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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<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parasaurolophus>
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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>
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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>
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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>
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