150px|Parasaurolophus

Parasaurolophus is a genus of dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America, about 75 million years ago. A member of the Hadrosaurid or duck-billed dinosaurs, it was a plant-eater that walked on two legs or all four. Three species are recognized: P. walkeri, P. tubicen, and the short-crested P. cyrtocristatus. Remains are known from Alberta, New Mexico, and Utah. It is known for its large, elaborate cranial crest, which forms a long curved tube projecting upwards and back from the skull. The crest's purpose has been debated by scientists; possible functions include thermoregulation, visual recognition of both species and sex, and trumpeting. The genus was first described in 1922 by William Parks from a skull and partial skeleton in Alberta. Only a handful of good specimens are known. (more...)

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1291:

Three Swiss cantons signed the Federal Charter to create the Old Swiss Confederacy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Growth_of_the_Old_Swiss_Confederacy

1801:

First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captured the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_of_1_August_1801

1944:

World War II: The Polish Home Army began the Warsaw Uprising in Warsaw against the Nazi occupation of Poland, a rebellion that lasted 63 days until it was quelled by the Germans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising

1984:

Commercial peat-cutters discovered the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, North West England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindow_Man

2007:

Bridge 9340, carrying Interstate 35 across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US, suffered a catastrophic failure and collapsed , killing 13 people and injuring 145. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I-35W_Mississippi_River_bridge

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

sixth sense (n): A sense beyond the known bodily senses; a source of extrasensory perception, preternatural awareness http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sixth_sense

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

It is — or seems to be — a wise sort of thing, to realise that all that happens to a man in this life is only by way of joke, especially his misfortunes, if he have them. And it is also worth bearing in mind, that the joke is passed round pretty liberally & impartially, so that not very many are entitled to fancy that they in particular are getting the worst of it. --Herman Melville http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Herman_Melville