The menstrual cycle is the recurring physiological changes in a
female's body that are under the control of the reproductive hormone
system and necessary for reproduction. In women, menstrual cycles
occur typically on a monthly basis between puberty and menopause.
Besides humans, only great apes exhibit menstrual cycles, in contrast
to the estrus cycle of most mammalian species. During the menstrual
cycle, the sexually mature female body releases one egg (or
occasionally two, which might result in non-identical twins) at the
time of ovulation. The lining of the uterus, the endometrium, builds
up in a synchronised fashion. After ovulation, this lining changes to
prepare for potential implantation of the fertilized egg to establish
a pregnancy. If fertilisation and pregnancy do not ensue, the uterus
sheds the lining and a new menstrual cycle begins.us.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menstrual_cycle
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
Gabriel Prosser attempted a slave rebellion in Virginia, United
States.
1813:
Napoleonic Wars: An Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance defeated the
French forces in the Battle of Kulm.
1862:
American Civil War: James Longstreet and Stonewall Jackson led their
Confederate troops to a decisive victory in the Second Battle of Bull
Run.
1992:
Michael Schumacher won his first Formula One race at the Belgian Grand
Prix.
1999:
The people of East Timor voted for independence from Indonesia in a
referendum.
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
I find that the great thing in this world is not so much where we
stand as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven,
we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it— but we
must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor." -- Oliver Wendell
Holmes, Sr.
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes%2C_Sr.)
African American literature is literature written by, about, and
sometimes specifically for African Americans. The genre began during
the 18th and 19th centuries with writers such as poet Phillis Wheatley
and orator Frederick Douglass, reached an early high point with the
Harlem Renaissance, and continues today with authors such as Toni
Morrison and Maya Angelou being ranked among the top writers in the
United States. Among the themes and issues explored in African
American literature are the role of African Americans within the
larger American society, African American culture, racism, slavery,
and equality. As African Americans' place in American society has
changed over the centuries, so too has the focus of African American
literature. Before the American Civil War, African American literature
primarily focused on the issue of slavery, as indicated by the popular
subgenre of slave narratives. During the American Civil Rights
movement, authors like Richard Wright and Gwendolyn Brooks wrote about
issues of segregation and black nationalism. Today, African American
literature has become accepted as an integral part of American
literature, with books in the genre, such as Roots: The Saga of an
American Family by Alex Haley and The Color Purple by Alice Walker,
achieving both best-selling and award-winning status.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American_literature
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1814:
Washington, D.C. was burnt down during the War of 1812.
1835:
The New York Sun perpetrated the Great Moon Hoax.
1912:
The Kuomintang was founded by Sung Chiao-jen and Dr. Sun Yat-sen in:
Guangdong, China.
1920:
In the Polish-Soviet War, the Battle of Warsaw ended with a Russian:
defeat.
1989:
The Voyager 2 spacecraft reached Neptune, the last planet it could:
visit before leaving the solar system.
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which
carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me,
but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.
-- Jorge Luis Borges
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jorge_Luis_Borges)
Autism is classified as a neurodevelopmental disorder that manifests
itself in markedly abnormal social interaction, communication ability,
patterns of interests, and patterns of behavior. Although the specific
etiology of autism is unknown, genetic factors appear to be important.
By definition, autism must manifest delays in "social interaction,
language as used in social communication, or symbolic or imaginative
play," with "onset prior to age 3 years." (DSM-IV) There have been
large increases in the reported incidence of autism, for reasons that
are heavily debated in the scientific community. There are cases of
autistic children who have improved their social and other skills to
the point where they can fully participate in mainstream education and
social events, but there are lingering concerns that an absolute cure
from autism is impossible with current technology since it involves
aspects of neurological brain structure determined very early in
development. However, some autistic children and adults who are able
to communicate at a functional level are opposed to attempts to cure
their condition.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
79:
Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum,
and Stabiae with volcanic ash.
410:
The Visigoths under Alaric I sacked Rome.
1572:
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre: a massacre of Huguenots began. An
estimated 70,000 people were killed in France in the following weeks.
1821:
The Treaty of Córdoba was signed, ratifiying the Plan de Iguala and
concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.
1992:
Hurricane Andrew, the costliest natural disaster to ever strike the
United States, made landfall in South Florida as a Category Five
storm.
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject.
-- William Wallace
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wallace)
A. E. J. Collins was a cricketer and soldier, most famous for his
achievement, as a schoolboy, of the highest-ever recorded score in
cricket, 628 not out, over four afternoons in June 1899. Collins'
record-making innings drew a large crowd and increasing media
interest: spectators at the Old Cliftonian match being played nearby
were drawn away to watch a junior school house cricket match. Collins
joined the British Army in 1902. He studied at the Royal Military
Academy, Woolwich, before becoming an officer in the Royal Engineers.
He served in France during World War I, where he was killed in action
in 1914.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._J._Collins
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1305:
After a show trial, William Wallace, leader of the Scottish resistance
against England, was executed in Smithfield Market, London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace)
1866:
Prussia defeated Austria in the Austro-Prussian War, and dissolved the
German Confederation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austro-Prussian_War)
1939:
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty between the
Soviet Union and the German Third Reich, was signed in Moscow.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov-Ribbentrop_Pact)
1944:
King Michael dismissed the pro-Nazi government of General Ion
Antonescu, putting Romania on the side of the Allies for the remainder
of World War II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Antonescu)
1948:
The World Council of Churches was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Council_of_Churches)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I could not be a traitor to Edward, for I was never his subject." --
William Wallace
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Wallace)
The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the
federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising
the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House consists of 435
members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves
for a two-year term. Seats in the House are apportioned among the
states on the basis of population; by contrast, each state is
represented in the Senate by two members, regardless of population.
There are a total of 100 Senators, who serve six-year terms. The
United States Constitution vests all the legislative powers of the
federal government in the Congress. The powers of Congress are limited
to those expressly enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers
are reserved to the states and the people, except where the
Constitution provides otherwise. Significant powers of Congress
include the authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, to
levy taxes, to establish federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court,
and to declare war. The Senate is fully equal to the House of
Representatives, and not a mere "chamber of review," as is the case
with the upper houses of the bicameral legislatures of many other
nations.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_the_United_States
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1485:
The Battle of Bosworth Field decisively ended the Wars of the Roses.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bosworth_Field)
1851:
The first America's Cup was won by the yacht America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Cup)
1864:
Twelve European nations signed the First Geneva Convention, which
marked the beginning of the Red Cross movement led by Henry Dunant.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Geneva_Convention)
1911:
The theft of the Mona Lisa was discovered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa)
1989:
Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson, becoming the first major
league baseball pitcher to record 5000 strikeouts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Ryan)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"By a free country, I mean a country where people are allowed, so long
as they do not hurt their neighbours, to do as they like. I do not
mean a country where six men may make five men do exactly as they
like." -- Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Lord Salisbury
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Gascoyne-Cecil%2C_3rd_Marquess_of_Salis…)
Anschluss was the 1938 incorporation of Austria in "Greater Germany"
under the Nazi regime. The events of March 12, 1938 were the first
major step in Adolf Hitler's long-desired expansion of the Third
Reich, preceding the inclusion of the Sudentenland later in 1938 and
the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939, and finally leading to World
War II with the assault on Poland. Although the Wehrmacht entered into
Austria to enforce the Anschluss, no fighting took place, in part
because of prior political pressure exerted by Germany, but primarily
because of the well-planned internal overthrow by the Austrian Nazi
Party of Austria's state institutions in Vienna on March 11, the day
before German troops marched across the border. The international
response to the Anschluss was moderate: the United Kingdom held to its
policy of appeasement and did not enforce the Treaty of Versailles,
which ended World War I and specifically prohibited any attachment of
Germany and Austria. Austria ceased to exist as an independent nation
until a preliminary Austrian government was finally reinstated on
April 27, 1945, and was legally recognized by the Allies in the
following months.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1680:
Pueblo Indians captured Santa Fe from the Spanish.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_people)
1772:
A coup led by Gustav III was completed by adopting a new Instrument of
Government, ending the Age of Liberty in Sweden.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_III_of_Sweden)
1831:
Nat Turner led a slave revolt in Southampton County, Virginia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner)
1959:
Hawaii was admitted as the 50th U.S. state.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii)
1986:
Toxic gas erupted from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing over
1700 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Nyos_tragedy)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
If you want the world to knowWe won't let hatred growPut a little love
in your heart. -- Jackie DeShannon --
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jackie_DeShannon)
Porgy and Bess is an opera with music by George Gershwin and libretto
by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on Heyward's novel
Porgy and the play of the same name that he co-wrote with his wife
Dorothy. All three works deal with African American life in the
ficticious Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina in the early
1930s. Originally conceived by Gershwin as an "American folk opera",
the work was first performed in various forms in the fall of 1935, but
was not widely accepted in the United States as a legitimate opera
until the late 1970s and 1980s: it is now considered part of the
standard operatic repertoire. Porgy and Bess is also regularly
performed internationally, and several recordings of the complete
work, including Gershwin's cuts, have been made. "Summertime" is by
far the best-known piece from the work, and countless interpretations
of this and other individual numbers have also been recorded and
performed. The opera is admired for Gershwin's innovative synthesis of
European orchestral techniques with American jazz and folk music
idioms.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porgy_and_Bess
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
636:
Arab forces led by Khalid bin Walid took control of Syria and
Palestine in the Battle of Yarmuk, marking the first great wave of
Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yarmuk)
917:
Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria invaded Thrace and drove the Byzantines out.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simeon_I_of_Bulgaria)
1882:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuted in Moscow.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture)
1968:
"Prague Spring" abruptly ended when 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and
5,000 tanks invaded Czechoslovakia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring)
1991:
Estonia regained its independence in the Singing Revolution as part of
the collapse of the Soviet Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"The Government of the State of Israel and the Palestinian team
representing the Palestinian people agree that it is time to put an
end to decades of confrontation and conflict, recognize their mutual
legitimate and political rights, and strive to live in peaceful
coexistence and mutual dignity and security to achieve a just, lasting
and comprehensive peace settlement and historic reconciliation through
the agreed political process." -- The Oslo Accords
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3AOslo_Accords)
The exposed geology of the Death Valley area records many events
associated with plate tectonics. The oldest rocks in the area that now
comprise Death Valley National Park and environs are extensively
metamorphosed by intense heat and pressure and are at least 1700
million years old. Rifting of the supercontinent Rodinia some 700 to
800 million years ago (mya) allowed sea water to invade until the
continental crust broke, giving birth to the Pacific Ocean. The
region's first known fossils of complex life were buried at the base
of the submerged precipice. Some 80 million years ago a subduction
zone formed off the coast as the Farallon Plate started to dive below
the North American Plate; volcanoes and uplifting mountains were
created in the region as a result. Stretching of the crust under
western North America started around 16 mya, creating the Basin and
Range province. By 2 to 3 mya this province had spread to the Death
Valley area, ripping it apart and creating Death Valley, Panamint
Valley and surrounding ranges. These valleys partially filled with
sediment and, during the wet times of ice ages, with lakes such as
Lake Manly. By 10,500 years ago these lakes were increasingly cut off
from glacial melt from the Sierra Nevada, starving them of water and
concentrating salts and minerals. The desert environment seen today
developed after these lakes dried up.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geology_of_the_Death_Valley_area
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1876:
Thomas Edison received a patent for his mimeograph machine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mimeograph_machine)
1929:
German airship LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin embarked on a flight to
circumnavigate the world.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZ_127_Graf_Zeppelin)
1930:
Betty Boop made her first appearance as an animated cartoon character
in Max Fleischer's Talkartoon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Boop)
1938:
Holocaust: The Mauthausen concentration camp was opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauthausen-Gusen_concentration_camp)
1967:
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand founded
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Southeast_Asian_Nations)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"It seems that if one is working from the point of view of getting
beauty in one's equations, and if one has really a sound insight, one
is on a sure line of progress." -- Paul Dirac
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac)
Grunge music is an independent-rooted music genre that was inspired by
hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock. The genre became
commercially successful in the late 1980s and early 1990s, peaking in
mainstream popularity between 1991 and 1994. Bands from cities in the
U.S. Pacific Northwest such as Seattle, Washington, Olympia,
Washington, and Portland, Oregon, were responsible for creating grunge
music and later made it popular with mainstream audiences. The genre
is closely associated with Generation X, due to its popularization
being in tandem with the popularizing of the generation's name. The
popularity of grunge was one of the first phenomena that distinguished
the popular music of the 1990s from that of the 1980s.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grunge_music
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1806:
The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved when Francis II, the last Holy
Roman Emperor, was forced to abdicate.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire)
1890:
William Kemmler became the first person to be executed in an electric
chair.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/electric_chair)
1945:
World War II: Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress of the U.S. Army Air
Force, dropped an atomic bomb named Little Boy on Hiroshima, Japan,
killing an estimated 80,000 people instantly.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki)
1991:
Tim Berners-Lee released files describing his idea for a "World Wide
Web."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee)
2001:
U.S. President George W. Bush received a daily briefing warning of an
imminent attack by Osama bin Laden.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_Daily_Briefing)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"The Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn't necessary to hit
them with that awful thing." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower)