From kate.turner at gmail.com Fri Oct 1 05:08:21 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 05:08:21 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 1: Battle of Normandy Message-ID: <20041001050821.GA20634@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The Battle of Normandy in 1944, codenamed Operation Overlord, was the invasion of Nazi-occupied Western Europe by the Allies. The Normandy invasion began with overnight paratrooper and glider landings, massive air and naval bombardments, and an early-morning amphibious assault. It continued over more than two months, with campaigns to establish, expand, and eventually break out of the Allied beachheads. It concluded with the surrender of Paris and the fall of the Chambois pocket. Normandy is, to this day, one of the best-known battles of World War II. In common language, the expression "D-Day" is still used to refer to June 6, the starting date of the invasion and the opening day of the battle Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Normandy Today's selected anniversaries: 331 BC Battle of Arbela: Despite being greatly outnumbered, Alexander the Great and his Macedonian forces defeated Darius III of Persia. Alexander was then crowned "King of Asia" in a magnificent ceremony in Arbela (modern-day Arbil, Iraq). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gaugamela) 1891 In Stanford, California, Leland Stanford Junior University officially opened. There were 559 students, and tuition was free. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_University) 1936 Generalissimo Francisco Franco became the head of the Spanish State, ruling as a dictator till his death in 1975. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Franco) 1958 The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) began operations, replacing the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA) 1977 Brazilian football (soccer) star Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as the "Black Pearl" or Pel?, played his last game as a professional. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pel%E9) Wikiquote of the day: "Truth can never be told so as to be understood and not be believed." ~ William Blake (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/William_Blake) From mapellegrini at comcast.net Sat Oct 2 02:15:22 2004 From: mapellegrini at comcast.net (Mark Pellegrini) Date: Fri, 1 Oct 2004 22:15:22 -0400 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 2: Shakers Message-ID: <000b01c4a825$ac48e050$6201a8c0@ozymandias> The Shakers are an offshoot of the Religious Society of Friends (or Quakers) that originated in Manchester, England the early 18th century. Strict believers in celibacy, they maintained their numbers through conversion and adoption. Once boasting thousands of a dherents, today the only remaining Shakers are a handful of people living in Maine. One of the major attributes of the shakers was to build. Shakers were known for an exquisite style of furniture that was plain, durable, and functional. By the middle of the 20th century, as the Shaker communities themselves were disappearing, some American collectors whose visual tastes were formed by the stark aspects of the modernist movement, found themselves drawn to the spare artifacts of Shaker culture. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakers Today's selected anniversaries: 1187 - Third Crusade: Saladin and the Seljuk Turks captured Jerusalem. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Crusade) 1535 - French explorer Jacques Cartier sailed along the St. Lawrence River and reached an Iroquois fort on an island now known as Montr?al. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Montreal) 1835 - Mexican dragoons dispatched to disarm settlers at Gonzales, Texas encountered stiff resistance from a Texian militia in the Battle of Gonzales, thus beginning the Texas Revolution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gonzales) 1950 - Peanuts, a syndicated comic strip by Charles M. Schulz featuring Charlie Brown and his pet beagle Snoopy, was first published in major newspapers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanuts) 1968 - The Tlatelolco massacre: A peaceful student demonstration in Tlatelolco, Mexico City ended at sunset, when army and police forces began firing into the crowd. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlatelolco_massacre) Wikiquote of the day: "When you get to a fork in the road, take it." (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yogi_Berra) From mapellegrini at comcast.net Sun Oct 3 04:15:08 2004 From: mapellegrini at comcast.net (Mark Pellegrini) Date: Sun, 3 Oct 2004 00:15:08 -0400 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 3: History of Greenland Message-ID: <001301c4a8ff$91cdd890$6201a8c0@ozymandias> The History of Greenland, the world's largest island, is the history of life under extreme Arctic conditions; an ice-cap covers about 84 percent of the island, largely restricting human activity to the coasts. Greenland was unknown to Europeans until the 10th century, when it was discovered by Icelandic Vikings. Before this discovery, it had been inhabited for a long time by Arctic peoples, although the direct ancestors of the modern Inuit did not arrive until around 1200 CE. The Inuit were the only people to inhabit the island for several hundred years, but in remembrance of the Viking settlement, Denmark nonetheless claimed the territory, and colonized it in the 18th century. During World War II, Greenland became effectively detached from Denmark, and more connected to the United States and Canada. Eventually the colonial status was lifted, and although Greenland is still a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, it has enjoyed home rule since 1979. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Greenland Today's selected anniversaries: 2333 BC - Dangun, a mythical figure, established the Kingdom of Go-Joseon (presentday Korea). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dangun) 1283 - David ap Gruffydd the Prince of Wales, the last native ruler of Wales to resist English domination, was captured by English forces and subsequently executed by drawing and quartering. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_ap_Gruffydd) 1935 - Italy invaded Ethiopia, igniting the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Italo-Abyssinian_War) 1990 - German reunification: The five re-established German states (Bundesl?nder) of East Germany formally joined West Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_reunification) 1993 - Battle of Mogadishu: Soldiers from Malaysian, Pakistani and U.S. armed forces attempted to capture Somalian warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid, as chronicled in a book and then a film entitled "Black Hawk Down". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mogadishu) Wikiquote of the day: "Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before." ~ Mae West (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mae_West) From kate.turner at gmail.com Mon Oct 4 05:16:51 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 05:16:51 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 4: Emacs Message-ID: <20041004051651.GA2289@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Emacs is a text editor with a comprehensive set of features that is particularly popular with programmers and other technical computer users. The original Emacs was written in 1976 by Richard Stallman, as a set of Editor MACroS for the TECO editor. It has evolved from its dumb terminal origins into something resembling a full blown word processor sporting a complete graphical user interface. A large number of extensions are available which can turn Emacs into anything from a web browser to a tool for writing and compiling computer programs. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emacs Today's selected anniversaries: 1830 Belgian Revolution: A provisional government in Brussels declared the creation of the independent and neutral state of Belgium, in revolt against the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Revolution) 1910 Manuel II, the last King of Portugal, fled to Great Britain when a revolution erupted in Lisbon and his palace was shelled. A republic was proclaimed the next day. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_II_of_Portugal) 1957 Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, was launched at 19:12 UTC by a R-7 rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1) 1993 Russian Constitutional Crisis: Tanks bombarded the White House in Moscow, a government building that housed the Russian parliament, where demonstrators against President Boris Yeltsin rallied outside. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_constitutional_crisis_of_1993) Wikiquote of the day: "Given the choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier." ~ "Blore's Razor" (Author unknown) From kate.turner at gmail.com Tue Oct 5 04:57:07 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 04:57:07 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 5: Genes Message-ID: <20041005045707.GA19305@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Genes are material entities that parents pass to offspring during reproduction. These entities encode information essential for the construction and regulation of polypeptides, proteins and other molecules that determines the growth and functioning of the organism. The word "gene" is shared by many disciplines, including classical genetics, molecular genetics, evolutionary biology and population genetics. Because each discipline models the biology of life differently, the material entity that supports the gene in one discipline is not the same as in the other. Following the discovery that DNA is the genetic material, and with the growth of biotechnology and the project to sequence the human genome, the common usage of the word "gene" has increasingly reflected its meaning in molecular biology. In the molecular-biological sense, genes are the segments of DNA which cells transcribe into RNAs and translate, at least in part, into proteins. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene Today's selected anniversaries: 1864 Calcutta, India was almost completely destroyed by a cyclone which had killed 60,000 people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcutta) 1877 After battling U.S. armed forces for more than three months, retreating over 1,000 miles across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana, Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce band finally surrendered following a five-day siege. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Joseph) 1908 Prince Ferdinand became Tsar when the autonomous principality of Bulgaria proclaimed independence from the Ottoman Empire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_of_Bulgaria) 1969 The first episode of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' was broadcast on BBC1. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Flying_Circus) 1970 Terrorists of the 'Front de Lib?ration du Qu?bec' kidnapped a British diplomat, sparking the October Crisis in Montr?al, Canada. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front_de_Lib%E9ration_du_Qu%E9bec) Wikiquote of the day: "As for myself, I always willingly acknowledge my own self as the principal cause of every good and of every evil which may befall me; therefore I have always found myself capable of being my own pupil, and ready to love my teacher." ~ Giacomo Casanova (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Giacomo_Casanova) From kate.turner at gmail.com Wed Oct 6 04:55:43 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Wed, 6 Oct 2004 04:55:43 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 6: Golden age of arcade games Message-ID: <20041006045543.GA3388@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The Golden Age of Arcade Games was a peak era of arcade game popularity and innovation. Some opinions place this period's beginning in late 1979 or 1980 when the first color arcade games appeared and arcades began to become prevalent, and its ending in the mid-1980s. More generous definitions place its start at the 1978 release of Space Invaders and its end in the mid-1990s with the release of home gaming systems which were more powerful than typical arcade hardware. Despite claims to the contrary, the video game crash of 1983 had little impact on the arcade game industry. In fact, it may have boosted it since people played more games in arcades since little was available for the home market. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_of_arcade_games Today's selected anniversaries: 1927 The first talking movie "The Jazz Singer", starring Al Jolson, was released and became a box-office success. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jazz_Singer) 1967 The Yom Kippur War began as a simultaneous coordinated attack by Egypt and Syria in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, respectively, to regain the territories lost to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur_War) 1976 Premier Hua Guofeng ordered the arrest of the Gang of Four and their associates, putting an end to the Cultural Revolution in China. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_of_Four_%28China%29) 1981 Egyptian President Mohamed Anwar el-Sadat was assassinated. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anwar_al%2dSadat) 1998 Gay-bashing: University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard was fatally attacked for being gay. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard) Wikiquote of the day: "You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end each of us must work for his own improvement, and at the same time share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful." ~ Marie Curie (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marie_Curie) From kate.turner at gmail.com Thu Oct 7 05:06:29 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 05:06:29 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 7: Coronation Street Message-ID: <20041007050629.GA10686@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Coronation Street is Britain's longest-running television soap opera. It was created by Tony Warren and first broadcast on December 9, 1960. The working title of the show was Florizel Street, but Agnes, a tea lady at Granada Television (where Coronation Street was produced) remarked that "Florizel" sounded too much like a disinfectant. Coronation Street is set in a fictional street in the fictional industrial town of Weatherfield which is based on Salford, now part of Greater Manchester. It is the central television programme on the ITV network. Its principal rival soap opera is the BBC's EastEnders. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronation_Street Today's selected anniversaries: 1571 Battle of Lepanto: The Ottoman Empire was decisively defeated by the Christian West for the first time, as a multinational fleet led by Don John of Austria crushed the Turkish navy near the Gulf of Corinth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Lepanto_%281571%29) 1985 The Mediterranean ocean liner Achille Lauro was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achille_Lauro) 2001 The Invasion of Afghanistan began at 16:30 UTC with an aerial bombing campaign targeting Taliban and Al-Qaida forces. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._invasion_of_Afghanistan) 2003 California recall: Californians voted to recall Governor Gray Davis from office, electing Arnold Schwarzenegger as the new governor from a long list of 135 candidates. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_California_recall) Wikiquote of the day: "I don't get no respect!" ~ Rodney Dangerfield (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Rodney_Dangerfield) From kate.turner at gmail.com Fri Oct 8 06:05:04 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2004 06:05:04 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 8: James Joyce Message-ID: <20041008060504.GA14688@zwinger.wikimedia.org> James Joyce was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, and is widely considered one of the most significant writers of the 20th century. He is best known for his short story collection Dubliners, and for his novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake. Together with Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Richardson, he is credited with the development of the stream of consciousness technique in which the same weight is given to both the internal world of the mind and the external world of events and circumstances as factors shaping the actions and views of fictional characters. His fictional universe is firmly rooted in Dublin and reflects his family life and the events and friends (and enemies) from his school and college days. In this, he became both one of the most cosmopolitan and one of the most local of all the great English language modernists. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce Today's selected anniversaries: 451 Council of Chalcedon: Bishops gathered at Chalcedon, a city of Bithynia in Asia Minor, to open the fourth ecumenical council in Christianity. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Chalcedon) 1600 San Marino, the world's oldest republic still in existence, adopted its written constitution. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino) 1871 Dry conditions caused two catastrophic historic fires in the U.S. Midwest: the Great Chicago Fire and Wisconsin's Peshtigo Fire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chicago_Fire) 1895 Queen Min of Joseon, the last empress of Korea, was assassinated. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Min_of_Joseon) 1967 Argentine-born physician, Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader Che Guevara was captured in Bolivia. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara) Wikiquote of the day: "Every human being, of whatever origin, of whatever station, deserves respect. We must each respect others even as we respect ourselves." ~ U Thant (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/U_Thant) From kate.turner at gmail.com Sat Oct 9 04:56:30 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 04:56:30 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 9: Io (moon) Message-ID: <20041009045630.GA3457@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Io is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. It is named after the Greek mythological figure Io. Although the name "Io" was suggested by Simon Marius soon after its discovery, this name and the names of the other Galilean satellites fell into disfavor for a considerable time, and were not revived in common use until the mid-20th century. In much of the earlier astronomical literature, Io is simply referred to by its Roman numeral designation as "Jupiter I," or simply as "the first satellite of Jupiter." Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_%28moon%29 Today's selected anniversaries: 1446 King Sejong the Great of Joseon and various Korean linguists published the Hunmin Jeongeum to introduce their invention ? the Hangul alphabet. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangul) 1701 The Collegiate School of Connecticut (later renamed Yale University) was chartered in Old Saybrook, Connecticut. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University) 1888 The Washington Monument, then the world's tallest building, officially opened to the general public. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Monument) 1919 Black Sox scandal: The Cincinnati Reds "defeated" the Chicago White Sox to "win" the World Series major league baseball championship by 5 games to 3. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sox_scandal) 1963 A landslide displaced large amounts of water from the Vajont Dam in Italy, causing waves and floods that quickly swept away several villages, killing almost 2,000 people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajont_Dam) Wikiquote of the day: "No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else." ~ Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens) From kate.turner at gmail.com Sun Oct 10 04:48:56 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 04:48:56 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 10: First Amendment to the United States Constitution Message-ID: <20041010044856.GA18140@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the Bill of Rights. It was conceived to prevent Congress and the federal government from infringing on five rights. These guarantees were that the government would not endorse any religion or establish a state religion, prohibit the free exercise of religion, infringe upon freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to assemble peaceably, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The First Amendment, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, was proposed by Congress in 1789, to be ratified by the requisite number of states in 1791. It was passed in order to answer protestations that the newly created Constitution did not include sufficient guarantees of civil liberties. The First Amendment only explicitly disallows any of the rights from being abridged by Congress. Over time, however, the courts held that this extends to the executive and judicial branches. The Fourteenth Amendment went further, making abridging First Amendment rights unconstitutional for state, county, and local governments. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution Today's selected anniversaries: 680 Battle of Karbala: Imam Husayn bin Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, was decapitated by forces under Caliph Yazid I. This is commemorated by Shi'a Muslims as 'Aashurah'. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Karbala) 732 Battle of Tours: Charles Martel and the Franks defeated a large army of Moors near Poitiers, France, stopping the northward spread of Islam from Spain to the rest of Western Europe. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tours) 1911 The Xinhai Revolution began with the Wuchang Uprising, marking the beginning of the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in China. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuchang_Uprising) Wikiquote of the day: "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." ~ Groucho Marx (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Groucho_Marx) From kate.turner at gmail.com Mon Oct 11 07:33:33 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Mon, 11 Oct 2004 07:33:33 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 11: Hebrew calendar Message-ID: <20041011073333.GA24415@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The Hebrew calendar is the annual calendar used in Judaism. It is a lunisolar calendar, based upon both lunar months and a solar cycle (which defines its years). This is in contrast to the Gregorian calendar, which is based solely upon a solar cycle, or the Islamic calendar, which is purely lunar. Jews use this calendar to determine when the new Hebrew months start; this calendar determines the Jewish holidays, which Torah portions to read, and which set of Psalms should be read each day. Jews have been using a lunisolar calendar since Biblical times, but originally referred to the months by number rather than name. The epoch of the modern Hebrew calendar is Monday, October 7, 3761 BCE, corresponding to 1 Tishri AM 1 (AM meaning Anno Mundi, "in the year of the world"). This date is about one year before the traditional Jewish date of Creation on 25 Elul AM 1. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_calendar Today's selected anniversaries: 1899 A second Boer War erupted between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State in South Africa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boer_War) 1962 Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convened the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council) 1954 Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh took control of North Vietnam, which then became a communist state. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Minh) 1968 NASA launched Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_7) 1975 Saturday Night Live was broadcasted for the first time (George Carlin was guest host). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Live) Wikiquote of the day: "You are educated when you have the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or self-confidence." ~ Robert Frost (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Robert_Frost) From kate.turner at gmail.com Tue Oct 12 09:43:30 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 09:43:30 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 12: Vulgar Latin Message-ID: <20041012094329.GA12361@zwinger.wikimedia.org> "Vulgar Latin" is a blanket term covering the vernacular dialects of the Latin language spoken mostly in the western provinces of the Roman Empire, starting from the second and third century CE, until its direct merging with the early Romance languages in the ninth century. This spoken Latin differed from the literary language of classical Latin in its pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. Some features of Vulgar Latin did not appear until the late Empire. Other features are likely to have been in place in spoken Latin, in at least its basilectal forms, much earlier. Our knowledge of Vulgar Latin comes from three chief sources. First, the comparative method can reconstruct the underlying forms from the attested Romance languages, and note where they differ from classical Latin. Second, various prescriptive grammar texts from the late Latin period condemn linguistic errors that Latin users were likely to commit, providing insight into how Latin speakers used their language. Finally, the solecisms and non-Classical usages that occasionally are found in late Latin texts also shed light on the spoken language of the writer. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulgar_Latin Today's selected anniversaries: 1810 The first Oktoberfest was held in Munich. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oktoberfest) 1960 Nikita Khrushchev became enraged at a United Nations conference and told the Filipino delegate that he was "a jerk, a stooge and a lackey of imperialism." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev) 1999 A military coup in Pakistan led by General Pervez Musharraf ousted the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervez_Musharraf) 2002 A terrorist bombing on the Indonesian island of Bali killed 202 people. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_terrorist_bombing) Wikiquote of the day: "I don't really know why I care so much. I just have something inside me that tells me that there is a problem, and I have got to do something about it. I think that is what I would call the God in me. All of us have a God in us, and that God is the spirit that unites all life, everything that is on this planet." ~ Wangari Maathai (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai) From kate.turner at gmail.com Wed Oct 13 05:02:59 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 05:02:59 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 13: Enigma machine Message-ID: <20041013050259.GA5449@zwinger.wikimedia.org> In the history of cryptography, the Enigma machine was a portable cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. More precisely, Enigma was a family of related electro-mechanical rotor machines ? there are a variety of different models. The Enigma was used commercially from the early 1920s on, and was also adopted by military and governmental services of a number of nations ? most famously, by Nazi Germany before and during World War II. The German military model, the Wehrmacht Enigma, is the version most commonly discussed. Allied codebreakers were, in many cases, able to decrypt messages protected by the machine (see cryptanalysis of the Enigma). The intelligence gained through this source ? codenamed ULTRA ? was a significant aid to the Allied war effort. Some historians have suggested that the end of the European war was hastened by up to a year or more because of the decryption of German ciphers. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine Today's selected anniversaries: 54 Claudius I was fatally poisoned by his wife Agrippina the younger, making her 17-year old son Nero the next Roman Emperor. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero) 1307 Grand Master Jacques de Molay and thousands of members of the Knights Templar, a monastic military order, were simultaneously arrested by agents of Phillip the Fair and subsequently tortured into "admitting" heresy. From that Friday on, Friday the 13th was considered by followers of the Templars as an evil and unlucky day. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar) 1843 The Independent Order of B'nai B'rith, the oldest continually-operating Jewish service organization in the world, was founded in New York City. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%27nai_B%27rith) 1845 Voters in the Republic of Texas approved a proposed constitution, that if accepted by the United States Congress, would make Texas a U.S. state. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Texas) 1943 World War II: With a new government led by General Pietro Badoglio, parts of Italy switched sides to the Allies and declared war on Germany and Japan as well as Northern Italy. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Badoglio) Wikiquote of the day: "So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable." ~ Christopher Reeve (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Christopher_Reeve) From kate.turner at gmail.com Thu Oct 14 04:52:56 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 04:52:56 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 14: Rondane National Park Message-ID: <20041014045256.GA8669@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Rondane National Park was the first national park in Norway, established on December 21, 1962. The park contains a number of peaks, with the highest being Rondslottet. It is an important habitat for herds of wild reindeer. The park was extended in 2003, in Oppland and Hedmark. Rondane lies just to the east of Gudbrandsdal and two other mountain areas, Dovre and Jotunheimen are nearby. As well as being known for its beauty, Rondane is the setting for Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rondane_National_Park Today's selected anniversaries: 1066 Battle of Hastings: The Norman invasion forces of William the Conqueror defeated the English army and killed King Harold II of England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Hastings) 1926 The children's book "Winnie-the-Pooh", by A. A. Milne, was published for the first time. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie_the_Pooh) 1947 Chuck Yeager flew a Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound, the first person to do so in level flight. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager) 1953 Qibya massacre: Israeli military commander Ariel Sharon and his Unit 101 special forces were ordered to "inflict heavy damage on the inhabitants" in a village on the West Bank. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qibya_massacre) 1981 Hosni Mubarak was elected President of Egypt, one week after Anwar Sadat was assassinated. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak) Wikiquote of the day: "Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: If you're alive, it isn't." ~ Richard Bach (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Bach) From kate.turner at gmail.com Fri Oct 15 04:58:45 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 04:58:45 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 15: Humpback Whale Message-ID: <20041015045845.GA10934@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The Humpback Whale is a mammal which belongs to the baleen whale suborder. It is a large whale: an adult usually ranges between 12-16m long and weighs approximately 36 metric tons. It is well known for its breaching (leaping out of the water) and its complex whale song. Humpback Whales live in oceans and seas around the world, and are regularly sought out by whale-watchers. Humpback Whales are easy to identify. It has a stocky body with an obvious hump and black upperparts. The head and lower jaw are covered with knobs called tubercles, and are actually hair follicles that are characteristic of the species. The tail flukes, which are lifted high in the dive sequence, have wavy rear edges. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humpback_Whale Today's selected anniversaries: 1582 Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian Calendar. In Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain, October 4 of this year was followed immediately by October 15, skipping over 10 calendar days. Other countries followed at various later dates. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_Calendar) 1815 Napoleon I of France began his exile on St. Helena, a remote island in the Atlantic Ocean. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_I_of_France) 1894 The Dreyfus affair: Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French military, was wrongly arrested for treason in a political scandal later exposed by ?mile Zola. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Dreyfus) 1917 Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari, also a courtesan who might have had affairs with many military officers and politicians in France, was executed by a firing squad for spying for Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari) 2003 China launched Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission, with Lt. Col. Yang Liwei aboard as the republic's first astronaut. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhou_5) Wikiquote of the day: "It is better to debate a question without deciding it than to decide it without debate." ~ Joseph Joubert (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Joubert) From kate.turner at gmail.com Sat Oct 16 08:16:33 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 08:16:33 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 16: George III of the United Kingdom Message-ID: <20041016081633.GA9239@zwinger.wikimedia.org> George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until 1 January 1801, and thereafter King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. During George III's reign, Great Britain lost many of its colonies in North America; the rebellious colonies later formed the United States. Also during his reign, the realms of Great Britain and Ireland united to form the United Kingdom. George III suffered from a mental disease, now thought to be porphyria. After a final relapse in 1811, George's eldest son, The Prince George, Prince of Wales reigned as Prince Regent. Upon George III's death, the Prince of Wales succeeded his father to become George IV. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_III_of_the_United_Kingdom Today's selected anniversaries: 456 Magister militum Ricimer defeated the Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and became master of the western Roman Empire. He spent the rest of his life as the Patrician, ruling through a number of puppet emperors. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricimer) 1813 The Sixth Coalition attacked Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Leipzig, the largest conflict in the Napoleonic Wars . (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Leipzig) 1940 Warsaw Ghetto, the largest of the Jewish ghettos in Nazi Germany-occupied Poland, was established by the German Generalgouverneur Hans Frank. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto) 1978 Cardinal Karol J?zef Wojty?a became Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the first ever from a Slavic country. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II) 2002 Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt, a commemoration of the Library of Alexandria that was lost in antiquity, was officially inaugurated. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliotheca_Alexandrina) Wikiquote of the day: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world." ~ Margaret Mead (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead) From kate.turner at gmail.com Sun Oct 17 05:04:35 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 05:04:35 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 17: Roche limit Message-ID: <20041017050435.GA4609@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The Roche limit is the distance within which an object (typically a satellite in orbit) near a celestial body (typically a moon, planet or star) and held together only by its own gravity will start to disintegrate due to tidal forces exceeding the satellite's gravitational self-attraction. Within the Roche limit the net forces experienced by opposite ends of the satellite, gravity acting more strongly on the side closest to the body orbited and less strongly on the far side, are stronger than the force holding the satellite together, the satellite's own gravitational attraction. The term is named after ?douard Roche, the French astronomer who first discovered this theoretical limit in 1848. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roche_limit Today's selected anniversaries: 1469 Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella of Castile. Their marriage led to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_Aragon) 1604 Kepler's Star: German astronomer Johannes Kepler observed that an exceptionally bright star had suddenly appeared in the constellation Ophiuchus. This 'new star' turned out to be the last supernova observed in our own galaxy, the Milky Way. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1604) 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake: The largest earthquake to occur on the San Andreas Fault in California since 1906, struck the San Francisco Bay Area at 5:04 pm local time and measured 7.1 on the Richter scale. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loma_Prieta_earthquake) 2003 The pinnacle was fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 106-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 meters (165 feet) and become the World's tallest building. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taipei_101) Wikiquote of the day: "Nothing endures but change." ~ Heraclitus (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Heraclitus) From kate.turner at gmail.com Mon Oct 18 04:54:47 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 04:54:47 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 18: Cyclone Tracy Message-ID: <20041018045447.GA29895@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated Darwin, Australia, on 24-25 December, 1974. It was recorded by The Age as being a "disaster of the first magnitude... and without parallel in Australia's history." It killed 65 people and destroyed over 70 percent of Darwin's buildings, leaving over 20,000 people homeless. Most of Darwin's population was evacuated to Adelaide, Whyalla, Alice Springs and Sydney and many never returned to Darwin. The town was subsequently rebuilt with newer materials and techniques. Cyclone Tracy, due to its severity, has entered into Australian popular culture in a way that no other meteorological event had before, or has since. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Tracy Today's selected anniversaries: 1009 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Christian church now within the walled Old City of Jerusalem, was destroyed by the "mad" Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre) 1851 "Moby-Dick", a novel by Herman Melville, was first published as "The Whale". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick) 1922 The British Broadcasting Company was founded by a consortium to establish a network of radio transmitters to provide a national broadcasting service in the United Kingdom. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC) 1954 Texas Instruments introduced the first transistor radio. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio) 1977 German Autumn: a national crisis revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns-Martin Schleyer in Cologne and the hijacking of a Lufthansa airplane to Somalia by the Red Army Faction (RAF) came to an end when various RAF members committed suicide in prison and Schleyer was executed in France. The German government later stated that it would never again negotiate with terrorists. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction) Wikiquote of the day: "Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try." ~ "Yoda" in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Star_Wars) From kate.turner at gmail.com Tue Oct 19 05:02:51 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 05:02:51 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 19: Margin of error Message-ID: <20041019050251.GA4394@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The margin of error is an expression of the extent to which a poll's reported percentages would vary if the same poll were taken multiple times. The larger the margin of error, the less confidence one has that the poll's reported percentages are close to the "true" percentages, i.e. the percentages in the whole population. The margin of error can be calculated directly from the sample size (the number of poll respondents) and may be reported at different levels of confidence - the 99 percent level is more conservative, while the 95 percent level is more common. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_of_error Today's selected anniversaries: 202 BC At the Battle of Zama, Carthaginian general Hannibal was defeated by Roman proconsul Scipio Africanus, ending the Second Punic War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Zama) 1781 After losing the Battle of Yorktown, British forces led by Lord Charles Cornwallis officially surrendered, ending the American Revolutionary War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Revolutionary_War) 1943 Streptomycin, the first antibiotic remedy for tuberculosis, was first isolated by researchers at Rutgers University. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptomycin) 1985 The first Blockbuster Video store opened in Dallas, Texas. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockbuster_Video) 1987 Black Monday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22%, the largest one-day decline in history. Stock markets around the world soon followed with similar collapses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Monday) Wikiquote of the day: "These children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through..." ~ David Bowie (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Bowie) From kate.turner at gmail.com Wed Oct 20 04:23:47 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2004 04:23:47 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 20: Attila the Hun Message-ID: <20041020042346.GA10125@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Attila the Hun was the last and most powerful king of the European Huns. He reigned from 434 until his death over what was then Europe's largest empire, which stretched from Central Europe to the Black Sea and from the Danube River to the Baltic. During his rule he was among the direst enemies of the Eastern and Western Roman Empires: he invaded the Balkans twice, encircling Constantinople in the second invasion; he marched through France as far as Orleans before being turned back at Chalons; and he drove the western emperor Valentinian III from his capital at Ravenna in 452. Though his empire died with him and he left no remarkable legacy, he has become a legendary figure in the history of Europe: he is remembered as the epitome of cruelty and rapacity in much of Western Europe; while he is lionized as a great king in the national history of Hungary. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attila_the_Hun Today's selected anniversaries: 1740 Maria Theresa, an "enlightened monarch", assumed the throne of Austria, succeeding her father, Charles VI. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresa_of_Austria) 1827 An allied British, French, and Russian naval force destroyed a combined Turkish and Egyptian fleet at the Battle of Navarino, a decisive moment in the Greek War of Independence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Navarino) 1935 The Chinese People's Liberation Army completed the Long March from Jiangxi province in southern China to in Shaanxi province, an organized maneuver covering a distance of 6000 km (3700 mi.) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March) 1968 Former U.S. First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy married Greek shipping business magnate Aristotle Onassis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacqueline_Kennedy_Onassis) 1973 The Sydney Opera House was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The opening was televised and included fireworks and a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House) Wikiquote of the day: "Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows." ~ George Orwell in Nineteen Eighty-Four (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty%2dFour) From kate.turner at gmail.com Thu Oct 21 05:11:51 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2004 05:11:51 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 21: Jazz Message-ID: <20041021051151.GA4379@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Jazz is a musical art form, commonly characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms and improvisation. It has been called the first original art form to develop in the United States of America. Jazz is rooted in West African cultural and musical expression and in African American music traditions, in folk blues and ragtime. Originating in African American communities near the beginning of the 20th century, by the 1920s it had gained international popularity. Since then, jazz has had a profoundly pervasive influence on other musical styles worldwide. The word jazz itself is rooted in American slang, but is of unknown origin, despite many theories about its source. Rather than being a single, narrowly definable style, in the early 21st century jazz is an ever-growing family of musical styles, many of which continue to develop. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz Today's selected anniversaries: 1600 Tokugawa Ieyasu established military supermacy over rival Japanese clans in the Battle of Sekigahara, which marked the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate, the final shogunate to rule in Japan. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sekigahara) 1805 Napoleonic Wars: Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson led the British fleet to defeat a combined French and Spanish navy in the Battle of Trafalgar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Nelson%2c_1st_Viscount_Nelson) 1824 Joseph Aspdin, an English bricklayer, received the patent for Portland cement. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_cement) 1854 Florence Nightingale and a staff of 38 nurses were sent to the Crimean War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale) 1944 The first kamikaze attack: HMAS Australia was hit by a Japanese plane carrying a 200 kg (441 pound) bomb off Leyte Island in the Philippines. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kamikaze) 1945 Argentine military officer and politician Juan Domingo Per?n married popular actress Evita. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eva_Per?n) Wikiquote of the day: "I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives." ~ Leo Tolstoy (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy) From kate.turner at gmail.com Fri Oct 22 05:24:42 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 05:24:42 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 22: Breastfeeding Message-ID: <20041022052442.GA22519@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Breastfeeding is the practice of a human mother feeding a baby (and sometimes a toddler or a young child) with milk produced from her mammary glands, usually directly from the nipples. Babies have a sucking instinct allowing them to extract the milk. While many mothers choose to breastfeed their child there are some who do not, either for personal or medical reasons. Breast milk has been shown to be very beneficial for a child, though, as with other bodily fluid transfers, some conditions can be passed from the mother to the infant. As an alternative the baby may be fed infant formula until the time that the child may move on to baby food. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breastfeeding Today's selected anniversaries: 1383 The 1383-1385 Crisis in Portugal: A period of civil war and anarchy began when King Fernando died without a male heir to the Portuguese throne. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1383-1385_Crisis) 1844 Millerites and members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church were greatly disappointed that Jesus Christ did not return as predicted by preacher William Miller. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millerites) 1943 World War II: Kassel, Germany was severely bombed and burned for seven days in a firestorm, killing at least 10,000, rendering 150,000 homeless. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Kassel_in_World_War_II) 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announced on television that Soviet nuclear weapons have been discovered in Cuba, and that he had ordered a naval "quarantine" of the island nation. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Missile_Crisis) Wikiquote of the day: "It doesn't matter if we were down 3-0. You've just got to keep the faith. The game is not over until the last out." ~ David Ortiz (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/David_Ortiz) From kate.turner at gmail.com Sat Oct 23 04:50:22 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004 04:50:22 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 23: Crime fiction Message-ID: <20041023045022.GA28874@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Crime fiction is a generic term used in literature for a genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. As such, it is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction. It should be noted, however, that boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred. It has several sub-genres, including detective fiction, mystery fiction, legal thriller, courtroom drama, and hard-boiled fiction. Crime fiction began to be considered as a serious genre only as late as 1900. The earliest inspiration for books and novels from this genre came from earlier dark works of Edgar Allan Poe. The evolution of locked room mysteries was one of the landmarks in the history of crime fiction, as it helped involve the reader to a major extent. Sherlock Holmes mysteries are said to have been singularly responsible for the huge popularity in this genre. Later a set of stereotypic formulae began to appear to cater to various tastes. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_fiction Today's selected anniversaries: 4004 BC The universe was created, according to the Ussher-Lightfoot Calendar. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ussher%2dLightfoot_Calendar) 1911 First use of aircraft in war: an Italian pilot flew from Libya to survey Turkish lines during the Italo-Turkish War. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italo%2dTurkish_War) 1958 Belgian cartoonist Peyo introduced a new set of comic strip characters, The Smurfs. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smurfs) 1983 Suicide bombers destroyed two barracks of the international peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French Paratroopers. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_barracks_bombing) 2002 Moscow theater siege: Terrorists seized a crowded theater in Moscow, took approximately 700 theatergoers and performers hostage and demanded the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis) Wikiquote of the day: "There's a time when a man needs to fight, and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny is lost, that the ship has sailed, and that only a fool would continue. The truth is, I've always been a fool." ~ Albert Finney as "Ed Bloom" in Big Fish (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Big_Fish) From kate.turner at gmail.com Mon Oct 25 05:46:32 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Mon, 25 Oct 2004 05:46:32 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 25: Karl =?iso-8859-1?q?D=F6nitz?= Message-ID: <20041025054632.GA3213@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Karl D?nitz was a naval leader in Nazi Germany during World War II. Despite never joining the Nazi Party, D?nitz attained the high rank of Grand Admiral and served as Commander in Chief of Submarines, and later Commander in Chief of the German War Navy. Under his command, the U-boat fleet fought the Battle of the Atlantic, attempting to starve the United Kingdom of vital supply shipments. He also briefly served as President of Germany following the death of Adolf Hitler. Following the war, D?nitz went on trial as a war criminal in the Nuremberg Trials, charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace and planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression. D?nitz produced an affidavit from Admiral Chester Nimitz who testified that the United States had used unrestricted warfare as a tactic in the Pacific and that American submarines did not rescue survivors in situations where their own safety was in question. Ultimately, the tribunal found D?nitz guilty of both charges. He served ten years in Spandau Prison, West Berlin. Later, numerous Allied officers sent letters to D?nitz expressing their dismay over the verdict of his trial. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_D%F6nitz Today's selected anniversaries: 1415 Battle of Agincourt: Despite being greatly outnumbered, Henry V of England and his lightly armored infantry and archers defeated the heavily armored French cavalry in a muddy battlefield. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt) 1971 The People's Republic of China replaced the Republic of China as China's representative in the United Nations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_and_the_United_Nations) 1983 Operation Urgent Fury: The United States and Caribbean allies invaded Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his supporters were executed in a violent coup d'?tat. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Grenada) 2001 Windows XP, the latest desktop version of the Windows operating system from Microsoft, was released. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP) Wikiquote of the day: "Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live." ~ Dorothy Thompson (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dorothy_Thompson) From kate.turner at gmail.com Tue Oct 26 05:55:18 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2004 05:55:18 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 26: Race Message-ID: <20041026055518.GA17682@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The term race is used in a wide variety of contexts, with related but often distinct meanings. Its use is often controversial, largely because of the political and sociological implications of different definitions, but also because of disagreements over such issues as whether humans can be meaningfully divided into multiple races. In biology, some use race to mean a division within a species, synonomous with subspecies or variety. Race serves to group members of a species that have, for a period of time, become geographically or genetically isolated from other members of that species, and as a result have diverged genetically and developed certain shared characteristics that differentiate them from the others. Many biologists feel that in this usage we may justifiably speak of dividing Homo sapiens into races. Others, however, assert that in humans there is in fact insufficient categorical variation to justify the classification of humans into multiple races in a strictly biological sense. Many social scientists therefore view race as a social construct, and have sought to understand it as such. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race Today's selected anniversaries: 1863 The Football Association, the oldest governing body in football, was formed in London, England. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Football_Association) 1881 The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral took place in Tombstone, Arizona. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral) 1955 Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem declared himself President of South Vietnam, replacing Nguyen Emperor Bao Dai as the head of state. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngo_Dinh_Diem) 1979 President Park Chunghee of South Korea was assassinated by the director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency and a long-time friend, Kim Jaekyu. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Chunghee) 2000 Laurent Gbagbo took over as president of C?te d'Ivoire following a popular uprising against military ruler Robert Gu??. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurent_Gbagbo) 2001 U.S. President George W. Bush signed the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001", more commonly known as the USA PATRIOT Act, into law. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act) Wikiquote of the day: "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." ~ John Wesley (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Wesley) From kate.turner at gmail.com Wed Oct 27 05:06:50 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 05:06:50 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 27: Portuguese language Message-ID: <20041027050650.GA29995@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Portuguese is a Romance language predominately spoken in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and East Timor. With more than 200 million native speakers, Portuguese is one of the few languages spoken all over the world. In terms of speakers, Portuguese is the fifth or sixth mother tongue language in the world. The language was spread worldwide in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as Portugal created the first and the longest lived modern-world colonial and commercial empire (1415-1975), spanning from Brazil in the Americas to Macau in China and Japan. As a result, Portuguese is now the official language of several independent countries and is widely spoken or studied as a second language in many others. There are still more than 20 Portuguese Creole languages. It is an important minority language in Andorra, Luxembourg and Namibia. Large Portuguese-speaking immigrant communities exist in many cities around the world, including Paris in France and Boston, New Bedford, and Newark in the United States. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language Today's selected anniversaries: 1795 The United States and Spain signed the Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation, which established the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinckney%27s_Treaty) 1904 The first section of the New York Subway opens, running between City Hall and the Bronx. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Subway) 1958 General Ayub Khan deposed Iskander Mirza in a bloodless coup d'?tat to become the second President of Pakistan, less than 3 weeks after Mirza had appointed him the enforcer of martial law. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayub_Khan) 1998 Gerhard Schr?der became the Chancellor of Germany. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhard_Schr%F6der) Wikiquote of the day: "I'm not against God. I'm against the misuse of God." ~ Marilyn Manson (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marilyn_Manson) From kate.turner at gmail.com Thu Oct 28 04:59:57 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2004 04:59:57 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 28: Greco-Buddhism Message-ID: <20041028045957.GA18732@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Greco-Buddhism is the term used to describe the cultural syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in Central Asia in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Budhism, and in particular Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the 1st century CE, ultimately spreading to China, Korea and Japan. Numerous Greco-Buddhist works of art display the intermixing of Greek and Buddhist influences, around such creation centers as Gandhara. The subject matter of Gandharan art was definitely Buddhist, while most motifs were of Western Asiatic or Hellenistic origin. The interraction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and Central Asia in 334 BCE, going as far as the Indus, thus establishing direct contact with India, the birthplace of Buddhism. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco%2dBuddhism Today's selected anniversaries: 312 Constantine the Great adopted Christianity and defeated Maxentius in the Battle of Milvian Bridge. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Milvian_Bridge) 1886 In New York Harbor, U.S. President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty, a gift from France to commemorate the centennial of the United States Declaration of Independence. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty) 1918 Czechoslovakia gained its independence from Austria-Hungary. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Republic_of_Czechoslovakia) 1922 Fascist armed squads marched on Rome to take over the Italian government. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Rome) Wikiquote of the day: "The antagonism between science and religion, about which we hear so much, appears to me to be purely factitious - fabricated, on the one hand, by short-sighted religious people who confound a certain branch of science, theology, with religion; and, on the other, by equally short-sighted scientific people who forget that science takes for its province only that which is susceptible of clear intellectual comprehension; and that, outside the boundaries of that province, they must be content with imagination, with hope, and with ignorance." ~ T. H. Huxley (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Thomas_Henry_Huxley) From kate.turner at gmail.com Fri Oct 29 03:05:05 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 03:05:05 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 29: Speed of light Message-ID: <20041029030505.GA18502@zwinger.wikimedia.org> The speed of light in a vacuum is exactly equal to 299,792,458 metres per second (approximately 186,282 miles per second). This exact speed is a definition, not a measurement, as the metre is defined in terms of the speed of light and not vice versa. According to standard modern physical theory, all electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, propagates (or moves) at a constant speed in vacuo, known as the speed of light, which is a physical constant denoted as c. According to the theory of special relativity, all observers will measure the speed of light as being the same, regardless of the reference frame of the observer or the velocity of the object emitting the light. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light Today's selected anniversaries: 1787 Mozart's opera Don Giovanni received its first performance in Prague. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Giovanni) 1886 New York City office workers spontaneously "invented" the ticker tape parade. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ticker_tape_parade) 1923 Mustafa Kemal Atat?rk became the first President of the Republic of Turkey, a new nation founded from remnants of the Ottoman Empire. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemal_Atat?rk) 1945 The first ballpoint pens went on sale at a department store in New York City for US$12.50 each. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballpoint_pen) 1956 The Suez Crisis began: Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula and pushed Egyptian forces back toward the Suez Canal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suez_Crisis) 1998 The Truth and Reconciliation Commission presented its report on Apartheid in South Africa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission) Wikiquote of the day: "We're just being ourselves and having fun playing baseball. The biggest thing is when people look at our team, they can see that we're having a lot of fun." ~ Johnny Damon (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Johnny_Damon) From kate.turner at gmail.com Sat Oct 30 06:16:23 2004 From: kate.turner at gmail.com (Kate Turner) Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 06:16:23 +0000 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 30: Louis XIV of France Message-ID: <20041030061623.GA14279@zwinger.wikimedia.org> Louis XIV reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from 14 May 1643 until his death. He was a minor when he inherited the Crown; he did not actually assume personal control of the government until the death of his chief minister, Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661. Louis, who is known as "The Sun King" and as "Louis the Great", ruled France for seventy-two years - a longer reign than any other French or other major European monarch. Louis attempted to increase the power of France in Europe, fighting four major wars - the War of Devolution, the Dutch War, the War of the Grand Alliance and the War of the Spanish Succession. He worked successfully to create an absolutist and centralised state; he is often cited as an example of an enlightened despot. He is supposed to have once remarked, "L'?tat, c'est moi!" (I am the state!), but this quotation is most likely apocryphal. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XIV_of_France Today's selected anniversaries: 1470 The Earl of Warwick restored Henry VI of England to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neville%2c_16th_Earl_of_Warwick) 1831 After months of hiding, African American slave Nat Turner was captured and arrested for leading a brutally suppressed slave rebellion. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Turner) 1961 Tsar Bomba, a Soviet hydrogen bomb, was detonated over Novaya Zemlya Island in the Arctic Sea; it was the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba) 1974 At the Rumble in The Jungle, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rumble_in_the_Jungle) 1995 In a referendum, the province of Quebec voted 50.6% in favour of remaining a part of Canada. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Quebec_referendum) Wikiquote of the day: "The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, -?and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination." ~ John Schaar (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Schaar) From mapellegrini at comcast.net Sun Oct 31 13:29:16 2004 From: mapellegrini at comcast.net (Mark Pellegrini) Date: Sun, 31 Oct 2004 08:29:16 -0500 Subject: [Wikipedia Daily Article] October 31: Infinite monkey theorem Message-ID: <000f01c4bf4d$9edf2e30$6201a8c0@ozymandias> The "infinite monkey theorem" is a popular misnomer for an idea from ?mile Borel's book on probability, published in 1909. The book introduced the concept of "dactylographic monkeys" seated in front of typewriter keyboards and hitting keys at random. Borel exemplified a proposition in the theory of probability called Kolmogorov's zero-one law by saying that the probability is one that such a monkey will eventually type every book in France's Biblioth?que nationale de France (National Library). There need not be infinitely many monkeys; a single monkey who executes infinitely many keystrokes suffices. Subsequent restatements by other people have replaced the National Library not only with the British Museum but also with the Library of Congress; a popular retelling says that the monkeys would eventually type out the collected works of William Shakespeare. Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem Today's selected anniversaries: 1517 - Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses onto the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/95_Theses 1863 - The Maori Wars resumed as British forces in New Zealand led by General Duncan Cameron began their Invasion of the Waikato along the Waikato River. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_the_Waikato 1922 - Benito Mussolini became the youngest Premier in the history of Italy at age 39. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benito_Mussolini 1941 - Gutzon Borglum and 400 workers completed the colossal busts of U.S. Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln at Mount Rushmore. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore_National_Memorial 1984 - Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of India was assassinated by two of her own bodyguards. Riots soon broke out in New Delhi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indira_Gandhi Wikiquote of the day: ("It's always worthwhile to make others aware of their worth.") ~Malcolm Forbes (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Malcolm_Forbes)