The 1984 Rajneeshee bioterror attack was the food poisoning of more
than 750 individuals in The Dalles, Oregon, United States through the
deliberate contamination of salad bars at ten local restaurants with
salmonella. A leading group of followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (now
known as Osho) had hoped to incapacitate the voting population of the
city so that their own candidates would win the 1984 Wasco County
elections. The incident was the first bioterrorism attack in the United
States, and the single largest bioterrorist attack in United States
history. The attack is one of only two confirmed terrorist uses of
biological weapons to harm humans. Having previously gained political
control of Antelope, Oregon, Rajneesh's followers based in nearby
Rajneeshpuram sought election to two of the three seats on the Wasco
County Circuit Court which were up for election in November 1984.
Fearing they would not gain enough votes, Rajneeshpuram officials
decided to incapacitate voters in The Dalles, the largest population
center in Wasco County.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_Rajneeshee_bioterror_attack>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1798:
At the Battle of St. George's Caye, a small force of British settlers
called Baymen defeated an invading force from Mexico who were
attempting to claim what is now Belize for Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_St._George%27s_Caye>
1897:
A peaceful labor demonstration made up of mostly Polish and Slovak
anthracite coal miners in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, USA, was fired
upon by a sheriff's posse comitatus in the Lattimer Massacre.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lattimer_massacre>
1898:
In an act of "propaganda of the deed", Italian anarchist Luigi Lucheni
fatally stabbed Empress Elisabeth of Austria in Geneva, Switzerland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_of_Bavaria>
1945:
Mike the Headless Chicken was decapitated in a farm in Colorado; he
survived another 18 months as part of sideshows before choking to death
in Phoenix, Arizona.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken>
1977:
Hamida Djandoubi became the last person to be guillotined in France,
the official method of execution in that country. France would later
abolish the death penalty in 1981.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/guillotine>
1990:
Pope John Paul II consecrated the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in
Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, one of the largest churches in the world.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Our_Lady_of_Peace_of_Yamoussoukro>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
toodeloo (interj):
(UK) goodbye, farewell, see you soon
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toodeloo>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It is the man of science, eager to have his every opinion regenerated,
his every idea rationalized, by drinking at the fountain of fact, and
devoting all the energies of his life to the cult of truth, not as he
understands it, but as he does not yet understand it, that ought
properly to be called a philosopher.
--Charles Sanders Peirce
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Sanders_Peirce>
Tokyo Mew Mew is a Japanese shōjo manga series written by Reiko Yoshida
and illustrated by Mia Ikumi. It was originally serialized in Nakayoshi
from September 2000 to February 2003, and later published in seven
tankōbon volumes by Kodansha from February 2001 to April 2003. It
focuses on five girls infused with the DNA of rare animals that gives
them special powers and allows them to transform into "Mew Mews". Led
by Ichigo Momomiya, the girls protect the earth from aliens who wish to
"reclaim" it. The series was quickly adapted into a fifty-two episode
anime series by Studio Pierrot. It debuted in Japan on April 6, 2002,
on both TV Aichi and TV Tokyo; the final episode aired on March 29,
2003. A two-volume sequel to the manga, Tokyo Mew Mew a la Mode, was
serialized in Nakayoshi from April 2003 to February 2004. The sequel
introduces a new Mew Mew, Berry Shirayuki, who becomes the temporary
leader of the Mew Mews whilst Ichigo is on a trip to England. Two video
games were also created for the series.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Mew_Mew>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
9:
Germanic Wars: An alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius engaged
Roman forces led by Publius Quinctilius Varus at the Battle of the
Teutoburg Forest, defeating three of the legions within the next few
days.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Teutoburg_Forest>
1513:
War of the League of Cambrai: King James IV of Scotland was killed at
the Battle of Flodden Field in Northumberland while leading an invasion
of England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_IV_of_Scotland>
1850:
As per the conditions of the Compromise of 1850, California was
admitted into the United States as a free state, despite the fact that
Southern California was south of the parallel 36°30' north.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California>
1944:
With the help of the advancing forces of the Soviet Red Army, the
Bulgarian government of Konstantin Muraviev was overthrown and replaced
with a government of the Fatherland Front.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat_of_1944>
2004:
A car bomb exploded outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta,
Indonesia, killing at least nine people and injuring over 150 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Jakarta_embassy_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
drygulch (v):
(US, slang) To murder; to attack, assault
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drygulch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All men live not by the thought they spend on their own welfare, but
because love exists in man.
I knew before that God gave life to men and desires that they should
live; now I understood more than that.
I understood that God does not wish men to live apart, and therefore
he does not reveal to them what each one needs for himself; but he
wishes them to live united, and therefore reveals to each of them what
is necessary for all.
I have now understood that though it seems to men that they live by
care for themselves, in truth it is love alone by which they live. He
who has love, is in God, and God is in him, for God is love.
--Leo Tolstoy
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy>
The Canadian federal election of 1957 was held on June 10, 1957, to
select the 265 members of the House of Commons of Canada. The Liberal
Party had won five consecutive elections since 1935. Under Prime
Ministers William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent, the
government gradually built a welfare state. During the Liberals' fifth
term in office, the opposition parties depicted them as arrogant and
unresponsive to Canadians' needs. Controversial events, such as the
1956 "Pipeline Debate" over the construction of the Trans-Canada
Pipeline, had hurt the government. The Progressive Conservative Party
ran a campaign centered on their new leader, John Diefenbaker
(pictured), who attracted large crowds to rallies and made a strong
impression on television. The Liberals ran a lackluster campaign, and
St. Laurent made few television appearances. Abandoning their usual
strategy of trying to make inroads in Liberal-dominated Quebec, the
Conservatives focused on other provinces. They were successful; though
they gained few seats in Quebec, they won 112 seats overall to the
Liberals' 105, with the remaining seats won by other parties. In one of
the great upsets in Canadian political history, the Conservatives'
plurality in the House of Commons made Diefenbaker Prime Minister and
ended 22 years of Liberal rule in Canada.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_federal_election%2C_1957>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1331:
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of the House of Nemanjić was crowned King of
Serbia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Uro%C5%A1_IV_Du%C5%A1an_of_Serbia>
1504:
David, a marble sculpture by Michelangelo portraying the biblical King
David in the nude, was unveiled in Florence, Italy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%28Michelangelo%29>
1514:
Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars: The combined forces of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland defeated the larger army of the
Grand Duchy of Moscow in Orsha, present-day Belarus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Orsha>
1966:
The American science fiction show Star Trek premiered on the NBC
television network, launching a media franchise that has since created
a cult phenomenon and has influenced the design of many current
technologies.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek%3A_The_Original_Series>
1974:
Watergate scandal: U.S. President Gerald Ford gave recently resigned
U.S. President Richard Nixon a full and unconditional, but
controversial, pardon for any crimes he committed while in office.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford%23Pardon_of_Nixon>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
scot-free (adv):
1. (colloquial) Without consequences or penalties.
2. (archaic) Free of scot, free of tax
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scot-free>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What voice revisits me this night? What face
To my heart’s room returns?
>From the perpetual silence where the
grace
Of human sainthood burns
Hastes he once more to harmonise and heal?
I
know not. Only I feel
His influence undiminished
And his life’s work, in me and many,
unfinished.
--Siegfried Sassoon
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Siegfried_Sassoon>
Hastings Ismay (1887–1965) was a British soldier and diplomat,
remembered primarily for his role as Winston Churchill's chief military
assistant during World War II and his service as the head of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the 1950s. After serving with
the Camel Corps during World War I, Ismay became an Assistant Secretary
of the Committee of Imperial Defence. Shortly before the outbreak of
World War II, he became the Secretary of the Committee of Imperial
Defence and began planning for the impending war. In May 1940, when
Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, he selected
Ismay as his chief military assistant and staff officer. In that
capacity, Ismay served as the principal link between Churchill and the
Chiefs of Staff Committee. He also accompanied Churchill to many of the
Allied war conferences. After the war, Ismay remained in the British
Armed Forces and helped reorganise the Ministry of Defence. When
Churchill again became Prime Minister in 1951, he appointed Ismay
Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations. Six months later, Ismay
resigned to become the first Secretary General of NATO. He served as
Secretary General from 1952 to 1957. After retiring from NATO, Ismay
wrote his memoirs, The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Ismay%2C_1st_Baron_Ismay>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1191:
Third Crusade: Forces under Richard I of England defeated Ayyubid
troops under Saladin in Arsuf, present-day Israel.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Arsuf>
1812:
Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée forced the Russians to
withdraw at the Battle of Borodino.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Borodino>
1901:
With Peking occupied by foreign troops from the Eight-Nation Alliance,
Qing China was forced to sign the Boxer Protocol, an unequal treaty
ending the Boxer Rebellion.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxer_Protocol>
1940:
World War II: The German Luftwaffe changed their strategy in the Battle
of Britain and began bombing London and other British cities and towns
for over 50 consecutive nights.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz>
1979:
The cable television network ESPN made its debut, broadcasting and
producing sports-related programming 24 hours a day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESPN>
1986:
Desmond Tutu became the first black person to lead the Anglican Church
in South Africa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
amnicolist (n):
(rare) One who dwells by a river
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amnicolist>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have written my life in small sketches, a little today, a little
yesterday, as I have thought of it, as I remember all the things from
childhood on through the years, good ones, and unpleasant ones, that is
how they come out and that is how we have to take them.
I look back on my life like a good day's work, it was done and I am
satisfied with it. I was happy and contented, I knew nothing better and
made the best out of what life offered. And life is what we make it,
always has been, always will be.
--Grandma Moses
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grandma_Moses>
Night is a work by Elie Wiesel (pictured) about his experience with his
father in the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald in
1944–1945. In just over 100 pages of a narrative described as
devastating in its simplicity, Weisel writes about the death of God and
his own increasing disgust with humanity, reflected in the inversion of
the father-child relationship as his father declines to a helpless
state and Wiesel becomes his resentful caregiver. He was 16 years old
when Buchenwald was liberated by the U.S. Army in April 1945, too late
for his father who died in the camp after a beating. After some
difficulty finding a publisher, Wiesel's work appeared in Yiddish in
1955 and French in 1958, and in September 1960 was published in English
by Hill and Wang. Fifty years later it is regarded as one of the
bedrocks of Holocaust literature. It is the first book in a
trilogy—Night, Dawn, Day—marking Wiesel's transition from darkness to
light, according to the Jewish tradition of beginning a new day at
nightfall. "In Night," he said, "I wanted to show the end, the finality
of the event. Everything came to an end—man, history, literature,
religion, God. There was nothing left. And yet we begin again with
night."
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_%28book%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
394:
Forces of the Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius I defeated Eugenius,
the usurper of the Western Roman Empire, at the Battle of the Frigidus
near modern-day Vipava, Slovenia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodosius%C2%A0I>
1955:
An overwhelming Turkish mob attacked ethnic Greeks in Istanbul, killing
over 13 people, wounding over thirty others, and damaging over 5,000
Greek-owned homes and businesses.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istanbul_Pogrom>
1963:
The Krulak Mendenhall mission, led by U.S. Marine Corps Major General
Victor Krulak and U.S. Foreign Service Officer Joseph Mendenhall, was
launched by the Kennedy administration to assess the progress of the
Vietnam War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krulak_Mendenhall_mission>
1970:
Members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked
four jet aircraft en route from Europe to New York City, landing two of
them at Dawson's Field in Zerqa, Jordan, and one plane in Beirut,
Lebanon. The fourth hijacking was successfully foiled.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson%27s_Field_hijackings>
2000:
The Millennium Summit, a meeting of world leaders to discuss the role
of the United Nations in the turn of the 21st century, opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Summit>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
orbicular (adj):
Circular or spherical in shape; round
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/orbicular>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I saw a rainbow earlier today
Lately those rainbows be comin' round like everyday
Deep in the
struggle I have found the beauty of me
God is watchin' and the Devil finally let me be
Here in this moment
to myself.
--Macy Gray
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Macy_Gray>
Stephens City, Virginia, the second-oldest municipality in the
Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, is located in southern Frederick County,
with an estimated population of 1,503 in 2009. The town was founded in
the early 1730s by German immigrant Peter Stephens and was chartered by
Peter's son, Lewis, on September 1, 1758. In the late 1850s, free
blacks began a settlement about a mile east of town which became known
as Crossroads which lasted until the Civil War began, when some fled
but others were forced to fight for the South. In June 1864, Union
Major Joseph K. Stearns of the 1st New York Cavalry arrived under
orders to burn it down, but spared it after seeing the remaining
population consisted mostly of women, children and the elderly. Over
the course of its existence, it has been renamed five times, almost
winding up as "Pantops". The construction of Interstate 81 passed just
to the east of the town in the early 1960s. In 1992, a large section of
the town, called the Newtown-Stephensburg Historic District, was listed
on the National Register of Historic Places. Stephens City celebrated
its 250th anniversary on September 1, 2008.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephens_City%2C_Virginia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1774:
In response to the British Parliament enacting the Intolerable Acts,
representatives from twelve of Britain's North American colonies
convened the First Continental Congress at Carpenters' Hall in
Philadelphia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Continental_Congress>
1905:
Under the mediation of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt , the
Russo-Japanese War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of
Portsmouth at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard near Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, US.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Portsmouth>
1914:
World War I: The First Battle of the Marne began with French forces
engaging the advancing German army at the Marne River near Paris.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_the_Marne>
1945:
Cold War: Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko defected to Canada with
over 100 documents on Soviet espionage activities and sleeper agents.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Gouzenko>
1972:
The Palestinian militant group Black September took hostage eleven
Israeli athletes and coaches at the Olympic Summer Games in Munich,
West Germany; all of the hostages were killed less than 24 hours later.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre>
1991:
The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples,
Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, came into force.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_and_Tribal_Peoples_Convention%2C_19…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
myriad (adj):
Great in number; innumerable
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/myriad>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I must stay alone and know that I am alone to contemplate and feel
nature in full; I have to surrender myself to what encircles me, I have
to merge with my clouds and rocks in order to be what I am.
--Caspar David Friedrich
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Caspar_David_Friedrich>
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart toured Italy with his father Leopold three
times between 1769 and 1773. The first, an extended tour of 15 months,
was financed by performances for the nobility and by public concerts,
and took in the most important Italian cities. The second and third
journeys were to Milan, for Wolfgang to complete operas that had been
commissioned there on the first visit. From the perspective of
Wolfgang's musical development the journeys were a considerable
success, and his talents were recognised by honours which included a
papal knighthood and memberships in leading philharmonic societies.
Each of Wolfgang's operas written for Milan's celebrated Teatro Regio
Ducal was a critical and popular triumph. In the course of the three
visits he met many of Italy's leading musicians, including the renowned
theorist Giovanni Battista Martini, under whom he studied in Bologna.
Leopold also hoped that Wolfgang, and possibly he himself, would obtain
a prestigious appointment at one of the Italian Habsburg courts. This
objective became more important as Leopold's advancement in Salzburg
became less likely; but his persistent efforts to secure employment
displeased the imperial court, which precluded any chance of success.
The journeys thus ended not with a triumphant return, but on a note of
disappointment and frustration.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_in_Italy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1260:
Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines: The Siena Ghibellines defeated the
Florence Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti outside of Siena,
present-day Italy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montaperti>
1886:
After over 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the
armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered
at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo>
1957:
Defying the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education,
Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to
prevent African American students from attending Little Rock's Central
High School.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine>
1984:
The Progressive Conservative Party led by Brian Mulroney won the
largest majority government by total number of seats in Canadian
history during the federal election.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Mulroney>
1998:
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company Google in Menlo Park,
California, US, to promote the web search engine that they developed as
a research project while attending Stanford University.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
best boy (n):
(film jargon) The first assistant to either the key grip (in charge of
camera placement and movement), or the gaffer (in charge of lighting
and electrics)
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/best_boy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As soon as a true thought has entered our mind, it gives a light which
makes us see a crowd of other objects which we have never perceived
before.
--François-René de Chateaubriand
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_de_Chateaubriand>
The Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men were five
volumes of Dionysius Lardner’s 133-volume Cabinet Cyclopaedia
(1829–46). Aimed at the self-educating middle class, this encyclopedia
was written during the 19th-century literary revolution in Britain that
encouraged more people to read. The Lives formed part of the Cabinet of
Biography in the Cabinet Cyclopaedia. The three-volume Lives of the
Most Eminent Literary and Scientific Men of Italy, Spain and Portugal
(1835–37) and the two-volume Lives of the Most Eminent Literary and
Scientific Men of France (1838–39) consist of biographies of important
writers and thinkers of the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries. Most of
them were authored by the Romantic writer Mary Shelley. Shelley's
biographies reveal her as a professional woman of letters, contracted
to produce several volumes of works and paid well to do so. Her
extensive knowledge of history and languages, her ability to tell a
gripping biographical narrative, and her interest in the burgeoning
field of feminist historiography are reflected in these works. At times
Shelley had trouble finding sufficient research materials and had to
make do with fewer resources than she would have liked, particularly
for the Spanish and Portuguese Lives. She wrote in a style that
combined secondary sources, memoir, anecdote, and her own opinions. The
Lives did not attract enough critical attention to become a bestseller.
Not reprinted until 2002, Mary Shelley's biographies have only recently
been appreciated.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lives_of_the_Most_Eminent_Literary_and_Scienti…>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
301:
San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's
oldest republic still in existence, was founded by Saint Marinus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino>
590:
Gregory I became pope, the first one to come from a monastic
background.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_I>
1260:
Egyptian Mamluks defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in
Palestine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ain_Jalut>
1783:
Great Britain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris,
formally ending the American Revolutionary War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_%281783%29>
1901:
The National Flag of Australia, a Blue Ensign defaced with the
Commonwealth Star and the Southern Cross, flew for the first time atop
the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Australia>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
faceplant (n):
The act of landing face first, as a result of an accident or error
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/faceplant>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Whether it be the sweeping eagle in his flight, or the open
apple-blossom, the toiling work-horse, the blithe swan, the branching
oak, the winding stream at its base, the drifting clouds, over all the
coursing sun, form ever follows function, and this is the law. Where
function does not change form does not change. The granite rocks, the
ever brooding hills, remain for ages; the lightning lives, comes into
shape, and dies in a twinkling.
It is the pervading law of all things organic and inorganic, of all
things physical and metaphysical, of all things human and all things
superhuman, of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart, of
the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression, that form
ever follows function. This is the law.
--Louis Sullivan
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Louis_Sullivan>
The 2005 Texas Longhorns football team represented The University of
Texas at Austin during the college football season of 2005–2006,
winning the Big 12 Conference Championship and the national
championship. The team was coached by Mack Brown, led on offense by
quarterback Vince Young, and played its home games at Darrell K Royal –
Texas Memorial Stadium. The team's penultimate game, the 2005 Big 12
Championship Game, was won by the largest margin of victory in Big 12
Championship Game history. Texas finished the season by winning the
2006 Rose Bowl against the University of Southern California Trojans
for the national championship. Numerous publications have cited this
victory and this team's season as standing among the greatest
performances in college football history. The Longhorns finished as the
only unbeaten team in NCAA Division I-A football that year, with
thirteen wins and zero losses.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Texas_Longhorns_football_team>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
31 BC:
Final War of the Roman Republic: Troops supporting Octavian defeated
the forces of Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the naval Battle of Actium
on the Ionian Sea near Actium in Greece.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Actium>
1666:
A large fire began on London's Pudding Lane and burned the city for
three days , destroying St Paul's Cathedral and the homes of 70,000 of
the city's 80,000 inhabitants.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_London>
1901:
U.S. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt first uttered the famous phrase
"speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair,
describing his philosophy of negotiating peacefully while
simultaneously threatening to use military force.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Stick_ideology>
1957:
President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam became the first foreign head
of state to make a state visit to Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngo_Dinh_Diem_presidential_visit_to_Australia>
1990:
The small country of Transnistria unilaterally declared its
independence from what was then the Moldavian SSR of the Soviet Union,
but independence has only been recognized by Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, who are also partially recognised states.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria>
1998:
Swissair Flight 111, en route from New York City to Geneva, crashed
into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 229 people on board.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_111>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gird (v):
1. To bind with a flexible rope or cord.
2. To encircle with, or as if with, a belt
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gird>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
If thinking men are few, they are for that reason all the more
powerful. Let no man imagine that he has no influence. Whoever he may
be, and wherever he may be placed, the man who thinks becomes a light
and a power.
--Henry George
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_George>
Fountain of Time is a sculpture by Lorado Taft, measuring 126 feet
10 inches (38.66 m) in length, at the western edge of the Midway
Plaisance within Washington Park in Chicago's South Side. Inspired by
Henry Austin Dobson's "Paradox of Time" and with its 100 figures
passing before Father Time, Time is a monument to the first 100 years
of peace between the United States and Great Britain, resulting from
the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. The fountain began running in 1920 and was
dedicated in 1922. It contributes to the National Register of Historic
Places Washington Park Historic District. Part of a larger
beautification plan for the Midway Plaisance, Time was constructed from
a new type of molded, steel-reinforced concrete that was claimed to be
more durable and cheaper than alternatives, making it the first of any
kind of finished works of art made of concrete. Before Millennium Park,
it was considered the most important installation in the Chicago Park
District. Time is one of several Chicago works funded by Benjamin
Ferguson's trust fund. During the late 1990s and early 21st century it
underwent repairs that corrected many of the problems caused by earlier
restorations.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_of_Time>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1763:
Catherine II of Russia endorsed educator Ivan Betskoy's plans for the
Moscow Orphanage , an ambitious, state-run, experimental Russian
Enlightenment project to educate orphans into ideal citizens.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Orphanage>
1804:
German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding discovered one of the largest
main belt asteroids, naming it Juno after the Roman goddess.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3_Juno>
1920:
The Fountain of Time opened as a tribute to the 100 years of peace
between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of
Ghent.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fountain_of_Time>
1939:
Nazi Germany invaded Poland at Wieluń and Westerplatte, starting World
War II in Europe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Poland_%281939%29>
1983:
Soviet jet interceptors shot down the civilian airliner Korean Air
Lines Flight 007 near Sakhalin Island in the North Pacific, killing all
246 passengers and 23 crew on board.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_Air_Lines_Flight_007>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
swelter (v):
1. To suffer terribly from intense heat.
2. To perspire greatly from heat
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/swelter>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants
thereof. Lev. XXV X
Inscription
on the
--w:Liberty Bell
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/w%3ALiberty_Bell>