100px|The high-resolution Voyager 2 image of Titania taken on January
24, 1986
Titania is the largest of the moons of Uranus and the eighth largest
moon in the Solar System. Discovered by William Herschel in 1787,
Titania is named after the queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's A
Midsummer Night's Dream. Its orbit lies inside Uranus' magnetosphere.
Titania consists of approximately equal amounts of ice and rock, and is
likely differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle. A layer of
liquid water may be present at the core–mantle boundary. The surface of
Titania, which is relatively dark and slightly red in color, appears to
have been shaped by both impacts and endogenic processes. It is covered
by numerous impact craters reaching 326 km in diameter, but is less
heavily cratered than the surface of Uranus' outermost moon, Oberon.
Titania probably underwent an early endogenic resurfacing event that
obliterated its older, heavily cratered surface. Like all major moons
of Uranus, Titania probably formed from an accretion disk that
surrounded the planet just after its formation. As of 2011, the Uranian
system has been studied up close only once: by the spacecraft Voyager 2
in January 1986. It took several images of Titania, which allowed
mapping of about 40% of the moon’s surface. (more...)
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titania_%28moon%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
The first of five strong earthquakes hit the region of Calabria in
present-day southern Italy, killing more than 32,000 people over a
period of nearly two months.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1783_Calabrian_earthquakes>
1869:
Prospectors in Moliagul, Victoria, Australia, discovered the largest
alluvial gold nugget ever found, known as the "Welcome Stranger".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_Stranger>
1941:
Second World War: British and Free French forces began the Battle of
Keren to capture the strategic town of Keren in Italian Eritrea.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Keren>
2000:
Second Chechen War: As the Battle of Grozny came to a close, Russian
forces summarily executed at least 60 civilians in the city's Novye
Aldi suburb.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novye_Aldi_massacre>
2009:
The United States Navy guided missile cruiser USS Port Royal ran
aground on a coral reef off the island of Oahu.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_USS_Port_Royal_grounding>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
inflicted insight (n):
(psychology) Unsolicited revelation of aspects of one’s character,
usually as a result of a deceitful experiment that has psychological
dimensions, and especially where this results in emotional trauma and
prolonged anxiety
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inflicted_insight>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
For my part I believe in the forgiveness of sin and the redemption of
ignorance.
--Adlai Stevenson
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Adlai_Stevenson>
Richard Barre (c. 1130 – c. 1202) was a medieval English justice,
clergyman, and scholar. He was educated at the law school of Bologna,
and entered royal service under King Henry II of England, later working
for Henry's son and successor Richard I. He was also briefly in the
household of Henry's son Henry the Young King. Barre served the elder
Henry as a diplomat, and was involved in a minor way with the king's
quarrel with Thomas Becket, which earned Barre a condemnation from
Becket. After King Henry's death, Barre became a royal justice during
Richard's reign, and was one of the main judges in the period from 1194
to 1199. During the reign of King John, Barre was no longer employed as
a judge owing to earlier disagreements with John. Barre was the author
of a work of biblical extracts dedicated to one of his patrons, William
Longchamp, the Bishop of Ely and Chancellor of England. (more...)
Recently featured: Pathways into Darkness – Chew Stoke – Germany
women's national football team
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
211:
Roman emperor Septimius Severus died of illness while on a military
campaign in Eboracum (modern York, England).
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septimius_Severus>
960:
Emperor Taizu began his reign in China, initiating the Song Dynasty
period that would eventually last for more than three centuries.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Dynasty>
1899:
The Philippine–American War opened when an American soldier, under
orders to keep insurgents away from his unit's encampment, fired upon a
Filipino soldier in Manila.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine%E2%80%93American_War>
1969:
Yasser Arafat was elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation
Organization.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat>
2008:
The London low emission zone , governing what types of vehicles may
enter Greater London, came into being.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_low_emission_zone>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
sororate (n):
1. The custom of the marriage of a man to the sister of his wife,
usually after the wife has died.
2. A marriage according to this custom
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sororate>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Getting up and criticising the other fellow because he's in and you are
not seems to me a futile waste of time. Especially as you know in your
heart that you would be doing more or less the same thing if you were
in his place.
--Hartley Shawcross, Baron Shawcross
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hartley_Shawcross%2C_Baron_Shawcross>
Pathways into Darkness is a first-person adventure video game developed
and published by Bungie Software Products Corporation (now Bungie) in
1993, exclusively for Apple Macintosh personal computers. Players
assume the role of a Special Forces soldier who must stop a powerful,
godlike being from awakening and destroying the world. Players solve
puzzles and defeat enemies to unlock parts of a pyramid where the god
sleeps; the game's ending changes depending on player actions. Pathways
began as a sequel to Bungie's Minotaur: The Labyrinths of Crete, before
the developers created an original story. Jason Jones programmed the
game, while his friend Colin Brent developed the environments and
creatures. The game features three-dimensional texture mapped graphics
and stereo sound on supported Macintosh models. Pathways was critically
acclaimed and won a host of awards; it was also Bungie's first major
commercial success, enabling the two-man team of Jason Jones and Alex
Seropian to move into a Chicago office and begin paying staff.
(more...)
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– Liberty Head nickel
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_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1488:
Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias landed in Mossel Bay, becoming the
first known European to have sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and
the southern tip of Africa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartolomeu_Dias>
1781:
American Revolutionary War: British forces captured the Dutch island of
Sint Eustatius with only two shots fired.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Sint_Eustatius>
1813:
Argentine War of Independence: José de San Martín and his Regiment of
Mounted Grenadiers gained a largely symbolic victory against a royalist
army in the Battle of San Lorenzo .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Lorenzo>
1967:
Ronald Ryan became the last person to be legally executed in Australia,
sparking public protests across the country.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Ryan>
1998:
A United States Air Force EA-6B Prowler inadvertently severed a cable
supporting a gondola of an aerial tramway in Cavalese, Italy, sending
20 people plummeting to their deaths.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_%281998%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
dystopia (n):
1. A vision of a future that is a corrupted (usually beyond
recognition) utopian society.
2. A miserable, dysfunctional state or society that has a very poor
standard of living.
3. (medicine) Anatomical tissue that is not found in its usual place
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dystopia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Rights are always asserted in a tone of contention; and when this tone
is adopted, it must rely upon force in the background, or else it will
be laughed at.
--Simone Weil
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Simone_Weil>
100px|Chew Stoke
Chew Stoke is a small village and civil parish in the Chew Valley, in
Somerset, England, about 8 miles (13 km) south of Bristol. It is at the
northern edge of the Mendip Hills, a region designated by the United
Kingdom as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and is within the
Bristol/Bath green belt. The parish includes the hamlet of Breach Hill,
which is approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) southwest of Chew Stoke itself.
Chew Stoke has a long history, as shown by the number and range of its
heritage-listed buildings. The village is at the northern end of Chew
Valley Lake, which was created in the 1950s, close to a dam, pumping
station, sailing club, and fishing lodge. A tributary of the River
Chew, which rises in Strode, runs through the village. The population
of 905 is served by one shop, two public houses, a primary school and a
bowling club. Together with Chew Magna, it forms the ward of Chew
Valley North in the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset.
Chew Valley School and its associated leisure centre are less than a
mile (1.6 km) from Chew Stoke. The village has some areas of light
industry but is largely agricultural; many residents commute to nearby
cities for employment. (more...)
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Head nickel – Cyathus
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chew_Stoke>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1207:
Terra Mariana, comprising present-day Estonia and Latvia, was
established as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Mariana>
1659:
Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, produced the first bottle
of South African wine .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_wine>
1848:
The Mexican–American War ended with the signing of the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave 1.36 million square kilometres (530,000
sq mi) of Mexican territory known as the Mexican Cession to the United
States in exchange for US$15 million.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Guadalupe_Hidalgo>
1920:
The signing of the Treaty of Tartu ended the Estonian War of
Independence, with Russia agreeing to recognize the independence of
Estonia and renounce in perpetuity all rights to that territory.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tartu_%28Russian%E2%80%93Estonian%29>
1974:
The F-16 Fighting Falcon, one of the most popular jet fighters ever
built, had its first flight.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Dynamics_F-16_Fighting_Falcon>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
be mother (v):
(idiomatic, UK) To pour out tea for others
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/be_mother>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at
it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality,
language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.
--James Joyce
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Joyce>
100px|Goalie Nadine Angerer saving a goal
The German women's national football team represents Germany in
international women's football and is directed by the German Football
Association (DFB). The team – then informally called West Germany in
English – played its first international match in 1982. After German
reunification in 1990, the DFB squad remained the national side of the
Federal Republic of Germany. The German national team is one of the
most successful in women's football. They are two-time world champions,
having won the 2003 and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Germany is the
only nation which has won both the men's and the women's World Cup. The
team has won seven of the ten UEFA European Championships, claiming the
last five titles in a row. Germany has won three bronze medals at the
Women's Olympic Football Tournament, finishing third in 2000, 2004 and
2008. The popularity of the women's national football team has grown
since the team won their first World Cup title. They were chosen as
Germany's Sports Team of the Year in 2003. Silvia Neid has been the
team's head coach since 2005, succeeding Tina Theune after nine years
as her assistant. As of September 2011, Germany is ranked No. 2 in the
FIFA Women's World Rankings. (more...)
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Island
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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany_women%27s_national_football_team>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1327:
Fourteen-year old Edward III became King of England, but the country
was ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_III_of_England>
1709:
Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk was rescued by English captain Woodes
Rogers and the crew of the Duke after spending four years as a castaway
on an uninhabited island in the Juan Fernández archipelago, providing
the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodes_Rogers>
1942:
Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of
the United States federal government, began broadcasting with programs
aimed at areas controlled by the Axis powers during World War II.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America>
1968:
The Government of Canada merged the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army,
and the Royal Canadian Air Force into a unified structure, the Canadian
Forces.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Forces>
2009:
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became Iceland's first female Prime Minister
and the world's first openly gay head of government of the modern era.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B3hanna_Sigur%C3%B0ard%C3%B3ttir>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
a priori (adj):
1. (logic) Based on hypothesis rather than experiment.
2. Self-evident, intuitively obvious
3. (linguistics, of a constructed
language) Developed entirely from scratch, without deriving it from
existing languages
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/a_priori>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist
within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
--w:Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3AThirteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_…>