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Faraaz Damji | 6 Aug 2007 03:58
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August 6: European Parliament

   The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary body of
   the European Union.  Together with the Council of the European Union,
   it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the Union's institutions
   and has been described by some as one of the most powerful
   legislatures in the world.  The Parliament, together with the Council,
   form the highest legislative body within the Union.  This is only
   within the competencies of the European Community being limited to
   specific policy areas, however Union law does override national law.
   The Parliament is composed of 785 MEPs (Member of the European
   Parliament) who serve the second largest democratic electorate in the
   world (after India) and the largest trans-national democratic
   electorate in the world (492 million).  It has been directly elected,
   every five years by universal suffrage, since 1979.  Although the
   European Parliament has legislative power that such bodies as those
   above do not possess, it does not have legislative initiative like
   most national parliaments.  While it is the "first institution" of the
   European Union, the Council has greater powers over legislation than
   the Parliament where codecision procedure (equal rights of amendment
   and rejection) doesn't apply.  It has however had control over the EU
   budget since the 1970s and has a veto over the appointment of the
   European Commission.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1806:
   The Holy Roman Empire dissolved after Francis II, the last Holy
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Faraaz Damji | 7 Aug 2007 04:39
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August 7: William Tecumseh Sherman

   William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman,
   educator, and author.  He served as a general in the United States Army
   during the American Civil War (1861–65), receiving both recognition
   for his outstanding command of military strategy, and criticism for
   the harshness of his "scorched earth" policies while conducting total
   war against the enemy.  Military historian Basil Liddell Hart famously
   declared that Sherman was "the first modern general." In 1864, Sherman
   became the Union commander in the western theater of the war.  He
   proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of Atlanta.  His subsequent
   march through Georgia and the Carolinas further undermined the
   Confederacy's ability to continue fighting.  He accepted the surrender
   of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida
   in April 1865.  After the Civil War, Sherman became Commanding General
   of the U.S. Army (1869–83).  As such, he was responsible for the
   conduct of the Indian Wars in the western United States.  In 1875, he
   published his Memoirs, one of the best-known firsthand accounts of the
   Civil War.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1679:
   Le Griffon, a brigantine by René-Robert de LaSalle, became the first
   sailing ship to navigate the Great Lakes.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9-Robert_Cavelier%2C_Sieur_de_La_Salle)
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Faraaz Damji | 9 Aug 2007 06:02
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August 9: Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

   Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion is a 1944
   triptych painted by the Irish-born artist Francis Bacon.  The work is
   based on the Eumenides, or Furies, of Aeschylus' The Oresteia, and
   depicts three writhing anthropomorphic creatures set against a flat
   orange background.  The triptych was executed in oil paint and pastel
   on Sundeala fibre board, and was completed within the space of two
   weeks.  The work summarizes themes explored in Bacon's previous
   paintings, including his examination of Picasso's biomorphs, and his
   interpretations of the Crucifixion and the Greek Furies.  Bacon did not
   realize his intention to paint a large crucifixion scene and place the
   figures at the foot of the cross.  The Three Studies triptych is
   generally considered Bacon's first mature piece; he regarded his works
   before the triptych as irrelevant, and throughout his life he tried to
   suppress their appearance in the art market.  When the painting was
   first exhibited in 1945, it caused a sensation, and helped to
   establish him as one of England's foremost post-war painters.
   Commenting on the cultural significance of Three Studies, the critic
   John Russell observed in 1971 that "there was painting in England
   before the Three Studies, and painting after them, and no one ... can
   confuse the two."

Read the rest of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Studies_for_Figures_at_the_Base_of_a_Crucifixion

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Today's selected anniversaries:

378:
   A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens was destroyed by the Goths
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Faraaz Damji | 12 Aug 2007 06:43
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August 12: Toraja

   The Toraja are an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of
   South Sulawesi, Indonesia.  Their population is approximately 650,000,
   of which 450,000 still live in the regency of Tana Toraja.  Most of the
   population is Christian, and others are Muslim or have local animist
   beliefs known as aluk ("the way").  Torajans are renowned for their
   elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs,
   massive peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and
   colorful wood carvings.  Toraja funeral rites are important social
   events, usually attended by hundreds of people and lasting for several
   days.  Before the 20th century, Torajans lived in autonomous villages,
   where they practised animism and were relatively untouched by the
   outside world.  In the early 1900s, Dutch missionaries first worked to
   convert Torajan highlanders to Christianity.  When the Tana Toraja
   regency was further opened to the outside world in the 1970s, it
   became an icon of tourism in Indonesia: it was exploited by tourism
   developers and studied by anthropologists.  By the 1990s, when tourism
   peaked, Toraja society had evolved significantly, from its
   agricultural beginnings into a largely Christian society.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1099:
   The First Crusade concluded with the Battle of Ascalon and Fatimid
   forces under Al-Afdal Shahanshah retreating to Egypt.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ascalon)
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Faraaz Damji | 13 Aug 2007 05:11
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August 13: Maximus the Confessor

   Maximus the Confessor was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar.
   In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the
   Byzantine Emperor Heraclius.  However, he gave up this life in the
   political sphere to enter into the monastic life.  After moving to
   Carthage, Maximus studied several Neo-Platonist writers and became a
   prominent author.  When one of his friends began espousing the
   Christological position known as Monothelitism, Maximus was drawn into
   the controversy, in which he supported the Chalcedonian position that
   Jesus had both a human and a divine will.  Maximus is venerated in both
   Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity.  His positions
   eventually resulted in exile, soon after which he died.  However, his
   theology was vindicated by the Third Council of Constantinople and he
   was venerated as a saint soon after his death.  His feast day is 13
   August.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1704:
   Led by the Duke of Marlborough, the combined forces of England, the
   Holy Roman Empire, and the United Provinces defeated France and
   Bavaria in the Battle of Blenheim, one of the turning points of the
   War of the Spanish Succession.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blenheim)

1961:
   Construction of the Berlin Wall, a long barrier separating West
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Faraaz Damji | 14 Aug 2007 06:50
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August 14: Postage stamps of Ireland

   Postage stamps of Ireland are the postage stamps issued by the postal
   authority of the independent Irish state.  Ireland was part of the
   United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland when the world's first
   postage stamps were issued in 1840.  These stamps, and all subsequent
   British issues, were used in Ireland until the new Irish Government
   assumed power in 1922.  Beginning on 17 February 1922, existing British
   stamps were overprinted with Irish text to provide some definitives
   until separate Irish issues became available.  Following the
   overprints, a regular series of definitive stamps was produced by the
   new Department of Posts and Telegraphs, using domestic designs.  These
   definitives were issued on 6 December 1922; the first was a 2d stamp,
   depicting a map of Ireland.  Since then new images, and additional
   values as needed, have produced a total of nine series of definitives.
   These were the major stamp production for everyday use.  Commemorative
   stamps first appeared in 1929, and these now appear several times a
   year, celebrating many aspects of Irish life, such as notable events
   and anniversaries, Irish life and culture, and many famous Irish
   people.  Some definitive and commemorative stamps have been produced in
   miniature sheet, booklet and coil configurations in addition to the
   common sheet layout.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1385:
   Forces under João I defeated the Castilians in the Battle of
   Aljubarrota, ending the 1383–1385 Crisis in Portugal.
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Faraaz Damji | 16 Aug 2007 08:43
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August 16: Rail transport in India

   Rail transport in India is one of the most common modes of
   long-distance transport.  Rail operations are largely run by a
   state-owned company, Indian Railways.  The rail network traverses the
   length and width of the country, covering a total length of 63,140 km
   (39,233 miles).  It is one of the largest and busiest rail networks in
   the world, transporting over 5 billion passengers and over 350
   million tonnes of freight annually.  Its operations cover twenty-five
   states and three union territories and also link the neighbouring
   countries of Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.  Railways were introduced
   to India in 1853, and by the time of India's independence in 1947 they
   had grown to forty-two rail systems.  In 1951 the systems were
   nationalised as one unit—Indian Railways—to form one of the largest
   networks in the world.  Locomotives manufactured at several places in
   India are assigned codes identifying their gauge, kind of power and
   type of operation.  Colour signal lights are used as signals, but in
   some remote areas of operation, the older semaphores and discs-based
   signalling are still in use.  Accommodation classes range from general
   through first class AC.  Trains have been classified according to speed
   and area of operation.  Many trains are officially identified by a
   four-digit code, though many are commonly known by unique names also.
   The ticketing system has been computerised to a large extent, and
   there are reserved as well as unreserved categories of tickets.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1777:
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Faraaz Damji | 18 Aug 2007 05:07
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August 18: Effects of Hurricane Isabel in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

   The effects of Hurricane Isabel in Maryland and Washington, D.C. were
   among the worst from a tropical cyclone in the Baltimore-Washington
   Metropolitan Area.  Hurricane Isabel formed from a tropical wave on
   September 6 2003 in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.  It moved
   northwestward, and within an environment of light wind shear and warm
   waters it steadily strengthened to reach peak winds of 165 mph
   (265 km/h) on September 11.  After fluctuating in intensity for four
   days, Isabel gradually weakened and made landfall on the Outer Banks
   of North Carolina with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h) on September 18.  It
   quickly weakened over land and became extratropical over western
   Pennsylvania the next day.  On September 19, Tropical Storm Isabel
   passed through extreme western Maryland, though its large circulation
   produced tropical storm force winds throughout the state.  About
   1.24 million people lost power throughout the state.  The worst of its
   effects came from its storm surge, which inundated areas along the
   coast and resulted in severe beach erosion.  In Eastern Maryland,
   hundreds of buildings were damaged or destroyed, primarily in Queen
   Anne's County from tidal flooding.  Thousands of houses were affected
   in Central Maryland, with severe storm surge flooding reported in
   Baltimore and Annapolis.  Washington, D.C. sustained moderate damage,
   primarily from the winds.  Throughout Maryland and Washington, damage
   totaled about $820 million, with only one direct fatality due to
   flooding.

Read the rest of this article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Isabel_in_Maryland_and_Washington%2C_D.C.

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Today's selected anniversaries:
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Faraaz Damji | 22 Aug 2007 06:51
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[Wikipedia] August 22: Gwoyeu Romatzyh

   Gwoyeu Romatzyh (GR) is a system for writing Chinese in the Latin
   alphabet.  It was developed in the 1920s by a group of linguists led by
   Y.R. Chao, and is unique in its use of "tonal spelling" to indicate
   the four tones of Mandarin.  Tones are a fundamental part of the
   Chinese language: using the wrong tone sounds as puzzling as if one
   said bud in English, meaning "not good" or "the thing one sleeps in".
   Unlike other systems, which indicate tones with accents or numbers, GR
   modifies the spelling of the syllable: the four tones of guo, for
   example, are shown above (the second tone gwo, meaning "nation",
   occurs in Gwoyeu).  Some teachers believe that these distinctive
   spellings may help foreign students remember the tones.  In 1928 China
   adopted GR as the nation's official romanization system.  Although GR
   was mainly used in dictionaries, its proponents hoped one day to
   establish it as a writing system for a reformed Chinese script.  But
   despite support from trained linguists in China and overseas, GR met
   with public indifference and even hostility due to its complexity.
   Eventually GR lost ground to Pinyin and other later romanization
   systems.  However, its influence is still evident, as several of the
   principles introduced by its creators have been used in romanization
   systems that followed it.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1485:
   Lancastrian forces under Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond defeated
   Yorkist forces under Richard III of England at the Battle of Bosworth
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Faraaz Damji | 23 Aug 2007 06:40
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[Wikipedia] August 23: Jake Gyllenhaal

   Jake Gyllenhaal is an Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA Award-winning
   American actor.  The son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and
   screenwriter Naomi Foner, Gyllenhaal began acting at age eleven, and
   his career has seen performances in diverse roles.  Gyllenhaal's first
   major film appearance was in 2001's cult hit Donnie Darko, in which he
   played a teenager troubled by psychological problems.  In the 2004
   blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, he portrayed a student caught in a
   cataclysmic global cooling event alongside Dennis Quaid.  He then
   played against type as a frustrated Marine in Jarhead (2005) and, that
   same year, won critical acclaim as a "gay cowboy" in the controversial
   but highly lauded film, Brokeback Mountain.  Gyllenhaal has taken an
   activist role in supporting various political and social causes.  He
   appeared in Rock the Vote advertising, campaigned for the Democratic
   party in the 2004 election, and has promoted environmental causes and
   the American Civil Liberties Union.

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

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1305:
   After a show trial, William Wallace, leader of the Scottish
   resistance against England during the Wars of Scottish Independence,
   was executed in Smithfield Market, London.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wallace)

1839:
   As it prepared for war against China's Qing Dynasty, an ensuing
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