Samuel Johnson was an English author. Beginning as a Grub Street journalist,
he made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist,
moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer.
Johnson was a devout Anglican and political conservative, and has been
described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English
history". His early works include the biography The Life of Richard Savage,
the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the play Irene. After
nine years of work, Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language was
published in 1755; it had a far-reaching impact on Modern English and has
been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship".
His later works included essays, an influential annotated edition of William
Shakespeare's plays, and the widely read novel Rasselas. In 1763, he
befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; Johnson
described their travels in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland.
Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives
of the Most Eminent English Poets, a collection of biographies and
evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1747:
The London Lock Hospital, the first clinic specialising in the treatment of
venereal diseases, opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Lock_Hospital>
1862:
American telescope-maker and astronomer Alvan Graham Clark first observed
the faint white dwarf companion of Sirius, the brightest star in the night
sky.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirius>
1953:
The North Sea flood and its associated storm began hitting the coastlines of
several European countries along the North Sea (Zuid-Beveland in the
Netherlands pictured during the flood), eventually killing more than 2,000
people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea_flood_of_1953>
1961:
Aboard NASA's Mercury-Redstone 2, Ham the Chimp became the first hominid
launched into outer space.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ham_the_Chimp>
1971:
The Winter Soldier Investigation, a three-day media event sponsored by the
anti-war organization Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize war
crimes and other atrocities by American forces and their allies during the
Vietnam War, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Soldier_Investigation>
2007:
Suspects were arrested in Birmingham, UK, accused of plotting to kidnap and
eventual behead a Muslim British soldier serving in Iraq.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Plot_to_behead_a_British_Muslim_soldier>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dilapidate (v):
1. To fall into ruin or disuse.
2. To cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.
3. To squander or waste
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dilapidate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
At this point in history, the most radical, pervasive, and earth-shaking
transformation would occur simply if everybody truly evolved to a mature,
rational, and responsible ego, capable of freely participating in the open
exchange of mutual self-esteem. There is the "edge of history." There would
be a real New Age. --Ken Wilber
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ken_Wilber>
The music of Athens, Georgia includes a wide variety of popular music, and
was an important part of the early evolution of alternative rock and New
Wave. The city is well known as the home of chart-topping bands like R.E.M.
and The B-52's, and several long-time indie rock groups. Athens hosts the
Athens Symphony Orchestra and other music institutions, as well as prominent
local music media, such as the college radio station WUOG. Much of the
modern Athens music scene is based around students from the large University
of Georgia campus in the city. The University sponsors Western classical
performances and groups specializing in other styles. Athens became a center
for music in the region during the American Civil War, and gained further
fame in the early 20th century with the foundation of the Morton Theatre,
which was a major touring destination for African American performers. The
city's local rock music scene can be traced to the 1970s, with international
attention coming in the following decade when R.E.M. and The B-52's released
best-selling recordings. Athens-based rock bands have performed in a wide
array of styles, and the city has never had a characteristic style of rock;
most of the bands have been united only in their quirky and iconoclastic
image.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/music_of_Athens%2C_Georgia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1649:
English Civil War: King Charles I was beheaded for high treason in front of
the Banqueting House in London.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_I_of_England>
1826:
The Menai Suspension Bridge, connecting the island of Anglesey and the
mainland of Wales, one of the world's first modern suspension bridges,
opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menai_Suspension_Bridge>
1948:
Nathuram Godse fatally shot Mahatma Gandhi, political and spiritual leader
of India and the Indian independence movement, at Birla House in Delhi.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi>
1968:
Vietnam War: Forces of the Viet Cong and the Vietnam People's Army launched
the Tết Offensive to strike military and civilian command and control
centers throughout South Vietnam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tet_Offensive>
1996:
Japanese amateur astronomer Yuji Hyakutake discovered Comet Hyakutake
(pictured), which eventually became one of the closest cometary approaches
to the Earth in the last 200 years.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Hyakutake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mansuetude (n):
(archaic) gentleness, meekness
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mansuetude>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use
them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a
modern civilization.
Faith — in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships.
Hope — renewed because we know so well the progress we have made.
Charity — in the true spirit of that grand old word. For charity literally
translated from the original means love, the love that understands, that
does not merely share the wealth of the giver, but in true sympathy and
wisdom helps men to help themselves. --Franklin D. Roosevelt
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt>
Scout Moor Wind Farm is the largest onshore wind farm in England. The wind
farm, which was built for Peel Holdings, is powered by 26 Nordex N80 wind
turbines. It has a total nameplate capacity of 65 MW of electricity,
providing 154,000 MWh per annum, enough to serve the average needs of
40,000 homes. The site occupies 1,347 acres (545 ha) of open moorland
between Edenfield, Rawtenstall and Rochdale, and is split between the
Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale in northern Greater Manchester and the
Borough of Rossendale in south-eastern Lancashire. The turbines are visible
from as far away as south Manchester, 15-20 miles (24-32 km) away. A protest
group formed to resist the proposed construction, and attracted support from
botanist and environmental campaigner David Bellamy. Despite the opposition,
planning permission was granted in 2005, and construction began in 2007.
Although work on the project was hampered by harsh weather, difficult
terrain and previous mining activity, the wind farm was officially opened on
25 September 2008 after "years of controversy", at a cost of £50 million.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scout_Moor_Wind_Farm>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
904:
Sergius III came out of retirement to take over the papacy from the deposed
antipope Christopher.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sergius_III>
1845:
The Raven, a narrative poem by American poet Edgar Allan Poe about a talking
raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, was first published in the
New York Evening Mirror.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven>
1856:
The Victoria Cross was created, originally to recognise acts of valour by
British and Commonwealth military personnel during the Crimean War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross>
1886:
German engine designer and engineer Karl Benz filed a patent for the
Motorwagen, the first purpose-built, gasoline-driven automobile.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Benz>
1944:
World War II: At least 38 people were killed and about a dozen injured when
the Polish village of Koniuchy (present-day Kaniūkai, Lithuania) was
attacked by Soviet partisan units.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koniuchy_massacre>
2002:
In his State of the Union Address, U.S. President George W. Bush described
governments he accused of sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass
destruction as an "axis of evil", specifically naming Iran, Iraq, and North
Korea.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/axis_of_evil>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
waddle (v):
To walk with short steps, tilting the body from side to side
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/waddle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The fear of freedom is strong in us. We call it chaos or anarchy, and the
words are threatening. We live in a true chaos of contradicting authorities,
an age of conformism without community, of proximity without communication.
We could only fear chaos if we imagined that it was unknown to us, but in
fact we know it very well. --Germaine Greer
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Germaine_Greer>
Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état was a coup d'état staged by Jean-Bédel Bokassa,
leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers
against the government of President David Dacko on 31 December 1965 and 1
January 1966. Dacko was aware that Bokassa had made plans to take over his
government, and countered by forming the gendarmerie headed by Jean Izamo.
Bokassa and his men started the coup on New Year's Eve in 1965 by first
capturing Izamo and locking him in a cellar at Camp de Roux. They then
occupied the capital, Bangui, and overpowered the gendarmerie and other
resistance. After midnight, Dacko was arrested and forced to resign from
office and then imprisoned at Camp Kassaï. According to official reports,
eight people died while resisting the coup. Izamo was tortured to death
within a month, but Dacko's life was spared due to foreign intervention.
Soon after the coup, Bokassa dissolved the National Assembly, abolished the
Constitution and issued a number of decrees, banning begging, female
circumcision, and polygamy, among other things. Bokassa initially struggled
to obtain international recognition for his regime, but the new government
eventually obtained recognition from other African nations.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Sylvestre_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1077:
Walk to Canossa: Pope Gregory VII lifted the excommunication of Henry IV
after the Holy Roman Emperor made his trek from Speyer to Canossa Castle to
beg the pope for forgiveness for his actions in the Investiture Controversy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walk_to_Canossa>
1547:
Nine-year-old Edward VI became the first Protestant ruler of England, during
whose reign Protestantism was established for the first time in the country
with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the mass.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VI_of_England>
1754:
Horace Walpole first coined the word "serendipity" in a letter he wrote to a
friend, saying that he derived the term from the Persian fairy tale The
Three Princes of Serendip.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Walpole%2C_4th_Earl_of_Orford>
1813:
The novel Pride and Prejudice by English author Jane Austen was published,
using material from an unpublished manuscript that she originally wrote
between 1796 and 1797.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_and_Prejudice>
1855:
A train on the Panama Railway made the world's first transcontinental
crossing, a {{convert|48|mi|adj=on}} trip from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean across the Isthmus of Panama.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Railway>
1986:
The NASA Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds into its tenth
mission, killing all seven crew members.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
humdrum (adj):
Lacking variety or excitement; dull; boring
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/humdrum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
For the sincere friend
Who gives me his frank hand.
And for the cruel man who pulls out of me
the heart with which I live,
I grow neither nettles nor thorns:
I grow a white rose. --José Martí
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD>
Hurricane Dog was the most intense hurricane in the 1950 Atlantic hurricane
season. The fourth named storm of the season, Dog developed on August 30 to
the east of Antigua, and after passing through the northern Lesser Antilles
turned to the north and intensified into a Category 5 hurricane. Dog reached
its peak intensity of 185 mph (295 km/h) over the open Atlantic, and after
weakening passed within 200 miles (320 km) of Cape Cod before becoming
extratropical on September 12. Hurricane Dog caused extensive damage to the
Leeward Islands, and was considered the most severe hurricane on record in
Antigua. Many buildings were destroyed or severely damaged on the island,
with thousands left homeless just weeks after Hurricane Baker had caused
serious damage on the island. In the United States, the hurricane caused
moderate coastal damage, including damaging several boats and causing 11
offshore drownings. Strong winds caused widespread power outages across
southeastern New England. Damage across its path totaled about $3 million
(1950 USD, $25.7 million 2007 USD).
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Dog_%281950%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
661:
The Rashidun Caliphate effectively ended with the death of Ali, the final
Sunni Rashidun and first Shia Imam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali>
1343:
Pope Clement VI issued the papal bull Unigenitus to justify the power of the
pope and the use of indulgences.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_VI>
1888:
Two weeks after a group of over thirty explorers and scientists met in
Washington, D.C. to organize "a society for the increase and diffusion of
geographical knowledge," the National Geographic Society, publisher of the
National Geographic Magazine, was incorporated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Society>
1909:
The Young Liberals of Norway, the youth league of the Norwegian political
party Venstre was founded, today advocating a more liberal version of the
mother party's social liberalist ideology.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Liberals_of_Norway>
1918:
The first hostilities in the Finnish Civil War began when White Guards
attacked attacked trains carrying a large shipment of weapons from
Bolshevist Russia to the Red Guards.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Civil_War>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
circumnavigate (v):
1. To travel completely around somewhere or something, especially by sail.
2. To circumvent or bypass
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/circumnavigate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a
Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare.
Visit either you like: they're both mad."
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad.
You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here." --Lewis
Carroll
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll>
Banksia ericifolia is a species of woody shrub of the Proteaceae family
native to Australia; it occurs in two separate regions of Central and
Northern New South Wales east of the Great Dividing Range. Well known for
its orange or red autumn inflorescences, which contrast with its green
fine-leaved heath-like foliage, it is generally encountered as a medium to
large shrub that can reach 6 m (20 ft) high and wide, though is usually half
that size. In exposed heathlands and coastal areas it is more often 1–2 m
(3–7 ft). Banksia ericifolia was one of the original Banksia species
collected by Joseph Banks around Botany Bay in 1770 and was named by Carl
Linnaeus the Younger, son of Carolus Linnaeus, in 1782. Banksia ericifolia
has been widely grown in Australian gardens on the east coast for many years
as well as being used to a limited extent in the cut flower industry.
Compact dwarf cultivars such as Banksia'' 'Little Eric' have become more
popular in recent years with the trend toward smaller gardens.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksia_ericifolia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Spanish navigator, explorer, and conquistador Vicente Yáñez Pinzón reached
the north coast of what today is Brazil.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicente_Y%C3%A1%C3%B1ez_Pinz%C3%B3n>
1788:
The British First Fleet, led by Captain Arthur Phillip, landed at Sydney
Cove, establishing the first permanent European settlement in Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Phillip>
1808:
Governor of New South Wales William Bligh was deposed by the New South Wales
Corps in the only successful armed takeover of government in Australia's
recorded history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum_Rebellion>
1950:
Indian independence movement: India officially became a republic under a new
constitution, with Rajendra Prasad as its first president.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rajendra_Prasad>
1983:
The spreadsheet program Lotus 1-2-3 was first released, becoming the IBM
Personal Computer's first "killer application".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_1-2-3>
2001:
A 7.7 Mw earthquake struck Gujarat, India, killing more than 20,000 people,
injuring 167,000 others, and destroying about one million homes.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Gujarat_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
eager beaver (n):
One (especially a child) who is very excited or enthusiastic to begin a task
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/eager_beaver>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Prometheus, I have no Titan's might,
Yet I, too, must each dusk renew my heart,
For daytime's vulture talons tear apart
The tender alcoves built by love at night. --Philip José Farmer
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Jos%C3%A9_Farmer>
Adolfo Farsari (1841–1898) was an Italian photographer based in Yokohama,
Japan. Following a brief military career, including service in the American
Civil War, he became a successful entrepreneur and commercial photographer.
His photographic work was highly regarded, particularly his hand-coloured
portraits and landscapes, which he sold mostly to foreign residents and
visitors to the country. Farsari's images were widely distributed, presented
or mentioned in books and periodicals, and sometimes recreated by artists in
other media; they shaped foreign perceptions of the people and places of
Japan and to some degree affected how Japanese saw themselves and their
country. His studio – the last notable foreign-owned studio in Japan – was
one of the country's largest and most prolific commercial photographic
firms. Largely due to Farsari's exacting technical standards and his
entrepreneurial abilities it had a significant influence on the development
of photography in Japan.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Farsari>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1327:
Fourteen-year old Edward III became King of England, but the country was
ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_III_of_England>
1554:
Jesuit missionaries José de Anchieta and Manoel da Nóbrega established a
mission at São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, which grew to become São
Paulo, Brazil.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A3o_Paulo>
1755:
Russian Empress Elizabeth issued a decree ordering the establishment of what
is now Lomonosov Moscow State University (main building pictured), today the
largest university in Russia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomonosov_Moscow_State_University>
1919:
The Paris Peace Conference, convened to build a lasting peace after World
War I, approved the proposal to create the League of Nations.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations>
1924:
The first Winter Olympic Games opened at the foot of Mont Blanc in Chamonix,
Haute-Savoie, France, attracting more than 200 athletes from 16 nations,
competing in 16 events.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Olympic_Games>
2006:
Three independent observing campaigns announced the discovery of
OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, a super-Earth extrasolar planet 21,500 ± 3,300 light
years away from Earth near the center of the Milky Way.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
statutory (adj):
Of, relating to, enacted or regulated by a written law
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/statutory>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If forty million people say a foolish thing it does not become a wise one,
but the wise man is foolish to give them the lie. --W. Somerset Maugham
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham>
SS Ohioan was a cargo ship built in 1914 for the American-Hawaiian Steamship
Company. During World War I she was taken over by the United States Navy and
commissioned as USS Ohioan (ID-3280). When the Panama canal was temporarily
closed by landslides in late 1915, Ohioan sailed via the Straits of Magellan
until the canal reopened in mid 1916. During World War I, USS Ohioan carried
cargo, animals, and a limited number of passengers to France, and returned
over 8,000 American troops after the Armistice, including the highly
decorated American soldier Alvin York. After Ohioan's naval service ended in
1919, she was returned to her original owners. Ohioan's post-war career was
relatively uneventful until 8 October 1936, when she ran aground near Seal
Rock at the Golden Gate, the entrance to San Francisco Bay. Attempts to free
the ship were unsuccessful and, because of the close proximity of the wreck
to San Francisco, the grounded Ohioan drew large crowds to watch salvage
operations. Angelo J. Rossi, the mayor of San Francisco, toured the wreck on
19 October. Ohioan's hulk caught fire in March 1937, and the wreck broke
into two pieces in a storm in December. As late as 1939, some of Ohioan's
rusty steel beams were still visible on the rocks.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ohioan_(1914)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Ohioan_%281914%29>
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
41:
Roman Emperor Caligula was brutally murdered by Cassius Chaerea and the
disgruntled Praetorian Guards. Caligula's uncle Claudius was proclaimed
emperor in his place.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula)
1639:
The Fundamental Orders, the first written constitution in North American
history, was adopted in Connecticut.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_Orders_of_Connecticut)
1848:
James W. Marshall discovered gold at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California,
leading to the California Gold Rush.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Gold_Rush)
1857:
The University of Calcutta, the first modern university in the Indian
subcontinent, was established in Calcutta, India.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Calcutta)
1984:
The first Apple Macintosh, today known as the Macintosh 128K, went on sale,
becoming the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a
mouse and a graphical user interface rather than a command line interface.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
overstate (v) To exaggerate; to state or claim too much.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/overstate)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Habit is necessary; it is the habit of having habits, of turning a trail
into a rut, that must be incessantly fought against if one is to remain
alive. --Edith Wharton
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edith_Wharton)
Susianna Kentikian (born 1987) is a German professional boxer. She was born
in Yerevan, Armenian SSR, but she left the country with her family at the
age of five due to the Nagorno-Karabakh War. Kentikian has lived in Hamburg
since 1996 and began boxing when she was twelve years old. Following a
successful amateur career, she turned professional in 2005 when she signed
with the Hamburg boxing promoter Spotlight Boxing. Kentikian won her first
world championship fight in February 2007, and she is the current World
Boxing Association (WBA) and Women's International Boxing Federation (WIBF)
world flyweight champion. Kentikian is undefeated, having won 16 of her 23
professional fights by knockout. Since 2007, the German television station
ProSieben has broadcast her fights live. Kentikian has gained minor
celebrity status in Germany, and she hopes to reach popularity similar to
the retired German female boxing star Regina Halmich.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susianna_Kentikian
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1368:
Zhu Yuanzhang ascended to the throne of China as the Hongwu Emperor,
initiating Ming Dynasty rule over China that would last for three centuries.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty)
1656:
Under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte, French mathematician, physicist, and
religious philosopher Blaise Pascal published the first of his Lettres
provinciales, attacking the Jesuits and their use of casuistic reasoning.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettres_provinciales)
1912:
Twelve nations signed the International Opium Convention, the first
international drug control treaty, to regulate the production and
distribution of opiates.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Opium_Convention)
1968:
USS Pueblo was seized by North Korean forces, who claimed that it had
violated their territorial waters while spying.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_(AGER-2)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Pueblo_%28AGER-2%29>
)
2001:
Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident: Seven people attempted to set
themselves on fire in Tiananmen Square on the eve of Chinese New Year, an
act that many people claim was staged by the Communist Party of China to
frame Falun Gong and escalate the persecution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_self-immolation_incident)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
googol (num) The number 10100; written as 1 followed by 100 zeros.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/googol)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Almost all our misfortunes in life come from the wrong notions we have about
the things that happen to us. To know men thoroughly, to judge events
sanely, is, therefore, a great step towards happiness. --Stendhal
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Stendhal)
Lost: Missing Pieces are thirteen video clips ranging in length from one to
four minutes that aired during the hiatus between the third and fourth
seasons of the television show Lost, from which the series is spun off. They
generally became available to Verizon Wireless users on Mondays from
November 2007 to January 2008 and were uploaded onto the American
Broadcasting Company's website a week later for free streaming. These
"mobisodes" were shot in Honolulu, Hawaii and produced by the same crew with
the same cast as the television series; thus, all content is considered to
be canonical. Lost's writer-producers originally proposed the mobisodes as a
self-contained story that would focus on two previously unseen characters of
the Lost fictional universe. These characters would be played by actors who
were not part of the Screen Actors Guild; however the entertainment guild
refused to support such a project. After months of unsuccessful negotiating,
the series was seemingly shelved by ABC. In June 2007, it was announced that
the mobisodes, which would be renamed Lost: Missing Pieces, would star the
regular characters of Lost in thirteen short video clips unrelated to each
other. Twelve scenes were newly shot; one was a deleted scene from the
television series. Lost: Missing Pieces received minimal media attention and
critical reviews were mixed. The series was nominated for an Emmy Award in
2008.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost:_Missing_Pieces
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Today's selected anniversaries:
565:
Justinian the Great deposed Eutychius, Patriarch of Constantinople, after he
refused the Byzantine Emperor's order to adopt the tenets of the
Aphthartodocetae, a sect of Monophysites.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_of_Rome)
1863:
The January Uprising, the longest Polish, Belarusian and Lithuanian uprising
against the Russian Empire, broke out, originally as a spontaneous protest
by young Poles against conscription into the Russian Army.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_Uprising)
1879:
Anglo-Zulu War: In the greatest British military defeat at the hands of
native forces in history, Zulu forces of King Cetshwayo fought to a pyrrhic
victory at the Battle of Isandlwana in Isandlwana, South Africa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Isandlwana)
1901:
After holding the title Prince of Wales for six decades, King Edward VII
ascended to the British throne, replacing Queen Victoria whose death ended
her reign that lasted 63 years and seven months, longer than any other
British monarch.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_of_the_United_Kingdom)
1973:
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered its decision in the landmark case Roe v.
Wade, striking down laws restricting abortion during the first six to seven
months of pregnancy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roe_v._Wade)
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
genuflect (v) To bend the knee, as in servitude or worship; grovel.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/genuflect)
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
So, we'll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest. --George Gordon, Lord Byron
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lord_Byron)