Cors Caron

# ... that Cors Caron (pictured) represents the most intact surviving example of a raised bog landscape in the United Kingdom?
# ... that Canadian martial artist Tomasz Kucharzewski, who fought in an estimated 300 fights, was described as "happy-go-lucky" by his trainer due to his friendly demeanor?
# ... that in the early 20th century, growers in the Champagne region rioted and burned down the city of Aÿ over producers using grapes from the Loire Valley, Germany and Spain to make champagne?
# ... that South African ANC activist Kate Molale organised a pioneer movement in the struggle against the 1953 Bantu Education Act?
# ... that William Cowper Alexander lost the 1856 election for the Governor of New Jersey by less than 3,000 votes?
# ... that the Gray-handed Night Monkey is nocturnal and monogamous?
# ... that Sports Illustrated described high school player Kevin Laue as "the most exciting player in basketball" because of his playing skill with only one hand?
# ... that Robert Brandon, goldsmith to Queen Elizabeth I and later Chamberlain of London, was the father-in-law of the artist Nicholas Hilliard and of Captain John Martin of the Jamestown Colony?
# ... that James J. Hill of the Great Northern Railway built the Great Northern Depot in Wayzata, Minnesota, in 1906 after moving the former stop a mile east of town 12 years earlier in a dispute with town residents?

cross-border passport checks

# Ruins of an ancient Wari city are discovered in northern Peru.
# ASEAN meets in Jakarta, Indonesia, to launch the ASEAN Charter, which groups its 10 member states into a legal entity.
# The House of Representatives of Thailand selects Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democrat Party as the country's new Prime Minister.
# Bernard Madoff is arrested by the FBI in the United States, and charged with defrauding investors in a US$50 billion Ponzi scheme.
# Switzerland becomes the 25th European country to join the Schengen Agreement, whereby cross-border passport checks (pictured) will be abolished.
# The Channel Island of Sark, a British crown dependency, holds its first fully democratic elections under a new constitutional arrangement, becoming the last European territory to abolish feudalism.
# Anti-police riots break out in Athens and spread to several cities across Greece.
# Ireland issues an international recall of its pork products following the discovery of contaminated pig feed.

River New South Wales

The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions due to the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation. This combination has allowed the Riverina to develop into one of the most productive and agriculturally diverse areas of Australia. Bordered on the south by the state of Victoria and on the east by the Great Dividing Range, the Riverina covers those areas of New South Wales in the Murray and Murrumbidgee drainage zones to their confluence in the west. Home to Aboriginal groups for over 40,000 years, the Riverina was originally settled by Europeans in the mid-19th century as a pastoral region providing beef and wool to markets in Australia and beyond. In the 20th century, the development of major irrigation areas in the Murray and Murrumbidgee valleys has led to the introduction of crops such as rice and wine grapes. Major population and service centres in the Riverina include the cities of Wagga Wagga, Albury and Griffith. Albury and Wagga Wagga are home to campuses of Charles Sturt University, the only local provider of higher education for the region.

Anti-police riots

# Anti-police riots (pictured) continue in Athens and several cities across Greece.
# Ireland issues an international recall of its pork products following the discovery of contaminated pig feed.
# Patriarch Alexy II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, dies of heart failure in Peredelkino, Russia.
# A bombing kills 29 people and injures more than 100 in Peshawar, Pakistan.
# A cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe spreads, with hundreds dead and over 10,000 people infected since August 2008.
# At the request of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean prorogues the parliament until January 26, 2009, to avoid a confidence motion by a newly-formed coalition of opposition parties.

Amateur radio in India

Amateur radio in India is practised by more than 16,000 licensed users. The first amateur radio operator was licensed in 1921, and by the mid-1930s, there were around 20 amateur radio operators in India. Amateur radio operators have played an important part in the Indian independence movement with the establishment of pro-independence radio stations in the 1940s, which were illegal. The three decades after India's independence saw only slow growth in the numbers of operators until the then Prime Minister of India, and ham operator Rajiv Gandhi waived the import duty on wireless equipment in 1984. Since then, numbers have picked up, and as of 2007[update], there were more than 16,000 operators in the country. Amateur radio operators have played a vital role during disasters and national emergencies such as earthquakes, tsunamis, cyclones, floods, and bomb blasts, by providing voluntary emergency communications in the affected areas. The Wireless and Planning and Coordination Wing (WPC)—a division of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology—regulates amateur radio in India. The WPC assigns call signs, issues amateur radio licences, conducts exams, allots frequency spectrum, and monitors the radio waves. In India, the Amateur Radio Society of India (ARSI) represents amateur radio interests at various forums, and represents India at the International Amateur Radio Union.

St Kilda

St Kilda is an isolated archipelago 64 kilometres (40 mi) west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean. It contains the westernmost islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The largest island is Hirta, whose sea cliffs are the highest in the United Kingdom. The Gaelic-speaking population probably never exceeded 180 and was never more than 100 after 1851. Although St Kilda was permanently inhabited for at least two millennia, and despite the inhabitants' unique way of life, the entire population was evacuated in 1930. The only residents are now military personnel. The islands are administratively a part of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar local authority area. The islands' human heritage includes numerous unique architectural features from the historic and prehistoric periods, although the earliest written records of island life date from the Late Middle Ages. The medieval village on Hirta was rebuilt in the 19th century, but the influences of religion, tourism and the First World War contributed to the island's evacuation in 1930. The story of St Kilda has attracted artistic interpretations, including a recent opera. The entire archipelago is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It became one of Scotland's four World Heritage Sites in 1986 and is one of the few in the world to hold joint status for its natural, marine and cultural qualities.

Taj Mahal Palace Hotel at Night

A series of terrorist attacks (one of the locations pictured) in Mumbai, India, kills at least 160 people and injures hundreds.
The Thai political crisis worsens as protesters seize two Bangkok airports.
The people of Greenland pass a referendum regarding greater autonomy from Denmark.
Brazilian officials declare a state of emergency as flooding in the Southern state of Santa Catarina causes at least 99 deaths and forces the evacuation of over 78,000 people.
The PAIGC wins a majority of seats in the National People's Assembly after legislative elections in Guinea-Bissau.
The eruption of Nevado del Huila, a volcano in southern Colombia, causes at least 10 deaths and the evacuation of 12,000 people.
Ibrahim Nasir, the first President of the Second Republic of the Maldives, dies of an unknown cause in Singapore

Santa Catarina

The people of Greenland pass a referendum regarding greater autonomy from Denmark.
A series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, kills at least 125 and injures hundreds.
Brazilian officials declare a state of emergency as flooding (pictured) in the Southern state of Santa Catarina causes at least 99 deaths and forces the evacuation of over 78,000 people.
The PAIGC wins a majority of seats in the National People's Assembly after legislative elections in Guinea-Bissau.
The eruption of Nevado del Huila, a volcano in southern Colombia, causes at least 10 deaths and the evacuation of 12,000 people.
Ibrahim Nasir, the first President of the Second Republic of the Maldives, dies of an unknown cause in Singapore.
The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to reinforce MONUC, the largest peacekeeping force in the world, stationed in Nord-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Wembley Stadium

The 1956 FA Cup Final was the final match of the 1955–56 staging of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, better known as the FA Cup. The showpiece event was contested between Manchester City and Birmingham City at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday 5 May 1956. Manchester City's victories were close affairs, each settled by the odd goal, and they needed a replay to defeat fifth-round opponents Liverpool. Birmingham City made more comfortable progress: they scored eighteen goals while conceding only two, and won each match at the first attempt despite being drawn to play on their opponents' ground in every round. They became the first team to reach an FA Cup final without playing at home. Birmingham entered the match as favourites, in a contest billed as a contrast of styles. Watched by a crowd of 100,000 and a television audience of five million, Manchester City took an early lead through Joe Hayes, but Noel Kinsey equalised midway through the first half. Second half goals from Jack Dyson and Bobby Johnstone gave Manchester City a 3–1 victory. The match is best remembered for the heroics of Manchester City goalkeeper, Bert Trautmann, who continued playing despite breaking a bone in his neck in a collision with Birmingham's Peter Murphy

The Sea of Ice

... that Caspar David Friedrich's 1824 painting The Sea of Ice (pictured) was seen as too radical in composition, and went unsold until after his death in 1840?
... that during the Great Bombay Textile Strike of 1982, nearly 250,000 workers and more than 50 textile mills went on strike in Mumbai, India?
... that Mieczysław Jagielski negotiated the agreement which recognized Solidarity as the first independent trade union within the Eastern Bloc?
... that Emperor Dezong of Tang ordered the former chancellor Dou Can to commit suicide as Dou was heading to his exile in Vietnam?
... that when it was completed in 1976, the 32-storey Allendale Square in Perth, Western Australia, was one of the largest fully aluminium-clad skyscrapers in the world?
... that the 1996 Orange Bowl had the lowest attendance of any Orange Bowl since 1947?
... that when Wales national rugby union team beat Scotland in the 1952 Five Nations Championship, Rex Willis played a large proportion of the match with a broken jaw bone?
... that at least one song written by Sonny Throckmorton was on the country music charts for almost every week between 1976 and 1980?

Yttrium

Yttrium is a chemical element with atomic number 39. It is a silvery-metallic transition metal chemically similar to the lanthanoids and has historically been classified as a rare-earth element. Yttrium is almost always found combined with the lanthanoids in rare-earth minerals and is never found in nature as a free element. Its only stable isotope, 89Y, is also its only naturally occurring isotope. In 1787, Carl Axel Arrhenius found a new mineral near Ytterby in Sweden and named it ytterbite, after the village. Johan Gadolin discovered yttrium's oxide in Arrhenius' sample in 1789, and Anders Gustaf Ekeberg named the new oxide yttria. Elemental yttrium was first isolated in 1828 by Friedrich Wöhler. The most important use of yttrium compounds is in making phosphors, such as the red ones used in television cathode ray tube displays and in LEDs. Other uses include the production of electrodes, electrolytes, electronic filters, lasers and superconductors; various medical applications; and as traces in various materials to enhance their properties. Yttrium has no known biological role. Exposure to yttrium compounds can cause lung disease in humans

Doctor Who missing episodes

The Doctor Who missing episodes are the many instalments of the long-running British science fiction television programme Doctor Who that are missing, with no known film or videotape copies existing. They were wiped by the BBC during the 1960s and 1970s for a variety of economic and space-saving reasons. In all, there are 27 serials that do not exist in complete form in the BBC's archives, because 108 of 253 episodes produced during the first six years of the programme are missing. Many more were thought to have been so in the past before episodes were recovered from a variety of sources, most notably overseas broadcasters. Doctor Who is not unique in this respect, as thousands of hours of programming from across all genres were destroyed up until 1978, when the BBC's archiving policies were changed. Unlike other series, Doctor Who is unique in having all of its missing episodes surviving in audio form, recorded off-air by fans at home. Additionally, every 1970s episode exists in some form, which is not the case for several other series. Efforts to locate missing episodes continue, both by the BBC and by fans of the series. Extensive restoration has been carried out on many surviving and recovered 1960s and 1970s episodes for release on VHS and more recently on DVD. (more...)

MV Sirius Star

The United Nations Security Council votes unanimously to reinforce MONUC, the largest peacekeeping force in the world, stationed in Nord-Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The first successful tracheal transplantation using a tissue-engineered organ created from the patient's own stem cells is performed in Spain.
New Zealand and Australian researchers identify a new species of penguin, the Waitaha penguin, which lived in New Zealand until its extinction 500 years ago.
Somali pirates capture the oil tanker MV Sirius Star (pictured), the largest vessel to date to be hijacked, off the coast of the Horn of Africa.
G-20 leaders meet at a summit in Washington, D.C. to discuss the current financial crisis.
Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 successfully lands the Moon Impact Probe on the lunar south pole

lunar rover

Astronaut Eugene Cernan makes a short test drive of the lunar rover (officially, Lunar Roving Vehicle or LRV) during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity. The LRV was only used in the last three Apollo missions, but it performed without any problems and allowed the astronauts to cover far more ground than in previous missions. All three LRVs were abandoned on the Moon

The Rokeby Venus

The Rokeby Venus is a painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the National Gallery, London. Completed between 1647 and 1651, and probably painted during the artist's visit to Italy, the work depicts the goddess Venus in an erotic pose, lying on a bed and looking into a mirror held by the god of sensual love, her son Cupid. Numerous works, from the ancient to the baroque, have been cited as sources of inspiration for Velázquez. The nude Venuses of the Italian painters, such as Giorgione's Sleeping Venus (c. 1510) and Titian's Venus of Urbino (1538), were the main precedents. In this work, Velázquez combined two established poses for Venus: recumbent on a couch or a bed, and gazing at her reflection in a mirror. In a number of ways the painting represents a pictorial departure; through its central use of a mirror, and because it shows the body of Venus turned away from the picture's viewer. The Rokeby Venus is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez. The painting adorned the houses of Spanish courtiers until 1813 when it was brought to England to hang in Rokeby Park, Yorkshire. In 1906, the painting was purchased by National Art Collections Fund for the National Gallery, London. Although it was attacked and badly damaged in 1914 by the suffragette Mary Richardson, it was soon fully restored and returned to display. (more...)

Horn of Africa region

War crimes are reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after a ceasefire in the Kivu conflict is broken and fighting resumes, with at least 100 civilians dead.
Somali pirates capture the oil tanker MV Sirius Star, the largest vessel to date to be hijacked, near the Horn of Africa region (pictured).
G-20 leaders meet at a summit in Washington, D.C. to discuss the current financial crisis.
Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 successfully lands the Moon Impact Probe on the lunar south pole.
Three planets orbiting the star HR 8799 and one planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut are optically verified, making them the first extrasolar planets whose existences have been confirmed via direct imaging.
Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, announces the discovery of a 4,300-year-old pyramid belonging to Queen Sesheshet, mother of King Teti.

earthfill dam in India

... that Maharana Pratap Sagar or Pong Dam Lake, created by the highest earthfill dam in India on the Beas River (pictured), intercepts migratory birds on their trans-Himalayan fly path during each migration season?
... that ancient Greek klismos chairs became fashionable again in the late 18th century?
... that other than visits to other institutions as a guest lecturer, James Feast lectured at the University of Durham for over 35 years?
... that Greenville Presbyterian Church was the first non-Dutch church established in New York's Catskill region?
... that species from the underground-dwelling mushroom genus Gautieria are the preferred food source of the Northern flying squirrel?
... that after testing the biological Brucella cluster bomb on 11,000 guinea pigs, a U.S. general remarked "Now we know what to do if we ever go to war against guinea pigs"?
... that the Flekkefjord Line was built to be part of the main line from Stavanger to Oslo, but a change of plans made it only a branch line?
... that the National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey has on display the Intelligent Whale, an experimental Civil War-era submarine propelled by a hand crank operated by its four-man crew?

Templo Mayor

... that at the inauguration of the sixth Aztec Templo Mayor in 1487 (scale model pictured), thousands of prisoners of war were ritually sacrificed, bathing the steps of the pyramid in blood?
... that Operation Steel Box moved 100,000 American chemical weapons from Clausen, West Germany, to Johnston Atoll in the South Pacific Ocean?
... that Hedley Howarth helped lead New Zealand to its first ever test cricket win on the Indian subcontinent with a five-wicket bag against India in 1969?
... that in a baseball match held at the Capitoline Grounds on June 14, 1870, the Brooklyn Atlantics defeated the Cincinnati Red Stockings, ending their 84 game winning streak?
... that the acquisition of the Corus Group in October 2006 has made Tata Steel India's second largest company in the private sector?
... that the Confederate Memorial in Nicholasville, Kentucky, took sixteen years to fund, and was originally a statue of a Union soldier?
... that German entrepreneur, race driver and yacht skipper Udo Schütz won the 1000 km Nürburgring in 1967, the Targa Florio in 1969, and the Admiral's Cup in 1993?
... that Louis Dicken Wilson left Edgecombe County US$40,000 upon his death in 1847, but US$28,000 of it was wasted?

Fomalhaut with Disk Ring and extrasolar planet b cropped

Indian spacecraft Chandrayaan-1 successfully lands the Moon Impact Probe on the lunar south pole.
Three planets orbiting star HR 8799 and one planet (pictured) orbiting star Fomalhaut are visually verified by telescopes, the first extrasolar planets whose existence have been confirmed via direct imaging.
Egypt's antiquities chief, Zahi Hawass, announces the discovery of a 4,300-year-old pyramid belonging to Queen Sesheshet, mother of King Teti.
China announces a stimulus package involving 4 trillion yuan (US$586 billion) to finance programs in 10 major domestic areas in the next two years.
An accident aboard Russian submarine K-152 Nerpa kills 20, the worst Russian submarine disaster since Kursk.
A shipment of cocaine, worth €750 million, is seized off the coast of Ireland in the largest such seizure in the country's history.

Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal

The Manchester Bolton & Bury Canal is a disused canal in Greater Manchester, North West England, built to link Bolton and Bury with Manchester. The canal, when fully opened, was 15 miles 1 furlong (24.3 km) long. It was accessed via a junction with the River Irwell in Salford. Seventeen locks were required to climb to the summit as it passed through Pendleton, heading northwest to Prestolee before it split northwest to Bolton and northeast to Bury. The canal was commissioned in 1791 by local landowners and businessmen and built between 1791 and 1808, during the Golden Age of canal building, at a cost of £127,700. Originally designed for narrow gauge boats, the canal was altered during its construction into a broad gauge canal to allow an ultimately unrealised connection with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. The majority of the freight carried was coal from local collieries but, as the mines reached the end of their working lives, sections of the canal fell into disuse and disrepair and it was officially abandoned in 1961. In 1987, a society was formed with the aim of restoring the canal for leisure use and, in 2006, restoration began in the area around the junction with the River Irwell in Salford. The canal is currently navigable as far as East Ordsall Lane, in Salford. (more...)

Surtsey

Surtsey is a volcanic island off the southern coast of Iceland, the southernmost point of Iceland. It was formed in a volcanic eruption which began 130 metres (426 ft) below sea level, and reached the surface on 14 November 1963. The eruption may have started a few days earlier and lasted until 5 June 1967, when the island reached its maximum size of 2.7 km2 (1.0 sq mi). Since then, wind and wave erosion has caused the island to steadily diminish in size: as of 2002, its surface area was 1.4 km2 (0.54 sq mi). The new island was named after the fire giant Surtr from Norse mythology, and was intensively studied by volcanologists during its creation and, since the end of the eruption, has been of great interest to botanists and biologists as life has gradually colonised the originally barren island. The undersea vents that produced Surtsey are part of the Vestmannaeyjar (Westmann Isles) submarine volcanic system, part of the fissure of the sea floor called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Vestmannaeyjar also produced the famous eruption of Eldfell on the island of Heimaey in 1973. The eruption that created Surtsey also created a few other small islands along this volcanic chain, such as Jólnir and other unnamed peaks. Most of these eroded away fairly quickly. (more...)

Heliamphora nutans

... that the insectivorous plant Heliamphora nutans (pictured) was re-discovered in British Guiana in 1881 and successfully introduced to England by David Burke?
... that Charles Taylor was the first of thirteen Welsh international rugby players to die in action during World War I?
... that Almoloya del Río, a Mexican small town with the population of 7,992, hosts an international biker rally every year?
... that Hurricane Lisa of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season attained forward motion of over 58 mph (93 km/h) on October 9?
... that The Finnish Association of Graduate Engineers has been in charge of publishing Finland's ethical guidelines on engineering for over 40 years?
... that the first submarine boat and self-propelled torpedo, and the engines for the ironclad warship USS Monitor were all built at the foundry operated by Cornelius DeLameter?
... that the Ropar Wetland, in addition to being home to several endangered and threatened species, was the site of the signing of an 1831 treaty between the English and the Sikhs?
... that Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere, Massachusetts features over 7 miles (11 km) of underground piping which heats the race track on cold and wet days?

V-22 Osprey

United States Marine Corps soldiers refuel a V-22 Osprey before a night mission in central Iraq. Ten Ospreys were assigned to Squadron VMM-263 in 2007 and deployed to Iraq, the Osprey's first combat deployment

Io, with two plumes erupting from its surface

Volcanism on Io, a moon of Jupiter, produces lava flows, volcanic pits, and plumes of sulfur and sulfur dioxide hundreds of kilometres high. This volcanic activity was discovered in 1979 by Voyager 1 imaging scientists. Observations of Io by passing spacecraft and Earth-based astronomers have revealed more than 150 active volcanoes. Io's volcanism makes the satellite one of only four known volcanically active worlds in the Solar System. First predicted shortly before the Voyager 1 flyby, the heat source for Io's volcanism comes from tidal heating produced by Io's forced orbital eccentricity. Io's volcanism has led to the formation of hundreds of volcanic centres and extensive lava formations, making the moon the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Three different types of volcanic eruptions have been identified, differing in duration, intensity, lava effusion rate, and whether the eruption occurs within a volcanic pit. Lava flows on Io, tens or hundreds of kilometres long, have primarily basaltic composition, similar to lavas seen on Earth at shield volcanoes such as Kīlauea in Hawaii. As a result of the presence of significant quantities of sulfurous materials in Io's crust and on its surface, during some eruptions, sulfur, sulfur dioxide gas, and pyroclastic material are blown up to 500 kilometres (310 mi) into space, producing large, umbrella-shaped volcanic plumes. (more...)

noonday globe land snail

... that the threatened noonday globe land snail (pictured) is known only from a two-mile-long area inside the gorge of the Nantahala River in North Carolina?
... that when Australian cricketer Jack Massie fought at Gallipoli, he wore a scarlet rag on his right arm to distract snipers from his bowling arm?
... that William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor, also helped calculate the solar cell's Shockley-Queisser limit?
... that Rear-Admiral Charles Austen′s family included Admiral of the Fleet Francis Austen, and the novelist Jane Austen?
... that Ford Road in Dearborn, Michigan, was named for William Ford, father of Henry?
... that Zhang Yanshang, his father, son, and father-in-law were all Tang Dynasty Chinese chancellors?
... that Kentucky's Paducah Freight House was bigger than required because it was originally intended to service a larger rail network?
... that the meaning of "Der Pleier", the pseudonym of the 13th-century author of the romance Garel, is unknown, though it might refer metaphorically to glassblowing?
... that Milan Bandić was elected in 2005 as the mayor of Zagreb, Croatia, with the support of only a seventh of eligible voters?
... that country music singer Jeremy McComb was once a tour manager for comedian Larry the Cable Guy?

A basking Komodo dragon

The Komodo dragon is a species of lizard that inhabits the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang, and Gili Dasami, in central Indonesia. A member of the monitor lizard family (Varanidae), it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2–3 meters (approximately 6.5–10 ft) and weighing around 70 kilograms (154 lb). Their unusual size is attributed to island gigantism, since there are no other carnivorous animals to fill the niche on the islands where they live, and also to the Komodo dragon's low metabolic rate. As a result of their size, these lizards are apex predators, dominating the ecosystems in which they live. Although Komodo dragons eat mostly carrion, they will also hunt and ambush prey including invertebrates, birds, and mammals. Mating begins between May and August, and the eggs are laid in September. About twenty eggs are deposited in abandoned megapode nests and incubated for seven to eight months, hatching in April, when insects are most plentiful. Young Komodo dragons are vulnerable and therefore dwell in trees, safe from predators and cannibalistic adults. They take around three to five years to mature, and may live as long as fifty years. In the wild their range has contracted due to human activities and they are listed as vulnerable by the IUCN. They are protected under Indonesian law, and a national park, Komodo National Park, was founded to aid protection efforts. (more...)

Elimia virginica

... that the snail Elimia virginica (pictured) newly colonized the Oswego River but was out-competed from there by another non-indigenous snail?
... that during World War II Robert Furman served as director of intelligence and espionage for the American atomic bomb project?"
... that Sunday Island in Victoria, Australia is a private game reserve surrounded by the Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park?
... that the Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired Massaro House has an 18-foot-high living area illuminated by 26 triangular skylights?
... that Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty established the Crescent, the first Indian-owned newspaper in Madras Presidency in the year 1844?
... that Father Nelson Baker, founder of the Basilica of Our Lady of Victory in Lackawanna, New York, is buried in a grottohewn from Vesuvian black lava in the basilica'stransept?
... that the fishing industry in New Zealand works an exclusive economic zone fourteen times larger than the land area of New Zealand itself?
... that the Black-throated Finch has a black-rumped and a white-rumped subspecies?
... that Larry McCall was released by the Baltimore Orioles and was signed with the New York Yankees as a free agent both on the same day?

A group

A group, in mathematics, is a set together with an operation that combines any two of its elements to form a third element. To qualify as a group, the set and operation must satisfy a few conditions, called group axioms, that are familiar from number systems. The ubiquity of groups in numerous areas—both within and outside mathematics—makes them a central organizational tool in contemporary mathematics. The concept of a group arose from the study of polynomial equations, starting with Évariste Galois in the 1830s. After contributions from other fields such as number theory and geometry, the group notion was generalized and firmly established around 1870. Today, group theory is a very active mathematical discipline that studies groups in their own right. Symmetry groups are widely applied in molecular chemistry and various physical disciplines. (more...)
Recently featured: John McCain/Barack Obama – Delhi – Attack on Sydney Harbour

Barack Obama

Barack Obama (born 1961) is the junior United States Senator from Illinois and presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2008 United States presidential election. Obama is the first African American to be nominated for president by a major political party. Obama graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, serving as the president of the Harvard Law Review. He served three terms in the Illinois Senate and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School. Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and was elected to the Senate in November 2004. (more...)

John McCain

John McCain (born 1936) is the senior United States Senator from Arizona and presidential nominee of the Republican Party in the 2008 United States presidential election. During the Vietnam War, he nearly lost his life in the 1967 USS Forrestal fire. In October 1967, he was shot down and held as a prisoner of war until 1973, experiencing episodes of torture; his war wounds have left him with lifelong physical limitations. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1982, he served two terms, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, and was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004. (more...)

Barakhamba road, Delhi

Delhi is the second largest metropolis of India, and the eighth largest city in the world by population, with a population greater than 18 million. It is a federally-administered union territory. Located on the banks of river Yamuna in northern India, archaeological evidence suggests that Delhi has been continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BC. In 1639, Mughal emperor Shahjahan built a new walled city in Delhi which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857. A new capital city, New Delhi, was built during the 1920s. When India gained independence from British rule in 1947, New Delhi was declared its capital and seat of government. As such, New Delhi houses important offices of the federal government, including the Parliament of India. Owing to the immigration of people from across the country, Delhi has grown to be a cosmopolitan city. Its rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the relatively high average income of its population, has transformed the city. Today, Delhi is a major cultural, political, and commercial center of India. (more...)

Hijazi Railway

that during World War I, the German Army produced shale oil from Yarmouk oil shale deposits in Jordan to operate the Hijazi Railway (pictured)?
... that Daryl Veltman was the first overall selection in the 2008 Entry Draft by the Boston Blazers of the National Lacrosse League?
... that in order to get her first and only film role, actress Phyllis Welch MacDonald had to sign a contract pledging not to marry or become engaged for six months?
... that in 1929, Western Australia celebrated its Centenary of foundation, which included dances, race meetings, an air race and other sporting events?
... that the Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle established the internationally accepted definition of the precautionary principle?
... that the blue trevally, a popular gamefish in South Africa, was first described in 1775 based on a specimen taken from the Red Sea?
... that pitcher Jackson Todd threw 13 complete games during the 1973 college baseball season, a University of Oklahoma record which still stands?
... that in Hopi mythology, the Kachina Nataska enforces good behavior among children?
... that Australian politician Lynda Voltz's step-father and grand step-father were also politicians?

Metallica live in London,2003

Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Metallica's line-up has primarily consisted of drummer Lars Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, while going through a number of bassists. Currently, the spot is held by Robert Trujillo. Metallica's early releases included fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship. The band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and critical acclaim with the 1986 release Master of Puppets, described as one of the most influential and "heavy" thrash metal albums. The band achieved substantial commercial success with its self-titled 1991 album, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. In 2000, Metallica was among several artists who filed a lawsuit against Napster for sharing the band's copyright-protected material for free without the band members' consent. Despite reaching #1 on the Billboard 200, the release of St. Anger alienated many fans with the exclusion of guitar solos and the "steel-sounding" snare drum. The group has won seven Grammy Awards and has had five consecutive albums peak at #1 on the Billboard 200, making Metallica the only band to top the chart five consecutive times. Metallica is the fifth highest-selling music artist since the SoundScan era began tracking sales in 1991. (more...)

Halloween

The Treehouse of Horror episodes are the annual Halloween specials in the animated series The Simpsons. Each episode consists of three separate, self-contained segments, which usually involve the Simpson family in some horror, science fiction, or supernatural setting. Considered non-canon, they always take place outside the normal continuity of the show and completely abandon any pretense of being realistic. The first Treehouse of Horror episode aired on October 25, 1990 as part of the second season and was inspired by EC Comics horror tales. The episodes are known for being far more violent and much darker than an average Simpsons episode. As of 2008, there are 18 Treehouse of Horror episodes, with one airing every year, and the newest episode, "Treehouse of Horror XIX", is scheduled to air on November 2. Episodes contain several trademarks, including the alien characters Kang and Kodos, "scary names" in the credits, a special version of the opening sequence, and parodies of horror and science fiction films. The show's staff regard the Treehouse of Horror as being particularly difficult to produce as the scripts often go through many rewrites, and the animators typically have to design new characters and backgrounds. (more...)

Eta Carinae

Eta Carinae, a hypergiant luminous blue variable star in the Carina constellation and one of the most massive and most luminous stars yet discovered, and the bipolar Homunculus Nebula which surrounds it. The nebula was partly created in an eruption of Eta Carinae, whose light reached Earth in 1843. Eta Carinae itself appears as the white patch near the center of the image, where the two lobes of the Homunculus touch.

Radix auricularia

... that the freshwater snail Radix auricularia (pictured) serves as a host to numerous parasites, some of which can infect humans?
... that an intense rivalry between composers Francisco Asenjo Barbieri and Emilio Arrieta helped rekindle the popularity of Spanish opera during the mid 19th century?
... that USS Philippines (CB-4) and USS Puerto Rico (CB-5) were scheduled to be the fourth and fifth of six Alaska-class "large cruisers" of the U.S. Navy, but were canceled prior to construction?
... that tin(IV) fluoride, a chemical compound of tin and fluorine, is used in toothpaste to prevent dental decay?
... that the largest group of Asian residents in Germany are Vietnamese, totalling 83,526 people as of 2004?
... that Against All Odds is a video game developed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees designed to teach players about the plight of refugees?
... that Dorothy Miner was acknowledged as the person "who helped establish the legal right to designate landmarks" in the U.S. for her role in Penn Central Transportation Co. v. New York City?

A NeXT station with monochrome monitor

NeXT was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets. NeXT was founded in 1985 by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs after his forced resignation from Apple. NeXT introduced the first NeXT Computer in 1988, and the smaller NeXTStation in 1990. Sales of the NeXT computers were relatively limited, with estimates of about 50,000 units shipped in total. Nevertheless its innovative object-oriented NeXTSTEP operating system and development environment were highly influential. NeXT later released much of the NeXTSTEP system as a programming environment standard called OpenStep. NeXT withdrew from the hardware business in 1993 to concentrate on marketing OPENSTEP for several OEMs. NeXT also developed WebObjects, one of the first Enterprise web application frameworks. WebObjects never became very popular because of its initial high price of $50,000 but remains a prominent early example of a web server based on dynamic page generation rather than static content. Apple purchased NeXT on December 20, 1996 for $429 million, and much of the current Mac OS X system is built on the OPENSTEP foundation. WebObjects is now bundled with Mac OS X Server and Xcode. (more...)

Tzipi Livni

United States Special Forces carry out a raid in Syria, killing eight.
Kadima Party leader Tzipi Livni (pictured) calls for early elections in Israel following a failed attempt at creating a coalition government.
Severe flooding in Yemen caused by Deep Depression ARB 02 kills 65 and displaces 20,000.
A bomb attack in Zagreb, Croatia kills Ivo Pukanić, the owner of the newspaper Nacional.
The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launches Chandrayaan-1, an unmanned lunar exploration mission.
A bomb blast in Imphal, India kills 17 and injures more than 30.

Remnants of hurricane ARB 02 over Yemen

Severe flooding in Yemen caused by Deep Depression ARB 02 (pictured) kills 58 and displaces 20,000.
A bomb attack in Zagreb, Croatia kills Ivo Pukanić, the owner of the newspaper Nacional.
The Indian Space Research Organisation successfully launches Chandrayaan-1, an unmanned lunar exploration mission.
A bomb blast in Imphal, India kills 17 and injures more than 30.
Several additional amino acids are found in vials from the 1953 Miller–Urey experiment that probed the origin of life.
The United Nations General Assembly elects Turkey, Austria, Japan, Uganda, and Mexico to two-year terms on the Security Council.

Man sleeping on Canadian sidewalk

... that anti-homeless laws may take on the form of restricting public sleeping (pictured), prohibiting begging, or relocating the homeless?
... that Admiral Henry Wolsey Bayfield had joined the Royal Navy by the age of eleven?
... that the United States Department of War was once headquartered in the Munitions Building, a temporary structure built on the National Mall (Potomac Park) in Washington, D.C.?
... that P. Munuswamy Naidu, senior leader of the Justice Party in Madras Presidency, British India, supported the inclusion of Brahmins in the party?
... that Fiji has been contributing troops to United Nations peacekeeping operations around the world since 1978?
... that The Notorious B.I.G., who was killed in 1997 from a drive-by shooting, received three Grammy Award nominations posthumously?
... that the Goldenface is a small bird with bright plumage that is endemic to the hills and mountains of New Guinea?
... that Bulgarian television director Hacho Boyadzhiev once worked as a stoker on a Beirut–Marseille steamship?

Water In Three States

This photo of an iceberg simultaneously shows two physical states of water: as solid (ice) and liquid (seawater). The third state, gas (water vapor), is present but invisible. Additionally, the clouds in the background are droplets of liquid, condensed from water vapor.

The Two Working Man

... that the statues of the Two Working Men (pictured) in Cork, Ireland were originally set to be unveiled outside the Liberty Hall in Dublin, but were deemed a traffic hazard?
... that the biography My Life in Orange: Growing Up with the Guru recounts a child's experiences growing up in Bhagwah Shree Rajneesh's Osho movement?
... that modern experts estimate that around 90% of the natural gas discovered in the Indiana Gas Boom was wasted in flambeau displays?
... that Sinop Fortress Prison in Turkey, abandoned in 1997, hosts hundreds of thousands tourists yearly thanks to its featuring in popular literature, music and film?
... that screenwriter Oliver Crawford worked to remove an anti-Communist loyalty oath from the membership application of the Writers Guild of America, a relic of the Hollywood blacklist era?
... that the Vanuatu Labour Party first gained parliamentary representation in 2005, as the Minister for Ni-Vanuatu Business Joshua Kalsakau joined the party?
... that Johan Christian Tandberg Castberg, father of Johan Castberg, served three terms in the Norwegian Parliament and was the first editor-in-chief of Varden?
... that Ne-Yo received four nominations at the Grammy Awards in 2008, winning the award for Best Contemporary R&B Album for his album Because of You?

... that the Capitol Loop, a state highway in Lansing, Michigan serving the State Capitol (pictured), was designated in a plan to revitalize downtown?
... that Wilfrid Laurier University's senate voted unanimously in favor of instating John A. Pollack as the university's seventh chancellor?
... that HMS Swiftsure fought at the Nile for the British, and at Trafalgar for the French?
... that BuzzTracker was acquired by Yahoo! to complement its Yahoo! News product, and compete with other news aggregators including Google News and Digg?
... that Todd Friel performed over 1,500 times on stage as a stand-up comedian, mostly in venues in the Minneapolis – Saint Paul area in Minnesota?
... that Tropical Storm Rosa was the first eastern North Pacific tropical storm to develop during the month of November since 2000?
... that, when Tang Dynasty general Zhang Xiaozhong turned against the warlord Li Weiyue whom he had served and joined the imperial cause, Li killed Zhang's brothers and sons?
... that all Nobel laureates in Economics are men?

A parabolic antenna, a high-gain reflector antenna used for radio, television and data communications, at Erdfunkstelle Raisting, the largest facility for satellite communication in the world, based in Raisting, Bavaria, Germany. Parabolic antennas work by reflecting electromagnetic radiation off the paraboloid dish to or from the feed horn (center), for reception or transmission respectively

Baltimore City College

The history of Baltimore City College began in 1839, when the city council of Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. passed a resolution mandating the creation of a male high school with a focus on English and classical literature. Baltimore City College was opened in the same year with 46 pupils under the direction of Nathan C. Brooks, a local educator and poet. In 1850, the council granted the school the authority to present its graduates with certificates of completion. An effort to expand that power and allow City College to confer Bachelor of Arts degrees began in 1865, but ended unsuccessfully in 1869. By the early 1900s, as the importance of higher education increased, the school's priorities shifted to preparing students for college. In 1927, the academic program was further changed, when City College divided its curriculum into two tracks: the standard college preparatory "B" course, and a more rigorous "A" course of study. In the 1950s, the school underwent demographic changes following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education case. In September 1954, African-Americans entered City College for the first time and continued to increase as a proportion of the student population in the 1960s. The school saw further changes in the student population with the acceptance of women in 1978. (more...)

The headquarters of Odwalla

Odwalla is a health food company founded in Santa Cruz, California in 1980 that sells fruit juice and food bars. Odwalla, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coca-Cola, is headquartered in Half Moon Bay, California, with a production facility in Dinuba, California. The company experienced strong growth from its incorporation in 1985, expanding its distribution network from California to most of North America, and went public in 1993. However, a period of decline occurred as a result of a fatal outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in 1996 caused by contamination of its apple juice. Odwalla recalled its juices and experienced a ninety-percent reduction in sales following the event. The company gradually recovered, and, after a few years, was making a profit again. Odwalla was acquired by the Coca-Cola Company in 2001 for $181 million. Odwalla's range of products includes juices, smoothies, dairy-free soy milk, and similar organic beverages, as well as several flavors of energy bars, known as food bars, and bottled spring water. While Odwalla originally sold unpasteurized juices (because the process of pasteurization alters the flavor of juice), following the E. coli outbreak, Odwalla adopted flash pasteurization and other industry-standard safety procedures. (more...)

Caption

Credit: Cmmmm

The terraforming (literally, "Earth-shaping") of a planet, moon, or other body is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying its atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology to be similar to those of Earth in order to make it habitable by humans.
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IK Pegasi

IK Pegasi is a binary star system in the constellation Pegasus. A distance of about 150 light years from the Solar System, it is just luminous enough to be seen with the unaided eye. The primary (IK Pegasi A) is a main sequence, A-class star that displays minor pulsations in luminosity. It is categorized as a Delta Scuti variable star and it has a periodic cycle of luminosity variation that repeats itself about 22.9 times per day. Its companion (IK Pegasi B) is a massive white dwarf—a star that has evolved past the main sequence and is no longer generating energy through nuclear fusion. They orbit each other every 21.7 days with an average separation of about 31 million kilometres, or 0.21 astronomical units (AU). This is smaller than the orbit of Mercury around the Sun. IK Pegasi B is the nearest known supernova progenitor candidate. When the primary begins to evolve into a red giant, it is expected to grow to a radius where the white dwarf can accrete matter from the expanded gaseous envelope. When the white dwarf approaches the Chandrasekhar limit of 1.44 solar masses, it may explode as a Type Ia supernova. (more...)

Broom Bridge

October 16: World Food Day


456 – Magister militum Ricimer defeated Emperor Avitus at Piacenza and became master of the Western Roman Empire.
1813 – The Sixth Coalition attacked Napoleon and the First French Empire in the Battle of Leipzig, the largest conflict in the Napoleonic Wars with over 500,000 troops involved.
1843 – William Rowan Hamilton first wrote down the fundamental formula for quaternions, carving the equation into the side of Broom Bridge (pictured) in Cabra, Dublin, Ireland.
1940 – World War II: Nazi Governor-General Hans Frank established the Warsaw Ghetto, the largest Jewish ghetto in occupied Poland.
1978 – Karol Józef Wojtyła, a cardinal from Kraków, Poland, became Pope John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope since the 16th century and the first ever from a Slavic country.

Sukhoi Su-27

A Sukhoi Su-27 from the Russian Knights aerobatic team on landing, Kubinka, Russia. The Su-27 is a jet fighter plane originally manufactured by the Soviet Union with long range, heavy armament, and very high agility. Its closest American counterpart is the F-15 Eagle

Australian Grand Prix

Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg at corner 6 of the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, during one of the race's safety car periods. This first race of the 2008 Formula One season was won by McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton. Heidfeld and Rosberg finished second and third, respectively.

Photo credit: Fir0002

Whirlpool Galaxy

October 13: Sukkot begins at sunset (Judaism, 2008); Columbus Day in the United States (2008); Health and Sports Day in Japan (2008); Thanksgiving in Canada (2008)


54 – Claudius was fatally poisoned by his wife Agrippina the Younger, making her 16-year-old son Nero the next Roman Emperor.
1307 – Agents of King Philip IV of France launched a dawn raid, simultaneously arresting many members of the Knights Templar, and subsequently torturing them into "admitting" heresy.
1773 – French astronomer Charles Messier discovered the Whirlpool Galaxy (pictured), an interacting, grand-design spiral galaxy located at a distance of approximately 23 million light-years in the constellation Canes Venatici.
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.
1972 – Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 crashed into a remote area in the Andes mountains near the border of Chile and Argentina; the last of 16 survivors were not rescued until December 23.
More events: October 12 – October 13 – October 14

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