The Mendip Hills are a range of limestone hills situated to the south
of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between
Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the Hills overlook the Somerset Levels to
the south and the Avon valley to the north. The hills give their name
to the local government district of Mendip, which covers most of the
area. The hills are largely carboniferous limestone, which is quarried
at several sites. The higher, western, part of the Hills, has been
designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) which gives it
the same level of protection as a national park. The AONB is
200 km2 (80 sq mi). The Mendip Hills AONB Service and Somerset County
Council's outdoor education centre is at the Charterhouse Centre near
Blagdon. Mendip is home to a wide range of outdoor sports and leisure
activities, many based on the particular geology of the area. It is
recognised as a national centre for caving and cave diving. In addition
to climbing and abseiling, the area is popular with hillwalkers and
those interested in natural history.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendip_Hills>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1562:
Troops of Francis, Duke of Guise, massacred Huguenots in Wassy, France,
starting the French Wars of Religion.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Wars_of_Religion>
1565:
The Portuguese founded Rio de Janeiro.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_de_Janeiro>
1872:
Yellowstone National Park, located primarily in the U.S. state of
Wyoming, one of the first national parks in the world, was established.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park>
1919:
Korea under Japanese rule: The Samil Movement began with numerous
peaceful protests in Korea, but was brutally suppressed by the Japanese
police and army.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1st_Movement>
1954:
The 15-megaton hydrogen bomb Castle Bravo was detonated on Bikini
Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in one of the worst cases of
radioactive contamination ever caused by nuclear testing.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Bravo>
1956:
The NATO phonetic alphabet, today the most widely used spelling
alphabet, was first implemented by the International Civil Aviation
Organization.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
breviary (n):
A book containing prayers, hymns, and so on for everyday use at the
canonical hours
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/breviary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
>From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step.
--Napoleon I of France
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France>
100px|Actor Tom WellingThe first season of Smallville began airing on
October 16, 2001, on The WB television network. Smallville recounts the
early adventures of Kryptonian Clark Kent as he adjusts to life in the
fictional town of Smallville, Kansas, during the years before he
becomes Superman. The first season comprises 21 episodes and concluded
its initial airing on May 21, 2002. The season's stories focus on
Martha and Jonathan Kent's (O'Toole and Schneider) attempts to help
their adopted son Clark cope with his alien origin and control his
developing superhuman abilities. Clark must deal with the
meteor-infected individuals that begin appearing in Smallville, his
love for Lana Lang, and not being able to tell his two best friends,
Pete Ross and Chloe Sullivan, about his alien nature. Clark also
befriends Lex Luthor. "Villain of the week" storylines were predominant
during the first season; physical effects, make-up effects, and
computer-generated imagery became important components as well. The
pilot broke The WB's viewership record for a debut series, and was
nominated for various awards. Although the villain of the week
storylines became a concern for producers, critical reception was
generally favorable, and the series was noted as having a promising
start.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallville_%28season_1%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
870:
The Fourth Council of Constantinople, the eighth Catholic Ecumenical
Council, ended.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Council_of_Constantinople_%28Roman_Cath…>
1838:
Lower Canada Rebellion: Robert Nelson, leader of the Patriotes,
proclaimed the independence of Lower Canada.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nelson_%28insurrectionist%29>
1900:
Second Boer War: The 118-day Siege of Ladysmith in South Africa was
lifted after British forces finally broke through the Boer positions.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Ladysmith>
1914:
In the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, Greeks living in southern Albania
proclaimed the Autonomous Republic of Northern Epirus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_Republic_of_Northern_Epirus>
1947:
Civil disorder in Taiwan was brutally suppressed by the Chinese
Nationalist military in the 228 Incident.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/228_Incident>
1986:
Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated by a lone gunman in
Stockholm while walking home from a movie theatre with his wife Lisbet
Palme.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Olof_Palme>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Tom Jones (n):
(rare) A desirable man of loose morals, prone to having sex with many
women
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Tom_Jones>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I speak the truth, not my fill of it, but as much as I dare speak; and
I dare to do so a little more as I grow old.
--Michel de Montaigne
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne>
Huntington's disease is an incurable neurodegenerative genetic disorder
that affects muscle coordination and some cognitive functions,
typically becoming noticeable in middle age. It is the most common
genetic cause of abnormal involuntary writhing movements called chorea
and is much more common in people of Western Europe descent than in
those from Asia or Africa. The disease is caused by a dominant mutation
on either of the two copies of a gene called Huntingtin, which means
any child of an affected parent has a 50% risk of inheriting the
disease. Physical symptoms of Huntington's disease can begin at any age
from infancy to old age, but usually begin between 35 and 44 years of
age. The Huntingtin gene normally provides the genetic information for
a protein that is also called "huntingtin". The mutation of the
Huntingtin gene codes for a different form of the protein, whose
presence results in gradual damage to specific areas of the brain. The
exact way this happens is not fully understood. Genetic counseling has
developed to inform and aid individuals considering genetic testing.
The earliest symptoms are a general lack of coordination and an
unsteady gait. As the disease advances, uncoordinated, jerky body
movements become more apparent, along with a decline in mental
abilities and behavioral and psychiatric problems. Although the
disorder itself is not fatal, complications such as pneumonia, heart
disease, and physical injury from falls reduce life expectancy to
around twenty years after symptoms begin. There is no cure for HD, and
full-time care is often required in the later stages of the disease.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntington%27s_disease>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1594:
Henry IV of France was crowned at the Cathedral of Chartres near Paris,
beginning the Bourbon dynasty.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV_of_France>
1801:
Under the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801, Washington, D.C., a
new planned city and capital of the United States, was placed under the
jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Washington%2C_D.C.>
1933:
The Reichstag building in Berlin, the assembly location of the German
Parliament, was set on fire , a pivotal event in the establishment of
the Nazi regime in Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichstag_fire>
1940:
American biochemists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben discovered the
radioactive isotope carbon-14, which today is used extensively as the
basis of the radiocarbon dating method to date archaeological,
geological, and hydrogeological samples.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/carbon-14>
1962:
Two dissident Republic of Vietnam Air Force pilots bombed the
Independence Palace in Saigon in a failed assassination attempt of
President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962_South_Vietnamese_Independence_Palace_bomb…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
laud (v):
To praise; to glorify
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/laud>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Turn, turn, my wheel! All things must change
To something new, to something strange;
Nothing that is can pause
or stay;
The moon will wax, the moon will wane,
The mist and cloud will turn
to rain,
The rain to mist and cloud again,
To-morrow be to-day.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow>
Pauline Fowler is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera
EastEnders, portrayed by Wendy Richard. Pauline was created by
scriptwriter Tony Holland and producer Julia Smith as one of
EastEnders' original characters, making her debut in the soap's first
episode in 1985, and remaining for twenty-one years and ten months,
making her the second longest-running original character. Her
storylines focus on drudgery, money worries and family troubles. She is
portrayed as a stoic, opinionated battle-axe – a family-orientated
woman who alienates her kin due to overbearing interference. Her
marriage to the downtrodden Arthur was central to the character for the
first eleven years of the programme, culminating with his screen death
in 1996. She was used for comedic purposes in scenes with her
launderette colleague Dot Branning, and scriptwriters included many
feuds in her narrative, most notably with her daughter-in-law, Sonia,
and Den Watts, a family friend who got her daughter Michelle pregnant
at 16. The character was killed off in a "whodunit" murder storyline,
with Richard making her final appearance in 2006.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Fowler>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
364:
Following the death of the Roman Emperor Jovian, officers of the army
at Nicaea in Bithynia selected Flavius Valentinianus to succeed him.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinian_I>
1815:
Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba, an island off the coast of Italy
where he had been exiled after the signing of the Treaty of
Fontainebleau one year earlier.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France>
1935:
With the aid of a radio station in Daventry, England and two receiving
antennas, Scottish engineer and inventor Robert Watson-Watt first
demonstrated the use of radar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Watson-Watt>
1936:
Over 1400 troops of the Imperial Japanese Army staged a coup d'etat in
Japan, occupying Tokyo, and killing Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo
and several other leading politicians.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_26_Incident>
1995:
Barings Bank, the oldest merchant bank in London, collapsed after its
head derivatives trader in Singapore, Nick Leeson, lost £827 million
while making unauthorized speculative trades on futures contracts.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barings_Bank>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tedious (adj):
Boring, monotonous, time consuming, wearisome
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tedious>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The need of the immaterial is the most deeply rooted of all needs. One
must have bread; but before bread, one must have the ideal.
--Victor Hugo
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Victor_Hugo>
Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) led the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers,
or Premier, from 1958 to 1964. Khrushchev was responsible for the
partial de-Stalinization of the Soviet Union, for backing the progress
of the world's early space program, and for several relatively liberal
reforms in areas of domestic policy. Khrushchev was born in the Russian
village of Kalinovka in 1894. With the help of Lazar Kaganovich, he
worked his way up the Soviet hierarchy. He supported Stalin's purges,
and approved thousands of arrests. Stalin's political heirs fought for
power after his death in 1953, a struggle in which Khrushchev, after
several years, emerged triumphant. On February 25, 1956, at the
Twentieth Party Congress, he delivered the "Secret Speech", vilifying
Stalin and ushering in a less repressive era in the Soviet Union.
Hoping eventually to rely on missiles for national defense, Khrushchev
ordered major cuts in conventional forces. Despite the cuts,
Khrushchev's rule saw the tensest years of the Cold War, culminating in
the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
138:
Roman Emperor Hadrian adopted Antoninus Pius as his son and successor,
after the death of his first adopted son Lucius Aelius.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoninus_Pius>
1570:
Pope Pius V issued the papal bull Regnans in Excelsis to excommunicate
Queen Elizabeth I and her followers in the Church of England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regnans_in_Excelsis>
1836:
American inventor and industrialist Samuel Colt received a patent for a
"revolving gun", later known as a revolver.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/revolver>
1921:
The Soviet Red Army took over the Georgian capital Tbilisi after heavy
fighting and declared the new Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_invasion_of_Georgia>
1986:
Corazon Aquino was inaugurated as the first female President of the
Philippines after Ferdinand Marcos fled the nation after twenty years
of rule because of the People Power Revolution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corazon_Aquino>
1994:
Israeli physician Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslim Arabs praying
at the mosque in Hebron's Cave of the Patriarchs, killing 29 people and
wounding 125 others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Patriarchs_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
plenary (adj):
1. Fully attended; for everyone's attendance.
2. (theology or law) Complete, entire
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plenary>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do what you want to do
And go where you're going to
Think for yourself
'Cause I won't be
there with you.
--George Harrison
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Harrison>
A castle is a defensive structure associated with the Middle Ages,
found in Europe and the Middle East. The precise meaning of "castle" is
debated by scholars, but it is usually considered to be the "private
fortified residence" of a lord or noble. Over the approximately
900Â years that castles were built they took on a great many forms with
many different features, although some, such as curtain walls and
arrowslits, were commonplace. A European innovation, castles originated
in the 9th and 10th centuries, after the fall of the Carolingian Empire
resulted in its territory being divided among individual lords and
princes. Early castles often exploited natural defences, and lacked
features such as towers and arrowslits and relied on a central keep. In
the late 12th and early 13th centuries, a scientific approach to castle
defence emerged. This led to the proliferation of towers, with an
emphasis on flanking fire. Although gunpowder was introduced to Europe
in the 14th century, it did not significantly affect castle building
until the 15th century, when artillery became powerful enough to break
through stone walls. While castles continued to be built well into the
16th century, new techniques to deal with improved cannon fire made
them uncomfortable and undesirable places to live. As a result, true
castles went into decline and were replaced by artillery forts with no
role in civil administration, and country houses that were
indefensible.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
303:
Roman Emperor Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was
published, beginning the Diocletianic Persecution, the last and most
severe episode of the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletianic_Persecution>
1803:
In their ruling in Marbury v. Madison, the U.S. Supreme Court
established judicial review in the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marbury_v._Madison>
1822:
The first Swaminarayan temple, Swaminarayan Mandir in present-day
Ahmedabad, India, was inaugurated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shri_Swaminarayan_Mandir%2C_Ahmedabad>
1875:
The steamship SS Gothenburg hit a section of the Great Barrier Reef at
low tide and sank about 50Â kilometres (31Â mi) northwest of Holbourne
Island, Queensland, Australia, with the loss of over 100 lives.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Gothenburg>
1946:
Colonel Juan Perón, founder of the political movement that became known
as Peronism, was elected to his first term as President of Argentina.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Per%C3%B3n>
2006:
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of
emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_state_of_emergency_in_the_Philippines>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
incandescent (adj):
1. Emitting light as a result of being heated.
2. Shining very brightly.
3. Showing intense emotion, as of a
performance etc
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/incandescent>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The lot of critics is to be remembered by what they failed to
understand.
--George A. Moore
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_A._Moore>
The Columbia Slough is a narrow waterway, about 19Â miles (31Â km) long,
in the floodplain of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Oregon.
>From its source in the Portland suburb of Fairview, the Columbia Slough
meanders west through Gresham and Portland to the Willamette River. It
is a remnant of the historic wetlands between the mouths of the Sandy
River to the east and the Willamette River to the west. Levees surround
much of the main slough as well as many side sloughs, detached sloughs,
and nearby lakes. Drainage district employees control water flows with
pumps and floodgates. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
and the city's Bureau of Environmental Services deal with environmental
issues. Early attempts to mitigate the pollution, which included raw
sewage and industrial waste, were unsuccessful. However, in 1952
Portland began sewage treatment, and over the next six decades the
federal Clean Water Act and similar legislation mandated further
cleanup. One of the nation's largest freshwater urban wetlands, Smith
and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area, shares the lower slough watershed with
a sewage treatment plant, marine terminals, a golf course, and a car
racetrack. Watercraft able to portage over culverts and levees can
travel the entire length of the slough. The 40 Mile Loop and other
hiking and biking trails follow the waterways and connect the parks.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_Slough>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1820:
British authorities arrested the conspirators of the Cato Street
Conspiracy, an attempt to murder Prime Minister Lord Liverpool and all
the British cabinet ministers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Street_Conspiracy>
1861:
President-elect of the United States Abraham Lincoln arrived secretly
in Washington, D.C. for his inauguration, thwarting an alleged
assassination plot in Baltimore.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Plot>
1941:
Plutonium was first chemically identified by chemist Glenn T. Seaborg
and his team at the University of California, Berkeley.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plutonium>
1944:
In response to an insurgency in Chechnya, the Soviet Union began the
forced deportation of native Chechen and Ingush populations of North
Caucasus to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Lentil_%28Caucasus%29>
1945:
American photographer Joe Rosenthal took the Pulitzer Prize-winning
photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima during the Battle of Iwo Jima
in World War II, an image that was later reproduced as the U.S. Marine
Corps War Memorial.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
caldera (n):
(geology) A large crater formed by a volcanic explosion or by collapse
of the cone of a volcano
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caldera>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
We cannot avoid conflict, conflict with society, other individuals and
with oneself. Conflicts may be the sources of defeat, lost life and a
limitation of our potentiality but they may also lead to greater depth
of living and the birth of more far-reaching unities, which flourish in
the tensions that engender them.
--Karl Jaspers
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Jaspers>
Halley's Comet is the best-known of the short-period comets, and is
visible from Earth every 75 to 76 years. Halley is the only
short-period comet that is clearly visible to the naked eye, and thus,
the only naked-eye comet that might appear twice in a human lifetime.
Other naked-eye comets may be brighter and more spectacular, but will
appear only once in thousands of years. Halley's returns to the inner
solar system have been observed by astronomers since at least 240Â BC,
and recorded by Chinese, Babylonian, and mediaeval European
chroniclers, but were not recognised as reappearances of the same
object. The comet's periodicity was first determined in 1705 by English
astronomer Edmond Halley, after whom it is now named. It last appeared
in the inner Solar System in 1986 and will next appear in mid-2061.
During its 1986 apparition, Halley's Comet became the first to be
observed in detail by spacecraft, providing the first observational
data on the structure of the comet nucleus and the mechanism of coma
and tail formation. These observations supported a number of
longstanding hypotheses about comet construction, particularly Fred
Whipple's "dirty snowball" model, which correctly surmised that Halley
would be composed of a mixture of volatile ices, such as water, carbon
dioxide and ammonia, and dust. However, the missions also provided data
which substantially reformed and reconfigured these ideas; for instance
it is now understood that Halley's surface is largely composed of
dusty, non-volatile materials, and that only a small portion of it is
icy.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halley%27s_Comet>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1744:
War of the Austrian Succession: British ships began attacking the
Spanish rear of a Franco-Spanish combined fleet in the Mediterranean
Sea off the coast near Toulon, France.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Toulon_%281744%29>
1819:
Under the terms of the Adams–OnÃs Treaty, Spain sold Florida and other
North American territory to the United States for about US$5 million.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams%E2%80%93On%C3%ADs_Treaty>
1943:
Members of the White Rose, a nonviolent resistance movement in Nazi
Germany that became known for a leaflet campaign that called for active
opposition to Adolf Hitler's regime, were found guilty of treason and
guillotined.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose>
1959:
Lee Petty won the first Daytona 500 NASCAR auto race at the Daytona
International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, US.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daytona_500>
2002:
Jonas Savimbi, leader of the Angolan anti-Communist rebel and political
party UNITA, was killed in a battle with Angolan government troops.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Savimbi>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
grommet (n):
1. A reinforced eyelet, or a small metal or plastic ring used to
reinforce an eyelet.
2. (sports) A young or inexperienced surfer, skateboarder or
snowboarder
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grommet>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud
themselves for giving to Mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal
policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of
conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that
toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of
people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural
rights. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to
bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that
they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good
citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
--George Washington
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington>
The Panzer I was a light tank which was produced in Germany in the
1930s. Design of the Panzer I began in 1932 and mass production in
1934. Although intended only as a training tank to introduce the
concept of armored warfare to the German Army, the Panzer I saw combat
in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, in Poland, France, Soviet Union
and North Africa during the Second World War, and even in China during
the Second Sino-Japanese War. Based on experience gathered during the
Spanish Civil War, the Panzer I helped shape the German armored corps
used to invade Poland in 1939 and France in 1940. By 1941, the Panzer I
chassis were being reused for production of tank destroyers and assault
guns. Ultimately, the Panzer I's performance in combat was limited by
its thin armor and light armament, consisting of only two general
purpose machine guns. Because it was designed solely for training, the
Panzer I was not as capable as other light tanks of the era, such as
the T-26. Although weak in combat, it formed a large proportion of
Germany's tank strength on paper and was used in all major campaigns
between September 1939 and December 1941. Inevitably, the small,
vulnerable light tank would be overshadowed in importance by
better-known German tanks such as the Panzer IV, Panther, and Tiger,
but its contribution to the early victories of Nazi Germany during the
Second World War was significant.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzer_I>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1613:
Mikhail I was elected unanimously by the Zemsky Sobor to become Tsar,
beginning the Romanov dynasty in Imperial Russia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_of_Russia>
1804:
Built by Cornish inventor Richard Trevithick, the first self-propelled
steam engine or locomotive first ran in Wales.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Trevithick>
1848:
The Communist Manifesto by communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels was first published, becoming one of the world's most
influential political tracts.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Communist_Manifesto>
1952:
Protesters in Dhaka, East Pakistan walked into military crossfire
demanding the establishment of the Bengali language as an official
language.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_Language_Movement>
1958:
British artist Gerald Holtom designed a logo for the Campaign for
Nuclear Disarmament that became more commonly known as the peace symbol
.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/peace_symbol>
1965:
Black nationalist Malcolm X was assassinated while giving a speech in
New York City's Audubon Ballroom.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bronze (v):
1. To plate with bronze metal.
2. To colour like bronze metal.
3. (of the skin) To change to a
darker, tanned colour due to exposure to the sun
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bronze>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Without Art, we should have no notion of the sacred; without Science,
we should always worship false gods.
--W. H. Auden
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._H._Auden>
The Battle of Alexander at Issus is a 1529 oil painting by German
artist Albrecht Altdorfer, an early pioneer of landscape art and a
founding member of the Danube school. It portrays the 333Â BC Battle of
Issus, in which Alexander the Great secured a decisive victory over
Darius III of Persia and gained crucial leverage in his campaign
against the Persian Empire. The painting is widely regarded as
Altdorfer's masterpiece, and exemplifies his affinity for scenes of
monumental grandeur. William IV, Duke of Bavaria commissioned The
Battle of Alexander at Issus in 1528, as part of a set of historical
pieces that was to hang in his Munich residence. Modern commentators
suggest that the painting, through its abundant use of anachronism, was
intended to liken Alexander's heroic victory at Issus to the
contemporary European conflict with the Ottoman Empire. In particular,
the defeat of Suleiman the Magnificent at the Siege of Vienna may have
been an inspiration for Altdorfer. A religious undercurrent is
detectable, especially in the extraordinary sky; this was probably
inspired by the prophecies of Daniel and contemporary concern within
the Church about an impending apocalypse. The Battle of Alexander at
Issus and four of the others in William's initial set are in the Alte
Pinakothek art museum in Munich.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Alexander_at_Issus>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1547:
Nine-year-old Edward VI was crowned King of England and Ireland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VI_of_England>
1816:
Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa The Barber of Seville,
based on the first Figaro play by French playwright Pierre
Beaumarchais, debuted at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barber_of_Seville>
1872:
New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, today containing a
collection of over two million works of art, opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art>
1944:
World War II: Allied forces began a bombing campaign that became known
as Big Week, launching massive attacks on the German aircraft industry
in an attempt to lure the Luftwaffe into a decisive battle.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week>
1959:
The Canadian government under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker cancelled
the Avro CF-105 Arrow interceptor aircraft program amid much political
debate.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow>
2005:
Spanish voters passed a referendum on the ratification of the proposed
Constitution of the European Union, despite the lowest turnout in any
election since the transition to democracy in the 1970s.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_European_Constitution_referendum%2C_20…>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
sliver (n):
A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sliver>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at
last finding the other end fastened about his own neck.
--Frederick Douglass
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass>