H.M.S. Pinafore is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur
Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera
Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for
571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical
theatre piece up to that time. H.M.S. Pinafore was Gilbert and
Sullivan's fourth operatic collaboration and their first international
sensation. The story takes place aboard the titular ship, H.M.S.
Pinafore. The captain's daughter, Josephine, is in love with a
lower-class sailor, Ralph Rackstraw, although her father intends her to
marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Drawing on
several of his earlier "Bab Ballad" poems, Gilbert imbued this plot
with mirth and silliness. The opera's humour focuses on love between
members of different social classes and lampoons the British class
system in general. Pinafore also pokes good-natured fun at patriotism,
party politics, the rise of unqualified people to positions of
authority and the Royal Navy. Pinafore's extraordinary popularity in
Britain, America and elsewhere was followed by the similar success of a
series of Gilbert and Sullivan works. Their works, later known as the
Savoy operas, dominated the musical stage on both sides of the Atlantic
for more than a decade and continue to be performed today.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.M.S._Pinafore>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
3114 BC:
The epoch of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, a non-repeating,
vigesimal calendar used by the Maya civilization and several other
Mesoamerican cultures, occurred.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar>
1492:
The first Papal conclave held in the Sistine Chapel elected Roderic
Borja as Pope Alexander VI to succeed Pope Innocent VIII.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_conclave%2C_1492>
1828:
William Corder was hanged at Bury St Edmunds, England for murdering
Maria Marten at the Red Barn.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Barn_Murder>
1952:
King Talal of Jordan abdicated due to health reasons and was succeeded
by his eldest son Hussein .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan>
1965:
Violent race rioting began in the Watts district of Los Angeles,
lasting for six days and left 34 people dead and 1,032 others injured.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watts_Riots>
1988:
Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam and several senior leaders of the
Egyptian Islamic Jihad formed what is now known as Al-Qaeda to continue
jihad elsewhere around the world after the Soviet war in Afghanistan
ended.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
propinquity (n):
1. Nearness or proximity.
2. Affiliation or similarity
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/propinquity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
There is no slavery but ignorance. Liberty is the child of
intelligence.
--Robert G. Ingersoll
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_G._Ingersoll>
Vagrant Story is a Japanese-developed console role-playing game
developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Sony
PlayStation video game console in 2000. The game was released in Japan
in February 2000, in the United States in May 2000, and in Canada and
Europe later, at the time of Square's promotional "Summer of Adventure"
game package, and in PAL territories in June 2000. It was largely
developed by the team responsible for Final Fantasy Tactics, with
Yasumi Matsuno serving as producer and director. The game takes place
in the fictional kingdom of Valendia and the ruined city of Leá Monde.
The story centers on Ashley Riot, an elite agent known as a
Riskbreaker, who must travel to Leá Monde to investigate the link
between a cult leader and a senior Valendian Parliament member, Duke
Bardorba. In the prologue, Ashley was blamed for murdering the duke,
and the game discloses the events that happened one week before the
murder. Vagrant Story is unique as a console action/adventure
role-playing game because it features no shops and no player
interaction between other characters; instead, the game focuses on
weapon creation and modification, as well as elements of puzzle-solving
and strategy. Overall, the game received positive reviews from gaming
magazines and websites.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagrant_Story>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1628:
The Swedish warship Vasa sank after sailing less than a nautical mile
into her maiden voyage from Stockholm on her way to fight in the Thirty
Years' War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_%28ship%29>
1675:
The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory, today the
basis of the Prime Meridian, was laid in Greenwich, London.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observatory%2C_Greenwich>
1792:
French Revolution: Insurrectionists in Paris stormed the Tuileries
Palace, effectively ending the French monarchy until it was restored in
1814.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_of_August_%28French_Revolution%29>
1846:
The United States Congress established the Smithsonian Institution, an
educational and research institute and associated museum complex.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smithsonian_Institution>
2006:
British police arrested 25 people suspected in an alleged terrorist
plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10
airliners travelling from the UK to the United States and Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_plot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fizzle (v):
1. To splutter or hiss.
2. (figuratively) To decay or die off to nothing; to burn out; to end
less successfully than previously hoped
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fizzle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are living in a time of trouble and bewilderment, in a time when
none of us can foresee or foretell the future. But surely it is in
times like these, when so much that we cherish is threatened or in
jeopardy, that we are impelled all the more to strengthen our inner
resources, to turn to the things that have no news value because they
will be the same to-morrow that they were to-day and yesterday — the
things that last, the things that the wisest, the most farseeing of our
race and kind have been inspired to utter in forms that can inspire
ourselves in turn.
--Laurence Binyon
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Laurence_Binyon>
The Arena Active Protection System is an active countermeasure system
developed at Russia's Kolomna-based Engineering Design Bureau for the
purpose of protecting armored fighting vehicles from destruction by
light anti-tank weapons, anti-tank guided missiles, and missiles with
top attack warheads. It uses a Doppler radar to detect incoming
warheads. Upon detection, a defensive rocket is fired that detonates
near the inbound threat, destroying it before it hits the vehicle.
Arena is the successor to Drozd, a Soviet active protection system from
the late 1970s. The successful use by the Chechnyans of the rocket
propelled grenade against the Russian fighting vehicles prompted the
Kolomenskoye machine-building design bureau to devise the Arena active
protection system in the early and mid-1990s. An export variant,
Arena-E, was also developed. The system has been tested on the
T-80UM-1, demonstrated at Omsk in 1997, and was considered for use on
the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arena_Active_Protection_System>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
48 BC:
Julius Caesar and the Populares defeated Pompey and the Optimates at
the Battle of Pharsalus, solidifying his control over the Roman
Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pharsalus>
1173:
The construction of a campanile, which would eventually become the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa>
1942:
British Raj authorities arrested Mahatma Gandhi and various leaders of
the Congress Party, beginning the suppression of the Quit India
Movement.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quit_India_Movement>
1945:
World War II: USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb named "Fat
Man", devastating Nagasaki, Japan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man>
1969:
Followers of cult leader Charles Manson brutally murdered pregnant
actress Sharon Tate and four others in her Benedict Canyon, Los
Angeles home.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Tate>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ribald (adj):
Coarse; lewd; vulgar
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ribald>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The principal goal of education in the schools should be creating men
and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating
what other generations have done; men and women who are creative,
inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not
accept, everything they are offered.
--Jean Piaget
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Piaget>
Maiden Castle is an Iron Age hill fort 2.5 km (1.6 mi) south of
Dorchester, in the English county of Dorset. Hill forts were fortified
hill-top settlements constructed across Britain during the Iron Age.
The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the site
consists of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure and bank barrow. In about
1800 BC, during the Bronze Age, the site was used for growing crops
before being abandoned. Maiden Castle itself was built in about 600 BC;
the early phase was a simple and unremarkable site, similar to many
other hill forts in Britain and covering 64,000 m2 (690,000 sq ft).
Around 450 BC it underwent major expansion, during which the enclosed
area was nearly tripled in size to 190,000 m2 (2,000,000 sq ft), making
it the largest hill fort in Britain and by some definitions the largest
in Europe. In around 100 BC habitation at the hill fort went into
decline and became focused at the eastern end of the site. It was
occupied until at least the Roman period, and by this time was in the
territory of the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe. After the Roman conquest
of Britain in the 1st century AD, Maiden Castle appears to have been
abandoned, although the Romans may have had a military presence on the
site. In the 1930s, archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler undertook the first
archaeological excavations at Maiden Castle, raising its profile among
the public. Today the site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument
and is maintained by English Heritage.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiden_Castle%2C_Dorset>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1786:
Michel-Gabriel Paccard and Jacques Balmat completed the first recorded
ascent of Mont Blanc in the Alps, one of the highest mountains in
Europe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Blanc>
1870:
Liberal radicals in Ploieşti, Romania revolted against Romanian
Domnitor Carol I, only to be arrested the next day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ploie%C5%9Fti>
1918:
The Battle of Amiens (1918) began in Amiens, France, marking the start
of the Allied Powers' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front
lines that ultimately led to the end of World War I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Amiens_%281918%29>
1963:
In one of the largest robberies in British history, a gang of 15 train
robbers stole £2.6 million in bank notes at Bridego Railway Bridge,
Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Robbery_%281963%29>
1988:
The 8888 Uprising, a series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and
riots against the one-party state of the Burma Socialist Programme
Party in Burma, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8888_Uprising>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hypercorrection (n):
(linguistics) The use of a nonstandard form due to a belief that it is
more formal or more correct than the corresponding standard form
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hypercorrection>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If I am peaceful, I shall see
Beauty's face continually;
Feeding on her wine and bread
I shall
be wholly comforted,
For she can make one day for me
Rich as my lost eternity.
--Sara Teasdale
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sara_Teasdale>
Opera is a web browser and internet suite developed by the Opera
Software company. Opera handles common Internet-related tasks such as
displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing
contacts, IRC online chatting, downloading files via BitTorrent, and
reading web feeds. Opera is offered free of charge for personal
computers and mobile phones, but for other devices it must be paid for.
Features of Opera include tabbed browsing, page zooming, mouse
gestures, and an integrated download manager. Its security features
include built-in phishing and malware protection, strong encryption
when browsing secure web sites, and the ability to easily delete
private data such as cookies and browsing history by simply clicking a
button. Opera runs on a variety of personal computer operating systems,
including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris.
Though evaluations of Opera have been largely positive, Opera has
captured only a fraction of the worldwide personal computer browser
market. Opera has a stronger market share on mobile devices such as
mobile phones, smartphones, and personal digital assistants. Editions
of Opera are available for devices using the Symbian and Windows Mobile
operating systems, as well as Java ME-enabled devices. Approximately
40 million mobile phones have shipped with Opera pre-installed. Opera
is the only commercial web browser available for the Nintendo DS and
Wii gaming systems. Some television set-top boxes use Opera as well,
and Adobe licensed Opera technology for use in the Adobe Creative
Suite.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_%28web_browser%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1461:
Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Tianshun
Emperor.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_of_Cao_Qin>
1679:
Le Griffon, a brigantine by René-Robert de LaSalle, became the first
sailing ship to navigate the Great Lakes.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier%2C_Sieur_de_La_Salle>
1782:
The Badge of Military Merit , the original Purple Heart, was
established as a military decoration in the Continental Army.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badge_of_Military_Merit>
1942:
World War II: U.S. Marines initiated the first American offensive of
the Guadalcanal campaign with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the
Solomon Islands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tulagi_and_Gavutu%E2%80%93Tanambogo>
1947:
An expedition led by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl on his raft, the
Kon-Tiki, completed a 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kon-Tiki>
1998:
Car bombs simultaneously exploded at the United States embassies in the
East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi,
Kenya, killing over 200 people and injuring over 4,500 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
badger (v):
1. To pester; to annoy persistently.
2. (British, informal) To pass gas; to fart
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/badger>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The question isn't whether you have a good master or a bad master. It's
to be your own master. That is the dignity of humanity.
--Alan Keyes
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alan_Keyes>
Phagocytes are the white blood cells that protect the body by ingesting
(phagocytosing) harmful foreign particles, bacteria and dead or dying
cells. They are essential for fighting infections, and for subsequent
immunity. Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom, and
are highly developed in vertebrates. One liter of human blood contains
about six billion phagocytes. Phagocytes were first discovered in 1882
by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was studying starfish larvae.
Phagocytes of humans and other animals are called professional or
non-professional, depending on how effective they are at phagocytosis.
The professional phagocytes include cells called neutrophils,
monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, and mast cells. The main
difference between professional and non-professional phagocytes is that
the professional phagocytes have molecules called receptors on their
surfaces that can detect harmful objects, such as bacteria, that are
not normally found in the body. Phagocytes are therefore crucial in
fighting infections, as well as in maintaining healthy tissues by
removing dead and dying cells that have reached the end of their
life-span. During an infection, chemical signals attract phagocytes to
places where the pathogen has invaded the body.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phagocyte>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1538:
Spainish Conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada founded a European
urban settlement in what is today Bogotá, Colombia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bogot%C3%A1>
1806:
The Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by its last emperor Francis II
during the aftermath of the War of the Third Coalition.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1945:
World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force bomber Enola Gay dropped an
atomic bomb named Little Boy on Hiroshima, Japan, killing as many as
140,000 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay>
1991:
British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee first posted files
describing his ideas for a system of interlinked, hypertext documents
accessible via the Internet, to be called a "World Wide Web".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee>
2008:
Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was ousted
from power by a group of high ranking generals that he had dismissed
from office several hours earlier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mauritanian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
spackle (v):
1. To fill cracks or holes with a plastic paste.
2. To fill gaps with something; to speckle
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spackle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I hold it true, whate'er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
'Tis better to have loved and lost
Than
never to have loved at all.
--Alfred Tennyson
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Tennyson>
"Premiere" is the series premiere of the television series The O.C.,
which first aired on the Fox network on August 5, 2003. Written by
series creator Josh Schwartz and directed by executive producer Doug
Liman, the episode depicts the introduction of troubled teenager Ryan
Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) into the wealthy lifestyle of the Cohen
family in Newport Beach, Orange County, California. The casting
directors, Patrick J. Rush and Alyson Silverberg, began selecting the
principal cast eight to ten weeks before filming started. Seth Cohen
(Adam Brody) was based on Schwartz's experiences at the University of
Southern California as a "neurotic Jewish kid from the East Coast in a
land of water polo players". Other central characters in the episode
are Seth's parents—Sandy (Peter Gallagher) and Kirsten (Kelly
Rowan)—and teenage neighbor Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). The series
premiere led the first half-hour of its time slot in viewership. It was
generally well received by critics, and earned Schwartz a Writers Guild
of America Award nomination for Best Screenplay in an Episodic Drama.
Originally broadcast and released in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the episode
was remastered in a widescreen ratio for the series DVD, released in
November 2007.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premiere_%28The_O.C.%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
642:
King Penda of Mercia defeated and killed King Oswald of Northumbria at
the Battle of Maserfield, traditionally believed to have been fought in
Oswestry, Shropshire, England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Maserfield>
1583:
Explorer Humphrey Gilbert established the first English colony in North
America at what is now St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s%2C_Newfoundland_and_Labrador>
1858:
American businessman and financier Cyrus West Field and his colleagues
completed the first transatlantic telegraph cable.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/transatlantic_telegraph_cable>
1962:
Actress and model Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in
Brentwood, Los Angeles, an event that has become the center of one of
the most debated conspiracy theories.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Marilyn_Monroe>
2003:
A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the JW
Marriott Hotel in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, Indonesia, killing twelve
people and injuring 150.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Marriott_Hotel_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
calipers (n):
A device used to measure thickness between two surfaces, especially for
small or precise measurements
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/calipers>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Those works of art which have scooped up the truth and presented it to
us as a living force — they take hold of us, compel us, and nobody
ever, not even in ages to come, will appear to refute them.
--Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Solzhenitsyn>
The Rosewood massacre was a violent, racially motivated conflict that
took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County,
Florida. Six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of
Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed during what was characterized as a
race riot. Florida had an especially high number of lynchings in the
years before the massacre, including a well-publicized incident in
December 1922. Rosewood was a quiet, primarily black, self-sufficient
whistle stop on the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Spurred by unsupported
accusations that a white woman in nearby Sumner had been beaten and
possibly raped by a black drifter, white men from nearby towns lynched
a Rosewood resident. When black citizens defended themselves against
further attack, several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting
for black people, and burned almost every structure in Rosewood.
Survivors hid for several days in nearby swamps, and were evacuated by
train and car to larger towns. Although state and local authorities
were aware of the violence, they made no arrests for the activities in
Rosewood. The town was abandoned by black residents during the attacks.
As of 2009, none have returned. Although the rioting was widely
reported around the country, few official records documented the event.
The massacre was the subject of a 1997 film directed by John Singleton.
In 2004 the state designated the site of Rosewood as a Florida Heritage
Landmark.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1578:
King Sebastian I disappeared at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir near
Ksar-el-Kebir, Morocco, leading to a dynastic crisis in Portugal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_of_Portugal>
1704:
War of the Spanish Succession: A combined Anglo-Dutch fleet under the
command of George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles captured
Gibraltar from Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar>
1964:
The bodies of three American civil rights activists were found dead by
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents near Philadelphia, Mississippi.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_civil_rights_workers_murders>
1984:
Exactly a year after he came to power through a military coup, the
Republic of Upper Volta under President Thomas Sankara changed its name
to Burkina Faso.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gruelling (adj):
So difficult or taxing as to make one exhausted; backbreaking
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gruelling>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Throughout American history, there have been moments that call on us to
meet the challenges of an uncertain world, and pay whatever price is
required to secure our freedom.
--Barack Obama
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
Michael Gomez (born 1977) is a former professional boxer. He was born
to an Irish Traveller family in Longford, County Longford, Ireland,
spending his early years in Dublin before moving to Manchester, England
with his family at the age of nine. Gomez finished his career fighting
in the lightweight division, however, he is more notable for his fights
in the featherweight and super featherweight divisions. During his
career he has amassed a number of championship title belts: the IBF
Inter-Continental featherweight title; and the British, WBO
Inter-Continental, WBA Inter-Continental and WBU super featherweight
titles. He was the first Irish boxer to win the Lonsdale Belt outright.
Of his 17 fights between February 2001 and March 2008, 16 ended in
knockouts. On 21 June 2008, Gomez lost what was seen as possibly his
last bout—a last chance saloon opportunity to resurrect his career
against rising star and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan. The fight
ended with Gomez suffering a TKO when the referee stopped the fight in
the fifth round.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gomez>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
435:
Nestorius, the originator of Nestorianism, was exiled by Byzantine
Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorius>
1916:
Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement was hanged at London's Pentonville
Prison for treason for his role in the Easter Rising, a rebellion to
win Irish independence from Britain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement>
1948:
Before the House Un-American Activities Committee of the United States
House of Representatives, former spy turned government informer
Whittaker Chambers accused U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss
of being a communist and a Soviet spy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers>
1949:
The Basketball Association of America agreed to merge with the National
Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association>
2005:
President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania was overthrown in a
military coup while he was attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi
Arabia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maaouya_Ould_Sid%27Ahmed_Taya>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mastermind (v):
To act in the role of a person responsible for the highest level of
planning and execution of a major operation
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mastermind>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have tried at times to place humans in perspective against the
vastness of universal time and space. I have been concerned with where
we, as a race, may be going and what may be our purpose in the
universal scheme — if we have a purpose. In general, I believe we do,
and perhaps an important one.
--Clifford D. Simak
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak>
The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from
February 1988 to May 1994, in the small ethnic enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority
ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia
against the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia and
Azerbaijan, both former Soviet Republics, became enveloped in a
protracted, undeclared war in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as
Azerbaijan attempted to curb a secessionist movement in
Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's parliament had voted in favor of
uniting itself with Armenia and a referendum was held with the vast
majority of the Karabakh population voting in favor of independence.
The demand to unify with Armenia, which proliferated in the late 1980s,
began in a relatively peaceful manner; however, in the following
months, as the Soviet Union's disintegration neared, it gradually grew
into an increasingly violent conflict between the two ethnic groups,
resulting in claims of ethnic cleansing by all sides. Full-scale
fighting erupted in the late winter of 1992. By the end of the war in
1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and
also held and currently control approximately 9% of Azerbaijan's
territory outside the enclave. A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed
in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have
been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagorno-Karabakh_War>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
216 BC:
Second Punic War: Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated a
numerically superior Roman army, near the town of Cannae in Apulia in
southeast Italy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae>
1870:
Tower Subway, one of the world's first underground tube railways,
opened beneath the River Thames in London.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Subway>
1903:
In present-day Republic of Macedonia and Greece, the Internal
Macedonian Revolutionary Organization started the Ilinden Uprising
against the Ottoman Empire .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden-Preobrazhenie_Uprising>
1980:
A terrorist bomb exploded at the Central Station of Bologna, Italy,
killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_massacre>
1989:
The Indian Peace Keeping Force began killing 64 minority Sri Lankan
Tamil civilians over a two-day period in Valvettiturai, Sri Lanka.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Valvettiturai_massacre>
1990:
Iraq invaded Kuwait, overrunning the Kuwaiti military within two days,
and eventually sparking the outbreak of the Gulf War seven months
later.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Kuwait>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
akimbo (adj):
With a crook or bend; with the hand on the hip and elbow turned outward
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/akimbo>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Now, it is true that the nature of society is to create, among its
citizens, an illusion of safety; but it is also absolutely true that
the safety is always necessarily an illusion. Artists are here to
disturb the peace.
--James Baldwin
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Baldwin>