Epaminondas was a Theban general and statesman who transformed Thebes,
leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a preeminent position in
Greek geopolitics. In the process he broke Spartan military power with
his victory at Leuctra and liberated the Messenian
helots—Peloponnesian Greeks who had been enslaved under Spartan rule
for some 200 years. Epaminondas reshaped the political map of Greece,
fragmented old alliances, created new ones, and supervised the
construction of entire cities. He was militarily influential as well;
he invented several major battlefield tactics. Cicero once called him
"the first man of Greece", but Epaminondas has fallen into relative
obscurity in modern times. The changes he wrought on the Greek
political order did not long outlive him, as the cycle of shifting
hegemonies and alliances continued unabated. Just 27 years after his
death, a recalcitrant Thebes was obliterated by Alexander the Great.
Thus Epaminondas—who had been praised in his time as an idealist and
liberator—is today largely remembered for a decade (371 to 362 BC) of
campaigning that sapped the strength of the great land powers of
Greece and paved the way for the Macedonian conquest.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epaminondas
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1898:
The USS Maine exploded and sank in Havana, Cuba, killing more than 260
people in a tragedy that precipitated the Spanish-American War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_%28ACR-1%29)
1942:
General Tomoyuki Yamashita led the Japanese forces to capture the so
called "impregnable fortress" of Singapore.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Singapore)
1971:
The British pound sterling and the Irish pound were decimalised on
what is called Decimal Day.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_Day)
1989:
The Soviet Union officially announced that all of its troops had
withdrawn from Afghanistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan)
2003:
Millions around the world took part in the largest mass protest
movement in history against the impending invasion of Iraq.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/protests_against_the_2003_Iraq_war)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us
with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their
use." -- Galileo Galilei
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei)
"I Want to Hold Your Hand" is the title of the hit 1963 Beatles song
written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney that led the British
Invasion of the United States music charts. It was the first Beatles
record to be made using 4-track equipment and in real stereo, and the
Beatles' first number one song on the Billboard magazine charts,
heralding 19 more number one singles from the Beatles in the United
States. It also held the top spot in the United Kingdom charts, where
a million copies of the single had already been ordered by its
release. "I Want To Hold Your Hand" became the Beatles' best-selling
single worldwide. McCartney and Lennon did not have any particular
inspiration for the song, unlike their later hits such as "Yesterday",
"Hey Jude" and "Let It Be". Instead, they had received specific
instructions from manager Brian Epstein to write a song with the
American market in mind, and the result was "I Want to Hold Your
Hand".
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Want_to_Hold_Your_Hand
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1804:
Karađorđe became the leader of the First Serbian Uprising.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Serbian_Uprising)
1876:
Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell each filed a patent for the
telephone.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Gray)
1879:
Chilean forces occupied the Bolivian port of Antofagasta, instigating
the War of the Pacific.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Pacific)
1989:
A fatwa was issued for the execution of Salman Rushdie, the author of
The Satanic Verses, a novel considered "blasphemous against Islam".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie)
1989:
The first satellite in the satellite constellation of the Global
Positioning System was placed into orbit.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Positioning_System)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Some things you don't need until they leave you; they're the things
that you miss." -- Rob Thomas
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rob_Thomas)
Douglas Adams was a cult British comic radio dramatist, musician and
author, most notably of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
Hitchhiker's began on radio and developed into a "trilogy" of five
books (which had sold more than fifteen million copies by the time of
Adams' death) as well as a television series, a computer game and a
feature film that was completed only after Adams's death. In addition,
Douglas Adams also wrote or co-wrote three stories of science fiction
staple Doctor Who and served the series as Script Editor during the
seventeenth season. His other written works include the Dirk Gently
novels, co-author credits on two Liff books and Last Chance to See,
which was also based on a radio series. Towards the end of his life,
he was a sought-after lecturer on topics including technology and the
environment. Since his death at the age of 49, he is still widely
revered in science fiction and fantasy circles.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1689:
Glorious Revolution: Instead of James Francis Edward Stuart the Prince
of Wales acceding to the throne, his sister Mary and her husband
William were proclaimed co-rulers of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_II_of_England)
1880:
Thomas Edison observed the Edison Effect, which later formed the basis
of John Ambrose Fleming's vacuum tube diodes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermionic_emission)
1881:
Hubertine Auclert, a leading French suffragette in Paris, launched the
feminist newspaper La Citoyenne.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubertine_Auclert)
1945:
The RAF Bomber Command began the strategic bombing of Dresden in
Saxony, Germany, resulting in a lethal firestorm which killed tens of
thousands of civilians.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II)
1984:
Konstantin Chernenko succeeded the late Yuri Andropov as General
Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Life is what it is, and you take what's handed, and you work as hard
as you can, and hopefully you'll be successful, but I just don't spend
too much time worrying about that." -- Jerry Springer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jerry_Springer)
The Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln's most famous speech and one
of the most quoted political speeches in United States history, was
delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863, during the American
Civil War, four and a half months after the Battle of Gettysburg.
Lincoln's carefully crafted address, secondary to other presentations
that day, has ultimately become regarded as one of the greatest
speeches in American history. In fewer than three hundred words
delivered over two to three minutes, Lincoln invoked the principles of
human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and
redefined the Civil War as a struggle not merely for the Union, but as
a "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of
its citizens. Ironically, despite the speech's prominent place in the
history and popular culture of the United States, the exact wording of
the speech is disputed. The five known manuscripts of the Gettysburg
Address differ in a number of details and also differ from
contemporary newspaper reprints of the speech.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg__Address
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1689:
The Convention Parliament was convened to determine if James II, the
last Catholic king of England, had vacated the throne when he fled to
France in 1688.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England)
1733:
Georgia Day: James Oglethorpe established the city of Savannah and the
Province of Georgia, a penal colony for the resettlement of people in
debtor's prison in the United Kingdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah%2C_Georgia)
1818:
Led by General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile formally proclaimed its
independence from Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile)
1912:
Xuantong Emperor of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the last Emperor of
China, abdicated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuantong_Emperor)
2001:
NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to
land on an asteroid.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEAR_Shoemaker)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us,
to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." -- Abraham
Lincoln
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln)
Mount St. Helens is an active stratovolcano in Skamania County,
Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It
was named for British diplomat Lord St Helens who was a friend of
George Vancouver, an explorer who made a survey of the area in the
late 18th century. It is the only currently active volcano in the
Continental United States. It is most famous for the catastrophic
eruption on May 18, 1980. That eruption was the most deadly and
economically destructive volcanic eruption in the history of the
United States. Fifty-seven people were killed and 200 homes, 47
bridges, 15 miles (24 km) of railways and 185 miles (300 km) of
highway were destroyed, causing a massive debris avalanche. Like most
other volcanoes in the Cascade Range, St. Helens is a great cone of
rubble consisting of lava rock interlayered with ash, pumice and other
deposits.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_St._Helens
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
474:
As the seven-year old Leo II was deemed too young to rule, his father
Zeno was crowned as the co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_%28emperor%29)
1895:
Volleyball was invented at a YMCA in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball)
1943:
World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands ended,
giving the Allied forces a key victory in the Pacific War over the
Japanese military.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Guadalcanal)
1950:
Red scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the U.S. State Department
of being filled with communists.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy)
1960:
Joanne Woodward was honored with the first star on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Does it really matter what these affectionate people do — so long
as they don't do it in the streets and frighten the horses?" -- Mrs
Patrick Campbell
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mrs_Patrick_Campbell)
The Sydney Riot of 1879 was one of the earliest riots at an
international cricket match. It occurred at the Association Ground,
Moore Park (now known as the Sydney Cricket Ground). The game was
between a touring English team captained by Lord Harris and the New
South Wales Cricket Association led by Dave Gregory. The riot was
sparked off by a controversial umpiring decision, when Australian star
batsman Billy Murdoch was controversially given out by umpire George
Coulthard. It was alleged that betting men in the New South Wales
pavilion encouraged Gregory to make a stand and disrupt the game. The
immediate aftermath of the riot saw the England team cancel the
remaining games due to be played in Sydney. The riot led to a
breakdown of goodwill that threatened the immediate future of
England-Australia cricket tours. The friction between the cricketing
authorities was finally eased when Lord Harris agreed to lead an
England representative side at the Oval in London more than a year
later.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Riot_of_1879
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1587:
Queen Mary I of Scotland was executed at Fotheringhay Castle on
suspicion of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her
cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_Scotland)
1849:
The Roman Republic was proclaimed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic_%2819th_century%29)
1904:
The Russo-Japanese War began with a surprise torpedo attack by the
Japanese on Russian ships near present-day Lüshunkou, China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War)
1971:
Trading began in NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock exchange.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASDAQ)
1979:
Colonel Denis Sassou-Nguesso was chosen as the new President of the
People’s Republic of the Congo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Sassou-Nguesso)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"There are, indeed, two forms of discontent: one laborious, the other
indolent and complaining. We respect the man of laborious desire, but
let us not suppose that his restlessness is peace, or his ambition
meekness. It is because of the special connection of meekness with
contentment that it is promised that the meek shall 'inherit the
earth.' Neither covetous men, nor the Grave, can inherit anything;
they can but consume. Only contentment can possess." -- John Ruskin
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Ruskin)
During the period from 1911 to 1941, Sino-German cooperation was often
close, culminating in an alliance between the Republic of China and
Germany. Close cooperation dating back to the 1920s was instrumental
in modernizing the industry and the armed forces of the Republic of
China, especially in the period immediately preceding the Second
Sino-Japanese War. Succeeding the Qing Dynasty in 1912, the Republic
of China was fraught with factional warlordism from the inside and
foreign incursions from the outside. The Northern Expedition of 1928
nominally unified China for the first time under Kuomintang control,
yet Imperial Japan emerged as the greatest foreign threat. The Chinese
urgency to modernize the military and its national defense industry,
coupled with Germany's need for a stable supply of raw materials, put
the two countries on the road of close relations from the late 1920s
to the late 1930s. Although the period of intense cooperation was
relatively short, lasting only from the Nazi takeover of Germany in
1933 to the start of the war with Japan in 1937, it had a profound
effect on the modernization efforts of China, as well as her
capability to resist the Japanese in the war.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-German_cooperation_%281911-1941%29
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1301:
Edward of Caernarvon, the future King Edward II, became the first
English heir apparent to hold the title as Prince of Wales.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_II_of_England)
1863:
HMS Orpheus sank off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Orpheus_%281861%29)
1984:
NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II performed the first untethered
spacewalk using a Manned Maneuvering Unit.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra-vehicular_activity)
1992:
The Maastricht Treaty, which led to the formation of the European
Union, was signed in Maastricht, the Netherlands.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht_Treaty)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"He judged it not fit to determine anything rashly; and seemed to
doubt whether those different forms of religion might not all come
from God, who might inspire man in a different manner, and be pleased
with this variety; he therefore thought it indecent and foolish for
any man to threaten and terrify another to make him believe what did
not appear to him to be true." -- Thomas More
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_More)
Hurricane Dennis was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and
first major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. The
hurricane set several records for early season hurricane activity,
becoming both the earliest formation of a fourth tropical cyclone and
the strongest hurricane ever to form before August. Dennis hit Cuba
twice as a Category 4 hurricane and made landfall on the Florida
Panhandle in the United States as a Category 3 storm less than a year
after Hurricane Ivan did so. Dennis caused at least 88 deaths (41
direct) in the U.S. and Caribbean and caused $2.23 billion in damages
(2005 US dollars) to the United States, as well as an approximately
equal amount of damage in the Caribbean, primarily on Cuba.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Dennis
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
Stamford Raffles founded Singapore, a new trading post for the British
East India Company.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamford_Raffles)
1820:
Sponsored by the American Colonization Society, the first African
American immigrants established a settlement in present-day Liberia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Liberia)
1922:
France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States signed
the Washington Naval Treaty to limit naval armaments.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty)
1952:
The Duchess of Edinburgh learned of her accession to the British
throne while in a tree-top hotel in Kenya, becoming Queen Elizabeth
II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom)
1959:
Jack Kilby filed the patent for the first integrated circuit.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/integrated_circuit)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left
or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a
left or right. There is only an up or down — up to a man's age-old
dream; the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and
order — or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of
their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our
freedom for security have embarked on this downward course." -- Ronald
Reagan
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan)
The music of Nigeria includes many kinds of folk and popular music,
some of which are known worldwide. Styles of folk music are related to
the multitudes of ethnic groups in the country, each with their own
techniques, instruments and songs. Little is known about the country's
music history prior to European contact, although bronze carvings
dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries have been found depicting
musicians and their instruments. Nigeria has been called "the heart of
African music" because of its role in the development of West African
highlife and palm-wine music, which fuses native rhythms with
techniques imported from the Congo, Brazil, Cuba and elsewhere.
Highlife was an important foundation for the development of several
popular styles that were unique to Nigeria, like apala, fuji, jùjú
and Yo-pop.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Nigeria
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
Prince Alexander John Cuza merged his two principalities, Wallachia
and Moldavia, to form the Kingdom of Romania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Romania)
1885:
King Leopold II of Belgium established the Congo Free State as his
personal possession in Africa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium)
1924:
Hourly Greenwich Time Signals from the Royal Greenwich Observatory
were first broadcast by the BBC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Time_Signal)
1988:
The first Red Nose Day raised £15 million in the United Kingdom for
charity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_Relief)
2004:
The Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front captured the city of
Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Haiti_rebellion)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"What counts now is not just what we are against, but what we are for.
Who leads us is less important than what leads us — what
convictions, what courage, what faith — win or lose." -- Adlai
Stevenson
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson)
Comet Hyakutake is a comet that was discovered in January 1996 and
passed very close to the Earth in March of that year. It was one of
the closest cometary approaches to the Earth in the last 200 years.
The comet became very bright in the night sky, and, as a result, it
was seen by a large number of people around the world. The comet
temporarily upstaged the long-awaited Comet Hale-Bopp, which was
approaching the inner solar system at the time, although Hyakutake was
only at its brightest for a few days. Scientific observations of the
comet led to several notable discoveries. Most surprising to cometary
scientists was the discovery of X-ray emission from the comet, the
first time a comet had been found to be emitting X-rays. This emission
is believed to be caused by ionised solar wind particles interacting
with neutral atoms in the coma of the comet. The Ulysses spacecraft
also unexpectedly crossed the comet's tail at a distance of more than
500 million km from the nucleus, showing that Hyakutake had the
longest tail yet known for a comet. Hyakutake is a long period comet.
Before its most recent passage through the solar system, its orbital
period was about 15,000 years, but the gravitational influence of the
giant planets has now increased this to 72,000 years.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hyakutake
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1859:
Constantin von Tischendorf found the Codex Sinaiticus, a 4th-century
uncial manuscript of the New Testament, in a monastery at the foot of
Mount Sinai in Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Sinaiticus)
1862:
Bacardi, one of the world's largest rum producers, was founded as a
small distillery in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacardi)
1899:
The Philippine-American War broke out.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine-American_War)
1945:
Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin met at the
Yalta Conference.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yalta_Conference)
1957:
USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, logged her 60,000th
nautical mile, matching the endurance of the fictional Nautilus
described in Jules Verne's novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nautilus_%28SSN-571%29)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"If one took no chances, one would not fly at all. Safety lies in the
judgment of the chances one takes. That judgment, in turn, must rest
upon one's outlook on life. Any coward can sit in his home and
criticize a pilot for flying into a mountain in fog. But I would
rather, by far, die on a mountainside than in bed." -- Charles
Lindbergh
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Lindbergh)