[Wikipedia Daily Article] July 16: Holden VE Commodore

[Faraaz Damji]

   The Holden VE Commodore is the fourteenth and current model of the
   Holden Commodore, a full-size car produced by Holden, the Australian
   subsidiary of General Motors.  Full-scale production commenced on July
   13 2006, with the official unveiling being held at a media launch in
   Melbourne on July 16 2006.  The VE is the first Commodore model
   designed entirely in Australia, with previous generations based on
   Opel-sourced platforms that had been adapted both mechanically and in
   size for the local market.  To date the annualised sales of the VE have
   failed to match those of the record-breaking VT Commodore.  Prior to
   the release of the VE model, Holden confirmed that they would
   manufacture two parallel generations of Commodores, until the launch
   of station wagon and utility body styles.  This announcement came not
   long before Holden announced that engines and transmissions would
   largely be carried over from the previous VZ model.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden_VE_Commodore


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Today's selected anniversaries:

622:
   The epoch of the Islamic calendar occurred, marking the year that
   Muhammad began his Hijra from Mecca to Medina.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_calendar)

1769:
   Spanish friar Junípero Serra founded Mission San Diego de Alcalá,
   the first Franciscan mission in the Alta California region of New
   Spain.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_San_Diego_de_Alcal%C3%A1)

1945:
   Manhattan Project: "Trinity", the first nuclear test explosion, was
   detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico, United States.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_test)

1979:
   Saddam Hussein replaced the resigning Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as
   President of Iraq, after having gradually usurped power from his
   cousin.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein)

1994:
   The planet Jupiter was hit by fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9
   comet, causing a fireball which reached a peak temperature of about
   24,000 K
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Shoemaker-Levy_9)

2005:
   Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth book in the
   popular Harry Potter series by J.  K.  Rowling, was released to record
   sales of 287,564 books per hour in its first 24 hours, making it the
   fastest selling book in history.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince)


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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

   escritoire: A writing desk with a hinged door that provides the
   writing surface.
   (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/escritoire)


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Wikiquote of the day:

   You'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and
   frightened and even sickened by human behavior.  You're by no means
   alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know.  Many,
   many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are
   right now.  Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles.
   You'll learn from them — if you want to.  Just as someday, if you have
   something to offer, someone will learn something from you.  It's a
   beautiful reciprocal arrangement.  And it isn't education.  It's
   history.  It's poetry.  -- J.  D.  Salinger in The Catcher in the Rye

   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._D._Salinger)