The term race is used in a wide variety of contexts, with related but
often distinct meanings. Its use is often controversial, largely
because of the political and sociological implications of different
definitions, but also because of disagreements over such issues as
whether humans can be meaningfully divided into multiple races. In
biology, some use race to mean a division within a species,
synonomous with subspecies or variety. Race serves to group members
of a species that have, for a period of time, become geographically
or genetically isolated from other members of that species, and as a
result have diverged genetically and developed certain shared
characteristics that differentiate them from the others. Many
biologists feel that in this usage we may justifiably speak of
dividing Homo sapiens into races. Others, however, assert that in
humans there is in fact insufficient categorical variation to justify
the classification of humans into multiple races in a strictly
biological sense. Many social scientists therefore view race as a
social construct, and have sought to understand it as such.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race
Today's selected anniversaries:
1863 The Football Association, the oldest governing body in
football, was formed in London, England.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Football_Association)
1881 The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place in Tombstone,
Arizona.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral)
1955 Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem declared himself President of
South Vietnam, replacing Nguyen Emperor Bao Dai as the head
of state.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngo_Dinh_Diem)
1979 President Park Chunghee of South Korea was assassinated by
the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and
a long-time friend, Kim Jaekyu.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chunghee)
2000 Laurent Gbagbo took over as president of C�te d'Ivoire
following a popular uprising against military ruler
Robert Gu��.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Gbagbo)
2001 U.S. President George W. Bush signed the "Uniting and
Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001",
more commonly known as the USA PATRIOT Act, into law.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act)
Wikiquote of the day:
"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways
you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to
all the people you can, as long as ever you can." ~ John Wesley
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wesley)