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 (12,428Â ft) and is
capped by a summit crater 500 meters (1,600Â 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 30Â km (19Â 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 10,000Â 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
HMSÂ 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>
In California's 12th congressional district election, 1946, the
candidates were five-term incumbent Democrat Jerry Voorhis, Republican
challenger Richard Nixon, and former congressman and Prohibition Party
candidate John Hoeppel. Nixon was elected with 56% of the vote,
starting him on the road that would lead, almost a quarter century
later, to the presidency. For the 1946 election, Republicans sought a
candidate who could unite the party and run a strong race against
Voorhis in the Republican-leaning district. After failing to secure the
candidacy of General George Patton, they settled on Lieutenant
Commander Richard Nixon, who had lived in the district prior to his
World War II service. Various explanations have been put forward for
Nixon's victory, from national political trends to red-baiting on the
part of the challenger. Some historians contend that Nixon received
large amounts of funding from wealthy backers determined to defeat
Voorhis, while others dismiss such allegations.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%27s_12th_congressional_district_ele…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1913:
Emily Davison, an activist for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom,
was fatally injured when she was trampled by King George V's horse at
the Epsom Derby.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Davison>
1942:
The Battle of Midway, a major battle in the Pacific Theatre of World
War II, began with a massive Imperial Japanese strike on Midway Atoll.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway>
1975:
Governor of California Jerry Brown signed the California Agricultural
Labor Relations Act, the first law in the United States guaranteeing
collective bargaining rights to farmworkers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Agricultural_Labor_Relations_Act>
1989:
Following the death of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Assembly of
Experts elected Ali Khamenei to be the Supreme Leader of Iran.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei>
1996:
The maiden flight of the Ariane 5 expendable launch system failed, with
the rocket self-destructing 37 seconds after launch because of a
malfunction in the control software, one of the most expensive computer
bugs in history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_5_Flight_501>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
anabasis (n):
A military march up-country
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anabasis>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Knowledge is meaningful only if it is reflected in action. The human
race has found out the hard way that we are what we do, not just what
we think. This is true for kids and adults — for schoolrooms and
nations.
--Robert Fulghum
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Fulghum>
Edward Elgar (1857–1934) was an English composer. Among his best-known
compositions are orchestral works such as the Enigma Variations, the
Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two
symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of
Gerontius, chamber music and songs. He was appointed Master of the
King's Musick in 1924. Although his works are regarded as
quintessentially English, most of his musical influences were not from
England but from continental Europe. A self-taught Catholic composer
from a poor background, he nevertheless married the daughter of a
senior British army officer. He struggled to achieve success until his
forties, when his Enigma Variations proved immediately popular. His
following work, The Dream of Gerontius (1900) remains a core repertory
work in Britain and elsewhere. One of the first composers to take the
gramophone seriously, he conducted a series of recordings of his works
between 1914 and 1925. Elgar's music came, in his later years, to be
seen as appealing chiefly to British audiences. More recently, some of
his works have been taken up again internationally, but the music
remains more played in Britain than elsewhere.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Elgar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1805:
Napoleonic Wars: A Franco-Spanish fleet recaptured Diamond Rock , an
uninhabited island at the entrance to the bay leading to
Fort-de-France, from the British.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Diamond_Rock>
1910:
Charles Rolls, co-founder of Rolls-Royce Limited, became the first man
to make a non-stop double crossing of the English Channel by plane.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rolls>
1919:
First Red Scare: Anarchist followers of Luigi Galleani set off eight
bombs in eight cities across the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919_United_States_anarchist_bombings>
1983:
After an emergency landing because of an in-flight fire, twenty-three
passengers aboard Air Canada Flight 797 were killed when a flashover
occurred as the plane's doors opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Canada_Flight_797>
1999:
Bhutan ended its status as the only country in the world to prohibit
television when the state-run Bhutan Broadcasting Service came on the
air.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutan_Broadcasting_Service>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
supervacaneous (adj):
Added beyond what is necessary; superfluous, redundant
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/supervacaneous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The ancient pulse of germ and birth
Was shrunken hard and dry,
And every spirit upon earth
Seemed
fervourless as I.
At once a voice arose among
The bleak twigs overhead
In a
full-hearted evensong
Of joy illimited;
An aged thrush, frail, gaunt, and small,
In
blast-beruffled plume,
Had chosen thus to fling his soul
Upon the growing gloom.
So little
cause for carolings
Of such ecstatic sound
Was written on terrestrial things
Afar or nigh
around,
That I could think there trembled through
His happy good-night
air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
And I was unaware.
--Thomas Hardy
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy>