The Single Transferable Vote (STV) is a preferential voting system
designed to minimise wasted votes and provide proportional
representation in multi-candidate elections while ensuring that votes
are explicitly for candidates rather than party lists. STV voting
systems achieve this by initially allocating an individual's vote to
their most preferred candidate and then subsequently transferring
unneeded or unused votes after candidates are either elected or
eliminated according to the voter's stated preferences. STV is
promoted as a proportional representation method in multi-party
multi-seat elections. In Australia, it is known as the Hare-Clark
Proportional method, while the same system with parties able to
indicate preferences is called simply STV. When STV methods are
applied to single-seat elections, they simplify to instant-runoff
voting and have different proportionality implications for a similar
ballot due to the existence of only one winner.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Transferable_Vote
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1399:
The Duke of Lancaster deposed Richard II to become Henry IV of
England, merging the Duchy of Lancaster with the crown.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_England)
1966:
Seretse Khama became the first President of Botswana when the
Bechuanaland Protectorate gained independence from the United Kingdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seretse_Khama)
1980:
Ethernet specifications were first published by Xerox, Intel and
Digital Equipment Corporation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet)
1982:
The sitcom Cheers was first broadcast on U.S. television.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheers)
1991:
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a coup
d'état and replaced by General Raoul Cédras. A large-scale exodus of
boat people ensued.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Bertrand_Aristide)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all
the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." -- Jalal
al-Din Muhammad Rumi
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jalal_al-Din_Muhammad_Rumi)
Miles Davis was one of the most influential and innovative musicians
of the twentieth century. Davis was a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and
composer. Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development
of jazz after the Second World War. He played on some of the important
early bebop records, the first cool jazz records were recorded under
his name, he was largely responsible for the development of modal
jazz, and jazz fusion arose from Davis's bands of the late sixties and
early seventies and the musicians who worked with him. Davis was in a
line of jazz trumpeters that started with Buddy Bolden and ran through
Joe "King" Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Roy Eldridge, and Dizzy Gillespie.
Many of the major figures in postwar jazz played in one of Davis's
groups at some point in their career. Some authorities consider Davis
to have been the first person really to understand the difference
between live and recorded music.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Davis
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1066:
Norman Conquest: William the Conqueror and his fleet of around 600
ships reached England and landed at Pevensey, Sussex.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Conquest)
1542:
Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, the first European to
travel along the California coast, landed on what is now the U.S. city
of San Diego.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Rodr%C3%ADguez_Cabrillo)
1972:
Paul Henderson scored the game-winning goal against Vladislav
Tretiak, securing a Canadian victory in the Summit Series over the
Soviet ice hockey team.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Series)
1994:
The ferry M/S Estonia sank while commuting between Tallinn, Estonia,
and Stockholm, Sweden, claiming 852 lives in one of the worst maritime
accidents in the Baltic Sea.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%2FS_Estonia)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
In the season of white wild roses We two went hand in hand: But now in
the ruddy autumn Together already we stand. -- Francis Turner Palgrave
--
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Francis_Turner_Palgrave)
The documented history of Arizona began when Marcos de Niza, a
Franciscan, explored the area in 1539. Coronado's expedition entered
the area in 1540?42 during its search for Cibola. All of present-day
Arizona became part of Mexico's northwest frontier upon the Mexican
assertion of independence from Spain in 1810. The United States took
possession of most of Arizona at the end of the Mexican War in 1848.
In 1853, the land below the Gila River was acquired from Mexico in the
Gadsden Purchase. Arizona was administered as part of the Territory of
New Mexico until it was organized into a separate Arizona Territory on
February 24, 1863. With the encouragement of Brigham Young, Mormons
went from Utah in the mid-to-late 1800s to the Phoenix Valley (or
Valley of the Sun), Mesa, Tempe, Prescott, Snowflake, Heber, and many
other Arizona towns to settle there. Arizona was admitted into the
Union?officially becoming a U.S. state?on February 14, 1912.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Arizona
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1825:
Locomotion No. 1 hauled the first train on opening day of the Stockton
and Darlington Railway, the first railway to use steam locomotives and
carry passengers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockton_and_Darlington_Railway)
1905:
Albert Einstein published the article "Does the Inertia of a Body
Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E%3Dmc%C2%B2)
1940:
World War II: The Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin by the major
Axis Powers ? Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact)
1988:
Led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy was founded
in Burma (now known as Myanmar).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aung_San_Suu_Kyi)
1996:
The Taliban drove President Burhanuddin Rabbani of Afghanistan out of
Kabul, executed former President Mohammad Najibullah, and established
the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taliban)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Could you see the storm rising?
Could you see the guy who was driving?
Could you climb higher and higher?
Could you climb right over the top?
-- Kate Bush
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kate_Bush)
The Giver is a soft science fiction novel written by Lois Lowry in
1993. It is set in a future society which is at first presented as a
utopia and gradually appears more and more dystopian. The novel
follows a boy named Jonas through the twelfth year of his life.
Jonas's society has eliminated pain and strife by converting to
"Sameness", a move which has also eradicated emotional depth from
their lives. Jonas is selected to inherit the position of "Receiver of
Memory", the man who stores all the memories of the time before
Sameness, in case they are ever needed. As Jonas receives the memories
from his predecessor—the Giver—he discovers how shallow his
Community's life has become. Despite controversy and adverse criticism
from some readers, who profess concern that the book's subject
material is inappropriate for young children, The Giver won the 1994
Newbery Medal and has sold more than 3.5 million copies. In Lowry's
native United States, it is a part of many middle-school or
junior-high reading lists. The novel forms a loose trilogy with
Gathering Blue (2000) and Messenger (2004), two other books set in the
same future period.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1776:
Captain Nathan Hale, an American Revolutionary spy from the
Continental Army, was hanged by British forces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Hale)
1862:
History of slavery in the United States: President Abraham Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in
Confederate territory by January 1, 1863.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation)
1869:
Das Rheingold, the first of four operas in Der Ring des Nibelungen
by German composer Richard Wagner, debuted in Munich.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Rheingold)
1961:
The U.S. Congress authorized President John F. Kennedy's executive
order creating the Peace Corps. Within two years, over 7,300 Peace
Corps volunteers were serving in 44 countries.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Corps)
1980:
Iraq launched an invasion of Iran, starting the Iran-Iraq War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Iraq_War)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird
I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." -- George
Eliot
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Eliot)
Sylvia is a full-length ballet in two or three acts, first
choreographed by Louis Mérante to music by Léo Delibes in 1876.
Sylvia is a typical classical ballet in many respects, yet it has many
interesting features which make it unique. Sylvia is notable for its
mythological Arcadian setting, creative choreographies, expansive
sets, great influence on the arts and, above all, its remarkable
score. The ballet's orgins are in Tasso's 1573 poem "Aminta," which
describes the basic plot of Delibes' work. Jules Barbier and Baron de
Reinach adapted this for the Paris Opera where it inspired the a great
musician to compose Sylvia. This piano arrangement was composed in
1876 and the orchestral suite was done in 1880. When Sylvia premiered
on June 14, 1876 at the Palais Garnier, it went largely unnoticed. In
fact, the first seven productions of Sylvia were not successful. It
was the 1952 revival, choreographed by Sir Frederick Ashton, that
popularized the ballet.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_%28ballet%29
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
French Revolution: The National Convention voted to abolish the
monarchy, and the First Republic was proclaimed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Convention)
1823:
According to Joseph Smith, Jr., the angel Moroni appeared to him and
revealed the location of the hidden Golden Plates, which contained the
ancient sacred texts of the Book of Mormon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroni_%28Mormonism%29)
1898:
The Hundred Days' Reform in China was abruptly terminated when
Empress Dowager Cixi (pictured) forced the reform-minded Guangxu
Emperor into seclusion and took over the government as regent.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days%27_Reform)
1937:
J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, a prequel to The Lord of the Rings,
was first published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit)
1942:
The prototype model of the B-29 Superfortress flew for the first
time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-29_Superfortress)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Hope is a good thing — maybe the best of things. And no good thing
ever dies." -- "Andy Dufresne" in The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen
King
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption)
IFK Göteborg is a Swedish football club located in Gothenburg. The
club, formed 4 October 1904, has won 17 national championship titles,
4 national cup titles, and two UEFA Cups. IFK Göteborg, Malmö FF,
and AIK are often considered to be the three biggest and most classic
Swedish football clubs with 42 championship titles in total. IFK
Göteborg is also the only Swedish team to have won a European cup
competition, the UEFA Cup in 1982 and 1987. They are currently playing
in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan, where they have played the
majority of the seasons during their existence. The last time they
played in a lower league was in 1976.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IFK_G%C3%B6teborg
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
451:
Flavius Aëtius, with the help of Roman foederati, defeated Attila
in the Battle of Chalons, and halted the invasion of Gaul by the Huns
and their allies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavius_A%C3%ABtius)
1378:
Papal Schism: Unhappy with Pope Urban VI, a group of cardinals
elected a rival papacy in Antipope Clement VII, throwing the Roman
Catholic Church into a turmoil.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Schism)
1854:
The Crimean War began with a Franco-British victory over Russian
forces in the Battle of Alma (pictured).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Alma)
1946:
The first Cannes Film Festival opened. Eleven films shared the Palme
d'Or that year.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannes_Film_Festival)
1973:
Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in straight sets in an
internationally televised tennis match dubbed the "Battle of the
Sexes".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Jean_King)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the
creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you
love. When you learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated
age." -- Sophia Loren
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sophia_Loren)
Montréal-Mirabel International Airport is a large airport located in
Mirabel, Quebec, near Montréal. The airport serves mainly cargo
flights, and is a manufacturing base of Bombardier Aerospace, where
final assembly of CRJ700 and CRJ900 aircraft is conducted. It is part
of the National Airports System. Despite being intended to become the
eastern air gateway to Canada, the airport's location and lack of
transport links, as well as Montréal's economic decline relative to
Toronto, made it unpopular with airlines. Eventually it was relegated
to the simple role of a cargo airport. The airport, while initially a
source of pride, eventually became an embarrassment, and is widely
regarded in Canada as being a boondoggle and one of the worst examples
of a failed megaproject.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montr%C3%A9al-Mirabel_International_Airport
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1692:
Giles Corey, who had refused to enter a plea, was pressed to his
death during the Salem witch trials.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem_witch_trials)
1893:
New Zealand became the first country to introduce universal
suffrage, following the women's suffrage movement led by Kate
Sheppard.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage)
1982:
":-)" and ":-(" were first proposed by Scott Fahlman for use as
emoticons .
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon)
1985:
A magnitude-8.1 earthquake devastated Mexico City, killing at least
five thousand people and leaving up to 90,000 homeless.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City)
1995:
The Unabomber Manifesto was published in The Washington Post and The
New York Times, almost three months after it was submitted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Kaczynski)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"There comes a point when a dream becomes reality and reality becomes
a dream." -- Frances Farmer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frances_Farmer)
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999
at Columbine High School near Denver and Littleton, Colorado, in the
United States. Two teenage students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold,
carried out a shooting rampage, killing twelve fellow students and a
teacher before committing suicide. It is considered to be the worst
school shooting in U.S. history. As a result of the massacre,
questions arose regarding gun control and the availability of assault
weapons in the United States. Much discussion was prompted regarding
the role of violent movies and video games in American society. Soon,
other topics of focus surfaced including the nature of high school
cliques and bullying. Several of the victims who were believed to have
been killed due to their religious beliefs became a source of
inspiration to others, notably Christians, and led some to lament the
decline of religion in public education and society in general. The
shooting also resulted in an increased emphasis on school security,
and a moral panic aimed at goth culture, heavy metal music, and
violent video games.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
96:
Nerva (pictured) was appointed by the Senate to become Roman
Emperor, the first of the Five Good Emperors.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerva)
1850:
The United States Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugitive_Slave_Law_of_1850)
1895:
Daniel David Palmer made the first chiropractic adjustment.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_David_Palmer)
1931:
The Mukden Incident: A section of the Japanese-built South Manchuria
Railway was allegedly destroyed by Chinese terrorists, providing an
excuse for the Japanese annexation of Manchuria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident)
1998:
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a
non-profit organization that manages the assignment of domain names
and IP addresses in the Internet, was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Pleasure is very seldom found where it is sought; our brightest
blazes of gladness are commonly kindled by unexpected sparks." --
Samuel Johnson
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson)
A templon is a Byzantine architectural feature first appearing in
Christian churches about the fifth century AD and is still found in
some Eastern Christian churches. It eventually evolved into the modern
iconostasis, still found in Orthodox churches today. It separates the
laity in the nave from the priests preparing the sacraments at the
altar. It is usually composed of carved wood or marble colonnettes
supporting an architrave (a beam resting on top of columns). Three
doors, a large central one and two smaller flanking ones, lead into
the sanctuary. The templon did not originally obscure the view of the
altar, but as time passed, icons were hung from the beams, curtains
were placed in between the colonnettes, and the templon became more
and more opaque. It is often covered with icons and can be very
elaborate.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Templon
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1787:
The text of the United States Constitution was finalized in
Philadelphia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution)
1809:
The Treaty of Fredrikshamn concluded the Finnish War between Russia
and Sweden, with Finland becoming an autonomous Grand Duchy under Czar
Alexander I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fredrikshamn)
1894:
The Imperial Japanese Navy and the Beiyang Fleet of Qing China
clashed in the Battle of Yalu River, the largest naval engagement of
the First Sino-Japanese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yalu_River_%281894%29)
1908:
Thomas Selfridge became the first passenger to die in a plane crash.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Selfridge)
1978:
President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of
Israel signed the Camp David Accords after twelve days of secret
negotiations at Camp David (pictured).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_David_Accords_%281978%29)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I've never seen anybody really find the answer — they think they
have, so they stop thinking. But the job is to seek mystery, evoke
mystery, plant a garden in which strange plants grow and mysteries
bloom. The need for mystery is greater than the need for an answer."
-- Ken Kesey
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Kesey)
The cerebellum is a region of the brain that plays an important role
in the integration of sensory perception and motor output. Many neural
pathways link the cerebellum with the motor cortex—which sends
information to the muscles causing them to move—and the
spinocerebellar tract—which provides feedback on the position of the
body in space (proprioception). The cerebellum integrates these two
functions, using the constant feedback on body position to fine-tune
motor movements. Because of this 'updating' function of the
cerebellum, lesions within it are not so debilitating as to cause
paralysis, but rather present as feedback deficits resulting in
disorders in fine movement, equilibrium, posture, and motor learning.
Initial observations by physiologists during the 18th century
indicated that patients with cerebellar damage show problems with
motor coordination and movement. Modern research has shown that the
cerebellum has a broader role in a number of key cognitive functions,
including attention and the processing of language, music, and other
sensory temporal stimuli.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1597:
Twelve Korean ships commanded by Admiral Yi Soon Shin sank 31 enemy
ships and defeated a Japanese invasion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yi_Sun-sin)
1810:
Miguel Hidalgo, the parish priest in Dolores, Guanajuato, delivered
the Grito de Dolores to his congregation, instigating the Mexican War
of Independence against Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_Hidalgo)
1941:
Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran was forced to abdicate in favour of his
son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reza_Pahlavi)
1963:
Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore merged to form Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia)
1982:
A Lebanese militia led by Elie Hobeika carried out a massacre in the
Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_Massacre)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"A planned life is a dead life." -- Lauren Bacall
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lauren_Bacall)