The inner German border was the frontier between the German Democratic
Republic (East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West
Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the similar but physically
separate Berlin Wall, the border was 1,381Â kilometres (858Â mi) long and
ran from the Baltic Sea to Czechoslovakia. It was formally established
on 1Â July 1945 as the boundary between the Western and Soviet
occupation zones of Germany. On the Eastern side, it was made one of
the world's most heavily fortified frontiers, defined by a continuous
line of high metal fences and walls, barbed wire, alarms, trenches,
watchtowers, automatic booby-traps and minefields. The border was a
physical manifestation of Winston Churchill's metaphor of an Iron
Curtain separating the Soviet and Western blocs during the Cold War.
Built by East Germany in phases from 1952 to the late 1980s, the
fortifications were constructed to stop the large-scale emigration of
East German citizens to the West. It caused widespread economic and
social disruption on both sides. On 9 November 1989, the East German
government announced the opening of the Berlin Wall and the inner
German border. The inner German border was not completely abandoned
until 1Â July 1990, exactly 45Â years to the day since its establishment,
and only three months before German reunification formally ended
Germany's division. Little remains today of the inner German border's
fortifications.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inner_German_border>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1330:
The Battle of Posada between Basarab I of Wallachia and Charles I
Robert of Hungary began near the present-day border of Oltenia and
Severin, Romania.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Posada>
1861:
The first documented Canadian football match was played at University
College, University of Toronto.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_football>
1938:
Kristallnacht began in Nazi Germany as a part of Adolf Hitler's
anti-Semitic policy, leading to the murder of over 90 Jews, and the
arrest and deportation of over 25,000 others to concentration camps.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht>
1953:
Cambodia gained independence from France and became a constitutional
monarchy under King Norodom Sihanouk.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia>
1967:
Rolling Stone, the American-based magazine devoted to music, liberal
politics and popular culture, was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone>
1993:
War in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Croatian Defence Council forces
destroyed the Stari most, a 16th-century bridge crossing the river
Neretva in the city of Mostar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stari_most>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
charabanc (n):
A horse-drawn, and then later, motorized omnibus with open sides and,
often, no roof
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/charabanc>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Every one of us is precious in the cosmic perspective. If a human
disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you
will not find another.
--Carl Sagan
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan>
The 1968 Illinois earthquake was the largest recorded earthquake in the
"Prairie State", measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale. Although there
were no fatalities, the earthquake caused considerable structural
damage to buildings, including the toppling of chimneys. The earthquake
was one of the most widely felt in U.S. history, affecting 23Â states
over an area of 580,000Â square miles (1,500,000Â km2). In studying its
cause, scientists discovered the Cottage Grove Fault in the Southern
Illinois Basin. Within the region, millions felt the rupture. Reactions
to the earthquake varied: some people near the epicenter did not react
to the shaking, while others panicked. A future earthquake in the
region is extremely likely; seismologists and geologists estimate a 90%
chance of a magnitude 6–7 tremor before 2055, likely originating in the
Wabash Valley seismic zone on the Illinois–Indiana border, or the New
Madrid fault zone.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Illinois_earthquake>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1520:
Following a successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces under
Christian II of Denmark, scores of Swedish leaders were executed
despite Christian's promise of general amnesty.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Bloodbath>
1576:
The provinces of the Habsburg Netherlands signed the Pacification of
Ghent, a peace treaty with the rebelling provinces Holland and Zeeland,
and also an agreement to form an alliance to drive the occupying
Spanish out of the country.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacification_of_Ghent>
1861:
American Civil War: The USS San Jacinto stopped the British mailship
Trent and arrested two Confederate envoys enroute to Europe, sparking a
major diplomatic crisis between Great Britain and the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Affair>
1895:
German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen produced and detected
electromagnetic radiation in a wavelength range that is known today as
X-rays .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Conrad_R%C3%B6ntgen>
1987:
A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb exploded during a Remembrance
Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, killing at least
eleven people and injuring sixty-three others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remembrance_Day_bombing>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
psychosomatic (adj):
1. Pertaining to physical diseases, symptoms, etc. which have mental
causes.
2. (now rare) Pertaining to both the mind and the body
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/psychosomatic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Once and for all
the idea of glorious victories
won by the glorious army
must be
wiped out
Neither side is glorious
On either side they're just frightened men
messing their pants
and they all want the same thing
Not to lie under the earth
but
to walk upon it
without crutches
--Peter Weiss
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Weiss>
The Victoria Cross for Australia is the highest award in the Australian
Honours System, superseding the Victoria Cross for issue to
Australians. It was created by letters patent signed by Elizabeth II,
Queen of Australia, on 15 January 1991. The first medal was awarded on
16 January 2009 to Trooper Mark Donaldson, for the rescue of a
coalition forces interpreter from heavy fire in Oruzgan Province in
Afghanistan. Donaldson's award came almost 40 years after Warrant
Officer Keith Payne was awarded the (original) Victoria Cross for
gallantry on 24 May 1969 during the Vietnam War. The Victoria Cross for
Australia is the "decoration for according recognition to persons who
in the presence of the enemy, perform acts of the most conspicuous
gallantry, or daring or pre-eminent acts of valour or self-sacrifice or
display extreme devotion to duty." As the highest Australian award, it
is listed first on the Australian Order of Wear with precedence in
Australia over all orders, decorations and medals. The decoration may
be awarded to members of the Australian Defence Force and to other
persons determined by the Australian Minister for Defence. When the
medal is awarded, the ceremony is presided over by the Governor-General
of Australia on behalf of the Queen of Australia, who presents the
medal during an investiture.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross_for_Australia>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1665:
The London Gazette, the oldest surviving English language newspaper,
was first published as the Oxford Gazette.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Gazette>
1811:
American forces led by Indiana Territory Governor William Henry
Harrison defeated the forces of Shawnee leader Tecumseh's growing
American Indian confederation at the Battle of Tippecanoe near
present-day Battle Ground, Indiana.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tippecanoe>
1885:
Construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the first
transcontinental railroad across Canada, concluded with financier and
politician Sir Donald Smith driving in the "last spike" in
Craigellachie, British Columbia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Spike_%28Canadian_Pacific_Railway%29>
1917:
Vladimir Lenin led a Bolshevik insurrection against the Provisional
Government of Alexander Kerensky, starting the Bolshevik Revolution,
the second phase of the overall Russian Revolution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_Revolution>
1991:
Professional basketball player Magic Johnson announced his retirement
from the game because of his infection with the HIV virus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
monophthongal (adj):
1. Of or pertaining to a vowel that has the same sound throughout its
pronunciation.
2. Pronounced as a single vowel sound, especially of vowels normally
pronounced as a diphthong
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/monophthongal>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do not be deceived by the way men of bad faith misuse words and names
...Things are set up as contraries that are not even in the same
category. Listen to me: the opposite of radical is superficial, the
opposite of liberal is stingy; the opposite of conservative is
destructive. Thus I will describe myself as a radical conservative
liberal; but certain of the tainted red fish will swear that there can
be no such fish as that. Beware of those who use words to mean their
opposites. At the same time have pity on them, for usually this trick
is their only stock in trade.
--R. A. Lafferty
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._A._Lafferty>
Darjeeling is a town in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the
headquarters of Darjeeling district, in the Shiwalik Hills on the lower
range of the Himalaya, at an average elevation of 6,982Â ft (2,128Â m).
During the British Raj in India, Darjeeling's temperate climate led to
its development as a hill station for British residents to escape the
heat of the plains during the summers. Darjeeling is internationally
famous for its tea industry and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tea growers of the area developed
distinctive hybrids of black tea and fermenting techniques, with many
blends considered among the world's finest. The Darjeeling Himalayan
Railway connecting the town with the plains was declared a World
Heritage Site in 1999 and is one of the few steam engines still in
service in India. Darjeeling has several British-style public schools,
which attract students from many parts of India and neighbouring
countries. The town, along with neighbouring Kalimpong, was a major
center for the demand of a separate Gorkhaland state in the 1980s,
though the separatist movement has gradually decreased over the past
decade due to the setting up of an autonomous hill council. In recent
years the town's fragile ecology is threatened by a rising demand for
environmental resources, stemming from growing tourist traffic and
poorly planned urbanisation.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darjeeling>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1865:
Months after the Battle of Appomattox Courthouse effectively ended the
American Civil War, the CSS Shenandoah became the last Confederate
combat unit to surrender after circumnavigating the globe on a cruise
on which it sank or captured 38 vessels.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Shenandoah>
1869:
In the first official intercollegiate American football game, Rutgers
College defeated the College of New Jersey, 6–4, in New Brunswick, New
Jersey, USA.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_football>
1917:
World War I: Canadian forces captured Passendale, Belgium, after three
months of fighting against the Germans at the Third Battle of Ypres.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Passchendaele>
1986:
Attempting to land at Sumburgh Airport in Shetland, Scotland, carrying
workers returning from the Brent oilfield, a Boeing CH-47 Chinook
crashed into the sea, killing 45 people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986_British_International_Helicopters_Chinook…>
1999:
Although opinion polls had clearly suggested that the majority of the
electorate favoured republicanism, the Australian republic referendum
was defeated, keeping the Australian monarch as the country's official
head of state.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_republic_referendum%2C_1999>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
doodle (v):
To draw or scribble (something) aimlessly
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/doodle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
This is our time — to put our people back to work and open doors of
opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause
of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental
truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope.
And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us
that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up
the spirit of a people: Yes we can!
--Barack Obama
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Barack_Obama>
Franklin Knight Lane (1864–1921) was an American Democratic politician
from California who served as United States Secretary of the Interior
from 1913 to 1920. He also served as a commissioner of the Interstate
Commerce Commission, and was the Democratic nominee for governor of
California in 1902, losing a narrow race in what was then a heavily
Republican state. Lane was born July 15, 1864, near Charlottetown,
Prince Edward Island, in what was then a British colony but is now part
of Canada, and in 1871, his family moved to California. Elected City
Attorney of San Francisco in 1898, a post he held for five years, Lane
ran in 1902 for governor and in 1903 for mayor of San Francisco, losing
both races. In 1903, he received the support of the Democratic minority
in the California State Legislature during the legislature's vote to
elect a United States Senator from California. It was often said of
Lane that had he not been born in what is now Canada, he would have
become president. In spite of that limitation, Lane was offered support
for the Democratic nomination for Vice President, though he was
constitutionally ineligible for that office as well.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Knight_Lane>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
Seven Years' War: Prussian forces led by Frederick the Great defeated
the allied armies of France and the Holy Roman/Austrian Empire at the
Battle of Rossbach.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rossbach>
1838:
The collapse of the Federal Republic of Central America began with
Nicaragua seceding from the union.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Republic_of_Central_America>
1854:
Crimean War: Despite being severely outnumbered, and fighting in heavy
foggy conditions, the allied armies of the United Kingdom and France
defeated the Russians in present-day Inkerman, Ukraine.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Inkerman>
1913:
King Otto of Bavaria was deposed by his cousin, Prince Regent Ludwig,
who assumed the title Ludwig III of Bavaria.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_III_of_Bavaria>
1917:
St. Tikhon of Moscow was elected Patriarch of Moscow and of the Russian
Orthodox Church.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikhon_of_Moscow>
2007:
Chang'e 1 , the first unmanned spacecraft of the China National Space
Administration's Lunar Exploration Program, entered into lunar orbit.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_1>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
klatch (n):
An informal social gathering, especially for the purpose of
conversation
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/klatch>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I suppose the process of acceptance will pass through the usual four
stages:
(i) this is worthless nonsense;
(ii) this is an interesting, but
perverse, point of view;
(iii) this is true, but quite unimportant;
(iv) I always said so.
--J. B. S. Haldane
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._B._S._Haldane>
Interstate 355 is an Interstate Highway and tollway in the western and
southwest suburbs of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Like other tollways in the
northeastern portion of the state, I-355 is maintained by the Illinois
State Toll Highway Authority. I-355 runs from Interstate 80 in New
Lenox north to Interstate 290 in Itasca, a distance of 32.5Â miles
(52.3 km). The tollway authority opened I-355 as the North–South
Tollway in 1989 to ease congestion on Illinois Route 53 (IL 53), a
parallel two-lane state highway in central DuPage County. Initially,
I-355 ran from Interstate 55 north to I-290. The new highway helped cut
travel times for commuters traveling north and south in the county.
According to commercial real estate developers at the time, the new
tollway also opened the western suburbs of Chicago to commercial and
industrial development. On November 11, 2007, the tollway authority
opened a southern extension of I-355 from I-55 to I-80, a distance of
12.5Â miles (20.1Â km); on its opening, the tollway authority changed the
name of the tollway to "Veterans Memorial Tollway". The tollway
authority laid the route of the new extension through Will County and a
small portion of Cook County, one of the fastest-growing regions in
Illinois. The tollway authority expects the extension to cut travel
times in the region by 20 percent.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_355>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1737:
The Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Italy, currently the oldest active
opera house in Europe, was inaugurated.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatro_di_San_Carlo>
1791:
Northwest Indian War: In the most severe defeat ever suffered by the
United States at the hands of American Indians, the Western Confederacy
won a major victory at the Battle of the Wabash near present-day Fort
Recovery in Ohio.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Clair%27s_Defeat>
1852:
Count Cavour became prime minister of the Kingdom of
Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expanded to become the Kingdom of Italy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camillo_Benso%2C_conte_di_Cavour>
1869:
Nature, one of the oldest and most reputable general purpose scientific
journals, was first published.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_%28journal%29>
1890:
London's City and South London Railway, the first deep-level
underground railway in the world, opened, running a distance of 5.1Â km
(3.2Â mi) between the City of London and Stockwell.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_and_South_London_Railway>
1995:
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was mortally wounded by Yigal Amir
while at a peace rally at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitzhak_Rabin>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
waspish (adj):
1. Suggestive of the behaviour of a wasp.
2. Spiteful or irascible
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/waspish>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
On account of being a democracy and run by the people, we are the only
nation in the world that has to keep a government four years, no matter
what it does.
--Will Rogers
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Will_Rogers>
Gray's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to
the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual
must belong to one of these Inns. Located at the intersection of High
Holborn and Gray's Inn Road, the Inn is both a professional body and a
place of living and office accommodation (chambers) for many
barristers. It is ruled by a governing council called "Pension", made
up of the Masters of the Bench (or "Benchers"), and led by the
Treasurer, who is elected to serve a one-year term. The Inn is known
for its gardens, or Walks, which have existed since at least 1597.
Gray's Inn does not claim a specific foundation date; there is a
tradition that none of the Inns of Court claims to be any older than
the others. Law clerks and their apprentices have been established on
the present site since at least 1370, with records dating from 1391.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Inn grew steadily, reaching its
pinnacle during the reign of Elizabeth I. The outbreak of the First
English Civil War in 1642 during the reign of Charles I disrupted the
systems of legal education and governance at the Inns of Court,
shutting down all calls to the Bar and new admissions, and Gray's Inn
never fully recovered. Fortunes continued to decline after the English
Restoration, which saw the end of the traditional method of legal
education. Although now more prosperous, Gray's Inn is still the
smallest of the Inns of Court.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray%27s_Inn>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1793:
French playwright, journalist and outspoken feminist Olympe de Gouges
was guillotined for her revolutionary ideas.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges>
1838:
The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language
daily broadsheet newspaper, was founded as the The Bombay Times and
Journal of Commerce.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Times_of_India>
1942:
World War II: The Allies defeated the Axis at the Second Battle of El
Alamein, Egypt, turning the tide in the North African Campaign by
ending Axis hopes of taking control of the Suez Canal and thus gaining
access east to the Middle Eastern oil fields.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_El_Alamein>
1957:
The Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 2 spacecraft, carrying Laika the
Russian space dog as the first living creature from Earth to enter
orbit.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika>
1996:
Abdullah Çatlı, a drug trafficker, a contract killer, and a leader of
the ultra-nationalist Nationalist Movement Party, was killed in a car
crash near Susurluk, Balıkesir Province, Turkey, sparking the Susurluk
scandal which exposed the depth of the state's complicity in organized
crime.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_%C3%87atl%C4%B1>
2007:
Pakistani President and Chief of Army Staff Pervez Musharraf declared a
state of emergency across Pakistan, suspending the Pakistani
Constitution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistani_state_of_emergency%2C_2007>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
atavistic (adj):
1. (biology) Of a trait reappearing after an absence of one or more
generations due to a chance combination of genes.
2. Of a throwback or exhibiting primitivism
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/atavistic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings
can master their sadistic destructiveness.
--Wilhelm Reich
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich>