Princess Beatrice (1857–1944) was a member of the British Royal Family.
She was the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. As Beatrice's elder sisters
married and left their royal mother, Victoria came to rely on the
company of her youngest daughter. Beatrice, who was brought up to stay
with her mother always, soon resigned herself to her fate. Victoria was
set against her youngest daughter marrying and refused to discuss the
possibility. Nevertheless, many suitors were put forward, including
Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial, the son of the exiled Emperor
Napoleon III of France, and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, the widower
of Beatrice's older sister Alice. Although she was attracted to the
Prince Imperial, and there was talk of a possible marriage, he was
killed in the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. Beatrice fell in love with Prince
Henry of Battenberg. After a year of persuasion, Victoria agreed to the
marriage, which took place at Whippingham on the Isle of Wight, on 23
July 1885. Victoria consented on condition that Beatrice and Henry make
their home with her and that Beatrice continue her duties as the
Queen's unofficial secretary. Ten years into their marriage, on 20
January 1896, Prince Henry died of malaria while fighting in the
Anglo-Asante War. Beatrice remained at her mother's side until Victoria
died. Beatrice devoted the next thirty years to editing Queen
Victoria's journals as her designated literary executor. She continued
to make public appearances after her mother's death and died at the age
of eighty-seven.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Beatrice_of_the_United_Kingdom>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1556:
Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer , one of the founders of
Anglicanism, was burnt at the stake in Oxford, England for heresy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cranmer>
1800:
After being elected as a compromise candidate after several months of
stalemate, Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal
tiara made of papier-mâché.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_VII>
1804:
The Napoleonic code, the French civil code established under Napoleon,
entered into force, eventually strongly influencing the law of many
other countries.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleonic_code>
1937:
A police squad, acting under orders from Governor of Puerto Rico
Blanton Winship, opened fire on demonstrators protesting the arrest of
Puerto Rican Nationalist leader Pedro Albizu Campos, killing 17 and
injuring over 200 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ponce_massacre>
1980:
The United States announced the boycott of the Summer Olympics in
Moscow to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Summer_Olympics_boycott>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
armigerous (adj):
Entitled to bear a coat of arms
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/armigerous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The creative process lies not in imitating, but in paralleling nature —
translating the impulse received from nature into the medium of
expression, thus vitalizing this medium. The picture should be alive,
the statue should be alive, and every work of art should be alive.
--Hans Hofmann
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hans_Hofmann>
New York State Route 174 is a state highway in the county of Onondaga,
located in Central New York, United States. The highway is 16.70 miles
(26.88 km) long and passes through mostly rural regions. Route 174
begins at an intersection with NY 41 in Borodino, a hamlet of Spafford.
It heads northward for most of its length, except for short distances
in the villages of Marcellus and Camillus. The route ends at a junction
with NY 5 west of Camillus, at the west end of the Route 5 Camillus
bypass. Route 174 is located along a large mapped sedimentary bedrock
unit, known as the Marcellus Formation. The formation is named for an
outcrop found near the town of Marcellus, New York, during a geological
survey in 1839. The road was first laid out in the early 19th century
following the path of Nine Mile Creek, which connected several early
settlements in Central New York. The northern half of the route,
between the villages of Marcellus and Camillus, was later improved as a
plank road in 1855 by a private corporation that collected tolls from
travelers on the road. The state took over the maintenance of the road
by the beginning of the 20th century. The former plank road and an
extension south to Otisco Lake and southwest to Skaneateles Lake was
first designated as Route 174 in the 1930 state highway renumbering.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Route_174>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
After escaping from his exile in Elba, Napoleon Bonaparte entered
Paris, officially beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days>
1852:
American author Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was first
published, profoundly affecting attitudes toward African Americans and
slavery in the United States, and further intensifying the sectional
conflict leading to the American Civil War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin>
1987:
The antiretroviral drug zidovudine (AZT) became the first antiviral
medication approved for use against HIV and AIDS.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zidovudine>
1995:
The Aum Shinrikyo sect carried out a poison gas attack on the Tokyo
Subway, killing 12 people and injuring thousands of others with sarin.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway>
2006:
Cyclone Larry made landfall in Far North Queensland, eventually causing
nearly AU$1 billion in total damage and destroying over 80 percent of
Australia's banana crop.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Larry>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
question the question (v):
To ask that a proposed question’s presuppositions be explicitly
justified, especially as a preliminary to answering it
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/question_the_question>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What is all that men have done and thought over thousands of years,
compared with one moment of love. But in all Nature, too, it is what is
nearest to perfection, what is most divinely beautiful! There all
stairs lead from the threshold of life. From there we come, to there we
go.
--Friedrich Hölderlin
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Friedrich_H%C3%B6lderlin>
Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa is a
non-fiction book written by Stephen Lewis (pictured) for the Massey
Lectures. Each of the book's chapters was delivered as one lecture in a
different Canadian city. The author and orator, Stephen Lewis, was the
then-United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and former
Canadian ambassador to the United Nations. Although he wrote the book
and lectures in his role as a concerned Canadian citizen, his criticism
of the United Nations, international organizations, and other
diplomats, including naming specific people, was called undiplomatic
and led several reviewers to speculate whether he would be removed from
his UN position. In the book and the lectures Lewis argues that
significant changes are required to meet the Millennium Development
Goals in Africa by their 2015 deadline. Lewis explains the historical
context of Africa since the 1980s, citing a succession of disastrous
economic policies by international financial institutions that
contributed to, rather than reduced, poverty. He connects the
structural adjustment loans, with conditions of limited public spending
on health and education infrastructure, to the uncontrolled spread of
AIDS and subsequent food shortages as the disease infected much of the
working-age population. To help alleviate problems, he ends with
potential solutions which mainly require increased funding by G8
countries to levels beyond what they promise. Book reviewers found the
criticisms constructive and the writing sincere. His style focuses less
on numbers and statistics, and more on connecting decisions by UN
officials and western diplomats to consequences on the ground in
Africa.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Against_Time%3A_Searching_for_Hope_in_AID…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1279:
The Song Dynasty in Imperial China ended with a victory by the Yuan
Dynasty at the Battle of Yamen off the coast of Xinhui, Guangdong
Province.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yamen>
1687:
The search for the mouth of the Mississippi River led by French
explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle ended with a mutiny
and his murder in present-day Texas.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier%2C_Sieur_de_La_Salle>
1915:
Pluto was photographed for the first time, 15 years before it was
officially discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto>
1945:
World War II: A single Japanese aircraft bombed the American aircraft
carrier USS Franklin , killing over 700 of her crew and crippling the
ship.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Franklin_%28CV-13%29>
1978:
In response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, the United Nations
called on Israel to immediately withdraw its forces from Lebanon, and
established the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_Resolution_425>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ruthlessly (adv):
In a ruthless manner; with cruelty; without pity or compassion
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ruthlessly>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
"Fools rush where Angels fear to tread!" Angels and Fools have equal
claim
To do what Nature bids them do, sans hope of praise, sans fear of
blame!
--Richard Francis Burton
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton>
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908) was a Russian composer, and a
member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of
orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio
Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite
Scheherazade—are considered staples of the classical music repertoire,
along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade
is an example of his frequent use of fairy tale and folk subjects.
Rimsky-Korsakov left a considerable body of original Russian
nationalist compositions. He prepared works by The Five for
performance, which brought them into the active classical repertoire
(although there is controversy over his editing of the works of Modest
Mussorgsky). He also shaped a generation of younger composers and
musicians during his decades as an educator. Rimsky-Korsakov is
therefore considered "the main architect" of what the classical music
public considers the Russian style of composition.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1229:
Sixth Crusade: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II crowned himself King of
Jerusalem, although his wife Queen Yolande of Jerusalem had died,
leaving their infant son Conrad as the rightful heir.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1892:
Canadian Governor General Frederick Stanley of Preston pledged to
donate what would become the Stanley Cup , today the oldest
professional sports trophy in North America, as an award for Canada's
top-ranking amateur ice hockey club.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Cup>
1915:
World War I: In one of the largest naval battles in the Gallipoli
Campaign, a joint British and French operation to capture
Constantinople, the defences of the Ottoman Empire sank three Allied
battleships and severely damaged three others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_operations_in_the_Dardanelles_Campaign>
1965:
Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov donned a space suit and ventured outside the
Voskhod 2 spacecraft, becoming the first person to walk in space.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_2>
1985:
The first episode of the Australian soap opera Neighbours was first
broadcast on the Seven Network, eventually becoming the longest running
drama in Australian television history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighbours>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
friable (adj):
Easily broken into small fragments, crumbled, or reduced to powder
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/friable>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Candor is always a double-edged sword; it may heal or it may separate.
--Wilhelm Stekel
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Stekel>
The ruffed lemur is a Strepsirhine primate and the largest extant lemur
within the family Lemuridae. Like all lemurs, they are found only on
the island of Madagascar. Formerly considered to be a monotypic genus,
two species are now recognized: the Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur, with
its three subspecies, and the Red Ruffed Lemur. Ruffed lemurs are
diurnal and arboreal quadrupeds, often observed leaping through the
upper canopy of the seasonal tropical rainforests in eastern
Madagascar. They are also the most frugivorous of the Malagasy lemurs,
and they are very sensitive to habitat disturbance. Ruffed lemurs live
in multi-male/multi-female groups and have a complex and flexible
social structure, described as fission-fusion. They are highly vocal,
and have loud, raucous calls. Ruffed lemurs are seasonal breeders and
highly unusual in their reproductive strategy. They are considered an
"evolutionary enigma" in that they are the largest of the extant
species in Lemuridae, yet exhibit reproductive traits more common in
small, nocturnal lemurs, such as short gestation periods and large
average litter sizes. Ruffed lemurs also build nests for their newborns
(the only primates that do so), carry them by mouth, and exhibit an
absentee parental system by stashing them while they forage. Threatened
by habitat loss and hunting, ruffed lemurs are facing extinction in the
wild.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruffed_lemur>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1660:
The Long Parliament, originally called by King Charles I of England in
1640 following the Bishops' Wars, dissolved itself.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Parliament>
1872:
In the first-ever final of the FA Cup , today the oldest association
football competition in the world, Wanderers F.C. defeated Royal
Engineers A.F.C. 1–0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1872_FA_Cup_Final>
1900:
British archaeologist Arthur Evans purchased the ruins of Knossos, a
major centre of the Minoan civilization and the largest Bronze Age
archaeological site on Crete, for excavations.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knossos>
1926:
At the then-Asa Ward Farm in Auburn, Massachusetts, American scientist
Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, a
10-foot (3 m) cylinder that reached an altitude of about 41 feet (12 m)
and flew for two-and-a-half seconds before falling to the ground.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard>
1988:
Iran–Iraq War: Iraqi forces began attacking the Kurdish town of Halabja
with chemical weapons, killing up to 5,000 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halabja_poison_gas_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
cynosure (n):
1. That which serves to guide or direct.
2. Something that is the center of attention; an object that serves as
a focal point of attraction and admiration
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cynosure>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must
always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it
overflows upon the outward world.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne>
Le Père Goriot is an 1835 novel by French novelist and playwright
Honoré de Balzac, included in the Scènes de la vie privée section of
his novel sequence La Comédie humaine. Set in Paris in 1819, it follows
the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot; a
mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin; and a naive law student
named Eugène de Rastignac. Originally published in serial form during
the winter of 1834–35, Le Père Goriot is widely considered as Balzac's
most important novel. It marks the first serious use by the author of
characters who had appeared in other books, a technique that
distinguishes Balzac's fiction and makes La Comédie humaine unique
among bodies of work. The novel is also noted as an example of his
realist style, using minute details to create character and subtext.
The novel takes place during the Bourbon Restoration, which brought
about profound changes in French society; the struggle of individuals
to secure upper-class status is ubiquitous in the book. The novel was
released to mixed reviews. Some critics praised the author for his
complex characters and attention to detail; others condemned him for
his many depictions of corruption and greed. A favorite of Balzac's,
the book quickly won widespread popularity and has often been adapted
for film and the stage.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_P%C3%A8re_Goriot>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1820:
Primarily due to its vulnerability to foreign invasions, the exclave of
Massachusetts known as Maine was given its own U.S. statehood.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Maine%23The_American_Revolution%2C_…>
1877:
Cricketers representing England and Australia began the first match in
Test cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Test_cricket_from_1877_to_1883%23Th…>
1906:
Charles Rolls and Henry Royce founded the British automobile
manufacturing company Rolls-Royce.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolls-Royce_Limited>
1943:
World War II: German forces recaptured Kharkov after four days of
house-to-house fighting against Soviet troops, ending the month-long
Third Battle of Kharkov .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Kharkov>
1972:
The Godfather, a gangster film based on the novel of the same name by
Mario Puzo and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, was released.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather>
1985:
The company Symbolics became the first ever entity, individual or party
to register a .com top-level domain name: symbolics.com.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.com>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
misanthropic (adj):
Hating or disliking mankind
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/misanthropic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop
thinking and go in.
--Andrew Jackson
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson>
Albert Kesselring (1885–1960) was a Luftwaffe Generalfeldmarschall
during World War II. In a military career that spanned both World Wars,
Kesselring became one of Nazi Germany's most skillful commanders, being
one of 27 soldiers awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with
Oak Leaves, Swords and Diamonds. Kesselring joined the German Army as
an officer cadet in 1904, and served in the artillery branch. During
World War I, he served on both the Western and Eastern fronts and was
posted to the General Staff, despite not having attended the War
Academy. During World War II he commanded air forces in the invasions
of Poland and France, the Battle of Britain, and Operation Barbarossa.
As Commander-in-Chief South, he was overall German commander in the
Mediterranean theatre, which included the operations in North Africa.
Kesselring conducted a stubborn defensive campaign against the Allied
forces in Italy until he was injured in an accident in October 1944. He
won the respect of his Allied opponents for his military
accomplishments, but his record was marred by massacres committed by
troops under his command in Italy. After the war, Kesselring was tried
for war crimes and sentenced to death. The sentence was subsequently
commuted to life imprisonment.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Kesselring>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
American inventor Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin , the first ever
machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from their
seedpods.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cotton_gin>
1915:
World War I: British forces cornered and sank the SMS Dresden, the last
remnant of the German East Asia Squadron, near the Chilean island of
Más a Tierra.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_M%C3%A1s_a_Tierra>
1945:
The British Royal Air Force first used the Grand Slam, a 22,000 lb
(9.98 t) earth quake bomb, on a strategic railroad viaduct in
Bielefeld, Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_bomb>
1991:
The "Birmingham Six", wrongly convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub
bombings in Birmingham, England, were released after sixteen years in
prison.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Six>
1994:
Version 1.0.0 of the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel, was
released, becoming one of the most prominent examples of open source
software.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush (proverb):
It is preferable to have a small but certain advantage than a mere
potential of a greater one
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_bird_in_the_hand_is_worth_two_in_the_bush>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for
society — nay, even set up new moral standards to which the life of the
community conforms. Without creative, independently thinking and
judging personalities the upward development of society is as
unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without
the nourishing soil of the community.
The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence
of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion.
--Albert Einstein
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein>
1
0
March 13: Icos
by English Wikipedia Article of the Day
13 Mar '10
13 Mar '10
Icos was the largest biotechnology company in the U.S. state of
Washington before it was sold to Eli Lilly and Company in 2007.
Co-founded in 1989 by George Rathmann, a pioneer in the industry and
co-founder of Amgen, Icos focused on the development of drugs to treat
inflammatory disorders. During its 17-year history, the company
conducted clinical trials of 12 drugs, three of which reached the last
phase of clinical trials. Icos is famous for tadalafil (Cialis), a drug
used to treat erectile dysfunction. This drug was discovered by
GlaxoSmithKline, developed by Icos, and manufactured and marketed in
partnership with Eli Lilly. Boosted by a unique advertising campaign
led by the Grey Worldwide Agency, sales from Cialis allowed Icos to
become profitable in 2006. Cialis was the only drug developed by the
company to be approved. LeukArrest, a drug to treat shock, and Pafase,
developed for sepsis, were both tested in phase III clinical trials,
but testing was discontinued after unpromising results during the
trials. Eli Lilly acquired Icos in January 2007, and most of Icos's
workers were laid off soon after. CMC Biopharmaceuticals, a Danish
contract manufacturer, bought the remnants of Icos and retained the
remaining employees.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icos>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
German-born British astronomer and composer William Herschel discovered
the planet Uranus while in the garden of his house in Bath, Somerset,
England, thinking it was a comet.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus>
1845:
German composer Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, one of the most
popular and most frequently performed violin concertos of all time, was
first played in Leipzig, with violinist Ferdinand David as soloist.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_%28Mendelssohn%29>
1943:
The Holocaust: Nazi troops under SS Hauptsturmführer Amon Göth began
liquidating the Jewish Ghetto in Kraków, Poland, sending about 8,000
Jews deemed able to work to the Plaszow labor camp. Those deemed unfit
for work were either killed or sent to die at the Auschwitz
concentration camp.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w_Ghetto>
1954:
Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap unleashed a massive artillery
barrage on the French military to begin the Battle of Dien Bien Phu,
the climactic battle in the First Indochina War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu>
1996:
In the deadliest attack on children in the history of the United
Kingdom, a spree killer killed sixteen children and a teacher at a
primary school in Dunblane, Scotland, before committing suicide.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
dissociate (v):
1. To make unrelated; to sever a connection; to separate.
2. To part; to stop associating.
3. (chemistry) To separate compounds
into simpler component parts, usually by applying heat or through
electrolysis
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dissociate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The joy of life discovered by the Greeks is not a profane type of
enjoyment: it reveals the bliss of existing, of sharing — even
fugitively — in the spontaneity of life and the majesty of the world.
Like so many others before and after them, the Greeks learned that the
surest way to escape from time is to exploit the wealth, at first sight
impossible to suspect, of the lived instant.
--Mircea Eliade
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mircea_Eliade>
"The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" is a Time magazine article
highly critical of Scientology that was first published on May 6, 1991,
as an eight-page cover story. Written by investigative journalist
Richard Behar, the article was later published in Reader's Digest in
October 1991. Behar's article covers topics including: L. Ron Hubbard
(pictured) and the development of Scientology, its controversies over
the years and history of litigation, conflict with psychiatry and the
IRS, the suicide of a Scientologist, its status as a religion, and its
business dealings. After the article's publication, the Church of
Scientology mounted a public relations campaign to inform the public of
what it felt were falsehoods in the piece. It took out advertisements
in USA Today for twelve weeks, and Church leader David Miscavige was
interviewed by Ted Koppel on Nightline about what he considered to be
an objective bias by the article's author. The Church of Scientology
brought a libel suit against Time Warner and Behar, and sued Reader's
Digest in multiple countries in Europe in an attempt to stop the
article's publication there. The suit against Time Warner was dismissed
in 1996, and the Church of Scientology's petition for a writ of
certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case was
denied in 2001. Behar received awards in honor of his work on the
article, including the Gerald Loeb Award, the Worth Bingham Prize, and
the Conscience-in-Media Award.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thriving_Cult_of_Greed_and_Power>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1881:
Andrew Watson made his debut with the Scotland national football team
and became the world's first black international football player.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Watson_%28footballer%29>
1913:
The future capital of Australia was officially named Canberra during a
ceremony officiated by Lady Gertrude Denman, the wife of
Governor-General Lord Thomas Denman.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra>
1930:
Gandhi began the Dandi March , a 24-day walk to defy the British tax on
salt in colonial India.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Satyagraha>
1952:
Hastings Ismay was appointed as the first Secretary General of NATO.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Ismay%2C_1st_Baron_Ismay>
2004:
The National Assembly of South Korea voted to impeach President Roh
Moo-hyun on charges of illegal electioneering and incompetence, a move
that was largely opposed by the public.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roh_Moo-hyun>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ebony (n):
1. A hard, heavy, deep black wood from various subtropical and tropical
trees, especially of the genus Diospyros.
2. A tree that yields such wood.
3. A deep, dark black colour
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ebony>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life to each individual is a scene of continued feasting in a region of
plenty; and when unexpected death arrests its course, it repays with
small interest the large debt which it has contracted to the common
fund of animal nutrition, from whence the materials of its body have
been derived. Thus the great drama of universal life is perpetually
sustained; and though the individual actors undergo continual change,
the same parts are filled by another and another generation; renewing
the face of the earth and the bosom of the deep with endless
successions of life and happiness.
--William Buckland
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Buckland>
Kirsten Dunst (born 1982) is an American actress, model, and singer.
She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by
Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories. At the age of 12, Dunst
gained widespread recognition playing the role of vampire Claudia in
Interview with the Vampire. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
for Best Supporting Actress for this performance. That year she
appeared in Little Women, to further acclaim. Dunst achieved
international fame as a result of her portrayal of Mary Jane Watson in
the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then her films have included the romantic
comedy Wimbledon, the science fiction drama Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind and Cameron Crowe's tragicomedy Elizabethtown. She played
the title role in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, and she starred in
the comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. In 2001, Dunst made
her singing debut in the film Get Over It, in which she performed two
songs. She also sang the jazz song "After You've Gone" for the end
credits of the film The Cat's Meow.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsten_Dunst>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1649:
The Peace of Rueil was signed, signaling an end to the opening episodes
of the Fronde, France's civil war, after little blood had been shed.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Rueil>
1879:
Japan annexed the Ryūkyū Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa
Prefecture.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABky%C5%AB_Kingdom>
1941:
World War II: The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law, allowing the
United States to supply the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China,
France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-lease>
1966:
President Sukarno of Indonesia was essentially ousted by Suharto and
the military after being forced to sign the Presidential Order
Supersemar, giving Suharto authority to take whatever measures he
deemed necessary to restore order during the Indonesian killings.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno>
2004:
A series of simultaneous bombings on Cercanías commuter trains killed
191 people and wounded more than 1,800 in the Spanish capital of
Madrid.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
hypernatremic (adj):
(medicine) Having an abnormally high concentration of sodium (or salt)
in blood plasma
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hypernatremic>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust,
sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.
--Douglas Adams
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams>