The Government of Maryland is conducted according to the state
constitution. Like the rest of the 50 states, it follows the
requirements of Article Four of the U.S. Constitution by being
republican in nature. As the United States is a federation, the
Government of Maryland, like all state governments, generally has
exclusive authority over matters that lie entirely within the state's
borders. Power in Maryland is divided among three branches of
government, executive, legislative, and judicial. Unlike most other
states, significant autonomy is granted to many of Maryland's
counties. Most state government activity occurs in the state capital,
Annapolis, and virtually all state and county elections occur in even
numbered years in which an election for the President of the United
States does not occur.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Maryland
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
193:
Septimius Severus was proclaimed Roman Emperor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus)
1865:
Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union forces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Lee)
1940:
Operation Weserübung: Germany invaded Denmark and Norway; Occupation
of Denmark begins.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Weser%FCbung)
1959:
NASA announced the selection of the Mercury program astronauts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_program)
1991:
Georgia declared independence from the Soviet Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_%28country%29)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." -- Richard
Feynman
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman)
Blackadder is a British sitcom made by the BBC. The title does not
refer to a specific series, but rather denotes the programmes — four
series and several one-off episodes — taken as a whole. The first
series was written by Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson; subsequent
series were written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. The show was
produced by John Lloyd, and starred Rowan Atkinson as the eponymous
protagonist, Edmund Blackadder, and Tony Robinson as his sidekick
Baldrick. Four series of six half-hour episodes were made, each series
set in a different period of British history. The first series was
called The Black Adder and was made in 1983; this was followed by
Blackadder II in 1985, Blackadder the Third in 1987, and finally
Blackadder Goes Forth in 1989. Blackadder came second in a 2004 BBC
poll to find 'Britain's Best Sitcom'.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1742:
Händel's oratorio The Messiah premiered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Messiah)
1767:
Ayutthaya kingdom fell to Burmese invaders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayutthaya_kingdom)
1904:
France and the United Kingdom signed the Entente Cordiale.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entente_Cordiale)
1904:
Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Square)
1953:
Jomo Kenyatta was convicted of being a Mau Mau leader.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomo_Kenyatta)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no
matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and
your own common sense." -- Gautama Buddha
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha)
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayas. It is
the least populous state in India, and the second smallest. Sikkim was
an independent state ruled by the Chogyal monarchy until 1975, when a
referendum to make it India's twenty-second state succeeded. The
thumb-shaped state borders Nepal in the west, Tibet to the north and
east, and Bhutan in the south-east. The Indian state of West Bengal
borders Sikkim to its south. The official language is Nepali, and the
predominant religions are Hinduism and Vajrayana Buddhism. Gangtok is
the capital and largest town. Despite its small size, Sikkim is
geographically diverse, owing to its location at the Himalayan
foothills. Terrain ranges from tropical in the south to tundra in the
north. Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest peak, is located in
Sikkim, straddling its northern border with Nepal. Sikkim has become
one of India's most visited states owing to its reputation for
untouched scenic beauty and political stability.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikkim
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1348:
Charles University was founded in Prague.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Prague)
1795:
France adopted the metre as the unit of length
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/metre)
1945:
The Yamato was sunk 200 miles north of Okinawa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Yamato)
1947:
The Ba'ath Party was founded in Damascus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba%27ath_Party)
1969:
With publication of RFC 1, the Internet was symbolically born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_Comments)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Out of the struggle at the center has come an immense, painful
longing for a broader, more flexible, fuller, more coherent, more
comprehensive account of what we human beings are, who we are, and
what this life is for. At the center humankind struggles with
collective powers for its freedom, the individual struggles with
dehumanization for the possession of his soul." -- Saul Bellow
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saul_Bellow)
El Lissitzky was a Russian artist, designer, photographer, teacher,
typographer, and architect. He was one of the most important figures
of the Russian avant garde, helping develop suprematism with his
friend and mentor, Kazimir Malevich, and designed numerous exhibition
displays and propaganda works for the former Soviet Union. His work
greatly influenced the Bauhaus, Constructivist, and De Stijl movements
and experimented with production techniques and stylistic devices that
would go on to dominate 20th century graphic design. Lissitzky's
entire career was laced with the belief that the artist could be an
agent for change, later summarized with his edict, "das zielbewußte
Schaffen" (The task oriented creation). In 1941 he produced one of his
last known works — a Soviet propaganda poster rallying the people to
construct more tanks for the fight against Nazi Germany.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Lissitzky
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1320:
The Scots people adopted the Declaration of Arbroath.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Arbroath)
1895:
Oscar Wilde was arrested for "acts of gross indecency".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Wilde)
1896:
The first modern Olympic Games opened in Athens.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Games_of_the_I_Olympiad)
1917:
World War I: The U.S. declared war on Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_I)
1994:
The joint assassination of the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi marked
the start of the Rwandan Genocide.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"See, I write jokes for a living, man. I sit in my hotel at night and
think of something that's funny and then I go get a pen and write 'em
down. Or, if the pen's too far away, I have to convince myself that
what I thought of ain't funny." -- Mitch Hedberg
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mitch_Hedberg)
The Cantos by Ezra Pound is a long, incomplete poem in 120 sections,
each of which is a canto. Most of it was written between 1915 and
1962, although much of the early work was abandoned and the early
cantos, as finally published, date from 1922 onwards. It is a
book-length work, widely considered to present formidable difficulties
to the reader. Strong claims have been made for it as one of the most
significant works of modernist poetry of the twentieth century. As in
Pound's prose writing, the themes of economics, governance and culture
are integral to its content. The most striking feature of the text, to
a casual browser, is the inclusion of Chinese characters as well as
quotations in European languages other than English. Recourse to
scholarly commentaries is almost inevitable for a close reader. The
range of allusion to historical events is very broad, and abrupt
changes occur with the minimum of stage directions. There is also a
wide geographical spread; Pound added to his earlier interests in the
classical Mediterranean culture and East Asia selective topics from
medieval and early modern Italy and Provence, the beginnings of the
United States, England of the seventeenth century, and details from
Africa he had obtained from Leo Frobenius. References left without
explanation abound.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cantos
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1614:
Native American Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocahontas)
1936:
Tupelo-Gainesville Outbreak: A F5 tornado hit Tupelo, Mississippi,
killing 233.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupelo-Gainesville_Outbreak)
1945:
Tito allowed temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslavia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josip_Broz)
1955:
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill resigned.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill)
1998:
The Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge opened to traffic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akashi-Kaikyo_Bridge)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Words are wise men's counters, they do but reckon by them; but they
are the money of fools." -- Thomas Hobbes
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes)
The Bank of China (Hong Kong) (BOCHK) is the second largest commercial
banking group in Hong Kong in terms of assets and customer deposits,
with more than 300 branches in Hong Kong. It was established on
October 1, 2001 from a merger of 12 subsidiaries and associates of the
Bank of China in Hong Kong, and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
in October 2002. As of the end of 2003, the bank had HK$763 billion in
assets and earned net profit of HK$8 billion in 2003. BOCHK is one of
the three banks which issue banknotes for Hong Kong, the biggest
member and a founder of the JETCO ATM and payment system, and the
designated clearing bank in Hong Kong for transactions involving the
renminbi, Mainland China's currency. It is legally separate from its
parent, Bank of China (BOC), although they maintain close relations in
management and administration and cooperate in several areas including
reselling BOC's insurance and securities services. It also shares its
Hong Kong headquarters, the Bank of China Tower, with its parent;
completed in 1988, this was the first building outside of the US to
exceed 1,000 feet in height and recognised for its distinctive
architecture.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_China_%28Hong_Kong%29
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1581:
Francis Drake completed a circumnavigation of the globe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Drake)
1949:
Twelve nations signed the North Atlantic Treaty, creating NATO.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO)
1968:
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King%2C_Jr.)
1976:
Norodom Sihanouk abdicated from the role of leader of Cambodia, and is
arrested by Khmer Rouge.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norodom_Sihanouk)
1979:
President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan was executed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulfikar_Ali_Bhutto)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
It is possible and imperative that we learn A brave and startling
truth... When we come to it We must confess that we are the
possible We are the miraculous, the true wonders of this world That
is when, and only when We come to it. -- Maya Angelou --
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou)
Cardinal Richelieu was a French clergyman, noble, and statesman.
Consecrated as a bishop in 1607, he later entered politics, becoming a
Secretary of State in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Church and
the state, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIII's chief
minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642; he
was succeeded by Jules Cardinal Mazarin. As chief minister, the
Cardinal de Richelieu sought to consolidate royal power and crush
domestic factions. By restraining the power of the nobility, he
transformed France into a strongly centralised state. His chief
foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro-Spanish
Habsburg dynasty; although a Roman Catholic cardinal, he did not
hesitate to make alliances with Protestant rulers in attempting to
achieve this goal. His tenure was marked by the Thirty Years' War that
engulfed Europe. Richelieu was also famous for his patronage of the
arts; most notably, he founded the Académie française, the learned
society responsible for matters pertaining to the French language.
Richelieu is also known by the sobriquet l'Éminence rouge ("the Red
Eminence"), from the red shade of a cardinal's vestments.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinal_Richelieu
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1860:
The first successful Pony Express run was started.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pony_Express)
1948:
The Marshall Plan to financially assist the re-building of Europe
following World War II began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan)
1974:
The Super Outbreak of 148 tornadoes killed 315 people and injured
5,484 in 13 U.S. states at the end of a very strong La Niña event.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Outbreak)
1975:
Bobby Fischer refused to play Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the chess
title.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer)
1996:
Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski was arrested.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Kaczynski)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term.
Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task
of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it
a work of art, a masterpiece." -- Pope John Paul II
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II)
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the
United States. It is awarded "for conspicuous gallantry and
intrepidity at the risk of life, above and beyond the call of duty, in
actual combat against an armed enemy force." Three different medals
currently exist for each of the major branches of the U.S. armed
forces: one each for the Army, Navy, and Air Force. Since the
beginning of World War II only 851 have been awarded, 525 of them
posthumously. The rare soldier who wears the Medal of Honor is
accorded special privileges that include higher pay, preference for
their children at the U.S. military academies, and the respect and
admiration of all other service persons. It is an informal rule that
Medal Of Honor recipients, regardless of rank, are saluted by all
other service members, including the Commander In Chief. The Army
Medal of Honor was first awarded during the American Civil War and was
last offically awarded for action that occurred during the Battle of
Mogadishu in 1993.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
Passage of the Coinage Act established the U.S. Mint.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Mint)
1801:
British forces destroyed the Danish fleet in the Battle of Copenhagen.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Copenhagen_%281801%29)
1930:
Haile Selassie was proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haile_Selassie_of_Ethiopia)
1992:
Mafia boss John Gotti was convicted of murder and racketeering.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gotti)
2002:
A siege of the Church of the Nativity by Israeli forces ensued.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Nativity)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"To be an artist is a blessing and a privilege. Artists must never
betray their true hearts. Artists must look beneath the surface and
show that there is more to this world than what meets the eye." --
Marvin Gaye
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marvin_Gaye)
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console
released by Nintendo in North America, Europe and Australia. The most
successful gaming console of its time, it helped revitalize the video
game industry following the video game crash of 1983, and set the
standard for subsequent consoles in everything from game design (the
first modern platform game, Super Mario Bros., was the system's first
"killer app") to business practices. The NES was the first console
developer to openly court third-party developers. So dominant was the
NES during its heyday - roughly 1985 through 1991 - that the period
has become colloquially known as the "Nintendo era." As the 1990s
dawned, however, renewed competition from technologically superior
systems such as the 16-bit Sega Mega Drive (also known as the Sega
Genesis) marked the end of the NES's dominance. Eclipsed by Nintendo's
own Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), the NES's user base
gradually waned and in 1995 Nintendo officially discontinued the NES.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
527:
Byzantine Emperor Justin I named Justinian I as co-ruler and
successor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I)
1789:
The U.S. House of Representatives held its first quorum in New York
City and elected Frederick Muhlenberg as the first Speaker.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives)
1826:
The internal combustion engine was patented by Samuel Morey.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/internal_combustion_engine)
1945:
World War II: The Battle of Okinawa, the largest amphibious assault
during the Pacific campaign, began in Okinawa, Japan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Okinawa)
1979:
Iran was proclaimed an Islamic republic, a theocracy led by Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader of Iran.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"When you want to fool the world, tell the truth." -- Otto von
Bismarck
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck)