Golden Sun is the first installment of a series of fantasy role-playing
video games developed by Camelot Software Planning and published by
Nintendo. It was released in November 2001 for Nintendo's Game Boy
Advance, followed by a sequel, Golden Sun: The Lost Age, in 2003. The
game is notable for certain unique game elements, such as the use of
special "Djinn" that empower the player and can be used against
enemies. Golden Sun's story follows a band of magic-attuned "adepts"
who are sent from their home town into the wide world of Weyard to
prevent the potentially destructive power of alchemy from being
released as it was in the past. Along the way the adepts gain new
abilities, help out the local populations, and learn more about why
alchemy was sealed away. The story continues in The Lost Age. Upon its
release, the game was highly praised; IGN's Craig Harris wrote that
Golden Sun could "arguably be one of the best 2D-based Japanese RPGs
created for any system." The game went on to sell over one million
copies in Japan and the United States. A second sequel, Golden Sun:
Dark Dawn, is scheduled for release in 2010.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Sun>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
The United States Marine Corps was founded as the Continental Marines
by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress during the American
Revolutionary War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Marine_Corps>
1871:
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?": Journalist and explorer Henry Morton
Stanley located missing missionary and explorer David Livingstone in
Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika in present-day Tanzania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Morton_Stanley>
1945:
Indonesian National Revolution: Following the killing of the British
officer Brigadier Mallaby a few weeks prior, British forces began their
retaliation by attacking Surabaya, Indonesia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Surabaya>
1969:
The first episode of the children's television series Sesame Street
premiered on public broadcasting television stations in the United
States , to adulatory reviews, some controversy, and high ratings.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesame_Street>
2007:
At the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, Chile, King Juan Carlos I of
Spain famously asked President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez "¿Por qué no te
callas?" after Chávez was repeatedly interrupting a speech by Spanish
Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%BFPor_qu%C3%A9_no_te_callas%3F>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Rorschach test (n):
A method of psychological evaluation that uses a person's
interpretations of inkblots or similar images to discover information
concerning his or her personality, emotional functioning, or
unconscious mind
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Rorschach_test>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who has done his best for his own time has lived for all times.
--Friedrich Schiller
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_Schiller>
Geastrum triplex is an inedible species of fungus belonging to the
genus Geastrum, or earthstar fungi. First described in 1840 as Geaster
triplex, several authors have suggested that Geastrum indicum,
described in 1832, is the legitimate name for the species. Immature
fruit bodies are spherical—somewhat resembling puffballs with pointed
beaks—and are partially or completely buried in the ground. As the
fungus matures, the outer layer of tissue (the exoperidium) splits into
four to eight pointed segments which spread outwards and downwards,
lifting and exposing the spherical inner spore sac. The spore sac
contains the gleba, a mass of spores and fertile mycelial tissue that
when young is white and firm, but ages to become brown and powdery. The
species is the largest of the earthstar fungi, with a tip to tip length
of an expanded mature specimen reaching up to 12 centimeters (4.7 in).
Geastrum triplex is a common and widespread species found in the
detritus and leaf litter of hardwood forests in many parts of the
world, including Asia, Australasia, Europe, and both North and South
America. Fruit bodies have been analyzed chemically to determine their
lipid content, and various chemical derivatives of the fungal sterol
ergosterol have been identified. The fungus has a history of use in the
traditional medicines of native North America and China.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geastrum_triplex>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1330:
The Battle of Posada between Basarab I of Wallachia and Charles I
Robert of Hungary began near the present-day border of Oltenia and
Severin, Romania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Posada>
1888:
Mary Jane Kelly was murdered in London, widely believed to be the fifth
and final victim of the notorious unidentified serial killer Jack the
Ripper.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Jane_Kelly>
1938:
Kristallnacht began in Nazi Germany as a part of Adolf Hitler's
anti-Semitic policy, leading to the murder of over 90 Jews, and the
arrest and deportation of over 25,000 others to concentration camps.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht>
1953:
Cambodia gained independence from France and became a constitutional
monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia>
1967:
French comic book heroes Valérian and Laureline first appeared in the
pages of Pilote magazine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Val%C3%A9rian_and_Laureline>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
unmask (v):
1. To remove a mask from someone.
2. To expose, or reveal the true character of someone
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unmask>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
History is full of people who out of fear, or ignorance, or lust for
power have destroyed knowledge of immeasurable value which truly
belongs to us all. We must not let it happen again.
--Carl Sagan
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan>
The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance is a
1525-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern
edge of Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago. The
theater was named for its primary benefactors, Joan and Irving Harris.
It serves as the Park's indoor performing venue, a complement to Jay
Pritzker Pavilion, which hosts the park's outdoor performances.
Constructed in 2002–03, it is the city's premier performance venue for
small- and medium-sized music and dance groups. It provides subsidized
rental, technical expertise, and marketing support for the companies
using it, and turned a profit in its fourth fiscal year. The Harris
Theater has hosted notable national and international performers, such
as the New York City Ballet's first visit to Chicago in over 25 years
(in 2006). Performances have included the San Francisco Ballet, Mikhail
Baryshnikov, and Stephen Sondheim. The theater has been credited as
contributing to the performing arts renaissance in Chicago, and has
been favorably reviewed for its acoustics, sightlines, proscenium and
for providing a home for numerous performing organizations.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Theater_%28Chicago%2C_Illinois%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1520:
Following a successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces under
Christian II of Denmark, scores of Swedish leaders were executed in
Stockholm despite Christian's promise of general amnesty.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Bloodbath>
1576:
The provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands signed the Pacification of
Ghent, a peace treaty with the rebelling provinces Holland and Zeeland,
and also an agreement to form an alliance to drive the occupying
Spanish out of the country.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacification_of_Ghent>
1861:
American Civil War: The USS San Jacinto stopped the British mailship
Trent and arrested two Confederate envoys en route to Europe, sparking
a major diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Affair>
1895:
German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen produced and detected
electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range that is known today as
X-rays .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Conrad_R%C3%B6ntgen>
1987:
A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded during a Remembrance
Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing at least
eleven people and injuring sixty-three others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dour (adj):
1. Stern, harsh and forbidding.
2. Unyielding and obstinate.
3. Expressing gloom or melancholy;
sullenly unhappy
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dour>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Charity keepeth us in Faith and Hope, and Hope leadeth us in Charity.
And in the end all shall be Charity.
--Julian of Norwich
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich>
Chicado V (1950–1972) was a Champion Quarter Horse race horse foaled
(born) in 1950, and considered one of the outstanding broodmares of her
breed. She started only six times as knee problems cut short her racing
career. However, she won her first two starts while breaking or
equaling track records, and was given the title of co-Champion Quarter
Running Two-Year-Old Filly by the American Quarter Horse Association
(AQHA) in 1952. The next year she ran her last four races, winning once
and setting one more speed record. After her last race, in December
1953, she was retired from the track to become a broodmare, and had
nine foals. Two of her offspring were named Champion Quarter Running
Horses, and all her foals had a total of seven stakes race wins. One of
her daughters, Table Tennis, went on to become a noted broodmare
herself, as did Table Tennis' daughter Rapid Volley and granddaughter
Perks. However, three of Chicado V's sons—Triple Chick, Three Chicks,
and The Ole Man—were her best known offspring; all three became leading
sires and are the main cause of her fame. She was inducted into the
AQHA's American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2006.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicado_V>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1665:
The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English language newspaper,
was first published as the Oxford Gazette.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Gazette>
1811:
American forces led by Indiana Territory Governor William Henry
Harrison defeated the forces of Shawnee leader Tecumseh's growing
American Indian confederation at the Battle of Tippecanoe near
present-day Battle Ground, Indiana.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tippecanoe>
1885:
Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first
transcontinental railroad across Canada, concluded with financier and
politician Sir Donald Smith driving in the "last spike" in
Craigellachie, British Columbia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Spike_%28Canadian_Pacific_Railway%29>
1917:
Vladimir Lenin led a Bolshevik insurrection against the Provisional
Government of Alexander Kerensky, starting the Bolshevik Revolution,
the second phase of the overall Russian Revolution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution>
1991:
Professional basketball player Magic Johnson announced his retirement
from the game because of his infection with HIV.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gaudy (adj):
Very showy or ornamented, now especially when excessive or in a
tasteless or vulgar manner
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gaudy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Political progress will only take place if sufficient security exists.
--David Petraeus
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Petraeus>
New South Greenland was an appearance of land recorded by the American
captain Benjamin Morrell of the schooner Wasp in March 1823, during a
sealing and exploration voyage in the Weddell Sea area of Antarctica.
Morrell provided precise coordinates and a description of a coastline
which he claimed to have sailed along for more than 300 miles (480 km).
Because the Weddell Sea area was so little visited, and hard to
navigate due to ice conditions, the alleged land was never properly
investigated before its existence was emphatically disproved during
Antarctic expeditions in the early 20th century. At the time of
Morrell's voyage, the geography of the then unnamed Weddell Sea and its
surrounding coasts was almost entirely unknown, making the claimed
sighting initially plausible. However, obvious errors in Morrell's
voyage account, and his general reputation as a fabulist, created
scepticism about the existence of this new land. In June 1912 the
German explorer Wilhelm Filchner searched for but found no traces of
land, after his ship Deutschland became icebound in the Weddell Sea and
drifted into the locality of Morrell's observation. Three years later,
trapped in the same waters with his ship Endurance, Ernest Shackleton
was able by similar means to confirm the land's non-existence. Various
possible explanations for Morrell's error have been suggested,
including intentional deception. Morrell may have been honestly
mistaken, through miscalculation of his ship's position or by
misremembering detail when writing the account after nine years.
Alternatively, he may have made the common error of confusing distant
icebergs with land, or been misled by the distorting effects of
Antarctic mirage.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Greenland>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
Months after the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse effectively ended the
American Civil War, the CSS Shenandoah became the last Confederate
combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on a cruise
on which it sank or captured 38 vessels.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Shenandoah>
1869:
In the first official American football game, Rutgers College defeated
the College of New Jersey, 6–4, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, US.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_American_football>
1963:
Nguyen Ngoc Tho was appointed to head the South Vietnamese government
by the military junta of General Duong Van Minh, five days after the
later deposed and assassinated President Ngo Dinh Diem.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguyen_Ngoc_Tho>
1971:
The United States Atomic Energy Commission tests the largest
underground nuclear test in U.S. history, code-named Cannikin, on
Amchitka Island in the Aleutians.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amchitka>
1999:
Although opinion polls had clearly suggested that the majority of the
electorate favoured republicanism, the Australian republic referendum
was defeated, keeping the Australian monarch as the country's official
head of state.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_republic_referendum%2C_1999>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
stuffed shirt (n):
(idiomatic) One who is pompous or self-important, especially one who is
officious in a position of authority
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stuffed_shirt>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A man or woman is seldom happy unless he or she is sustaining him or
herself and making a contribution to others.
--Zig Ziglar
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zig_Ziglar>
The Gunpowder Plot of 1605 was a failed assassination attempt against
King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial
English Catholics led by Sir Robert Catesby. The plan was to blow up
the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on
5 November, as the prelude to a popular revolt in the Midlands during
which James's nine-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, was to be
installed as the Catholic head of state. Catesby may have embarked on
the scheme after hopes of securing greater religious tolerance under
King James had faded, leaving many English Catholics disappointed. His
fellow plotters were John Wright, Thomas Wintour, Thomas Percy, Guy
Fawkes, Robert Keyes, Thomas Bates, Robert Wintour, Christopher Wright,
John Grant, Sir Ambrose Rookwood, Sir Everard Digby and Francis
Tresham. Fawkes, who had 10 years of military experience fighting in
the Spanish Netherlands in suppression of the Dutch Revolt, was given
charge of the explosives.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1338:
Ly Anh Tong was enthroned as emperor of Vietnam at the age of two,
starting a 37-year reign.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ly_Anh_Tong>
1838:
The collapse of the Federal Republic of Central America began with
Nicaragua seceding from the union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Republic_of_Central_America>
1854:
Crimean War: Despite being severely outnumbered, and fighting in heavy
foggy conditions, the allied armies of the United Kingdom and France
defeated the Russians at present-day Inkerman, Ukraine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Inkerman>
2007:
Chang'e 1 , the first unmanned spacecraft of the China National Space
Administration's Lunar Exploration Program, entered into lunar orbit.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_1>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
isthmus (n):
A narrow strip of land, bordered on two sides by water, and connecting
two larger landmasses
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/isthmus>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Years ago I recognized my kinship with all living beings, and I made up
my mind then that I was not one bit better than the meanest on earth. I
said then, and I say now, that while there is a lower class, I am in
it; and while there is a criminal element, I am of it; and while there
is a soul in prison, I am not free.
--Eugene V. Debs
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eugene_V._Debs>
Not One Less is a 1999 drama film by Chinese director Zhang Yimou
(pictured), adapted from Shi Xiangsheng's 1997 story "A Sun in the
Sky." Set in the People's Republic of China during the 1990s, the film
centers on a 13-year-old substitute teacher, Wei Minzhi, in the Chinese
countryside. Called in to substitute for a village teacher for one
month, Wei is told not to lose any students. When one of the boys takes
off in search of work in the big city, she goes looking for him. The
film addresses education reform in China, the economic gap between
urban and rural populations, and the prevalence of bureaucracy and
authority figures in everyday life. It is filmed in a
neorealist/documentary style with a troupe of non-professional actors
who play characters with the same names and occupations as the actors
have in real life, blurring the boundaries between drama and reality.
Internationally, the film was generally well-received, but it also
attracted criticism for its ostensibly political message. When the film
was excluded from the 1999 Cannes Film Festival's competition section,
Zhang withdrew it and another film from the festival, and published a
letter rebuking Cannes for politicization of and "discrimination"
against Chinese cinema.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_One_Less>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1737:
The Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Italy, currently the oldest active
opera house in Europe, was inaugurated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatro_di_San_Carlo>
1791:
Northwest Indian War: In the most severe defeat ever suffered by the
United States at the hands of American Indians, the Western Confederacy
won a major victory at the Battle of the Wabash near present-day Fort
Recovery in Ohio.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair%27s_Defeat>
1852:
Count Cavour became prime minister of the Kingdom of
Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expanded to become the Kingdom of Italy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillo_Benso%2C_conte_di_Cavour>
1869:
Nature, one of the oldest and most reputable general purpose scientific
journals, was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_%28journal%29>
1890:
London's City and South London Railway, the first deep-level
underground railway in the world, opened, running a distance of 5.1 km
(3.2 mi) between the City of London and Stockwell.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_and_South_London_Railway>
1995:
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was mortally wounded by Yigal Amir
while at a peace rally at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Rabin>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
aspirate (v):
1. To remove gas by means of suction.
2. To inhale; to draw into one's lungs.
3. (linguistics) To follow a
consonant with an audible puff of breath
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aspirate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All a poet can do today is warn. That is why the true Poets must be
truthful.
--Wilfred Owen
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilfred_Owen>
Ficus aurea is a tree in the family Moraceae that is native to Florida,
the northern and western Caribbean, southern Mexico and Central America
south to Panama. The specific epithet aurea was coined by English
botanist Thomas Nuttall who described the species in 1846; older names
applied to this species have been ruled invalid. Ficus aurea is a
strangler fig; seed germination usually takes place in the canopy of a
host tree and the seedling lives as an epiphyte until its roots
establish contact with the ground. It then enlarges and strangles its
host, eventually becoming a freestanding tree in its own right.
Individuals may reach 30 m (100 ft) in height. Like all figs, it has an
obligate mutualism with fig wasps; figs are only pollinated by fig
wasps, and fig wasps can only reproduce in fig flowers. The tree
provides habitat, food and shelter for a host of tropical lifeforms
including epiphytes in cloud forests and birds, mammals, reptiles and
invertebrates. F. aurea is used in traditional medicine, for live
fencing, as an ornamental and as a bonsai.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ficus_aurea>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
French playwright, journalist and outspoken feminist Olympe de Gouges
was guillotined for her revolutionary ideas.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges>
1838:
The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language
daily broadsheet newspaper, was founded as the The Bombay Times and
Journal of Commerce.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India>
1942:
World War II: The Allies defeated the Axis at the Second Battle of El
Alamein, Egypt, turning the tide in the North African Campaign by
ending Axis hopes of taking control of the Suez Canal and thus gaining
access east to the Middle Eastern oil fields.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein>
1957:
The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, carrying Laika the
Russian space dog as the first living creature from Earth to enter
orbit.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika>
1996:
Abdullah Çatlı, a drug trafficker, a contract killer, and a leader of
the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party, was killed in a car
crash near Susurluk, Balıkesir Province, Turkey, sparking the Susurluk
scandal which exposed the depth of the state's complicity in organized
crime.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_%C3%87atl%C4%B1>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ewer (n):
A kind of widemouthed pitcher or jug with a shape like a vase and a
handle
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ewer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Athirst for personal salvation, the West forgets that many religions
had but a vague notion of the life beyond the grave; true, all great
religions stake a claim on eternity, but not necessarily on man's
eternal life.
--André Malraux
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Malraux>
The United States Senate election in California, 1950 followed a
campaign characterized by accusations and name-calling. Republican
Richard Nixon defeated Democrat Helen Gahagan Douglas, after Democratic
incumbent Sheridan Downey withdrew during the primary election
campaign. Nixon won the Republican primary and Douglas the Democratic
contest, with each also finishing third in the other party's contest. A
contentious Democratic primary race left the party divided, and
Democrats were slow to rally to Douglas—some even endorsed Nixon. The
Korean War broke out only days after the primaries, and both Nixon and
Douglas contended that the other had often voted with leftist New York
Congressman Vito Marcantonio to the detriment of national security.
Nixon's attacks were far more effective, and he won the election by
almost 20 percentage points, carrying 53 of California's 58 counties
and all metropolitan areas. The campaign gave rise to two memorable
political nicknames: "the Pink Lady" for Douglas and "Tricky Dick" for
Nixon.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_California%2C…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1889:
The Dakota Territory, an organized incorporated territory of the United
States, was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and
South Dakota.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Dakota>
1909:
Lambda Chi Alpha, today one of the largest men's general fraternities
in North America, having initiated more than 270,000 members, was
founded at Boston University.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_Chi_Alpha>
1917:
British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour
Declaration, proclaiming British support for the establishment of a
Jewish homeland in Palestine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration_of_1917>
1947:
American industrialist and aviator Howard Hughes flew Spruce Goose ,
the largest flying boat ever built, on its maiden flight from the coast
of Long Beach, California, US.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_H-4_Hercules>
1963:
President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated, marking the
culmination of a coup d'état led by Duong Van Minh.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_and_assassination_of_Ng%C3%B4_%C4%90%C3…>
2000:
Aboard Expedition 1, American astronaut William Shepherd and Russian
cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko became the first resident
crew to arrive at the International Space Station.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ponderous (adj):
1. Heavy, massive, weighty.
2. Serious, onerous, oppressive.
3. Clumsy, unwieldy, or slow,
especially due to weight.
4. Dull, boring, tedious; long-winded in expression
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ponderous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Hunting hawks do not belong in cages, no matter how much a man covets
their grace, no matter how golden the bars. They are far more beautiful
soaring free.
--Lois McMaster Bujold
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lois_McMaster_Bujold>
The Acra was a fortified compound in Jerusalem of the 2nd century BCE.
Built by Antiochus Epiphanes, ruler of the Seleucid Empire, following
his sack of the city in 168 BCE, the fortress played a significant role
in the events surrounding the Maccabean Revolt and the formation of the
Hasmonean Kingdom. It was destroyed by Simon Maccabeus during this
struggle. The exact location of the Acra, critical to understanding
Hellenistic Jerusalem, remains a matter of ongoing discussion.
Historians and archaeologists have proposed various sites around
Jerusalem, relying mainly on conclusions drawn from literary evidence.
This approach began to change in the light of excavations which
commenced in the late 1960s. New discoveries have prompted
reassessments of the ancient literary sources, Jerusalem's geography
and previously discovered artifacts. Yoram Tsafrir has interpreted a
masonry joint in the southeastern corner of the Temple Mount platform
as a clue to the Acra's possible position. During Benjamin Mazar's 1968
and 1978 excavations adjacent to the south wall of the Mount, features
were uncovered which may have been connected with the Acra, including
barrack-like rooms and a huge cistern.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acra_%28fortress%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1520:
Portuguese maritime explorer Ferdinand Magellan led the first European
expedition to navigate the Strait of Magellan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Magellan>
1611:
The first recorded performance of William Shakespeare's play The
Tempest was held at the Palace of Whitehall in London, exactly seven
years to the day after the first certainly known performance of his
tragedy Othello was held in the same building.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest>
1755:
A 9.0 Mw earthquake and subsequent tsunami destroyed Lisbon, killing
between 10,000 and 100,000 people in Portugal and Morocco.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake>
1800:
John Adams became the first U.S. President to take residence in the
Executive Mansion, later re-named the White House (pictured today).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House>
1928:
As part of the reforms implemented under the leadership of Turkish
President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the current 29-letter Turkish alphabet
was established to replace the Ottoman Turkish alphabet as the official
writing system of the Turkish language.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_alphabet>
1963:
The Arecibo Observatory, with the world's largest single-dish radio
telescope, officially opened in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_Observatory>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
sanctify (v):
1. To make holy; to consecrate; to set aside for sacred or ceremonial
use.
2. To free from sin; to purify.
3. To endorse with religious sanction
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sanctify>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Some say this world of trouble
Is the only one we need
But I’m waiting for that morning
When the
new world is revealed.
Oh, when the saints go marching in,
When the saints go marching in,
Oh Lord, I want to be in that number,
When the saints go marching
in!
--w:When the Saints Go Marching In
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3AWhen_the_Saints_Go_Marching_In>