The All Blacks are New Zealand's national rugby union team. Rugby union is New Zealand's national sport, with the All Blacks a formidable power in international rugby, possessing a winning record against all nations. The All Blacks compete annually with Australia and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with Australia. They have been Tri-Nations champions seven times in the tournament's eleven-year history, have twice completed a Grand Slam (in 1978 and in 2005), and currently hold the Bledisloe Cup. They are the top ranked team in the world, and the 2006 International Rugby Board (IRB) Team of the Year. Twelve former All Blacks have been inducted into the International Rugby Hall of Fame.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1530: The Augsburg Confession, the primary confession of faith of the Lutheran Church, was presented to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Augsburg. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augsburg_Confession)

1876: Indian Wars in North America: United States Army Colonel George Armstrong Custer was killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armstrong_Custer)

1950: The Korean War between North and South Korea began with the North Koreans launching a pre-dawn raid south over the 38th parallel. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War)

1967: Over 400 million people in over 30 countries watched Our World, the first live, international, satellite television production. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_World)

1993: Kim Campbell was chosen as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and became the first female Prime Minister of Canada. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Campbell)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

I always disagree ... when people end up saying that we can only combat Communism, Fascism or what not if we develop an equal fanaticism. It appears to me that one defeats the fanatic precisely by not being a fanatic oneself, but on the contrary by using one's intelligence. In the same way, a man can kill a tiger because he is not like a tiger and uses his brain to invent the rifle, which no tiger could ever do. -- George Orwell (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_Orwell)