100px|Henry Wood
Henry Wood (1869–1944) was an English conductor best known for his
association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as
the Proms. Wood started his career as an organist. During his studies
at the Royal Academy of Music, he came under the influence of the voice
teacher Manuel Garcia and became his accompanist. After similar work
for Richard D'Oyly Carte's opera companies on the works of Arthur
Sullivan and others, Wood became the conductor of a small operatic
touring company. From the mid-1890s until his death, Wood focused on
concert conducting. He was engaged by the impresario Robert Newman to
conduct a series of promenade concerts at the Queen's Hall, offering a
mixture of classical and popular music at low prices. By the 1920s,
Wood had steered the repertoire entirely to classical music. In
addition to the Proms, he conducted concerts and festivals throughout
the country and also trained the student orchestra at the Royal Academy
of Music. He had an enormous influence on the musical life of Britain
over his long career: he and Newman greatly improved access to
classical music, and Wood raised the standard of orchestral playing and
nurtured the taste of the public, presenting a vast repertoire of music
spanning four centuries. (more...)
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– Alexandre Banza
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1096:
The Seljuk forces of Kilij Arslan destroyed the army of the People's
Crusade as it marched toward Nicaea.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Crusade>
1520:
The islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon were discovered by Portuguese
explorer João Álvares Fagundes, who named them "Islands of the 11,000
Virgins".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon>
1805:
Napoleonic Wars: Lord Nelson signalled "England expects that every man
will do his duty" to the rest of his Royal Navy forces before they
defeated Pierre-Charles Villeneuve and his combined French and Spanish
navy at the Battle of Trafalgar off the coast of Spain's Cape
Trafalgar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_expects_that_every_man_will_do_his_duty>
1959:
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum , designed by American architect Frank
Lloyd Wright, opened in New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_R._Guggenheim_Museum>
1978:
After reporting contact with an unidentified aircraft, Frederick
Valentich disappeared in unexplained circumstances while piloting a
Cessna 182L light aircraft over the Bass Strait to King Island,
Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentich_disappearance>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gleek (v):
1. (archaic) To jest, ridicule, or mock; to make sport of.
2. (informal) To discharge a thin stream of liquid through the teeth
or from under the tongue
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gleek>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If we must all agree, all work together, we're no better than a
machine. If an individual can't work in solidarity with his fellows,
it's his duty to work alone. His duty and his right. We have been
denying people that right. We've been saying, more and more often, you
must work with the others, you must accept the rule of the majority.
But any rule is tyranny. The duty of the individual is to accept no
rule, to be the initiator of his own acts, to be responsible. Only if
he does so will the society live, and change, and adapt, and survive.
We are not subjects of a State founded upon law, but members of a
society founded upon revolution. Revolution is our obligation: our hope
of evolution.
--Ursula K. Le Guin
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin>
120px|The Royal National College for the Blind
The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) is a co-educational
residential college of further education based in the English city of
Hereford. Students who attend the college are blind or partially
sighted. Alongside regular further education subjects and vocational
training, the college offers training in independent living and
personal development. Founded in 1871 in London as The Royal Normal
College and Academy for the Blind, the college had a number of homes
before moving to its campus in Hereford, and was renamed Royal National
College for the Blind in the late 1970s. It has been a pioneer in the
education of visually impaired people in Britain since the Victorian
era, and, as of 2010, is the only college for visually impaired
students in the United Kingdom to have been awarded Beacon Status in
recognition of its outstanding teaching and learning. The college is
actively involved in the development of assistive technology to help
visually impaired people in their day to day lives. The campus, located
on College Road, Hereford, is home to RNC's teaching, residential and
leisure facilities. Students live in halls of residence or on-campus
houses which enable them to gain a level of independence within the
college environment. (more...)
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
John Jay was sworn in as the first Chief Justice of the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jay>
1914:
World War I: Allied forces engaged German troops in the First Battle of
Ypres.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Ypres>
1950:
The Chinese Army captured the town of Qamdo as part of China's plan to
take control of Tibet.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chamdo>
1987:
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22.6% on Black Monday, at the
time one of the largest one-day percentage declines in stock market
history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday_%281987%29>
2004:
Irish aid worker Margaret Hassan was abducted in Baghdad by
unidentified kidnappers, who murdered her about four weeks later.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hassan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
insensate (adj):
1. Having no sensation or consciousness; unconscious; inanimate.
2. Senseless; foolish; irrational.
3. Unfeeling, heartless, cruel,
insensitive.
4. (medicine, physiology) Not responsive to sensory stimuli
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/insensate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The cycle of the machine is now coming to an end. Man has learned much
in the hard discipline and the shrewd, unflinching grasp of practical
possibilities that the machine has provided in the last three
centuries: but we can no more continue to live in the world of the
machine than we could live successfully on the barren surface of the
moon.
--Lewis Mumford
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lewis_Mumford>
Alexandre Banza (1932–1969) was a Central African military officer and
politician. As commander of the Camp Kassaï military base in 1965,
Banza helped Jean-Bédel Bokassa overthrow the government of President
David Dacko. Bokassa rewarded Banza by appointing him as minister of
state and minister of finance in the new government. In 1967, Bokassa
and his protégé had a major argument over the president's excessive
extravagances. In April 1968, Bokassa removed Banza as minister of
finance. Recognizing Bokassa's attempts to undermine him, Banza made a
number of remarks highly critical of the president's handling of the
government. Bokassa responded by abolishing the minister of state
position. Banza soon decided to stage a coup d'état. One of his
confidants, Jean-Claude Mandaba, contacted the president and informed
him of the date of the coup, 9 April 1969. Hours before he was going to
execute his bid for power, Banza was ambushed by Mandaba and taken
directly to Bokassa. Bokassa nearly beat Banza to death before Mandaba
suggested that Banza be put on trial for appearance's sake. On 12
April, Banza presented his case to a military tribunal, which quickly
sentenced him to death by firing squad. He was reportedly taken to an
open field, where he was executed and buried in an unmarked grave.
(more...)
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1386:
A special Pontifical High Mass in the Church of the Holy Spirit
commemorated the opening of the doors of Heidelberg University.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg_University>
1775:
American Civil War: In an act of retaliation against ports that
supported Patriot activities in the early stages of the war, the Royal
Navy destroyed what is now Portland, Maine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Falmouth>
1967:
The Soviet space probe Venera 4 performed in-place analysis of the
environment of Venus and became the first spacecraft to land on another
planet, although it stopped working before that.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_4>
1968:
At the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, American Bob Beamon set a world
record of 8.90 m in the long jump, a mark that stood for 23 years.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Beamon>
1991:
The Supreme Council of Azerbaijan adopted a declaration of independence
from the Soviet Union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
stipulate (adj):
(botany; not comparable) Having stipules; that is, having outgrowths
borne on either side of the base of the leafstalk
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stipulate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
To produce a mighty book, you must choose a mighty theme. No great and
enduring volume can ever be written on the flea, though many there be
who have tried it.
--Herman Melville
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herman_Melville>
75px|Crown Fountain
Crown Fountain is an interactive work of public art and video
sculpture featured in Chicago's Millennium Park. Designed by Catalan
artist Jaume Plensa and executed by Krueck and Sexton Architects, it
opened in July 2004. The fountain is composed of a black granite
reflecting pool placed between a pair of glass brick towers. The towers
are 50 feet (15.2 m) tall, and they use light-emitting diodes to
display digital videos on their inward faces. Weather permitting, the
water operates from May to October, intermittently cascading down the
two towers and spouting through a nozzle on each tower's front face.
The fountain highlights Plensa's themes of dualism, light, and water,
extending the use of video technology from his prior works. Crown
Fountain has been the most controversial of all the Millennium Park
features. Before it was even built, some were concerned that the
sculpture's height violated the aesthetic tradition of the park. The
fountain has survived its somewhat contentious beginnings to find its
way into Chicago pop culture. It is a popular subject for photographers
and a common gathering place. The fountain is a public play area and
offers people an escape from summer heat, allowing children to frolic
in the fountain's water. (more...)
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"Mother and Child Reunion"
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Fountain>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1931:
American gangster Al Capone was convicted on five counts of income tax
evasion.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Capone>
1956:
Queen Elizabeth II opened the world's first commercial nuclear power
plant at Sellafield in Cumbria, England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sellafield>
1964:
Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies opened the artificial Lake
Burley Griffin in the middle of the capital Canberra.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Burley_Griffin>
1989:
A 6.9 Mw earthquake struck California's San Francisco Bay Area, killing
63 people, injuring 3,757, and leaving at least 8,000 homeless.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake>
2010:
Mary MacKillop was canonised to become the only Australian to be
recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_MacKillop>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
effusive (adj):
1. Gushy; unrestrained, extravagant or excessive (in emotional
expression).
2. (archaic) Pouring, spilling out freely; overflowing.
3. (of igneous
rock) Extrusive; having solidified after being poured out as molten
lava
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/effusive>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The law of cases of necessity is not likely to be well furnished with
precise rules; necessity creates the law, it supersedes rules; and
whatever is reasonable and just in such cases, is likewise legal; it is
not to be considered as matter of surprise, therefore, if much
instituted rule is not to be found on such subjects.
--William Scott, 1st Baron Stowell
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Scott%2C_1st_Baron_Stowell>
100px|Hermann Detzner
Hermann Detzner (1882–1970) was an officer in the German colonial
security force in Kamerun and German New Guinea, as well as a surveyor,
an engineer, an adventurer, and a writer. In early 1914, the German
government sent Detzner to explore and chart the interior of
Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the imperial protectorate on the island of New
Guinea. When World War I broke out in Europe, he was well into the
interior, without radio contact. He refused to surrender to Australian
troops when they occupied German New Guinea, concealing himself in the
jungle with a band of approximately 20 soldiers. For four years,
Detzner and his troops provocatively marched through the bush. He
explored areas of the Guinean interior formerly unseen by Europeans and
surrendered in full dress uniform, flying the Imperial flag, to
Australian forces in January 1919. He wrote a book about his adventures
that achieved notoriety in Great Britain and Germany, entered three
printings, and was translated into French, English, Finnish and
Swedish. He received a position in the Imperial Colonial Archives, and
appeared frequently on the lecture circuit throughout the 1920s. In the
late 1920s, scientific portions of his book were discredited. In 1932,
he admitted that he had mixed fact and fiction and, after that time,
eschewed public life. (more...)
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Reunion" – "Indian Camp"
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Detzner>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
Marie Antoinette, queen consort of Louis XVII, was guillotined at the
Place de la Révolution in Paris at the height of the French Revolution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette>
1834:
Most of the Palace of Westminster in London was destroyed in a fire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Parliament>
1916:
Margaret Sanger established the United States' first family planning
clinic in Brooklyn, New York.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Sanger>
1934:
Long March: Surrounded by Kuomintang troops, Zhou Enlai, Bo Gu, and
Otto Braun led a breakout of 130,000 Red Army soldiers and civilians
from Jiangxi.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March>
1986:
Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner made his ascent of Lhotse, making
him the first person to climb all fourteen "eight-thousanders".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhold_Messner>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
nigh (v):
To draw nigh (to); to approach; to come near: nighing his hour, death
is nighing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nigh>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The liberties of none are safe unless the liberties of all are
protected.
--William O. Douglas
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_O._Douglas>
120px|The aftermath of the 1964 Brinks Hotel bombing
The Brinks Hotel bombing in Saigon occurred on December 24, 1964,
during the Vietnam War. Two Vietcong operatives detonated a car bomb
underneath the hotel, which housed United States Army officers. The
explosion killed two Americans, an officer and a non-commissioned
officer, and injured approximately 60, including military personnel and
Vietnamese civilians. The Vietcong commanders had planned the venture
with two objectives in mind. Firstly, by attacking an American
installation in the center of the heavily guarded capital, the Vietcong
intended to demonstrate their ability to strike in South Vietnam should
the United States decide to launch air raids against North Vietnam.
Secondly, it demonstrated to the South Vietnamese that the Americans
were vulnerable and could not be relied upon for protection. The
bombing prompted debate within the administration of United States
President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Most of his advisers favored
retaliatory bombing of North Vietnam and the introduction of American
combat troops, while Johnson preferred the existing strategy of
training the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to protect South Vietnam
from the Vietcong. In the end, Johnson prevailed and no retaliatory
action was taken. (more...)
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Marojejy National Park
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1529:
The Siege of Vienna ended as the Austrians routed the invading Turks,
turning the tide against almost a century of unchecked conquest
throughout eastern and central Europe by the Ottoman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Vienna>
1917:
Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari was executed by a firing squad for
spying for Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari>
1951:
Mexican chemist Luis E. Miramontes conducted the very last step of the
first synthesis of norethisterone, the progestin that would later be
used in one of the first two oral contraceptives.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_E._Miramontes>
1966:
The Black Panther Party, a Marxist/Maoist African American organization
that promoted Black Power and self-defense in the United States, was
founded in Oakland, California.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party>
2003:
Chinese space program: Shenzhou 5, China's first manned space mission,
was launched, carrying astronaut Yang Liwei.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
moose (n):
1. (US) The largest member of the deer family (Alces alces), of which
the male has very large, palmate antlers.
2. The plural form of moose: two moose are standing next to that tree
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When the modern corporation acquires power over markets, power in the
community, power over the state and power over belief, it is a
political instrument, different in degree but not in kind from the
state itself. To hold otherwise — to deny the political character of
the modern corporation — is not merely to avoid the reality. It is to
disguise the reality. The victims of that disguise are the students who
instruct in error. Let there be no question: economics, so long as it
is thus taught, becomes, however unconsciously, a part of the
arrangement by which the citizen or student is kept from seeing how he
or she is, or will be, governed.
--John Kenneth Galbraith
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith>
90px|Stefan Brogren
"Mother and Child Reunion" is the two-part pilot episode of the
Canadian teen drama television series Degrassi: The Next Generation,
which premiered on 14 October 2001 on the CTV Television Network. As
with the majority of Degrassi: The Next Generation episodes, "Mother
and Child Reunion" takes its title from a pop song, in this case, Paul
Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion". Degrassi: The Next Generation is
the fourth series in the fictional Degrassi universe created in 1979.
The episode reunited some of the previous characters in a ten-year high
school reunion (Stefan Brogren pictured), while also introducing a new
generation of Degrassi students. The main plot centres around Emma
Nelson, born during the preceding series Degrassi High, who is invited
to a hotel by an internet stalker, posing as a teenage boy. The episode
received mixed reviews from the mass media, and was nominated for two
Gemini Awards and two Directors Guild of Canada Awards. (more...)
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1888:
French inventor Louis Le Prince filmed Roundhay Garden Scene, the
earliest surviving motion picture, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire,
England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Le_Prince>
1912:
John Benjamin Murphy treated former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
after the latter was shot in an assassination attempt, having delivered
a speech with the bullet still in him.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Benjamin_Murphy>
1926:
The first book featuring English author A. A. Milne's fictional bear
Winnie-the-Pooh was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh>
1956:
B. R. Ambedkar, a leader of India's "Untouchable" caste, publicly
converted to Buddhism, becoming the leader of the Dalit Buddhist
movement.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalit_Buddhist_movement>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
swag (n):
1. A burglar's or thief's booty, plunder.
2. Handouts, freebies, or giveaways, such as those handed out at
conventions.
3. (Australian, New Zealand) A large quantity (of something): he
wasted a swag of chances.
4. (slang) Style; a fashionable appearance or manner.
5. A low point
or depression in land; especially, a place where water collects
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swag>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long
entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire
proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose. We must be
willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept whatever sacrifices
may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its
principles soon loses both.
--Dwight D. Eisenhower
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower>
100px|Ernest Hemingway's 1923 passport photo taken a year before the
publication of "Indian Camp"
"Indian Camp" is a short story written by Ernest Hemingway
(pictured). The story was first published in 1924 in Ford Madox Ford's
literary magazine Transatlantic Review in Paris and republished by Boni
& Liveright in 1925 in the American edition of Hemingway's first volume
of short stories In Our Time. The first of Hemingway's stories to
feature the semi-autobiographical character Nick Adams—a child in this
story—"Indian Camp" is told from his point-of-view. In the story, Nick
Adams' father, a country doctor, has been summoned to an Indian camp to
deliver a baby. At the camp, the father is forced to perform an
emergency caesarean section using a jack-knife, with Nick as his
assistant. Afterward, the woman's husband is discovered dead, having
fatally slit his throat during the operation. The story is important
because it shows the emergence of Hemingway's understated style and use
of counterpoint. An initiation story, "Indian Camp" includes themes
such as childbirth and fear of death, which permeate much of
Hemingway's subsequent work. When the story was published, the quality
of writing was noted and praised; scholars consider "Indian Camp" an
important story in the Hemingway canon. (more...)
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– Fridtjof Nansen
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1710:
Queen Anne's War: The French surrender ending the Siege of Port Royal
gave the British permanent possession of Nova Scotia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Port_Royal_%281710%29>
1773:
French astronomer Charles Messier discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy, an
interacting, grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of
approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes
Venatici.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whirlpool_Galaxy>
1843:
B'nai B'rith, the oldest continually operating Jewish service
organization in the world, was founded in New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%27nai_B%27rith>
1917:
An estimated 100,000 people in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima,
Portugal, witnessed the "Miracle of the Sun".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_Sun>
2010:
A live television audience of over 1 billion viewers watched as
33 miners were rescued following a cave-in at the San José Mine in the
Atacama Desert of Chile.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Copiap%C3%B3_mining_accident>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
perfidious (adj):
Disloyal to that which one should be loyal to; showing or representing
perfidy
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perfidious>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In every civilization, however generally prosaic, however addicted to
the short-time point of view on human affairs, there are always certain
alien spirits who, while outwardly conforming to the requirements of
the civilization around them, still keep a disinterested regard for the
plain intelligible law of things, irrespective of any practical end.
They have an intellectual curiosity, sometimes touched with emotion,
concerning the august order of nature; they are impressed by the
contemplation of it, and like to know as much about it as they can,
even in circumstances where its operation is ever so manifestly
unfavourable to their best hopes and wishes.
--Albert Jay Nock
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Jay_Nock>
120px|Marojejy Massif and the surrounding forests
Marojejy National Park is a national park in the SAVA Region of
northeastern Madagascar. It covers 55,500 ha (214 sq mi) and is
centered around the Marojejy Massif, a mountain chain which rises to an
elevation of 2,132 m (6,995 ft). Access to the area around the massif
was restricted to only research scientists when the site was set aside
as a strict nature reserve in 1952. In 1998, it was opened to the
public when it was converted into a national park. It became part of
the World Heritage Site known as the Rainforests of the Atsinanana in
2007. The wide range of elevations and rugged topology of the massif
create diverse habitats that transition quickly with changes in
altitude. Warm, dense rainforest can be found at lower elevations,
followed by shorter forests at higher elevations, followed still by
cloud forest, and topped near the peaks with the only remaining
undisturbed mountain scrub in Madagascar. Better growing conditions for
plants can be found on the eastern side of the mountain, which receives
more rain than the western side. This habitat diversity lends itself to
high levels of biodiversity. At least 118 species of bird, 148 species
of reptile and amphibian, and 11 species of lemur are known to occur
within Marojejy National Park. (more...)
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1492:
Believing he had reached India, Christopher Columbus made landfall on
San Salvador Island in the Caribbean, sparking a series of events that
led to the European colonization of the Americas.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus>
1964:
The Soviet Voskhod 1 mission became the first multi-person space flight
as well as the first without spacesuits.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_1>
1988:
Sri Lankan Civil War: Indian troops mounted a failed assault on Jaffna
University, which served as the Tamil Tigers' military headquarters.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffna_University_Helidrop>
1999:
Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf led a military coup against the
government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_Pakistani_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat>
2002:
A series of bombs planted by Islamist militant group Jemaah Islamiyah
exploded in Bali, Indonesia, killing 202 people and injuring 209
others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
jawan (n):
(India) An (Indian) infantryman; a soldier
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jawan>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I admit that my visions can never mean to other men as much as they do
to me. I do not regret this. All I ask is that my results should
convince seekers after truth that there is beyond doubt something worth
while seeking, attainable by methods more or less like mine. I do not
want to father a flock, to be the fetish of fools and fanatics, or the
founder of a faith whose followers are content to echo my opinions. I
want each man to cut his own way through the jungle.
--Aleister Crowley
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley>
120px|The Battle of Valcour Island
The naval Battle of Valcour Island took place on October 11, 1776, on
Lake Champlain. The battle is generally regarded as one of the first
naval battles of the American Revolutionary War, and one of the first
fought by the United States Navy. The Continental Army had retreated
from Quebec to Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point in June 1776 after
British forces were massively reinforced. They spent the summer of 1776
fortifying those forts, and building additional ships to augment the
small American fleet already on the lake. British General Guy Carleton
had a 9,000-man army at Fort Saint-Jean, but needed to build a fleet to
carry it on the lake. By early October, the British fleet, which
significantly outgunned the American fleet, was ready for launch. On
October 11, Arnold drew the British fleet to the strait between Valcour
Island and the western shore, a position he had carefully chosen to
limit British advantages. In the battle that followed, many of the
American ships were damaged or destroyed. That night, Arnold snuck the
American fleet past the British one, beginning a retreat toward Crown
Point and Ticonderoga. Unfavorable weather hampered the American
retreat, and more of the fleet was either captured or grounded and
burned before it could reach Crown Point. Upon reaching Crown Point
Arnold had the fort's buildings burned and retreated to Ticonderoga.
(more...)
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Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Valcour_Island>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1531:
Huldrych Zwingli, a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, was
killed in battle in the Second War of Kappel.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huldrych_Zwingli>
1634:
A storm tide on the coast of North Frisia caused a massive flood that
killed at least 8,000 people and split the island of Strand into three
smaller islands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burchardi_flood>
1852:
The University of Sydney , Australia's oldest university, was
inaugurated in Sydney two years after the New South Wales Legislative
Council established it with the passage of the University of Sydney
Act.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Sydney>
1941:
Armed insurgents from the People's Liberation Army of Macedonia
attacked Axis occupied zones in the city of Prilep, beginning the
National Liberation War of Macedonia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Liberation_War_of_Macedonia>
1942:
World War II: At the Battle of Cape Esperance on the northwest coast of
Guadalcanal, American ships intercepted and defeated a Japanese fleet
on their way to reinforce troops on the island.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cape_Esperance>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
microcosm (n):
1. A smaller system which is representative of or analogous to a larger
one.
2. (archaic) A small, complete world
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/microcosm>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do what you feel in your heart to be right — for you'll be criticized
anyway. You'll be "damned if you do, and damned if you don't."
--Eleanor Roosevelt
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Roosevelt>