Marble Madness is an arcade video game designed by Mark Cerny, and published
by Atari Games in 1984. It is a platform game where the player must guide an
onscreen marble through six courses, populated with obstacles and enemies,
within a time limit. The player controls the marble by using a trackball.
Marble Madness is known for using innovative game technologies. It was one
of the first games to use true stereo sound—previous games used either
monaural sound or simulated stereo—and it was Atari's first to use the Atari
System 1 hardware and to be programmed in the C programming language. In
designing the game, Cerny drew inspiration from miniature golf, racing
games, and artwork by M. C. Escher. He aimed to create a game that offered a
distinct experience with a unique control system. Cerny applied a minimalist
approach in designing the appearance of the game's courses and enemies.
Throughout development, he was frequently impeded by limitations in
technology and had to forgo several design ideas. Upon its release, Marble
Madness was commercially successful, becoming a profitable arcade game.
Praise among critics focused on the game's difficulty, unique visual design,
and stereo soundtrack. The game was ported to numerous platforms and
inspired the development of other games. A sequel was planned for release in
1991, but location testing showed the game could not succeed in competition
with other titles. Plans for the sequel were canceled.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Madness
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1787:
German-born British astronomer and composer William Herschel discovered the
Uranian moons Oberon and Titania. They were later named by his son John
after the King and the Queen of the Faeries from William Shakespeare's play
A Midsummer Night's Dream, respectively.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberon_(moon)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberon_%28moon%29>and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_(moon)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_%28moon%29>
)
1922:
Insulin was first administered to a human patient with diabetes at the
Toronto General Hospital in Toronto, Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin)
1923:
Troops from France and Belgium invaded the Ruhr Area to force the German
Weimar Republic to pay its reparation payments in the aftermath of World War
I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_the_Ruhr)
1964:
In a landmark report, U.S. Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry issued the
warning that smoking may be hazardous for one's health, concluding that it
has a causative role in lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and
other illnesses.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Leonidas_Terry)
1986:
The Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, at the time the longest
prestressed concrete free cantilever bridge in the world, opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Bridge,_Brisbane)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
actuate (v) 1. To activate, or to put into motion; to animate.
2. To incite to action; to motivate.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/actuate)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do indeed disbelieve that we or any other mortal men can attain on a given
day to absolutely incorrigible and unimprovable truth about such matters of
fact as those with which religions deal. But I reject this dogmatic ideal
not out of a perverse delight in intellectual instability. I am no lover of
disorder and doubt as such. Rather do I fear to lose truth by this
pretension to possess it already wholly. --William James
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_James)
Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) was an American singer-songwriter and folk
musician. Guthrie's musical legacy is sizable and includes hundreds of
songs, ballads and improvised works covering topics from political themes to
traditional songs to children's songs. Guthrie performed continually
throughout his life with his guitar frequently displaying the slogan "This
Machine Kills Fascists." Guthrie is perhaps best known for his song "This
Land Is Your Land", which is regularly sung in American schools. Many of his
recorded songs are archived in the Library of Congress. Guthrie traveled
with migrant workers from Oklahoma to California and learned traditional
folk and blues songs. His songs are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl
era during the Great Depression and he is known as the "Dust Bowl
Troubadour." Guthrie was associated with, but never a member of, Communist
groups in the United States throughout his life. Guthrie was married three
times and fathered eight children, including American folk musician Arlo
Guthrie. He is the grandfather of musician Sarah Lee Guthrie. Guthrie died
from complications of the genetic neurologic disorder known as Huntington's
disease.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1475:
Moldavian-Ottoman Wars: Stephen the Great and his Moldavian forces
successfully repelled an Ottoman attack led by Hadân Suleiman Pasha, the
Beylerbeyi of Rumelia, near Vaslui in present-day Romania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vaslui)
1776:
Common Sense by English revolutionary Thomas Paine, a document denouncing
British rule which contributed to stimulating the American Revolution among
the populace of the Thirteen Colonies, was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Sense_(pamphlet)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Sense_%28pamphlet%29>
)
1810:
Napoleon, childless after 14 years of marriage, divorced his first wife
Joséphine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9phine_de_Beauharnais)
1863:
Service began on the Metropolitan Railway between Paddington and Farringdon
Street, today the oldest segment of the London Underground.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_and_Metropolitan_District_Railways
)
1946:
The first session of the United Nations General Assembly convened at the
Westminster Central Hall in London with representatives from fifty-one
member states.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_General_Assembly)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sibilant (adj) Characterized by a hissing sound such as the "s" or "sh" in
sash or surge.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sibilant)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I believe that the Universe is one being, all its parts are different
expressions of the same energy, and they are all in communication with each
other, therefore parts of one organic whole. This whole is in all its parts
so beautiful, and is felt by me to be so intensely in earnest, that I am
compelled to love it and to think of it as divine. --Robinson Jeffers
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robinson_Jeffers)
Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led
by Ernest Shackleton. Its ship, Nimrod, departed from British waters on 7
August, fewer than six months after Shackleton's first public announcement
of his plans. Initially, the expedition's public profile was much lower than
that of Scott's Discovery Expedition six years earlier. However, nationwide
interest was aroused by the news of its achievements. The South Pole was not
attained, but the expedition's southern march reached a farthest south
latitude at 88°23′S, and it could thus claim that it had got within a
hundred miles of the Pole. This was by far the longest southern polar
journey to that date and a record convergence on either Pole. During the
expedition a separate group led by Welsh-born Australian geology professor
Edgeworth David reached the estimated location of the South Magnetic Pole,
and the first ascent was made of Mount Erebus, the lofty Ross Island active
volcano. The scientific team, which included the future Australian Antarctic
Expedition leader Douglas Mawson, carried out extensive geological,
zoological and meteorological work. Shackleton's transport arrangements,
based on Manchurian ponies, motor traction, and sledge dogs, were
innovations which, despite limited success, were later copied by Scott for
his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrod_Expedition
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1839:
The French Academy of Sciences announced the Daguerreotype photographic
process, named after its inventor, French artist and chemist Louis Daguerre.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daguerreotype)
1878:
Umberto I became King of Italy following the death of his father Victor
Emmanuel II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_I_of_Italy)
1916:
World War I: The last British troops evacuated from Gallipoli, as the
Ottoman Empire prevailed over of a joint British and French operation to
capture Istanbul at the Battle of Gallipoli.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_Campaign)
1923:
The autogyro, a type of rotorcraft invented by civil engineer and pilot Juan
de la Cierva, made its first successful flight at Cuatro Vientos Airfield in
Madrid, Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autogyro)
2005:
Mahmoud Abbas was elected President of the Palestinian National Authority to
replace Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestinian_presidential_election,_2005)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Luddite (n) 1. Any of a group of early 19th century English textile
workers who destroyed machinery because it would harm their livelihood.
2. (by extension) Someone who opposes technological
change.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Luddite)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others,
by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion. --Simone de
Beauvoir
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_de_Beauvoir)
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 – 1913) was a British naturalist, explorer,
geographer, anthropologist, and biologist. He is best known for
independently proposing a theory of natural selection which prompted Charles
Darwin to publish on his own theory. Wallace did extensive fieldwork, first
in the Amazon River basin and then in the Malay Archipelago, where he
identified the Wallace Line that divides Indonesia into two distinct parts,
one with animals more closely related to those of Australia and the other
with animals more closely related to those found in Asia. He was considered
the 19th century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal
species and is sometimes called the "father of biogeography". Wallace was
one of the leading evolutionary thinkers of the 19th century who made a
number of other contributions to the development of evolutionary theory
besides being co-discover of natural selection. These included the concept
of warning colouration in animals, and the Wallace effect, a hypothesis on
how natural selection could contribute to speciation by encouraging the
development of barriers against hybridization.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
War of 1812: American forces led by General Andrew Jackson defeated the
British army at the Battle of New Orleans near New Orleans, two weeks after
the United States and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Ghent to end the
war.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_New_Orleans)
1889:
Statistician Herman Hollerith received a patent for his electric tabulating
machine.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Hollerith)
1979:
The oil tanker Betelgeuse exploded at the offshore jetty of the Whiddy
Island Oil Terminal off Bantry Bay, Ireland, killing about 50 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betelgeuse_incident)
1989:
British Midland Flight 92 crashed onto the embankment of the M1 motorway
near Kegworth, Leicestershire, UK, killing 47 people and injuring 79 others.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kegworth_air_disaster)
2004:
RMS Queen Mary 2, at the time the longest, widest and tallest passenger ship
ever built, was christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth
II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Mary_2)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
camber (n) 1. A slight convexity of the surface of a road, ship's deck,
etc., so that liquids will flow off the sides.
2. The slope of a curved road, such that the outside is
higher than the inside.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/camber)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you cannot make knowledge your servant, make it your friend. --Baltasar
Gracián
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Baltasar_Graci%C3%A1n)
Go Man Go (1953–1983) was an American Quarter Horse stallion and race horse.
He was named World Champion Quarter Running Horse three times in a row, one
of only two horses to achieve that distinction. Go Man Go was considered to
be of difficult temperament. While waiting in the starting gate for his very
first race, he threw his jockey, broke down the gate, and ran alone around
the track. He was eventually caught and went on to win the race. He retired
from racing in 1960. During his five years of competition he had 27 wins and
brought earnings of more than $86,000 ($634,000 in 2007 dollars). Neither of
his parents raced. His sire (father), the Thoroughbred stallion Top Deck,
was bred by the King Ranch. His dam (mother) hailed from Louisiana; Go Man
Go is thought to have gained his swiftness on the track from her. For the
first years of his racing career, Go Man Go's owner faced difficulty in
registering him with the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA), a matter
that remained unresolved until 1958. Go Man Go went on to sire two All
American Futurity winners and seven Champion Quarter Running Horses. He was
inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame, along with two of his
offspring. His daughters also produced, or were the mothers of, a number of
race winners, including the Hall of Fame member Kaweah Bar.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Man_Go
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1558:
Francis, Duke of Guise retook Calais, England's last continental possession,
for France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calais)
1610:
Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei first observed three of Jupiter's natural
satellites through his telescope: Io, Europa, and Callisto.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei)
1785:
Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries became the first
to cross the English Channel by balloon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel)
1924:
The International Hockey Federation, the global governing body for field
hockey, was founded in Paris in response to the sport's omission from the
1924 Summer Olympics.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Hockey_Federation)
1979:
Phnom Penh, Cambodia fell to the People's Army of Vietnam, effectively
ending the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pol_Pot)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nephric (adj) Relating to or connected with a kidney.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nephric)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You cannot begin to preserve any species of animal unless you preserve the
habitat in which it dwells. Disturb or destroy that habitat and you will
exterminate the species as surely as if you had shot it. So conservation
means that you have to preserve forest and grassland, river and lake, even
the sea itself. This is not only vital for the preservation of animal life
generally, but for the future existence of man himself — a point that seems
to escape many people. --Gerald Durrell
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gerald_Durrell)
Frank Macfarlane Burnet (1899 – 1985) was an Australian virologist best
known for his contributions to immunology. He conducted pioneering research
on bacteriophages and viruses at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute,
Melbourne, and served as director of the Institute from 1944 to 1965.
Burnet's research on viruses resulted in significant discoveries concerning
their nature and replication and their interaction with the immune system.
>From the mid-1950s, he worked extensively in immunology and was a major
contributor to the theory of clonal selection, which explains how
lymphocytes target antigens for destruction. Burnet and Peter Medawar were
co-recipients of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for
demonstrating acquired immune tolerance. This research provided the
experimental basis for inducing immune tolerance—the platform for developing
methods of transplanting solid organs. Burnet left the Walter and Eliza Hall
Institute in 1965, and continued to work at the University of Melbourne
until his official retirement in 1978. During his working life he wrote 31
books and monographs and more than 500 scientific papers.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Macfarlane_Burnet
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1661:
Thomas Venner and the Fifth Monarchists unsuccessfully attempted to seize
control of London from the newly restored government of Charles II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Monarchists)
1781:
At the Battle of Jersey, British forces stopped France's last attempt to
militarily invade Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English
Channel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Jersey)
1838:
Samuel Morse and his assistant Alfred Vail successfully tested the
electrical telegraph for the first time at Speedwell Ironworks in
Morristown, New Jersey, USA.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_telegraph)
1907:
Italian educator Maria Montessori opened her first school and day care
center for working class children in Rome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori)
1995:
A suspicious fire in a Manila flat led to the foiling of the Bojinka Plot, a
precursor to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bojinka_Plot)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
interject (v) 1. To insert something between other things.
2. To interpose oneself; to intervene.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/interject)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we
kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love. --Khalil
Gibran
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Khalil_Gibran)
The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex on the
Columbia River in south-central Washington operated by the United States
government. Established in 1943 as part of the Manhattan Project, it was
home to the B-Reactor, the first full-scale plutonium production reactor in
the world. During the Cold War, the project was expanded to include nine
nuclear reactors and five massive plutonium processing complexes, which
produced plutonium for most of the 60,000 weapons in the U.S. nuclear
arsenal. Nuclear technology developed rapidly during this period, and
Hanford scientists produced many notable technological achievements.
However, many of the early safety procedures and waste disposal practices
were inadequate. Government documents have since confirmed that Hanford's
operations released significant amounts of radioactive materials to the air
and to the Columbia River, threatening the health of residents and
ecosystems. Today, Hanford is the most contaminated nuclear site in the
United States and is the focus of the nation's largest environmental cleanup
effort. While most of the current activity at the site is related to the
cleanup project, Hanford also hosts a commercial nuclear power plant, the
Columbia Generating Station, and various centers for scientific research and
development.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1477:
Burgundian Wars: Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy, died at the Battle
of Nancy, eventually leading to the partition of Burgundy between France and
the House of Habsburg.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Nancy)
1527:
Felix Manz, co-founder of the original Swiss Brethren Anabaptist
congregation in Zürich, was executed by drowning, becoming one of the first
martyrs of the Radical Reformation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Manz)
1968:
Alexander Dubček came to power in Czechoslovakia, beginning a period of
political liberalization known as the Prague Spring that still enabled the
Communist Party to maintain real power.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_Spring)
1975:
The Tasman Bridge, crossing the Derwent River in Hobart, Tasmania,
Australia, was struck by the bulk carrier Lake Illawarra, killing seven of
the ship's crewmen and five motorists on the bridge.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasman_Bridge_disaster)
2005:
Eris, the largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System, was discovered by
a team led by Michael E. Brown using images originally taken on October 21,
2003 at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, USA.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_(dwarf_planet)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eris_%28dwarf_planet%29>
)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
pannier (n) 1. A large basket or bag fastened, usually in pairs, to the
back of a bicycle or pack animal, or carried in pairs over the shoulders.
2. A decorative basket for the display of flowers or
fruits.
3. One of a pair of hoops formerly used to expand the
volume of a woman's skirt to either side.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pannier)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A dreaded society is not a civilized society. The most progressive and
powerful society in the civilized sense, is a society which has recognized
its ethos, and come to terms with the past and the present, with religion
and science, with modernism and mysticism, with materialism and
spirituality; a society free of tension, a society rich in culture. Such a
society cannot come with hocus-pocus formulas and with fraud. It has to flow
from the depth of a divine search. --Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zulfikar_Ali_Bhutto)
The Battle of Red Cliffs was a decisive battle at the end of the Han
Dynasty, immediately prior to the period of the Three Kingdoms in China in
the northern winter of 208 CE between the allied forces of the southern
warlords Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and the numerically superior forces of the
northern warlord Cao Cao. Liu Bei and Sun Quan successfully frustrated Cao
Cao's effort to conquer the land south of the Yangtze River and reunite the
territory of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The allied victory at Red Cliffs
ensured the survival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, gave them control of the
Yangtze, and provided a line of defence that was the basis for the later
creation of the two southern kingdoms of Shu Han and Eastern Wu. For these
reasons, it is considered a decisive battle in Chinese history. Descriptions
of the battle differ widely on details; in fact, even the location of battle
is still fiercely debated. The most detailed account of the battle comes
from the biography of Zhou Yu in the 3rd-century historical text Records of
Three Kingdoms. An exaggerated and romanticised account is also a central
event in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the Four Great Classical
Novels of Chinese literature.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Red_Cliffs
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1698:
Most of London's Palace of Whitehall, the main residence of the English
monarchs dating from 1530, was destroyed by fire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Whitehall)
1854:
Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang discovered the McDonald
Islands, an uninhabited, barren island located in the Southern Ocean about
two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heard_Island_and_McDonald_Islands)
1884:
The Fabian Society, an intellectual movement whose purpose is to advance the
socialist cause by gradualist and reformist methods rather than
revolutionary means, was founded in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fabian_Society)
1973:
Last of the Summer Wine, the longest running sitcom in the world, premiered
as an episode of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_of_the_Summer_Wine)
1989:
In the Second Gulf of Sidra incident over the Gulf of Sidra in the
Mediterranean Sea, two American F-14A Tomcats shot down two Libyan MiG-23
Flogger Es that appeared to be attempting to engage them.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Sidra_incident_(1989)<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Sidra_incident_%281989%29>
)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
affable (adj) 1. Friendly, courteous, sociable; receiving others kindly
and conversing with them in a free and friendly manner.
2. Mild; benign.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/affable)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The main Business of natural Philosophy is to argue from Phenomena without
feigning Hypotheses, and to deduce Causes from Effects, till we come to the
very first Cause, which certainly is not mechanical. --Isaac Newton
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton)
The Guardian of Education was the first successful periodical dedicated to
reviewing children's literature in Britain. It was edited by
eighteenth-century educationalist, children's author, and Sunday School
advocate Sarah Trimmer and was published from June 1802 until September 1806
by J. Hatchard and F. C. and J. Rivington. The journal offered child-rearing
advice and assessments of contemporary educational theories and Trimmer even
proffered her own educational theory after evaluating the major works of the
day. Fearing the influence of French revolutionary ideals, particularly
those of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Trimmer emphasized orthodox
Anglicanism and encouraged the perpetuation of the contemporary social and
political order. Despite her conservatism, however, she agreed with Rousseau
and other progressive educational reformers on many issues, such as the
damaging effects of rote learning and the irrationalism of fairy tales. The
Guardian of Education was the first periodical to review children's books
seriously and with a distinctive set of criteria. Trimmer's reviews were
carefully thought out; they influenced publishers and authors to alter the
content of their books, helped to define the new genre of children's
literature, and greatly affected the sales of children's books.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian_of_Education
_________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1521:
Pope Leo X issued the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem, excommunicating
Martin Luther from the Roman Catholic Church after Luther refused to retract
41 of his 95 theses.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_X)
1749:
Benning Wentworth, Governor of the New Hampshire Colony, began to issue the
New Hampshire Grants on land which was also claimed by New York, and is now
Vermont.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_Grants)
1848:
Joseph Jenkins Roberts began his term as the first President of Liberia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Jenkins_Roberts)
1888:
The 91-cm refracting telescope at the Lick Observatory near San Jose,
California, USA, at the time the largest telescope in the world, was used
for the first time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lick_Observatory)
1959:
The Alaska Territory, an organized incorporated territory of the United
States, became the 49th state of the union, and the first U.S. state outside
of the 48 contiguous states.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Territory)
_______________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
reminisce (v) 1. To recall the past in a private moment, often fondly or
nostalgically.
2. To talk or write about memories of the past,
especially pleasant memories.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reminisce)
______________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The rule of no realm is mine, neither of Gondor nor any other, great or
small. But all worthy things that are in peril as the world now stands,
those are my care. And for my part, I shall not wholly fail of my task,
though Gondor should perish, if anything passes through this night that can
still grow fair or bear fruit and flower again in days to come.
--"Gandalf" in The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King by J. R. R.
Tolkien
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien)
Richard Cordray (born 1959) is an American politician of the Democratic
Party who has served as the State Treasurer of Ohio. In November 2008, he
was elected to serve as Ohio Attorney General starting January 8, 2009, for
the remainder of the unexpired term ending January 2011. Prior to his
election as State Treasurer, Cordray served as the Treasurer of Franklin
County, Ohio. He has previously served as a member of the Ohio House of
Representatives (1991–1993) and as the first Ohio State Solicitor
(1993–1994). Cordray was a Marshall Scholar at Oxford University, 1981–83.
Later, he was Editor-in-Chief of the University of Chicago Law Review, and
subsequently served as a law clerk for the United States Supreme Court. In
1987 he became an undefeated five-time Jeopardy! champion. In 1993 he was
appointed by the office of the Ohio Attorney General as the first Ohio State
Solicitor. His experience as Solicitor has led to him arguing six cases
before the United States Supreme Court, where he had previously clerked. In
1994, Cordray left his appointed position to pursue private practice law
before becoming Franklin County Treasurer in 2002. Cordray won re-election
as Franklin County Treasurer before being elected State Treasurer in 2006.
Throughout most of his career he has continued to teach courses at law
schools.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cordray
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Today's selected anniversaries:
366:
The Alamanni, an alliance of west Germanic tribes, crossed the frozen Rhine
in large numbers to invade the Roman Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alamanni)
533:
Mercurius became Pope John II, the first pope to adopt a regnal name upon
elevation to the papacy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_II)
1492:
The Reconquista: The Catholic Monarchs, Queen Isabella I of Castile and King
Ferdinand II of Aragon, expelled Abu 'abd-Allah Muhammad XII of Granada, the
last of the Moorish rulers, from the Iberian Peninsula.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_XII_of_Granada)
1942:
In the largest espionage case in United States history, 33 members of a
German spy ring led by former South African Boer soldier and adventurer
Fritz Joubert Duquesne were convicted by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Joubert_Duquesne)
1959:
The Soviet spacecraft Luna 1, the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of
the Moon, was launched by the Vostok rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1)
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
contretemps (n) An unforeseen, inopportune, or embarrassing event.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/contretemps)
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
When people grow wise in one direction, they are sure to make it easier for
themselves to grow wise in other directions as well. On the other hand, when
they split up knowledge, concentrate on their own field, and scorn and
ignore other fields, they grow less wise — even in their own field.
--Isaac Asimov
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov)