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Faraaz Damji | 1 Jun 2007 18:08
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June 1: Basiliscus

   Basiliscus was a Byzantine Emperor of the House of Leo, who ruled
   briefly (9 January 475-August 476), when Emperor Zeno had been forced
   out of Constantinople by a revolt.  Basiliscus was the brother of
   Empress Aelia Verina, the wife of Emperor Leo I.  His relationship with
   the emperor allowed him to pursue a military career that, after minor
   initial successes, ended in 468, when he led the disastrous Byzantine
   invasion of Vandal Africa, in one of the largest military operations
   of Late Antiquity.  Basiliscus succeeded in seizing power in 475,
   exploiting the unpopularity of Emperor Zeno, the "barbarian" successor
   to Leo, and a plot organized by Verina that had caused Zeno to flee
   Constantinople.  However, during his short rule, Basiliscus alienated
   the fundamental support of the Church and the people of
   Constantinople, promoting the Monophysite christological position in
   opposition to the widely accepted Chalcedonian faith.  So, when Zeno
   tried to regain his empire, he found virtually no opposition,
   triumphally entering Constantinople, and capturing and killing
   Basiliscus and his family.  The struggle between Basiliscus and Zeno
   impeded the intervention of the Eastern Empire in the fall of the
   Western Roman Empire, which happened in early September 476.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1779:
   Benedict Arnold, a general in the Continental Army during the American
   Revolutionary War, was court-martialed for malfeasance.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold)
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Faraaz Damji | 3 Jun 2007 04:45
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June 3: Taiwanese aborigines

   Taiwanese aborigines are the indigenous peoples of Taiwan.  Although
   each group holds a variety of creation stories, contemporary research
   suggests their ancestors may have been living on the islands for
   approximately 8,000 years before major Han Chinese immigration began
   in the 1600s.  The Taiwanese Aborigines are Austronesian peoples, with
   linguistic and genetic ties to other Austronesian ethnic groups, such
   as peoples of the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Oceania.  For
   centuries Taiwan's Aboriginal peoples experienced economic competition
   and military conflict with a series of conquering peoples.  Centralized
   government policies designed to foster language shift and cultural
   assimilation, as well as continued contact with the colonizers through
   trade, intermarriage and other dispassionate intercultural processes,
   have resulted in varying degrees of language death and loss of
   original cultural identity.  The bulk of contemporary Taiwanese
   Aborigines reside in the mountains and the cities.  Many Aboriginal
   groups are actively seeking a higher degree of political
   self-determination and economic development since the early 1980s.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

350:
   Roman usurper Nepotianus of the Constantinian dynasty proclaimed
   himself Roman Emperor, entering Rome with a group of gladiators.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepotianus)

1940:
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Faraaz Damji | 6 Jun 2007 07:51
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June 6: Jupiter

   Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within
   the solar system.  It is two and a half times as massive as all of the
   other planets in our solar system combined.  Jupiter, along with
   Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant.  When viewed
   from Earth, Jupiter can reach an apparent magnitude of -2.8, making it
   the fourth brightest object in the night sky.  The planet was known by
   astronomers of ancient times and was associated with the mythology and
   religious beliefs of many cultures.  Jupiter is primarily composed of
   hydrogen with only a small proportion of helium; it may also have a
   rocky core of heavier elements.  The outer atmosphere is visibly
   segregated into several bands at different latitudes, resulting in
   turbulence and storms along their interacting boundaries.  A prominent
   result is the Great Red Spot, a giant storm that is known to have
   existed since at least the seventeenth century.  Surrounding the planet
   is a faint planetary ring system and a powerful magnetosphere.  There
   are also at least 63 moons, including the four large moons called the
   Galilean moons that were first discovered by Galileo Galilei in 1610.
   Jupiter has been explored on several occasions by robotic spacecraft,
   most notably during the early Pioneer and Voyager fly-by missions and
   later by the Galileo orbiter.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1523:
   Gustav Vasa became King of Sweden, marking the end of the Kalmar
   Union.
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Faraaz Damji | 7 Jun 2007 06:04
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June 7: Battle of Midway

   The Battle of Midway was a pivotal naval battle in the Pacific Theater
   of World War II.  It took place from June 4 to June 7, 1942,
   approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea, and six
   months after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor that had led
   to a formal state of war between the United States and Japan.  During
   the battle, the United States Navy defeated a Japanese attack against
   Midway Atoll (located northwest of Hawaii) and destroyed four Japanese
   aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser while losing a carrier and a
   destroyer.  The battle was a crushing defeat for the Japanese and is
   widely regarded as the most important naval battle of World War II.
   The battle permanently weakened the Japanese Navy, particularly
   through the loss of over 200 naval aviators.  Strategically, the U.S.
   Navy was able to seize the initiative in the Pacific and go on the
   offensive.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1099:
   Members of the First Crusade reached Jerusalem and began a five-week
   siege of the city.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(1099))

1494:
   Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing the
   newly discovered lands of the Americas and Africa between the two
   countries.
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Faraaz Damji | 16 Jun 2007 04:26
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June 16: Robert Garran

   Robert Garran was an Australian lawyer and public servant, an early
   leading expert in Australian constitutional law, the first employee of
   the Government of Australia and the first Solicitor-General of
   Australia.  Garran spent thirty-one years as permanent head of the
   Attorney-General's Department, providing advice to ten different Prime
   Ministers (from Barton to Lyons).  He played a significant
   behind-the-scenes role in the Australian federation movement, as
   adviser to Edmund Barton and chair of the Drafting Committee at the
   1897–1898 Constitutional Convention.  In addition to his professional
   work, Garran was also an important figure in the development of the
   city of Canberra during its early years.  He founded several important
   cultural associations, organised the creation of the Canberra
   University College, and later contributed to the establishment of the
   Australian National University.  Garran published at least eight books
   and many journal articles throughout his lifetime, covering such
   topics as constitutional law, the history of federalism in Australia,
   and German language poetry.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1745:
   King George's War: British colonial forces led by William Pepperrell
   captured the French stronghold at Fortress Louisbourg on Cape Breton
   Island after a six-week siege.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortress_Louisbourg)
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Faraaz Damji | 18 Jun 2007 03:36
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June 18: History of Puerto Rico

   The history of Puerto Rico began with the settlement of the
   archipelago of Puerto Rico by the Ortoiroid people, sometime between
   3000–2000 BC.  At the time of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New
   World, the dominant indigenous culture was that of the Taínos.  The
   Taíno culture died out during the latter half of the 16th century
   because of exploitation, war and diseases brought by the Spanish.
   Puerto Rico was the key to the Spanish Empire from the early years of
   the exploration, conquest and colonization of the New World.  The
   smallest of the Greater Antilles, Puerto Rico was a major military
   post during many wars between Spain and other European powers for
   control of the region during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.  In
   1898, during the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was invaded and
   subsequently became a possession of the United States.  The first half
   of the 20th century was marked by the struggle to obtain greater
   democratic rights from the United States.  The Foraker Act of 1900,
   which established a civil government, and the Jones Act of 1917, which
   granted Puerto Ricans U.S. citizenship, paved the way for the drafting
   of Puerto Rico's Constitution and the establishment of democratic
   elections in 1952.  However, the political status of Puerto Rico, a
   Commonwealth controlled by the U.S., remains an anomaly, more than 500
   years after the first Europeans settled the island.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1812:
   The United States declared war against the United Kingdom, officially
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Faraaz Damji | 20 Jun 2007 16:09
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June 20: Final Fantasy VI

   Final Fantasy VI is a console role-playing game developed and
   published by Square (now Square Enix) in 1994.  The game initially
   appeared on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and has since been
   ported by TOSE with minor differences to the Sony PlayStation and the
   Nintendo Game Boy Advance.  It was first released in North America as
   Final Fantasy III, although the original title has been restored in
   later releases.  The game's story focuses on a group of rebels as they
   seek to overthrow an imperial dictatorship.  Final Fantasy VI was the
   first game in the series to be directed by someone other than producer
   and series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi; the role was filled instead by
   Yoshinori Kitase and Hiroyuki Itō.  Originally released to significant
   critical acclaim, it is still regarded as a landmark of the series and
   of the role-playing genre.  It had a significantly greater number of
   battle customization options than its predecessors and the largest
   playable cast in the Final Fantasy series to date, excluding spin-off
   titles.  It remains widely praised for its storyline, characters and
   non-linear style of play.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

451:
   The Battle of Chalons against Attila the Hun is the last major battle
   of the Western Roman Empire.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chalons)

1756:
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Faraaz Damji | 21 Jun 2007 23:27
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June 21: Boston, Massachusetts

   Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of
   Massachusetts in the United States and the largest city in New
   England.  Considered the unofficial capital of the New England region,
   Boston had an estimated city-proper population of 596,638 in 2005.  The
   city lies at the center of America's eleventh-largest metropolitan
   area known as Greater Boston, which is home to 4.4 million people.
   Founded in 1630, Boston was the location of several major events
   during the American Revolution, including the Boston Massacre and the
   Boston Tea Party.  With many colleges and universities within the city
   and surrounding area, Boston is a center of higher education and a
   center for health care.  The city's economy is also based on research,
   finance, and technology — principally biotechnology.  Boston is
   struggling with gentrification issues, and has one of the highest
   costs of living in the United States.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston%2C_Massachusetts

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1813:
   Peninsular War: In the Battle of Vitoria, the Marquess of Wellington's
   combined British, Portuguese, and Spanish allied army defeated the
   French near Vitoria, Spain.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vitoria)

1864:
   New Zealand land wars: The Tauranga Campaign ended.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauranga_Campaign)
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Faraaz Damji | 24 Jun 2007 06:51
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June 24: B-52 aircraft crash at Fairchild Air Force Base

   The B-52 aircraft crash at Fairchild Air Force Base was a fatal air
   crash that occurred on June 24, 1994, killing the four crew members of
   a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52 Stratofortress during a training
   flight.  In the crash, Bud Holland, who was the command pilot of the
   aircraft based at Fairchild Air Force Base, call sign Czar 52, flew
   the aircraft beyond its operational parameters and lost control.  As a
   result, the aircraft stalled, impacted the ground, and was completely
   destroyed.  Video of the crash was shown throughout the United States
   on news broadcasts.  The accident investigation concluded that the
   chain of events leading to the crash was primarily attributable to
   Holland's personality and behavior, USAF leaders' reactions to it, and
   the sequence of events during the mishap flight of the aircraft.
   Today, the crash is used in military and civilian aviation
   environments as a case study in teaching crew resource management.
   Also, the crash is often used by the USAF during safety training as an
   example of the importance of compliance with safety regulations and
   correcting the behavior of anyone who violates safety procedures.

Read the rest of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-52_aircraft_crash_at_Fairchild_Air_Force_Base

_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:

1314:
   Scotland regained independence as forces led by Robert the Bruce
   defeated Edward II of England in the Battle of Bannockburn.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bannockburn)
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Faraaz Damji | 28 Jun 2007 00:06
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June 27: Slayer

   Slayer is an American thrash metal band, formed in 1981 by guitarists
   Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King.  Slayer rose to fame as a leader of the
   American thrash metal movement with their 1986 release Reign in Blood,
   which has been called "the heaviest album of all time." The band is
   credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal bands along with
   Megadeth, Metallica, and Anthrax.  Slayer is known for its musical
   traits, involving fast tremolo picking, guitar solos, double bass
   drumming, and screaming vocals.  The band's lyrics and album art, which
   cover topics such as serial killers, satanism, religion and warfare
   have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and strong criticism from
   religious groups and the public.  Since their debut record in 1983, the
   band has released two live albums, one box set, two DVDs, two EPs, and
   ten albums, four of which have received gold certification.  The band
   has received two Grammy nominations, winning one in 2007 for the song
   "Eyes of the Insane", and headlined music festivals worldwide,
   including Ozzfest, The Unholy Alliance and the Download Festival.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

678:
   Saint Agatho began his reign as Pope.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Agatho)

1358:
   Republic of Ragusa founded.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Ragusa)
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