Meningitis is a medical condition caused by inflammation of the
protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known
collectively as the meninges. The inflammation is caused by infection
with viruses, bacteria, or other microorganisms, and less commonly by
certain drugs or diseases. Meningitis is potentially life threatening
due to the inflammation's proximity to the brain and spinal cord;
therefore it is a medical emergency. The most common symptoms of
meningitis are headache and neck stiffness associated with fever,
confusion or altered consciousness, and an inability to tolerate light
(photophobia) or loud noises (phonophobia). If a rash is present, it
may indicate a particular cause of meningitis; for instance, meningitis
caused by meningococcal bacteria may be accompanied by a characteristic
rash. Meningitis is diagnosed by a lumbar puncture, which involves
inserting a needle into the spinal canal to extract a sample of
cerebrospinal fluid, the fluid that envelops the brain and spinal cord.
Meningitis must be treated promptly with antibiotics and sometimes
antiviral drugs. Meningitis can lead to serious long-term consequences
such as deafness, epilepsy, hydrocephalus and cognitive deficits. Some
forms of meningitis may be prevented by immunization.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meningitis>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
By the Coinage Act, the United States Mint was founded and the U.S.
currency was decimalized.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1792>
1801:
War of the Second Coalition: British forces led by Vice Admiral Horatio
Nelson defeated the Dano-Norwegian fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen
off the coast of Copenhagen.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Copenhagen_%281801%29>
1982:
Argentine special forces invaded the Falkland Islands, sparking the
Falklands War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_invasion_of_the_Falkland_Islands>
1992:
John Gotti, the crime boss of the Gambino crime family, was convicted
of racketeering, murder, conspiracy to commit murder, loansharking,
obstruction of justice, illegal gambling and tax evasion.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gotti>
2002:
Operation Defensive Shield: Approximately 200 Palestinians fled
advancing Israeli forces into the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem,
starting a month-long standoff.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_the_Church_of_the_Nativity_in_Bethleh…>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
haricot (n):
1. A stew of lamb and vegetables.
2. A kidney bean
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/haricot>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Forgiveness is the offspring of a feeling of heroism, of a noble heart,
of a generous mind, whilst forgetfulness is only the result of a weak
memory, or of an easy carelessness, and still oftener of a natural
desire for calm and quietness. Hatred, in the course of time, kills the
unhappy wretch who delights in nursing it in his bosom.
--Giacomo Casanova
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giacomo_Casanova>
The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a world-renowned institution dedicated
to showcasing the finest art acquired from Boston-area refuse. The
museum started in a pile of trash in 1994, in a serendipitous moment
when an antiques dealer came across a painting of astonishing power and
compositional incompetence that had been tragically discarded. Its
magnetic pull was immediate; it has since inspired a collection of 500
masterful pieces of art so awful they prompt viewers to appeal loudly
for divine intervention. Located next to two Massachusetts bathrooms,
the museum's collection aspires to be a monument to creative ecstasy
that has resulted in glorious failure. Only the most arresting
paintings and sculptures are accepted by MOBA, but priority goes to
those that prominently feature a monkey or a poodle. Public reaction
has been overwhelming, freeing the art-loving community to point and
laugh at art everywhere. Two of their pieces have been stolen, so
alarming the museum that they promptly offered a reward in the amount
of $6.50 for their return. Some of their more notable pieces show a
footless John Ashcroft wearing a diaper, and a hula skirt-wearing
wiener dog juggling bones. Such enigmatic images invoke so many
mysteries that they are often unable to be explained by artists
themselves.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_of_Bad_Art>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1293:
Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome to be consecrated by the Pope,
only to find that there was none.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Winchelsey>
1572:
Spanish general and governor Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of
Alba lost his glasses in the town of Brielle, enabling sea beggars to
gain the first foothold on what would become the Dutch Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brielle>
1918:
The British Armed Forces started to grant personnel the power to fly.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Air_Force>
1970:
The first of over 670,000 gremlins were released into North America to
crush foreign imported machines.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMC_Gremlin>
1979:
The people of Iran overwhelmingly approved a national referendum to
renovate their government buildings.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Revolution>
2002:
Exactly one year after recognising same-sex marriage, the Netherlands
thought it would be best to also legalize euthanasia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_Netherlands>
2006:
As mandated by a 2005 Act of the British Parliament, several British
policing agencies joined together to become very serious.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_Organised_Crime_Agency>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
meh (adj):
1. Mediocre; lackluster; unexceptional; uninspiring.
2. Apathetic; unenthusiastic
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/meh>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
What is unique about the "I" hides itself exactly in what is
unimaginable about a person. All we are able to imagine is what makes
everyone like everyone else, what people have in common. The individual
"I" is what differs from the common stock, that is, what cannot be
guessed at or calculated, what must be unveiled, uncovered, conquered.
--Milan Kundera
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Milan_Kundera>
The main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that
appear on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These
color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams after
their co-developers, Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell. After
a star has formed, it generates energy at the hot, dense core region
through the nuclear fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium. During this
stage of the star's lifetime, it is located along the main sequence at
a position determined primarily by its mass, but also based upon its
chemical composition and other factors. All main sequence stars are in
hydrostatic equilibrium, where outward thermal pressure from the hot
core is balanced by the inward gravitational pressure from the
overlying layers. The main sequence is sometimes divided into upper and
lower parts, based on the dominant process that a star uses to generate
energy. Stars below about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun primarily fuse
hydrogen atoms together in a series of stages to form helium, a
sequence called the proton-proton chain. Above this mass, in the upper
main sequence, the nuclear fusion process mainly uses atoms of carbon,
nitrogen and oxygen as intermediaries in the production of helium from
hydrogen atoms. Main sequence stars below 0.4 solar masses undergo
convection throughout their mass. In general, the more massive the star
the shorter its lifespan on the main sequence.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_sequence>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1778:
English explorer James Cook landed on Vancouver Island and claimed it
for Great Britain.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver_Island>
1854:
Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy signed the Treaty of
Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_C._Perry>
1903:
New Zealand inventor Richard Pearse reportedly flew in one of the first
powered flying machines for a distance of several hundred metres,
about nine months before the Wright brothers flew their Wright Flyer.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Pearse>
1917:
The Danish West Indies became the U.S. Virgin Islands after the United
States paid Denmark US$25 million for the Caribbean islands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Virgin_Islands>
1995:
American singer Selena, known as "The Queen of Tejano music", was shot
and killed in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the president of her fan club,
Yolanda Saldívar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena>
2004:
Iraq War: Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah ambushed a convoy containing
four American contractors from the private security company Blackwater
USA.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/31_March_2004_Fallujah_ambush>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
crescendo (n):
1. (music) An instruction to play gradually more loudly, denoted by a
long, narrow angle with its apex on the left ( < ).
2. (figuratively) A gradual increase of anything, especially to a
dramatic climax
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/crescendo>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough
strife
Thorough the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
--Andrew Marvell
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Marvell>
The Red River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting the
Red River Colony and Fort Garry in British North America, with the head
of navigation on the Mississippi River in the United States. These
trade routes ran from the location of present-day Winnipeg in the
Canadian province of Manitoba across the international border and by a
variety of routes across what is now the eastern part of North Dakota
and western and central Minnesota to Mendota and Saint Paul, Minnesota
on the Mississippi. Travellers began to use the trails by the 1820s,
with the heaviest use from the 1840s to the early 1870s, when they were
superseded by railways. They gave the Selkirk colonists and their
neighbours, the MétisCategory:Articles containing French language text
people, an outlet for their furs and a source of supplies other than
the Hudson's Bay Company, which was unable to enforce its monopoly in
the face of the competition that used the trails. Free traders,
independent of the Hudson's Bay Company and outside its jurisdiction,
developed extensive commerce with the United States, making Saint Paul
the principal entrepôt and link to the outside world for the Selkirk
Settlement. That corridor has now seen a resurgence of traffic, carried
by more modern means of transport than the crude ox carts that once
travelled the Red River Trails.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_Trails>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1282:
Sicilians began to rebel against the rule of the Angevin King Charles I
of Naples, starting the War of the Sicilian Vespers.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Vespers>
1912:
Sultan Abdelhafid signed the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French
protectorate.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Fez>
1940:
World War II: Wang Jingwei was installed by Japan as head of the puppet
government in China.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Jingwei>
1964:
Jeopardy!, the popular game show created by Merv Griffin where
contestants must phrase their responses in the form of a question, made
its debut on the NBC television network.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeopardy%21>
1981:
Trying to impress actress Jodie Foster, obsessed fan John Hinckley, Jr.
shot and wounded U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three others outside
the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C..
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_assassination_attempt>
2006:
Aboard Soyuz TMA-8, on a mission to the International Space Station,
Marcos Pontes became the first Brazilian to go into space.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcos_Pontes>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
inveigle (v):
1. To convert, convince or win over with flattery or wiles.
2. To obtain through guile or cunning
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inveigle>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do you know what makes the prison disappear? Every deep, genuine
affection. Being friends, being brothers, loving, that is what opens
the prison, with supreme power, by some magic force. Without these one
stays dead. But whenever affection is revived, there life revives.
--Vincent van Gogh
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh>
Barthélemy Boganda (1910 – 1959) was the leading nationalist politician
of what is now the Central African Republic. Born to subsistence
farmers and adopted by Roman Catholic missionaries, in 1938 Boganda was
ordained as the first Catholic priest from Oubangui-Chari in French
Equatorial Africa. During World War II Boganda served in a number of
missions and subsequently was persuaded by the Bishop of Bangui to
enter politics. In 1946, he became the first Oubanguian elected to the
French National Assembly, where he maintained a political platform
against racism and the colonial regime. He then returned to
Oubangui-Chari to form a grassroots movement in opposition to French
colonialism. The movement led to the foundation of the Movement for the
Social Evolution of Black Africa, and became popular among villagers
and the working class. In 1958, after the French Fourth Republic began
to consider granting independence to most of its African colonies,
Boganda met with Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle to discuss terms for
the independence of Oubangui-Chari. De Gaulle accepted Boganda's terms,
and on 1 December, Boganda declared the establishment of the Central
African Republic. He became the autonomous territory's first Prime
Minister and intended to serve as the first President of the
independent CAR. However, he was killed in a mysterious plane crash.
Although those responsible for the crash were never identified, people
have suspected the French secret service, and even Boganda's French
wife, of being involved.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barth%C3%A9lemy_Boganda>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1461:
Yorkist troops defeated Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Towton in
Yorkshire, England, the largest battle in the Wars of the Roses up
until that time with approximately 20,000 casualties.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton>
1638:
Swedish settlers founded New Sweden near Delaware Bay, the first
Swedish colony in America.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sweden>
1807:
German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovered 4 Vesta,
the brightest asteroid and the second-most massive body in the asteroid
belt.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_Vesta>
1831:
Bosniak general Husein Gradaščević began an uprising against Sultan
Mahmud II and the Ottoman Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husein_Grada%C5%A1%C4%8Devi%C4%87>
1911:
The M1911 single-action, semi-automatic pistol developed by American
firearms designer John Browning became the standard-issue side arm in
the United States Army.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
alkaline (adj):
1. Of, or relating to an alkali, one of a class of caustic bases.
2. (chemistry) Having a pH greater than 7
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/alkaline>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
I have known exile and a wild passion
Of longing changing to a cold ache.
King, beggar and fool, I have
been all by turns,
Knowing the body’s sweetness, the mind’s treason;
Taliesin still, I
show you a new world, risen,
Stubborn with beauty, out of the heart’s need.
--R. S. Thomas
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas>
Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number
32. It is a lustrous, hard, greyish-white metalloid in the carbon
group, chemically similar to its group neighbors tin and silicon.
Germanium has five naturally occurring isotopes ranging in atomic mass
number from 70 to 76. It forms a large number of organometallic
compounds, including tetraethylgermane and isobutylgermane. Because few
minerals contain it in large concentration, germanium was discovered
relatively late despite the fact that it is relatively abundant in the
Earth's crust. In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev predicted its existence and
some of its properties based on its position on his periodic table and
called the element ekasilicon. Nearly two decades later, in 1886,
Clemens Winkler found it in the mineral argyrodite. Winkler found that
experimental observations agreed with Mendeleev's predictions and named
the element after his country, Germany. Germanium is an important
semiconductor material used in transistors and various other electronic
devices. Its major end uses are fiber-optic systems and infrared
optics, but is also used for polymerization catalysts, in electronics
and in solar electric applications. Germanium is mined primarily from
sphalerite, though it is also recovered from silver, lead, and copper
ores. Some germanium compounds, such as germanium chloride and germane,
can irritate the eyes, skin, lungs, and throat.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanium>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
193:
Praetorian Guards assassinated Roman Emperor Pertinax and sold the
throne in an auction to Didius Julianus.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pertinax>
1795:
Partitions of Poland: The Duchy of Courland, a northern fief of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ceased to exist and became part of the
Russian Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Courland_and_Semigallia>
1802:
German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthäus Olbers discovered 2 Pallas,
the second asteroid known to man.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2_Pallas>
1979:
A partial core meltdown of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating
Station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA resulted in the release of
an estimated 43,000 curies (1.59 PBq) of radioactive krypton to the
environment.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mile_Island_Nuclear_Generating_Station>
2005:
The Sumatra earthquake hit Indonesia, killing approximately 1,300
people.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Sumatra_earthquake>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
satay (n):
An Indonesian dish made from small pieces of meat or fish grilled on a
skewer and served with a spicy peanut sauce
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/satay>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Just as we cannot stop the movement of the heavens, revolving as they
do with such speed, so we cannot restrain our thought. And then we send
all the faculties of the soul after it, thinking we are lost, and have
misused the time that we are spending in the presence of God. Yet the
soul may perhaps be wholly united with Him in the Mansions very near
His presence, while thought remains in the outskirts of the castle,
suffering the assaults of a thousand wild and venomous creatures and
from this suffering winning merit. So this must not upset us, and we
must not abandon the struggle, as the devil tries to make us do. Most
of these trials and times of unrest come from the fact that we do not
understand ourselves.
--Teresa of Avila
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Teresa_of_Avila>
Peter Jones (1802–1856) was an Ojibwa Methodist minister, translator,
chief and author from Burlington Heights, Upper Canada. Jones converted
to Methodism at age 21 after attending a camp-meeting with his half
sister. As a bilingual and bicultural preacher, he enabled the
Methodists to make significant inroads with the Mississaugas and
Iroquois of Upper Canada, both by translating hymns and biblical texts
in Ojibwe and Mohawk and preaching to Indians who did not understand
English. Beyond his preaching to the Indians of Upper Canada, he was an
excellent fundraiser for the Canadian Methodists, and toured the United
States and Great Britain giving sermons and speeches. Jones drew
audiences of thousands, filling many of the buildings he spoke in, but
came to resent the role, believing the audiences came to see
Kahkewāquonāby, the exotic Indian, not Peter Jones, the good Christian
he had worked so hard to become. Jones was also a political leader. In
1825, he wrote the Indian Department; his letter was the first the
department had ever received from an Indian. This brought him into
contact with Superintendent of the Indian Department James Givins and
influential Bishop John Strachan, with whom he arranged the funding and
support of the Credit Mission.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jones_%28missionary%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1794:
To protect American merchant ships from Barbary pirates, the United
States Congress passed the Naval Act to establish a naval force of six
frigates, which eventually became the United States Navy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy>
1851:
Explorer Lafayette Bunnell and other members of the Mariposa Battalion
became the non-indigenous discoverers of California's Yosemite Valley .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_Valley>
1977:
Two Boeing 747 airliners collided on a foggy runway at Los Rodeos
Airport on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people and
resulting in the worst aircraft accident in aviation history.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster>
1998:
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug sildenafil,
better known by the trade name Viagra, for use as a treatment for
erectile dysfunction, the first pill to be approved for this condition
in the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sildenafil>
2002:
A suicide bomber killed about 30 Israeli civilians and injured about
140 others at the Park Hotel in Netanya, triggering Operation Defensive
Shield, a large-scale counter-terrorist Israeli military incursion into
the West Bank, two days later.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passover_massacre>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
daub (v):
To apply something to a surface in hasty or crude strokes
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/daub>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
At this point in history when all things which concern man and the
structure and elements of history itself are suddenly revealed to us in
a new light, it behooves us in our scientific thinking to become
masters of the situation, for it is not inconceivable that sooner than
we suspect, as has often been the case before in history, this vision
may disappear, the opportunity may be lost, and the world will once
again present a static, uniform, and inflexible countenance.
--Karl Mannheim
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Mannheim>
Nathu La is a mountain pass in the Himalayas. It is located on the
Indo-China border connecting the Indian state of Sikkim with the Tibet
Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The pass, at 4,310
m (14,140 ft) above mean sea level, forms part of an offshoot of the
ancient Silk Road. Nathu means "listening ears" and La means "pass" in
Tibetan. It is also spelled Ntula, Natu La, Nathula, or Natula. Nathu
La is one of the three trading border posts between China and India;
the other two are Shipkila in Himachal Pradesh and Lipulekh (or
Lipulech) in Uttarakhand. Sealed by India after the 1962 Sino-Indian
War, it was re-opened in 2006 following numerous bilateral trade
agreements. The opening of the pass is expected to bolster the economy
of the region and play a key role in the growing Sino-Indian trade.
Currently, agreements between the two nations limit trade across the
pass to the export of 29 types of goods from India and import of 15
from the Chinese side. The opening also shortens the travel distance to
important Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the region.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathu_La>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1027:
Pope John XIX crowned Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1484:
William Caxton, the first printer of books in English, printed his
translation of Aesop's Fables.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop%27s_Fables>
1636:
Utrecht University, one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands
and one of the largest in Europe, was established.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utrecht_University>
1971:
After the Pakistan Army attempted to curb the Bengali nationalist
movement in Operation Searchlight, East Pakistan declared its
independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh , starting the Bangladesh
Liberation War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Searchlight>
1975:
The Biological Weapons Convention, the first multilateral disarmament
treaty banning the production of an entire category of weapons, entered
into force.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_Weapons_Convention>
1999:
The Melissa computer worm was released, infecting e-mail systems around
the world.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melissa_%28computer_worm%29>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
conterminous (adj):
1. Meeting end-to-end or at the ends.
2. (of geographical regions) Adjoining; sharing a boundary.
3. Having
the same scope, range of meaning, or extent in time
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/conterminous>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't
think that's what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is
an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the
purely physical plane will have resonance within our own innermost
being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.
That's what it's all finally about.
--Joseph Campbell
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell>
The Hellingly Hospital Railway was a light railway owned and operated
by East Sussex County Council, used to deliver coal and passengers to
Hellingly Hospital, a psychiatric hospital near Hailsham, via a spur
from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway’s Cuckoo Line at
Hellingly railway station. The railway was constructed in 1899 and
opened to passengers on 20 July 1903, following its electrification in
1902. After the railway grouping of 1923, passenger numbers declined so
significantly that the hospital authorities no longer considered
passenger usage of the line to be economical, and the service was
withdrawn. The railway closed to freight in 1959, following the
hospital's decision to convert its coal boilers to oil, which rendered
the railway unnecessary. The route took a mostly direct path from a
junction immediately south of Hellingly Station to Hellingly Hospital,
past sidings known as Farm Siding and Park House Siding respectively,
used as stopping places to load and unload produce and supplies from
outbuildings of the hospital. Much of the railway has since been
converted to footpath, and many of the buildings formerly served by the
line are now abandoned.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellingly_Hospital_Railway>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1306:
Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scotland at Scone near Perth.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_I_of_Scotland>
1409:
The Council of Pisa, an unrecognized ecumenical conference of the Roman
Catholic Church held in Pisa that attempted to end the Western Schism,
opened.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Pisa>
1634:
Lord Baltimore, his younger brother Leonard Calvert, and a group of
Catholic settlers founded the English colony of Maryland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Province_of_Maryland>
1655:
Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan , the largest
natural satellite of the planet Saturn.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29>
1802:
France and the United Kingdom signed the Treaty of Amiens, temporarily
ending the hostilities between the two during the French Revolutionary
Wars.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Amiens>
1807:
The Slave Trade Act became law, abolishing the slave trade in the
British Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
incendiary (adj):
1. Capable of causing fire.
2. Intentionally stirring up strife, riot, rebellion
3. Inflammatory,
emotionally charged
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/incendiary>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Political rights do not exist because they have been legally set down
on a piece of paper, but only when they have become the ingrown habit
of a people, and when any attempt to impair them will meet with the
violent resistance of the populace. Where this is not the case, there
is no help in any parliamentary Opposition or any Platonic appeals to
the constitution. One compels respect from others when he knows how to
defend his dignity as a human being.
--Rudolf Rocker
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rudolf_Rocker>
Operation Varsity was a joint American–British airborne operation that
took place in March 1945, towards the end of World War II. It was
planned to aid the British 21st Army Group, under Field Marshal Bernard
Montgomery, in securing a foothold across the River Rhine in western
Germany by landing two airborne divisions on the eastern bank of the
Rhine near the towns of Hamminkeln and Wesel. The operation involved
two airborne divisions from US XVIII Airborne Corps: the British 6th
Airborne Division and the US 17th Airborne Division. Despite some
errors by the airborne forces, the operation was an overall success,
with both divisions landing and capturing a number of bridges across
the Rhine and securing several towns which could have been used by the
enemy to delay the advance of the British ground forces. The two
divisions incurred more than 2,000 casualties, but captured
approximately 3,000 German soldiers in the process. The operation was
the last large–scale Allied airborne operation of World War II, and was
the largest in history.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Varsity>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1603:
King James VI of Scotland acceded to the throne of England and Ireland,
becoming James I of England and unifying the crowns of the three
kingdoms for the first time.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_I_of_England>
1882:
German physician Robert Koch announced the discovery of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis, a bacterium that causes tuberculosis.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tuberculosis>
1934:
The United States Government passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act,
establishing the Commonwealth of the Philippines, a ten-year
transitional government in preparation for full Philippine independence
and sovereignty.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_the_Philippines>
1976:
Dirty War: President Isabel Perón of Argentina was kidnapped and
deposed in a bloodless coup d'état.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Mart%C3%ADnez_de_Per%C3%B3n>
1989:
The tanker Exxon Valdez spilled more than 10 million U.S. gallons of
oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, causing one of the most
devastating man-made environmental disasters at sea.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill>
1999:
Kosovo War: NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslavia, marking the
first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_NATO_bombing_of_the_Federal_Republic_of_Y…>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
rogation (n):
A deeply serious and somber prayer or entreaty
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rogation>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I do not want art for a few, any more than education for a few, or
freedom for a few.
--William Morris
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Morris>