in New York
City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woolworth_Building)
1916:
Easter Rising: The Irish Republican Brotherhood started a rebellion in
Ireland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising)
1967:
The Soyuz 1 spacecraft crashed in Siberia, killing cosmonaut Vladimir
Komarov.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1)
1990:
The space shuttle Discovery lifted off with the Hubble Space Telescope
aboard.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Everything seems an echo of something else." -- Robert Penn Warren
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Penn_Warren)
The Canadian Pacific Railway is a Canadian Class I railway operated by
Canadian Pacific Railway Limited. Its rail network stretches from
Vancouver to Montreal, and also serves major cities in the United
States, such as Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City. Its
headquarters are in Calgary, Alberta. The railway was originally built
between eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885,
fulfilling a promise extended to British Columbia when it entered
Confederation in 1871. It was Canada's first transcontinental railway.
Now primarily a freight railway, the CPR was for many decades the only
practical means of long distance passenger transportation in many
regions of Canada, and was instrumental in the settlement and
development of western Canada. Its primary passenger services were
eliminated in 1978 after being assumed by VIA Rail Canada. The
railway's logo, a beaver, was chosen because it is one of the national
symbols of Canada and represents the hardworking character of the
company. The object of both praise and damnation for over 120 years,
the CPR remains an indisputable icon of Canadian nationalism.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1014:
Irish forces defeated Viking invaders in the Battle of Clontarf.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Clontarf)
1597:
The Merry Wives of Windsor, a comedy by William Shakespeare, was first
performed, with Queen Elizabeth I of England in attendance.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merry_Wives_of_Windsor)
1827:
Irish mathematician, physicist, and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton
presented his Theory of systems of rays.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton)
1954:
Hank Aaron of the Milwaukee Braves hit the first of his 755 home runs
in Major League Baseball.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Aaron)
1982:
The Conch Republic "declared" independence from the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conch_Republic)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is
rounded with a sleep." -- "Prospero" in The Tempest by William
Shakespeare
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Tempest)
The Krag-Jørgensen is a repeating bolt action rifle designed by the
Norwegians Ole Herman Johannes Krag and Erik Jørgensen in the late
19th century. It was adopted as a standard arm by Denmark, the United
States and Norway. The most distinctive feature of the Krag-Jørgensen
action was its magazine. While other rifles of its era used a box
magazine, the magazine of the Krag-Jørgensen was integral with the
receiver, featuring an opening on the right hand side with a hinged
cover. The cartridges were inserted through the side opening, and were
pushed up, around, and into the action by a spring follower. This
presented both advantages and disadvantages compared with the standard
top-loading "box" magazine; among other things, using a "stripper
clip" to reload was impossible. At the same time, unlike a top-loading
magazine, the Krag-Jørgensen's magazine could be topped up without
opening the rifle's bolt. Today, the Krag-Jørgensen is a popular
collector's rifle, and is valued by shooters for its smooth action.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krag-J%F8rgensen
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1918:
World War I: "The Red Baron", a flying ace of the German
Luftstreitkräfte, was shot down and killed by Captain Arthur "Roy"
Brown of the Royal Air Force.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_von_Richthofen)
1960:
Brasília, a planned city based on principles of Le Corbusier, was
officially inaugurated as the capital of Brazil.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%EDlia)
1970:
The Hutt River Province "seceded" from the Australia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutt_River_Province)
1985:
Racing driver Ayrton Senna won the first of his 41 Formula One
championships at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril, Portugal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayrton_Senna)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to
everything else in the Universe." -- John Muir
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Muir)
While Russia has existed as a state for over a thousand years, the
history of post-Soviet Russia is brief, dating back only to the
collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991. Since gaining its
independence, Russia claimed to be the legal successor to Soviet Union
on the international stage. However, Russia lost its superpower status
amid serious economic and political challenges in the 1990s. Scrapping
the socialist central planning and state ownership of property of the
Soviet era, Russia attempted to build an economy with elements of
market capitalism, with often painful results. The development of
post-Soviet political institutions has also produced mixed results. By
the early-1990s Russia had a system of multiparty electoral politics,
but in recent years the presidency has been increasing its already
tight control over parliament, regional officeholders, and civil
society.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_post-Soviet_Russia
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard completed the first test on
pasteurization.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pasteur)
1912:
Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts and Tiger Stadium in Detroit,
Michigan were opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenway_Park)
1914:
A fire and a gun battle between the National Guard and striking coal
miners in Colorado led to 17 deaths in the Ludlow Massacre.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre)
1968:
Pierre Trudeau succeeded Lester B. Pearson as Prime Minister of
Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Trudeau)
1999:
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered 13 people in the Columbine High
School massacre.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope, John Paul II, the
cardinals have elected me, a simple and humble worker in the Lord's
vineyard. The fact that the Lord can work and act even with
insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your
prayers." -- Pope Benedict XVI
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI)