Sunderland A.F.C. is an English association football club based in
Sunderland, Tyne and Wear that competes in the Premier League. Since
its formation in 1879, the club has won six First Division titles—in
1892, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1913, and 1936 and the FA Cup twice, in 1937
and 1973 (see Sunderland A.F.C. seasons). The club was founded by
schoolteacher James Allan and was elected into The Football League in
1890 where the team performed well in the league, earning plaudits such
as a "wonderfully fine team". The Sunderland team won their first FA
Cup in 1937 with a 3–1 victory over Preston North End, and remained in
the top league for 68 successive seasons, losing the record to Arsenal
when they were relegated in 1958. Sunderland's most notable trophy win
after the Second World War was their second FA Cup in 1973, when the
club secured a 1–0 victory over Leeds United. The team has won the
second tier title 5 times in that period and the third tier title once.
Sunderland play their home games at the 49,000 capacity all-seater
Stadium of light having moved from Roker Park in 1997. The original
ground capacity was 42,000 which was increased to 49,000 following
redevelopment in 2000. Sunderland have a long-standing rivalry with
their neighbouring club Newcastle United, with whom they have contested
the Tyne–Wear derby since 1898.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderland_A.F.C.>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1854:
Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to Turkey to
help treat wounded British soldiers fighting in the Crimean War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale>
1858:
French composer Jacques Offenbach's operetta Orpheus in the Underworld,
featuring the can-can, was first performed at the Théâtre des Bouffes
Parisiens in Paris.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_in_the_Underworld>
1867:
The first of the Medicine Lodge Treaties was signed between the United
States and several Native American tribes in the Great Plains,
requiring them to relocate to areas in present-day western Oklahoma.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_Lodge_Treaty>
1944:
World War II: German forces surrendered to American troops, ending the
Battle of Aachen.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aachen>
1983:
At the seventeenth General Conference on Weights and Measures, the
length of a metre was redefined as the distance light travels in vacuum
in 1/299,792,458 of a second.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/metre>
1987:
Sri Lankan Civil War: Indian Army soldiers, belonging to the Indian
Peace Keeping Force, entered the Jaffna Teaching Hospital in Jaffna,
Sri Lanka, and began killing about 68–70 patients, nurses, doctors and
other staff members.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffna_hospital_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gleek (v):
1. (archaic) To ridicule, mock; to make sport of.
2. (informal) To discharge a thin stream of liquid through the teeth
or from under the tongue
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gleek>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Should children be permitted to read Romances, & Relations of Giants &
Magicians, & Genii? — I know all that has been said against it; but I
have formed my faith in the affirmative. — I know no other way of
giving the mind a love of "the Great," & "the Whole." — Those who have
been led by the same truths step by step thro' the constant testimony
of their senses, seem to me to want a sense which I possess — They
contemplate nothing but parts — and all parts are necessarily little —
and the Universe to them is but a mass of little things.
--Samuel Taylor Coleridge
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge>
Leonard Harrison State Park is a 585-acre (237 ha) Pennsylvania state
park near Wellsboro in Tioga County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
It is on the east rim of the 800-foot (240 m) deep Pine Creek Gorge,
also known as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania, carved by Pine Creek.
The park is known for its vistas, hiking, fishing, hunting, whitewater
boating, and camping. Native Americans used the Pine Creek Path; later
used by lumbermen, it became the course of a railroad from 1883 to
1988, and the 63.4-mile (102.0 km) Pine Creek Rail Trail in 1996. The
gorge, named a National Natural Landmark in 1968, is protected as a
Pennsylvania State Natural Area and Important Bird Area, while Pine
Creek is a state Scenic and Wild River. Although the gorge was clearcut
in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it is now covered by second
growth forest, thanks in part to the work of the Civilian Conservation
Corps in the 1930s. The park is named for Leonard Harrison, a Wellsboro
lumberman who cut the timber, then donated the land to the state in
1922. The park attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year,
and was chosen by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources for its "Twenty Must-See Pennsylvania State Parks"
list, which praised its "spectacular vistas and a fabulous view of Pine
Creek Gorge".
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Harrison_State_Park>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
202 BC:
Proconsul Scipio Africanus of the Roman Republic defeated Hannibal and
the Carthaginians in the Battle of Zama, concluding the Second Punic
War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zama>
1469:
Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella I of Castile , a marriage that
paved the way to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single
country, Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_Aragon>
1781:
American Revolutionary War: British forces led by Lord Cornwallis
officially surrendered to Franco-American forces under George
Washington, ending the Siege of Yorktown.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Yorktown>
1943:
Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was first
isolated by researchers at Rutgers University.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptomycin>
1986:
President of Mozambique Samora Machel and 43 others were killed when
his presidential aircraft crashed in the Lebombo Mountains just inside
the border of South Africa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samora_Machel>
2001:
SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat en route to Christmas Island
carrying over 400 asylum seekers, sank in international waters, killing
353 of them.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIEV_X>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
whangdoodle (n):
1. (often humorous) A whimsical monster in folklore and children's
fiction; a bugbear.
2. (obsolete) Term of disparagement
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/whangdoodle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He gave it for his opinion, that whoever could make two ears of corn,
or two blades of grass, to grow upon a spot of ground where only one
grew before, would deserve better of mankind, and do more essential
service to his country, than the whole race of politicians put
together.
--Jonathan Swift
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift>
Ninja Gaiden is a side-scrolling platforming video game. It was
developed and published by Tecmo for the Nintendo Entertainment System
(NES); its development and release coincided with the beat 'em up
arcade version of the same name. It was released in December
1988)</span> in Japan, in March 1989 in North America, and in September
1991)</span> in Europe. It was ported to the PC Engine in Japan in
1992, to the Super NES as part of the Ninja Gaiden Trilogy compilation.
The story follows a ninja named Ryu Hayabusa as he journeys to America
to avenge his murdered father. There, he learns that a person named
"the Jaquio" plans to take control of the world by unleashing an
ancient demon through the power contained in two statues. Featuring
platforming gameplay similar to Castlevania and the NES version of
Batman, players control Ryu through six "Acts" that comprise 20 levels;
they encounter enemies that must be dispatched with Ryu's katana and
other secondary weapons. Ninja Gaiden has been renowned for its
elaborate story and usage of anime-like cinematic cutscenes. It
received extensive coverage and won several awards from video gaming
magazines, while criticism focused on its high and unforgiving
difficulty, particularly in the later levels. It has been described as
one of the best arcade-style games, and the best ninja-related game,
released for the NES.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Gaiden_%28Nintendo_Entertainment_System%…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1009:
Under orders from Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the Church of
the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church now within the walled Old City
of Jerusalem, was destroyed.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre>
1081:
Byzantine–Norman Wars: The Normans under Robert Guiscard, Duke of
Apulia and Calabria, defeated the Byzantines outside the city of
Dyrrhachium, the Byzantine capital of Illyria.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dyrrhachium_%281081%29>
1356:
The most significant earthquake to have occurred in Central Europe in
recorded history destroyed Basel, Switzerland, and caused much
destruction in a vast region extending into France and Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1356_Basel_earthquake>
1851:
Moby-Dick, a novel by American writer Herman Melville , was first
published as The Whale.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick>
1968:
At the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, American Bob Beamon set a world
record of 8.90 m in the long jump, a mark that stood for 23 years.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Beamon>
2007:
A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Prime Minister of
Pakistan Benazir Bhutto in Karachi resulted in at least 139 deaths and
450 injuries.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Karachi_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fractal (n):
1. A geometric figure that repeats itself under several levels of
magnification, and that shows self-similarity on all scales.
2. A geometric figure that appears irregular at all scales of length
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fractal>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Don't laugh at a youth for his affectations; he is only trying on one
face after another to find his own.
--Logan Pearsall Smith
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Logan_Pearsall_Smith>
The Battle of Lissa was a naval action fought between a British frigate
squadron and a substantially larger squadron of French and Venetian
frigates and smaller ships on 13 March 1811 during the Adriatic
campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. The engagement was fought in the
Adriatic Sea for possession of the strategically important island of
Lissa (later renamed Vis), from which the British squadron had been
disrupting French shipping in the Adriatic. The French needed to
control the Adriatic to supply a growing army in the Illyrian
Provinces, and consequently despatched an invasion force in March 1811
consisting of six frigates, numerous smaller craft and a battalion of
Italian soldiers. The French invasion force under Bernard Dubourdieu
was met by Captain William Hoste and his four ships based on the
island. In the subsequent battle Hoste sank the French flagship,
captured two others and scattered the remainder of the Franco-Venetian
squadron. The battle has been hailed as an important British victory,
due to both the disparity between the forces and the signal raised by
Hoste, a former subordinate of Horatio Nelson. Hoste had raised the
message "Remember Nelson" as the French bore down and had then
manoeuvred to drive Dubourdieu's flagship ashore and scatter his
squadron in what has been described as "one of the most brilliant naval
achievements of the war".
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lissa_%281811%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1448:
Ottoman wars in Europe: The Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi engaged
an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kosovo_%281448%29>
1604:
Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observed an
exceptionally bright star which had suddenly appeared in the
constellation Ophiuchus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1604>
1860:
The Open Championship, the oldest of the four major championships in
men's golf, was first played at Prestwick Golf Club in Prestwick, South
Ayrshire, Scotland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Open_Championship>
1961:
In Paris, the French police under the Prefect of Police Maurice Papon
attacked a peaceful but illegal demonstration of some 30,000 who were
protesting the Algerian War, killing anywhere between 40 and 200
people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_massacre_of_1961>
1964:
Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opened the artificial Lake
Burley Griffin in the middle of the capital Canberra.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Burley_Griffin>
1989:
A 6.9 Mw earthquake struck California's San Francisco Bay Area, killing
63 people, injuring 3,757, leaving at least 8,000 homeless, and forcing
the postponement of Game 3 of Major League Baseball's World Series.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tranquil (adj):
1. Free from emotional or mental disturbance.
2. Calm; without motion or sound
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tranquil>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted.
--Arthur Miller
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_Miller>
Oakwood Cemetery is a nonsectarian rural cemetery in Troy, New York.
Opened in 1850, it was the fourth rural cemetery in New York, operated
by the first rural cemetery association created in the state. Oakwood
is located in the Lansingburgh neighborhood on 352 acres (142 ha) of
hilly land. It is known for both its dense foliage and rolling lawns,
and has historically been used as a public park by local residents;
many memorials include benches intended for visitors to rest. Oakwood
is home to the Richardsonian Romanesque Earl Crematorium, the English
Gothic Warren Chapel (pictured), 24 mausolea, and 60,000 graves. The
cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Oakwood is the burial place of educator Emma Willard, financier Russell
Sage, and Samuel Wilson, the progenitor of the United States' national
symbol, Uncle Sam.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakwood_Cemetery_%28Troy%2C_New_York%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
456:
Magister militum Ricimer defeated Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and became
master of the Western Roman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricimer>
1813:
The Sixth Coalition attacked Napoleon and the First French Empire in
the Battle of Leipzig, the largest conflict in the Napoleonic Wars with
over 500,000 troops involved.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leipzig>
1843:
William Rowan Hamilton first wrote down the fundamental formula for
quaternions, carving the equation into the side of Broom Bridge in
Cabra, Dublin, Ireland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/quaternion>
1978:
Karol Józef Wojtyła, a cardinal from Kraków, Poland, became Pope John
Paul II, the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century and the
first ever from a Slavic country.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul%C2%A0II>
1984:
The first episode of the British police procedural television series
The Bill was first broadcast on ITV, eventually becoming the longest
running police procedural television series in British television
history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bill>
1995:
Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam convened the Million Man March
in Washington, D.C., in an effort to unite in self-help and
self-defense against economic and social ills plaguing the African
American community.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Man_March>
1996:
At least 83 people were killed and more than 140 injured when an
excessive number of fans attempted to squeeze into Guatemala City's
Estadio Mateo Flores to see the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match
between Guatemala and Costa Rica.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estadio_Mateo_Flores>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
toggle (v):
1. To alternate between two positions using a single switch or lever.
2. To switch between alternate states
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toggle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The struggle is always between the individual and his sacred right to
express himself and the power structure that seeks conformity,
suppression, and obedience.
--William O. Douglas
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas>
L'Orfeo is an early Baroque opera by Claudio Monteverdi, with a text by
Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and
tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to
bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. Written in 1607
for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua, L'Orfeo
is one of the earliest music dramas still regularly performed. Its
score was published by Monteverdi in 1609 and again in 1615. After the
composer's death in 1643 the opera remained unperformed, and was
largely forgotten until a revival of interest in the late 19th century
led to a spate of modern editions and performances. After the Second
World War most new editions sought authenticity through the use of
period instruments. Strings, harpsichords and recorders represent the
pastoral fields of Thrace with their nymphs and shepherds, heavy brass
illustrates the underworld and its denizens. Composed at the point of
transition from the Renaissance era to the Baroque, L'Orfeo employs all
the resources then known within the art of music, with particularly
daring use of polyphony. The work is not orchestrated as such; in the
Renaissance tradition instrumentalists followed the composer's general
instructions but were given considerable freedom to improvise.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27Orfeo>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1582:
Spain, Portugal, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and most of the
Italian states became the first countries to replace the Julian
calendar with the Gregorian calendar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar>
1951:
Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes conducted the very last step of the
first synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be
used in one of the first two oral contraceptives.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_E._Miramontes>
1954:
Hurricane Hazel made landfall in The Carolinas in the United States
before moving north to Toronto in Canada later the same day, killing a
total of 176 people in both countries.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Hazel>
1970:
Thirty-five construction workers were killed when a section of the West
Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapsed due to structural failure.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Gate_Bridge>
2003:
Chinese space program: Shenzhou 5, China's first manned space mission,
was launched, carrying astronaut Yang Liwei.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5>
2007:
New Zealand Police conducted several anti-terrorism raids in relation
to the discovery of an alleged paramilitary training camp in the
Urewera mountain ranges, arresting 17 people and seizing four guns and
230 rounds of ammunition.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_New_Zealand_anti-terror_raids>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
anadromous (adj):
1. (of a migratory fish) That lives in the sea and breeds in fresh
water.
2. (botany) Of a fern in which the first veins in a frond segment are
produced towards the apex of the frond
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anadromous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was
the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their
people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of
leadership.
--John Kenneth Galbraith
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith>
The Judd School is a voluntary aided grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent.
It was established in 1888 at Stafford House on East Street in
Tonbridge, by the Worshipful Company of Skinners. There are 935
students in the school aged 11 to 18; the lower school is all boys, but
of over 300 students aged 16–18 in the sixth form, up to 60 are girls.
Judd pupils generally take ten General Certificate of Secondary
Education tests in Year Eleven, and they have a choice of four or five
A-levels in the sixth form. An Office for Standards in Education,
Children's Services and Skills inspection in 2007 graded The Judd
School as "outstanding", and in 2009, The Sunday Times newspaper ranked
The Judd School as the 27th best state secondary school in the country.
The Judd School is a music and English and science and mathematics
specialist school.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Judd_School>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1773:
The first recorded ministry of education, the Commission of National
Education, was formed in Poland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_of_National_Education>
1888:
French inventor Louis Le Prince filmed Roundhay Garden Scene, the
earliest surviving motion picture, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire,
England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roundhay_Garden_Scene>
1926:
The first book featuring English author A. A. Milne's fictional bear
Winnie-the-Pooh was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh>
1939:
World War II: The German submarine U-47 torpedoed and sunk the British
Royal Navy battleship HMS Royal Oak while the latter was anchored at
Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Royal_Oak_%2808%29>
1947:
Flying at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13.7 km) in an experimental Bell
X-1 rocket-powered aircraft, American test pilot Chuck Yeager became
the first person to break the sound barrier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager>
1953:
Israeli military commander Ariel Sharon and his Unit 101 special forces
attacked the village of Qibya on the West Bank, destroying 45
buildings, killing 42 villagers, and wounding 15 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qibya_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
corrigendum (n):
1. An error that is to be corrected in a printed work after
publication.
2. (usually plural) A list of errors in a printed work as a separate
page of corrections, known as an errata page
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/corrigendum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Man cannot be free if he does not know that he is subject to necessity,
because his freedom is always won in his never wholly successful
attempts to liberate himself from necessity.
--Hannah Arendt
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt>
Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933–2003) served as United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees from 1966 to 1978, during which he reoriented
the agency's focus beyond Europe and prepared it for an explosion of
complex refugee issues. He was also a proponent of greater
collaboration between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN
agencies. The Prince's interest in ecological issues led him to
establish the Bellerive Foundation in the late 1970s, and he was a
knowledgeable and respected collector of Islamic art. Born in Paris,
France, he was the son of Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan and Princess
Andrée Aga Khan. He married twice, but had no children of his own.
Prince Sadruddin died of cancer at the age of 70, and was buried in
Switzerland.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Sadruddin_Aga_Khan>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
54:
Claudius was fatally poisoned by his wife Agrippina the Younger, making
her 16-year-old son Nero the next Roman Emperor.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero>
1307:
Agents of King Philip IV of France launched a dawn raid, simultaneously
arresting many members of the Knights Templar , and subsequently
torturing them into "admitting" heresy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar>
1773:
French astronomer Charles Messier discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy, an
interacting, grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of
approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes
Venatici.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy>
1843:
The B'nai B'rith, the oldest continually operating Jewish service
organization in the world, was founded in New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%27nai_B%27rith>
1917:
An estimated 100,000 people in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima,
Portugal witnessed "The Miracle of the Sun".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Miracle_of_the_Sun>
1972:
Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed into a remote area in the Andes
mountains near the border of Chile and Argentina; the last of 16
survivors were not rescued until December 23.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_Air_Force_Flight_571>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
palaver (v):
To discuss with much talk
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palaver>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The practical reason for freedom is that freedom seems to be the only
condition under which any kind of substantial moral fiber can be
developed — we have tried law, compulsion and authoritarianism of
various kinds, and the result is nothing to be proud of.
--Albert Jay Nock
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Jay_Nock>
The CFM International CFM56 series is a family of high-bypass turbofan
aircraft engines made by CFM International with a thrust range of
18,500 to 34,000 pound-force (lbf) (80 to 150 kilonewtons (kN)). CFMI
is a 50–50 joint-owned company of SNECMA, France and GE Aviation. Both
companies are responsible for producing components and each has its own
final assembly line. The CFM56 first ran in 1974 and, despite initial
political problems, is now one of the most prolific jet engine types in
the world: more than 20,000 have been built in four major variants. It
is most widely used on the Boeing 737 airliner and under military
designation F108 replaced the Pratt & Whitney JT3D engines on many
KC-135 Stratotankers in the 1980s, creating the KC-135R variant of this
aircraft. It is also one of two engines used to power the Airbus A340,
the other being the Rolls-Royce Trent. The engine is also fitted to
Airbus A320 series aircraft. Several fan blade failure incidents were
experienced during the CFM56's early service, including one failure
that was noted as a cause of the Kegworth air disaster, and some
variants of the engine experienced problems caused by flight through
rain and hail. However, both these issues were resolved with engine
modifications. By January 2010 the CFM56 had flown more than 470
million cumulative hours (the equivalent of more than 53,000 years).
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFM_International_CFM56>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1398:
The Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas the Great and the Grand Master of
the Teutonic Knights Konrad von Jungingen signed the Treaty of Salynas,
the third attempt after the 1384 Treaty of Königsberg and the 1390
Treaty of Lyck to cede Samogitia to the Knights.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Salynas>
1871:
The Criminal Tribes Act entered into force in British India, giving law
enforcement sweeping powers to arrest, control, and monitor the
movements of the members of 160 specific ethnic or social communities
that were defined as "habitually criminal".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Tribes_Act>
1915:
A German firing squad executed British nurse Edith Cavell for helping
Allied soldiers to escape occupied Belgium.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Cavell>
1928:
An iron lung medical ventilator, designed by Philip Drinker and
colleagues at Children's Hospital, Boston, was used for the first time
in the treatment of polio victims.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/iron_lung>
2000:
Two suicide bombers attacked the destroyer USS Cole while it was at
anchor in Aden, Yemen, killing 17 of its crew members and injuring 39
others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_%28DDG-67%29>
2002:
A series of bombs planted by Islamist militant group Jemaah Islamiyah
exploded in Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 people and injuring 209
others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
belligerent (adj):
1. Of or pertaining to war.
2. Engaged in war, warring.
3. Aggressively hostile, eager to fight
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/belligerent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
--Aleister Crowley
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley>
William McGregor (1846–1911) was an association football administrator
in the Victorian era, who is regarded as the founder of the Football
League, the first organised football league in the world. After moving
from Perthshire to Birmingham to set up business as a draper, McGregor
became involved with local football club Aston Villa, which he helped
to establish as one of the leading teams in England. He served the club
for over twenty years in various capacities, including president,
director and chairman. In 1888, frustrated by the regular cancellation
of Villa's matches, McGregor organised a meeting of representatives of
England's leading clubs, which led to the formation of the Football
League, giving member clubs a guaranteed fixture list each season. This
was instrumental in the transition of football from an amateur pastime
to a professional business. McGregor served as both chairman and
president of the Football League and was also chairman of the Football
Association (the FA). He was recognised by the FA for his service to
the game shortly before his death in 1911, and was posthumously
honoured by the local football authorities and Aston Villa.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McGregor>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1138:
A massive earthquake, one of the deadliest in recorded history, struck
Aleppo, Syria.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1138_Aleppo_earthquake>
1852:
The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, was
inaugurated in Sydney two years after the New South Wales Legislative
Council established it with the passage of the University of Sydney
Act.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Sydney>
1865:
The Morant Bay rebellion, led by Paul Bogle and George William Gordon,
began in Jamaica, but eventually it was brutally suppressed by Governor
Edward John Eyre.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morant_Bay_rebellion>
1962:
Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council, the first Roman
Catholic ecumenical council in 92 years.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council>
1968:
Apollo 7 , the first manned mission of NASA's Apollo program, and the
first three-man American space mission, launched from Complex 34 in
present-day Cape Canaveral, Florida.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_7>
1987:
Sri Lankan Civil War: The Indian Peace Keeping Force began Operation
Pawan to take control of Jaffna from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam in order to enforce their disarmament as a part of the Indo-Sri
Lankan Accord.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pawan>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
histrionics (n):
Exaggerated, overemotional behaviour, especially when calculated to
elicit a response; melodramatics
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/histrionics>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
--Eleanor Roosevelt
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt>