Tulsa, Oklahoma, is the second largest city in the state of Oklahoma
and 47th-largest city in the United States. With an estimated
population of 389,625 in 2009, it is the principal municipality of the
Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region of 929,015 residents projected to
reach one million between 2010 and 2012. The city serves as the county
seat of Tulsa County, the most densely populated county in Oklahoma,
and extends into Osage, Rogers, and Wagoner counties. Tulsa was first
settled in the 1830s by the Lachapoka Band of the Creek Native American
tribe. In 1921, it was the site of the infamous Tulsa Race Riot, one of
the largest and most destructive acts of racial violence in the history
of the United States. For most of the 20th century, the city held the
nickname "Oil Capital of the World" and played a major role as one of
the most important hubs for the American oil industry. Tulsa, along
with several other cities, claims to be the birthplace of U.S. Route 66
and is also known for its Western Swing music.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa%2C_Oklahoma>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1628:
The Swedish warship Vasa sank after sailing less than a nautical mile
into her maiden voyage from Stockholm on her way to fight in the Thirty
Years' War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_%28ship%29>
1792:
French Revolution: Insurrectionists in Paris stormed the Tuileries
Palace, effectively ending the French monarchy until it was restored in
1814.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10th_of_August_%28French_Revolution%29>
1821:
As per the conditions of the Missouri Compromise, Missouri was admitted
into the United States as a slave state, despite the fact that most of
its territory was north of the parallel 36°30' north.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri>
1953:
First Indochina War: The French Union withdrew its forces from
Operation Camargue against the Viet Minh in central modern-day Vietnam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Camargue>
2006:
British police arrested 25 people suspected in an alleged terrorist
plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10
airliners travelling from the UK to the United States and Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_transatlantic_aircraft_plot>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
collage (n):
1. A picture made by sticking other pictures onto a surface.
2. A composite object or collection (abstract or concrete) created by
the assemblage of diverse things
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/collage>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Monsters remain human beings. In fact, to reduce them to a subhuman
level is to exonerate them of their acts of terrorism and mass murder —
just as animals are not deemed morally responsible for killing.
Insisting on the humanity of terrorists is, in fact, critical to
maintaining their profound responsibility for the evil they commit.
And, if they are human, then they must necessarily not be treated in
an inhuman fashion. You cannot lower the moral baseline of a terrorist
to the subhuman without betraying a fundamental value.
--Andrew Sullivan
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Sullivan>
The flag of Singapore was first adopted in 1959, the year Singapore
became self-governing within the British Empire. It was reconfirmed as
the national flag when the Republic gained independence on 9 August
1965. The design is a horizontal bicolour of red above white, placed in
the canton by a white crescent moon facing a pentagon of five small
white five-pointed stars. The elements of the flag denote a young
nation on the ascendant, universal brotherhood and equality, and
national ideals. Vessels at sea do not use the national flag as an
ensign. Merchant vessels and pleasure craft fly a civil ensign of red
charged in white with a variant of the crescent and stars emblem in the
centre. Non-military government vessels such as coast guard ships fly a
state ensign of blue with the national flag in the canton, charged with
an eight-pointed red and white compass rose in the lower fly. Naval
warships fly a naval ensign similar to the state ensign, but in white
with a red compass rose emblem. Rules defined by the Singapore Arms and
Flag and National Anthem Act govern the use and display of the national
flag.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Singapore>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1173:
The construction of a campanile, which would eventually become the
Leaning Tower of Pisa , began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa>
1483:
The first mass in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican City was
celebrated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel>
1945:
World War II: USAAF bomber Bockscar dropped an atomic bomb named "Fat
Man", devastating Nagasaki, Japan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Man>
1969:
Followers of cult leader Charles Manson murdered pregnant actress
Sharon Tate and four others in her home in Benedict Canyon, Los
Angeles.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharon_Tate>
1974:
The Watergate scandal: Richard Nixon became the first (and to date
only) President of the United States to resign from office.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon>
1988:
Ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Edmonton Oilers to
the Los Angeles Kings, leading to the popularization of the sport in
California, but also upsetting so many Canadians that some even
considered him a "traitor" to his home country.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Gretzky>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vomer (n):
The vomer bone; the small thin bone that forms part of the septum
between the nostrils
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vomer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
For me there are no answers, only questions, and I am grateful that the
questions go on and on. I don't look for an answer, because I don't
think there is one. I'm very glad to be the bearer of a question.
--P. L. Travers
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/P._L._Travers>
Terry Sanford (1917–1998) was a United States politician and educator
from North Carolina. A member of the Democratic Party, Sanford was the
65th Governor of North Carolina (1961–1965), a two-time U.S.
Presidential candidate in the 1970s and a U.S. Senator (1986–1993).
Sanford was a strong proponent of education and introduced a number of
reforms and new programs in North Carolina's schools and institutions
of higher education as the state's governor, increasing funding for
education and establishing the North Carolina Fund. From 1969 to 1985,
Sanford was President of Duke University. An Eagle Scout as a youth,
Sanford became an FBI agent after graduating from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1939. During World War II, he saw
combat in the European Theatre and received a battlefield commission.
Following his return to civilian life after World War II, Sanford
attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina School of
Law and began a legal career in the late 1940s, soon becoming involved
in politics. A lifelong Democrat, he was noted for his progressive
leadership in civil rights and education; although his opponents
criticized him as a "tax-and-spend" liberal, Sanford is remembered as a
major public figure of the South after World War II.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Sanford>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1870:
Liberal radicals in Ploieşti, Romania, revolted against Romanian
Domnitor Carol I, only to be arrested the next day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ploie%C5%9Fti>
1876:
Thomas Edison received a patent for his mimeograph machine, a printing
device that was one of the forerunners to the photocopier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimeograph>
1918:
The Battle of Amiens began in Amiens, France, marking the start of the
Allied Powers' Hundred Days Offensive through the German front lines
that ultimately led to the end of World War I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Amiens_%281918%29>
1963:
In one of the largest robberies in British history, a gang of 15 train
robbers stole £2.6 million in bank notes at Bridego Railway Bridge,
Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Robbery_%281963%29>
1988:
The 8888 Uprising, a series of marches, demonstrations, protests, and
riots against the one-party state of the Burma Socialist Programme
Party in Burma, began.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8888_Uprising>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fidget (v):
To wiggle or twitch; to move around nervously or idly
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fidget>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If I can find out God, then I shall find Him,
If none can find Him, then I shall sleep soundly,
Knowing how well
on earth your love sufficed me,
A lamp in darkness.
--Sara Teasdale
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sara_Teasdale>
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian
libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the
Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on
Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, La Tosca, is a
melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of
Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. It
depicts graphic scenes of torture, murder and suicide, yet it contains
some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias, and has inspired memorable
performances from many of opera's leading singers. Tosca premiered at a
time of unrest in Rome, and its first performance was delayed for a day
for fear of disturbances. Despite indifferent reviews from the critics,
the opera was an immediate success with the public. While critics have
frequently dismissed the opera as a facile melodrama with confusions of
plot—musicologist Joseph Kerman famously called it a "shabby little
shocker"—the power of its score and the inventiveness of its
orchestration have been widely acknowledged. The dramatic force of
Tosca and its characters continues to fascinate both performers and
audiences, and the work remains one of the most frequently performed
operas.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosca>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1461:
Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Tianshun
Emperor.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellion_of_Cao_Qin>
1679:
Le Griffon, a brigantine by René-Robert de LaSalle , became the first
sailing ship to navigate the upper Great Lakes.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Griffon>
1933:
Many of an estimated 3,000 Assyrians were slaughtered by Iraqi troops
during the Simele massacre in the Dahuk and Mosul districts.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simele_massacre>
1942:
World War II: U.S. Marines initiated the first American offensive of
the Guadalcanal campaign with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the
Solomon Islands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tulagi_and_Gavutu%E2%80%93Tanambogo>
1998:
Car bombs simultaneously exploded at the United States embassies in the
East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi,
Kenya, killing over 200 people and injuring over 4,500 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_United_States_embassy_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
almondine (adj):
Garnished with almond slices
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/almondine>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Going to church no more makes you a Christian than standing in a garage
makes you a car.
--Garrison Keillor
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Garrison_Keillor>
William Hillcourt (1900–1992) was an influential leader in the Boy
Scouts of America (BSA) organization for much of the 20th century,
acclaimed as "the foremost influence on development of the Boy Scouting
program". Hillcourt is especially noted as a writer and teacher in the
areas of woodcraft, troop and patrol structure, and training. He was a
prolific writer; his works include three editions of the BSA's widely
circulated official Boy Scout Handbook, with over 12.6 million copies
printed. Hillcourt developed and promoted the American adaptation of
the Wood Badge program, the premier adult leader training program of
Scouting. Hillcourt was Danish, but moved to the United States as a
young adult and worked for the BSA. From his start in Danish Scouting
in 1910 though his death in 1992, he was continuously active in
Scouting. He traveled all over the world teaching and training both
Scouts and Scouters, earning many of Scouting's highest honors. His
legacy and influence can still be seen today in the BSA program and in
Scouting training manuals and methods for both youth and adults.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Hillcourt>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1890:
At Auburn Prison in Auburn, New York, US, William Kemmler became the
first person to be executed in an electric chair.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/electric_chair>
1914:
World War I: Germany's Atlantic U-boat Campaign began when ten U-boats
sailed from their base in Heligoland to attack British Royal Navy
warships in the North Sea, the first ever submarine war patrol in
history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_U-boat_Campaign_%28World_War_I%29>
1930:
New York City judge Joseph Force Crater mysteriously disappeared after
being last seen leaving a restaurant and entering a taxi, earning him
the title of "The Missingest Man in New York".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Force_Crater>
1962:
Jamaica gained full independence from the United Kingdom, more than 300
years after the English captured it from Spanish colonists in 1655.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica>
1991:
British computer programmer Tim Berners-Lee first posted files
describing his ideas for a system of interlinked, hypertext documents
accessible via the Internet, to be called a "World Wide Web".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee>
2008:
Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was ousted
from power by a group of high ranking generals that he had dismissed
from office several hours earlier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Mauritanian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
harridan (n):
A vicious and scolding woman, especially an older one
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/harridan>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The fate of all explanation is to close one door only to have another
fly wide open.
--Charles Fort
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Fort>
The Rheinmetall 120 mm gun is a smoothbore tank gun designed and
produced by the German Rheinmetall-DeTec AG company. It was developed
in response to Soviet advances in armor technology and development of
new armored threats. With production beginning in 1974, the first
version of the gun, known as the L/44, was used on the German Leopard
2, and was soon license produced to be used on tanks such as the
American M1A1 Abrams tanks. The American version, the M256, is
simplified, however, by using a coilspring recoil system instead of a
hydraulic system. It has also been exported to South Korea and Japan,
as well as nations which have procured the Leopard 2 and the M1 Abrams.
Rheinmetall's 120-millimeter (4.7 in) L/44 tank gun has a length of
5.28 meters (5.77 yd), while the gun system weighs approximately
3,317 kilograms (7,310 lb). However, by 1990 the L/44 was not
considered powerful enough to deal with modernized Soviet armor, such
as the T-80B, which stimulated an effort by Rheinmetall to develop a
better main armament. This first revolved around a 140-millimeter
(5.5 in) tank gun, but later turned into a compromise which led to the
development of an advanced 120-millimeter (4.7 in) gun.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinmetall_120_mm_gun>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1100:
Henry I was crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_I_of_England>
1388:
Scottish forces defeated the English during a border skirmish near
Otterburn, Northumberland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Otterburn>
1583:
Explorer Humphrey Gilbert established the first English colony in North
America at what is now St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s%2C_Newfoundland_and_Labrador>
1772:
Russia, Prussia and Habsburg Austria began the First Partition of
Poland to help restore the regional balance of power in Eastern Europe
among those three countries.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Partition_of_Poland>
1858:
American businessman and financier Cyrus West Field and his colleagues
completed the first transatlantic telegraph cable, crossing the
Atlantic Ocean from Valentia Island in Ireland to Heart's Content in
Newfoundland, Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/transatlantic_telegraph_cable>
1962:
Actress and model Marilyn Monroe was found dead in her home in
Brentwood, Los Angeles, an event that has become the center of one of
the most debated conspiracy theories.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe>
2003:
A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the lobby of the JW
Marriott Hotel in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, Indonesia, killing twelve
people and injuring 150.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Marriott_Hotel_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mantle (n):
1. A piece of clothing somewhat like an open robe or cloak.
2. (zoology) The body wall of a mollusc from which the shell is
secreted.
3. (geology) The layer between the Earth's core and crust.
4. A
fireplace shelf
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mantle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do not think me gentle
because I speak in praise
of gentleness, or elegant
because I honor
the grace
that keeps this world. I am
a man crude as any,
gross of speech,
intolerant,
stubborn, angry, full
of fits and furies. That I
may have spoken
well
at times, is not natural.
A wonder is what it is.
--Wendell Berry
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry>
Sentence spacing is the horizontal space between sentences in typeset
text. Since the introduction of movable-type printing in Europe,
various typographical conventions have been used in languages with a
Latin-derived alphabet, including a normal word space (as between the
words in a sentence), a single enlarged space, and two full spaces.
Although modern digital fonts can automatically set up visually
pleasing and consistent spacing following terminal punctuation, most
debate is about whether to strike a keyboard's spacebar once or twice
between sentences. Until the 20th century, publishing houses and
printers in many countries used single, but enlarged, spaces between
sentences. There were exceptions to this traditional spacing
method—printers in some countries preferred single spacing. This was
French spacing. Double spacing, or placing two spaces between
sentences, then came into widespread use with the introduction of the
typewriter. From around 1950, single sentence spacing became standard
in books, magazines, newspapers, and webpages. Regardless, many still
believe that double spaces are correct. The majority of style guides
opt for a single space after terminal punctuation for final and
published work.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1265:
Second Barons' War: Royal forces under Prince Edward defeated Baronial
forces under Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester at the Battle of
Evesham near Evesham, Worcestershire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Evesham>
1578:
King Sebastian I disappeared at the Battle of Alcácer Quibir near
Ksar-el-Kebir, Morocco, leading to a dynastic crisis in Portugal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_of_Portugal>
1704:
War of the Spanish Succession: A combined Anglo-Dutch fleet under the
command of George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles captured
Gibraltar from Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar>
1964:
The second of two U.S. Navy destroyers was reportedly attacked by North
Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin, sparking the U.S. Congress to
pass a resolution giving President Lyndon Johnson authorization for the
use of military force in Southeast Asia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Incident>
1984:
Exactly a year after he came to power in the Republic of Upper Volta
through a military coup, President Thomas Sankara changed its name to
Burkina Faso.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tangential (adj):
1. Referring to a tangent.
2. Merely touching, positioned as a tangent.
3. Only indirectly
related
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tangential>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean
and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
--Percy Bysshe Shelley
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley>
Alice Ayres (c. 1859–1885) was an English household assistant and
nursemaid to the family of her brother-in-law and sister, Henry and
Mary Ann Chandler. The Chandlers owned an oil and paint shop in
Southwark, and Ayres lived with them above the shop. In 1885, fire
broke out in the shop and Ayres rescued three of her nieces from the
burning building but fatally injured herself. Ayres died during a era
of great social change in Britain in the wake of the Industrial
Revolution. The manner of her death caused great public interest, and
large numbers of people attended her funeral and contributed to the
funding of a memorial. She then underwent a "secular canonisation" and
became widely depicted in the popular culture of the period. The
circumstances of her death were distorted to give the impression that
she was an employee willing to die for the sake of her employer's
family. She was widely cited as a role model, and was promoted as an
example of the values held by various social and political movements.
In 1902 her name was added to the Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice and
in 1936 a street near the scene of the fire was renamed Ayres Street in
her honour. The case of Alice Ayres came to renewed public notice with
the release of Patrick Marber's 1997 play Closer, and the 2004 film
based on it.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Ayres>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
435:
Nestorius, the originator of Nestorianism, was exiled by Byzantine
Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestorius>
1916:
Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement was hanged at London's Pentonville
Prison for treason for his role in the Easter Rising, a rebellion to
win Irish independence from Britain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Casement>
1948:
Before the House Un-American Activities Committee of the United States
House of Representatives, former spy turned government informer
Whittaker Chambers accused U.S. State Department official Alger Hiss
of being a communist and a Soviet spy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittaker_Chambers>
1949:
The Basketball Association of America agreed to merge with the National
Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Basketball_Association>
2005:
President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya of Mauritania was overthrown in a
military coup while he was attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi
Arabia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maaouya_Ould_Sid%27Ahmed_Taya>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ochre (n):
1. An earth pigment containing silica, aluminum and ferric oxide.
2. A somewhat yellowish orange colour
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ochre>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I did not want to move. For I had the feeling that this was a place,
once seen, that could not be seen again. If I left and then came back,
it would not be the same; no matter how many times I might return to
this particular spot the place and feeling would never be the same,
something would be lost or something would be added, and there never
would exist again, through all eternity, all the integrated factors
that made it what it was in this magic moment.
--Clifford D. Simak
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak>
Major urinary proteins (Mups) are a subfamily of proteins found in high
abundance in the urine and other secretions of many mammals. They
belong to a larger family of proteins known as lipocalins. Mups are
encoded by a cluster of genes located on a single stretch of DNA,
varying greatly in number between species: from at least 21 functional
genes in mice to none in humans. Mups form a characteristic glove
shape, encompassing a ligand-binding pocket that accommodates specific
small, organic chemicals. Urinary proteins were first reported in
rodents in 1932, during studies by Thomas Addis into the cause of
proteinuria. They are potent human allergens largely responsible for a
number of animal allergies. Their endogenous function within an animal
is unknown, but as secreted proteins, they can act as pheromones or
function as pheromone transporters and stabilizers, playing multiple
roles in chemical communication between animals. They have been
demonstrated to promote aggression in male mice, and one specific Mup
found in male mouse urine is sexually attractive to female mice. Mups
can also function as signals between different species. Accordingly,
Mups can provide a range of identifying information about the donor
animal.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_urinary_proteins>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
338 BC:
A Macedonian army defeated the combined forces of Athens and Thebes at
the Battle of Chaeronea, securing Macedonian hegemony over the majority
of Greece.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chaeronea_%28338_BC%29>
216 BC:
Second Punic War: Carthaginian forces led by Hannibal defeated a
numerically superior Roman army, near the town of Cannae in Apulia in
southeast Italy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cannae>
1790:
The first United States Census was conducted, as mandated by the United
States Constitution to allocate Congressional seats and electoral
votes.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census>
1870:
Tower Subway, one of the world's first underground tube railways,
opened beneath the River Thames in London.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_Subway>
1903:
The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization started the Ilinden
Uprising against the Ottoman Empire in present-day Republic of
Macedonia and Greece.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilinden%E2%80%93Preobrazhenie_Uprising>
1980:
A terrorist bomb exploded at the Central Station of Bologna, Italy,
killing 85 people and wounding more than 200.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bologna_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
yob (n):
(pejorative, slang) A person who engages in antisocial behaviour and/or
drunkenness
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yob>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Religious feeling is as much a verity as any other part of human
consciousness; and against it, on the subjective side, the waves of
science beat in vain.
--John Tyndall
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Tyndall>
The Action of 1 August 1801 was a single ship action of the First
Barbary War fought between the American schooner USS Enterprise and the
Tripolitan polacca Tripoli off the coast of modern-day Libya. As part
of Commodore Richard Dale's Mediterranean Squadron, Enterprise had been
deployed with the American force blockading the Velayat of Tripoli.
Under the command of Lieutenant Andrew Sterett, Enterprise had been
sent to gather supplies at Malta. While cruising towards Malta,
Enterprise engaged the Tripoli, commanded by Admiral Rais Mahomet Rous.
Tripoli put up a stubborn fight and the engagement lasted for three
hours before the polacca was finally captured. Although the Americans
had taken the vessel, Sterett had no orders to take prizes and so was
obliged to release her. Enterprise completed her journey to Malta, and
received honor and praise from the squadron's Commodore on her return
to the fleet. The success of the battle boosted morale in the United
States, since it was that country's first victory in the war against
the Tripolitans. The opposite occurred in Tripoli, where morale sank
heavily upon learning of Tripoli's defeat. Despite Enterprise's
triumph, the war continued indecisively for another four years.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_1_August_1801>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1774:
British scientist Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen gas,
corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish
chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/oxygen>
1798:
French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile started between a
British fleet commanded by Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson and a French
fleet under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Nile>
1907:
Robert Baden-Powell held the first scout camp at Brownsea Island in
Dorset, England, beginning the Scouting movement.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsea_Island_Scout_camp>
1944:
World War II: The Polish Home Army began the Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw
against the Nazi occupation of Poland, a rebellion that lasted 63 days
until it was quelled by the Germans.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising>
1981:
The American cable television network MTV, the first dedicated
video-based outlet for music, made its debut with the music video for
the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
roil (v):
1. To render turbid by stirring up the dregs or sediment of.
2. To annoy; to make someone angry
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roil>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
In this world of lies, Truth is forced to fly like a sacred white doe
in the woodlands; and only by cunning glimpses will she reveal herself,
as in Shakespeare and other masters of the great Art of Telling the
Truth, — even though it be covertly, and by snatches.
--Herman Melville
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herman_Melville>