Chemical warfare is warfare using the toxic properties of chemical
substances to kill, injure or incapacitate the enemy. Chemical warfare
is distinct from the use of conventional weapons or nuclear weapons
because the destructive effects of chemical weapons are not primarily
due to any explosive force. The offensive use of living organisms or
their toxic products (such as anthrax or botulin toxin) is not
considered chemical warfare: their use is instead labelled biological
warfare. Chemical weapons are classified as weapons of mass
destruction by the United Nations, and their production and
stockpiling was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_warfare
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1618:
Johannes Kepler discovered the third law of planetary motion.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Kepler)
1702:
Princess Anne of the House of Stuart became Queen of England, Scotland
and Ireland.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_of_Great_Britain)
1782:
Almost 100 Native Americans died in the hands of Pennsylvanian
militiamen in a mass murder known as the Gnadenhütten massacre.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnadenhutten_massacre)
1844:
Oscar I acceded to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_I_of_Sweden)
1966:
In Dublin, Ireland, Nelson's Pillar, a large granite pillar with a
statue of Lord Nelson on top, was destroyed by a bomb.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson%27s_Pillar)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"We should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the
expression of opinions that we loathe." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes%2C_Jr.)
Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who wrote a diary while in hiding with
her family and four friends in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation of
the Netherlands during World War II. After two years in hiding, the
group was betrayed and they were transported to concentration camps,
where all but Anne's father Otto died. He returned to Amsterdam to
find that Anne's diary had been saved. Convinced that the diary was a
unique record, he took action to have it published. The diary was
given to Anne for her thirteenth birthday and chronicles the events of
her life from June 12, 1942 until its final entry of August 4, 1944.
It was eventually translated from its original Dutch into many
languages and became one of the world's most widely read books.
Described as the work of a mature and insightful mind, it provides an
intimate examination of daily life under Nazi occupation; through her
writing, Anne Frank has become one of the most renowned and discussed
of the Holocaust victims.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
161:
Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus succeeded Antoninus Pius to become
co-Emperors of the Roman Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius)
1862:
American Civil War: Union forces won the Battle of Pea Ridge and
cemented their control in Missouri.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pea_Ridge)
1936:
Germany re-occupied the demilitarized Rhineland, violating the Treaty
of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhineland)
1950:
The Soviet Union issued a statement denying that German nuclear
physicist Klaus Fuchs had served as a Soviet spy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Fuchs)
1965:
American Civil Rights Movement: Civil rights demonstrators marching
from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama were brutally attacked by police on
Bloody Sunday.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selma_to_Montgomery_marches)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Man is constituted as a speculative being; he contemplates the world,
and the objects around him, not with a passive indifferent eye, but as
a system disposed with order and design." -- John Herschel
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Herschel)
Buddhist art, defined as the figurative arts and decorative arts
linked to the Buddhist religion, originated in the Indian subcontinent
in the centuries following the life of the historical Buddha
Shakyamuni in the 6th to 5th century BCE, before evolving through its
contact with other cultures and its diffusion through the rest of Asia
and the world. A first, essentially Indian, aniconic phase (avoiding
direct representations of the Buddha), was followed from around the
1st century AD by an iconic phase (with direct representations of the
Buddha). From that time, Buddhist art diversified and evolved as it
adapted to the new countries where the faith was expanding. It
developped to the north through Central Asia and into Eastern Asia to
form the Northern branch of Buddhist art, and to the east as far as
South-East Asia to form the Southern Branch of Buddhist art. In India,
the land of its birth, Buddhist art flourished and even influenced the
development of Hindu art, until Buddhism almost disapeared around the
10th century with the expansion of Hinduism and Islam.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_art
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1447:
Tomaso Parentucelli became Pope as Nicholas V.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Nicholas_V)
1857:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford)
1869:
Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first Periodic Table of Elements to the
Russian Chemical Society.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev)
1899:
Bayer registered aspirin as a trademark.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/aspirin)
1987:
British ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise capsized in approximately
90 seconds after leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing
193 on board.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%2FS_Herald_of_Free_Enterprise)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God:
but only he who sees, takes off his shoes, the rest sit round it, and
pluck blackberries, and daub their natural faces unaware..." --
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning)
Ammolite is a very rare and valuable opal-like organic gemstone found
only along the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains of the United
States and Canada. It is made of the fossilized shells of ammonites,
which in turn are composed primarily of aragonite, the same organic
mineral that makes up nacreous pearls. It is one of the three organic
gemstones (excluding those used primarily as ornamental materials
rather than discrete stones), the other two being amber and pearl. In
1981, ammolite was given official gemstone status by the CIBJO, the
same year commercial mining of ammolite began. In 2004 it was
designated the official gemstone of the Province of Alberta. Ammolite
is also known as aapoak (Kainah for "small, crawling stone"), gem
ammonite, calcentine, and korite. The latter is a trade name given to
the gemstone by the Alberta-based mining company Korite International,
the first and largest commercial producer of ammolite.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammolite
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1770:
Boston Massacre: The pelting of snowballs at British soldiers during a
military occupation soon escalated into violence in Boston.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre)
1824:
Britain officially declared war on Burma, beginning the First
Anglo-Burmese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Burmese_War)
1872:
George Westinghouse patented the air brake for trains to stop more
reliably.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/air_brake_%28rail%29)
1918:
The Soviet Union moved its capital to Moscow from Petrograd.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow)
1946:
The term "Iron Curtain" was first used in a speech by Winston
Churchill.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Curtain)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"The most dangerous phrase in the language is, 'We've always done it
this way.'" -- Grace Hopper
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper)
Hilda Doolittle, better known by the pen name H.D., was an American
poet, novelist and memoirist. She is best known for her association
with the key early 20th century avant-garde Imagist group of poets,
although her later writing represents a move away from the Imagist
model and towards a distinctly feminine version of modernist poetry
and prose. Doolittle was one of the leading figures in the bohemian
culture of London in the early decades of the century. Her work is
noted for its use of classical models and its exploration of the
conflict between lesbian and heterosexual attraction and love that
closely resembled her own life. Her later poetry also explores
traditional epic themes, such as violence and war, from a feminist
perspective. H.D. was the first woman to be granted the American
Academy of Arts and Letters medal.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.D.
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1461:
The Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI was
deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then became King Edward IV.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI_of_England)
1825:
Despite his loss in the 1824 presidential election, John Quincy Adams
was inaugurated as the sixth President of the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams)
1877:
Emile Berliner invented the microphone.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphone)
1975:
Actor and director Charlie Chaplin was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II
of the United Kingdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chaplin)
1980:
Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union was elected to
head the first government in Zimbabwe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mugabe)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than fifty preaching
it." -- Knute Rockne
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Knute_Rockne)
Weight training can be the most effective technique for developing the
strength and size of skeletal muscles. As well as providing functional
benefits, this can result in a more attractive physique and improve
overall health and wellbeing. The technique involves progressively
lifting increasing amounts of weight, and includes a variety of
exercises and items of equipment to target specific muscle groups. It
is an anaerobic form of exercise. Weight training has become the
best-known form of resistance training, which is in turn the
best-known form of strength training. It should not be confused with
bodybuilding, weightlifting or powerlifting—even though these also
involve the lifting of weights—because they are sports rather than
forms of exercise.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_training
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1431:
Gabriel Condulmer became Pope Eugenius IV.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Eugenius_IV)
1878:
By the Treaty of San Stefano, Bulgaria regained independence from the
Ottoman Empire and became an autonomous principality.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bulgaria)
1918:
Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers and
exited from World War I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Brest-Litovsk)
1923:
The first issue of TIME, a newsmagazine founded by Briton Hadden and
Henry Luce, was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIME)
1958:
Nuri as-Said became the Prime Minister of Iraq for the 14th time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuri_as-Said)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Leave the beaten track behind occasionally and dive into the woods.
Every time you do you will be certain to find something you have never
seen before." -- Alexander Graham Bell
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alexander_Graham_Bell)
The National parks of England and Wales are areas of relatively
undeveloped and scenic landscape that are designated under the
National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Despite the
name, national parks in Britain are quite different from those in the
United States and many other countries, where national parks are owned
and managed by the government as a protected community resource, and
permanent human communities are not a part of the landscape. In
Britain, designation as a national park can include substantial
settlements and land uses which are often integral parts of the
landscape, and land within a British national park remains largely in
private ownership. There are currently 12 national parks in England
and Wales, the newest and smallest being the New Forest created on
March 1, 2005. The South Downs are also in the process of being
designated as a national park. Each park is operated by its own
National Park Authority.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_parks_of_England_and_Wales
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1836:
The Republic of Texas declared its independence from Mexico.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Texas)
1943:
Australian and American air forces attacked and destroyed a large
Japanese convoy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bismarck_Sea)
1946:
Ho Chà Minh became President of North Vietnam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh)
1962:
Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points in a basketball game, still a
record in the National Basketball Association today.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilt_Chamberlain)
1998:
The Galileo spacecraft discovered an ocean of salty water on Europa,
one of the moons of the planet Jupiter.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_%28moon%29)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere."
-- Dr. Seuss
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss)
The Space Race refers to the competition between the United States and
the Soviet Union roughly from 1957 to 1975, involving their efforts to
explore space with satellites and to eventually land a human being on
the Moon and return him to Earth. Though its roots lie in early rocket
technology and in the international tensions following World War II,
the Space Race effectively began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik in
1957. The term was coined as an analogy to the arms race. The Space
Race became an important part of the cultural and technological
rivalry between the USSR and the U.S. during the Cold War. Space
technology was a particularly important arena in this conflict, both
because of its military applications and due to the psychological
benefit of raising morale.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1562:
The French Wars of Religion began with a massacre of Huguenots.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Wars_of_Religion)
1872:
Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the world, was
established.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_National_Park)
1896:
Ethiopia won the decisive Battle of Adowa over Italy, ending the First
Italo-Abyssinian War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Adowa)
1919:
Japanese rule in Korea: The Samil Movement in Korea began with
numerous peaceful protests nationwide, but was brutally suppressed by
the Japanese police and army.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1st_Movement)
1947:
The International Monetary Fund began its financial operations.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the
usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody
thinks of complaining." -- Jef Raskin
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jef_Raskin)
The Hrafnkels saga is an Icelandic saga telling of struggles between
chieftains in the east of Iceland in the 10th century. The eponymous
main character, Hrafnkell, starts out his career as a fearsome duelist
and a dedicated worshipper of the god Freyr. After suffering defeat,
humiliation, and the destruction of his temple, he becomes an atheist.
His character changes and he becomes more peaceful in dealing with
others. After gradually rebuilding his power base for several years,
he achieves revenge against his enemies and lives out the rest of his
life as a powerful and respected chieftain. The saga has been read as
the story of a man who realizes that the true basis of power is not
belief in the gods but the loyalty of one's subordinates. It is widely
read today and appreciated for its logical structure, plausibility and
vivid characters. For these reasons, it has served as a test case in
the dispute on the origins of the Icelandic sagas.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hrafnkels_saga
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
364:
Valentinian I was elected Roman Emperor by officers of the Roman
military at Nicaea, Bithynia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentinian_I)
1784:
John Wesley, a minister of the Church of England, chartered the first
Methodist Church.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methodism)
1935:
Wallace Carothers invented nylon, a synthetic polymer.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/nylon)
1947:
The 228 Incident: Civil disorder in Taipei and Keelung was brutally
suppressed by the Chinese Nationalist military.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/228_Incident)
1983:
The final episode of the television series M*A*S*H was broadcast, and
became the most-watched television program in history.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M*A*S*H_%28TV_series%29)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being." --
Michel de Montaigne
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Michel_de_Montaigne)