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)