Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 2008

Today's featured article archive

February 1

Actor Matthew Fox stars as Dr. Jack Shephard in ABC's Lost — Actor Matthew Fox stars as Dr. Jack Shephard in ABC's *Lost*

"Through the Looking Glass" is the 22nd episode and season finale of the third season—sixty-ninth episode overall—of the American Broadcasting Company television series Lost. It was written by co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse, and directed by executive producer Jack Bender. Like the previous two season finales, it was two hours long with advertisements, which is twice the length of a normal episode. It was split when released on DVD. The season finale was critically acclaimed and the episode has garnered a number of awards and nominations, including three Emmy nominations. Despite heavy security measures, a synopsis of the episode was leaked online before the episode aired. The episode begins on December 22, 2004, ninety-two days after the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815. The battle between the crash survivors and the dangerous and mysterious island inhabitants referred to as "The Others" comes to a head as ten of the Others ambush the survivors' camp and are subsequently killed. (more...)

Recently featured: Aikido – "Manos" The Hands of Fate – Archimedes

February 2

Dookie is the third studio album and major label debut by American punk rock band Green Day. The album was the band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo. Released on February 1 1994 through Reprise Records, Dookie became a worldwide commercial success, reaching #2 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and charting in seven countries. The album helped to propel Green Day into mainstream popularity, amid claims from the punk rock community that the band had "sold out". Dookie produced five hit singles for the band: "Longview", the re-recorded "Welcome to Paradise", "Basket Case", the radio-only single "She" and "When I Come Around". As of 2007, Dookie is the band's best-selling album, selling over 15 million copies worldwide. It is Green Day's only diamond album. Dookie won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1995. (more...)

Recently featured: Through the Looking Glass – Aikido – "Manos" The Hands of Fate

February 3

The history of American football can be traced to early versions of rugby football. Among the major changes instituted by Walter Camp, considered the "Father of American Football", in the 19th century were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass. The popularity of collegiate football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport for the first half of the twentieth century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for collegiate teams. Bolstered by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US. Meanwhile, the origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892. In 1920, the National Football League (NFL) was formed, and eventually became the major league of American football. Football's increasing popularity is usually traced to the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a contest that has been dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played". A rival league to the NFL, the American Football League, began play in 1960; the pressure it put on the senior league led to a merger between the two leagues and the creation of the Super Bowl, which has become the most watched television event in the United States on an annual basis. (more...)

Recently featured: Dookie – Through the Looking Glass – Aikido

February 4

Knut is a captive-born polar bear who was born at the Zoologischer Garten Berlin on 5 December 2006. Rejected by his mother at birth, he was subsequently raised by zoo keepers. He was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo in over thirty years. At one time the subject of international controversy, he became a popular tourist attraction and commercial success. After the German tabloid magazine Bild ran a quote from an animal rights activist that seemingly called for the death of the young cub, a worldwide public outrage was caused as fans rallied in support of his being hand-raised by humans. Children protested outside the zoo, and many emails and letters expressing sympathy for the cub's life were sent from around the world. Knut became the center of a mass media phenomenon dubbed "Knutmania" that spanned the globe and quickly spawned numerous toys, media specials, DVDs, and books. Because of this, the cub was largely responsible for a significant increase in revenue at the Berlin Zoo in 2007. Zoo attendance figures for the year increased by an estimated 30 percent, making the zoo the most profitable it has been in its 163 year history. (more...)

Recently featured: History of American football – Dookie – Through the Looking Glass

February 5

Las Meninas (Spanish for The Maids of Honour) is a 1656 painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age, in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. The work's complex and enigmatic composition raises questions about reality and illusion, and creates an uncertain relationship between the viewer and the figures depicted. Because of these complexities, Las Meninas has been one of the most widely analysed works in Western painting. Las Meninas shows a large room in the Madrid palace of King Philip IV of Spain, and presents several figures, most identifiable from the Spanish court, captured, according to some commentators, in a particular moment as if in a snapshot. Some figures look out of the canvas towards the viewer, while others interact among themselves. The young Infanta Margarita is surrounded by her entourage of maids of honour, chaperone, bodyguard, and two dwarfs. Las Meninas has long been recognised as one of the most important paintings in Western art history. The Baroque painter Luca Giordano said that it represents the "theology of painting", while in the 19th century Sir Thomas Lawrence called the work "the philosophy of art". (more...)

Recently featured: Knut – History of American football – Dookie

February 6

Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election in 1980. As president, Reagan implemented new political initiatives as well as economic policies, advocating a laissez-faire philosophy, but the extent to which these ideas were implemented is debatable. The policies, dubbed "Reaganomics," included substantial tax cuts implemented in 1981. After surviving an assassination attempt and ordering controversial military actions in Grenada, he was re-elected in a landslide victory in 1984. Reagan's second term was marked by the ending of the Cold War, as well as a number of administration scandals, notably the Iran-Contra affair. The president ordered a massive military buildup in an arms race with the Soviet Union, foregoing the previous strategy of détente. He publicly portrayed the USSR as an "Evil Empire" and supported anti-Communist movements worldwide. (more...)

Recently featured: Las Meninas – Knut – History of American football

February 7

First page of the first edition of Thoughts (1787)

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters is British feminist Mary Wollstonecraft's first published work. Published in 1787 by her friend Joseph Johnson, Thoughts is a conduct book that offers advice on female education to the emerging British middle class. Although dominated by considerations of morality and etiquette, the text also contains basic child-rearing instructions, such as how to care for an infant. An early version of the modern self-help book, the eighteenth-century British conduct book drew on several literary traditions, such as advice manuals and religious narratives. There was an explosion in the number of conduct books published during the second half of the eighteenth century, and Wollstonecraft took advantage of this burgeoning market when she published Thoughts. However, the book was only moderately successful: it was favourably reviewed, but only by one journal and it was reprinted only once. Although it was excerpted in popular magazines of the time, it was not republished until the rise of feminist literary criticism in the 1970s. The book encourages mothers to teach their daughters analytical thinking, self-discipline, honesty, contentment in their social position, and marketable skills (in case they should ever need to support themselves). (more...)

Recently featured: Ronald Reagan – Las Meninas – Knut

February 8

The golden plates were a set of engraved plates, bound into a book, that Joseph Smith, Jr. said was his source material for the Book of Mormon, a scripture of the Latter Day Saint movement. Smith, the founder of that movement, said he obtained the plates on September 22, 1827 on Cumorah Hill in Manchester, New York, where they were hidden in a buried box and protected by an angel named Moroni. After dictating a translation and obtaining signed statements by eleven other witnesses, he said he returned the plates to the angel in 1829. According to the Book of Mormon, the golden plates were engraved by a pre-Columbian prophet-historian, from an early American civilization, named Mormon and his son Moroni (who after death protected the buried plates as the angel Moroni) in about the year 400 AD. These men said they had abridged earlier historical records from other sets of metal plates in a language they called "reformed Egyptian". Part of the plates were said to have been sealed, and thus could not be translated. The golden plates are the most significant of a number of metallic plates important to Latter Day Saint history and theology. (more...)

Recently featured: Thoughts on the Education of Daughters – Ronald Reagan – Las Meninas

February 9

The Boeing 747 is the first widebody commercial airliner ever produced. The Boeing 747, manufactured by Boeing in the United States, is among the world's most recognizable aircraft. The original version of the 747 was two and a half times the size of the Boeing 707, one of the common large commercial aircraft of the 1960s. First flown commercially in 1970, it held the passenger capacity record for 37 years. The four-engine 747, produced by Boeing's Commercial Airplane unit, uses a double deck configuration for part of its length. The 747 is available in passenger, freighter and other versions. The 747's hump created by the upper deck allows for a front cargo door on freighter versions. The 747-400, the latest version in service, is among the fastest airliners in service with a high-subsonic cruise speed of Mach 0.85 (567 mph or 913 km/h). It has an intercontinental range of 7,260 nautical miles (8,350 mi, 13,450 km). The 747-400 passenger version can accommodate 416 passengers in a typical three-class layout or 524 passengers in a typical two-class layout. The 747 was expected to become obsolete after sales of 400 units because of the development of supersonic airliners, but it has outlived many of its critics' expectations, and production passed the 1,000 mark in 1993. (more...)

Recently featured: Golden plates – Thoughts on the Education of Daughters – Ronald Reagan

February 10

Xenon is a chemical element that has atomic number 54. A colorless, heavy, odorless noble gas, xenon occurs in the Earth's atmosphere in trace amounts. Although generally unreactive, xenon can undergo a few chemical reactions such as the formation of xenon hexafluoroplatinate, the first noble gas compound to be synthesized. Naturally occurring xenon is made of nine stable isotopes, but there are also over 40 unstable isotopes that undergo radioactive decay. The isotope ratios of xenon are an important tool for studying the early history of the Solar System. Xenon-135 is produced as a result of nuclear fission and acts as a neutron absorber in nuclear reactors. Xenon is used in flash lamps and arc lamps, and as a general anesthetic. The first excimer laser design used a xenon dimer molecule (Xe₂) as its lasing medium, and the earliest laser designs used xenon flash lamps as pumps. Xenon is also being used to search for hypothetical weakly interacting massive particles and as the propellant for ion thrusters in spacecraft. (more...)

Recently featured: Boeing 747 – Golden plates – Thoughts on the Education of Daughters

February 11

Peru is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean. Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, and to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the country in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty, which included most of its South American colonies. Since achieving independence in 1821, Peru has undergone periods of political unrest and fiscal crisis as well as periods of stability and economic upswing. Peru is a presidential representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. Its geography varies from the arid plains of the Pacific coast to the peaks of the Andes mountains and the tropical forests of the Amazon Basin. It is a developing country with a medium Human Development Index score and a poverty level around 50%. Its main economic activities include agriculture, fishing, mining, and manufacturing of products such as textiles. The Peruvian population is estimated at 28 million. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua and other native languages. (more...)

Recently featured: Xenon – Boeing 747 – Golden plates

February 12

The Constitution of Belarus is the supreme law of Belarus. Adopted in 1994, three years after Belarus declared its independence from the Soviet Union, this formal document establishes the framework of the Belarusian state and government and enumerates the rights and freedoms of its citizens. The contents of the Constitution include the preamble, nine sections (including eight chapters) and one hundred and forty-six articles. The contents were heavily influenced by constitutions of Western powers and from Belarus's time in the Soviet Union. While much of the Constitution explains how the government is established and carried out, an entire section deals with the rights and freedoms granted to citizens and residents. The Constitution has been amended twice since the original adoption; in 1996 and in 2004. In the amendments approved by the Belarusian populace, the power of the presidency over the government was increased and the term limits for the presidency were eliminated. (more...)

Recently featured: Peru – Xenon – Boeing 747

February 13

Title page of Die araner mundart

Irish phonology varies from dialect to dialect; there is no standard pronunciation of the language. Irish phonology has been studied as a discipline since the late 19th century, with numerous researchers publishing descriptive accounts of dialects from all regions where the language is spoken. More recently, theoretical linguists have also turned their attention to Irish phonology, producing a number of books, articles, and doctoral theses on the topic. One of the most important aspects of Irish phonology is the fact that almost all consonants appear in pairs, with one member of each pair being "broad" and the other "slender". Broad consonants are velarized, that is, the back of the tongue is pulled back and slightly up in the direction of the soft palate while the consonant is being articulated. Slender consonants are palatalized, which means the tongue is pushed up toward the hard palate during the articulation. The contrast between broad and slender consonants is crucial in Irish, because the meaning of a word can change if a broad consonant is substituted for a slender consonant or vice versa. Irish shares a number of phonological characteristics with its nearest linguistic relatives, Scottish Gaelic and Manx, as well as with Hiberno-English, the language with which it is most closely in contact. (more...)

Recently featured: Constitution of Belarus – Peru – Xenon

February 14

Barn swallow

The Barn Swallow is the world's most widespread species of swallow. A distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings, it occurs in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. There are six subspecies of Barn Swallow, which breed across the Northern Hemisphere. Four are strongly migratory, and their wintering grounds cover much of the Southern Hemisphere as far south as central Argentina, the Cape Province of South Africa, and northern Australia. The Barn Swallow is a bird of open country which normally uses man-made structures to breed and consequently has spread with human expansion. It builds a cup nest from mud pellets in barns or similar structures and feeds on insects caught in flight. This species lives in close association with humans, and its insect-eating habits mean that it is tolerated by man; this acceptance was reinforced in the past by superstitions regarding the bird and its nest. There are frequent cultural references to the Barn Swallow in literary and religious works due both to its living in close proximity to humans, and its conspicuous annual migration. (more...)

Recently featured: Irish phonology – Constitution of Belarus – Peru

February 15

Hurricane Isis was the deadliest tropical cyclone and only hurricane to make landfall during the 1998 Pacific hurricane season. The ninth tropical storm and sixth hurricane of the season, Isis developed on September 1 from the interaction between a tropical wave and a large surface circulation to the southwest of Mexico. It moved northward, striking the extreme southeastern portion of the Baja California Peninsula before attaining hurricane status in the Gulf of California. Isis made landfall at Topolobampo in the state of Sinaloa on September 3, and quickly lost its low-level circulation. The remnants persisted for several days before dissipating in the U.S. state of Idaho. In Mexico, Isis destroyed over 700 houses and killed 14 people, primarily due to its heavy rainfall which peaked at over 20 inches (500 mm) in southern Baja California Sur. The rainfall caused widespread damage to roads and railways, stranding thousands of people. Moisture from the remnants of Isis extended into the southwestern United States, resulting in light rainfall, dozens of traffic accidents, and power outages to thousands of residents in San Diego County. (more...)

Recently featured: Barn Swallow – Irish phonology – Constitution of Belarus

February 16

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is a 2006 point-and-click adventure game developed by AWE Productions and published by The Adventure Company for the PC. The game is the second installment in The Adventure Company's Agatha Christie series, and is the sequel to Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None. The story follows an amateur sleuth, Antoinette Marceau, and her investigation of a murder with twelve possible suspects aboard the Orient Express, which has been blocked by an avalanche in Yugoslavia during 1934. She is aided by famous detective Hercule Poirot. Murder on the Orient Express retains the main plot elements of Agatha Christie's novel of the same name. An additional ending is presented in the game which differs from the conclusion of Christie's novel. As with And Then There Were None, Christie's novel has been bundled with the game. Some reviewers of Murder on the Orient Express criticized the game because of the repetitive nature of tasks the player must complete, and also complained about the inefficient and cumbersome inventory system. Others have praised it for improved graphics compared to And Then There Were None, as well as convincing voice acting and audio effects. Murder on the Orient Express is followed by Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun, the third installment in the Agatha Christie series. (more...)

Recently featured: Hurricane Isis – Barn Swallow – Irish phonology

February 17

Quneitra is the largely destroyed and abandoned capital of the Quneitra Governorate in south-western Syria. It is situated in a high valley in the Golan Heights at an altitude of about 1000 metres above sea level. Quneitra was founded in the Ottoman era as a way station on the caravan route to Damascus and subsequently became a garrison town of some 20,000 people, strategically located near the border with Israel. On 10 June 1967, the last day of the Six-Day War, Quneitra came under Israeli control. It was briefly recaptured by Syria during the 1973 Yom Kippur War, but Israel regained control in its subsequent counter-offensive. The city was almost completely destroyed before the Israeli withdrawal in June 1974. It now lies in the demilitarized United Nations Disengagement Observer Force Zone (UNDOF) between Syria and Israel, a short distance from the de facto border between the two countries. Israel was subsequently heavily criticized by the United Nations for Quneitra's destruction; Syria was criticized by Israel for not rebuilding the city. (more...)

Recently featured: Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express – Hurricane Isis – Barn Swallow

February 18

Bobby Robson is a former English football manager and former international football player. As an inside-forward, his professional playing career spanned nearly 20 years during which he played for just three clubs, Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Vancouver Royals. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals. He was most recently a mentor to the manager of the Irish national football team. He achieved success as both a club and international manager, having won league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-final of the 1990 World Cup. Robson was knighted in 2002, is a member of the English Football Hall of Fame and is the honorary president of Ipswich Town. He has, since 1991, had recurrent medical problems with cancer, and in May 2007 revealed that he had cancerous nodules in his lungs: he vowed to "battle as I've always done" against the illness. (more...)

Recently featured: Quneitra – Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express – Hurricane Isis

February 19

The Battle of the Gebora was a minor battle of the Peninsular War between Spanish and French armies. It occurred on 19 February 1811, near Badajoz, Spain, where an outnumbered French force routed and nearly destroyed the Spanish Army of Extremadura. Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, and the Spanish Captain-General Pedro Caro de La Romana sent a large Spanish army to raise the siege of the important fortress town of Badajoz. La Romana, however, died before the army could depart, and command fell to General Gabriel Mendizabal. Supported by a small force of Portuguese cavalry, the Spaniards reached the town and camped on the nearby heights of San Cristóbal in early February 1811. When Mendizabal ignored Wellington's instructions and failed to entrench his army, Soult took advantage of the vulnerable Spanish position and sent a small force to attack the Spaniards. On the morning of 19 February, French forces under Marshal Édouard Mortier quickly defeated the Spanish army, inflicting 1,000 casualties and taking 4,000 prisoners while losing only 400 men. The victory allowed Soult to concentrate on his assault of Badajoz, which fell to the French on 11 March and remained in French hands until the following year. (more...)

Recently featured: Bobby Robson – Quneitra – Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express

February 20

The Tech Tower is a historic building located at 225 North Avenue NW in Midtown Atlanta, Georgia, and a focal point of the central campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Erected in 1888 and named the "Academic Building", Tech Tower was one of the first two buildings to be completed on the Georgia Tech campus. Tech Tower was built as a venue for classroom instruction to complement the hands-on training taking place in the shop building beside it. Since the shop's razing in 1892 following a disastrous fire, Tech Tower enjoys the distinction of being the oldest structure on the Georgia Tech campus. Tech Tower derives its nickname from a prominent seven-story central tower dominating the building's facade and visible from many parts of the Georgia Tech campus and surrounding area. Lighted signs in the shape of the word TECH hang atop each of the tower's four sides. A number of times, Georgia Tech students have accomplished the arduous task of stealing the letter 'T' from one of these signs, a prank now strictly forbidden by Institute officials despite prior attitudes to the contrary. It has been the site of many ceremonies and important events, including a visit by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and its dedication in honor of Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans, "Tech's greatest benefactor." (more...)

Recently featured: Battle of the Gebora – Bobby Robson – Quneitra

February 21

The Bengali Language Movement was a political effort in Bangladesh (then known as East Pakistan), advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as an official language of Pakistan. Such recognition would allow Bengali to be taught in schools and used in government affairs. When the state of Pakistan was formed in 1947, its two regions, East Pakistan (also called East Bengal) and West Pakistan, were split over cultural, geographical, and linguistic lines. In 1948, the Government of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Pakistan. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when police killed student demonstrators on that day. The deaths provoked widespread civil unrest led by the Awami Muslim League, later renamed the Awami League. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. The Language Movement catalysed the assertion of Bengali national identity in Pakistan, and became a forerunner to Bengali nationalist movements, including the 6-point movement and subsequently the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. (more...)

Recently featured: Tech Tower – Battle of the Gebora – Bobby Robson

February 22

Rachel Carson was an American marine biologist and nature writer whose writings are often credited with launching the global environmental movement. Carson started her career as a biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and transitioned to a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her financial security and recognition as a gifted writer. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the republished version of her first book, Under the Sea-Wind, were also bestsellers. Together, her sea trilogy explores the gamut of ocean life, from the shores to the surface to the deep sea. In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation and the environmental problems caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented portion of the American public. Silent Spring spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy—leading to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides—and the grassroots environmental movement it inspired led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. (more...)

Recently featured: Bengali Language Movement – Tech Tower – Battle of the Gebora

February 23

The East End of London is the area of London, England, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Starting in the 19th century, the area experienced extreme overcrowding and a concentration of poor people and immigrants. Successive waves of immigration began with Huguenot refugees creating a new extramural suburb in Spitalfields in the 17th century. They were followed by Irish weavers, Ashkenazi Jews and, in the 20th century, Bangladeshis. Many of these immigrants worked in the clothing industry. The abundance of semi- and unskilled labour led to low wages and poor conditions throughout the East End. This brought the attentions of social reformers during the mid-18th century and led to the formation of unions and workers associations at the end of the century. The radicalism of the East End contributed to the formation of the Labour Party and demands for the enfranchisement of women. Official attempts to address the overcrowded housing began at the beginning of the 20th century under the London County Council. World War II devastated much of the East End, with its docks, railways and industry forming a continual target, leading to dispersal of the population to new suburbs, and new housing being built in the 1950s. The final closure of the London docks in 1980 created further challenges and led to attempts at regeneration and the formation of the London Docklands Development Corporation. The Canary Wharf development, improved infrastructure, and the Olympic Park mean that the East End is undergoing further change, but some of its parts continue to contain some of the worst poverty in Britain. (more...)

Recently featured: Rachel Carson – Bengali Language Movement – Tech Tower

February 24

Ban Ki-moon is a South Korean diplomat and the current Secretary-General of the United Nations. Before becoming Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated college, accepting his first post in New Delhi. In the foreign ministry he established a reputation for modesty and competence. Ban was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006 he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of Korea, however, he was able to travel to all of the countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council, a manoeuvre that turned him into the campaign's front runner. On October 13 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly. On January 1, 2007, he succeeded Kofi Annan, and passed several major reforms regarding peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with U.S. President George W. Bush, and Darfur, where he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan. (more...)

Recently featured: East End of London – Rachel Carson – Bengali Language Movement

February 25

Interior view of Kinetoscope with peephole viewer

The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie projector—it was designed for films to be viewed individually through the window of a cabinet housing its components—the Kinetoscope introduced the basic approach that would become the standard for all cinematic projection before the advent of video: it creates the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter. First described in conceptual terms by U.S. inventor Thomas Edison in 1888, it was largely developed by his employee William Kennedy Laurie Dickson between 1889 and 1892. In April 1894, the first commercial exhibition of motion pictures in history was given in New York City, using ten Kinetoscopes. Instrumental to the birth of American movie culture, the Kinetoscope also had a major impact in Europe; its influence abroad was magnified by Edison's decision not to seek international patents on the device, facilitating numerous imitations of and improvements on the technology. (more...)

Recently featured: Ban Ki-moon – East End of London – Rachel Carson

February 26

Europa is the sixth-nearest and fourth-largest natural satellite of the planet Jupiter. Europa was discovered in 1610 by Galileo Galilei (and independently by Simon Marius), and named for a mythical Phoenician noblewoman, Europa, who was courted by Zeus. It is the smallest of the four Galilean moons - slightly smaller than Earth's Moon and is the sixth-largest moon in the Solar System. Europa has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of molecular oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This young surface is striated by cracks and streaks, while craters are relatively infrequent. The apparent youth and smoothness of the surface have led to the hypothesis that a water ocean exists beneath it, which could conceivably serve as an abode for extraterrestrial life. Although by 2007 only flyby missions have visited the moon, the intriguing character of Europa has led to several ambitious exploration proposals. The Galileo mission provided the bulk of current data on Europa, while the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter, canceled in 2005, would have targeted Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Conjecture on extraterrestrial life has ensured a high profile for the moon and has led to steady lobbying for future missions. (more...)

Recently featured: Kinetoscope – Ban Ki-moon – East End of London

February 27

There was considerable Axis naval activity in Australian waters during World War II. A total of 54 German and Japanese warships and submarines entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets. Among the best-known attacks are the sinking of HMAS Sydney by a German raider in November 1941, the bombing of Darwin by Japanese naval aircraft in February 1942, and the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in May 1942. In addition, many Allied merchant ships were damaged or sunk off the Australian coast by submarines and mines. The level of Axis naval activity peaked in the first half of 1942 when Japanese submarines conducted anti-shipping patrols off Australia's coast and Japanese naval aviation attacked several towns in northern Australia. The Japanese submarine offensive against Australia was renewed in the first half of 1943 but was broken off as the Allies pushed the Japanese onto the defensive. Few Axis naval vessels operated in Australian waters in 1944 and 1945 and those that did had only a limited impact. Due to the episodic nature of the Axis attacks and the relatively small number of ships and submarines committed, Germany and Japan were not successful in disrupting Australian shipping. (more...)

Recently featured: Europa – Kinetoscope – Ban Ki-moon

February 28

The M62 motorway is a west-east trans-Pennine motorway in northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 (Shannon to Saint Petersburg) and E22 (Holyhead to Ishim). The road is 107 miles (172 km) long; however, for seven miles, it shares its route with the M60 motorway around Manchester. The motorway, which was first proposed in the 1930s, and originally conceived as two separate routes, was built in stages between 1971 and 1976, with construction beginning at Pole Moor and finishing in Tarbock. The motorway also absorbed the northern end of the Stretford-Eccles bypass, which was built between 1957 and 1960. Adjusted for inflation to 2007, the motorway cost approximately GB£765 million to build. The motorway is relatively busy, with an average daily traffic flow of 100,000 cars in Yorkshire, and has several areas prone to gridlock, in particular, between Leeds and Halifax in West Yorkshire. Since the Stretford-Eccles bypass was opened, the motorway's history beyond construction has included a coach bombing on 4 February 1974, and a rail crash on 28 February 2001. (more...)

Recently featured: Axis naval activity in Australian waters – Europa – Kinetoscope

February 29

Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, the town of Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe. On January 1, 2001 the new City of Hamilton was formed through amalgamation of the former City with the constituent towns of the Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Municipality. Since 1981, the metropolitan area has been listed as the ninth largest in Canada and the third largest in Ontario. Traditionally, the local economy has been led by the steel and heavy manufacturing industries. Within the last decade, there has been a shift towards the service sector, particularly health and sciences. The Hamilton Health Sciences corporation employs nearly 10,000 staff and serves approximately 2.2 million people in the region. Hamilton is home to the Royal Botanical Gardens, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, the Bruce Trail, McMaster University and several colleges. The Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats play at Ivor Wynne Stadium, close to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Partly because of its diverse locations, numerous TV and film productions have been filmed in Hamilton regulated by the Hamilton Film Liaison Office. (more...)

Recently featured: M62 motorway – Axis naval activity in Australian waters – Europa