Alexander of Lincoln was a medieval English Bishop of Lincoln, a member
of an important administrative and ecclesiastical family. He was the
nephew of Roger of Salisbury, a Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of
England under King Henry I, and he was also related to Nigel, Bishop of
Ely. Unlike his relatives, he held no office in the government before
his appointment as Bishop of Lincoln in 1123. Alexander became a
frequent visitor to King Henry's court after his elevation to the
episcopate, often witnessing royal documents, and he served as a royal
justice in Lincolnshire. Although Alexander was known for his
ostentatious and luxurious lifestyle, he founded a number of religious
houses in his diocese and was an active builder and literary patron. He
also attended church councils and reorganized his diocese by increasing
the number of archdeaconries and setting up prebends to support his
cathedral clergy. Under Henry's successor, King Stephen, Alexander was
caught up in the fall from favour of his family, and was imprisoned
together with his uncle Roger in 1139. He subsequently briefly
supported Stephen's rival, Matilda, but by the late 1140s Alexander was
once again working with Stephen. He spent much of the late 1140s at the
papal court in Rome, but died in England in early 1148. Alexander was
the patron of medieval chroniclers Henry of Huntingdon and Geoffrey of
Monmouth, and also served as an ecclesiastical patron of the medieval
hermit Christina of Markyate and Gilbert of Sempringham, founder of the
Gilbertines.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_of_Lincoln>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1559:
During a jousting match, Gabriel Montgomery of the Garde Écossaise
mortally wounded King Henry II of France , piercing him in the eye with
his lance.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_II_of_France>
1860:
Seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of
Species, several prominent British scientists and philosophers
participated in an evolution debate at the Oxford University Museum in
Oxford, England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1860_Oxford_evolution_debate>
1971:
The Soviet Soyuz 11 spacecraft suffered an uncontrolled decompression
during reentry, killing cosmonauts Vladislav Volkov, Georgiy
Dobrovolskiy and Viktor Patsayev—the only human deaths to occur in
space.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_11>
1987:
The Royal Canadian Mint introduced the Canadian one-dollar coin,
commonly known as the Loonie.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loonie>
2007:
In an attempted terrorist attack, a car loaded with propane canisters
was driven into the terminal of Scotland's Glasgow International
Airport and set ablaze.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Glasgow_International_Airport_attack>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
aggiornamento (n):
A bringing up to date, modernisation; specifically, that carried out on
the Roman Catholic Church by the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aggiornamento>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Before the five senses were opened, and earlier than any beginning
They waited, ready, for all those who would call themselves mortals,
So that they might praise, as I do, life, that is, happiness.
--Czesław Miłosz
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Czes%C5%82aw_Mi%C5%82osz>
Theoren Fleury is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player for
the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers and Chicago
Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL), Tappara of the
SM-liiga, and the Belfast Giants of the Elite Ice Hockey League. One of
the smallest players of his generation, Fleury played a physical style
that often led to altercations; he was at the centre of the infamous
Punch-up in Piestany, a brawl that resulted in the disqualification of
Canada and the Soviet Union from the 1987 World Junior Ice Hockey
Championships. He was selected 166th overall by the Flames in the 1987
draft and played over 1,000 NHL games between 1989 and 2003. A
seven-time all-star, Fleury scored over 1,000 points in his NHL career
and won the Stanley Cup with the Flames in 1989. He twice represented
Canada at the Winter Olympics, winning a gold medal in 2002. He battled
drug and alcohol addictions throughout his career, and in his 2009
autobiography Playing with Fire made allegations that he had been
sexually abused by former coach Graham James. Since overcoming his
addictions, Fleury has become a businessman, played two professional
baseball games for the Calgary Vipers and embarked on a career as a
motivational speaker encouraging sexual abuse victims to speak out.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theoren_Fleury>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1149:
Second Crusade: An army led by Nur ad-Din Zangi destroyed the forces of
Antioch led by Prince Raymond in the Battle of Inab.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Inab>
1444:
Albanians led by Skanderbeg scored a resounding victory in their
rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Torvioll.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Torvioll>
1950:
In one of the greatest upsets in sporting history, the United States
defeated England during the 1950 FIFA World Cup.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_v_United_States_%281950%29>
1974:
Isabel Perón was sworn in as the first female President of Argentina,
replacing her ill husband Juan Perón, who died two days later.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Mart%C3%ADnez_de_Per%C3%B3n>
1985:
The European Economic Community adopted the Flag of Europe , a flag
previously adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Europe>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
defray (v):
To pay or discharge (a debt, expense etc.); to meet (the cost of
something)
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/defray>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What though our eyes with tears be wet?
The sunrise never failed us yet.
The blush of dawn may yet restore
Our light and hope and joy once more.
Sad soul, take comfort, nor forget
That sunrise never failed us
yet!
--Celia Thaxter
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Celia_Thaxter>
Ariel is the brightest and third most massive of the 27 known moons of
Uranus. Discovered on 24 October 1851 by William Lassell, it is named
for a sky spirit in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock and
Shakespeare's The Tempest. Like its parent planet, Ariel orbits on its
side, giving it an extreme seasonal cycle. As of 2011, almost all
knowledge of Ariel derives from a single flyby of Uranus performed by
the spacecraft Voyager 2 in 1986, which managed to image 35% of the
moon's surface. There are no plans at present to return to study the
moon in more detail. After Miranda, Ariel is the second-smallest of
Uranus's five round satellites, and the second-closest to its planet.
Among the smallest of the Solar System's 19 known spherical moons (it
ranks 14th among them in diameter), Ariel is composed of roughly equal
parts ice and rocky material. Like all of Uranus's moons, Ariel
probably formed from an accretion disk that surrounded the planet
shortly after its formation, and, like other large moons, it may be
differentiated, with an inner core of rock surrounded by a mantle of
ice. Ariel has a complex surface comprising extensive cratered terrain
cross-cut by a system of scarps, canyons and ridges. The surface shows
signs of more recent geological activity than other Uranian moons, most
likely due to tidal heating.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_%28moon%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
Belgian clarinetist Adolphe Sax received a patent for the saxophone.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/saxophone>
1895:
The United States Court of Private Land Claims ruled that the title
claimed by James Reavis to 18,600 sq mi (48,000 km2) in present-day
Arizona and New Mexico was "wholly fictitious and fraudulent".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Reavis>
1914:
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of
Hohenberg, were assassinated by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip
during a motorcade in Sarajevo, sparking the outbreak of World War I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_A…>
1969:
In response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City,
groups of gay and transgender people began to riot against New York
City Police officers, a watershed event for the worldwide gay rights
movement.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots>
1981:
Seventy-three leading officials of Iran's Islamic Republic Party were
killed when a bomb exploded at the party's headquarters in Tehran.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafte_Tir_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
affect (n):
(psychology) A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought
or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in
external physical signs
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/affect>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about
worse.
--Jean-Jacques Rousseau
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau>
Cerro Azul is an active stratovolcano in the Maule Region of central
Chile, immediately south of Descabezado Grande. Part of the South
Volcanic Zone of the Andes, it rises 3,788 meters (12,428 ft) and is
capped by a summit crater 500 meters (1,600 ft) wide that opens to the
north. Cerro Azul is responsible for South America's largest recorded
eruptions, in 1846 and 1932. In 1846, an effusive eruption formed the
vent at the site of present-day Quizapu Crater on the northern flank of
Cerro Azul and sent lava flowing down the sides of the volcano,
creating a lava field of 8–9 square kilometers (3–3.5 square miles). In
1932, one of the largest explosive eruptions of the 20th century
occurred at Quizapu Crater and sent 9.5 cubic kilometers (2.3 cu mi) of
ash into the atmosphere. The volcano's most recent eruption was in
1967. The South Volcanic Zone has a long history of eruptions and poses
a threat to the surrounding region. Any volcanic hazard—ranging from
minor ashfalls to pyroclastic flows—could pose a significant risk to
humans and wildlife. Despite its current inactivity, Cerro Azul could
produce another major eruption. (Cerro Azul (Chile volcano)
Recently featured: [[Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis – First
Roumanian-American congregation – Adrian Cole Archive – By email – More
featured articles...
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Azul_%28Chile_volcano%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1593:
Ottoman forces were crushingly defeated by the Habsburgs at Sisak (now
in Croatia), triggering the Long War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sisak>
1633:
Galileo Galilei was forced to recant his heliocentric view of the Solar
System by the Roman Inquisition.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_affair>
1813:
War of 1812: After learning of American plans for a forthcoming
surprise attack, Canadian Laura Secord set out on a 30 km (19 mi)
journey from Queenston, Ontario, on foot to warn Lieutenant James
FitzGibbon .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Secord>
1944:
World War II: The Soviet Union began its operation to expel German
forces from the Belorussian SSR and eastern Poland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Bagration>
1978:
Working at the U.S. Naval Observatory, American astronomer James W.
Christy discovered Charon, then considered the sole moon of Pluto.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon_%28moon%29>
2009:
Two Metro trains in Washington, D.C., collided, killing nine people and
injuring 80 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2009_Washington_Metro_train_collision>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mezuzah (n):
(Judaism) A piece of parchment inscribed with Pentateuchal texts and
attached in a case to the doorpost of a house
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mezuzah>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In tradition and in books an integral part of the individual persists,
for it can influence the minds and actions of other people in different
places and at different times: a row of black marks on a page can move
a man to tears, though the bones of him that wrote it are long ago
crumbled to dust. In truth, the whole progress of civilization is based
upon this power.
--Julian Huxley
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_Huxley>
Alexandra of Denmark (1844–1925) was Queen consort of the United
Kingdom and the British Dominions and Empress of India from 1901 to
1910 as the wife of Edward VII. Her family had been relatively obscure
until her father, the eventual Christian IX of Denmark, was chosen to
succeed Frederick VII to the Danish throne. At the age of sixteen she
was chosen as the future wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the
heir of Queen Victoria. They married eighteen months later. As Princess
of Wales from 1863 to 1901, she won the hearts of the British people
and became immensely popular. Although she was largely excluded from
wielding any political power, she unsuccessfully attempted to sway the
opinion of ministers and her family to favour her relations in Greece
and Denmark. Her public duties were restricted to uncontroversial
involvement in charitable work. On the death of Queen Victoria in 1901,
Albert Edward became King-Emperor as Edward VII, with Alexandra as
Queen-Empress consort. From Edward's death in 1910 until her own death,
she was the Queen Mother, being a queen and the mother of the reigning
monarch, George V. She greatly distrusted her nephew, German Emperor
Wilhelm II and supported her son during World War I.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_of_Denmark>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1381:
The first protests in the Peasants' Revolt began in Blackheath,
England, when Lollard priest John Ball asked a crowd, "When Adam delved
and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?"
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peasants%27_Revolt>
1899:
The New Richmond tornado killed 117 people and injured 125 others in
the northern Great Plains of the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1899_New_Richmond_tornado>
1942:
On her thirteenth birthday, Anne Frank began keeping her diary during
the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank>
1954:
Pope Pius XII canonised Dominic Savio , who was 14 years old when he
died, to make him the youngest non-martyr saint in the Roman Catholic
Church.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominic_Savio>
1991:
Members of the Sri Lankan military massacred over 150 Sri Lankan Tamil
civilians in the village Kokkadichcholai near the eastern province town
of Batticaloa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Kokkadichcholai_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
riparian (adj):
Pertaining to a riverbank
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/riparian>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Everyone's got the same insecurities as you
Believe me it is true
Do not be afraid
To show people the real
you.
--Justin Heazlewood
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Justin_Heazlewood>
Ancient Egyptian literature was written in the Egyptian language from
Ancient Egypt's pharaonic period until the end of Roman domination.
Along with Sumerian literature, it is considered the world's earliest
literature. Writing in Ancient Egypt first appeared in the late 4th
millennium BC. By the Old Kingdom, literary works included funerary
texts, epistles and letters, religious hymns and poems, and
commemorative autobiographical texts. It was not until the early Middle
Kingdom that a narrative Egyptian literature was created. Middle
Egyptian, the spoken language of the Middle Kingdom, became a classical
language during the New Kingdom, when the vernacular language known as
Late Egyptian first appeared in writing. Scribes of the New Kingdom
canonized and copied many literary texts written in Middle Egyptian,
which remained the language used for oral readings of sacred
hieroglyphic texts. Ancient Egyptian literature has been preserved on a
wide variety of media, including papyrus scrolls and packets, limestone
or ceramic ostraca, wooden writing boards, monumental stone edifices
and coffins. Hidden caches of literature, buried for thousands of
years, have been discovered in settlements on the dry desert margins of
Egyptian civilization.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_literature>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
68:
Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide after he was deposed by the
Senate.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero>
1815:
The Congress of Vienna ended, redrawing the political map of Europe
after the defeat of Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Vienna>
1862:
American Civil War: Confederate General Stonewall Jackson concluded his
successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of
Port Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson%27s_Valley_Campaign>
1928:
Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew landed their
Southern Cross aircraft in Brisbane, completing the first ever
trans-Pacific flight from the United States mainland to Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsford_Smith>
1946:
Bhumibol Adulyadej ascended to the throne of Thailand, currently the
world's longest reigning current monarch.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhumibol_Adulyadej>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ukiyo-e (n):
A Japanese woodcut depicting everyday life
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ukiyo-e>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above.
Don't fence me in.
Let me ride through the wide open country that I
love
Don't fence me in.
Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And
listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in.
--Cole Porter
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cole_Porter>
Phil Hartman (1948–1998) was a Canadian-born American actor, comedian,
screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman
and his family immigrated to the United States when he was ten. After
graduating from California State University, Northridge with a degree
in graphic arts, he designed album covers for bands such as Poco and
America. Hartman joined the comedy group The Groundlings in 1975 and
there helped comedian Paul Reubens develop his character Pee-wee
Herman. Hartman co-wrote the screenplay for the film Pee-wee's Big
Adventure and made recurring appearances on Reubens' show Pee-wee's
Playhouse. Hartman became well-known in the late 1980s when he joined
the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. He won fame for his
impressions, particularly of President Bill Clinton, and stayed on the
show for eight seasons. In 1995, after scrapping plans for his own
variety show, he starred as Bill McNeal in the NBC sitcom NewsRadio. On
May 28, 1998, Hartman was shot and killed by his wife while he slept in
their California home. In the weeks following his death, Hartman was
celebrated in a wave of tributes. Dan Snierson of Entertainment Weekly
opined that Hartman was "the last person you'd expect to read about in
lurid headlines in your morning paper ... a decidedly regular guy,
beloved by everyone he worked with".
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Hartman>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
793:
Scandinavian Vikings destroyed the abbey at Lindisfarne, Northumbria,
England, to begin the Viking Age.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Age>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: British forces defeated the Continental
Army at the Battle of Trois-Rivières, the last major battle fought on
Quebec soil that was part of the American colonists' invasion of
Quebec.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trois-Rivi%C3%A8res>
1949:
Nineteen Eighty-Four, a dystopian political novel by English writer
George Orwell about life in the fictional totalitarian government of
Oceania, was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four>
2004:
Ethiopian distance runner Kenenisa Bekele set the current world record
for outdoor 10,000 metres in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenenisa_Bekele>
2008:
A Japanese man drove a truck into a crowd of pedestrians in the
Akihabara district of Tokyo, then proceeded to stab at least 12 people
with a dagger before being apprehended.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akihabara_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
commonality (n):
1. The common people.
2. The state of being in common with others
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/commonality>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Our civil laws will never be supple enough to fit the immense and
changing variety of facts. Laws change more slowly than custom, and
though dangerous when they fall behind the times are more dangerous
still when they presume to anticipate custom.
--Marguerite Yourcenar
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marguerite_Yourcenar>
Providence is the capital and the most populous city in Rhode Island,
and one of the first cities established in the United States. Located
in Providence County, it is the estimated third largest city in the New
England region. Despite the city proper only having an estimated
population of 178,042 as of 2010, it anchors the 37th largest
metropolitan population in the country. With an estimated MSA
population of 1,600,856, it exceeds that of Rhode Island itself by
about 60% due to its reaching into southern Massachusetts. Situated at
the mouth of the Providence River, at the head of Narragansett Bay, the
city's small footprint is crisscrossed by seemingly erratic streets and
contains a rapidly changing demographic. Providence was founded in 1636
by Roger Williams, a religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
He named the area in honor of "God's merciful Providence", which he
believed was responsible for revealing such a haven for him and his
followers to settle. One of the first American cities to industrialize,
Providence became noted for its jewelry and silverware industry. Today,
the city's economy has shifted into the service industries, though it
still retains significant manufacturing activity.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Providence%2C_Rhode_Island>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1628:
The Petition of Right, a major English constitutional document that set
out specific liberties of the subject, was granted the Royal Assent by
Charles I .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petition_of_Right>
1892:
Homer Plessy, an "octoroon" from New Orleans, Louisiana, was arrested
for refusing to leave the "whites-only" car on a train.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_Plessy>
1917:
World War I: The British Army detonated 19 ammonal mines under the
German lines, killing 10,000 in the deadliest non-nuclear man-made
explosion in history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Messines>
1981:
The Israeli Air Force attacked and disabled the Osirak nuclear reactor,
assuming it was producing plutonium to further an Iraqi nuclear weapons
program.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Opera>
2006:
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, was killed when
the United States Air Force bombed his safehouse near Baqubah.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Musab_al-Zarqawi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
circumforaneous (adj):
Wandering from place to place; vagrant, vagabond
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/circumforaneous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Art hurts. Art urges voyages — and it is easier to stay at home.
--Gwendolyn Brooks
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks>
1
0
June 6: Arular
by English Wikipedia Article of the Day
06 Jun '11
06 Jun '11
Arular is the 2005 debut album by British musician M.I.A. It was
released in the US on 22 March 2005 and a month later in the UK, where
it had a slightly different track listing. The album's release was
preceded in 2004 by two singles and a mixtape. M.I.A. wrote or co-wrote
all the songs on the album and created the basic backing tracks using a
Roland MC-505 sequencer/drum machine given to her by long-time friend
Justine Frischmann. Collaborators included Switch, Diplo, and Richard
X. The album's title is the political code name used by her father,
Arul Pragasam, during his involvement with Sri Lankan Tamil militant
groups, and themes of conflict and revolution feature heavily in the
lyrics and artwork. Musically, the album incorporates styles that range
from hip hop and electroclash to funk carioca and punk rock. Arular was
hailed by critics for its blending of styles and integration of
political lyrics into dance tunes. Several publications named it as one
of the best albums of the year, and by mid-2007, the album had sold
129,000 copies in the US. Arular spawned the singles "Sunshowers",
"Bucky Done Gun" and "Galang", which was released twice.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arular>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1523:
Gustav Vasa became King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar Union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_I_of_Sweden>
1894:
Colorado Governor Davis Hanson Waite ordered his state militia to
protect and support the miners engaged in the Cripple Creek miners'
strike.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripple_Creek_miners%27_strike_of_1894>
1944:
World War II: The Invasion of Normandy, the largest amphibious military
operation in history, began with Allied troops landing on the beaches
of Normandy in France .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_landings>
1982:
During the Falklands War, the British Royal Navy Type 42 destroyer
HMS Cardiff engaged and destroyed British Army Gazelle XX377 in a
friendly fire incident.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_British_Army_Gazelle_friendly_fire_incide…>
2004:
During a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament,
President of India A. P. J. Abdul Kalam announced that Tamil was to be
made the first legally recognised classical language of India.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_language>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
repurpose (v):
To make (something) fit for a new purpose; to adapt for use in a
different way
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/repurpose>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I will keep faith with death in my heart, yet will remember that faith
with death and the dead is only wickedness and dark voluptuousness and
enmity against humankind, if it is given power over our thought and
contemplation. For the sake of goodness and love, man shall let death
have no sovereignty over his thoughts. And with that, I wake up.
--Thomas Mann
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Mann>
The logarithm of a number is the exponent by which a fixed number, the
base, has to be raised to produce that number. For example, the
logarithm of 1000 to base 10 is 3, because 1000 is 10 to the power 3:
1000 = 10<sup>3</sup> = 10 × 10 × 10. Logarithms were introduced by
John Napier in the early 17th century as a means to simplify
calculations. They were rapidly adopted by scientists and engineers to
perform computations using slide rules and logarithm tables. These
devices rely on the fact—important in its own right—that the logarithm
of a product is the sum of the logarithms of the factors. Logarithmic
scales reduce wide-ranging quantities to smaller scopes. For example,
the decibel is a logarithmic unit quantifying sound pressure and
voltage ratios. Logarithms describe musical intervals, measure the
complexity of algorithms, and appear in formulas counting prime
numbers. They also inform some models in psychophysics and can aid in
forensic accounting.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithm>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1257:
Kraków in Poland received city rights based on the Magdeburg law.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krak%C3%B3w>
1305:
Raymond Bertrand de Got became Pope Clement V, succeeding Pope
Benedict XI who died one year earlier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Clement_V>
1956:
American singer Elvis Presley performed "Hound Dog" to a nationwide
television audience on the The Milton Berle Show, an appearance that
generated many letters of protest.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hound_Dog_%28song%29>
1967:
The Six-Day War began with an Israeli Air Force preemptive strike that
destroyed about 450 total aircraft of the Egyptian, Jordanian and
Syrian Air Forces on the ground.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War>
1989:
An anonymous demonstrator, later dubbed "Tank Man", single-handedly
stopped a column of Chinese tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests
before being dragged aside.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
funest (adj):
Causing death or disaster; fatal, catastrophic
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/funest>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are
right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly
understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men,
who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual
influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in
authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from
some academic scribbler of a few years back.
--John Maynard Keynes
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes>