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Faraaz Damji | 2 Nov 2006 03:08
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November 2: Stuyvesant High School

   Stuyvesant High School is a New York City public high school that
   specializes in math and science.  The school opened in 1904 on
   Manhattan's East Side and moved to a new building in Battery Park City
   in 1992.  The school is noted for its famous alumni, including four
   Nobel laureates, its strong academic programs, and the large
   percentage of its graduates who attend prestigious universities.
   Together with Brooklyn Technical High School and Bronx High School of
   Science, Stuyvesant is one of the three original Specialized High
   Schools of New York City.  These schools are operated by the New York
   City Department of Education and are open, with no tuition fee, to all
   residents of New York City (only).  Admission is by competitive
   examination only.  There has been a long-standing friendly rivalry
   between Stuyvesant and Bronx Science over the Intel Science Talent
   Search, with both schools claiming dominance at various times.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_High_School

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1817:
   The Bank of Montreal, Canada's oldest chartered bank, opened in
   Montreal, Quebec.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_Montreal)

1917:
   Arthur Balfour issued the Balfour Declaration, proclaiming British
   support for Jewish settlements in Palestine.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration%2C_1917)
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Faraaz Damji | 3 Nov 2006 05:24
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November 3: Slate industry in Wales

   The slate industry in Wales began during the Roman period when slate
   was used to roof the fort at Segontium, modern Caernarfon.  The slate
   industry grew slowly until the early 18th century, from when it
   expanded rapidly and reached its peak output in the late 19th century,
   at which time the most important slate producing areas were in
   north-west Wales.  These included the Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda, the
   Dinorwig Quarry near Llanberis, the Nantlle Valley quarries and
   Blaenau Ffestiniog, where the slate was mined rather than quarried.
   Penrhyn and Dinorwig were the two largest slate quarries in the world,
   and the Oakeley mine at Blaenau Ffestiniog was the largest slate mine
   in the world.  The Great Depression and the Second World War led to the
   closure of many smaller quarries, and competition from other roofing
   materials, particularly tiles, resulted in the closure of most of the
   larger quarries in the 1960s and 1970s.  Slate production continues on
   a much reduced scale.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate_industry_in_Wales

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1793:
   French playwright, journalist and outspoken feminist Olympe de Gouges
   was guillotined for her revolutionary ideas.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympe_de_Gouges)

1838:
   The Times of India, the world's largest circulated English language
   daily broadsheet newspaper, was founded.
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Faraaz Damji | 4 Nov 2006 01:07
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November 4: Ketuanan Melayu

   Ketuanan Melayu is the racialist belief that the Malay people are the
   "tuan" (masters) of Malaysia or Malaya; Malaysian Chinese and Indian
   Malaysians are considered beholden to the Malays, who have granted
   them citizenship in return for the Malays' special privileges as set
   out in Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia.  This quid pro quo
   arrangement is usually referred to as the social contract, not to be
   confused with the usual idea of a social contract between the
   government and the people.  The most vocal opposition towards the
   concept has come from non-Malay-based parties, such as the Democratic
   Action Party.  However, the portions of the Constitution related to
   ketuanan Melayu were "entrenched" after the racial riots of May 13
   1969, which followed an election campaign focused on the issue of
   non-Malay rights.  The riots caused a major change in the government's
   approach to racial issues, and led to the introduction of an
   aggressive affirmative action policy strongly favouring the Malays,
   the New Economic Policy.  The National Culture Policy, also introduced
   in 1970, emphasised an assimilation of the non-Malays into the Malay
   ethnic group.  However, during the 1990s Prime Minister Mahathir
   Mohamad rejected this approach, with his Bangsa Malaysia policy
   emphasising a Malaysian instead of Malay identity for the state.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketuanan_Melayu

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1852:
   Count Cavour became prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon
   expanded to become the Kingdom of Italy.
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Faraaz Damji | 6 Nov 2006 19:16
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November 6: Eric A. Havelock

   Eric Havelock was a British classicist.  He was a professor at the
   University of Toronto and was active in the academic wing of the
   Canadian socialist movement during the 1930s.  In the 1960s and '70s,
   he served as chair of the classics departments at both Harvard and
   Yale.  Although he was trained in the turn-of-the-century Oxbridge
   tradition of classical studies, which saw Greek intellectual history
   as an unbroken chain of related ideas, Havelock broke radically with
   his own teachers and proposed an entirely new model for understanding
   the classical world, based on a sharp division between literature of
   the 6th and 5th centuries BC on the one hand, and the 4th on the
   other.  Much of Havelock's work was devoted to a single thesis: that
   all of Western thought is informed by a profound shift in the kinds of
   ideas available to the human mind at the point that Greek philosophy
   converted from an oral to a literate form.  The idea has been
   controversial in classical studies, and has frequently been rejected
   outright; however, outside his own field, Havelock has been
   extraordinarily influential.  He and Walter J.  Ong essentially founded
   the amorphous field that studies transitions from orality to literacy,
   and Havelock has been one of the most frequently cited theorists in
   that field.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_A._Havelock

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1860
   Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican candidate to win the U.S.
   presidential election.
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Faraaz Damji | 8 Nov 2006 06:34
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November 8: Concerto delle donne

   The concerto delle donne was a group of professional female singers in
   the late Renaissance court of Ferrara, Italy, renowned for their
   technical and artistic virtuosity.  The ensemble was founded by Alfonso
   II, Duke of Ferrara, in 1580 and was active until the court was
   dissolved in 1597.  Giacomo Vincenti, a music publisher, praised the
   women as "virtuose giovani" (virtuosic youths), echoing the sentiments
   of contemporaneous diarists and commentators.  The concerto delle donne
   revolutionized the role of women in professional music, and continued
   the tradition of the Este court as a musical center.  Word of the
   ladies' ensemble spread across Italy, inspiring imitations in the
   powerful courts of the Medici and Orsini.  The founding of the concerto
   delle donne was the most important event in secular Italian music in
   the late sixteenth century; the musical innovations established in the
   court were important in the development of the madrigal, and
   eventually the seconda pratica.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concerto_delle_donne

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1519:
   Spanish conquest of Mexico: Hernán Cortés entered Tenochtitlan where
   Aztec tlatoani Moctezuma II welcomed him with great pomp as would
   befit a returning god.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_Mexico)

1793:
   In Paris, the Louvre was opened to the public as a museum during the
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Faraaz Damji | 10 Nov 2006 00:14
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November 9: Karen Dotrice

   Karen Dotrice is an English actress most notable for her role as a
   child in Walt Disney's feature film adaptation of the Mary Poppins
   series of children's books.  Dotrice was born in 1955 in the British
   Crown possession of Guernsey, Channel Islands, to two accomplished
   stage actors.  Her acting career began on stage, expanded into film and
   television roles, and concluded with a short run as Desdemona in the
   1981 Broadway production of Othello.  In 1984, Dotrice retired from
   show business to focus on motherhood.  She was named a Disney Legend in
   2004.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Dotrice

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1799:
   The coup of 18 Brumaire led by Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès and Napoléon
   Bonaparte deposed the French government, replacing the Directory with
   the Consulate.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/18_Brumaire)

1918:
   German Emperor William II abdicated, Prince Maximilian of Baden
   resigned as Chancellor, and Philipp Scheidemann proclaimed the Weimar
   Republic.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic)

1953:
   Cambodia gained independence from France and became a constitutional
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Faraaz Damji | 10 Nov 2006 06:22
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November 10: Supreme Court of the United States

   The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in
   the United States and leads the judicial branch of the United States
   federal government.  The Justices are nominated by the President and
   confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate.  Appointed to
   serve for life, they can be removed only by resignation, or by
   impeachment and subsequent conviction.  The Supreme Court holds both
   original and appellate jurisdiction, with its appellate jurisdiction
   accounting for most of the Court's caseload.  The Supreme Court meets
   in Washington, D.C., in the United States Supreme Court building.  The
   Court's yearly terms usually start on the first Monday in October and
   finish sometime during the following June or July.  Each term consists
   of alternating two week intervals.  During the first interval, the
   court is in session and hears cases, and during the second interval,
   the court is recessed to consider and write opinions on cases they
   have heard.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1520:
   After a successful invasion of Sweden, Danish soldiers under King
   Christian II executed scores of Swedish leaders in the Stockholm
   Bloodbath.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Bloodbath)

1865:
   Henry Wirz, the superintendent of the Andersonville Prison, was
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Faraaz Damji | 13 Nov 2006 05:03
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November 13: Salvador Dalí

   Salvador Dalí was a Catalan-Spanish artist who became one of the most
   important painters of the twentieth century.  A skilled draftsman, he
   is best known for his surrealist work identified by its striking,
   bizarre, dreamlike images.  His painterly skills are often attributed
   to the influence of Renaissance masters.  His best known work, The
   Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931.  In addition to painting,
   his artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, photography, and an
   Academy Award-nominated short cartoon, "Destino," on which he
   collaborated with Walt Disney; it was released posthumously in 2003.
   An artist of great imagination, Dalí had an affinity for doing unusual
   things to draw attention to himself.  This sometimes irked those who
   loved his art as much as it annoyed his critics, since his eccentric
   manner sometimes drew more public attention than his artwork.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1002:
   King Ethelred II ordered the massacre of all Danes in England.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethelred_the_Unready)

1954:
   Great Britain defeated France at the Parc des Princes in Paris to win
   the first Rugby League World Cup.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_League_World_Cup)

1970:
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Faraaz Damji | 14 Nov 2006 03:21
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November 14: Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)

   An Eagle Scout is a Scout with the highest rank attainable in the Boy
   Scouts of America.  Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout
   rank has been earned by over one and a half million Scouts.
   Requirements include earning a number of merit badges and
   demonstration of Scout Spirit, service and leadership.  Eagle Scouts
   are presented with a medal and badge that visibly recognizes the
   accomplishments of the Scout.  Additional recognition can be earned
   through Eagle Palms, awarded for completing additional tenure,
   leadership and merit badge requirements.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_Scout_%28Boy_Scouts_of_America%29

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1228:
   Frederick of Isenberg was executed for the murder of his cousin
   Engelbert of Berg, the Archbishop of Cologne.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_of_Isenberg)

1889:
   Nellie Bly, reporter for the New York World, departed on her
   successful attempt to travel Around the World in Eighty Days.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly)

1940:
   Coventry Cathedral and much of the city centre of Coventry, England
   was destroyed in heavy Luftwaffe bombing.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coventry_Cathedral)
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Faraaz Damji | 15 Nov 2006 06:32
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November 15: J. R. R. Tolkien

   J.  R.  R.  Tolkien was a British writer and university professor and is
   best known as the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.  He
   was a professor of Anglo-Saxon language at Oxford University from 1925
   to 1945, and of English language and literature, also at Oxford, from
   1945 to 1959.  He was a strongly committed Roman Catholic.  Tolkien was
   a close friend of C. S. Lewis, with whom he shared membership in the
   literary discussion group the Inklings.  In addition to The Hobbit and
   The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's published fiction includes The
   Silmarillion and other posthumously published books about what he
   called a legendarium, a connected body of tales, fictional histories,
   invented languages, and other literary essays about an imagined world
   called Arda, and Middle-earth.  Most of these works were compiled from
   Tolkien's notes by his son Christopher Tolkien.  The enduring
   popularity and influence of Tolkien's works have established him as
   the "father of modern fantasy literature".  Tolkien's other published
   fiction includes stories not directly related to the legendarium, some
   of them originally told to his children.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._R._R._Tolkien

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Today's selected anniversaries:

655:
   Penda of Mercia was defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria at the Battle of
   the Winwaed.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Winwaed)

1889:
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