The Victoria Cross is a military decoration of Canada modelled on the
original British Victoria Cross (pictured) – instituted in 1856 by
Queen Victoria – in both intent and appearance, though with several
small changes. Created in 1993, it and the original are the highest
honours in the Canadian honours system, taking precedence over all
other orders, decorations, and medals. It is awarded by either the
Canadian monarch or his or her viceregal representative, the Governor
General of Canada, to any member of the Canadian Forces or allies
serving under or with Canadian military command for extraordinary
valour and devotion to duty while facing a hostile force. Recipients
are entitled to use the post-nominal letters VC (for both English and
French), and also to an annual annuity of C$3,000. The Victoria Cross
can be awarded more than once, but no one has received the Canadian
medal since its inception.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Cross_%28Canada%29>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1810:
The Primera Junta, the first independent government in Argentina, was
established in an open cabildo in Buenos Aires , marking the end of the
May Revolution.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Revolution>
1926:
Anarchist Sholom Schwartzbard assassinated Symon Petliura, the head of
the Paris-based government-in-exile of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symon_Petliura>
1946:
Abdullah bin Husayn, Emir of the Emirate of Transjordan, was proclaimed
King of the renamed "Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_I_of_Jordan>
1961:
During a speech to a joint session of the United States Congress, U.S.
President John F. Kennedy announced his support for the Apollo space
program, with "the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on
the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth".
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_program>
2009:
North Korea conducted a nuclear test and several other missile tests
that were widely condemned by the international community and led to
sanctions from the United Nations Security Council.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_North_Korean_nuclear_test>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
abjectly (adv):
With great shame, desperately; in an abject fashion
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/abjectly>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
You will hear every day the maxims of a low prudence. You will hear,
that the first duty is to get land and money, place and name. "What is
this Truth you seek? What is this Beauty?" men will ask, with derision.
If, nevertheless, God have called any of you to explore truth and
beauty, be bold, be firm, be true. When you shall say, "As others do,
so will I. I renounce, I am sorry for it, my early visions; I must eat
the good of the land, and let learning and romantic expectations go,
until a more convenient season." — then dies the man in you; then once
more perish the buds of art, and poetry, and science, as they have died
already in a thousand thousand men. The hour of that choice is the
crisis of your history; and see that you hold yourself fast by the
intellect. ... Bend to the persuasion which is flowing to you from
every object in Nature, to be its tongue to the heart of man, and to
show the besotted world how passing fair is wisdom.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson>