The Chiffchaff is a common and widespread leaf warbler, named for its
distinctive onomatopoeic song, which breeds in open woodlands
throughout northern and temperate Europe and Asia. It is a migratory
passerine which winters in southern and western Europe, southern Asia
and north Africa. Greenish-brown above and off-white below, it is named
for its simple chiff-chaff song. It has a number of subspecies, some of
which are now treated as full species. The female builds a domed nest
on or near the ground, and assumes most of the responsibility for
brooding and feeding the chicks, whilst the male has little involvement
in nesting, but defends his territory against rivals, and attacks
potential predators. A small insectivorous bird, it is subject to
predation by mammals, such as cats and mustelids, and birds,
particularly hawks of the genus Accipiter. It may also acquire external
or internal parasites. Its large range and population mean that its
status is secure, although one subspecies is probably extinct.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiffchaff>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1653:
Oliver Cromwell dissolved the Rump Parliament of the Commonwealth of
England by force, eventually replacing it with the Barebone's
Parliament.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rump_Parliament>
1862:
French chemist Louis Pasteur and physiologist Claude Bernard completed
the first test on pasteurization.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pasteurization>
1884:
Pope Leo XIII published the encyclical Humanum Genus, denouncing
Freemasonry, the doctrine of a separation of church and state, and many
other principles, some of which are today equated by most people with
the founding ones of the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanum_Genus>
1968:
British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell made his controversial
"Rivers of Blood" speech in opposition to immigration and
anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the
Shadow Cabinet.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech>
1999:
Students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold embarked on a massacre, killing
13 people and wounded over 20 others before committing suicide at
Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, USA.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
viraginous (adj):
1. Resembling an overbearing woman; shrew-like.
2. Resembling an Amazon; of a woman with great bravery, strength, or
stature
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/viraginous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The true secret in being a hero lies in knowing the order of things.
... Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may
not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like
unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a very long time, but not
forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story.
--Peter S. Beagle
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_S._Beagle>
Gerard K. O'Neill (1927–1992) was an American physicist and space
activist. As a faculty member of Princeton University, he invented a
device called the particle storage ring for high energy physics
experiments. Later he invented a magnetic launcher called the mass
driver. In the 1970s he developed a plan to build human settlements in
outer space, including a space habitat design known as the O'Neill
cylinder. He founded the Space Studies Institute, an organization
devoted to funding research into space manufacturing and colonization.
In 1965 at Stanford University he performed the first colliding beam
physics experiment. While teaching physics at Princeton, O'Neill became
interested in the possibility that humans could live in outer space. He
researched and proposed a futuristic idea for human settlement in
space, the O'Neill cylinder in "The Colonization of Space", his first
paper on the subject. He held a conference on space manufacturing at
Princeton in 1975. Many who became post-Apollo-era space activists
attended. O'Neill built his first mass driver prototype with professor
Henry Kolm in 1976. He considered mass drivers critical for extracting
the mineral resources of the Moon and asteroids. His award-winning book
The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space inspired a generation of
space exploration advocates. He died in 1992 after a seven year fight
against leukemia.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_K._O%27Neill>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1713:
With no living male heirs, Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI issued the
Pragmatic Sanction to ensure one of his daughters would inherit the
Habsburg lands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_VI%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1775:
The American Revolutionary War began with the Battles of Lexington and
Concord in the British colony of Massachusetts.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Lexington_and_Concord>
1943:
Nazi German troops entered the Warsaw Ghetto to round up the remaining
Jews , sparking the first mass uprising in Poland against the Nazi
occupation during the Holocaust.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto>
1971:
The first space station, Salyut 1, was launched from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome near Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR, USSR.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salyut_1>
1995:
A car bomb was detonated in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, killing 168 people and
injuring over 800 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ankh (n):
A cross shaped like a T with a loop at the top; the Egyptian hieroglyph
representing the word "life"
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ankh>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When you study natural science and the miracles of creation, if you
don't turn into a mystic you are not a natural scientist.
--Albert Hofmann
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Hofmann>
The Joseph Priestley House was the American home of 18th-century
British theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher,
educator, and political theorist Joseph Priestley from 1798 until his
death in 1804. Located in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, the house,
which was designed by Priestley's wife Mary, is Georgian with
Federalist accents. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
has operated it as a museum dedicated to Joseph Priestley since 1970,
but may close it by July 2009 due to low visitation and budget cuts.
Fleeing religious persecution and political turmoil in Britain, the
Priestleys emigrated to the United States in 1794 seeking a peaceful
life. Hoping to avoid the political troubles that had plagued them in
Britain and the problems of urban life they saw in the United States,
the Priestleys built a house in rural Pennsylvania; nevertheless,
political disputes and family troubles dogged Priestley during the last
ten years of his life. In 1960s, the house was carefully restored by
the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and designated a
National Historic Landmark. A second renovation was undertaken in the
1990s to return the home to the way it looked during Priestley's time.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Priestley_House>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1025:
Bolesław I Chrobry became the first King of Poland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boles%C5%82aw_I_Chrobry>
1506:
Construction of the current St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, to
replace the old St. Peter's Basilica built in the 4th century, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Peter%27s_Basilica>
1906:
A major earthquake and resulting fires devastated San Francisco,
killing at least 3,000 and leaving more than half of the city's
population homeless.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1906_San_Francisco_earthquake>
1942:
World War II: Sixteen B-25 Mitchell bombers from the aircraft carrier
USS Hornet carried out the Doolittle Raid, the first Allied attack on
the Japanese home islands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid>
1983:
A suicide bomber destroyed the United States Embassy in Beirut with a
car bomb, killing over 60 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_United_States_Embassy_bombing>
1996:
Israeli forces shelled Qana, Lebanon during Operation Grapes of Wrath,
killing over 100 civilians and injuring over 110 others at a UN
compound.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_shelling_of_Qana>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
factotum (n):
1. (dated) A person having many diverse activities or responsibilities.
2. (dated) A general servant
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/factotum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the
other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free.
--Clarence Darrow
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clarence_Darrow>
A retiarius was a Roman gladiator who fought with equipment styled on
that of a fisherman: a weighted net (rete, hence the name), a
three-pointed trident, and a dagger (pugio). The retiarius fought
lightly armoured, wearing an arm guard (manica) and a shoulder guard.
Typically, his clothing consisted only of a loincloth held in place by
a wide belt, or of a short tunic with light padding. He wore no head
protection or footwear. The retiarius was routinely pitted against a
heavily armed and armoured secutor. The net-fighter made up for his
lack of protective gear by using his speed and agility to avoid his
opponent's attacks and wait for the opportunity to strike. He first
tried to throw his net over his rival. If this succeeded, he attacked
with his trident while his adversary was entangled. Another tactic was
to ensnare his enemy's weapon in the net and pull it out of his grasp,
leaving the opponent defenceless. Should the net miss or the secutor
grab hold of it, the retiarius likely discarded the weapon, although he
might try to collect it back for a second cast. Usually, the retiarius
had to rely on his trident and dagger to finish the fight. Retiarii
first appeared in the arena during the 1st century AD and had become
standard attractions by the 2nd or 3rd century. The gladiator's lack of
armour and his reliance on evasive tactics made the retiarius the
lowliest of an already stigmatised class.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retiarius>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1797:
French Revolutionary Wars: British Lieutenant General Ralph Abercromby
and a force of over 6,000 men invaded Spanish-controlled Puerto Rico.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Juan_%281797%29>
1895:
The Empire of Japan and the Qing Empire of China signed the Treaty of
Shimonoseki to end the First Sino-Japanese War, with China agreeing to
renounce its claims on Korea; cede the Liaodong Peninsula, Penghu and
Taiwan to Japan; open various ports and rivers to Japanese trade; and
pay Japan a war indemnity of 200 million Kuping taels.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Shimonoseki>
1961:
Armed Cuban exiles backed by the CIA invaded Cuba, landing in the Bay
of Pigs, with the aim of overthrowing the Cuban government under Fidel
Castro.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion>
1975:
The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh, ending the Cambodian
Civil War, and established the Democratic Kampuchea.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Civil_War>
1982:
A new patriated Constitution of Canada, including the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms , a bill of rights intended to protect certain
political and civil rights of people in Canada from the policies and
actions of all levels of government, was signed into law by Elizabeth
II, Queen of Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act%2C_1982>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
knell (v):
1. To ring a bell slowly, especially for a funeral; to toll.
2. To signal or proclaim something by ringing a bell
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/knell>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am not a novelist, really not even a writer; I am a storyteller. One
of my friends said about me that I think all sorrows can be borne if
you put them into a story or tell a story about them, and perhaps this
is not entirely untrue. To me, the explanation of life seems to be its
melody, its pattern. And I feel in life such an infinite, truly
inconceivable fantasy.
--Karen Blixen
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karen_Blixen>
Niobium is a chemical element with symbol Nb and atomic number 41. A
rare, soft, grey, ductile transition metal, niobium is found in the
minerals pyrochlore (the main source for niobium) and columbite.
Niobium has similar physical and chemical properties to another
element, tantalum, and the two are therefore difficult to distinguish.
The German chemist Heinrich Rose determined in 1846 that tantalum ores
contain a second element, which he named niobium, after Niobe from
Greek mythology. It was not until the early 20th century that niobium
was first used commercially. Brazil is the leading producer of niobium
and ferroniobium, an alloy of niobium and iron. Niobium is used mostly
in alloys, the largest part in special steel such as that used in gas
pipelines. Although alloys contain only a maximum of 0.1%, that small
percentage improves the strength of the steel. The temperature
stability of niobium-containing superalloys is important for its use in
jet engines and rocket engines. Niobium is used in various
superconducting materials. These superconducting alloys, also
containing titanium and tin, are widely used in MRI scanners. Other
applications of niobium include its use in welding, nuclear industries,
electronics, optics, numismatics and jewellery. In the last two
applications, niobium's low toxicity and ability to be coloured by
anodisation are particular advantages.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niobium>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1853:
The first passenger line of what would become Indian Railways, the
state-owned railway company of India, opened between Bombay and Thane.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Railways>
1912:
American Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the
English Channel.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Quimby>
1947:
American financier and presidential adviser Bernard Baruch first
described the post-World War II tensions between the Soviet Union and
the United States as a "cold war".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cold_war>
2003:
The Treaty of Accession was signed in Athens, admitting ten new member
states, including several countries of the former Eastern Bloc, into
the European Union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Accession_2003>
2007:
In one of the deadliest shooting incidents in United States history, a
gunman killed 32 people and wounded over 20 more before committing
suicide at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Tech_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
prosaic (adj):
1. Pertaining to or having the characteristics of prose.
2. (of writing or speaking) Straightforward; matter-of-fact; lacking
the feeling or elegance of poetry.
3. (figurative) Overly plain or simple, to the point of being boring;
humdrum
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prosaic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what
we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life
before we can enter another.
--Anatole France
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anatole_France>
Emma Watson (born 1990) is a French-born British actress who rose to
prominence playing Hermione Granger, one of three starring roles in the
Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of
nine, having previously only acted in school plays. From 2001 to 2007,
she starred in five Harry Potter film installments alongside Daniel
Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. She will return for the final two
installments: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due to be
released in 2009, and the two parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows. Watson's work in the Harry Potter series has earned her
several awards and more than £10 million. In 2007, she announced her
involvement in two non-Harry Potter productions: the
made-for-television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and an
animated film, The Tale of Despereaux. Ballet Shoes was broadcast on
December 26, 2007, to an audience of 5.2 million and The Tale of
Despereaux, based on the book by Kate DiCamillo, was released in 2008.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Watson>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1715:
The Yamasee War between colonial South Carolina and various Native
American Indian tribes began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamasee_War>
1755:
A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson was first
published, becoming one of the most influential dictionaries in the
history of the English language.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_the_English_Language>
1912:
The passenger liner RMS Titanic sank about two hours and forty minutes
after colliding with an iceberg , killing over 1,500 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic>
1947:
Jackie Robinson, the first African American to break the baseball color
line, played his first game in Major League Baseball.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Robinson>
1986:
U.S. armed forces began bombing Libya to try to reduce that country's
ability to support international terrorism.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Libya>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
uilleann pipes (n):
The bagpipes of Ireland, which have a bellows strapped around the wrist
and arm to inflate the bag rather than the player blowing to do so
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uilleann_pipes>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Experience is never limited, and it is never complete; it is an immense
sensibility, a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads
suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne
particle in its tissue. It is the very atmosphere of the mind; and when
the mind is imaginative — much more when it happens to be that of a man
of genius — it takes to itself the faintest hints of life, it converts
the very pulses of the air into revelations.
--Henry James
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_James>
Agrippina (HWV 6) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric
Handel, from a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the
1709–10 Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of
Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman
Emperor Claudius and the installation of her son as emperor. Grimani's
libretto, considered one of the best that Handel set, is an
"anti-heroic satirical comedy", full of topical political allusions. It
premiered in Venice at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo on 26
December 1709, and was an immediate success. Observers were full of
praise for the quality of the music—much of which, in keeping with the
contemporary custom, had been borrowed and adapted from other works.
Despite the evident public enthusiasm for the work, Handel did not
promote further stagings. There were occasional productions in the
years following its premiere but, when Handel's operas fell out of
fashion in the mid-18th century, it and his other dramatic works were
generally forgotten. In recent years performances of the work have
become more common, with innovative stagings at the New York State
Theater and the London Coliseum in 2007. Modern critical opinion is
that Agrippina is Handel's first operatic masterpiece, full of
freshness and musical invention which have made it one of the most
popular operas of the continuing Handel revival.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrippina_%28opera%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1471:
Wars of the Roses: The Yorkists under Edward IV defeated the
Lancastrians near the town of Barnet, killing Richard Neville, Earl of
Warwick.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barnet>
1865:
Abraham Lincoln assassination
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_assassination>
1894:
The first ever commercial motion picture house opened in New York City
using ten Kinetoscopes , a device for peep-show viewing using
photographs that flip in sequence, a precursor to movies.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope>
1978:
Thousands of Georgians demonstrated in Tbilisi against an attempt by
the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR to change the constitutional
status of the Georgian language.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Georgian_demonstrations>
1994:
In an American friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort
in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shot
down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Black_Hawk_shootdown_incident>
1999:
A storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in Sydney and
along the east coast of New South Wales, causing about A$2.3 billion in
damages, the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance
history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Sydney_hailstorm>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
zetetic (adj):
Preceded by inquiry
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/zetetic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What really matters is that there is so much faith and love and
kindliness which we can share with and provoke in others, and that by
cleanly, simple, generous living we approach perfection in the highest
and most lovely of all arts. ... But you, I think, have always
comprehended this.
--James Branch Cabell
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell>
White Deer Hole Creek is a 20.5-mile (33.0 km) tributary of the West
Branch Susquehanna River in Clinton, Lycoming and Union counties in the
U.S. state of Pennsylvania. A part of the Chesapeake Bay drainage
basin, the White Deer Hole Creek watershed drains parts of ten
townships. The creek flows east in a valley of the Ridge-and-valley
Appalachians, through sandstone, limestone, and shale from the
Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian periods. As of 2006, the creek and
its 67.2-square-mile (174 km2) watershed are relatively undeveloped,
with 28.4 percent of the watershed given to agriculture and
71.6 percent covered by forest, including part of Tiadaghton State
Forest. There are opportunities in the watershed for canoeing, hunting,
and camping, and trails for hiking and horseback riding. Historically,
two paths of the native indigenous peoples ran along parts of White
Deer Hole Creek. Most development is in the eastern end of the valley,
with two unincorporated villages, a hamlet, and most of the farms (many
Amish).
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Deer_Hole_Creek>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1598:
King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, allowing freedom
of religion to the Huguenots.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Nantes>
1873:
In the wake of a contested election for local political offices in
Colfax, Louisiana, USA, armed white supremacists overpowered freedmen
and the African American state militia trying to control the parish
courthouse, killing over 100 of them.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre>
1919:
British Indian Army troops opened fire on a peaceful gathering at the
Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, India, killing hundreds of
unarmed men, women and children.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre>
1943:
World War II: Germany announced the discovery of a mass grave of Polish
prisoners-of-war executed by Soviet forces in the Katyn Forest
Massacre, driving a wedge among the Allies, particularly the Polish
government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre>
1984:
Indian forces launched a preemptive attack on the disputed Siachen
Glacier region of Kashmir, triggering a military conflict with
Pakistan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siachen_conflict>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ecumenical (adj):
1. General, universal, worldwide.
2. (ecclesiastical) Pertaining to the Christian Church in a worldwide
sense or of the desire to unite the denominations of the Christian
Church.
3. Interreligious or interdenominational
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ecumenical>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of
civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.
--Thomas Jefferson
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson>
An ironclad was a steam-propelled warship in the latter part of the
19th century, protected by iron or steel armor plates. The ironclad was
developed as a result of the vulnerability of wooden warships to
explosive or incendiary shells. The first ironclad battleship, La
Gloire, was launched by the French Navy in 1859; she prompted the
British Royal Navy to start building ironclads. After the first clashes
of ironclads took place during the American Civil War, it became clear
that the ironclad had replaced the unarmored ship of the line as the
most powerful warship afloat. This type of ship would come to be very
successful in the American Civil War. Ironclads were designed for
several roles, including as high seas battleships, coastal defense
ships, and long-range cruisers. The rapid evolution of warship design
in the late 19th century transformed the ironclad from a wooden-hulled
vessel which carried sails to supplement its steam engines into the
steel-built, turreted battleships and cruisers familiar in the 20th
century. The rapid pace of change in the ironclad period meant that
many ships were obsolete as soon as they were complete, and that naval
tactics were in a state of flux. Many ironclads were built to make use
of the ram or the torpedo, which a number of naval designers considered
the crucial weapons of naval combat.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironclad_warship>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1204:
Alexios V fled Constantinople as forces under Boniface the Marquess of
Montferrat and Enrico Dandolo the Doge of Venice entered and sacked the
Byzantine capital, effectively ending the Fourth Crusade.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Crusade>
1606:
A royal decree established the Union Flag to symbolise the Union of
the Crowns, merging the designs of the Flag of England and the Flag of
Scotland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_Flag>
1861:
Confederate forces began firing at Fort Sumter in the harbor of
Charleston, South Carolina, starting the American Civil War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fort_Sumter>
1927:
Chinese Civil War: A large-scale purge of communists from the
nationalist Kuomintang began in Shanghai.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_massacre_of_1927>
1961:
Aboard Vostok 3KA-2, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man
to enter outer space, completing one orbit in a time of 108 minutes.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
jostle (v):
1. To bump into or brush against while in motion.
2. To move through by pushing and shoving.
3. To contend or vie in
order to acquire something
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jostle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The arts of power and its minions are the same in all countries and in
all ages. It marks its victim; denounces it; and excites the public
odium and the public hatred, to conceal its own abuses and
encroachments.
--Henry Clay
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Clay>
Riven is the sequel to the highly successful computer game Myst.
Developed by Cyan Worlds, it was initially published by Brøderbund.
Riven was distributed on five compact discs and released on October 29,
1997, in North America; it was later released on a single DVD-ROM, with
improved graphics and a fourteen-minute "making-of" video. In addition
to the PC versions, Riven was ported to several other platforms,
including the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The story of Riven is set
immediately after the events of Myst. Having been rescued from the
machinations of his sons, the explorer Atrus enlists the help of the
faceless player character in freeing his wife from his power-hungry
father, Gehn. Unlike Myst, which took place on several worlds known as
Ages and linked together by special books, Riven is set almost entirely
on the eponymous Age of Riven, a world slowly falling apart due to
Gehn's rule. Development of Riven began soon after Myst became a
success, and spanned more than three years. Riven was praised by
professional reviewers, with the magazine Salon proclaiming that the
game approaches the level of art. The best-selling game of 1997, Riven
sold 1.5 million copies in one year.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riven>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1713:
The main agreements of the Treaty of Utrecht were signed in the Dutch
city of Utrecht, helping to end the War of the Spanish Succession.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Utrecht>
1814:
The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed, ending the War of the Sixth
Coalition, and forcing Napoleon to abdicate as ruler of France and
sending him into exile on Elba.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fontainebleau_%281814%29>
1888:
The Concertgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, was
inaugurated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concertgebouw>
1965:
Almost 50 confirmed tornadoes struck six states in the Midwestern
United States during the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak, killing over 270
people and injuring 1,500 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Sunday_tornado_outbreak_of_1965>
1979:
Ugandan–Tanzanian War: The Uganda National Liberation Army and
Tanzanian forces captured Kampala, forcing Ugandan President Idi Amin
to flee.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idi_Amin>
2002:
In a coup attempt, members of the Venezuelan military detained
President Hugo Chávez and demanded his resignation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Venezuelan_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_attempt>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
ogre (n):
1. A type of brutish giant from folk tales that eats human flesh.
2. A brutish man whose behavior resembles that of the mythical ogre
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ogre>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
When we lose the right to be different, we lose the privilege to be
free.
--Charles Evans Hughes
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Evans_Hughes>