Ion Heliade Rădulescu was a Wallachian-born Romanian academic,
Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer,
newspaper editor and politician, as well as prolific translator of
foreign literature into Romanian and the author of books on
linguistics and history. For much of his life, he was a teacher at the
Saint Sava College in Bucharest, which he helped reopen. He was a
founding member of the Romanian Academy, and the first President
thereof. Heliade Rădulescu is considered one of the foremost
representatives of Romanian culture from the first half of the 19th
century, having first become noted for his association with Gheorghe
Lazăr and the latter's support for discontinuing education in Greek.
Over the following decades, he had a major contribution in shaping the
modern Romanian language, but raised controversy when he came to
advocate the massive introduction of Italian neologisms to the
Romanian lexis. A Romantic nationalist landowner siding with moderate
liberals, he was among the leaders of the 1848 Wallachian revolution,
after which he was forced to spend several years in exile. Adopting an
original form of conservatism, which emphasized the role of boyars in
Romanian history, Heliade Rădulescu was rewarded for supporting the
Ottoman Empire, and came to clash with the radical wing of the 1848
generation.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_Heliade_R%C4%83dulescu
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1357:
The foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague was laid by Holy
Roman Emperor Charles IV.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bridge)
1816:
The Congress of Tucumán declared the independence of Argentina, then
known as the United Provinces of the River Plate, from Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Tucumán)
1922:
Johnny Weissmuller swam the 100-meter freestyle in 58.6 seconds,
breaking a world swimming record and the "minute barrier."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Weissmuller)
1955:
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto was issued in the midst of the Cold
War, calling for a conference where scientists would "appraise the
perils that have arisen as a result of the development of weapons of
mass destruction."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell-Einstein_Manifesto)
2002:
The African Union was launched in Durban, South Africa, with President
of South Africa Thabo Mbeki as its first chairman.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Union)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Our destiny is frequently met in the very paths we take to avoid it.
-- Jean de La Fontaine
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_de_La_Fontaine)
The 2012 Summer Olympics bids comprised bids by nine cities to host
the 2012 Summer Olympics. The International Olympic Committee
shortlisted five of them — London, Madrid, Moscow, New York City, and
Paris — and London eventually prevailed, becoming the first city to
host the Olympic Games three times. The bidding process for the 2012
Olympics was considered one of the most hotly contested in the history
of the IOC. Paris was seen as the front-runner for most of the
campaign, but last-minute lobbying by London's supporters was one
factor that led to the success of its bid. Madrid was regarded as one
of the favourites, but the city did not receive enough votes to
surpass Paris and London. After a technical evaluation of the nine
original bids, the top five were shortlisted on May 18, 2004, becoming
official candidates. The remaining applicant cities — Havana,
Istanbul, Leipzig and Rio de Janeiro — were eliminated. On July 6,
2005, in a four-round voting of the IOC (gathered at the 117th IOC
Session in Singapore), Moscow, New York City, and Madrid were
eliminated in the first three rounds. By a margin of four votes over
Paris, London won the final round and secured the right to host the
2012 Olympics.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics_bids
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1415:
Jan Hus, founder of the Christian Hussite reform movement, was burned
at the stake for committing heresy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Hus)
1885:
French chemist Louis Pasteur successfully tested his vaccine against
rabies on nine-year-old Joseph Meister after he was bitten by an
infected dog.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabies)
1887:
King Kalākaua of Hawai'i was forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution,
stripping the Hawaiian monarchy of much of its authority as well as
disfranchising all Asians, most native Hawaiians, and the poor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1887_Constitution_of_the_Kingdom_of_Hawaii)
1942:
Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the "Secret Annexe"
above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)
1966:
Hastings Banda became the first president of Malawi, exactly two years
after the country was granted independence from the United Kingdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Banda)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them
humanity cannot survive. -- Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tenzin_Gyatso%2C_14th_Dalai_Lama)
The Battle of Savo Island took place August 8–August 9, 1942, and was
a naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II, between the
Imperial Japanese Navy and Allied naval forces. The battle was the
first of five major naval engagements of the Guadalcanal campaign. In
the battle, a Japanese warship task force surprised and routed the
Allied naval force, sinking one Australian and three American
cruisers, while taking only moderate damage in return. The Japanese
force consisted of seven cruisers and one destroyer, commanded by Vice
Admiral Gunichi Mikawa. In response to Allied amphibious landings in
the eastern Solomon Islands, Mikawa brought his task force down "the
Slot" to attack the Allied amphibious fleet and its screening force.
The screening force consisted of eight cruisers and fifteen
destroyers, commanded by British Rear Admiral Victor Crutchley, but
only five cruisers and seven destroyers were actually involved in the
battle. As a result of the defeat, the remaining Allied warships and
the amphibious force withdrew from the Solomon Islands. This
temporarily conceded control of the seas around Guadalcanal to the
Japanese. Allied ground forces had landed on Guadalcanal and nearby
islands only the day before. The withdrawal of the fleet left them in
a precarious situation, with barely enough supplies, equipment, and
food to hold their beachhead.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Savo_Island
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1687:
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Isaac Newton
was first published, describing his laws of motion and his law of
universal gravitation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophiae_Naturalis_Principia_Mathematica)
1937:
The Hormel Foods Corporation introduced Spam, the canned precooked
meat product that would eventually enter into pop culture, folklore,
and urban legend.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_%28food%29)
1954:
Elvis Presley began making his first commercial recordings at Sun
Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley%27s_Sun_recordings)
1977:
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto of Pakistan in a military coup d'état.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zulfikar_Ali_Bhutto)
2004:
Indonesia held its first direct presidential elections in its history;
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would later be elected president during the
second round of the elections on September 20.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_presidential_election%2C_2004)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
There are truths which one can only say after having won the right to
say them. -- Jean Cocteau
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean_Cocteau)
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the
volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via
"natural" search results. Usually, the earlier a site is presented in
the search results, or the higher it "ranks," the more searchers will
visit that site. SEO can also target different kinds of search,
including image search, local search, and industry-specific vertical
search engines. As a marketing strategy for increasing a site's
relevancy, SEO considers how search algorithms work and what people
search for. SEO efforts may involve a site's coding, presentation, and
structure, as well as fixing problems that could prevent search engine
indexing programs from fully spidering a site. Other, more noticeable
efforts may include adding unique content to a site, and making sure
that the content is easily indexed by search engines and also appeals
to human visitors. The acronym "SEO" can also refer to "search engine
optimizers," a term adopted by an industry of consultants who carry
out optimization projects on behalf of clients, and by employees who
perform SEO services in-house.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1644:
The Battle of Marston Moor, one of the decisive encounters of the
English Civil War, was fought near York.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marston_Moor)
1839:
53 African slaves mutinied on the slave ship La Amistad off the coast
of Cuba.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Amistad)
1900:
First Zeppelin flight occurred over Lake Constance near
Friedrichshafen, Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin)
1937:
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific
Ocean during an attempt to make a circumnavigational flight.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart)
1976:
North and South Vietnam united under communist rule to form the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamc)
1997:
The Thai baht rapidly lost half of its value, marking the beginning of
the 1997 East Asian financial crisis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_East_Asian_financial_crisis)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
There's no lifethat couldn't be immortalif only for a
moment.Deathalways arrives by that very moment too late.In vain it
tugs at the knobof the invisible door.As far as you've come can't be
undone.~ Wisława Szymborska
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wis%C5%82awa_Szymborska)
Islam is a monotheistic religion originating with the teachings of
Muhammad, a 7th-century Arab religious and political figure. The word
Islam means "submission," or the total surrender of one's self to God.
Islam's adherents are known as Muslims, meaning "one who submits (to
God)". There are between 0.9 and 1.3 billion Muslims, making Islam the
second-largest religion in the world, after Christianity. Muslims
believe that God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, God's final prophet,
and regard the Qur'an and the Sunnah (the words and deeds of Muhammad)
as the fundamental sources of Islam. They do not regard Muhammad as
the founder of a new religion, but as the restorer of the original
monotheistic faith of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets.
Islamic tradition holds that Judaism and Christianity distorted the
messages of these prophets over time either in interpretation, in
text, or both. Adherents are generally required to observe the Five
Pillars of Islam, five duties that unite Muslims into a community. In
addition to the Five Pillars, Islamic law (Sharia) has developed a
tradition of rulings that touch on virtually all aspects of life and
society. Almost all Muslims belong to one of two major denominations,
the Sunni and Shi'a. The schism developed in the late 7th century
following disagreements over the religious and political leadership of
the Muslim community. Roughly 85 percent of Muslims are Sunni and 15
percent are Shi'a.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1520:
La Noche Triste: Spanish Conquistadors under Hernán Cortés barely
succeeded in escaping from the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Noche_Triste)
1569:
The Union of Lublin was signed, merging the Kingdom of Poland and the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania into a single state, the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Lublin)
1867:
The British North America Act came into effect, uniting the Province
of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia into the Canadian
Confederation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Confederation)
1916:
World War I: The first day of the Battle of the Somme became the
bloodiest day in the history of the British Army, with 57,470
casualties of which 19,240 were killed or died of wounds.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_day_on_the_Somme)
1991:
The Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
It is almost impossible to bear the torch of truth through a crowd
without singeing somebody’s beard. -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Georg_Christoph_Lichtenberg)
The Wonderbra is a type of push-up brassiere that gained worldwide
prominence in the 1990s. Although the Wonderbra name was first
trademarked in the U.S. in 1935, the brand was developed in Canada.
Moses (Moe) Nadler, founder and majority owner of the Canadian Lady
Corset Company, licensed the trademark for the Canadian market in
1939. By the 1960s the Canadian Lady brand had become known in Canada
as "Wonderbra, the company." In 1961 the company introduced the Model
1300 plunge push-up bra. This bra became one of the best-selling
Canadian styles and is virtually identical to today's Wonderbra. In
1968 Canadian Lady changed its name to Canadian Lady-Canadelle Inc.,
was sold to Consolidated Foods (now Sara Lee Corporation), and later
became Canadelle Inc. In 1991 the push-up Wonderbra became a sensation
in the UK, although it had been sold there since 1964 under license by
the Gossard division of Courtalds Textiles. Sara Lee Corporation did
not renew Gossard's license and redesigned the push-up style for the
reintroduction of the Wonderbra to the U.S. market in 1994. Since
1994, the Wonderbra has expanded from the single push-up design into a
wide-ranging lingerie fashion label in most of the world.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderbra
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1389:
Ottoman wars in Europe: Turks under Murad I defeated Lazar
Hrebeljanović and a coalition of Serb lords at the Battle of Kosovo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kosovo)
1880:
Australian bank robber and bushranger Ned Kelly was captured in
Glenrowan, Victoria after surviving a gun battle with police.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly)
1914:
Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz
Ferdinand of Austria, sparking the outbreak of World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand)
1919:
The Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Versailles)
1956:
Workers in Poznań, Poland held massive protests demanding the lowering
of food prices, rising of wages and revoking some recent law changes
that worsened working conditions, but were violently repressed the
following day.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poznań_1956_protests)
1969:
In response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City,
groups of gay and transgender people began to riot against New York
City Police officers, a watershed event for the worldwide gay rights
movement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the
rights of humanity and even its duties. For him who renounces
everything no indemnity is possible. Such a renunciation is
incompatible with man's nature; to remove all liberty from his will is
to remove all morality from his acts. -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jean-Jacques_Rousseau)
Slayer is an American thrash metal band, formed in 1981 by guitarists
Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame as a leader of the
American thrash metal movement with their 1986 release Reign in Blood,
which has been called "the heaviest album of all time." The band is
credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal bands along with
Megadeth, Metallica, and Anthrax. Slayer is known for its musical
traits, involving fast tremolo picking, guitar solos, double bass
drumming, and screaming vocals. The band's lyrics and album art, which
cover topics such as serial killers, satanism, religion and warfare
have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from
religious groups and the public. Since their debut record in 1983, the
band has released two live albums, one box set, two DVDs, two EPs, and
ten albums, four of which have received gold certification. The band
has received two Grammy nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song
"Eyes of the Insane", and headlined music festivals worldwide,
including Ozzfest, The Unholy Alliance and the Download Festival.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slayer
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
678:
Saint Agatho began his reign as Pope.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Agatho)
1358:
Republic of Ragusa founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ragusa)
1898:
Joshua Slocum completed the first solo circumnavigation of the globe
sailing on his refitted sloop-rigged fishing boat Spray, a distance of
more than 46,000 miles (74,000 km).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Slocum)
1905:
The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin began a mutiny against
their oppressive officers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_battleship_Potemkin)
1967:
The world's first electronic automated teller machine was installed in
Enfield Town, London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated_teller_machine)
1991:
Yugoslavia invaded Slovenia, two days after the latter's declaration
of independence from the former, starting the Ten-Day War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-Day_War)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
A happy life consists not in the absence, but in the mastery of
hardships. -- Helen Keller
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Helen_Keller)
The All Blacks are New Zealand's national rugby union team. Rugby
union is New Zealand's national sport, with the All Blacks a
formidable power in international rugby, possessing a winning record
against all nations. The All Blacks compete annually with Australia
and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest
the Bledisloe Cup with Australia. They have been Tri-Nations champions
seven times in the tournament's eleven-year history, have twice
completed a Grand Slam (in 1978 and in 2005), and currently hold the
Bledisloe Cup. They are the top ranked team in the world, and the 2006
International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year. Twelve former All
Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Blacks
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1530:
The Augsburg Confession, the primary confession of faith of the
Lutheran Church, was presented to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at
the Diet of Augsburg.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augsburg_Confession)
1876:
Indian Wars in North America: United States Army Colonel George
Armstrong Custer was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer)
1950:
The Korean War between North and South Korea began with the North
Koreans launching a pre-dawn raid south over the 38th parallel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War)
1967:
Over 400 million people in over 30 countries watched Our World, the
first live, international, satellite television production.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_World)
1993:
Kim Campbell was chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative
Party and became the first female Prime Minister of Canada.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Campbell)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
I always disagree ... when people end up saying that we can only
combat Communism, Fascism or what not if we develop an equal
fanaticism. It appears to me that one defeats the fanatic precisely by
not being a fanatic oneself, but on the contrary by using one's
intelligence. In the same way, a man can kill a tiger because he is
not like a tiger and uses his brain to invent the rifle, which no
tiger could ever do. -- George Orwell
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Orwell)
The B-52 aircraft crash at Fairchild Air Force Base was a fatal air
crash that occurred on June 24, 1994, killing the four crew members of
a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 Stratofortress during a training
flight. In the crash, Bud Holland, who was the command pilot of the
aircraft based at Fairchild Air Force Base, call sign Czar 52, flew
the aircraft beyond its operational parameters and lost control. As a
result, the aircraft stalled, impacted the ground, and was completely
destroyed. Video of the crash was shown throughout the United States
on news broadcasts. The accident investigation concluded that the
chain of events leading to the crash was primarily attributable to
Holland's personality and behavior, USAF leaders' reactions to it, and
the sequence of events during the mishap flight of the aircraft.
Today, the crash is used in military and civilian aviation
environments as a case study in teaching crew resource management.
Also, the crash is often used by the USAF during safety training as an
example of the importance of compliance with safety regulations and
correcting the behavior of anyone who violates safety procedures.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-52_aircraft_crash_at_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1314:
Scotland regained independence as forces led by Robert the Bruce
defeated Edward II of England in the Battle of Bannockburn.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bannockburn)
1894:
Italian anarchist Sante Geronimo Caserio assassinated Marie François
Sadi Carnot, President of the French Third Republic, after Carnot
delivered a speech at a public banquet in Lyon, France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Fran%C3%A7ois_Sadi_Carnot)
1947:
First widely-reported post-World War II sighting of UFOs: American
businessman and pilot Kenneth Arnold saw nine luminous disks in the
form of saucers flying above the U.S. state of Washington near Mount
Rainier.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Arnold)
1948:
The Soviet Union blocked access to the American, British, and French
sectors of Berlin, cutting off all rail and road routes going into
Soviet-controlled territory in Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Absurdity, n. A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's
own opinion. -- Ambrose Bierce
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ambrose_Bierce)
Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts in the United States and the largest city in New
England. Considered the unofficial capital of the New England region,
Boston had an estimated city-proper population of 596,638 in 2005. The
city lies at the center of America's eleventh-largest metropolitan
area known as Greater Boston, which is home to 4.4 million people.
Founded in 1630, Boston was the location of several major events
during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the
Boston Tea Party. With many colleges and universities within the city
and surrounding area, Boston is a center of higher education and a
center for health care. The city's economy is also based on research,
finance, and technology — principally biotechnology. Boston is
struggling with gentrification issues, and has one of the highest
costs of living in the United States.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston%2C_Massachusetts
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1813:
Peninsular War: In the Battle of Vitoria, the Marquess of Wellington's
combined British, Portuguese, and Spanish allied army defeated the
French near Vitoria, Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vitoria)
1864:
New Zealand land wars: The Tauranga Campaign ended.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauranga_Campaign)
1985:
Greenland officially adopted its own flag, adding support to its
independence movement from Denmark.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Greenland)
2000:
The controversial amendment to the United Kingdom Local Government Act
of 1988 known as Section 28, stating that a local authority cannot
intentionally promote homosexuality, was repealed in Scotland with a
99 to 17 vote.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_28)
2004:
SpaceShipOne completed the first privately funded human spaceflight.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceShipOne)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Give me the splendid silent sun with all his beams full-dazzling… --
Walt Whitman in Leaves of Grass
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman)