The fossa is a cat-like, carnivorous mammal that is endemic to
Madagascar. It is a member of the Eupleridae, a family of carnivorans
closely related to the mongoose family. Its classification has been
controversial because its physical traits resemble those of cats, yet
other traits suggest a close relationship with viverrids. The fossa is
the largest mammalian carnivore on the island of Madagascar and has
been compared to a small cougar. Adults have a head-body length of
70–80 cm (28–31 in) and weigh between 5.5–8.6 kg (12–19 lb), with the
males larger than the females. It has semi-retractable claws and
flexible ankles that allow it to climb up and down trees head-first,
and also support jumping from tree-to-tree. The fossa is unique within
its family for the shape of its genitalia, which share traits with
those of cats and hyenas. The species is widespread, although
population densities are usually low. It is found solely in forested
habitat, and actively hunts both day and night. Over 50% of its diet
consists of lemurs, the endemic primates found on the island, though
tenrecs, rodents, lizards, birds, and other animals are also documented
as prey. The fossa is listed as "Vulnerable" by the International Union
for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The greatest threat to the species
is habitat destruction.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossa_%28animal%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1803:
The United States purchased France's claim to the Louisiana Territory
for 78 million francs, or less than US$0.03 per acre.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase>
1945:
World War II: As Allied forces were closing in on Berlin, Adolf Hitler
and Eva Braun committed suicide in the Führerbunker after being married
for one day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler>
1963:
A boycott was held in Bristol to protest the Bristol Omnibus Company's
refusal to employ Black or Asian bus crews, drawing national attention
to racial discrimination in the United Kingdom.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Bus_Boycott%2C_1963>
1980:
Iranian Arab separatists captured the Iranian Embassy in London,
beginning a six-day siege.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_Siege>
2009:
A Dutch man drove his car at high speed into a parade in an attempt to
kill the Dutch royal family.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_attack_on_the_Dutch_Royal_Family>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
palustral (adj):
Pertaining to marshes; marshy, swampy
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/palustral>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
144px
The god of war has gone over to the other side.
--Adolf Hitler
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler>
Navenby is a village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England. Lying
8.7 miles (14 km) south of Lincoln and 8.9 miles (14 km)
north-northwest of Sleaford, Navenby has a population of 1,666 and is a
dormitory village for Lincoln. It forms part of the North Kesteven
local government district. A Bronze Age cemetery has been discovered in
the village, as well as the remains of an Iron Age settlement.
Historians also believe Navenby was a significant staging point on the
Roman Ermine Street, as the Romans are reported to have maintained a
small base or garrison in the village. Navenby became a market town
after receiving a charter from Edward the Confessor in the 11th
century. The charter was later renewed by William Rufus, Edward III and
Richard II. When the market fell into disuse in the early 19th century,
Navenby returned to being a village. The civil parish of Navenby is
rural, covering more than 2,100 acres (8.5 km2). It straddles Ermine
Street, a Roman road built between 45 and 75 AD, which runs between
London and York. The Viking Way, a 147-mile (237 km) footpath between
the Humber Bridge in North Lincolnshire and Oakham in Rutland, also
cuts through the village. Among the buildings of note in Navenby is Mrs
Smith's Cottage, a mid-19th century Grade II listed building made from
early Victorian red bricks which is now run as a museum.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navenby>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1587:
Anglo-Spanish War: In the Bay of Cádiz, Francis Drake led the first of
several naval raids on the Spanish Armada that destroyed so many ships
that Philip II of Spain had to delay his plans to invade England for
over a year.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singeing_the_King_of_Spain%27s_Beard>
1909:
The Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the People's Budget, the
first budget in British history with the expressed intent of
redistributing wealth among the British public.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Budget>
1945:
The Holocaust: The Seventh U.S. Army liberated Dachau, the first Nazi
concentration camp, and allegedly wounded and killed German prisoners
of war.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp>
1946:
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened and
indicted Hideki Tojo and 27 other Japanese leaders for war crimes.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Military_Tribunal_for_the_Far_Ea…>
1997:
The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention went into effect, outlawing the
production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons in those countries
that ratified the arms control agreement.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Weapons_Convention>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hymeneal (adj):
Pertaining to marriage or a wedding; nuptial, matrimonial
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hymeneal>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Night has fallen and the barbarians haven't come.
And some of our men who have just returned from the border say
there
are no barbarians any longer.
Now what's going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were
a kind of solution.
--Constantine P. Cavafy
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Constantine_P._Cavafy>
"Soprano Home Movies" is the thirteenth episode of the sixth season of
the HBO television drama series The Sopranos and seventy-eighth episode
overall. It served as the midseason premiere to the second part of the
show's sixth season, the broadcast of which was split into two. It was
written by supervising producers Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider,
series creator/executive producer David Chase and executive producer
Matthew Weiner; it was directed by frequent series director Tim Van
Patten. The episode first aired in the United States on April 8, 2007.
"Soprano Home Movies", which is set eight months after the preceding
episode, details a weekend that series protagonist Tony Soprano (James
Gandolfini) and his wife Carmela (Edie Falco) spend with his sister
Janice (Aida Turturro) and brother-in-law Bobby (Steve Schirripa) at a
lakefront vacation home in upstate New York and the complications that
arise during this weekend. The episode garnered a number of award
nominations and was the episode submitted to Emmy Award voters to
represent the season, leading to a nomination for Outstanding Drama
Series, an award the show subsequently won.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soprano_Home_Movies>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1887:
A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, Alsatian
police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé was released on order of German
Emperor William I, defusing a possible war.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillaume_Schnaebel%C3%A9>
1949:
Former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, her daughter, and
ten bystanders were assassinated by the military arm of the Communist
Party of the Philippines.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_Quezon>
1952:
Japan and the Republic of China signed the Treaty of Taipei to
officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War, seven years after fighting
in that conflict ended due to the Chinese Civil War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Japanese_Peace_Treaty>
1975:
Chief of the South Vietnamese army Cao Van Vien fled the country as the
North Vietnamese closed in on Saigon.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cao_Van_Vien>
1994:
Former CIA counter-intelligence officer and analyst Aldrich Ames
pleaded guilty to giving U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and later
Russia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrich_Ames>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
vila (n):
A type of fairy or nymph in Slavic mythology
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/vila>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can
build a better world for people. Otherwise it's just a cage.
--Terry Pratchett
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett>
Herschel Greer Stadium is a minor league baseball park in Nashville,
Tennessee, approximately two miles (3 km) south of downtown. Opened in
1978, the stadium was named for Herschel Lynn Greer, a prominent
Nashville businessman and the first president of the Nashville Vols
minor league baseball team. It is home to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds
of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and can seat 10,300 people. It has
been the site of three minor league all-star games, eight no-hit games,
including one perfect game, and a 24-inning game which tied the record
for the longest game in PCL history. In 1993 and 1994, it also served
as the home ballpark for the Double-A Southern League's Nashville
Xpress. Greer is one of the oldest stadiums used by a Triple-A team,
and it now falls well below professional baseball's standards for a
stadium at that class level. It has been the subject of numerous
upgrades and repairs to keep it functioning long enough for the Sounds
to secure a deal for a new ballpark.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Greer_Stadium>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
U.S. Army soldiers cornered and fatally shot John Wilkes Booth , the
assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, in rural northern Virginia,
ending a twelve-day manhunt.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth>
1944:
U.S. Navy submarines began attacks on Japan's Take Ichi convoy as it
sailed in waters between Taiwan and the Philippines, eventually sinking
four vessels and killing over 4,000 troops.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Ichi_convoy>
1956:
The SS Ideal X, the world's first container ship, set sail from Port
Newark in New Jersey, beginning the international standardization of
shipping containers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/container_ship>
1989:
An editorial was published in the People's Daily denouncing the recent
unrest in Tiananmen Square, which would remain contentious through the
remainder of the protests.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Daily_editorial_of_April_26>
2002:
Expelled student Robert Steinhäuser murdered 16 people and wounded
seven others before committing suicide at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium
Erfurt in Erfurt, Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
xiphias (n):
The swordfish
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/xiphias>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy
the sunshine.
--Morris West
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Morris_West>
USS Siboney was a transport ship for the United States Navy during
World War I. She was the sister ship of USS Orizaba (ID-1536) but
neither was part of a ship class. Launched as SS Oriente, she was soon
renamed after Siboney, Cuba, a landing site of United States forces
during the Spanish-American War. After her Navy service ended, she was
SS Siboney for the Ward Line and American Export Lines. During World
War II she served the U.S. Army as transport and as a hospital ship.
After the end of her Army service, the ship was laid up in the National
Defense Reserve Fleet in February 1948, and sold for scrapping in 1957.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Siboney_%28ID-2999%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1644:
The Ming Dynasty of China fell when the Chongzhen Emperor committed
suicide during a peasant rebellion led by Li Zicheng.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty>
1792:
The guillotine was first used to carry out capital punishment in
France, with crowds marvelling at the machine's speed and precision.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/guillotine>
1845:
Rioters burned down the building housing the Parliament of the Province
of Canada while the members of the Legislative Assembly were sitting in
session.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_the_Parliament_Buildings_in_Montreal>
1920:
At the San Remo conference, the principal Allied Powers of World War I
decided upon the League of Nations mandates for administration of the
former Ottoman-ruled lands of the Middle East.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Remo_conference>
1960:
The U.S. Navy submarine USS Triton (SSRN-586) completed the first
submerged circumnavigation of the globe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Sandblast>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ramada (n):
A porch or arbour
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ramada>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is best to keep one’s own state intact; to crush the enemy’s state
is only second best.
--Sun Tzu
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sun_Tzu>
Mellitus was the first Bishop of London, the third Archbishop of
Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to
convert the Anglo-Saxons. He arrived in 601 AD, and was consecrated as
Bishop of London in 604. Pope Gregory I sent Mellitus a letter now
known as the Epistola ad Mellitum, which suggested the conversion of
the Anglo-Saxons be undertaken gradually and integrate pagan rituals
and customs. Following the deaths of his patrons, King Sæberht of Essex
and King Æthelberht of Kent, Mellitus was exiled from London and forced
to take refuge in Gaul. Æthelberht's successor converted to
Christianity the following year, and Mellitus returned to England.
Unable to return to the pagan inhabitants of London, he was appointed
Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. During his tenure, he was alleged to
have miraculously saved the cathedral, and much of the town of
Canterbury, from a fire. After his death in 624, Mellitus was revered
as a saint.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellitus>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1479 BC:
Thutmose III became the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of
Egypt according to the official chronology, although during the first
22 years of the reign he was co-regent with his aunt, Hatshepsut.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_III>
1877:
Unable to resolve a series of disputes over the Balkans in the
aftermath of the 1876 Bulgarian April Uprising, Russia declared war on
the Ottoman Empire, starting the Russo-Turkish War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Turkish_War_%281877%E2%80%931878%29>
1915:
The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire began with the arrest and
deportation of hundreds of prominent Armenians in Constantinople.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide>
1916:
Irish republicans led by teacher and political activist Patrick Pearse
began the Easter Rising, a rebellion against British rule in Ireland,
and proclaimed the Irish Republic an independent state.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Irish_Republic>
1961:
The Swedish warship Vasa of 1628 was salvaged with a largely intact
hull in Stockholm.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_%28ship%29>
1967:
The Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 1 crashed in Siberia during its return to
Earth, killing cosmonaut Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov, the first
in-flight fatality in the history of spaceflight.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Mikhaylovich_Komarov>
1993:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a truck bomb in
London's financial district in Bishopsgate, killing one person,
injuring 44 others and causing £1 billion in damages.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Bishopsgate_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
multiculturalism (n):
The characteristics of a society, city etc. which has many different
ethnic or national cultures mingling freely; political or social
policies which support or encourage such coexistence
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/multiculturalism>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
One need not hope in order to undertake, nor succeed in order to
persevere.
--William the Silent
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_the_Silent>
The Shakespeare authorship question is the argument that someone other
than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works
traditionally attributed to him. Proponents (called
"anti-Stratfordians") say that Shakespeare was a front to shield the
identity of the real author or authors, who for some reason did not
want or could not accept public credit. Although the idea has attracted
much public interest, all but a few Shakespeare scholars and literary
historians consider it a fringe belief, and for the most part disregard
it except to rebut or disparage the claims. Despite the scholarly
consensus, the controversy has spawned a vast body of literature, and
more than 70 authorship candidates have been proposed, including
Francis Bacon, the 6th Earl of Derby, Christopher Marlowe, and the 17th
Earl of Oxford. In 2010 James S. Shapiro surveyed the topic in
Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?, in which he criticised academia
for ignoring the issue and effectively surrendering the field to
anti-Stratfordians, marking the first time a recognised Shakespeare
scholar has devoted a book to the topic. Filmmaker Roland Emmerich's
next movie, Anonymous, starring Rhys Ifans and Vanessa Redgrave,
portrays Oxford as the real author.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_authorship_question>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1348:
The first-ever appointments of the Order of the Garter, an order of
chivalry, founded by King Edward III of England, that is presently
bestowed on recipients in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth
realms, were announced.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter>
1661:
Charles II was crowned King of England, Ireland, and Scotland at
Westminster Abbey.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1942:
World War II: In retaliation for the Royal Air Force bombing of Lübeck
several weeks prior, the Luftwaffe began a series of bombing raids in
England, starting with Exeter.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baedeker_Blitz>
1961:
In the midst of the Algerian War, President Charles de Gaulle delivered
a televised speech calling on the military personnel and civilians of
France to oppose the Algiers putsch, a coup d'état attempt against him.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers_putsch_of_1961>
2010:
Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer signed the controversial anti-illegal
immigration bill SB 1070 into law.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_SB_1070>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
fuliginous (adj):
Pertaining to soot; sooty
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fuliginous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and
making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually
die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.
--Max Planck
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Max_Planck>
Nafaanra is a Senufo language spoken in northwest Ghana, along the
border with Côte d'Ivoire, east of Bondouko. It is spoken by
approximately 61,000 people who call themselves Nafana; others call
them Banda or Mfantera. Like other Senufo languages, Nafaanra is a
tonal language with three distinct tones. It is somewhat of an outlier
in the Senufo language group, with the geographically closest
relatives, the Southern Senufo Tagwana-Djimini languages, approximately
200 kilometres (120 mi) to the west, on the other side of Comoé
National Park. The basic word order is Subject Object Verb, similar to
Latin and Japanese. Like other Niger-Congo languages it has a noun
class system where nouns are classified according to five different
genders, which also affects pronouns, adjectives and copulas. The
phonology features a distinction between the length of vowels and
whether they are oral or nasal (as in French or Portuguese). Nafaanra
grammar features both tense and aspect which are marked with particles.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nafaanra>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1500:
Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral and his crew became the first
Europeans to sight Brazil when they spotted Monte Pascoal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_%C3%81lvares_Cabral>
1864:
The U.S. Congress passed the Coinage Act, authorizing the minting of a
two-cent coin, the first U.S. coin to bear the phrase "In God We
Trust".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_God_We_Trust>
1915:
The Germans released chlorine gas as a chemical weapon in the Second
Battle of Ypres, killing over 5,000 soldiers within ten minutes by
asphyxiation in the first large-scale successful use of poison gas in
World War I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_gas_in_World_War_I>
1951:
Korean War: The People's Volunteer Army of China attacked positions
occupied mainly by Australian and Canadian forces, starting the Battle
of Kapyong.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kapyong>
2000:
In a predawn raid, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents
seized six-year-old Elián González from his relatives' home in Miami,
Florida, and returned him to his Cuban father.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli%C3%A1n_Gonz%C3%A1lez_affair>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
apparatchik (n):
A blindly loyal bureaucrat
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/apparatchik>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We have lived by the assumption that what was good for us would be good
for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives, so that it
will be possible to live by the contrary assumption that what is good
for the world will be good for us. ... We must recover the sense of the
majesty of the creation and the ability to be worshipful in its
presence. For it is only on the condition of humility and reverence
before the world that our species will be able to remain in it.
--Wendell Berry
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wendell_Berry>
Royal Maundy is a religious service in the Church of England held on
Maundy Thursday, the day before Good Friday. At the service, the
British Monarch or a royal official ceremoniously distributes small
silver coins known as "Maundy money" as symbolic alms to elderly
recipients. The name "Maundy" and the ceremony itself derive from an
instruction, or mandatum, of Jesus at the Last Supper that his
followers should love one another. In the Middle Ages, English monarchs
washed the feet of beggars in imitation of Jesus, and presented gifts
and money to the poor. Over time, additional money was substituted for
the clothing and other items that had once been distributed; the custom
of washing the feet did not survive the 18th century. Today, Queen
Elizabeth II (pictured at the 2005 service) almost always attends, and
the service is held in a different church (usually a cathedral) every
year. Maundy money is struck in denominations of one penny, two pence,
three pence, and four pence. In most years there are fewer than 2,000
complete sets; they are highly sought after by collectors.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Maundy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
753 BC:
Romulus and Remus founded Rome, according to the calculations by Roman
scholar Varro Reatinus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus_and_Remus>
1509:
Henry VIII became King of England, following the death of his father
Henry VII, eventually becoming a significant figure in the history of
the English monarchy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England>
1863:
After the Ottoman Empire exiled him from Baghdad, Bahá'u'lláh, the
founder of the Bahá'í Faith, began his twelve-day stay in the Garden of
Ridván where he declared his mission as "He whom God shall make
manifest".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bah%C3%A1%27u%27ll%C3%A1h>
1960:
Brasília , a planned city primarily designed by architect and urban
planner Lúcio Costa, was officially inaugurated, replacing Rio de
Janeiro as the capital of Brazil.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bras%C3%ADlia>
1975:
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned as President of South Vietnam, and was
replaced by Tran Van Huong, as communist forces closed in on victory.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_V%C4%83n_Thi%E1%BB%87u>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
prelapsarian (adj):
Pertaining to the world before the Fall of Adam and Eve
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prelapsarian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We define religion as the assumption that life has meaning. Religion,
or lack of it, is shown not in some intellectual or verbal formulations
but in one's total orientation to life. Religion is whatever the
individual takes to be his ultimate concern. One's religious attitude
is to be found at that point where he has a conviction that there are
values in human existence worth living and dying for.
--Rollo May
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rollo_May>
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East
of England, with an estimated population of 164,000. Situated 75 miles
(121 km) north of London, the city stands on the River Nene. The local
topography is flat and low-lying, and in some places lies below sea
level. The area known as the Fens falls to the east of Peterborough.
Human settlement in the area dates back to before the Bronze Age, as
can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the
current city centre. This site also shows evidence of Roman occupation.
The Anglo-Saxon period saw the establishment of a monastery, then known
as Medeshamstede, which later became Peterborough Cathedral (pictured).
The population grew rapidly following the arrival of the railways in
the nineteenth century (the city is an important stop on the East Coast
Main Line railway) and Peterborough became an industrial centre,
particularly noted for its brick manufacture. Following the Second
World War, growth was limited until designation as a New Town in the
1960s. In common with much of the United Kingdom, industrial employment
has fallen, with new jobs tending to be in financial services and
distribution.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1535:
The appearance of sun dogs over Stockholm, Sweden, inspired the
painting Vädersolstavlan , the oldest colour depiction of the city.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V%C3%A4dersolstavlan>
1818:
Four days after the Court of King's Bench in England upheld a murder
suspect's right to trial by battle in Ashford v Thornton, the plaintiff
declined to fight, allowing the defendant to go free.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashford_v_Thornton>
1968:
British Member of Parliament Enoch Powell made his controversial
"Rivers of Blood" speech in opposition to immigration and
anti-discrimination legislation, resulting in his removal from the
Shadow Cabinet.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech>
1978:
Soviet fighters shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 902 after it violated
Soviet airspace.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_902>
2010:
An explosion on Deepwater Horizon, an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of
Mexico, caused the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history
of the petroleum industry.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepwater_Horizon_explosion>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
cute-hoorism (n):
(Ireland) Cynical self-interest
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cute-hoorism>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Schmendrick stepped out into the open and said a few words. They were
short words, undistinguished either by melody or harshness, and
Schmendrick himself could not hear them for the Red Bull's dreadful
bawling. But he knew what they meant, and he knew exactly how to say
them, and he knew that he could say them again when he wanted to, in
the same way or in a different way. Now he spoke them gently and with
joy, and as did so he felt his immortality fall from him like an
armour, or like a shroud.
--Peter S. Beagle
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_S._Beagle>