"The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power" is a Time magazine article
highly critical of Scientology that was first published on May 6, 1991,
as an eight-page cover story. Written by investigative journalist
Richard Behar, the article was later published in Reader's Digest in
October 1991. Behar's article covers topics including: L. Ron Hubbard
(pictured) and the development of Scientology, its controversies over
the years and history of litigation, conflict with psychiatry and the
IRS, the suicide of a Scientologist, its status as a religion, and its
business dealings. After the article's publication, the Church of
Scientology mounted a public relations campaign to inform the public of
what it felt were falsehoods in the piece. It took out advertisements
in USA Today for twelve weeks, and Church leader David Miscavige was
interviewed by Ted Koppel on Nightline about what he considered to be
an objective bias by the article's author. The Church of Scientology
brought a libel suit against Time Warner and Behar, and sued Reader's
Digest in multiple countries in Europe in an attempt to stop the
article's publication there. The suit against Time Warner was dismissed
in 1996, and the Church of Scientology's petition for a writ of
certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case was
denied in 2001. Behar received awards in honor of his work on the
article, including the Gerald Loeb Award, the Worth Bingham Prize, and
the Conscience-in-Media Award.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thriving_Cult_of_Greed_and_Power>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1881:
Andrew Watson made his debut with the Scotland national football team
and became the world's first black international football player.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Watson_%28footballer%29>
1913:
The future capital of Australia was officially named Canberra during a
ceremony officiated by Lady Gertrude Denman, the wife of
Governor-General Lord Thomas Denman.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra>
1930:
Gandhi began the Dandi March , a 24-day walk to defy the British tax on
salt in colonial India.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Satyagraha>
1952:
Hastings Ismay was appointed as the first Secretary General of NATO.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Ismay%2C_1st_Baron_Ismay>
2004:
The National Assembly of South Korea voted to impeach President Roh
Moo-hyun on charges of illegal electioneering and incompetence, a move
that was largely opposed by the public.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roh_Moo-hyun>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ebony (n):
1. A hard, heavy, deep black wood from various subtropical and tropical
trees, especially of the genus Diospyros.
2. A tree that yields such wood.
3. A deep, dark black colour
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ebony>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Life to each individual is a scene of continued feasting in a region of
plenty; and when unexpected death arrests its course, it repays with
small interest the large debt which it has contracted to the common
fund of animal nutrition, from whence the materials of its body have
been derived. Thus the great drama of universal life is perpetually
sustained; and though the individual actors undergo continual change,
the same parts are filled by another and another generation; renewing
the face of the earth and the bosom of the deep with endless
successions of life and happiness.
--William Buckland
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Buckland>
Kirsten Dunst (born 1982) is an American actress, model, and singer.
She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by
Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories. At the age of 12, Dunst
gained widespread recognition playing the role of vampire Claudia in
Interview with the Vampire. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award
for Best Supporting Actress for this performance. That year she
appeared in Little Women, to further acclaim. Dunst achieved
international fame as a result of her portrayal of Mary Jane Watson in
the Spider-Man trilogy. Since then her films have included the romantic
comedy Wimbledon, the science fiction drama Eternal Sunshine of the
Spotless Mind and Cameron Crowe's tragicomedy Elizabethtown. She played
the title role in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, and she starred in
the comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. In 2001, Dunst made
her singing debut in the film Get Over It, in which she performed two
songs. She also sang the jazz song "After You've Gone" for the end
credits of the film The Cat's Meow.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsten_Dunst>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1649:
The Peace of Rueil was signed, signaling an end to the opening episodes
of the Fronde, France's civil war, after little blood had been shed.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Rueil>
1879:
Japan annexed the Ryūkyū Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa
Prefecture.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABky%C5%AB_Kingdom>
1941:
World War II: The Lend-Lease Act was signed into law, allowing the
United States to supply the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China,
France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lend-lease>
1966:
President Sukarno of Indonesia was essentially ousted by Suharto and
the military after being forced to sign the Presidential Order
Supersemar, giving Suharto authority to take whatever measures he
deemed necessary to restore order during the Indonesian killings.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno>
2004:
A series of simultaneous bombings on CercanÃas commuter trains killed
191 people and wounded more than 1,800 in the Spanish capital of
Madrid.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
hypernatremic (adj):
(medicine) Having an abnormally high concentration of sodium (or salt)
in blood plasma
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hypernatremic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All opinions are not equal. Some are a very great deal more robust,
sophisticated and well supported in logic and argument than others.
--Douglas Adams
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams>
The Superb Fairywren is a common and familiar passerine bird of the
Maluridae family. Sedentary and territorial, it is found across
south-eastern Australia. The species exhibits a high degree of sexual
dimorphism; the male in breeding plumage has a striking bright blue
forehead, ear coverts, mantle, and tail, with a black mask and black or
dark blue throat. Non-breeding males, females and juveniles are
predominantly grey-brown in colour; this gave the early impression that
males were polygamous as all dull-coloured birds were taken for
females. Two subspecies are recognised: the larger and darker Tasmanian
form cyaneus and the smaller and paler mainland form cyanochlamys. Like
other fairywrens, the Superb Fairywren is notable for several peculiar
behavioural characteristics; the birds are socially monogamous and
sexually promiscuous, meaning that although they form pairs between one
male and one female, each partner will mate with other individuals and
even assist in raising the young from such pairings. Male wrens pluck
yellow petals and display them to females as part of a courtship
display.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superb_Fairywren>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
241 BC:
The Roman Republic defeated Carthage in a naval battle off the coast of
the Aegadian Islands near the western coast of the island of Sicily,
ending the First Punic War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Aegates_Islands>
1831:
King Louis-Philippe of France created the French Foreign Legion as a
unit of foreign volunteers because foreigners were forbidden to serve
in the French Army after the 1830 July Revolution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Foreign_Legion>
1876:
Alexander Graham Bell made his first successful bi-directional
telephone call, saying, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you."
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_telephone>
1906:
More than a thousand coal miners were killed in the Courrières mine
disaster in Northern France, Europe's worst mining accident.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Courri%C3%A8res_mine_disaster>
1959:
An anti-Chinese uprising erupted in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, as
about 300,000 Tibetans surrounded the Potala Palace to prevent the 14th
Dalai Lama from leaving or being removed by the Chinese People's
Liberation Army.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1959_Tibetan_uprising>
1977:
Astronomers using NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory, an observatory
aboard a highly modified jet aircraft, discovered a faint planetary
ring system around Uranus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rings_of_Uranus>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
opportunely (adv):
1. In a manner suitable for some particular purpose.
2. In a manner convenient or advantageous at some particular time
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/opportunely>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
In men whom men condemn as ill
I find so much of goodness still,
In men whom men pronounce divine
I find so much of sin and blot,
I do not dare to draw a line
Between the two, where God has not.
--Joaquin Miller
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joaquin_Miller>
Flower is a PlayStation 3 video game. It was developed by
thatgamecompany, designed by Jenova Chen (pictured), and announced at
the 2007 Tokyo Game Show. Flower was released on February 12, 2009, via
the PlayStation Network. The game was intended as a spiritual successor
to flOw, a previous title by Chen and thatgamecompany. In it, the
player controls the wind, blowing a flower petal through the air using
the movement of the game controller. Flying close to flowers results in
the player's petal being followed by other flower petals. Approaching
flowers may also have side-effects on the game world, such as bringing
vibrant color to previously dead fields or activating stationary
windmills. The game features no text or dialogue, forming a narrative
arc primarily through visual representation and emotional cues. Flower
was primarily intended to provoke positive emotions in the player,
rather than to be a challenging and "fun" game. The team viewed their
efforts as creating a work of art, removing gameplay elements and
mechanics that were not provoking the desired response in the players.
Flower was a critical success, to the surprise of the developers.
Reviewers praised the game's music, visuals, and gameplay, calling it a
unique and compelling emotional experience. It was named the best
independent game of 2009 at the Spike Video Game Awards and by Playboy,
and won the "Casual Game of the Year" award by the Academy of
Interactive Arts and Sciences.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flower_%28video_game%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1276:
Augsburg in the Holy Roman Empire became a Free Imperial City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augsburg>
1841:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that captive Africans who seized control
of La Amistad, the trans-Atlantic slave-trading ship carrying them, had
been taken into slavery illegally.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amistad_%281841%29>
1842:
Nabucco, an opera by Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi ,
premiered at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabucco>
1862:
American Civil War: In the world's first major battle between two
powered ironclad warships, the USS Monitor and the CSS Virginia fought
to a draw near the mouth of Hampton Roads in Virginia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hampton_Roads>
1945:
World War II: A bomb raid on Tokyo by American B-29 heavy bombers
started a firestorm, killing over 100,000 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II>
1956:
Soviet military troops suppressed mass demonstrations in Tbilisi,
Georgia, who where protesting Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's
de-Stalinization policy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_Georgian_demonstrations>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
filigree (n):
1. A delicate and intricate ornamentation made from gold or silver
twisted wire.
2. A design resembling such intricate ornamentation
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/filigree>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
A philosopher is a lover of wisdom, not of knowledge, which for all its
great uses ultimately suffers from the crippling effect of
ephemerality. All knowledge is transient, linked to the world around it
and subject to change as the world changes, whereas wisdom, true wisdom
is eternal, immutable.
--Shashi Tharoor
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shashi_Tharoor>
Ceawlin was a King of Wessex. He may have been the son of Cynric of
Wessex and the grandson of Cerdic of Wessex, whom the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle represents as the leader of the first group of Saxons to come
to the land which later became Wessex. Ceawlin was active at a time
when the Anglo-Saxon invasion was being completed; by the time he died,
little of southern England remained in the control of the native
Britons. The chronology of Ceawlin's life is highly uncertain: his
reign is variously listed as lasting seven, seventeen, or thirty-two
years, and the historical accuracy and dating of many of the events in
the later Anglo-Saxon Chronicle have been called into
question.<ref>Stenton, p. 29, accepts the date given for Ceawlin's
accession in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 560, but Barbara Yorke in her
online DNB article on Ceawlin states that that his reign seems to have
been deliberately lengthened.</ref> The Chronicle records several
battles of Ceawlin's between the years 556 and 592, including the first
record of a battle between different groups of Anglo-Saxons, and
indicates that under Ceawlin Wessex acquired significant territory,
some of which was later to be lost to other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
Ceawlin is also named as one of the eight "bretwaldas": this was a
title given in the Chronicle to eight rulers who had overlordship over
southern Britain, although the actual extent of Ceawlin’s control is
not known. Ceawlin died in 593, having been deposed the year before,
possibly by his successor, Ceol. He is recorded in various sources as
having two sons, Cutha and Cuthwine, but the genealogies in which this
information is found are known to be unreliable.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceawlin_of_Wessex>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1702:
Princess Anne of Denmark and Norway became the Queen of England,
Scotland and Ireland, succeeding William III.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Great_Britain>
1782:
American Revolutionary War: Almost 100 Native Americans in
Gnadenhutten, Ohio died at the hands of Pennsylvanian militiamen in a
mass murder known as the Gnadenhutten massacre.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnadenhutten_massacre>
1978:
BBC Radio 4 transmitted the first episode of English author and
dramatist Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a
science fiction radio series that was later adapted into novels, a
television series, and other media formats.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy_%28radi…>
1983:
The Cold War: During a speech to the National Association of
Evangelicals in Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Ronald Reagan
described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/evil_empire>
1985:
A failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad
Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut killed more than 80 people and injured
almost 200 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Beirut_car_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
superadd (v):
To add on top of a previous addition
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/superadd>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We no longer have a coherent conception of ourselves, and our universe,
and our relation to one another and our world. We no longer know, as
the Middle Ages did, where we come from, and where we are going, or
why. That is, we don't know what information is relevant, and what
information is irrelevant to our lives.
--Neil Postman
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Postman>
"We Are the World" is a song and charity single recorded by USA for
Africa in 1985. It was recently re-recorded and updated in 2010 by a
different set of artists as "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", to benefit
survivors (pictured) of this year's devastating earthquake in Haiti.
The song was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, and
originally co-produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the
album We Are the World. The recording sessions for both versions of the
song have brought together some of the biggest artists in the music
industry. The original anthem was released on March 7, 1985, as the
only single from We Are the World. The single was a worldwide
commercial success and was promoted in several ways. The promotion
aided the success of "We Are the World", which was eventually named the
biggest selling single of all time. The USA for Africa single has sold
over 20 million units and raised over US$63 million for humanitarian
aid in Africa and the US. "We Are the World" has demonstrated that
diverse musicians can productively work together, and has further
influenced the movement within pop music to create songs that address
humane concerns.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_World>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
161:
Following the death of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius
and Lucius Verus agreed to become co-Emperors in an unprecedented
arrangement in the Roman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius>
1887:
The North Carolina General Assembly established North Carolina State
University, today the largest university in North Carolina, as a land
grant institution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_State_University>
1945:
World War II: In Operation Lumberjack, Allied forces seized the
Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine in Remagen, enabling them to establish
and expand a lodgement on German soil that changed the entire nature of
the conflict on the Western Front.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludendorff_Bridge>
1950:
The Soviet Union issued a statement denying that German nuclear
physicist Klaus Fuchs had served as a Soviet spy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Fuchs>
1965:
African-American Civil Rights Movement: Civil rights demonstrators
marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, were brutally attacked by
police on Bloody Sunday .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
putative (adj):
Commonly believed or deemed to be the case; accepted by supposition
rather than as a result of proof
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/putative>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he
ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he
ought to do.
--Thomas Aquinas
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas>
The Kinzua Bridge was a railroad trestle that had spanned Kinzua Creek
in McKean County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The bridge was
301Â feet (92Â m) tall and 2,052Â feet (625Â m) long prior to its collapse.
The bridge was originally built from iron in 1882 and was billed as the
"Eighth Wonder of the World", holding the record as the tallest
railroad bridge in the world for two years. In 1900 the bridge was
dismantled and simultaneously rebuilt out of steel to allow it to
accommodate heavier trains. It stayed in commercial service until 1959
and was sold to the state government of Pennsylvania in 1963, becoming
the centerpiece of a state park. Restoration of the bridge began in
2002, but before it was finished, a tornado struck the bridge in 2003
causing a large portion of the bridge to collapse. Contributing to the
collapse was the failure, caused by corrosion, of the anchor bolts
holding the bridge towers to their foundations. Before its collapse,
the Kinzua Bridge was ranked as the fourth tallest railway bridge in
the United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1977 and as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in
1982. The Kinzua Bridge is in Kinzua Bridge State Park off U.S. Route 6
near the borough of Mount Jewett, Pennsylvania.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinzua_Bridge>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1770:
British soldiers fired into a threatening crowd in Boston,
Massachusetts, killing five civilians.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre>
1850:
The Britannia Bridge , a tubular bridge of wrought iron rectangular
box-section spans crossing the Menai Strait between the island of
Anglesey and the mainland of Wales, opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Bridge>
1940:
World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and the Politburo signed an
order for the execution of about 22,000 Polish military officers,
policemen, intellectuals and civilian prisoners of war that were
captured during the Soviet invasion of Poland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre>
1946:
The term "Iron Curtain", describing the symbolic, ideological, and
physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas during the
Cold War, was popularized by former British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill during a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri,
US.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain>
1960:
British marine biologist Alister Hardy introduced his aquatic ape
hypothesis, theorizing that swimming and diving for food exerted a
strong evolutionary effect that was partly responsible for the
divergence between the common ancestors of humans and other great apes.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/aquatic_ape_hypothesis>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
moonraker (n):
(nautical) A small, light sail high on a mast
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/moonraker>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The object of government in peace and in war is not the glory of rulers
or of races, but the happiness of the common man.
--William Beveridge
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Beveridge>
The Suffolk Punch is an English breed of draught horse. The breed takes
the first part of its name from the county of Suffolk in East Anglia,
and the name "Punch" from its solid appearance and strength. It is a
heavy draught horse which is always chestnut in colour, although the
colour is traditionally spelled "chesnut" by the breed registries.
Suffolk Punches are known as good doers, and tend to have energetic
gaits. The breed was developed in the early 16th century, and remains
similar in phenotype to its founding stock. The Suffolk Punch was
developed for farm work, and gained popularity during the early 20th
century. However, as agriculture became increasingly mechanised, the
breed fell out of favour, particularly from the middle part of the
century, and almost disappeared completely. Although the breed's status
is listed as critical by the UK Rare Breeds Survival Trust and the
American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, there has been a resurgence in
interest, and population numbers are increasing. As well as being used
for farm work, the breed pulled artillery and non-motorised commercial
vans and buses. It was also exported to other countries to upgrade
local equine stock.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffolk_Punch>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1461:
Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI was deposed by
his Yorkist cousin, who then became King Edward IV.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_IV_of_England>
1681:
King Charles II of England granted Quaker William Penn a charter for
the Pennsylvania Colony.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Pennsylvania>
1769:
French astronomer Charles Messier first noted the Orion Nebula , a
bright nebula visible to the naked eye in the night sky situated south
of Orion's Belt, later cataloguing it as Messier 42 in his list of
Messier objects.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Nebula>
1982:
Bertha Wilson became the first female Puisne Justice of the Supreme
Court of Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Wilson>
2009:
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President
of Sudan Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against
humanity regarding his actions during the War in Darfur.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
infallible (adj):
Without fault or weakness; incapable of error or fallacy
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/infallible>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
When I listen to love, I am listening to my true nature. When I express
love, I am expressing my true nature. All of us love. All of us do it
more and more perfectly. The past has brought us both ashes and
diamonds. In the present we find the flowers of what we've planted and
the seeds of what we are becoming. I plant the seeds of love in my
heart. I plant the seeds of love in the hearts of others.
--Julia Cameron
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julia_Cameron>
The Sholes and Glidden typewriter was the first commercially successful
typewriter. Principally designed by Christopher Latham Sholes, it was
developed with the assistance of fellow printer Samuel W. Soule and
amateur mechanic Carlos S. Glidden. After several short-lived attempts
to manufacture the device, the machine was acquired by E. Remington and
Sons in early 1873. An arms manufacturer seeking to diversify,
Remington further refined the typewriter before finally placing it on
the market on July 1, 1874. During its development, the typewriter
evolved from a crude curiosity into a practical device, the basic form
of which became the industry standard. The machine incorporated
elements which became fundamental to typewriter design, including a
cylindrical platen and a four-rowed QWERTY keyboard. Several design
deficiencies remained, however. The Sholes and Glidden could print only
upper-case letters—an issue remedied in its successor, the Remington
No. 2—and was a "blind writer", meaning the typist could not see what
was being written as it was entered. Initially, the typewriter received
an unenthusiastic reception from the public. Lack of an established
market, high cost, and the need for trained operators slowed its
adoption. Additionally, recipients of typewritten messages found the
mechanical, all upper-case writing to be impersonal and even insulting.
The new communication technologies and expanding businesses of the late
19th century, however, had created a need for expedient, legible
correspondence, and so the Sholes and Glidden and its contemporaries
soon became ubiquitous office fixtures.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1284:
The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporated the Principality of Wales into
England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_Rhuddlan>
1431:
Gabriel Condulmer became Pope Eugene IV , succeeding Martin V.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Eugene_IV>
1585:
The Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza, Italy, a theatre designed by the
Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, was inaugurated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatro_Olimpico>
1865:
The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation opened its doors,
originally to help Hong Kong merchants finance the growing trade
between China and Europe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hongkong_and_Shanghai_Banking_Corporation>
1991:
Motorist Rodney King was beaten by Los Angeles policemen, causing
public outrage that increased tensions between the African American
community and the police department over the issues of police brutality
and social inequalities in the area.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King>
1997:
The Sky Tower in Auckland, the tallest free-standing structure in the
Southern Hemisphere at 328Â metres (1,080Â ft), opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Tower>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
augment (v):
1. To increase; to make larger or supplement.
2. (reflexive) To grow, increase, or become greater.
3. (music) To
increase an interval by a half step (chromatic semitone)
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/augment>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If there be such a thing as truth, it must infallibly be struck out by
the collision of mind with mind.
--William Godwin
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Godwin>