The Cane Toad is a large, terrestrial true toad native to Central and
South America. It is a member of the genus Bufo, which includes
hundreds of different true toad species in different habitats
throughout the world. The Cane Toad is a prolific breeder; females
lay
single-clump spawns with large numbers of eggs. Its reproductive
success is partly due to opportunistic feeding: it has a diet,
unusual
among frogs, of both dead and living matter. Adults average 10 to 15
centimetres (4–6 in) in length, the largest recorded specimen weighed
2.65 kilograms (5.84 lb) and measured 38 centimetres (15 in) from
snout to vent. The Cane Toad has large poison glands, and adults and
tadpoles are highly toxic to most animals if ingested. Because of
its
voracious appetite, the Cane Toad has been introduced to many regions
of the Pacific as a method of agricultural pest control, notably in
the case of Australia in 1935, and derives its common name from its
use against sugar cane pests. The Cane Toad is considered a pest in
many of its introduced regions, as its toxic skin kills many native
predators when ingested.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_Toad
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
778:
A Frankish army led by Roland was defeated in the Battle of Roncevaux
Pass, a tale retold in the Old French epic poem The Song of Roland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Song_of_Roland)
1534:
Ignatius of Loyola and six others at Montmartre near Paris took the
vows that led to the establishment of the Society of Jesus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Jesus)
1914:
The Panama Canal opened to traffic, providing a short-cut from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal)
1945:
World War II: The Gyokuon-hōsō was broadcast in Japan, announcing the
unconditional surrender of the Japanese military.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyokuon-hoso)
1969:
The Woodstock Music and Art Festival in Bethel, New York began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock_Festival)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Call for the grandest of all earthly spectacles, what is that? It is
the sun going to his rest. Call for the grandest of all human
sentiments, what is that? It is that man should forget his anger
before he lies down to sleep." -- Thomas De Quincey
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_De_Quincey)
The O-Bahn Busway in the South Australian capital city of Adelaide is
the world's longest and fastest guided busway. The O-Bahn—from the
Latin omnibus and the German bahn ("way" or "road")—design was
conceived by Daimler-Benz to enable buses to avoid traffic congestion
by sharing tram tunnels in the German city of Essen. The system was
introduced in 1986 to service Adelaide's rapidly expanding
north-eastern suburbs, replacing an earlier plan for a tramway
extension. The design is unique among public transport systems;
busways typically use dedicated bus lanes or separate carriageways,
but the O-Bahn runs on specially built track, combining elements of
both bus and rail systems. The track is 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) long
and includes one station and two interchanges: Klemzig Station in
Payneham, Paradise Interchange in Campbelltown and Tea Tree Plaza
Interchange in Tea Tree Gully. Interchanges allow buses to enter and
exit the busway and to continue on suburban routes, avoiding the need
for passengers to change.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1385:
Forces under João I defeated the Castilians in the Battle of
Aljubarrota , ending the 1383–1385 Crisis in Portugal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aljubarrota)
1842:
Seminole Indians were forced from Florida to Oklahoma, ending the
Second Seminole War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seminole_Wars)
1941:
After a secret meeting aboard warships in a secure anchorage near
Argentia, Newfoundland, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt
(pictured) issued the Atlantic Charter.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Charter)
1980:
Lech Wałęsa and colleagues at Gdańsk Shipyard began strike actions,
which subsequently led to the founding of the Solidarity movement in
Poland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Wa%C5%82%C4%99sa)
2003:
Widescale power blackout occurred in the northeast United States and
in central Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_North_American_blackout)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress
requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible
things." -- Russell Baker
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Russell_Baker)
Caroline Island is the easternmost of the uninhabited coral atolls
which comprise the the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific
Ocean. First sighted by Europeans in 1606, claimed by Britain in
1868,
and part of the Republic of Kiribati since the island nation's
independence in 1979, Caroline Island has remained relatively
untouched and is considered one of the world's most pristine tropical
islands, despite guano mining, copra harvesting, and human habitation
in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is home to one of the world's
largest populations of the coconut crab and is an important breeding
site for seabirds, most notably the sooty tern. The atoll is best
known for its role in celebrations surrounding the arrival of the
year
2000 – a 1995 realignment of the International Date Line made
Caroline
Island the easternmost land west of the Date Line and therefore one
of
the first points of land on earth to see sunrise in the year 2000.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Island
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1521:
Tlatoani Cuauhtémoc was captured and the Aztec capital of
Tenochtitlán
fell to forces led by Conquistador Hernán Cortés after an extended
siege.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenochtitlan)
1704:
The Battle of Blenheim, a pivotal event of the War of the Spanish
Succession, took place. England and Austria claim victory over
France
and Bavaria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blenheim)
1913:
Harry Brearley developed stainless steel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Brearley)
1961:
Construction of the Berlin Wall, a long barrier separating West
Berlin
from East Berlin and the surrounding territory of East Germany, began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Make the world better." -- Lucy Stone
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lucy_Stone)
Augustan drama refers to the plays of Great Britain in the early 18th
century, a subset of 18th-century Augustan literature. King George I
referred to himself as "Augustus," and the poets of the era took this
reference as apropos, as the literature of Rome during Augustus moved
from historical and didactic poetry to the poetry of highly finished
and sophisticated epics and satire. In poetry, the early 18th century
was an age of satire and public verse, and in prose, it was an age of
the developing novel. In drama, by contrast, it was an age in
transition between the highly witty and sexually playful Restoration
comedy, the pathetic she-tragedy of the turn of the century, and any
later plots of middle-class anxiety. The Augustan stage retreated from
the Restoration's focus on cuckoldry, marriage for fortune, and a life
of leisure. Instead, Augustan drama reflected questions the mercantile
class had about itself and what it meant to be gentry: what it meant
to be a good merchant, how to achieve wealth with morality, and the
proper role of those who serve.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustan_drama
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1099:
The First Crusade concluded with the Battle of Ascalon, and Fatimid
forces under Al-Afdal Shahanshah retreating to Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ascalon)
1121:
Forces led by David the Builder (pictured) decisively won the Battle
of Didgori, driving Ilghazi and the Seljuk Turks out of Georgia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_IV_of_Georgia)
1851:
Isaac Singer was granted a patent for his sewing machine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Singer)
1877:
Asaph Hall discovered Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_%28moon%29)
1953:
History of nuclear weapons: The first Soviet thermonuclear bomb, Joe
4, was detonated at Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_atomic_bomb_project)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"The world is given to me only once, not one existing and one
perceived. Subject and object are only one. The barrier between them
cannot be said to have broken down as a result of recent experience in
the physical sciences, for this barrier does not exist." -- Erwin
Schrodinger
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Erwin_Schrodinger)
The Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that
took place between May and July 1999 in Kashmir. The cause of the war
was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into
positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control, which serves as
the de facto border between the two nations. The Indian Army,
supported by the air force, attacked the Pakistani positions and, with
international diplomatic support, eventually forced a Pakistani
withdrawal across the Line of Control. The war is one of the most
recent examples of high altitude warfare, in mountainous terrain, and
posed significant logistics problems for the combating sides. This was
the first ground war between the two nuclear armed countries. (India
and Pakistan both test-detonated fission devices in May 1998, though
the first Indian nuclear test was conducted in 1974.) The conflict led
to heightened tensions between the two nations and increased defense
spending on the part of India. In Pakistan, the aftermath caused
instability to the government and the economy, and on October 12 1999,
a coup d'etat by the military placed army chief Pervez Musharraf in
power.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kargil_War
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
French Revolution: Insurrectionists in Paris stormed the Tuileries
Palace (pictured), effectively ending the French monarchy until it was
restored in 1814.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_of_August_%28French_Revolution%29)
1809:
History of Ecuador: After nearly three centuries of Spanish rule, the
first cry for independence was heard in Quito.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quito)
1846:
Smithsonian Institution was chartered by the Congress of the United
States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution)
1920:
Representatives of Sultan Mehmed VI signed the Treaty of Sèvres,
recognizing the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of
World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_S%C3%A8vres)
1990:
The Magellan space probe reached Venus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magellan_probe)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die." --
Herbert Hoover
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover)
The shotgun house is a type of house that was the most popular style
in the American South from just after the Civil War until the 1920s.
The style was developed in New Orleans, but the houses can be found as
far away as Chicago and California. Shotgun houses are characterized
by their narrow rectangular structure, usually no more than 12 feet
(3.5 m) wide, three to five rooms deep, all connected to each other
with no hallways, with doors at each end. The term "shotgun" is
usually said to come from the saying that one could fire a shotgun
through the front door and the pellets would fly cleanly through the
house and out the back door. Shotgun houses, though initially popular
with the middle class as much as the poor, became a symbol of poverty
in the mid-20th century, but opinion is now more mixed, with some the
targets of bulldozing due to urban renewal, but others the recipients
of historical preservation and gentrification. They remain the most
prevalent housing in many southern cities and towns.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_house
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
378:
A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens was destroyed by the
Visigoths in the Battle of Adrianople.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adrianople)
1173:
The construction of a campanile, which would eventually become the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, began.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa)
1942:
The British Raj arrested Mahatma Gandhi and various leaders of the
Congress Party, beginning the suppression of the Quit India Movement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quit_India_Movement)
1945:
World War II: USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb named Fat
Man, devastating Nagasaki, Japan (pictured).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man)
1974:
The Watergate scandal: Richard Nixon became the first president of the
United States to resign from office.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Education, for most people, means trying to lead the child to
resemble the typical adult of his society... But for me, education
means making creators... You have to make inventors, innovators, not
conformists." -- Jean Piaget
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget)
The Schabir Shaik trial was one of the most important court trials in
post-apartheid South Africa. The case, tried in Durban High Court
before Judge Hilary Squires, proved the fraudulent and corrupt
relationship between a Durban-based businessman named Schabir Shaik
and South African politician and anti-apartheid leader Jacob Zuma.
After Shaik's brother Chippy was suspended from the Ministry of
Defence for his involvement in a corrupt arms deal, Schabir Shaik was
arrested in 2001 for the possession of secret documents, after which
investigators found that he was involved in corrupt dealings with Zuma
as well as fraud. He was brought to trial in October 2004, pleading
not guilty. Shaik's trial was the subject of intense media attention
due to the involvement of several high-profile members of the South
African government. Though Shaik claimed that his financial dealings
were legitimate, on May 30, 2005 the Durban High Court handed down its
final judgement. He was pronounced guilty of corruption for paying
Zuma Rand 1.2 million (US$185,000) to further their relationship and
for soliciting a bribe from the French arms company Thomson-CSF. Judge
Squires sentenced Shaik to two terms of 15 years in prison for
corruption, and one term of 3 years for fraud, to be served
concurrently.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schabir_Shaik_trial
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1679:
Le Griffon, a brigantine by René-Robert de LaSalle, became the first
sailing ship to navigate the Great Lakes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier%2C_Sieur_de_La_Salle)
1782:
The Badge of Military Merit (pictured), the original Purple Heart, was
established as a military decoration in the Continental Army.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Heart)
1947:
An expedition led by Thor Heyerdahl crossed the Pacific Ocean in 101
days on his raft, Kon-Tiki.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Heyerdahl)
1965:
Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman of the Federation of Malaysia
demanded that Singapore withdraw from the federation, choosing to
"sever ties with a State Government that showed no measure of loyalty
to its Central Government."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunku_Abdul_Rahman)
1998:
The bombing of U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi,
Kenya killed 224 people and injured over 4,500.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_U.S._embassy_bombings)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"We help the internet not suck." -- Jimmy Wales
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales)
The Azerbaijani people are an ethnic group mainly found in
northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijanis,
commonly referred to as Azeris, live in a wider area from the Caucasus
to the Iranian plateau. The Azeris are typically at least nominally
Muslim and have a mixed cultural heritage of Turkic, Iranian, and
Caucasian elements. Despite living on both sides of an international
border, the Azeris form a single group. However, northerners and
southerners differ due to nearly two centuries of separate social
evolution in Russian/Soviet-influenced Azerbaijan and Iranian
Azarbaijan. The Azerbaijani language unifies Azeris and is mutually
intelligible with Turkmen and Turkish. As a result of this separate
existence, the Azeris are mainly secularists in Azerbaijan and
religious Muslims in Iranian Azarbaijan. Since Azerbaijan's
independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there has been renewed
interest in religion and cross-border ethnic ties.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijani_people
_______________________________
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 (pictured) on
Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 80,000 people instantly.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki)
1966:
Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahayan became emir and ruler of Abu Dhabi.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zayed_bin_Sultan_Al_Nahayan)
1991:
Tim Berners-Lee released files describing his idea for a "World Wide
Web."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"One of the primary tests of the mood of a society at any given time
is whether its comfortable people tend to identify, psychologically,
with the power and achievements of the very successful or with the
needs and sufferings of the underpriviliged." -- Richard Hofstadter
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Hofstadter)
Ubuntu is a predominantly desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on
Debian GNU/Linux, and sponsored by Canonical Ltd. It is released
roughly every six months more frequently than Debian shortly after
each new GNOME version. The sudo utility is used for administrator
access, and the Ubiquity install tool included with the Live CD makes
it possible for users to install Ubuntu straight to the hard disk
without the need for a restart or change of CDs. Ubuntu version 6.06
LTS, codenamed "Dapper Drake", was released on June 1, 2006, and will
be supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the
server, instead of the usual 18 months. Ubuntu aims to use only free
software to provide an up-to-date yet stable operating system for the
average user. Kubuntu and Xubuntu are official subprojects of the
Ubuntu project, aiming to bring the KDE and Xfce desktop environments
to the Ubuntu core, respectively. Edubuntu is an official subproject
"designed for school environments, and should be equally suitable for
kids to use at home." (More...)
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28Linux_distribution%29
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
642:
Penda of Mercia defeated and killed Oswald of Northumbria in the
Battle of Maserfield, becoming the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon
rulers of the time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penda_of_Mercia)
1100:
Henry I was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England)
1858:
Cyrus West Field (pictured) and colleagues completed the first
transatlantic telegraph cable.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/transatlantic_telegraph_cable)
1861:
The U.S. government issued its first income tax: 3% of all incomes
over 800 dollars (later rescinded in 1872).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/income_tax)
1995:
Operation Storm: Croatian forces recovered the town of Knin from the
Republic of Serbian Krajina.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knin)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Music I heard with you was more than music, and bread I broke with
you was more than bread..." -- Conrad Aiken |Year=2006}}
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Conrad_Aiken)
Damon Hill is a retired British racing driver and the 1996 Formula One
World Champion. The son of the late, two time Formula One world
champion Graham Hill, he is the only son of a world champion to win
the title himself. Hill started his Formula One career with the
Brabham team in 1992. He went on to take his first win at the 1993
Hungarian Grand Prix for the Williams team, the first of 22 victories,
of which 21 were for Williams. In 1994 he won the British Grand Prix,
a race his father had never won during his own career. In the mid
1990s, Hill was Michael Schumacher's main rival for the Formula One
Driver's Championship, finishing runner-up in the German's 1994 and
1995 title seasons. The two had a series of controversial clashes on
and off track, including the famous collision at Adelaide in 1994 that
gave Schumacher his first title by a single point. Hill was dropped by
Williams for 1997 despite taking eight victories and winning his world
championship in 1996. He went on to record the Jordan team's first
ever win at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, and came within a few miles
of being the only driver to win a Grand Prix for the Arrows team and
their Yamaha engine supplier at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damon_Hill
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
435:
Nestorius, the originator of Nestorianism, was exiled by Byzantine
Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorius)
1916:
Sir Roger Casement was hanged for his role in the Easter Rising in
Ireland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement)
1923:
Calvin Coolidge (pictured) was inaugurated as the 30th President of
the United States, succeeding Warren G. Harding.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Coolidge)
1940:
World War II: Approximately 175,000 Italian troops invaded British
Somaliland, beginning the East African Campaign.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_African_Campaign_%28World_War_II%29)
1948:
Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss of being a communist and a
Soviet spy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Somewhere, he thought, on the long backtrack of history, the human
race had accepted an insanity for a principle and had persisted in it
until today that insanity-turned-principle stood ready to wipe out, if
not the race itself, at least all of those things, both material and
immaterial, that had been fashioned as symbols of humanity through
many hard-won centuries." -- Clifford D. Simak
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak)