Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia with a
population of over 13 million people, most of whom are Theravada
Buddhists of Khmer origin. The country is bordered to the west by
Thailand, to the north by Laos, to the east by Vietnam and to the
south by the Gulf of Thailand. Its geography is dominated by the
Mekong river and the Tonle Sap, a lake whose fish account for 60% of
the nation's protein intake. The capital is Phnom Penh. There are
three main political parties, of which the Cambodian People's Party is
the current ruling party. From the 9th century to the 15th century
Cambodia was the centre of the Khmer Empire, which for most of this
period was based at Angkor. Angkor Wat, the empire's main temple,
remains a symbol of the country and its greatest tourist attraction.
Cambodia was a protectorate of France from 1863 until independence in
1953. During the 1970s and 1980s the country suffered from civil war
and the Khmer Rouge autogenocide. Many people were killed or tortured,
or fled abroad as refugees. In the 1990s, however, Cambodia has gained
some stability and has begun rebuilding the infrastructure that was
lost during those years.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodia
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1413:
Henry V became King of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_of_England)
1602:
The Dutch East India Company was established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company)
1933:
The construction of the first Nazi German concentration camp at Dachau
was completed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dachau_concentration_camp)
1987:
The antiretroviral drug AZT became the first antiviral medication
approved for use against HIV and AIDS.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AZT)
1995:
The Aum Shinrikyo sect carried out a poison gas attack on the Tokyo
subway system, killing 12 people and injuring more than 6,000 with
sarin.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour." -- Ovid
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ovid)
John Dee was a noted British mathematician, astronomer, astrologer,
geographer and consultant to Elizabeth I. He was also devoted much of
his life to alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. Dee
straddled the worlds of science and magic. One of the most learned men
of his time, he was lecturing to crowded halls at the University of
Paris in his early twenties. He was an ardent promoter of mathematics,
a respected astronomer and a leading expert in navigation, training
many of those who would conduct England's voyages of discovery. At the
same time, he immersed himself deeply in Christian angel-magic and
Hermetic philosophy, and devoted the last third of his life almost
exclusively to these pursuits. For Dee, as for many of his
contemporaries, these activities were not contradictory, but aspects
of a consistent world-view.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1279:
The Song Dynasty in Imperial China ended with a Mongolian victory in
the Battle of Yamen.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Dynasty)
1687:
The search for the mouth of the Mississippi River led by French
explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle ended with a mutiny and his
murder in Texas.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%E9_Robert_Cavelier%2C_Sieur_de_La_Salle)
1915:
The planet Pluto was photographed for the first time, 15 years before
it was eventually discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell
Observatory.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluto_%28planet%29)
1932:
The Sydney Harbour Bridge, a major landmark in Sydney, Australia, was
formally opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Harbour_Bridge)
1982:
The Falklands War began with an Argentine occupation of South Georgia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"The man of character, sensitive to the meaning of what he is doing,
will know how to discover the ethical paths in the maze of possible
behavior." -- Earl Warren
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Earl_Warren)
Evolution is a change in the genetic makeup of a population of
interbreeding individuals within a species. Since the emergence of
modern genetics in the 1940s, evolution has been defined more
specifically as a change in the frequency of alleles from one
generation to the next. The word "evolution" is often used as a
shorthand for the modern theory of evolution of species based upon
Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, which states that all
modern species are the products of an extensive process that began
over three billion years ago with simple single-celled organisms, and
Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. As the theory of evolution by
natural selection and genetics has become universally accepted in the
scientific community, it has replaced other explanations including
creationism and Lamarckism. Skeptics, often creationists, sometimes
deride evolution as "just a theory" in an attempt to characterize it
as an arbitrary choice and degrade its claims to truth. Such criticism
overlooks the scientifically-accepted use of the word "theory" to mean
a falsifiable and well-supported hypothesis.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1229:
Sixth Crusade: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared himself King
of Jerusalem.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1438:
Albert II of Habsburg became King of the Romans in the Holy Roman
Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_II_of_Germany)
1921:
The Polish-Bolshevik War, which determined the borders between the
Republic of Poland and Soviet Russia, formally concluded with the
signing of the Peace of Riga.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-Soviet_War)
1922:
Mahatma Gandhi was sentenced to six years in prison for civil
disobedience.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi)
1965:
Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov donned a spacesuit and ventured outside the
Voskhod 2 spacecraft to become the first person to walk in space.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_2)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great
extent, to be sociable." -- John Updike
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Updike)
The geography of Ireland reflects its situation as an island in
northwest Europe in the north Atlantic Ocean. The ocean is responsible
for the rugged western coastline, along which are many islands,
peninsulas and headlands. The main geographical feature of Ireland is
low central plains surrounded by a ring of coastal mountains. There
are a number of sizable lakes along Ireland's rivers, with Lough Neagh
the largest in either Britain or Ireland. The island is bisected by
the River Shannon, at 113 km (70 mi) the longest river in either
Britain or Ireland, which flows south from northwest County Cavan to
meet the Atlantic just south of Limerick. The island of Ireland
consists of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Located west
of the island of Britain, it is approximately 53° north of the equator
and 8° west of the Greenwich meridian. It has a total area of
84,116 km² (32,477 mi²). Ireland is separated from Britain by the
Irish Sea and from mainland Europe by the Celtic Sea.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Ireland
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1941:
The National Gallery of Art was opened in Washington, DC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery_of_Art)
1959:
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled Tibet for India.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzin_Gyatso)
1969:
Golda Meir became the fourth Prime Minister of Israel.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golda_Meir)
1985:
The "Night Stalker" committed his first two Los Angeles murders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez)
Cannabis rescheduling in the United States refers to the proposed
removal of marijuana from Schedule I, the most tightly-restricted
category of drugs, by the U.S. Congress or the Attorney General. Since
the early 1970s, cannabis reform advocates and the Drug Enforcement
Administration have been battling over whether to transfer marijuana
to a different category that would allow medical use. Rescheduling
proponents claim that cannabis is not addictive or harmful enough to
meet the Controlled Substances Act's strict criteria for placement in
Schedule I. The Government argues that marijuana does not meet its
criteria for acceptable medical use, and that evidence of cannabis'
widespread use is more relevant than animal studies in establishing
the drug's abuse potential. The most recent rescheduling petition,
filed by medical marijuana advocates in 2002, is likely to wind up in
the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_rescheduling_in_the_United_States
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1521:
Ferdinand Magellan reached the Philippines.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan)
1660:
Long Parliament, originally called by Charles I, dissolved.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Parliament)
1900:
Sir Arthur Evans purchased the ruins of Knossos on Crete.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knossos)
1968:
American soldiers killed 347 civilians at My Lai in Vietnam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre)
1985:
Newsman Terry Anderson was taken hostage in Beirut.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Anderson)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"If in my lifetime the problem of non-free software is solved, I could
perhaps relax and write software again. But I might instead try to
help deal with the world's larger problems. Standing up to an evil
system is exhilarating, and now I have a taste for it." -- Richard
Stallman
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman)
The Octopus card is a rechargeable contactless smart card used in an
electronic payment system in Hong Kong. Originally launched in
September 1997 as a fare collection system for the city's mass transit
systems, it has grown into a widely used electronic cash system for
convenience stores, supermarkets, fast food restaurants, parking
garages and other point-of-sale applications, as well as to control
access in offices, schools and apartments. Using a card simply
involves tapping it against an Octopus reader, and recharging can be
done with cash at add-value machines, or via directly debiting credit
cards and bank accounts. Octopus has become one of the world's most
successful electronic cash systems, with over 12 million Octopus cards
in circulation (nearly twice that of Hong Kong's population) and over
eight million transactions per day, with nearly 300 service vendors.
The operator of the Octopus system, Octopus Cards Limited, a joint
venture between MTR Corporation and other transport companies in Hong
Kong, has won a number of contracts to extend Octopus-style systems to
the Netherlands and Changsha.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_card
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
874:
The bones of Saint Nicephorus were interred in Constantinople.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicephorus)
1639:
New College in Cambridge, Massachusetts was renamed Harvard College,
after its first principal donor, John Harvard.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University)
1781:
William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranus_%28planet%29)
1881:
Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated in a Nihilist plot by
Ignacy Hryniewiecki.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_II_of_Russia)
1954:
Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap unleashed a massive artillery
barrage on the French military to begin the Battle of Dien Bien Phu,
the final battle in the First Indochina War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dien_Bien_Phu)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"What I have known with respect to myself, has tended much to lessen
both my admiration, and my contempt, of others." -- Joseph Priestley
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Priestley)
Charles II was the King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 30
January 1649 until his death. Charles II's father, Charles I, had been
executed in 1649 following the English Civil War; the monarchy was
then abolished and replaced with a military dictatorship under Oliver
Cromwell, who had named himself "Lord Protector". In 1660, shortly
after Cromwell's death, the monarchy was restored under Charles II.
Unlike his father, Charles II was skilled at managing Parliament. It
was during his reign that the Whig and Tory political parties
developed. He famously fathered numerous illegitimate children, of
whom he acknowledged fourteen. Known as the "Merry Monarch", Charles
was a patron of the arts and less restrictive than many of his
predecessors. By converting to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed,
Charles II became the first Roman Catholic to reign over England since
Mary I's death in 1558.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_II_of_England
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1928:
The failure of the St. Francis Dam in California resulted in a flood
that killed 400 people.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Francis_Dam)
1938:
Anschluss Österreichs: Austria was occupied by the Wehrmacht, and
subsequently became Ostmark, a province within the German Reich.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss)
1940:
The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, ending the Winter War between
Finland and the Soviet Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Peace_Treaty_%281940%29)
2003:
Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated in Belgrade.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoran_Djindjic)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I want to work in revelations, not just spin silly tales for money. I
want to fish as deep down as possible into my own subconscious in the
belief that once that far down, everyone will understand because they
are the same that far down." -- Jack Kerouac
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac)
The League of Nations was an international organization founded after
the First World War at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. The
League's goals included disarmament; preventing war through collective
security; settling disputes between countries through negotiation and
diplomacy; and improving global welfare. The League was a government
of governments, with the role of settling disputes between individual
nations in a an open and legalist forum. The League lacked an armed
force of its own and so depended on the Great Powers to enforce its
resolutions, which they were often very reluctant to do. The League
ultimately proved incapable of preventing aggression by the fascist
powers in 1930s. The onset of the Second World War made it clear that
the League had failed in its primary purpose—to avoid any future world
war. The United Nations effectively replaced it after World War II and
inherited a number of agencies and organisations founded by the
League.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1513:
Giovanni de' Medici became Pope Leo X.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_X)
1845:
M?ori forces led by chiefs Kawiti and Hone Heke destroyed the British
settlement of Kororareka in New Zealand, beginning the Flagstaff War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Maori_War)
1966:
In power since World War II, President Sukarno of Indonesia was ousted
by Suharto and the military.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno)
1990:
The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic ceased to exist when
Lithuania proclaimed the restitution of independence from the Soviet
Union.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Lithuania)
2004:
The March 11th Attacks: A series of terrorist bombings on commuter
trains killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 in Madrid.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11_March_2004_Madrid_attacks)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn
from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent
disinclination to do so." -- Douglas Adams
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_Adams)