Spyro: Year of the Dragon is a platform game developed by Insomniac
Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation.
The game was released in North America on November 30, 2000. Year of
the Dragon is the third installment in the Spyro series and the last
Spyro game to be released for the PlayStation. The game was the last
Spyro game Insomniac developed; their next title would be Ratchet &
Clank for the PlayStation 2. Named after the animal of the Chinese
zodiac, Year of the Dragon follows the titular purple character Spyro
as he travels to the "Forgotten Realms" after 150 magical dragon eggs
are stolen from the land of the dragons by an evil sorceress. Players
travel across thirty different worlds gathering gems and eggs. Year of
the Dragon introduced new characters and minigames to the series, as
well as offering improved graphics and music. Upon release, the game
sold more than two million units in the United States, and received
positive critical response, with reviewers noting the game built on the
successful formula of its predecessors by adding more games and
expansive environments. At Game Rankings, Year of the Dragon is one of
the top twenty highest-rated PlayStation games of all time. The game
was followed by the multiplatform title Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly, and
was later released for download on the PlayStation Store on May 14,
2009.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spyro%3A_Year_of_the_Dragon>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1508:
The Papal States, France, Aragon and the Holy Roman Empire formed the
League of Cambrai, an alliance against the Republic of Venice.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_Cambrai>
1898:
The Spanish-American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris,
with Spain recognizing the independence of Cuba; and ceding Guam, the
Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_%281898%29>
1901:
The first Nobel Prizes were awarded, on the anniversary of the 1896
death of their founder, Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize>
1907:
During the Brown Dog affair, about 1,000 protesters marched through
London and then clashed with 400 police officers in Trafalgar Square
over the existence of a memorial for animals who have been vivisected .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Dog_affair>
1948:
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, representing the first global expression of rights to
which all human beings are inherently entitled.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
intempestivity (n):
Unseasonability; untimeliness
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/intempestivity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"Hope" is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —
And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That
kept so many warm —
--Emily Dickinson
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson>
The Amagi class battlecruiser was a planned class of warship for the
Imperial Japanese Navy, as part of the so-called "Eight-eight fleet".
The class was to have been composed of four ships: Amagi, Akagi, Atago,
and Takao. The first three were named for mountains (Mount Amagi, Mount
Akagi and Mount Atago), while the fourth was named for the town Takao,
Formosa (present-day Kaohsiung, Taiwan). The Amagi design was
essentially an enlarged version of the Tosa-class battleship, but with
a thinner armored belt and deck and a modified secondary battery
arrangement. Limitations imposed by the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty
prevented the class from being completed as designed. However, the
treaty had a limited allowance for hulls already under construction to
be converted into aircraft carriers. Amagi and Akagi were both intended
for conversion, but an earthquake damaged the hull of Amagi so
extensively that the ship was scrapped. Akagi was refitted as an
aircraft carrier and served with distinction during World War II as
part of the Kido Butai before being sunk at the Battle of Midway.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagi_class_battlecruiser>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1425:
Pope Martin V issued a papal bull establishing what later became the
Catholic University of Leuven , the largest, oldest and most prominent
university in Belgium.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_University_of_Leuven>
1905:
Legislation establishing state secularism in France was passed by the
Chamber of Deputies of France, triggering civil disobedience by French
Catholics.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_French_law_on_the_Separation_of_the_Churc…>
1979:
A World Health Organization commission of eminent scientists certified
the global eradication of smallpox, making it the only human infectious
disease to date to have been completely eradicated from nature.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/smallpox>
1990:
Lech Wałęsa became the first President of Poland to be elected in a
direct presidential election after the collapse of communism across
Eastern Europe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lech_Wa%C5%82%C4%99sa>
2008:
Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich was arrested for a number of
corruption crimes, including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat
that was being vacated by then-U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Blagojevich_corruption_charges>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
comport (v):
1. To be in agreement (with); to be of an accord.
2. (reflexive) To behave (in a given manner)
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/comport>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A ship in port is safe; but that is not what ships are built for. Sail
out to sea and do new things.
--Grace Hopper
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper>
The Lucy poems are a series of five poems composed by the English
Romantic poet William Wordsworth between 1798 and 1801. All but one
were first published in the second edition of Lyrical Ballads in 1800,
a collaboration between Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge that was
both Wordsworth’s first major publication and a milestone in the early
English Romantic movement. In the series, Wordsworth sought to write
unaffected English verse infused with abstract ideals of beauty,
nature, love, longing and death. Although they individually deal with a
variety of themes, as a series they focus on the poet's longing for the
company of his friend Coleridge, who had stayed in England, and on his
increasing impatience with his sister Dorothy, who had travelled with
him abroad. Wordsworth channeled his frustrations into an examination
of unrequited love for the idealised character of Lucy, an English girl
who has died young. The idea of her death weighs heavily on the poet
throughout the series, imbuing it with a melancholic, elegiac tone.
Whether Lucy was based on a real woman or was a figment of the poet's
imagination has long been a matter of debate among scholars. The "Lucy
poems" consist of "Strange fits of passion have I known", "She dwelt
among the untrodden ways", "I travelled among unknown men", "Three
years she grew in sun and shower", and "A slumber did my spirit seal".
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lucy_poems>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1609:
Milan's Biblioteca Ambrosiana opened its reading room to the public,
becoming the second public library in Europe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblioteca_Ambrosiana>
1941:
The Holocaust: The Chelmno extermination camp in Poland, the first such
Nazi camp to kill the Jews of the Ghetto Litzmannstadt and the
Warthegau by poison gas, began operating.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelmno_extermination_camp>
1980:
Former Beatle John Lennon was fatally shot in the entrance hallway of
the Dakota apartments in New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_John_Lennon>
1991:
Leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine signed the Belavezha Accords,
agreeing to dissolve the Soviet Union and establish the Commonwealth of
Independent States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States>
2004:
Twelve South American countries signed the Cusco Declaration,
announcing the foundation of what is now the Union of South American
Nations, an intergovernmental union modelled after the European Union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_South_American_Nations>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
John Lennon glasses (n):
A pair of eyeglasses (spectacles) with round lenses
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/John_Lennon_glasses>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The wit makes fun of other persons; the satirist makes fun of the
world; the humorist makes fun of himself, but in so doing, he
identifies himself with people — that is, people everywhere, not for
the purpose of taking them apart, but simply revealing their true
nature.
--James Thurber
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Thurber>
Remain in Light is the fourth studio album by American New Wave band
Talking Heads, released on 8 October 1980 on Sire Records. It was
recorded at locations in the Bahamas and the United States between July
and August 1980 and was produced by the quartet's long-time
collaborator Brian Eno. The album entered the Billboard 200 in the US
at number 19 and peaked at number 21 on the UK Albums Chart. Two
singles were released from Remain in Light: "Once in a Lifetime" and
"Houses in Motion". The record was certified Gold in the US and in
Canada during the 1980s. The members of Talking Heads wanted to make an
album that dispelled notions of frontman and chief lyricist David Byrne
leading a back-up band. They decided to experiment with African
polyrhythms and, with Eno, recorded the instrumental tracks as a series
of samples and loops, a novel idea at the time. Remain in Light was
widely acclaimed by critics. Praise centered on its cohesive merging of
disparate genres and sonic experimentation. The record has featured in
several publications' lists of the best albums of the 1980s and the
best albums of all time.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remain_in_Light>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
43 BC:
Cicero, widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose
stylists, was assassinated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicero>
1724:
In Toruń, Royal Prussia, Polish authorities executed the city's mayor
and nine other Lutheran officials following tensions between
Protestants and Catholics.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumult_of_Thorn_%28Toru%C5%84%29>
1787:
Delaware became the first U.S. state to ratify the United States
Constitution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaware>
1815:
Michel Ney, Marshal of France, was executed by a firing squad near
Paris' Jardin du Luxembourg for supporting Napoleon Bonaparte.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Ney>
1972:
The crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft took the photograph "The Blue
Marble" , the first clear image of an illuminated face of Earth, on
their way to the Moon.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_Marble>
1988:
An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.9 struck the Spitak region
of Armenia, then part of the Soviet Union, killing at least 25,000
people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Spitak_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
animadversion (n):
A criticism; a critical remark
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/animadversion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the
sense of truthfulness. The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy;
only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is.
--Willa Cather
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Willa_Cather>
George H. D. Gossip (1841–1907) was a minor American-English chess
master and writer. He competed against most of the world's leading
players in chess tournaments between 1870 and 1895, but with only
modest success. The writer G. H. Diggle calls him "the King of Wooden
Spoonists" because he usually finished last in strong tournaments.
Gossip was also a noted writer. His 1874 treatise The Chess-Player's
Manual—A Complete Guide to Chess was harshly received by the critics,
largely because he had included a number of informal skittles games
that he had (atypically) won against stronger players. He developed a
lifelong enmity toward chess critics, attacking them ferociously in his
books. However, his 1879 book Theory of the Chess Openings was well
received, becoming one of the standard opening works of the time. He
made his living primarily as a journalist, author, and translator,
writing for publications in England, France, Australia, and the U.S. At
various times he lived in each of those countries, Germany, and Canada.
In 1898 and 1899, two publishers issued his only non-chess book, The
Jew of Chamant. Published under the pseudonym "Ivan Trepoff", it was
virulently anti-Semitic. Chess writers have often mocked Gossip's play.
However, a modern assessment system, Chessmetrics, concludes that at
his peak he was close to grandmaster strength.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._D._Gossip>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1534:
Over 200 Spanish settlers led by conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar
founded what is now Quito, Ecuador.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quito>
1768:
The first weekly installment of the first edition of the Encyclopædia
Britannica was released in Edinburgh, Scotland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica>
1865:
Slavery in the United States was officially abolished when the
Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Cons…>
1917:
A ship in Halifax Harbour carrying trinitrotoluene (TNT) and picric
acid caught fire after a collision with another ship and exploded,
devastating Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion>
1921:
The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed and then came into force exactly one
year to the day later, establishing the Irish Free State, the first
independent Irish state to be recognised by the British government.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Irish_Treaty>
1989:
Claiming that he was "fighting feminism", 25-year-old Marc Lépine
embarked on a massacre, killing fourteen women, and wounding ten other
women and four men, before committing suicide at École Polytechnique in
Montreal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89cole_Polytechnique_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
maudlin (adj):
1. Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; self-pitying.
2. Affectionate or sentimental in an effusive, tearful, or foolish
manner, such as from drunkenness
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/maudlin>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Science of Language has taught us that there is order and wisdom in
all languages, and even the most degraded jargons contain the ruins of
former greatness and beauty. The Science of Religion, I hope, will
produce a similar change in our views of barbarous forms of faith and
worship.
--Max Müller
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_M%C3%BCller>
The Tawny Owl is a stocky, medium-sized owl which is common in
woodlands across much of Eurasia. Its underparts are pale with dark
streaks, and the upperparts are either brown or grey, with several of
the eleven recognised subspecies having both variants. The nest is
typically in a tree hole, and eggs and young are fiercely defended
against potential predators. This owl is non-migratory and highly
territorial, and many young birds starve if they cannot find a vacant
territory once parental care ceases. This nocturnal bird of prey hunts
mainly rodents, usually by dropping from a perch to seize its victim,
which is swallowed whole, although in more urban areas its diet
includes a higher proportion of birds. Its night hunting is aided by
vision and hearing adaptations and silent flight. The Tawny is capable
of catching smaller owls, but may itself be killed by the Eagle Owl or
Northern Goshawk, and foxes are an important cause of mortality in
newly fledged young. Although this owl is often claimed to have
exceptional night vision, its retina is no more sensitive than a
human's, but its asymmetrically placed ears give the Tawny Owl
excellent directional hearing. Its nighttime habits and eerie, easily
imitated call have led to an association in myth with bad luck and
death.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawny_Owl>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1484:
Pope Innocent VIII issued the papal bull Summis desiderantes
affectibus, giving Dominican Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer explicit
authority to prosecute witchcraft in Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summis_desiderantes_affectibus>
1492:
Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the
island of Hispaniola, now Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola>
1757:
Seven Years' War: Prussian forces under Frederick the Great defeated
Austrian forces under Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine at the
Battle of Leuthen in Leuthen, present-day Poland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leuthen>
1933:
Prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States officially
ended when the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was
ratified, repealing the Eighteenth Amendment.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-first_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Co…>
1945:
Flight 19, a squadron of five Avenger TBM torpedo bombers of the U.S.
Navy, disappeared in the area now known as the Bermuda Triangle.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_19>
2005:
The Civil Partnership Act came into force, granting civil partnerships
in the United Kingdom with rights and responsibilities identical to
civil marriage.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Partnership_Act_2004>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
consternation (n):
Amazement or horror that confounds the faculties, and incapacitates for
reflection; terror, combined with amazement
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/consternation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Fantasy, if it's really convincing, can't become dated, for the simple
reason that it represents a flight into a dimension that lies beyond
the reach of time.
--Walt Disney
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Disney>
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film, directed by
Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young.
The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is based
on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.
The film depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019 in which
genetically manufactured beings called replicants — visually
indistinguishable from adult humans — are used for dangerous or menial
work on Earth's "off-world colonies". Following a replicant uprising,
replicants become illegal on Earth and specialist police called "blade
runners" are trained to hunt down and "retire" escaped replicants on
Earth. The plot focuses on a brutal and cunning group of
recently-escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the semi-retired
blade runner, Rick Deckard, who reluctantly agrees to take on one more
assignment. Blade Runner initially polarized critics: some were
displeased with the pacing, while others enjoyed its thematic
complexity. The film performed poorly in North American theaters.
Despite the box office failure of the film, it has since become a cult
classic. Blade Runner has been hailed for its production design,
depicting a "retrofitted" future. It remains a leading example of the
neo-noir genre. Seven versions of the film have been shown, for various
markets, and as a result of controversial changes made by film
executives. A rushed Director's cut was released in 1992 after a strong
response to workprint screenings. In 2007, Warner Bros. released in
select theaters and on DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray, the 25th anniversary
digitally remastered definitive Final Cut by Scott.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1639:
English astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks made the first observation of a
transit of Venus .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/transit_of_Venus>
1676:
Scanian War: Forces led by Swedish Field Marshal Simon Grundel-Helmfelt
defeated the invading army of Denmark–Norway under the command of King
Christian V in an area north of Lund, Sweden.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lund>
1829:
The practice of sati was formally abolished in British India after
years of campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy against the Hindu funeral custom
of widows immolating themselves.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_%28practice%29>
1977:
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, the President of the Central African Republic, had
himself crowned as Emperor Bokassa I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-B%C3%A9del_Bokassa>
1992:
Operation Restore Hope: One day after the United Nations Security
Council passed Resolution 794, U.S. President George H. W. Bush ordered
American troops into Somalia to help provide humanitarian aid and
restore order after the dissolution of the country's central government
during the ongoing Somali Civil War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Task_Force>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
piffle (v):
To act or speak in a futile, ineffective, or nonsensical manner
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/piffle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Is there any religion whose followers can be pointed to as distinctly
more amiable and trustworthy than those of any other? If so, this
should be enough. I find the nicest and best people generally profess
no religion at all, but are ready to like the best men of all
religions.
--Samuel Butler
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Butler>
William Speirs Bruce (1867–1921) was a London-born Scottish naturalist,
polar scientist and oceanographer who organized and led the Scottish
National Antarctic Expedition to the South Orkney Islands and the
Weddell Sea. Among other achievements the expedition established the
first permanent weather station below the Antarctic Circle. Bruce later
founded the Scottish Oceanographical Laboratory, but his plans for a
transcontinental Antarctic march via the South Pole were stillborn
through lack of public and financial support. In 1892 Bruce abandoned
his medical studies at the University of Edinburgh and joined the
Dundee Whaling Expedition to Antarctica as a scientific assistant. This
was followed by Arctic voyages to Novaya Zemlya, Spitsbergen and Franz
Josef Land. In 1899 Bruce, by then Britain's most experienced polar
scientist, applied for a post on Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery
Expedition, but delays over this appointment and clashes with Royal
Geographical Society president Sir Clements Markham led him instead to
organize his own expedition, and earned him the permanent enmity of the
British geographical establishment. Between 1907 and 1920 Bruce made
many journeys to the Arctic regions, both for scientific and for
commercial purposes.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Speirs_Bruce>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1800:
War of the Second Coalition: French forces under General Jean Moreau
defeated the Austrians and Bavarians under Archduke John in
Hohenlinden, near Munich, forcing the Austrians to sign an armistice.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hohenlinden>
1854:
At least 22 people were killed and 35 others were injured when
rebelling miners at the Eureka Stockade clashed violently with the
police and the military in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_Stockade>
1967:
Cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard performed the first successful human
heart transplant on Louis Washkansky at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape
Town, South Africa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiaan_Barnard>
1971:
The formal initiation of hostilities of the Indo-Pakistani War began
with the Pakistani Air Force launching pre-emptive airstrikes on
several forward airbases and radar installations of the Indian Air
Force.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chengiz_Khan>
1999:
NASA lost contact with the Mars Polar Lander moments before it reached
the atmosphere of Mars and disappeared.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Polar_Lander>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
flaneur (n):
One who wanders aimlessly, who roams, who travels at a lounging pace
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/flaneur>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The belief in a supernatural source of evil is not necessary; men alone
are quite capable of every wickedness.
--Joseph Conrad
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Conrad>
Eadbald was King of Kent from 616 until his death. He succeeded his
father Æthelberht, who made Kent the dominant force in England during
his reign and became the first Anglo-Saxon king to convert to
Christianity. Eadbald's accession was a significant setback for the
growth of the church, since he was a pagan and did not convert for at
least a year, and perhaps for as much as eight years. He was ultimately
converted by either Laurentius or Justus, and separated from his first
wife, who had been his stepmother, at the insistence of the church.
Eadbald's second wife was Ymme, who may have been a Frankish princess.
She bore him two sons, Eormenred and Eorcenberht, and a daughter,
Eanswith. Eadbald's influence was less than his father's, but Kent was
powerful enough to be omitted from the list of kingdoms dominated by
Edwin of Northumbria. Edwin's marriage to Eadbald's sister, Æthelburg,
established a good relationship between Kent and Northumbria which
appears to have continued into Oswald's reign. When Æthelburg fled to
Kent on Edwin's death in about 633, she sent her children to Francia
for safety, fearing the intrigues of both Eadbald and Oswald. The
Kentish royal line made several strong diplomatic marriages over the
succeeding years, including the marriage of Eanflæd, Eadbald's niece,
to Oswiu, and of Eorcenberht to Seaxburh, daughter of King Anna of East
Anglia. Eadbald died in 640, and was succeeded by Eorcenberht.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadbald_of_Kent>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1805:
Napoleonic Wars: French forces led by Emperor Napoleon I decisively
defeated a Russo-Austrian army commanded by Czar Alexander I in the
Battle of Austerlitz .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz>
1823:
U.S. President James Monroe issued the Monroe Doctrine, a proclamation
of opposition to European colonialism in the New World.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine>
1942:
The Manhattan Project: Scientists led by Enrico Fermi initiated the
first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in the experimental
nuclear reactor Chicago Pile-1.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1>
1956:
Cuban Revolution: The yacht Granma, carrying Fidel Castro, Che Guevara
and 80 other members of the 26th of July Movement, reached the shores
of Cuba.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granma_%28yacht%29>
1975:
The Pathet Lao overthrew the royalist government in Vientiane, forcing
King Savang Vatthana to abdicate, and established the Lao People's
Democratic Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laos>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sententious (adj):
1. (obsolete) Full of meaning.
2. Using as few words as possible; pithy and concise.
3. Tending to
use aphorisms, especially given to trite moralizing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sententious>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Learned and leisurely hospitality is the only antidote to the stance of
deadly cleverness that is acquired in the professional pursuit of
objectively secured knowledge. I remain certain that the quest for
truth cannot thrive outside the nourishment of mutual trust flowering
into a commitment to friendship.
--Ivan Illich
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ivan_Illich>
The 2008 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on May 25,
2008 at the Circuit de Monaco; contested over 76 laps, it was the sixth
race of the 2008 Formula One season. The race was won by the season's
eventual Drivers' Champion, Lewis Hamilton, for the McLaren team. BMW
Sauber driver Robert Kubica finished second, and Felipe Massa, who
started from pole position, was third in a Ferrari. Conditions were wet
at the start of the race. Massa maintained his lead into the first
corner, but his teammate Kimi Räikkönen was passed for second by
Hamilton, who had started in third position on the grid. Hamilton
suffered a punctured tyre on lap six, forcing him to make a pit stop
from which he re-entered the race in fifth place. As the track dried
and his rivals made their own pit stops Hamilton became the race
leader, a position he held until the end of the race. Kubica's strategy
allowed him to pass Massa during their second pit stops, after the
latter's Ferrari was forced to change from wet to dry tyres. Räikkönen
dropped back from fifth position to ninth after colliding with Adrian
Sutil's Force India late in the race. The race was Hamilton's second
win of the season, his first in Monaco, and the result meant that he
led the Drivers' Championship, seven points ahead of Räikkönen and
eight ahead of Massa.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Monaco_Grand_Prix>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1640:
John IV was declared King of Portugal, resulting in the Portuguese
Restoration War with Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_IV_of_Portugal>
1822:
Pedro I was crowned the first Emperor of Brazil, less than two months
after he actually began his reign on October 12.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_I_of_Brazil>
1955:
African-American Civil Rights Movement: Seamstress Rosa Parks was
arrested for violating the racial segregation laws of Montgomery,
Alabama, after refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white
man, precipitating the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosa_Parks>
1959:
Twelve countries signed the Antarctic Treaty, the first arms control
agreement established during the Cold War, banning military activity in
Antarctica and setting the continent aside as a scientific preserve.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Treaty_System>
1990:
Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France met 40 metres
(131 ft) beneath the English Channel seabed.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hebetude (n):
Mental lethargy or dullness
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hebetude>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
There's an old joke... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain
resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really
terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions."
Well, that's essentially how I feel about life — full of loneliness,
and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness — and it's all over much too
quickly.
--Woody Allen
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Woody_Allen>