Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical storm that devastated southeast
Texas in June of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. The first storm
of the season, Allison lasted unusually long for a June storm,
remaining tropical or subtropical for 15 days. The storm developed
from a tropical wave in the northern Gulf of Mexico on June 4, and
struck the northern Texas coast shortly thereafter. It drifted
northward through the state, then turned back to the south and
re-entered the Gulf of Mexico. The storm continued to the
east-northeast, making landfall on Louisiana and then moving across
the southeast United States and Mid-Atlantic. Allison was the first
storm since Tropical Storm Frances in 1998 to strike the upper Texas
coastline. The storm dropped heavy rainfall along its path, peaking at
over 40 inches (1000 mm) in Texas. The worst of the flooding occurred
in Houston, where most of Allison's damage occurred. There, 30,000
became homeless after the flooding destroyed 2,744 homes.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Allison
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1843:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, a novella about Ebenezer
Scrooge, was first published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol)
1916:
World War I: The Battle of Verdun on the Western Front ended as the
French drove the Germans back to their starting positions.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun)
1972:
NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, and Harrison Schmitt
aboard Apollo 17 returned to Earth. No human has visited the Moon
since.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17)
1974:
The Altair 8800, widely recognized as the spark that led to the
personal computer revolution of the next few years, went on sale.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altair_8800)
1984:
The People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom signed the
Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing to the transfer of
sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on July 1 1997.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-British_Joint_Declaration)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
nebulously: (idiomatic) Vaguely, without clear purpose or specific
intention.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nebulously)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
In such an ugly time the true protest is beauty. -- Phil Ochs
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Phil_Ochs)
The 2006 South Australian general election was held on 18 March 2006,
and was conducted by the independent State Electoral Office of South
Australia. The centre-left Australian Labor Party, in government since
2002 under Premier Mike Rann, gained six Liberal-held seats and a 7.7
percent statewide two-party preferred swing, resulting in the first
Labor majority government since the 1985 election with 28 of the 47
House of Assembly (lower house) seats, a net gain of five seats. The
centre-right Liberal Party of Australia, led by Rob Kerin, regained a
formerly independent seat while losing seats - the net result of 15
seats was the lowest Liberal result in any South Australian election.
Independent members Bob Such and Rory McEwen retained their seats,
with Kris Hanna successfully changing from Labor to an independent
member. The sitting Nationals SA member Karlene Maywald retained her
seat.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Australian_general_election%2C_2006
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1467:
Troops under Stephen III of Moldavia defeated the forces of Matthias
Corvinus of Hungary at the Battle of Baia in Baia, present-day
Romania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baia)
1791:
The first ten amendments to the United States Constitution,
collectively known as the United States Bill of Rights, were ratified.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights)
1891:
Physical education teacher James Naismith introduced a game in
Springfield, Massachusetts, USA with thirteen rules and nine players
on each team that became known as basketball.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith)
1961:
Former Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death after being
found guilty on fifteen criminal charges, including war crimes and
crimes against humanity.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann)
1964:
The six-month long Canadian Great Flag Debate ended when the
Canadian House of Commons voted to replace the de facto national flag
of Canada, the Canadian Red Ensign, with an official one, the current
Maple Leaf Flag.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flag_Debate)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
fatuously: With smug stupidity; idiotically
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fatuously)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
It is not the right angle that attracts me, Nor the hard, inflexible
straight line, man-made. What attracts me are free and sensual curves.
The curves in my country’s mountains, In the sinuous flow of its
rivers, In the beloved woman’s body. -- Oscar Niemeyer
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oscar_Niemeyer)
A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant is a
satirical musical about Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard, written by
Kyle Jarrow from a concept by Alex Timbers, the show's original
director. The one-act musical lasts about an hour. Jarrow based the
story of the musical on L. Ron Hubbard's writings and Church of
Scientology literature. The musical follows the life of L. Ron Hubbard
as he develops Dianetics and then Scientology. Though the musical
pokes fun at Hubbard's science fiction writing and personal beliefs,
it has been called a "deadpan presentation" of his life story. Topics
explored in the piece include Dianetics, the E-meter, Thetans, and the
story of Xenu. The show was originally presented by Les Freres
Corbusier, an experimental theatrical troupe and debuted in November
2003 in New York City, where it had sold-out Off-Off-Broadway and
Off-Broadway productions. Later performances have included Los
Angeles, New York, Boston, Atlanta and Philadelphia. Productions of A
Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant in 2003, 2004
and 2006 were well received. The musical received an Obie Award for
the 2003 New York production, and director Alex Timbers received a
Garland Award for the 2004 Los Angeles production. The play also
received positive reviews in the press.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Very_Merry_Unauthorized_Children%27s_Sciento…
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1896:
Glasgow Subway, the third oldest metro system in the world after the
London Underground and the Budapest Metro, began operations in
Glasgow, Scotland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Subway)
1911:
Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his team became the first
people to reach the South Pole.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roald_Amundsen)
1918:
The German Empire's defeat in World War I, and the stated fact that
none of the Allies would ever accept a German-born prince as the King
of Finland, led Frederick Charles to renounce the throne.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Frederick_Charles_of_Hesse)
1962:
NASA's Mariner 2 became the world's first spacecraft to successfully
fly by Venus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_2)
1995:
The Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris, France to end the Yugoslav
wars in the territory of the former Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayton_Agreement)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
dodecahedron: (geometry) A polyhedron with twelve faces; the regular
dodecahedron has twelve regular pentagons as faces
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dodecahedron)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
I had determined to go as far as declaring in abstruse and puzzling
utterances the future causes of the "common advent", even those truly
cogent ones that I have foreseen. Yet lest whatever human changes may
be to come should scandalise delicate ears, the whole thing is written
in nebulous form, rather than as a clear prophecy of any kind. --
Nostradamus
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nostradamus)
Yasser Arafat was a Palestinian militant and politician. As Chairman
of the Palestine Liberation Organization and President of the
Palestinian National Authority, Arafat continuously fought against
Israeli forces in the name of Palestinian self-determination. Arafat
was constantly surrounded by controversy, as in the late 1960s and
early 1970s, when Fatah faced off with Jordan in a civil war. Forced
out of Jordan and into Lebanon, Arafat and Fatah were the targets of
Israel's 1978 and 1982 invasions of that country. Arafat was said to
be a key planner of the Black September organization's murder of
eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics. The majority of
the Palestinian people – regardless of political ideology or faction –
viewed him as a heroic freedom fighter and martyr who symbolized the
national aspirations of his people. However, many Israelis have
described him as an unrepentant terrorist. In 1994, Arafat received
the Nobel Peace Prize, together with Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres,
for the negotiations in the Oslo Accords. In late 2004, after
effectively being confined within his Ramallah compound for over two
years by the Israeli Defense Forces, Arafat became ill and fell into a
coma, and later died.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1531:
The Apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
saw a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary outside of modern-day Mexico
City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe)
1897:
Belo Horizonte, the first planned city of Brazil, was inaugurated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_Horizonte)
1901:
Guglielmo Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic radio signal,
from Poldhu Wireless Station in Cornwall, England to Cabot Tower in
St. John's, Newfoundland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guglielmo_Marconi)
1915:
President Yuan Shikai of the Republic of China reinstated the
monarchy and declared himself Emperor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_Shikai)
1964:
Jomo Kenyatta became the first President of the Republic of Kenya.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomo_Kenyatta)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
dot the i's and cross the t's: (idiomatic) To take care of every
detail, even minor ones; to be meticulous or thorough
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dot_the_i's_and_cross_the_t's)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is
there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as
uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or
to speak, or write, with moderation. ... I am in earnest — I will not
equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch —
AND I WILL BE HEARD. -- William Lloyd Garrison
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Lloyd_Garrison)
The Belarusian Republican Youth Union is an organized youth group in
the Eastern European country of Belarus. The goals of the BRSM are to
promote patriotism and to instill individual moral values into the
youth of Belarus, using activities such as camping, sporting events
and visiting memorials. The organization, which was created by a
merger of other youth groups in 2002, is the successor of the Leninist
Communist Youth League of the Belorussian SSR. While they are only one
of a few youth groups inside Belarus, it is the largest and receives
much backing from the Belarusian government. The BRSM has been accused
of using methods of coercion and empty promises to recruit members and
that the organization is being used as a propaganda tool by the
Lukashenko Government.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarusian_Republican_Youth_Union
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1856:
Anglo-Persian War: Bushehr, a city on the southwestern coast of the
Persian Gulf in present-day Iran, surrendered to occupying British
forces.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushehr)
1905:
Legislation on the separation of church and state in France was
adopted, triggering civil disobedience by French Catholics.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1905_French_law_on_the_Separation_of_the_Churc…)
1946:
The Doctors' Trial, the trial for crimes committed in Nazi human
experimentation during World War II, began in Nuremberg, Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctors%27_Trial)
1961:
Tanganyika gained independence from Britain (Tanganyika would become
part of Tanzania three years later).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika)
1979:
A World Health Organization commission of eminent scientists
certified the global eradication of smallpox, making it the only human
infectious disease to have been completely eradicated from nature.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/smallpox)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
resoundingly: With a loud, resonant sound.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/resoundingly)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Man is appealed to to be guided in his acts, not merely
by love, which is always personal, or at the best tribal, but by the
perception of his oneness with each human being. In the practice of
mutual aid, which we can retrace to the earliest beginnings of
evolution, we thus find the positive and undoubted origin of our
ethical conceptions; and we can affirm that in the ethical progress of
man, mutual support — not mutual struggle — has had the leading part.
-- Peter Kropotkin
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin)
Krill are shrimp-like marine invertebrate animals. These small
crustaceans are important organisms of the zooplankton, particularly
as food for baleen whales, mantas, whale sharks, crabeater seals and
other seals, and a few seabird species that feed almost exclusively on
them. Krill occur in all oceans of the world. They are considered
keystone species near the bottom of the food chain because they feed
on phytoplankton and to a lesser extent zooplankton, converting these
into a form suitable for many larger animals for whom krill makes up
the largest part of their diet. In the Southern Ocean, one species,
the Antarctic Krill, Euphausia superba, makes up a biomass of over 500
million tons, roughly twice that of humans. Of this, over half is
eaten by whales, seals, penguins, squid and fish each year, and
replaced by growth and reproduction. Most krill species display large
daily vertical migrations, thus feeding predators near the surface at
night and in deeper waters during the day. Commercial fishing of krill
is done in the Southern Ocean and in the waters around Japan. The
total global harvest amounts to 150–200,000 tonnes annually, most of
this from the Scotia Sea.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krill
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1854:
In his Apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX
proclaimed the dogmatic definition of Immaculate Conception, which
holds that the Virgin Mary was born free of original sin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception)
1941:
World War II: Takashi Sakai and the Imperial Japanese Army invaded
Hong Kong and quickly achieved air superiority by bombing Kai Tak
Airport.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hong_Kong)
1980:
Mark David Chapman fatally shot former Beatle John Lennon outside
the Dakota apartments in New York City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_David_Chapman)
1991:
Leaders of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine met to dissolve the Soviet
Union and establish the Commonwealth of Independent States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
oblation: The offering of worship, thanks etc. to a deity.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/oblation)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
A hero is someone who rebels or seems to rebel against the facts of
existence and seems to conquer them. Obviously that can only work at
moments. It can't be a lasting thing. That's not saying that people
shouldn't keep trying to rebel against the facts of existence.
Someday, who knows, we might conquer death, disease and war. -- Jim
Morrison
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jim_Morrison)
Uranus is the seventh planet from the Sun and the third largest and
fourth most massive planet in the solar system. Uranus was the first
planet discovered in modern times. Though it is visible to the naked
eye like the five classical planets, it was never recognised as a
planet by ancient observers due to its dimness. Sir William Herschel
announced its discovery on March 13, 1781, expanding the known
boundaries of the solar system. Uranus' atmosphere, while still
composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, contains a higher
proportion of "ices" such as water, ammonia and methane, along with
the usual traces of hydrocarbons. It is the coldest planetary
atmosphere in the Solar System, with a minimum temperature of 49 K,
and has a complex layered cloud structure, in which water is thought
to make up the lowest clouds, while methane makes up the uppermost
layer of clouds. Like the other giant planets, Uranus has a ring
system, a magnetosphere, and numerous moons. The Uranian system has a
unique configuration among the planets because its axis of rotation is
tilted sideways, nearly into the plane of its revolution about the
Sun; its north and south poles lie where most other planets have their
equators. In 1986, images from Voyager 2 showed Uranus as a virtually
featureless planet in visible light without the cloud bands or storms
associated with the other giants. The wind speeds on Uranus can reach
250 m/s.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1724:
Tumult of Thorn (Toruń): Polish authorities executed the Mayor of
Toruń, Royal Prussia and nine other Lutheran citizens following
tensions between Protestants and Catholics.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumult_of_Thorn_%28Toru%C5%84%29)
1732:
The Royal Opera House opened at Covent Garden in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Opera_House)
1815:
Michel Ney, Marshal of France, was executed by a firing squad near
Paris' Jardin du Luxembourg for supporting Napoleon Bonaparte.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Ney)
1941:
World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy made its attack on Pearl
Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/attack_on_Pearl_Harbor)
1949:
Chinese Civil War: The government of the Republic of China relocated
from Mainland China to Taipei on the island of Taiwan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei)
1988:
An earthquake with a moment magnitude of 7.2 struck the Spitak
region of Armenia, then part of the Soviet Union, killing at least
50,000 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1988_Spitak_earthquake)
1995:
The Galileo spacecraft arrived at Jupiter, a little more than six
years after it was launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis during Mission
STS-34.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_spacecraft)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
matter-of-factly: As though stating a fact.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/matter-of-factly)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
It's an alethiometer. It's one of only six that were ever made. Lyra,
I urge you again: keep it private. ... It tells you the truth. As for
how to read it, you'll have to learn by yourself. Now go — it's
getting lighter... -- The Golden Compass
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Philip_Pullman)
Charles Edward Magoon was a prominent United States lawyer, judge,
diplomat, and colonial administrator who is best remembered as a
colonial Governor of both the Panama Canal Zone and Cuba. He was also
the subject of several small scandals during his career. As a legal
adviser working for the United States Department of War, he drafted
recommendations and reports that were used by Congress and the
executive branch in governing the United States' new territories
following the Spanish-American War. These reports were collected as a
published book in 1902, then considered the seminal work on the
subject. During his time as a colonial governor, Magoon worked to put
these recommendations into practice.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Edward_Magoon
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1492:
Christopher Columbus became the first European to set foot on the
island of Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispaniola)
1590:
Niccolò Sfondrati became Pope Gregory XIV, succeeding Pope Urban VII
who died two months earlier.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Gregory_XIV)
1766:
In London, James Christie opened what is today the world's leading
art business and fine arts auction house.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christie%27s)
1933:
Prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States officially
ended when the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was
ratified.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States)
1945:
Flight 19, a squadron of five Avenger TBM torpedo bombers of the
U.S. Navy, disappeared in the area now known as the Bermuda Triangle.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_19)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
inevitably: In a manner that is impossible to avoid or prevent; as
expected.
(http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/inevitably)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Leadership means that a group, large or small, is willing to entrust
authority to a person who has shown judgement, wisdom, personal
appeal, and proven competence. -- Walt Disney
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Disney)