Old Trafford is an all-seater football stadium in the Trafford borough
of Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Premier League club
Manchester United. With space for 75,797 spectators, Old Trafford has
the largest capacity of any club football stadium in England, and it is
one of two stadia in the country to have been given a five-star rating
by UEFA. The stadium is approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from Old
Trafford Cricket Ground. It was nicknamed the Theatre of Dreams by
Bobby Charlton, and has been United's permanent residence since 19
February 1910, with the exception of an eight-year absence from 1941 to
1949 due to bomb damage during the Second World War. The ground
underwent several expansions in the 1990s and 2000s, raising the
capacity to over 75,000. The stadium's current record attendance was
recorded in 1939, when 76,962 spectators watched the FA Cup semi-final
between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Grimsby Town. The ground regularly
hosts FA Cup semi-final matches as a neutral venue and has also hosted
England international fixtures, as well as matches at the 1966 FIFA
World Cup and UEFA Euro 1996, and the 2003 UEFA Champions League Final.
Outside football, Old Trafford has hosted rugby league's Super League
Grand Final since 1998.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Trafford>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1600:
The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina exploded in the most violent
eruption in the recorded history of South America.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaynaputina>
1811:
Peninsular War: An outnumbered French force under Édouard Mortier
routed and nearly destroyed the Spanish at the Battle of the Gebora
near Badajoz, Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Gebora>
1942:
World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive
Order 9066, authorizing the forcible relocation of over 112,000
Japanese Americans and Japanese people residing in the United States to
internment camps.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment>
1965:
Colonel Pham Ngoc Thao of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and a
communist spy of the North Vietnamese Vietminh, attempted a coup
attempt against the military junta of Nguyen Khanh.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pham_Ngoc_Thao>
1985:
The first episode of the British soap opera EastEnders was first
broadcast on BBC1, eventually becoming one of the most watched
television shows in the United Kingdom.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EastEnders>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
atone (v):
To make reparation, compensation, or amends, for an offence or a crime
one has committed
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atone>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said "The words of
the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls
And whispered
in the sound of silence."
--Paul Simon
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Paul_Simon>
100px|Architecture at Vkhutemas, book cover by El Lissitzky,
1927Vkhutemas was the Russian state art and technical school founded in
1920 in Moscow. The workshops were established by a decree from
Vladimir Lenin with the intentions, in the words of the Soviet
government, “to prepare master artists of the highest qualifications
for industry, and builders and managers for professional-technical
education.” The school had 100 faculty members and an enrollment of
2,500 students. Vkhutemas was formed by a merger of two previous
schools: the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and
the Stroganov School of Applied Arts. The workshops had artistic and
industrial faculties; the art faculty taught courses in graphics,
sculpture and architecture while the industrial faculty taught courses
in printing, textiles, ceramics, woodworking, and metalworking. It was
a center for three major movements in avant garde art and architecture:
constructivism, rationalism, and suprematism. In the workshops, the
faculty and students transformed views of art and reality with the use
of precise geometry with an emphasis on space, in one of the great
revolutions in the history of art. In 1926, the school was reorganised
under a new rector and its name was changed from “Studios” to
“Institute”. It was dissolved in 1930, after political and internal
pressures throughout its ten-year existence. The school's faculty,
students, and legacy were dispersed into as many as six other schools.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vkhutemas>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1846:
Peasants led by Jakub Szela began an uprising against Polish nobles in
Galicia in the Austrian partition, killing about 1,000 people and
destroying about 500 manors.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_slaughter>
1861:
With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of
Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumed the title King of Italy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_II_of_Italy>
1908:
The Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, Sweden's national stage for
"spoken drama", opened with playwright August Strindberg's play Master
Olof.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dramatic_Theatre>
1932:
The Empire of Japan established Manchukuo, a puppet state in
northeastern China during the Sino-Japanese War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchukuo>
1943:
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister, delivered the
Sportpalast speech to motivate the German people when the tide of World
War II was turning against Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportpalast_speech>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tetchily (adv):
In an annoyed or irritated manner
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tetchily>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The heart unites whatever the mind separates, pushes on beyond the
arena of necessity and transmutes the struggle into love.
--Nikos Kazantzakis
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikos_Kazantzakis>
Stereolab were an alternative music band formed in 1990 in London,
England. The band originally comprised songwriting team Tim Gane
(guitar/keyboards) and Lætitia Sadier (vocals/keyboards/guitar), both
of whom remained at the helm across many lineup changes. Other
long-time members include Andy Ramsay (drums) and Mary Hansen (backing
vocals/keyboards/guitar). Called "one of the most fiercely independent
and original groups of the Nineties", Stereolab were one of the first
bands to be termed "post-rock". Their primary musical influence was
1970s krautrock, which they combined with lounge, 1960s pop, and
experimental pop music. They were noted for their heavy use of vintage
electronic keyboards, and their sound often overlays a repetitive
"motorik" beat with female vocals sung in English or French. Stereolab
often incorporated socio-political themes into their lyrics. Some
critics say the group's lyrics carry a strong Marxist message, and Gane
and Sadier admit to being influenced by the Surrealist and Situationist
cultural and political movements. The band were released from their
recording contract with Warner Bros. Records when Warner's imprint
Elektra Records folded. On 2 April 2009 Stereolab manager Martin Pike
posted a message on the band's website, announcing that after 19 years
the band would go into hiatus as "there are no plans to record new
tracks".
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereolab>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1600:
Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno, best-known as a proponent of
heliocentrism and the infinity of the universe, was burned at the stake
as a heretic by the Roman Inquisition.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno>
1801:
The U.S. House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson as
President and Aaron Burr as Vice President, resolving an electoral tie
in the 1800 U.S. presidential election.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election%2C_1800>
1859:
Colonization of Cochinchina: The French Navy captured the Citadel of
Saigon, a fortress that was manned by 1,000 Vietnamese soldiers, en
route to conquering Saigon and other regions of southern Vietnam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citadel_of_Saigon>
1904:
Italian composer Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly premiered at La
Scala in Milan, generating negative reviews that forced him to rewrite
the opera.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madama_Butterfly>
2003:
The London congestion charge, a fee that is levied on motorists
travelling within designated parts of London, came into operation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_congestion_charge>
2006:
A massive landslide in the Philippine province of Southern Leyte killed
over 1,000 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Southern_Leyte_mudslide>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
Ishikawa diagram (n):
A diagram used in quality management to display a detailed list of
causes and effects of a problem and thus to decipher the root cause of
a problem
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Ishikawa_diagram>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All things are in the Universe, and the universe is in all things: we
in it, and it in us; in this way everything concurs in a perfect unity.
--Giordano Bruno
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno>
Master Juba (c. 1825 – c. 1853) was an African American dancer active
in the 1840s. He was one of the first black performers in the United
States to play onstage for white audiences and the only one of the era
to tour with a white minstrel group. Master Juba frequently challenged
and defeated the best white dancers. In 1848, he is said to have
traveled to London and became a sensation in Britain because of his
unique dance style. Nevertheless, an element of exploitation followed
him through the British Isles, with writers treating him as an exhibit
on display. Juba subsequently faded from the limelight and died in 1852
or 1853. He was largely forgotten by historians until a 1947 article
resurrected his story. Existing documents offer confused accounts of
Juba's dancing style, but it was likely to have incorporated both
European folk steps with African-derived steps used by plantation
slaves. Blackface clowns and minstrels adopted elements of his style,
which enhanced the authenticity of their performances. By impacting
blackface performance, Juba was highly influential on the development
of such American dance styles as tap, jazz, and step dancing.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_Juba>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1742:
Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington became British Prime Minister,
but ended up being a figurehead for the true leader of the British
Government: Lord Carteret, the Secretary of State for the Northern
Department.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Compton%2C_1st_Earl_of_Wilmington>
1804:
United States Navy Lieutenant Stephen Decatur led a raid to destroy the
captured USS Philadelphia in Tripoli, denying her use to the Barbary
States in the First Barbary War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur>
1918:
The Council of Lithuania signed the Act of Independence of Lithuania,
proclaiming the restoration of an independent Lithuania governed by
democratic principles, despite the presence of German troops in the
country during World War I.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_Independence_of_Lithuania>
1934:
The Austrian Civil War ended with the military of the First Austrian
Republic defeating the Social Democrats and the Republikanischer
Schutzbund, leaving at least several hundred people dead in the
five-day conflict.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_Civil_War>
1985:
"The Hizballah Program" was released, describing the ideology and goals
of the Shia Islamic political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah
as "putting an end to any colonialist entity" in Lebanon, bringing the
Phalangists to justice for "the crimes they [had] perpetrated," and
establishing an Islamic regime in Lebanon.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_Hezbollah>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
glaucous (adj):
1. Of a pale green colour with a bluish-grey tinge, especially when
covered with a powdery residue.
2. (botany) Covered with a bloom or a pale powdery covering,
regardless of colour
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/glaucous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
All experience is an arch, to build upon.
--Henry Brooks Adams
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Henry_Brooks_Adams>
Flocke is a polar bear cub who was born in captivity at the Nuremberg
Zoo in 2007. A few weeks after her birth, she was removed from her
mother's care after concerns were raised for her safety. Although the
zoo had established a strict non-interference policy with its animals,
officials chose to raise the cub by hand. This decision came at a time
when the zoo was receiving negative attention from the media after
another female polar bear reportedly ate her newly born cubs. Similar
to the excitement around Knut, a captive-born and handraised polar bear
at the Berlin Zoo, Flocke ("flake" in German) quickly became a media
sensation. After she debuted to the public on 8 April 2008, her name
was trademarked by the zoo and her image appeared on toys and in
advertisements throughout the city. The zoo announced in May 2008 that
United Nations Environment Program chief Achim Steiner would be
Flocke's official patron with the hope of using the bear as an
ambassador to encourage awareness of climate change. In late 2008, a
Russian-born male polar bear named Rasputin was introduced to Flocke's
enclosure in the hopes that she would gain valuable socializing skills
with a member of her own species. A year later, it was announced that
both bears would relocate to Marineland in southern France sometime in
late-February 2010.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flocke>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1898:
The United States Navy battleship USS Maine exploded and sank in
Havana, Cuba , killing more than 260 people and precipitating the
Spanish-American War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_%28ACR-1%29>
1900:
Second Boer War: British cavalry under Major-General John French
defeated Boer forces to end a 124-day siege of Kimberley, present-day
South Africa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Kimberley>
1942:
World War II: Japanese forces led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita
captured Singapore, the largest surrender of British-led military
personnel in British history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Singapore>
1989:
The Soviet Union officially announced that all of its troops had
withdrawn from Afghanistan after a nine-year conflict.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan>
2003:
In one of the largest anti-war rallies in history, millions around the
world in approximately 800 cities took part in protests against the
impending invasion of Iraq.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_15%2C_2003_anti-war_protest>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
repercussion (n):
A consequence or ensuing result of some action
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/repercussion>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their
reputation and social standing, never can bring about a reform. Those
who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in
the world's estimation.
--Susan B. Anthony
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Susan_B._Anthony>
Miranda Otto (born 16 December 1967) is an Australian actress. The
daughter of actors Barry and Lindsay Otto and the sister of actress
Gracie Otto, she began acting at age nineteen, and has performed in a
variety of low-budget and major studio films. Her first major film
appearance was in the 1986 film Emma's War, in which she played a
teenager who moves to Australia's bush country during World War II.
After a decade of critically acclaimed roles in Australian films, she
gained Hollywood's attention after appearing in supporting roles in The
Thin Red Line (1998) and What Lies Beneath (2000). Her breakthrough
role came in 2002, when she portrayed Éowyn in The Lord of the Rings
trilogy. Her private life, including her relationships with actors
Richard Roxburgh and Peter O'Brien, has been discussed in the media. In
2008, she starred in the now-cancelled American television series
Cashmere Mafia and will appear in the film In Her Skin.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miranda_Otto>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1779:
English explorer James Cook was killed during a fight against Native
Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cook>
1876:
Inventor Alexander Graham Bell and electrical engineer Elisha Gray each
filed a patent for the telephone, starting a controversy on who
invented the telecommunications device first.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisha_Gray_and_Alexander_Bell_telephone_contr…>
1919:
The first serious armed conflict of the Polish–Soviet War took place
near present-day Biaroza, Belarus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_War>
1989:
A fatwa was issued for the execution of Salman Rushdie for authoring
The Satanic Verses, a novel Islamic fundamentalists considered
blasphemous.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy>
2005:
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri was assassinated when
explosives were detonated as his motorcade drove past the St. George
Hotel in Beirut, sparking the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafic_Hariri>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
huggable (adj):
Capable of, or suitable for, being hugged
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/huggable>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
''How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach,
when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of
everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men
strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the
passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a
love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, — I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears,
of all my life! — and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
--Elizabeth Barrett Browning
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning>
Carabane is an island and a village located in the extreme south-west
of Senegal, in the mouth of the Casamance River. The earliest known
inhabitants of the island were the Jola people, the ethnic group which
is still the most populous on the island. On January 22, 1836, the
island was ceded to France by the village leader of Kagnout in return
for an annual payment of 196 francs. In 1869, Carabane became
autonomous, but it merged with Sédhiou in 1886. Since World War II, the
population of the island has gradually declined for a variety of
reasons including periods of drought, the Casamance Conflict and, more
recently, the sinking of the Joola in 2002. Because the Joola was the
primary means of travel to and from Carabane, much of the village's
ability to trade and receive tourists has been lost. Although Carabane
was once a regional capital, the village has since become so
politically isolated from the rest of the country that it no longer
fits into any category of the administrative structure decreed by the
Senegalese government. Although there have been attempts to cultivate a
tourism industry on the island, the inhabitants have been reluctant to
participate. Carabane was added to the list of historic sites and
monuments of Senegal in 2003.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carabane>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1706:
Great Northern War: The Swedish employed the double envelopment
military strategy to defeat Saxony–Poland and their Russian allies at
the Battle of Fraustadt near Fraustadt in present-day Wschowa, Poland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fraustadt>
1815:
The Cambridge Union Society, one of the oldest debating societies in
the world, was founded at the University of Cambridge in Cambridge,
England.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Union_Society>
1867:
Work began on the covering of the Senne, burying Brussels' polluted
main waterway to allow urban renewal in the centre of the city.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/covering_of_the_Senne>
1945:
World War II: The Allies began their strategic bombing of Dresden,
Saxony, Germany, resulting in a lethal firestorm which killed tens of
thousands of civilians.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II>
1960:
African American college students staged the first of the Nashville
sit-ins at three lunch counters in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., part of
a nonviolent direct action campaign to end racial segregation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_sit-ins>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
soffit (n):
(architecture) The visible underside of an arch, balcony, beam,
cornice, staircase, vault or any other architectural element
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/soffit>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Morning has broken,
Like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken
Like the first bird.
Praise for the singing!
Praise for the morning!
Praise for them
springing
Fresh from the Word!
--Eleanor Farjeon
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Farjeon>
Ice hockey tournaments have been staged at the Olympic Games since
1920. The men's event was introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics and
was transferred permanently to the Winter Olympic Games programme in
1924. In July 1992, the IOC approved women's hockey as an Olympic
event; it was first held at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. The
Olympic Games were originally intended for amateur athletes, and until
1998, the players of the National Hockey League and other men's
professional leagues were not allowed to compete. In the men's
tournament, Canada was the most successful team of the first three
decades, winning six of seven gold medals. The Soviet Union first
participated in 1956 and overtook Canada as the dominant international
team, winning seven of the nine tournaments in which they participated.
The United States won gold in 1960 and again in 1980, which included
the "Miracle on Ice" upset of the Soviet Union. Other nations to win
gold in the men's event include Great Britain in 1936, Sweden in 1994
and 2006 and the Czech Republic in 1998. Finland, Germany, Russia and
Switzerland have also won medals in the sport. In the women's event,
Canadian and American teams have both dominated the event. The United
States won the first tournament in 1998, while Canada won in 2002 and
2006.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey_at_the_Olympic_Games>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
881:
Pope John VIII crowned Charles the Fat as Holy Roman Emperor.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_the_Fat>
1502:
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama set sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on
his second voyage to India with the object of enforcing Portuguese
interests in the Far East.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama>
1541:
Spanish Conquistador Pedro de Valdivia founded Santiago, Chile, as
Santiago del Nuevo Extremo.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago%2C_Chile>
1818:
Chile formally declared its independence from Spain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilean_Declaration_of_Independence>
1855:
Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, was founded as
the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the United States'
first agriculture college.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_State_University>
1909:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, one of
the oldest and most influential civil rights organizations in the
United States, was founded to work on behalf of the rights of African
Americans.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_for_the_Advancement_of_Co…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
finagle (v):
1. To obtain, arrange, or achieve by indirect and usually deceitful
methods.
2. To cheat or swindle; to use crafty, deceitful methods
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/finagle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the
right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the
work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who
shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves
and with all nations.
--Abraham Lincoln
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln>
The Overman Committee was a special subcommittee of the Senate
Committee on the Judiciary chaired by North Carolina Democrat Lee
Slater Overman. Between September 1918 and June 1919, it investigated
German and Bolshevik elements in the United States. It was an early
forerunner of the better known House Un-American Activities Committee,
and represented the first congressional committee investigation into
communism. The Committee was originally tasked with investigating
pro-German sentiments in the American liquor industry. After World War
I ended in November 1918 and the German threat lessened, it turned its
attention to communist Bolshevism. Bolshevism had appeared as a threat
during the Red Scare of 1919–20 after the Russian Revolution in 1917
saw the Bolsheviks take power in Russia. The Committee's hearings into
Bolshevik propaganda, conducted from February 11 to March 10, 1919,
helped foster an image of communism as a threat to America. The
Committee's final report was released in June 1919. It reported on
German propaganda, Bolshevism, and other "un-American activities" in
the United States and on likely effects of communism's implementation
in the United States. It described German, but not communist,
propaganda efforts. The Committee's report and hearings were
instrumental in fostering anti-Bolshevik opinion.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overman_Committee>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
660 BC:
According to tradition, Emperor Jimmu founded Japan and established his
capital in Yamato.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Jimmu>
1858:
Fourteen year-old peasant girl Bernadette Soubirous reported the first
of eighteen Marian apparitions in Lourdes, France, resulting in the
town becoming a major site for pilgrimages by Catholics.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernadette_Soubirous>
1979:
Iranian Revolution: The Pahlavi dynasty effectively collapsed when the
military declared itself "neutral" after rebel troops overwhelmed
forces loyal to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in armed street fighting.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahlavi_dynasty>
1990:
Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela , a political prisoner for 27
years, was released from Victor Verster Prison near Paarl, South
Africa.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela>
1991:
The international organization Unrepresented Nations and Peoples
Organization was established to represent the interests of indigenous
peoples, minorities, occupied nations, and other areas which lack
international representation.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unrepresented_Nations_and_Peoples_Organization>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
ambilevous (adj):
(rare) Having equally bad ability in both hands; clumsy; butterfingered
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ambilevous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they
were to success when they gave up.
--Thomas Edison
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison>
HMAS Melbourne was an aircraft carrier of the Royal Australian Navy.
She was laid down for the Royal Navy in 1943 as the lead ship of the
Majestic class of light aircraft carriers, but work on her was
suspended when World War II ended. The carrier was purchased by the
Australian government in 1947, and upgraded to become the third ship in
the world constructed with an angled flight deck. Renamed for the
Australian city of Melbourne, the ship was commissioned in 1955.
Melbourne never served in combat, but collided with and sank two
destroyers during her career: HMAS Voyager in 1964, and USS Frank E.
Evans in 1969. These, along with several minor incidents, led to the
reputation that the carrier was jinxed. The last carrier in Australian
service, Melbourne was decommissioned in 1982. Although sold to China
for breaking, the People's Liberation Army Navy studied Melbourne over
many years to further plans for a Chinese aircraft carrier. The British
carrier HMS Invincible was to be acquired as a replacement, but this
was cancelled following the Falklands War and the 1983 Australian
federal election.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Melbourne_%28R21%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1258:
Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid caliphate, surrendered to Hulagu
Khan and the Mongols after almost a two-week siege.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Baghdad_%281258%29>
1567:
After an explosion destroyed the house in Kirk o' Field, Edinburgh,
where he was staying, the strangled body of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley,
the King consort of Scotland, was found in a nearby orchard.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Stuart%2C_Lord_Darnley>
1763:
Britain, France, and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris to end the Seven
Years' War, significantly reducing the size of the French colonial
empire while at the same time marking the beginning of an extensive
period of British dominance outside of Europe.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Paris_%281763%29>
1840:
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha married Queen Victoria of the
United Kingdom at the Chapel Royal, becoming prince-consort.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert%2C_Prince_Consort>
1930:
The Viet Nam Quoc Dan Dang launches the failed Yen Bai mutiny in the
hope of ending French colonial rule in Vietnam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yen_Bai_mutiny>
1996:
Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in a game of chess, the first ever
game won by a chess-playing computer against a World Chess Champion
under chess tournament conditions.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_%28chess_computer%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
periphrastic (adj):
1. Expressed in more words than are necessary.
2. Indirect in naming an entity; circumlocutory
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/periphrastic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Don't be afraid of death so much as an inadequate life.
--Bertolt Brecht
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertolt_Brecht>