The Australian Defence Force (ADF) comprises all of the country's armed
forces, including the Royal Australian Navy, Australian Army, and Royal
Australian Air Force. With a strength of just under 80,000 full-time
personnel and active reservists, it is supported by the Department of
Defence and other civilian agencies. During the first decades of the
20th century, the Australian Government established the armed services
as separate organisations, each with an independent chain of command. In
1976, the government made a strategic change and established the ADF to
place the three services under a single headquarters. The degree of
integration has increased over time, and tri-service headquarters,
logistics and training institutions have supplanted many single-service
establishments. Technologically sophisticated, the ADF is the largest
military in Oceania, with approximately 58,000 full-time active-duty
personnel and 22,000 active reservists. It is smaller than many Asian
militaries, but is supported by a significant budget by worldwide
standards and can deploy forces in multiple locations outside Australia.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Defence_Force>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
661:
The Rashidun Caliphate was effectively ended with the
assassination of Ali, the last Rashidun caliph.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Ali>
1700:
The Cascadia earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 9.0,
took place off the Pacific coast of the American Northwest, as evidenced
by Japanese records of tsunamis.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake>
1841:
Commodore James Bremer took formal possession of Hong Kong
Island for Great Britain at Possession Point.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bremer>
1952:
Spontaneous anti-British riots erupted in Cairo following the
killings of 50 Egyptian auxiliary police the day before.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairo_fire>
1998:
In a nationally televised press conference (video featured),
U.S. President Bill Clinton denied having "sexual relations" with intern
Monica Lewinsky.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton%E2%80%93Lewinsky_scandal>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
drop bear:
(cryptozoology) A fictional Australian marsupial in the form of a large,
carnivorous koala said to fall upon its prey from treetops.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/drop_bear>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Men since the beginning of time have sought peace. Various methods
through the ages have been attempted to devise an international process
to prevent or settle disputes between nations. From the very start
workable methods were found in so far as individual citizens were
concerned, but the mechanics of an instrumentality of larger
international scope have never been successful. Military alliances,
balances of power, Leagues of Nations, all in turn failed, leaving the
only path to be by way of the crucible of war. The utter destructiveness
of war now blocks out this alternative. We have had our last chance. If
we will not devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon
will be at our door.
--Douglas MacArthur
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur>
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