Jameson's mamba (Dendroaspis jamesoni) is a species of highly venomous snake native to equatorial Africa. A member of the mamba genus Dendroaspis, it is slender with dull green upperparts and cream underparts and generally ranges from 1.5 to 2.2 m (4 ft 11 in to 7 ft 3 in) in length. Described by Scottish naturalist Thomas Traill in 1843, it has two recognised subspecies: the nominate subspecies from central and western sub-Saharan Africa and the eastern black-tailed subspecies from eastern sub-Saharan Africa. Predominantly arboreal, it preys mainly on birds and mammals. Its venom consists of both neurotoxins and cardiotoxins. Symptoms of envenomation in humans include pain and swelling of the bite site, followed by swelling, chills, sweating, abdominal pain and vomiting, with subsequent slurred speech, difficulty breathing and paralysis. Fatalities have been recorded within three to four hours of being bitten. The eastern subspecies is twice as venomous as the nominate subspecies.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jameson%27s_mamba

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1893:

Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's New World Symphony (audio featured) premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._9_%28Dvo%C5%99%C3%A1k%29

1918:

Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas declared the formation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, a puppet state created by Soviet Russia to justify the Lithuanian–Soviet War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic_%281918%E2%80%9319%29

1971:

The surrender of East Pakistani forces in Dacca concluded the Bangladesh Liberation War and the Indo-Pakistani War. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Pakistani_War_of_1971

2014:

A hostage crisis in a Lindt chocolate café in Sydney, Australia, ended with police storming the building, killing the perpetrator and one of the hostages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindt_Cafe_siege

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

reconciliation: 1. The re-establishment of friendly relations; conciliation, rapprochement. 2. (accounting) The process of comparing and resolving apparent differences between accounting records, or between accounting records and bank statements, receipts, etc. 3. Religious senses. 4. (Christianity) The end of estrangement between a human and God as a result of atonement. 5. (Christianity) The reconsecration of a desecrated church or other holy site. 6. (Christianity, chiefly Roman Catholicism) Admission of a person to membership of the church, or readmission after the person has previously left the church. 7. (Roman Catholicism) Short for sacrament of reconciliation (“a sacrament (sacred ritual) formerly called confession, involving contrition by a person, confessing sins to a priest, penance performed by the person, and absolution granted by the priest”). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reconciliation

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

As our own species is in the process of proving, one cannot have superior science and inferior morals. The combination is unstable and self-destroying.   --Arthur C. Clarke https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke