The Antarctic krill is a species of krill found in the Antarctic
waters of the Southern Ocean. Antarctic krill are shrimp-like
invertebrates that live in large schools, called swarms, sometimes
reaching densities of 10,000–30,000 individual animals per cubic
meter. They feed directly on minute phytoplankton, thereby using the
primary production energy that the phytoplankton originally derived
from the sun in order to sustain their pelagic (open ocean) life
cycle. They grow to a length of 6 cm, weigh up to 2 grams, and can
live for up to six years. They are the key species in the Antarctic
ecosystem and are likely, in terms of biomass, the most successful
animal species on the planet.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_krill
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
Napoleonic Wars: Napoléon surrendered to British forces at Rochefort,
France, ending the Hundred Days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France)
1945:
Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Harry S. Truman met at the
Potsdam Conference to decide how to administer post-World War II
Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam_Conference)
1975:
History of East Timor: East Timor was annexed and became the 27th
province of Indonesia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_East_Timor)
1996:
Paris-bound TWA Flight 800 exploded off the coast of Long Island, New
York, killing all 230 on board.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_800)
1998:
Biologists reported in the journal Science how they sequenced the
genome of the bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treponema_pallidum)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Most of the books, music and movies ever released are not available
for sale, anywhere in the world. In the brief time that P2P nets have
flourished, the ad-hoc masses of the Internet have managed to put just
about everything online. What's more, they've done it far cheaper
than any other archiving/revival effort ever." -- Cory Doctorow
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cory_Doctorow)
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake took place on November 1, 1755, at 9:20 in
the morning. It was one of the most destructive and deadly earthquakes
in history, killing well over 100,000 people. The quake was followed
by a tsunami and fire, resulting in the near total destruction of
Lisbon. The earthquake accentuated political tensions in Portugal and
profoundly disrupted the country's 18th century colonial ambitions.
The event was widely discussed by European Enlightenment philosophers,
and inspired major developments in theodicy and in the philosophy of
the sublime. The first to be studied scientifically for its effects
over a large area, the quake signalled the birth of modern seismology.
Geologists today estimate the Lisbon earthquake approached magnitude 9
on the Richter scale, with an epicenter in the Atlantic Ocean about
200 km west-southwest of Cape St. Vincent.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
622:
Beginning of the Islamic calendar.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar)
1918:
Russian Revolution: Bolsheviks executed Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
and his family at Ekaterinburg.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia)
1945:
Manhattan Project: "Trinity", the first nuclear test explosion, was
detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_test)
1979:
Saddam Hussein took over as President of Iraq, succeeding Ahmed
Hassan al-Bakr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein)
1994:
The planet Jupiter was hit by fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9
comet.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoemaker-Levy_9)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"By the declining day, lo! man is a state of loss, save those who
believe and do good works, and exhort one another to truth and exhort
one another to endurance." -- The Qur'an, Surah 103
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Qur%27an)
Xiangqi is a Chinese game in a family of strategic board games of
which Western chess and Japanese shogi are also members. The Chinese
name is literally translatable as either "elephant chess" but is
commonly called Chinese chess in the West. The ancestry of Xiangqi is
disputed with some historians contending that it originated from Liubo
and others stating that it is a relative of the 6th century Indian
game of chaturanga. It is one of the most popular board games of the
chaturanga family in the world, especially in Asia. Distinctive
features of xiangqi include the unique movement of the pao ("cannon")
piece, a rule prohibiting the generals (similar to chess kings) from
facing each other directly, and the river and palace board features,
which restrict the movement of some pieces.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xiangqi
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1174:
William the Lion, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, was captured
at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_of_1173-1174)
1772:
HMS Resolution set sail from Plymouth, England, under the command of
Captain James Cook.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Resolution_%28Cook%29)
1793:
Jean-Paul Marat, a leader in the French Revolution, was murdered in
his bathtub by Charlotte Corday.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Marat)
1878:
The major powers redrew the map of the Balkans in the Treaty of
Berlin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Berlin%2C_1878)
1985:
Live Aid benefit concerts, organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to
raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia, was held in London and
Philadelphia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Aid)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I know that you personally do not fear giving up your own life in
order to take others— that is why you are so dangerous. But I know
you fear that you may fail in your long-term objective to destroy our
free society and I can show you why you will fail." -- Ken
Livingstone, Mayor of London
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Livingstone)
The Civil Air Patrol is the official civilian auxiliary of the United
States Air Force. It was created just days before the Attack on Pearl
Harbor in 1941, and is credited with sinking at least two German
U-boats during the War. It was seen as a way to use America's civil
aviation resources to aid the war effort, rather than grounding them,
as was the case in the United Kingdom. Today, the Civil Air Patrol is
a volunteer organization dedicated to education and national service,
including people from all backgrounds and all walks of life. It
performs three key missions: Emergency services (including search and
rescue), aerospace education for youth and the general public, and
cadet programs. The September 11, 2001 attacks demonstrated the
importance of the Civil Air Patrol, as it was this organization's
aircraft that flew blood to victims of the attack as well as providing
the first aerial pictures of the World Trade Center site.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Air_Patrol
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
The U.S. Army Medal of Honor was first authorized by the U.S.
Congress.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor)
1967:
Race riots began in Newark, New Jersey, leading to 27 deaths in four
days.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newark%2C_New_Jersey)
1975:
São Tomé and Príncipe declared independence from Portugal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Tom%C3%A9_and_Pr%C3%ADncipe)
1979:
The Gilbert Islands gained independence and became known as Kiribati.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiribati)
1993:
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake off the shore of Hokkaidō?, Japan launched
a devastating tsunami, killing 202 on the small island of Okushiri.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsunami)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to
please everybody." -- Bill Cosby
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bill_Cosby)
The Gbe languages form a cluster of about 20 related languages
stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria.
The total number of speakers of Gbe languages is between four and
eight million. The most widely spoken Gbe language is Ewe, followed by
Fon. The Gbe languages belong to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo
languages, and break up into five major dialect clusters: Ewe, Fon,
Aja, Gen, and Phla-Pherá. In the late 18th century, many speakers of
Gbe were enslaved and transported to the New World, causing Gbe
languages to play a role in the genesis of several Caribbean creole
languages. In the first half of the twentieth century, the Africanist
Diedrich Hermann Westermann was one of the most prolific contributors
to the study of Gbe. The first internal classification of the Gbe
languages was published in 1988 by H.B. Capo, followed by a
comparative phonology in 1991. The Gbe languages are tonal, isolating
languages and the basic word order is Subject Verb Object.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gbe_languages
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1533:
King Henry VIII of England was excommunicated by Pope Clement VII.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England)
1798:
The United States Marine Corps was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps)
1804:
U.S. statesman Alexander Hamilton was fatally wounded in a duel with
Aaron Burr.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Hamilton)
1811:
Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro published his memoir about molecular
content of gases.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Avogadro)
1859:
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Cities)
1921:
The Irish War of Independence ended with a truce between the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Irish Republican Army.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_War)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"All men profess honesty as long as they can. To believe all men
honest would be folly. To believe none so is something worse." -- John
Quincy Adams
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams)
The Island Fox is a small fox that is native to six of the eight
Channel Islands of California. It is the smallest fox species in the
United States. There are six subspecies of the fox, each unique to the
island it inhabits, reflecting its evolutionary history. Introduced
diseases or parasites can decimate Island Fox populations. Because
Island Foxes are isolated they have no immunity to parasites and
diseases brought in from the mainland and are especially vulnerable to
those domestic dogs may carry. A canine distemper outbreak in 1998
killed approximately 90% of Santa Catalina Island's fox population. In
addition, Golden Eagle predation and human activities decimated fox
numbers on several of the Channel Islands in the 1990s. Four Island
Fox subspecies were federally protected as an endangered species in
2004, and efforts to rebuild fox populations and restore the
ecosystems of the Channel Islands are being undertaken.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Fox
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1913:
Death Valley, California hit 134 °F (~56.7 °C) which is the highest
temperature recorded in the United States (as of 2004).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley)
1985:
After a storm of controversy surrounding a change in its cola's
formula, Coca-Cola re-introduced the old formula as "Coca-Cola
Classic."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke)
1998:
Catholic priests' sex abuse scandal: The Diocese of Dallas agreed to
pay USD 23.4 million to nine former altar boys who claimed they were
sexually abused by former priest Rudolph Kos.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cases_of_child_sexual_abuse_in_the_Roman_Catho…)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"All that was great in the past was ridiculed, condemned, combatted,
suppressed— only to emerge all the more powerfully, all the more
triumphantly from the struggle." -- Nikola Tesla
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla)
Piccadilly Circus is a plaza and traffic intersection in the West End
in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, near Soho and
Theatreland. It is renowned for its video display and neon signs in
the northwestern corner, as well as the Shaftesbury memorial fountain
and statue known as The Angel of Christian Charity or Eros. It is
surrounded by several noted buildings, including the London Pavilion
and Criterion Theatre. Directly underneath the plaza is the London
Underground station Piccadilly Circus. Built in 1819 to connect Regent
Street with the major shopping street of Piccadilly (the "circus"
refers to "circular open space at a street junction"), it now links
directly to the theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue as well as the
Haymarket, Coventry Street (onwards to Leicester Square) and
Glasshouse Street. Its proximity to major shopping and entertainment
areas, its central location at the heart of the West End, and its
status as a major traffic intersection have made Piccadilly Circus a
busy meeting point and a tourist attraction in its own right.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadilly_Circus
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1900:
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gave royal assent to an act
creating the Commonwealth of Australia, thus uniting separate colonies
on the continent under one federal government.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Australia)
1922:
Johnny Weissmuller swam the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds,
breaking a world swimming record and the 'minute barrier'.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Weissmuller)
1942:
Holocaust: Anne Frank's family went into hiding in an attic above her
father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)
2002:
The African Union was established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Union)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"God never deserted our people. Right through the ages there were
Jews. Through the ages they suffered, but it also made us strong." --
Anne Frank
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)
David Helvarg is an American journalist and environmental activist. He
is the founder and president of the marine conservation lobbying
organization Blue Frontier Campaign, a part of the Seaweed rebellion,
which arose from his second book, Blue Frontier. His first book, The
War against the Greens, puts a case that violent organised resistance
is being orchestrated against the environmental movement. Helvarg
began his career as a freelance journalist before becoming a war
correspondent and then returning to news journalism. He writes about
politics, AIDS, and sea life. He has reported from every continent and
he has been published in specialist and popular magazines, and US
newspapers both locally and in syndication. His experience of military
conflict, civil conflict and marine biology is the basis of his
lobbying.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Helvarg
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1497:
Vasco da Gama set sail on first direct European voyage to India.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama)
1709:
Battle of Poltava: In Ukraine, Peter I of Russia defeated Charles XII
of Sweden at Poltava, effectively ending Sweden's role as a major
power in Europe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Poltava)
1889:
The first issue of the Wall Street Journal was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Journal)
1947:
Newspapers in Roswell, New Mexico, United States, reported the
military's capture of a "flying saucer".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roswell_UFO_incident)
1997:
Mayo Clinic researchers warned that the dieting drug "fen-phen" can
cause severe heart and lung damage.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayo_Clinic)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with
the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one
of the people." -- Jean de La Fontaine
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Fontaine)
The geography of India is extremely diverse, with landscape ranging
from snow-capped mountain ranges to deserts, plains, hills and
plateaus. Climate ranges from equatorial in the far south, to tundra
in the Himalayan altitudes. India comprises most of the Indian
subcontinent and has a long coastline of over 7,000 km (4,300 miles),
most of which lies on a peninsula that protrudes into the Indian
Ocean. India is bounded in the west by the Arabian Sea and in the east
by the Bay of Bengal. The fertile Indo-Gangetic plain occupies most of
northern, central and eastern India, while the Deccan Plateau occupies
most of southern India. To the west of the country is the Thar Desert,
which consists of a mix of rocky and sandy desert, while India's east
and northeastern border consists of the high Himalayan range.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_India
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1456:
Joan of Arc was acquitted posthumously.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc)
1846:
American forces led by Commodore John Drake Sloat occupied Monterey
and Yerba Buena, beginning the annexation of California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California)
1898:
The United States annexed Hawai'i.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii)
1937:
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident marked the beginning of the Second
Sino-Japanese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_Bridge_Incident)
1946:
Mother Cabrini, the first U.S. saint, was canonized.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother_Cabrini)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"The more you love, the more you can love— and the more intensely
you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person
had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and
just." -- Robert A. Heinlein
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein)