Quote of the day
As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.
by Emmanuel Teney |
Birthday of the day
Edward I of England
Edward I (17 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons. In 1259, he briefly sided with a baronial reform movement, supporting the Provisions of Oxford. After reconciliation with his father, however, he remained loyal throughout the subsequent armed conflict, known as the Second Barons' War. After the Battle of Lewes, Edward was hostage to the rebellious barons, but escaped after a few months and joined the fight against Simon de Montfort. Montfort was defeated at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, and within two years the rebellion was extinguished. With England pacified, Edward left on a crusade to the Holy Land. The crusade accomplished little, and Edward was on his way home in 1272 when he was informed that his father had died. Making a slow return, he reached England in 1274 and he was crowned king at Westminster on 19 August. |
Joke of the day
| Two elderly couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, 'Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?'
'Outstanding,' Fred replied. 'They taught us all the latest psychological techniques: visualization, association, etc. It was great.'
'That's great! And what was the name of the clinic?'
Fred went blank. He thought and thought, but couldn't remember. Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, 'What do you call that flower with the long stem and thorns?'
'You mean a rose?'
'Yes, that's it!' He turned to his wife, 'Rose, what was the name of that memory clinic?' |
Fact of the day
| 1462 – Vlad III the Impaler attempts to assassinate Mehmed II (The Night Attack) forcing him to retreat from Wallachia. |
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Biography of the day
Sanford Berman
Sanford Berman (b. October 6, 1933) is an outspoken, radical librarian (cataloger) known for promoting alternative viewpoints in librarianship and acting as a pro-active information conduit to other librarians around the world, mostly via public speaking, voluminous correspondence, and unsolicited 'care packages' delivered via the U.S. Postal Service. Will Manley, columnist for the American Library Association publication American Libraries, referred to Berman as a 'bibliographic warrior.' The spark of Berman's cataloging revolution was the inclusion in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) of the term kaffir, which he came across while working in Zambia : 'Berman was told by offended black fellow-workers that calling someone a kafir was similar to being called a nigger in America.' This motivated him to systematically address subject heading bias in his work at Hennepin County Library and in writing 'Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People.' |
Article of the day
Lynn Hill
 Lynn Hill (born 1961) is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competitive sport climber in the world during the late 1980s and early 1990s, she made the first ascent without aid of the difficult sheer rock face of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley and the first free ascent in 24 hours. Hill shaped rock climbing for women and became a public spokesperson, helping it gain wider popularity and arguing for gender equity. She has publicized climbing by appearing on television shows and documentaries and writing an autobiography, My Life in the Vertical World. She took to climbing at a young age and became a part of the climbing community in Southern California and Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley. During the early 1980s, she traveled around the United States, climbing increasingly difficult routes and setting records not only for first female ascents but also for first ascents. From 1986 to 1992 she won over thirty international titles, including five victories at the Arco Rock Master; she left competitive climbing in 1992. She has been described as both one of the best female climbers in the world and one of the best climbers of all time. |
Did you know
- that Michigan highway M-97 was simultaneously named both Reid Highway and Groesbeck Highway by different levels of government from 1927 until 1949, the year it was dedicated to Alex Groesbeck?
- that about one million animals are used every year in Europe in toxicology testing?
- that the producer of White Zinfandel originally wanted to name the wine after the old rose style Oeil de Perdrix?
- that West Indian cricketer Brian Lara has made the highest individual score and only quadruple century in Test cricket?
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