Aspasia was a renowned woman of ancient Greece, famous for her
romantic involvement with the Athenian statesman Pericles. She was
born in the city of Miletus in Asia Minor, but at some point she
travelled to Athens, where she spent the rest of her life. After
Pericles' death, she was allegedly involved with Lysicles, another
Athenian statesman and general. She had a son with Pericles, Pericles
the Younger, who was elected general and was executed after the Battle
of Arginusae. Aspasia appears in the philosophical writings of Plato
and other philosophers and is regarded by modern scholars as an
exceptional person who distinguished herself due to her political
influence and intellectual charisma. However, almost nothing is
certain about her life. While ancient writers report that Aspasia was
a brothel keeper and a harlot, many of these were comic poets who
intended to ridicule Pericles and the war rather than document
anything factual about Aspasia, and their accounts are disputed. Some
researchers question even the assessment that she was a hetaera, or
courtesan.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspasia
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
364:
Valentinian I was elected Roman Emperor by officers of the Roman
military at Nicaea, Bithynia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinian_I)
1838:
Lower Canada Rebellion: Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes,
proclaimed the independence of Lower Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nelson)
1900:
Second Boer War: The 118-day Siege of Ladysmith was lifted.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Ladysmith)
1972:
United States President Richard Nixon's visit to the People's Republic
of China concluded with the two countries issuing the Shanghai
Communiqué, pledging to work toward the full normalization of
diplomatic relations.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1972_Nixon_visit_to_China)
1986:
Prime Minister Olof Palme of Sweden was assassinated in Stockholm.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Palme_assassination)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields, See how these
names are feted in the waving grass And by the streamers of the white
cloud And whispers of the wind in the listening sky. The names of
those who in their lives fought for life, Who wore at their hearts the
fire's centre. Born of the sun, they travelled a short while toward
the sun And left the vivid air signed with their honour. -- Stephen
Spender
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stephen_Spender)
Banksia integrifolia is a species of tree that grows along the east
coast of Australia. One of the most widely-distributed Banksia
species, it occurs between Victoria and Central Queensland in a broad
range of habitats, from coastal dunes to mountains. It is highly
variable in form, but is most often encountered as a tree up to 25
metres (82 ft) in height. Its leaves have dark green upper surfaces
and white undersides, a contrast that can be striking on windy days.
It is one of the four original Banksia species collected by Sir Joseph
Banks in 1770, and one of four species published in 1782 as part of
Carolus Linnaeus the Younger's original description of the genus. A
hardy and versatile garden plant, B. integrifolia is widely planted in
Australian gardens. It is a popular choice for parks and streetscapes,
and has been used for bush revegetation and stabilisation of dunes.
Its hardiness has prompted research into its suitability for use as a
rootstock in the cut flower trade, but has also caused concerns about
its potential to become a weed outside its natural habitat.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_integrifolia
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1594:
The King of Navarre was crowned King Henry IV of France at the
Cathedral of Chartres near Paris, beginning the Bourbon dynasty.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_France)
1617:
Rise of Sweden as a Great Power: Sweden signed the Treaty of Stolbovo
to end the Ingrian War with Russia, making large territorial gains.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Stolbovo)
1801:
Washington, D.C. was placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S.
Congress.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Washington%2C_D.C.)
1933:
The Reichstag building was set on fire, a pivotal event in the
establishment of the Nazi regime in Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire)
1976:
The Polisario Front proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic in
Western Sahara.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polisario_Front)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Lives of great men all remind usWe can make our lives sublime,And
departing, leave behind usFootprints on the sands of time. Footprints,
that perhaps another, Sailing o'er life's solemn main,A forlorn and
shipwrecked brother,Seeing, shall take heart again. Let us, then, be
up and doing.With a heart for any fate;Still achieving, still
pursuing,Learn to labor and to wait. -- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow)
Enta Da Stage is the debut album from East Coast hip hop group Black
Moon, released October 19, 1993 on Nervous Records. The album was
produced entirely by DJ Evil Dee and Mr. Walt of Da Beatminerz. Enta
Da Stage features the debut of popular underground duo Smif-N-Wessun,
as well as appearances from Havoc of Mobb Deep and Dru-Ha, the
co-founder of Duck Down Records. Though critically acclaimed, the
album sold poorly, despite having two Billboard Hot 100 hits ("Who Got
Da Props?", "I Got Cha Opin"). Furthermore, the album is often
overlooked in the midst of subsequent East Coast albums, such as Enter
the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), Illmatic, Ready to Die, Only Built 4 Cuban
Linx, and The Infamous. Nonetheless, Enta Da Stage preceded the
aforementioned releases —serving as a precursor to the resurgence of
the New York hip hop scene in the mid-1990s.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enta_Da_Stage
_______________________________
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", later known as a
revolver.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolver)
1921:
The Soviet Red Army occupied the Democratic Republic of Georgia,
annexing it into a new Soviet Socialist Republic.
(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: Corazon Aquino was inaugurated as President of the
Philippines, as Ferdinand Marcos fled the nation after 20 years of
rule.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corazon_Aquino)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
I look at the world and I notice it’s turning. While my guitar gently
weeps. With every mistake we must surely be learning, Still my guitar
gently weeps. -- George Harrison
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Harrison)
Oriel College is the fifth-oldest of the constituent colleges of the
University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Oriel has the distinction
of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford, a title formerly
claimed by University College, whose claim of being founded by King
Alfred is no longer promoted. The original medieval foundation set up
by Adam de Brome, under the patronage of Edward II, was called the
House of the Blessed Mary at Oxford. The first design allowed for a
Provost and ten Fellows, called 'scholars', and the College remained a
small body of graduate Fellows until the 16th century, when it started
to admit undergraduates. During the English Civil War, Oriel played
host to high-ranking members of the King's Oxford Parliament. The
College has nearly 40 Fellows, about 300 undergraduates and some 160
graduates, the student body having roughly equal numbers of men and
women. Oriel's notable alumni include two Nobel laureates; prominent
Fellows have included John Keble and John Henry Newman, founders of
the Oxford Movement. As of 2003, the college's estimated financial
endowment is £63.5m.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriel_College
_______________________________
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_Perón)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Terrible is the day when each sees his soul naked, stripped of all
veil; that dear soul which he cannot change or discard, and which is
so irreparably his. -- George A. Moore
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_A._Moore)
Ahmedabad is the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the seventh
largest urban agglomeration in India, with a population of almost
5.1 million. Located on the banks of the River Sabarmati, the city is
the administrative centre of Ahmedabad district, and was the capital
of Gujarat from 1960 to 1970; the capital was shifted to Gandhinagar
thereafter. The city was founded in 1411 to serve as the capital of
the Sultanate of Gujarat, by its namesake, Sultan Ahmed Shah. Under
British rule, a military cantonment was established and the city
infrastructure was modernised and expanded. The city was at the
forefront of the Indian independence movement in the first half of the
20th century. It was the epicentre of many campaigns of civil
disobedience to promote workers' rights, civil rights and political
independence. With the creation of the state of Gujarat in 1960,
Ahmedabad gained prominence as the political and commercial capital of
the state. Once characterised by dusty roads and bungalows, the city
is witnessing a major construction boom and population increase. A
rising centre of education, information technology and scientific
industries, Ahmedabad remains the cultural and commercial heart of
Gujarat, and much of western India.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmedabad
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1455:
Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany began printing the Gutenberg
Bible.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutenberg_Bible)
1903:
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba was perpetually leased to the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantánamo_Bay_(Cuba))
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 (ISO) 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:
The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people
is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average
intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course
by bitter experience. -- W.E.B. DuBois
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W.E.B._DuBois)
Shadow of the Colossus is a Japanese-developed action-adventure video
game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) for
the PlayStation 2. Published internationally by Sony, it was released
in North America and Japan in October 2005, and was subsequently
released in PAL territories in February 2006. The game was created by
SCEI's International Production Studio 1, the same development team
responsible for the cult-hit Ico. The game focuses on "Wander", a
young man who must travel across a vast expanse on horseback and
defeat sixteen giant beings called "colossi" to restore the life of a
sacrificed girl. The game is unusual among the action-adventure genre
in that there are no towns or dungeons to explore, no characters with
which to interact, and no enemies to defeat other than the colossi.
Shadow of the Colossus has been described as a puzzle game, as each
colossus has a weakness which must be identified and exploited to
defeat the boss.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus
_______________________________
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-Onís_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)
1958:
President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and President Shukri al-Quwatli
of Syria signed the union pact to form the United Arab Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Republic)
1997:
Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced the birth of
a cloned sheep named Dolly seven months after the fact.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_the_Sheep)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Promote... as an object of primary importance, institutions for the
general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a
government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public
opinion should be enlightened. -- George Washington
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington)
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series
that currently airs on the Nickelodeon television network. Set in an
Asian-influenced world of martial arts and elemental magic, the series
follows the adventures of the successor to a long line of Avatars,
Aang, and his friends in their quest to save the world from the
ruthless Fire Nation. The series is written in the form of a book
series, with each episode being a "chapter" and each individual season
a "book." Originally slated to begin airing in November 2004, Avatar:
The Last Airbender debuted on TV on February 21, 2005. Michael Dante
DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are the creators and executive producers
of the series. The show receives high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup,
even outside its intended 6-to-11-year-old demographic. The series'
success prompted Nickelodeon to order a second season, and a third
season has been announced for 2007. Merchandise based on the series
includes six DVD sets of episodes, six-inch scale action figures, a
video game, stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks, and two
Lego sets.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar%3A_The_Last_Airbender
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1613:
Mikhail I was elected unanimously by the Zemsky Sobor to become Tsar,
beginning the Romanov dynasty in Imperial Russia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_I_of_Russia)
1804:
Built by Richard Trevithick, the first self-propelled steam engine or
locomotive first ran in Wales.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Trevithick)
1952:
Protesters in Dhaka, East Pakistan walked into military fire in demand
of the establishment of the Bengali language as an official language.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language)
1971:
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances, a United Nations treaty
designed to control psychoactive drugs, was signed at a conference of
plenipotentiaries in Vienna.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Psychotropic_Substances)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted
everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of
dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming
flame. -- W. H. Auden
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._H._Auden)
Mary Wollstonecraft was a British writer, philosopher, and early
feminist. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a
travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book,
and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman in which she argued that women are not
naturally inferior to men, but only appeared to be because they lacked
education. She suggested that both men and women should be treated as
rational beings and imagined a social order founded on reason. Among
both the general public and feminists, Wollstonecraft's life has often
received as much, if not more, interest than her writing because of
her unconventional, and often tumultuous, relationships. After two
unsuccessful affairs with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay,
Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the
forefathers of the anarchist movement. She was also the mother of Mary
Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft died at the age of
thirty-eight due to complications from childbirth, leaving behind
several unfinished manuscripts. Today, Wollstonecraft is considered a
foundational thinker in feminist philosophy. Her early advocacy of
women's equality and her attacks on conventional femininity and the
degradation of women presaged the later emergence of the feminist
political movement.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1472:
James III of Scotland annexed the Orkney and Shetland from
Denmark–Norway.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland)
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 Canadian government under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
cancelled the Avro CF-105 Arrow supersonic jet fighters programme amid
much political debate.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CF-105_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:
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to
favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many
waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one;
or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. --
Frederick Douglass
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass)
Sly & the Family Stone were an American rock band from San Francisco,
California. Active from 1967 until 1983, the band was pivotal in the
development of soul, funk and psychedelia. Headed by singer,
songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and
containing a number of his family members and friends, the band was
the first major American rock band to have a multicultural lineup,
giving African-Americans, White Americans, males, and females all
roles in the band's instrumentation. In the preface of his book on the
band, For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History, Joel
Selvin sums up the importance of Sly & the Family Stone's influences
on African-American music by stating that "there are two types of
black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly
Stone". During the early 1970s, the band switched its sound to a
grittier funk sound, which was as influential on the music industry as
their earlier work. The band began to fall apart during this period
because of drug abuse and ego clashes; as Sly Stone and his bandmates
delved deeper into drug abuse, the fortunes and reliability of the
band deteriorated, leading to its dissolution in 1975. Sly Stone
continued to record albums and tour with a new rotating lineup under
the "Sly & the Family Stone" name from 1975 until 1983.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sly_%26_the_Family_Stone
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1861:
With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of
Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumed the title King of Italy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_II_of_Italy)
1861:
Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the first (and only) President of
the Confederate States of America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis)
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/Sportpalast_speech)
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:
The doors of heaven and hell are adjacent and identical. -- Nikos
Kazantzakis |Year=2006}}
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikos_Kazantzakis)
The flag of Lithuania is a horizontal tricolor of yellow, green and
red. The flag was adopted on March 20, 1989 on the event of
Lithuania's break from the Soviet Union. Before its readoption, the
flag was used from 1918 until 1940, when Lithuania was occupied in
turn by Nazi Germany and by the Soviet Union. From 1945 until 1989,
the Soviet Lithuanian flag consisted first of a generic red flag with
the name of the republic, then changed to the more familiar red flag
with white and green bars at the bottom. The most recent change to the
flag occurred in 2004 when the aspect ratio changed from 1:2 to 3:5.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Lithuania
_______________________________
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)
1923:
Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun, a Pharaoh of
the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Carter_(archaeologist))
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:
The counsels of impatience and hatred can always be supported by the
crudest and cheapest symbols; for the counsels of moderation, the
reasons are often intricate, rather than emotional, and difficult to
explain. And so the chauvinists of all times and places go their
appointed way: plucking the easy fruits, reaping the little triumphs
of the day at the expense of someone else tomorrow, deluging in noise
and filth anyone who gets in their way, dancing their reckless dance
on the prospects for human progress, drawing the shadow of a great
doubt over the validity of democratic institutions. And until people
learn to spot the fanning of mass emotions and the sowing of
bitterness, suspicion, and intolerance as crimes in themselves — as
perhaps the greatest disservice that can be done to the cause of
popular government — this sort of thing will continue to occur. --
George F. Kennan
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_F._Kennan)