The history of Portugal from 1777 to 1834 begins with the reign of
Maria I and ends with the Liberal Wars in 1834, spanning a complex
historic period in which several important political and military
events led to the end of the absolutist regime and to the installment
of a constitutional monarchy in the country. In 1807, Napoleon ordered
the invasion of Portugal and subsequently the Royal Family escaped to
Brazil. This would be one of the causes for the declaration of
Brazilian independence by Peter I of Brazil in 1823, following a
liberal revolution in Portugal. The liberal period was stormy and
short as Prince Michael of Portugal (Peter's brother) supported an
absolutist revolution that restored all power upon the monarch. Peter
would eventually return to Portugal and fight and defeat his brother
in the Liberal Wars in which liberalism was completely installed and
Portugal became a constitutional monarchy.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Portugal_%281777-1834%29
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1266:
King Manfred of Sicily was killed at the Battle of Benevento, fighting
Angevin forces led by Charles, the Count of Anjou.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfred_of_Sicily)
1815:
The Hundred Days: Napoléon Bonaparte escaped from exile in Elba.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France)
1935:
Adolf Hitler ordered the German air force Luftwaffe reinstated,
violating the Treaty of Versailles signed at the end of World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luftwaffe)
1935:
In Daventry, England, Robert Watson-Watt first demonstrated the use of
radar.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Watson-Watt)
1993:
World Trade Center bombing: A van rented by Ramzi Yousef exploded in
the underground garage of the World Trade Center in New York City,
killing six and injuring more than 1,000 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramzi_Yousef)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Sure, ninety percent of science fiction is crud. That's because
ninety percent of everything is crud." -- Theodore Sturgeon
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon)
Médecins Sans Frontières is a secular humanitarian-aid
non-governmental organisation most recognised for its projects in
war-torn regions and developing countries facing endemic disease.
Headquartered in Brussels, MSF is governed by an International Board
of Directors and organised into 20 national sections. Private donors
provide about 80% of the organisation's funding, while governmental
and corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget
of approximately USD 400 million. The organisation actively provides
health care and medical training to populations in more than 70
countries, and frequently insists on political responsibility in
conflict zones such as Chechnya and Kosovo. Only once in its history,
during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, has the organisation called for a
military intervention. In recognition of its members' continuous
effort to provide medical care in acute crises, as well as raising
international awareness of potential humanitarian disasters, MSF
received the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%83%C2%A9decins_Sans_Fronti%C3%83%C2%A8res
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1570:
Pope Pius V issued the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis to excommunicate
Queen Elizabeth I and her followers in the Church of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regnans_in_Excelsis)
1836:
Samuel Colt received a patent for a "revolving gun."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/revolver)
1921:
The Democratic Republic of Georgia was occupied by the Soviet Red
Army.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_Georgia)
1951:
The first Pan American Games opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_American_Games)
1986:
EDSA Revolution: Corazón Aquino was inaugurated as President of the
Philippines, as Ferdinand Marcos fled the nation after 20 years of
rule.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coraz%C3%83%C2%B3n_Aquino)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"That so many writers have been prepared to accept a kind of martyrdom
is the best tribute that flesh can pay to the living spirit of man as
expressed in his literature. One cannot doubt that the martyrdom will
continue to be gladly embraced. To some of us, the wresting of beauty
out of language is the only thing in the world that matters." --
Anthony Burgess
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Burgess)
The flag of Mexico is a tricolor of green, white and red with the coat
of arms charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meaning
of the colors has changed over time, these three colors were adopted
by Mexico following independence from Spain during the country's War
of Independence. The current flag was adopted in 1968, but the overall
design has been used since 1821. The current law of national symbols
that governs the use of the national flag has been in place since
1984. Throughout history, the flag has changed eight times, as the
design of the coat of arms and the length-width ratios of the flag
have been modified. However, the coat of arms has had the same
features throughout: an eagle, holding a serpent in its talon, is
perched on top of a cactus; the cactus is situated on a rock that
rises above a lake. The current national flag, the "Fourth National
Flag", is also used as the Mexican naval ensign by ships registered in
Mexico.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Mexico
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
303:
Roman Emperor Galerius began to persecute Christians.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galerius)
1582:
Pope Gregory XIII issued the papal bull Inter gravissimas to
promulgate the Gregorian calendar, a modification of the Julian
calendar in use since 45 BC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_XIII)
1803:
Marbury v. Madison established judicial review in the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison)
1848:
Louis-Philippe, the Orléanist King of the French, abdicated and
escaped to England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Philippe_of_France)
1946:
Colonel Juan Perón was elected to his first term as President of
Argentina.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%83%C2%B3n)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Our armament must be adequate to the needs, but our faith is not
primarily in these machines of defense but in ourselves." -- Chester
Nimitz
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chester_Nimitz)
The Panama Canal is a major shipping canal which cuts through the
isthmus of Panama in Central America, connecting the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans. The construction of the canal was one of the largest
and most difficult engineering projects ever undertaken; it has had an
enormous impact on shipping, because it removes the need for ships to
travel the long and treacherous route via the Drake Passage and Cape
Horn at the southernmost tip of South America. Although the concept of
a canal in Panama dates back to the early 1500s, the first attempt to
construct a canal began in 1880, under French leadership. This attempt
collapsed, and the work was finally completed by the United States;
the canal opened in 1914. The building of the 77 kilometre (48 mi)
canal was plagued by problems, including disease (particularly malaria
and yellow fever) and massive landslides. As many as 27,500 workers
are estimated to have died during construction of the canal. Since
opening, the canal has been highly successful and continues to be a
key factor in world shipping.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1455:
Johann Gutenberg in Mainz began printing the Gutenberg Bible.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Gutenberg)
1893:
Rudolf Diesel received a patent for the diesel engine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/diesel_engine)
1903:
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba was perpetually leased to the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay)
1945:
Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph Raising the
Flag on Iwo Jima, an image that was later reproduced as the U.S.
Marine Corps War Memorial.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima)
1947:
The International Organization for Standardization was founded. It is
responsible for worldwide industrial and commercial ISO standards.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Organization_for_Standardization)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Man is always something more than what he knows of himself. He is
not what he is simply once and for all, but is a process..." -- Karl
Jaspers
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Jaspers)
The history of merit badges in the Boy Scouts of America has
historically been tracked by categorizing them into a series of merit
badge types. Merit badges have been an integral part of the Scouting
program since the start of the movement in Great Britain in 1908.
Scouting came to the United States in 1910; the BSA quickly issued an
initial list of just 14 merit badges, but did not produce or award
them. In 1911, the BSA manufactured the first official 57 merit badges
and began awarding them. The number of badges available has been as
high as 140 and, as of 2006, is 121. Merit badge types are
identifiable by the cloth and manufacturing process used to make them.
The classification of badges into types came about as a way for
collectors to categorize and classify their collections. Merit badge
collectors often collect other Scouting memorabilia as well.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_merit_badges_%28Boy_Scouts_of_Ameri…
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
By the Adams-Onís Treaty, Spain sold Florida to the United States for
five million U.S. dollars.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams-On%C3%83%C2%ADs_Treaty)
1876:
The Johns Hopkins University, named after philanthropist Johns
Hopkins, was founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johns_Hopkins_University)
1943:
Members of the White Rose Society were found guilty of treason and
guillotined by the Nazi regime in Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose)
1959:
Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500 automobile race.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytona_500)
1997:
Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced the birth of
a cloned sheep named Dolly.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_the_sheep)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private
affairs, that honesty is always the best policy." -- George Washington
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington)
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough in the north of England.
Its name originates from the River Sheaf that runs through the town.
The city has grown from its industrial roots to encompass a wide
economic base. It has become world famous for its production of steel.
Many innovations in the industry have been developed locally,
including crucible and stainless steel. This fuelled an almost tenfold
increase in the population since the start of Industrial Revolution.
It gained its city charter in 1893 and became officially titled the
City of Sheffield. International competition caused a decline in local
industry during the 1970s and '80s, impacting on Sheffield's
population. In recent years the city has attempted to reinvent itself
as a sporting and technology city; there are signs that this is
reversing its fortunes. The present city boundaries were set in 1974,
when the former county borough of Sheffield merged with Stocksbridge
Urban District and two parishes from the Wortley Rural District. This
area includes a significant part of the countryside surrounding the
main urban region. Roughly a third of Sheffield lies in the Peak
District National Park (no other English city has a national park
within its boundary), and Sheffield is England's greenest city,
containing over 150 woodlands and 50 public parks.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1472:
James III of Scotland annexed the Orkney and Shetland Islands from
Denmark-Norway.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney_Islands)
1810:
Andreas Hofer, a Tyrolean patriot and the leader of a rebellion
against Napoleon's forces, was executed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Hofer)
1913:
King O'Malley drove in the first survey peg to mark the commencement
of work on the construction of Canberra, Australia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Canberra)
1959:
The Avro Arrow supersonic jet fighters programme in Canada was
cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Arrow)
1965:
The Ranger 8 spacecraft successfully transmitted 7,137 photographs of
the moon in the final 23 minutes of its mission before crashing in
Mare Tranquillitatis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_8)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"We picked up everything we could get our hands on. Not that we needed
all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious
drug-collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. The
only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in
the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in
the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we'd get into that rotten
stuff pretty soon." -- Hunter S. Thompson
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson)
James T. Aubrey, Jr. was an American television and film executive. As
president of the CBS television network during the early 1960s, he put
on the air some of television's most enduring series, including
Gilligan's Island and The Beverly Hillbillies. Under Aubrey, CBS
dominated American television the way General Motors and General
Electric dominated their industries. The New York Times Magazine in
1964 called Aubrey "a master of programming whose divinations led to
successes that are breathtaking." Despite his successes in television,
Aubrey's abrasive personality and oversized ego—"Picture Machiavelli
and Karl Rove at a University of Colorado football recruiting party"
wrote Variety in 2004—led to his firing from CBS amid charges of
improprieties. After four years as an independent producer, Aubrey was
hired by financier Kirk Kerkorian to preside over
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's near-total shutdown in the 1970s, during which
he slashed the budget and alienated producers and directors but
brought profits to a company that had suffered huge losses. Aubrey
resigned from MGM after four years, declaring his job was done, and
then vanished into almost total obscurity for the last two decades of
his life.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_T._Aubrey%2C_Jr.
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
197:
Septimius Severus defeated usurper Clodius Albinus in the Battle
of Lugdunum, securing full control over the Roman Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lugdunum)
1594:
King Zygmunt III Vasa of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was
crowned King of Sweden.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zygmunt_III_Vasa)
1942:
Air raids on Darwin: The capital of Northern Territory, Australia was
devastated by 242 bombers and fighters of the Imperial Japanese Navy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_raids_on_Darwin%2C_February_19%2C_1942)
1942:
U.S. Executive Order 9066 was signed, authorising the relocation and
confinement of over 112,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Executive_Order_9066)
1986:
The space station Mir of the Soviet space program was launched,
establishing the first long-term research station in space.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"External success has to do with people who may see me as a model, or
an example, or a representative. As much as I may dislike or want to
reject that responsibility, this is something that comes with public
success. It's important to give others a sense of hope that it is
possible and you can come from really different places in the world
and find your own place in the world that's unique for yourself." --
Amy Tan
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amy_Tan)
The political integration of India established a united nation for the
first time in thousands of years from a plethora of princely states,
colonial provinces and possessions. Despite partition, a new India
arose above demographic distinctions to unite peoples of various
geographic, economic, ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds.
India was transformed after independence through political upheaval
and ethnic discontent, and continues to evolve as a federal republic
natural to its diversity. The process is defined by sensitive
religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims, diverse ethnic
populations, as well as by geo-political rivalry and military
conflicts with Pakistan and China. When the Indian independence
movement succeeded in ending British Raj on August 15, 1947, India's
leaders faced the prospect of inheriting a nation fragmented between
medieval-era kingdoms and provinces organized by colonial powers.
Under the leadership of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, one of India's most
respected freedom fighters and the Minister of Home Affairs, the new
Government of India employed frank political negotiations backed with
the option of military action to weld a nation.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_integration_of_India
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1861:
Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the first (and only) President of
the Confederate States of America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis)
1885:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was first published.
It was both praised and banned shortly thereafter.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn)
1932:
The Empire of Japan established Manchukuo, a puppet state in
northeastern China during the Sino-Japanese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchukuo)
1943:
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister, delivered the
Sportpalast speech to motivate the German people when the tide of
World War II was turning against Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels)
2003:
An arsonist in Daegu, South Korea started a fire aboard a subway
train, killing two hundred passengers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daegu_subway_fire)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"At some point in life the world's beauty becomes enough. You don't
need to photograph, paint or even remember it. It is enough. No record
of it needs to be kept and you don't need someone to share it with or
tell it to. When that happens — that letting go — you let go
because you can." -- Toni Morrison
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison)
Yagan was a Noongar warrior who played a key part in early indigenous
Australian resistance to European settlement and rule in the area of
Perth, Western Australia. After he led a series of attacks in which
white settlers were murdered, a bounty was offered for his capture
dead or alive, and he was shot dead by a young settler. Yagan's death
has passed into Western Australian folklore as a symbol of the unjust
and sometimes brutal treatment of the indigenous peoples of Australia
by colonial settlers. Yagan's head was removed and taken to Britain,
where it was exhibited as an "anthropological curiosity". It spent
over a century in storage at a museum before being buried in an
unmarked grave in 1964. In 1993 its location was identified, and four
years later it was exhumed and repatriated to Australia. Since then,
the issue of its proper reburial has become a source of great
controversy and conflict amongst the indigenous people of the Perth
area. To date, the head remains unburied.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yagan
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1801:
The U.S. House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson as
President and Aaron Burr as Vice President of the United States,
resolving an electoral tie in the 1800 presidential election.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election%2C_1800)
1854:
Britain recognized the independence of the Orange Free State in the
present-day Free State Province, South Africa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange_Free_State)
1895:
The ballet Swan Lake was first performed at full length with music by
Tchaikovsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake)
1959:
Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, was launched to measure
cloud-cover distribution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_2)
1979:
About 120,000 troops of the People's Liberation Army of China crossed
into northern Vietnam, starting the Sino-Vietnamese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Vietnamese_War)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make
it happen." -- Michael Jordan
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michael_Jordan)
Shielded metal arc welding is a manual arc welding process that uses a
consumable electrode coated in flux to lay the weld. An electric
current (either alternating current or direct current from a welding
power supply) is used to form an electric arc between the electrode
and the metals to be joined. As the weld is laid, the flux coating of
the electrode disintegrates, giving off vapors that serve as a
shielding gas and providing a layer of slag, both of which protect the
weld area from atmospheric contamination. Because of the versatility
of the process and the simplicity of its equipment and operation,
shielded metal arc welding is one of world's most popular welding
processes. It dominates other welding processes in the maintenance and
repair industry, and though flux-cored arc welding is growing in
popularity, it continues to be used extensively in the construction of
steel structures and in industrial fabrication. The process is used
primarily to weld iron and steels (including stainless steel), but
nickel and copper alloys can also be welded.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shielded_metal_arc_welding
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1249:
Louis IX of France dispatched Andrew of Longjumeau as his ambassador
to the Mongols.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_of_Longjumeau)
1804:
Lt. Stephen Decatur led a raid to destroy the captured USS
Philadelphia in Tripoli of the Barbary States, denying her use to the
enemy in the First Barbary War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur)
1857:
Gallaudet University, the world's only university for
hearing-impaired students, was established in Washington, D.C..
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallaudet_University)
1923:
Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun, a Pharaoh of
the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Carter)
1978:
The first computer bulletin board system, CBBS, was established by
Ward Christensen during a blizzard in Chicago, Illinois.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBBS)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been
the systematic organization of hatreds." -- Henry Adams
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Adams)