Cædmon is the earliest English poet whose name is known. An
Anglo-Saxon herdsman attached to the double monastery of
Streonæshalch
(Whitby Abbey) during the abbacy of St. Hilda, he was originally
ignorant of the art of song but learned to compose one night in the
course of a dream. He later became a zealous monk and an
accomplished
and inspirational religious poet. Cædmon is one of twelve
Anglo-Saxon
poets identified in medieval sources, and one of only three for whom
both roughly contemporary biographical information and examples of
literary output have survived. His story is told to us in the
Historia
ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum by St. Bede. Cædmon's only known
surviving work is Cædmon's Hymn, the nine-line alliterative
vernacular
praise poem in honour of God he supposedly learned to sing in his
initial dream. The poem is one of the earliest attested examples of
Old English and is, with the runic Ruthwell Cross and Franks Casket
inscriptions, one of three candidates for the earliest attested
example of Old English poetry.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dmon
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1456:
Joan of Arc was acquitted of heresy posthumously.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc)
1846:
American forces led by Commodore John D. Sloat occupied Monterey and
Yerba Buena, beginning the annexation of California.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Sloat)
1937:
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident marked the beginning of the Second
Sino-Japanese War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_Bridge_Incident)
1991:
The Slovenian War formally ended with the signing of the Brioni
Agreement.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-Day_War)
2005:
A series of four bomb explosions struck London's public transport
system, killing 56.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other 'sins' are
invented nonsense." -- Robert A. Heinlein
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_A._Heinlein)
Cystic fibrosis is a common hereditary disease that affects the
entire
body, causing progressive disability and early death. Breathing
difficulties are the most common symptom and result from frequent
lung
infections that are treated, though not always cured, by antibiotics
and other medications. A multitude of other symptoms, including
sinus
infections, poor growth, diarrhea, and infertility, result from the
effects of the disease on other parts of the body. Cystic fibrosis
is
one of the most common fatal inherited diseases. It is most
prevalent
among Caucasians and Ashkenazi Jews; one in 25 people of European
descent is a carrier for this disease. Individuals with cystic
fibrosis can be diagnosed prior to birth by genetic testing or in
early childhood by a sweat test. There is no cure, and most patients
die young — many in their 20s and 30s from respiratory failure.
Ultimately, lung transplantation is often necessary as the symptoms
worsen. Cystic fibrosis is caused by a mutation in a gene called the
cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cystic_fibrosis
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1785:
The dollar, a decimal currency system, was unanimously chosen as the
money unit for the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar)
1885:
Louis Pasteur successfully tested his vaccine against rabies on
Joseph Meister.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rabies)
1887:
King Kalākaua of Hawai'i was forced by armed foreign businessmen to
sign the Bayonet Constitution.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonet_Constitution)
1942:
Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in the "Secret Annex"
above her father's office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Frank)
1966:
Malawi became a republic, with Hastings Banda as the first
President.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Banda)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"They thought I was a Surrealist, but I wasn't. I never painted
dreams. I painted my own reality." -- Frida Kahlo
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frida_Kahlo)
The written history of New Jersey began with the exploration of the
Jersey Coast by Giovanni da Verrazano in 1524, though the region had
been settled for millennia by Native Americans. The New Jersey
region
soon came under the control of the Swedes and the Dutch resulting in
a
struggle in which the Dutch were victorious. However, the Dutch
colony
of New Netherland was seized by the British in 1664. New Jersey was
one of the original 13 colonies that joined the American
Revolutionary
War in 1776. In 1787, New Jersey was the third state to join the
United States of America. In the nineteenth century, New Jersey
cities
led the nation into the Industrial Revolution and provided soldiers
for many of the wars the United States fought, including 88,000
soldiers for the American Civil War. During the early 1900s, New
Jersey prospered but weakened in the Great Depression in the 1930s.
During World War II and the Cold War New Jersey's shipyards and
military bases played an important role in the defense of the United
States. In the 1960s New Jersey was the site of several race riots
and
the Glassboro Summit Conference, between American President Lyndon
Johnson and Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_Jersey
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1187:
Saladin defeated Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem, at the Battle
of Hattin and captured the True Cross.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hattin)
1776:
The Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies in British North
America approved a Declaration of Independence.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_%
28United_States%29)
1865:
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was first
published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland)
1894:
The Republic of Hawai'i was proclaimed at Ali'iolani Hale in
Honolulu, with Sanford B. Dole as the first president.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Hawaii)
1976:
Operation Yonatan: Israeli commandos raided Uganda's Entebbe
International Airport to free hostages taken by PLO and RAF
hijackers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Entebbe)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"It contributes greatly towards a man's moral and intellectual
health,
to be brought into habits of companionship with individuals unlike
himself, who care little for his pursuits, and whose sphere and
abilities he must go out of himself to appreciate." -- Nathaniel
Hawthorne
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne)
Lindsay Lohan is an American actress, pop music singer, and former
fashion model. She started in show business as a child model for
magazine ads and television commercials. At age ten, she began her
acting career on a soap opera; at eleven, she made her motion picture
début by playing both twins in Disney's 1998 remake of The Parent
Trap. Lohan's breakout role as a leading actress came six years
later
with Mean Girls, which shone the media spotlight on her professional
and personal lives—including her nightlife and her parents' marital
and legal struggles. As an adult, Lohan began to take on more varied
roles and projects, including Robert Altman's A Prairie Home
Companion. While filming Herbie: Fully Loaded in 2004, Lohan
launched
her career in music, recording and releasing her first studio album,
Speak; her second album, A Little More Personal (Raw), was released
in
2005.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindsay_Lohan
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1644:
The Battle of Marston Moor, one of the decisive encounters of the
English Civil War, was fought near York.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marston_Moor)
1839:
A cargo of 53 African slaves mutinied on the slave ship La Amistad
off the coast of Cuba.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Amistad)
1900:
First Zeppelin flight on Lake Constance near Friedrichshafen,
Germany.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin)
1937:
Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific
Ocean.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia_Earhart)
1976:
North and South Vietnam united to form the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Republic_of_Vietnam)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"When artists create pictures and thinkers search for laws and
formulate thoughts, it is in order to salvage something from the
great
dance of death, to make something that lasts longer than we do." --
Hermann Hesse
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Hermann_Hesse)
The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was a non-stop, single-handed,
round-the-world yacht race, held in 1968–1969. It was the first
round-the-world yacht race in any format. The Golden Globe Race was
sponsored by the British Sunday Times newspaper and was designed to
capitalise on a number of individual round-the-world voyages which
were already being planned by various sailors; for this reason, there
were no qualification requirements, and competitors were permitted to
start at any time between June 1 and October 31 1968. Nine sailors
started the race; four retired before leaving the Atlantic Ocean. Of
the five remaining, Chay Blyth, who had set off with absolutely no
sailing experience, sailed past the Cape of Good Hope before
retiring,
Nigel Tetley sank as he approached the finishing line, Donald
Crowhurst, who attempted to fake a round-the-world voyage, went
insane
and then committed suicide, and Bernard Moitessier, who rejected the
philosophy behind a commercialised competition, abandoned the race
while in a strong position to win, kept sailing non-stop, and stopped
in Tahiti after circling the globe one and a half times. Only one of
the nine sailors finished the race: Robin Knox-Johnston became the
first person to sail single-handed and non-stop around the world.
Knox-Johnston was awarded both prizes and later donated the £5,000 to
a fund supporting Crowhurst's family.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Times_Golden_Globe_Race
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
251:
The Goths under Cniva defeat the Roman Empire at the Battle of
Abrittus and kill both Roman Emperors, Decius and his son and
co-emperor Herennius Etruscus.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Abrittus)
1867:
Canada Day: The Province of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia
united in Confederation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Day)
1904:
The first Olympic Games in North America opened in St. Louis,
Missouri.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1904_Summer_Olympics)
1916:
The first day on the Somme, the bloodiest day in the history of the
British Army.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/first_day_on_the_Somme)
1991:
The Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Pact)
1997:
The sovereignty of the British crown colony of Hong Kong was
transferred to the People's Republic of China, to be governed as a
special administrative region under the policy of "One country, two
systems".
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Perhaps in time the so-called Dark Ages will be thought of as
including our own." -- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Georg_Christoph_Lichtenberg)