Shadow of the Colossus is a Japanese-developed action-adventure video
game developed and published by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) for
the PlayStation 2. Published internationally by Sony, it was released
in North America and Japan in October 2005, and was subsequently
released in PAL territories in February 2006. The game was created by
SCEI's International Production Studio 1, the same development team
responsible for the cult-hit Ico. The game focuses on "Wander", a
young man who must travel across a vast expanse on horseback and
defeat sixteen giant beings called "colossi" to restore the life of a
sacrificed girl. The game is unusual among the action-adventure genre
in that there are no towns or dungeons to explore, no characters with
which to interact, and no enemies to defeat other than the colossi.
Shadow of the Colossus has been described as a puzzle game, as each
colossus has a weakness which must be identified and exploited to
defeat the boss.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_of_the_Colossus
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1819:
By the Adams-OnÃs Treaty, Spain sold Florida to the United States for
five million U.S. dollars.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams-OnÃs_Treaty)
1876:
The Johns Hopkins University, named after philanthropist Johns
Hopkins, was founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johns_Hopkins_University)
1943:
Members of the White Rose Society were found guilty of treason and
guillotined by the Nazi regime in Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose)
1958:
President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and President Shukri al-Quwatli
of Syria signed the union pact to form the United Arab Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Arab_Republic)
1997:
Scientists at the Roslin Institute in Scotland announced the birth of
a cloned sheep named Dolly seven months after the fact.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_the_Sheep)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Promote... as an object of primary importance, institutions for the
general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a
government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public
opinion should be enlightened. -- George Washington
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Washington)
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series
that currently airs on the Nickelodeon television network. Set in an
Asian-influenced world of martial arts and elemental magic, the series
follows the adventures of the successor to a long line of Avatars,
Aang, and his friends in their quest to save the world from the
ruthless Fire Nation. The series is written in the form of a book
series, with each episode being a "chapter" and each individual season
a "book." Originally slated to begin airing in November 2004, Avatar:
The Last Airbender debuted on TV on February 21, 2005. Michael Dante
DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are the creators and executive producers
of the series. The show receives high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup,
even outside its intended 6-to-11-year-old demographic. The series'
success prompted Nickelodeon to order a second season, and a third
season has been announced for 2007. Merchandise based on the series
includes six DVD sets of episodes, six-inch scale action figures, a
video game, stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks, and two
Lego sets.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar%3A_The_Last_Airbender
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1613:
Mikhail I was elected unanimously by the Zemsky Sobor to become Tsar,
beginning the Romanov dynasty in Imperial Russia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_I_of_Russia)
1804:
Built by Richard Trevithick, the first self-propelled steam engine or
locomotive first ran in Wales.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Trevithick)
1952:
Protesters in Dhaka, East Pakistan walked into military fire in demand
of the establishment of the Bengali language as an official language.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language)
1971:
The Convention on Psychotropic Substances, a United Nations treaty
designed to control psychoactive drugs, was signed at a conference of
plenipotentiaries in Vienna.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_Psychotropic_Substances)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Defenceless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted
everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the Just
Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of
dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming
flame. -- W. H. Auden
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._H._Auden)
Mary Wollstonecraft was a British writer, philosopher, and early
feminist. During her brief career, she wrote novels, treatises, a
travel narrative, a history of the French Revolution, a conduct book,
and a children's book. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication
of the Rights of Woman in which she argued that women are not
naturally inferior to men, but only appeared to be because they lacked
education. She suggested that both men and women should be treated as
rational beings and imagined a social order founded on reason. Among
both the general public and feminists, Wollstonecraft's life has often
received as much, if not more, interest than her writing because of
her unconventional, and often tumultuous, relationships. After two
unsuccessful affairs with Henry Fuseli and Gilbert Imlay,
Wollstonecraft married the philosopher William Godwin, one of the
forefathers of the anarchist movement. She was also the mother of Mary
Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. Wollstonecraft died at the age of
thirty-eight due to complications from childbirth, leaving behind
several unfinished manuscripts. Today, Wollstonecraft is considered a
foundational thinker in feminist philosophy. Her early advocacy of
women's equality and her attacks on conventional femininity and the
degradation of women presaged the later emergence of the feminist
political movement.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Wollstonecraft
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1472:
James III of Scotland annexed the Orkney and Shetland from
Denmark–Norway.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland)
1810:
Andreas Hofer, a Tyrolean patriot and the leader of a rebellion
against Napoleon's forces, was executed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Hofer)
1913:
King O'Malley drove in the first survey peg to mark the commencement
of work on the construction of Canberra, Australia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Canberra)
1959:
The Canadian government under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
cancelled the Avro CF-105 Arrow supersonic jet fighters programme amid
much political debate.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CF-105_Arrow)
1965:
The Ranger 8 spacecraft successfully transmitted 7,137 photographs of
the moon in the final 23 minutes of its mission before crashing in
Mare Tranquillitatis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_8)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to
favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops
without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and
lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many
waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one;
or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. --
Frederick Douglass
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass)
Sly & the Family Stone were an American rock band from San Francisco,
California. Active from 1967 until 1983, the band was pivotal in the
development of soul, funk and psychedelia. Headed by singer,
songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist Sly Stone, and
containing a number of his family members and friends, the band was
the first major American rock band to have a multicultural lineup,
giving African-Americans, White Americans, males, and females all
roles in the band's instrumentation. In the preface of his book on the
band, For the Record: Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History, Joel
Selvin sums up the importance of Sly & the Family Stone's influences
on African-American music by stating that "there are two types of
black music: black music before Sly Stone, and black music after Sly
Stone". During the early 1970s, the band switched its sound to a
grittier funk sound, which was as influential on the music industry as
their earlier work. The band began to fall apart during this period
because of drug abuse and ego clashes; as Sly Stone and his bandmates
delved deeper into drug abuse, the fortunes and reliability of the
band deteriorated, leading to its dissolution in 1975. Sly Stone
continued to record albums and tour with a new rotating lineup under
the "Sly & the Family Stone" name from 1975 until 1983.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sly_%26_the_Family_Stone
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1861:
With Italian unification almost complete, Victor Emmanuel II of
Piedmont, Savoy and Sardinia assumed the title King of Italy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Emmanuel_II_of_Italy)
1861:
Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the first (and only) President of
the Confederate States of America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis)
1932:
The Empire of Japan established Manchukuo, a puppet state in
northeastern China during the Sino-Japanese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchukuo)
1943:
Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Propaganda Minister, delivered the
Sportpalast speech to motivate the German people when the tide of
World War II was turning against Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportpalast_speech)
2003:
An arsonist in Daegu, South Korea started a fire aboard a subway
train, killing two hundred passengers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daegu_subway_fire)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
The doors of heaven and hell are adjacent and identical. -- Nikos
Kazantzakis |Year=2006}}
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nikos_Kazantzakis)
The flag of Lithuania is a horizontal tricolor of yellow, green and
red. The flag was adopted on March 20, 1989 on the event of
Lithuania's break from the Soviet Union. Before its readoption, the
flag was used from 1918 until 1940, when Lithuania was occupied in
turn by Nazi Germany and by the Soviet Union. From 1945 until 1989,
the Soviet Lithuanian flag consisted first of a generic red flag with
the name of the republic, then changed to the more familiar red flag
with white and green bars at the bottom. The most recent change to the
flag occurred in 2004 when the aspect ratio changed from 1:2 to 3:5.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Lithuania
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1249:
Louis IX of France dispatched Andrew of Longjumeau as his ambassador
to the Mongols.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_of_Longjumeau)
1804:
Lt. Stephen Decatur led a raid to destroy the captured USS
Philadelphia in Tripoli of the Barbary States, denying her use to the
enemy in the First Barbary War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur)
1923:
Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun, a Pharaoh of
the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Carter_(archaeologist))
1978:
The first computer bulletin board system, CBBS, was established by
Ward Christensen during a blizzard in Chicago, Illinois.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBBS)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
The counsels of impatience and hatred can always be supported by the
crudest and cheapest symbols; for the counsels of moderation, the
reasons are often intricate, rather than emotional, and difficult to
explain. And so the chauvinists of all times and places go their
appointed way: plucking the easy fruits, reaping the little triumphs
of the day at the expense of someone else tomorrow, deluging in noise
and filth anyone who gets in their way, dancing their reckless dance
on the prospects for human progress, drawing the shadow of a great
doubt over the validity of democratic institutions. And until people
learn to spot the fanning of mass emotions and the sowing of
bitterness, suspicion, and intolerance as crimes in themselves — as
perhaps the greatest disservice that can be done to the cause of
popular government — this sort of thing will continue to occur. --
George F. Kennan
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_F._Kennan)
DNA is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions for the
development and function of living organisms. All living things
contain DNA, although DNA viruses are usually considered non-living.
The main role of DNA in the cell is the long term storage of
information. It is often compared to a blueprint, since it contains
the instructions to construct other components of the cell, such as
proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry genetic
information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural
purposes, or are involved in regulating the expression of genetic
information. In eukaryotes such as animals and plants, DNA is stored
inside the cell nucleus, while in prokaryotes such as bacteria, the
DNA is in the cell's cytoplasm. The major function of DNA is to encode
the sequence of amino acid residues in proteins, using the genetic
code. To read the genetic code, cells make a copy of a stretch of DNA
in the nucleic acid RNA. These RNA copies can then be used to direct
protein biosynthesis, but they can also be used directly as parts of
ribosomes or spliceosomes.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1689:
Glorious Revolution: Instead of James Francis Edward Stuart the Prince
of Wales acceding to the throne, his sister Mary and her husband
William were proclaimed co-rulers of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_II_of_England)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_England)
1880:
Thomas Edison observed the Edison Effect, which later formed the basis
of John Ambrose Fleming's vacuum tube diodes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermionic_emission)
1945:
The RAF Bomber Command began the strategic bombing of Dresden in
Saxony, Germany, resulting in a lethal firestorm which killed tens of
thousands of civilians.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dresden_in_World_War_II)
1984:
Konstantin Chernenko succeeded the late Yuri Andropov as General
Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Chernenko)
2004:
Researchers at Harvard University discovered BPM 37093, the universe's
largest known diamond, white dwarf star.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BPM_37093)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Every man's life (and ... every woman's life), awaits the hour of
blossoming that makes it immortal ... love is a divinity above all
accidents, and guards his own with extraordinary obstinacy. -- Eleanor
Farjeon
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Farjeon)
Make Way for Ducklings is a children's picture book written and
illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941, the book
tells the story of a pair of mallard ducks who decide to raise their
family on an island in the lagoon in Boston Public Garden, a park in
the center of Boston, Massachusetts. Make Way for Ducklings won the
1942 Caldecott Medal for McCloskey's illustrations, executed in
charcoal then lithographed on zinc plates. As of 2003, the book had
sold over two million copies. The book's popularity led to the
construction of a statue in the Public Garden of the mother duck and
her eight ducklings, which is a popular destination for children and
adults alike. Praise for the book is still high over 60 years since
its first publication, mainly for the enhancing illustrations and
effective pacing. It was criticised for having a loose plot, however,
as well as poor characterization. The book is extremely popular
worldwide.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_Way_for_Ducklings
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1689:
The Convention Parliament was convened to determine if James II, the
last Roman Catholic king of England, had vacated the throne when he
fled to France in 1688.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England)
1733:
Georgia Day: James Oglethorpe founded the city of Savannah along with
the Province of Georgia, a penal colony for the resettlement of people
in debtor's prison in the United Kingdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah%2C_Georgia)
1818:
Led by General Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile formally proclaimed its
independence from Spain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile)
1912:
Xinhai Revolution: Puyi, the last Emperor of China, abdicated under a
deal brokered by Yuan Shikai, ending the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puyi)
2001:
NEAR Shoemaker touched down on Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to
land on an asteroid.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEAR_Shoemaker)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though
passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and
patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this
broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again touched,
as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature. -- Abraham
Lincoln
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln)
Able Archer 83 was a ten-day NATO exercise starting on November 2,
1983 that spanned the continent of Europe and simulated a coordinated
nuclear release. It incorporated a new, unique format of coded
communication, radio silences, participation by heads of state, and a
simulated DEFCON 1 nuclear alert. The realistic nature of the
exercise, coupled with deteriorating relations between the United
States and the Soviet Union and the anticipated arrival of
"super-stealth" Pershing II nuclear missiles in Europe, led some in
the USSR to believe that Able Archer 83 was a genuine nuclear strike.
In response, the Soviets readied their nuclear forces and placed air
units in East Germany and Poland on alert. This relatively obscure
incident is considered by many historians to be the closest the world
has come to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The
immediate threat of nuclear war abruptly ended with the conclusion of
the Able Archer 83 exercise on November 11.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Able_Archer_83
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1808:
Anthracite coal was first experimentally burned as a residential
heating fuel by Jesse Fell in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthracite_coal)
1919:
Friedrich Ebert became the first Reichspräsident of the Weimar
Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Ebert)
1929:
The first Lateran treaty was signed, establishing Vatican City as an
independent sovereign enclave within Italy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vatican_City)
1971:
Eighty-seven countries signed the Seabed Arms Control Treaty,
outlawing weapons of mass destruction on the ocean floor in
international waters.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabed_Arms_Control_Treaty)
1979:
Iranian Revolution: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Iran,
and eventually became the Supreme Leader of the Islamic republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Even if we accept, as the basic tenet of true democracy, that one
moron is equal to one genius, is it necessary to go a further step and
hold that two morons are better than one genius? -- Leó Szilárd
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3_Szil%C3%A1rd)
The Scottish Parliament is the national unicameral legislature of
Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of Edinburgh. The Parliament is
a democratically elected body comprised of 129 members who are known
as Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Members are elected for
four year terms under the proportional representation system. The
original Parliament of Scotland was the national legislature of the
independent Kingdom of Scotland and existed from the early thirteenth
century until the Kingdom of Scotland merged with the Kingdom of
England under the Acts of Union 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great
Britain. Following a referendum in 1997 where the Scottish people gave
their consent, the current Parliament was established by the Scotland
Act 1998 which sets out its powers as a devolved legislature. The Act
delineated the areas in which it can make laws by explicitly
specifying powers that are "reserved" to the Parliament of the United
Kingdom. All matters that are not explicitly reserved are
automatically the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament. The UK
Parliament retains the ability to amend the terms of reference of the
Scottish Parliament, and can extend or reduce the areas in which it
can make laws. The first meeting of the new Parliament took place on
12 May 1999.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_Parliament
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
474:
As the seven-year old Leo II was deemed too young to rule, his father
Zeno was crowned as the co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno_(emperor))
1895:
Volleyball was invented by William G. Morgan, a YMCA physical
education director, in Holyoke, Massachusetts.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volleyball)
1920:
The Svalbard Treaty was signed, recognizing Norwegian sovereignty over
the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard)
1950:
Red Scare: Senator Joseph McCarthy accused the U.S. State Department
of being filled with communists.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy)
1960:
Actress Joanne Woodward was honored with the first star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Walk_of_Fame)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
Belief may be no more, in the end, than a source of energy, like a
battery which one clips into an idea to make it run. -- J. M. Coetzee
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Coetzee)
Vancouver is a city in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, named
for George Vancouver, an English explorer. Vancouver is part of the
Greater Vancouver Regional District metropolitan area. With a
population of 2,180,737 Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area in
western Canada and the third largest in the country. Vancouver has a
very ethnically diverse population: more than half of its residents
have a mother tongue other than English. Its economy has traditionally
relied on British Columbia's resource sectors: forestry, mining,
fishing and agriculture. It was first settled in the 1860s as a result
of immigration caused by the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, and developed
rapidly from a small lumber mill town into a metropolitan centre
following the arrival of the transcontinental railway in 1887. The
Port of Vancouver became internationally significant after the
completion of the Panama Canal and reduced freight rates in the 1920s
made it viable to ship export-bound prairie grain west through
Vancouver. It has since become the busiest seaport in Canada and
exports more cargo than any other port in North America. Vancouver is
consistently ranked one of the three most livable cities in the world.
In 2006, the city was ranked the 56th most expensive city to live in
among 144 major cities in the world and the second most expensive in
Canada (after Toronto).
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1587:
Mary, Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay Castle on suspicion
of having been involved in the Babington Plot to murder her cousin,
Queen Elizabeth I of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_Scotland)
1849:
The Roman Republic was proclaimed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Republic_(19th_century))
1904:
The Russo-Japanese War began after a surprise torpedo attack by the
Japanese on Russian ships near present-day Lüshunkou, China.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Port_Arthur)
1971:
Trading began in NASDAQ, the world's first electronic stock exchange.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASDAQ)
1979:
Colonel Denis Sassou Nguesso was chosen as the new President of the
Republic of the Congo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASDAQ)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
One single war — we all know — may be productive of more evil,
immediate and subsequent, than hundreds of years of the unchecked
action of the mutual-aid principle may be productive of good. -- Peter
Kropotkin
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Peter_Kropotkin)