The sea is the connected body of salty water that covers over 70 percent of the Earth's surface. It moderates the Earth's climate and has important roles in the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles. It has been travelled since ancient times, while scientific oceanography dates broadly from Captain James Cook's 18th-century voyages. Winds produce waves and surface currents, and deep-sea currents carry cold water to every ocean. Large events such as submarine earthquakes can cause destructive tsunamis. Tides are caused by the rotation of the Earth and the gravitational effects of the Moon and the Sun. A variety of organisms live in the sea's many habitats, from the sunlit surface to the cold, dark abyssal zone, and from the Arctic to colourful tropical coral reefs. Life itself may have started in the sea. The sea provides humans with food including fish and shellfish, and enables trade, travel, mineral extraction, power generation, naval warfare, and leisure, though often at the cost of marine pollution. The sea has been important in human culture since Homer's Odyssey, appearing in literature, mythology, marine art, cinema, theatre, classical music and dream interpretation.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

619:

Emperor Gaozu allowed the assassination of a khagan of the Western Turkic Khanate by Eastern Turkic rivals, one the earliest events in the Tang campaigns against the Western Turks. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tang_campaigns_against_the_Western_Turks

1889:

The Dakota Territory, an organized incorporated territory of the United States, was split and became the states of North and South Dakota. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Dakota

1917:

British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration, proclaiming British support for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration

1963:

President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam was assassinated, marking the culmination of a coup d'état led by Duong Van Minh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_and_assassination_of_Ngo_Dinh_Diem

2007:

In Tbilisi, Georgia, 50,000–100,000 people demonstrated against the allegedly corrupt government of president Mikheil Saakashvili. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Georgian_demonstrations

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

tell it to the marines: (idiomatic) I do not believe what you said. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tell_it_to_the_marines

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Reputation is what other people know about you. Honor is what you know about yourself. … Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.   --Lois McMaster Bujold https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lois_McMaster_Bujold