Giovanni Villani (c. 1280–1348) was an Italian banker, official,
diplomat, and chronicler from Florence who wrote the Nuova Cronica on
the history of Florence. He was a leading statesman of Florence but
later gained an unsavory reputation and served time in prison due to
the bankruptcy of a trading and banking company he worked for. His
interest and elaboration in economic details, statistical information,
and political and psychological insight signifies him as a more modern
late medieval chronicler of Europe. His Cronica is viewed as the first
introduction of statistics as a positive element in history. However,
historian Kenneth R. Bartlett notes that "his reliance on such elements
as Divine Providence links Villani closely with the medieval vernacular
chronical tradition," that is to say, not linked closely with his
Renaissance-era successors. In recurring themes made implicit through
significant events described in his Cronica, Villani also emphasized
three assumptions about sin and morality that guided historical events,
these being that excess brings disaster, forces of right and wrong are
at constant struggle, and that events are directly related to the will
of God. While continuing work on the Cronica and detailing the enormous
loss of life during the Black Death in 1348, Villani died of the very
same illness. His work on the Cronica was continued by his brother and
nephew. Villani's work has received both praise and criticism from
modern historians.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_Villani>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1808:
The people of Madrid rebelled against French occupation of the city,
triggering the Peninsular War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dos_de_Mayo_Uprising>
1829:
Captain Charles Fremantle of the Royal Navy established the Swan River
Colony, the first British settlement on the west coast of Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_River_Colony>
1945:
World War II: General Helmuth Weidling, commander of the German troops
in Berlin, surrendered the city to Soviet forces led by Marshal Georgy
Zhukov, ending the Battle of Berlin.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Berlin>
1982:
Falklands War: HMS Conqueror launched three torpedoes and sank ARA
General Belgrano , the only ship ever to have been sunk by a
nuclear-powered submarine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARA_General_Belgrano>
1986:
Henri Toivonen was killed in an accident while leading the Tour de
Corse rally, resulting in FISA, the sport governing body for motor
racing events, banning the powerful and popular Group B rally cars for
the following season.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Toivonen>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
alacrity (n):
1. Eagerness; liveliness; enthusiasm.
2. Promptness; speed
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alacrity>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We are so bound together that no man can labor for himself alone. Each
blow he strikes in his own behalf helps to mold the Universe.
--Jerome K. Jerome
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jerome_K._Jerome>
Tropical Storm Barry was a rapidly forming tropical cyclone that made
landfall on Florida in early June. The second Atlantic named storm of
the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, Barry developed from a trough of
low pressure in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on June 1. It tracked
rapidly northeastward, reaching peak winds of 60 mph (95 km/h) before
weakening and making landfall near Tampa Bay as a tropical depression.
Barry quickly lost tropical characteristics after wind shear removed
much of the convection, and early on June 3 it completed the transition
into an extratropical cyclone. The extratropical remnants tracked up
the East Coast of the United States, and were absorbed by a larger
extratropical cyclone on June 5. The precursor trough produced heavy
rainfall across the western Caribbean Sea, which on Cuba unofficially
reached over 7.8 inches (200 mm). Outer rainbands in Pinar del Río
Province injured three and damaged 55 houses. In Florida, Barry dropped
moderate precipitation across the drought-ridden state that peaked at
6.99 inches (178 mm). The rainfall caused some flooding and wet roads,
which led to two indirect traffic fatalities. Rough seas killed one
surfer in Pinellas County. In Florida and Georgia, the precipitation
assisted firefighters in combating severe wildfires. Overall damage
from the storm was minor.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Barry_%282007%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1786:
The Marriage of Figaro, an opera buffa composed by Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marriage_of_Figaro>
1840:
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland first issued the Penny
Black, the first official adhesive postage stamp.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black>
1885:
The original Chicago Board of Trade Building opened for business.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Board_of_Trade_Building>
1893:
The World's Columbian Exposition, a World's Fair to celebrate the 400th
anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World, opened
in Chicago.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Columbian_Exposition>
1898:
The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey defeated the
Spanish Pacific Squadron under Admiral Patricio Montojo at the Battle
of Manila Bay, the first engagement of the Spanish–American War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_Bay_%281898%29>
1931:
New York City's Empire State Building , at the time the tallest
building in the world, opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_State_Building>
1956:
A doctor in Japan reported an "epidemic of an unknown disease of the
central nervous system", marking the official discovery of Minamata
disease.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
mayday (interj):
An expression used by aircraft and shipping to call for help or
assistance
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mayday>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When an angel by divine command
With rising tempests shakes a guilty land,
Such as of late o'er pale
Britannia passed,
Calm and serene he drives the furious blast;
And, pleas'd th'
Almighty's orders to perform,
Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm.
--Joseph Addison
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Addison>
"The Joy of Sect" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons' ninth
season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on
February 8, 1998. In the episode, a cult called the "Movementarians"
takes over Springfield, and Homer and the rest of the Simpson family
become members. Homer and Bart are initially introduced to a pair of
young Movementarian recruiters in an airport. Homer becomes
brainwashed, and moves his family into the cult compound. David Mirkin
had the initial idea for the episode, Steve O'Donnell was the lead
writer, and Steven Dean Moore directed. The writers drew on many groups
to develop the Movementarians, but were principally influenced by
Scientology, Heaven's Gate, the Unification Church and Peoples Temple.
The episode was later analyzed from religious, philosophical and
psychological perspectives, and books on The Simpsons compared the
Movementarians to many of the same groups that the writers had drawn
influences from. The show contains many references to popular culture,
including the title reference to The Joy of Sex and a gag involving
Rover from the television program The Prisoner. USA Today and The A.V.
Club featured "The Joy of Sect" in lists of important episodes of The
Simpsons.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Joy_of_Sect>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1006:
SN 1006, the brightest supernova in history, first appeared in the
constellation Lupus, and was then seen by observers in Switzerland,
Egypt, China, Japan, and possibly North America within the next day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1006>
1789:
George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of
the United States at Federal Hall in New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington>
1945:
World War II: As Allied forces were closing in on Berlin, Adolf Hitler
and Eva Braun committed suicide in the Führerbunker after being married
for one day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler>
1948:
Twenty-one countries signed a charter in Bogotá, Colombia, establishing
the Organization of American States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States>
1975:
North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon shortly after American forces
ended its helicopter evacuation of U.S. citizens, South Vietnamese
civilians and third country nationals from the city, ending the Vietnam
War with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Frequent_Wind>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
lebensraum (n):
Hitherto unoccupied “living space” claimed as one’s rightful domain
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lebensraum>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful,
unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor
imagination take place. It's enough just to be without hypocrisy,
dogmatism, arrogance — embracing all opposites.
--Taisen Deshimaru
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Taisen_Deshimaru>
"Paranoid Android" is a song by English alternative rock band
Radiohead, featured on their 1997 third studio album OK Computer. The
lyrics of the bleak but intentionally humorous song were written
primarily by singer Thom Yorke, following an unpleasant experience in a
Los Angeles bar. Six minutes long, and in four distinct sections, the
track is significantly influenced by The Beatles' "Happiness Is a Warm
Gun" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Paranoid Android" takes its name
from Marvin the Paranoid Android of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy series. When released as the lead single from OK
Computer, "Paranoid Android" charted at number three on the UK Singles
Chart. It was well received by music critics and highlighted in many
reviews of OK Computer. The track has appeared regularly on lists of
the best songs of all time, including Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest
Songs of All Time. Its animated music video, directed by Magnus
Carlsson, was placed on heavy rotation on MTV, although the network
censored portions containing nudity. Since its release, the track has
been covered by numerous artists working in a variety of musical
genres.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_Android>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1770:
British explorer James Cook and the crew of HMS Endeavour made their
first landfall on Australia on the coast of Botany Bay near present-day
Sydney.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Endeavour>
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces under David Farragut captured New
Orleans, securing access into the Mississippi River.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Farragut>
1882:
German inventor Ernst Werner von Siemens began operating his
Elektromote, the world's first trolleybus, in a Berlin suburb.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/trolleybus>
1916:
World War I: Khalil Pasha of the Ottoman Army accepted the surrender of
Major-General Charles Townshend and the British Mesopotamian
Expeditionary Force, ending the Siege of Kut.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Kut>
1968:
The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie counter-culture
and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opened at the Biltmore Theatre on
Broadway, with its songs becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War
movement.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_%28musical%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
napiform (adj):
Shaped like a turnip; spherical at the top, but with a tapering bottom
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/napiform>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
He who hopes to grow in spirit
will have to transcend obedience and respect.
He'll hold to some
laws
but he'll mostly violate
both law and custom, and go beyond
the
established, inadequate norm.
--Constantine P. Cavafy
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Constantine_P._Cavafy>
Ba Cut (1923–1956) was a military commander of the Hòa Hảo religious
sect, which operated from the Mekong Delta and controlled various parts
of southern Vietnam during the 1940s and early 1950s. Ba Cụt and his
forces fought the Vietnamese National Army, the Việt Minh, and the Cao
Đài religious movement from 1943 until his capture in 1956. Known for
his idiosyncrasies, he was regarded as an erratic and cruel leader who
fought with little ideological purpose. His sobriquet came from the
self-amputation of a finger as part of a vow during his teenage years
to defeat the French colonial forces; he later swore not to cut his
hair until the communist Việt Minh were defeated. Ba Cụt frequently
made alliances with various Vietnamese factions and the French. He
invariably accepted the material support offered in return for his
cooperation, and then broke the agreement—nevertheless, the French made
deals with him on five occasions. In mid-1955, the tide turned against
the various sects, as Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm of the State of
Vietnam and his VNA began to consolidate their grip on the south. Ba
Cụt and his allies were driven into the jungle, and their position was
threatened by government offensives. After almost a year of fighting,
Ba Cụt was captured. He was sentenced to death and publicly beheaded in
Cần Thơ.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_Cut>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1192:
Third Crusade: Conrad of Montferrat, the elected King of Jerusalem, was
fatally stabbed by members of the Hashshashin.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_of_Montferrat>
1789:
About 1,300 miles west of Tahiti, near Tonga, Fletcher Christian, the
master's mate on board the Royal Navy ship HMAV Bounty, led a mutiny
against the ship's commander William Bligh.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bligh>
1920:
The Soviet Union established the Azerbaijan SSR after the government of
the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic surrendered to the invading
Bolsheviks.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_Democratic_Republic>
1952:
The Treaty of San Francisco entered into force, ending the occupation
of Japan by the former Allied Powers of World War II.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_San_Francisco>
2008:
The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, at the time the
world's highest residence above ground-level at 1,389 feet (423 m),
held its full service grand opening.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump_International_Hotel_and_Tower_%28Chicago…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
crenellation (n):
A pattern along the top of a parapet (fortified wall), most often in
the form of multiple, regular, rectangular spaces in the top of the
wall, through which arrows or other weaponry may be shot
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crenellation>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Too much magic could wrap time and space around itself, and that wasn't
good news for the kind of person who had grown used to things like
effects following things like causes.
--Terry Pratchett
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Terry_Pratchett>
The Disasters of War are a series of 82 prints created between 1810 and
1820 by Spanish master painter and printmaker Francisco Goya. Although
he did not make known his intention when creating the plates, art
historians view them as a visual protest against the violence of the
1808 Dos de Mayo Uprising, the subsequent Peninsular War of 1808–14 and
the setbacks to the liberal cause following the restoration of the
Bourbon monarchy in 1814. They were not published until 1863, 35 years
after his death. With these works, he breaks from a number of painterly
traditions. He rejects the bombastic heroics of most previous Spanish
war art to show the effect of conflict on individuals. In addition he
abandons colour in favour of a more direct truth he found in shadow and
shade. The series was produced using a variety of intaglio printmaking
techniques, mainly etching for the line work and aquatint for the tonal
areas, but also engraving and drypoint. The first 47 focus on incidents
from the war and show the consequences of the conflict on individual
soldiers and civilians. The middle series (plates 48 to 64) record the
effects of the famine that hit Madrid in 1811–12, before the city was
liberated from the French. The final 17 reflect the bitter
disappointment of liberals when the restored Bourbon monarchy,
encouraged by the Catholic hierarchy, rejected the Spanish Constitution
of 1812 and opposed both state and religious reform.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Disasters_of_War>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1521:
Filipino natives led by chieftain Lapu-Lapu killed Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan and over forty Spanish soldiers at the Battle of
Mactan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mactan>
1565:
Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi and 500 armed soldiers arrived at
Cebu and established there the first Spanish settlement in the
Philippines.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cebu_City>
1805:
First Barbary War: U.S. Marines engaged forces of the Barbary Coast at
the Battle of Derne in Tripoli, marking the first recorded land battle
by the United States on foreign soil.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Derne>
1904:
Chris Watson became the first Australian Prime Minister from the
Australian Labour Party, and the first Labour Party prime minister in
the world.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Watson>
1967:
The Expo 67 World's Fair opened in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with over
50 million visitors and 62 nations participating.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_67>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
jinx (v):
1. To cast a spell on.
2. To bring bad luck to
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jinx>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for
happiness, the good he seeks.
--Mary Wollstonecraft
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft>
The United States Academic Decathlon is an annual high school academic
competition organized by the non-profit United States Academic
Decathlon Association. Created by Robert Peterson in Orange County,
California for local schools in 1968 and expanded to a nationwide
setting in 1981, the competition consists of seven thematically linked
multiple choice tests in art, economics, language and literature, math,
music, science and social science, as well as three subjective events
graded by judges: essay, interview and speech. Teams generally consist
of nine members, who are divided into three divisions based on grade
point average. Each team member competes in all ten events against
other students in his or her division, and team scores are calculated
using the top two overall individual scores from each team in all three
divisions. To earn a spot at the national competition in April, teams
must advance through local, regional, and state competitions. Online
competitions, separated into "small", "medium", and "large" categories,
are also offered.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Academic_Decathlon>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
American Army soldiers cornered and fatally shot John Wilkes Booth, the
assassin of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, in rural northern Virginia,
ending a twelve-day manhunt.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth>
1937:
Spanish Civil War: The Bombing of Guernica by the Condor Legion of the
German Luftwaffe resulted in a devastating firestorm that caused
widespread destruction and civilian deaths in the Basque town.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Guernica>
1958:
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Royal Blue, one of the first major
railway electrification systems in the United States, made its final
Washington, D.C., to New York City run.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Blue_%28train%29>
1986:
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Chernobyl, Ukrainian SSR,
suffered a steam explosion, resulting in a fire, a nuclear meltdown,
and the evacuation and resettlement of over 336,000 people around
Europe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster_effects>
2007:
Controversy surrounding the relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn
in Tallinn, Estonia, a Soviet Red Army World War II memorial, erupted
into mass protests and riots.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Night>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
didactic (adj):
1. Instructive or intended to teach or demonstrate, especially with
regard to morality.
2. Excessively moralizing
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/didactic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death.
If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but
timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the
present.
Our life has no end in just the way in which our visual field has no
limits.
--Ludwig Wittgenstein
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ludwig_Wittgenstein>
Wulfhere (died 675) was King of Mercia from the end of the 650s until
675. He was the first Christian king of all of Mercia, though it is not
known when or how he was converted. His accession marked the end of
Oswiu of Northumbria's overlordship of southern England, and Wulfhere
extended his influence over much of that region. His campaigns against
the West Saxons led to Mercian supremacy over much of the Thames
valley. He conquered the Isle of Wight and the Meon valley and gave
them to King Æthelwealh of the South Saxons. He married Eormenhild, the
daughter of King Eorcenberht of Kent. He was effectively the overlord
of Britain south of the Humber from the early 660s, although not
overlord of Northumbria as his father had been. In 674, he challenged
Oswiu's son Ecgfrith of Northumbria, but was defeated. He died,
probably of disease, in 675.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wulfhere>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1719:
Robinson Crusoe, a novel by English author Daniel Defoe about a
castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near
Venezuela, was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe>
1898:
Spanish–American War: The United States retroactively declared war on
Spain, stating that a state of war between the two countries had
already existed for the past couple of days.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War>
1915:
World War I: Australian and New Zealand Army Corps landed at Anzac Cove
while British and French troops landed at Cape Helles to begin the
Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in the Ottoman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallipoli_Campaign>
1953:
Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids by molecular biologists James
Watson and Francis Crick was first published in the scientific journal
Nature, describing the discovery of the double helix structure of DNA .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_Structure_of_Nucleic_Acids%3A_A_Stru…>
1974:
The song "Grândola, Vila Morena" by Zeca Afonso was broadcast on radio,
signalling the start of the Carnation Revolution, a bloodless coup
against the Estado Novo regime in Portugal.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnation_Revolution>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
beleaguer (v):
1. To besiege; to surround with troops.
2. To vex, harass, or beset
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/beleaguer>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I will either find a way, or make one.
--Hannibal
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hannibal>
Space Invaders is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado,
and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito
in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by
the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest
shooting games and features two-dimensional graphics. The aim is to
defeat waves of aliens with a laser cannon and earn as many points as
possible. In designing the game, Nishikado drew inspiration from
popular media: Breakout, The War of the Worlds, and Star Wars. To
complete it, he had to design custom hardware and development tools.
Though simple by today's standards, it was one of the forerunners of
modern video gaming and helped expand the video game industry from a
novelty to a global industry. When first released, Space Invaders was
very successful and popular. Following its release, the game caused a
temporary shortage of 100-yen coins in Japan, and by 2007 had earned
Taito US$500 million in revenue. Guinness World Records ranks it the
top arcade game. The game has been the inspiration for other video
games, re-released on numerous platforms, and led to several sequels.
The 1980 Atari 2600 version quadrupled the system's sales and became
the first "killer app" for video game consoles. Space Invaders has been
referenced and parodied in multiple television shows, and been a part
of several video game and cultural exhibitions. The pixelated enemy
alien has become a media icon representing video games as a whole.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1479 BC:
Thutmose III became the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of
Egypt according to the official chronology, although during the first
22 years of the reign he was co-regent with his aunt, Hatshepsut.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thutmose_III>
1877:
Unable to resolve a series of disputes over the Balkans in the
aftermath of the 1876 Bulgarian April Uprising, Russia declared war on
the Ottoman Empire, starting the Russo-Turkish War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Turkish_War_%281877%E2%80%931878%29>
1915:
The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire began with the arrest and
deportation of hundreds of prominent Armenians in Constantinople.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Genocide>
1916:
Irish republicans led by teacher and political activist Patrick Pearse
began the Easter Rising, a rebellion against British rule in Ireland,
and proclaimed the Irish Republic an independent state.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proclamation_of_the_Irish_Republic>
1993:
The Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a truck bomb in
London's financial district in Bishopsgate, killing one person,
injuring 44 others and causing £1 billion in damages.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Bishopsgate_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
gargoyle (n):
1. A carved grotesque figure on a spout which conveys water away from
the gutters.
2. A decorative carved grotesque figure on a building.
3. A fictional
winged creature.
4. (slang, pejorative) An ugly woman
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gargoyle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The most powerful weapon to conquer the devil is humility. For, as he
does not know at all how to employ it, neither does he know how to
defend himself from it.
--Vincent de Paul
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vincent_de_Paul>
The role of an England national football team manager was first
established in May 1947 with the appointment of Walter Winterbottom.
Before this, the England team was selected by the "International
Selection Committee", a process by which the Football Association would
select coaches and trainers from the league to prepare the side for
single games, but where all decisions ultimately remained under the
control of the committee. A 1–0 defeat by Switzerland prompted FA
secretary Stanley Rous to raise Winterbottom from "National Director of
coaching" to "Manager". Fifteen men have occupied the post since its
inception; three of those were in short-term caretaker manager roles.
Alf Ramsey is the only manager to have won a major tournament, winning
the 1966 FIFA World Cup with his "Wingless Wonders". No other manager
has progressed beyond the semi-finals of a major competition. The
incumbent is the Italian Fabio Capello, who replaced Steve McClaren in
2008. The England manager's job is subject to intense press scrutiny,
often including revelations about the incumbent's private life. Due to
the high level of expectation of both the public and media the role has
been described as "the impossible job" or compared in importance in
national culture to that of the British Prime Minister.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_national_football_team_manager>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1348:
The first-ever appointments of the Order of the Garter, an order of
chivalry, founded by King Edward III of England, that is today
presently bestowed on recipients in the United Kingdom and other
Commonwealth realms, were announced.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Garter>
1661:
Charles II was crowned King of England, Ireland, and Scotland at
Westminster Abbey.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England>
1827:
Irish mathematician and physicist William Rowan Hamilton presented his
Theory of Systems of Rays.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Rowan_Hamilton>
1979:
Activist Blair Peach suffered fatal head injures after being knocked
unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration in Southall,
London, against a British National Front election meeting in the town
hall.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blair_Peach>
1985:
The Coca-Cola Company introduced "New Coke" to replace its flagship
soft drink Coca-Cola, eventually generating so much negative response
that the company put the original formula back on the market less than
three months later.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
simony (n):
The act of buying and selling ecclesiastical offices and pardons
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/simony>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I would not so dishonour God as to lend my voice to perpetuate all the
mad and foolish things which men have dared to say of Him. I believe
that we may find in the Bible the highest and purest religion .....
most of all in the history of Him in whose name we all are called. His
religion — not the Christian religion, but the religion of Christ — the
poor man's gospel; the message of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of
love; and, oh, how gladly would I spend my life, in season and out of
season, in preaching this! But I must have no hell terrors, none of
these fear doctrines; they were not in the early creeds, God knows
whether they were ever in the early gospels, or ever passed His lips.
He went down to hell, but it was to break the chains, not to bind them.
--James Anthony Froude
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Anthony_Froude>