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November 10

Modern gravestone of Justus

Justus was the fourth archbishop of Canterbury. Pope Gregory the Great sent Justus to England on a mission to Christianise the Anglo-Saxons, probably arriving with the second group of missionaries despatched in 601. Justus became the first bishop of Rochester in 604 and signed a letter to the Irish bishops urging them to adopt the Roman method of calculating the date of Easter. He also attended a church council in Paris in 614. Following the death of King Æthelberht of Kent in 616, Justus was forced to flee to Gaul but was reinstated in his diocese the following year. In 624, Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury, overseeing the despatch of missionaries to Northumbria. He died on 10 November, probably sometime between 627 and 631. After his death, he was revered as a saint and had a shrine in St Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury, to which his remains were translated in the 1090s (gravestone pictured). (This article is part of a featured topic: Members of the Gregorian mission.)

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April 10

Ryanair is an airline based in Ireland. It is Europe's largest low-cost carrier, operating 209 low-fare routes to 94 destinations across 17 European countries. Over the years it has evolved into the world's most profitable airline, running at remarkable margins by relentlessly driving costs down. Ryanair has been characterised by rapid and continuing expansion, enabled by the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997. It operates a fleet of 74 Boeing 737s, and currently has firm orders for an additional 225 Boeing 737-800 airplanes by 2010, with options on a further 193. Ryanair is one of Europe's most controversial companies, praised and criticised in equal measure. Its supporters praise its commitment to exceptionally low fares, its radical management, its populism, and its willingness to challenge what Ryanair calls the 'establishment' within the airline industry. Critics, meanwhile, have attacked its labor union policies, and have charged that it practises deceptive advertising. (more...)

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March 10

Comet Hale-Bopp was probably the most widely-observed comet of the last century, and one of the brightest seen for many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811. Hale-Bopp was discovered on July 23, 1995 at a very large distance from the sun, raising expectations that the comet could become very bright when it passed close to the sun. Although comet brightnesses are very difficult to predict with any degree of accuracy, Hale-Bopp met or exceeded most predictions for its brightness when it passed perihelion on April 1, 1997. The comet was dubbed the Great Comet of 1997. The passage of Hale-Bopp was notable also for inciting a degree of panic about comets not seen for decades. Rumours that the comet was being followed by an alien spacecraft gained remarkable currency, and inspired a mass suicide among followers of the Heaven's Gate cult. (more...)

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February 10

The Coconut Crab is the largest terrestrial arthropod, known for its ability to crack coconuts with its strong pincers in order to eat the contents. It is sometimes called the "Robber Crab" because some steal shiny items such as pots and silverware from houses and tents. Another name is the "terrestrial hermit crab," due to the use of shells by young crabs. Its range includes the Indian and western Pacific ocean. They differ slightly in color among different islands, ranging from light violet to deep purple, to brown. Their diet consists primarily of all kinds of fruits, including coconuts and figs. However, the crab will eat nearly anything organic, including leaves, rotten fruit, tortoise eggs, dead animals, and shells of other animals. They cannot swim and will drown in water. (more...)

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January 10

Since 1949, the head of state of the Republic of Ireland has been the President of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people, and serves a maximum of two seven year terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain reserve powers. The office was established by the Constitution of Ireland in 1937. The President's official residence is Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin, and the current office-holder is President Mary McAleese. The President is formally elected by the people once in every seven years, except in the event of premature vacancy, when an election must be held within sixty days, or when there is only one valid candidate for the presidency, as happened in 2004. The President is directly elected by secret ballot under the form of the Single Transferable Vote system. (more...)

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December 10

The Saturn V was a multistage liquid-fuel expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs. It was the largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, although larger models were theorised. The rocket was designed under the direction of Wernher von Braun and Arthur Rudolph at the Marshall Space Flight Center, with the lead contractors being The Boeing Company, North American Aviation, Douglas Aircraft Company and IBM. Thirteen Saturn V rockets were launched from 1967 to 1973, with a perfect launch record. (Although Apollo 6 and Apollo 13 did lose engines, the onboard computers were able to compensate.) The main payloads of the rocket were the Apollo spacecraft which carried the NASA astronauts to the Moon. It also launched the Skylab space station. (more...)

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November 10

There are three types of Japanese toilets. The oldest type is a simple Asian squat toilet, which is still common in public restrooms. After World War II, modern Western-type flush toilets and urinals became common. Current state of the art is a high-tech bidet toilet, are known as Washlet, which as of 2004 is installed in over half of all Japanese households. These high-tech toilets include a built-in bidet for both the anus and vulva, where a water jet cleans the private regions of the user. Many additional features are also often included, such as a blow dryer, seat heating, massage options and other adjustments for the water jet of the bidet, automatic opening of the lid and flushing after use, a wireless toilet control panel, heating and air conditioning for the toilet room, etc. (more...)

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October 10

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is a part of the Bill of Rights. It was conceived to prevent Congress and the federal government from infringing on five rights. These guarantees were that the government would not endorse any religion or establish a state religion, prohibit the free exercise of religion, infringe upon freedom of speech, infringe the freedom of the press, limit the right to assemble peaceably, or limit the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances. The First Amendment, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights, was proposed by Congress in 1789, to be ratified by the requisite number of states in 1791. It was passed in order to answer protestations that the newly created Constitution did not include sufficient guarantees of civil liberties. The First Amendment only explicitly disallows any of the rights from being abridged by Congress. Over time, however, the courts held that this extends to the executive and judicial branches. The Fourteenth Amendment went further, making abridging First Amendment rights unconstitutional for state, county, and local governments. (more...)

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September 10

CEE 7/7 Schuko plug

A mains power plug is a mechanical connector that fits into a power point or electrical socket. It has male features, usually brass and often tin or nickel plated, that interface mechanically and electrically to the mains. Such plugs have live, neutral and an optional earth contact. Large appliances with higher voltages use three-phase current and have phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, neutral and an optional earth contact. The reason we now have over a dozen different styles of plugs and wall outlets is that many countries preferred to develop plug designs of their own, instead of adopting a common standard. In many countries, there is no single standard, with multiple plug designs in use, creating extra complexity and potential safety problems for users. (more...)

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September 6

The Warsaw Uprising was an armed struggle during the Second World War by the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw from German occupation and Nazi rule. It started on August 1, 1944 as a part of a nationwide uprising, Operation Tempest. The Polish troops resisted the German-led forces until October 2. An estimated 85% of the city was destroyed during the urban guerrilla war and after the end of hostilities. The Uprising started at a crucial point in the war as the Soviet army was approaching Warsaw. Although the Soviet army was within a few hundred metres of the city from September 16 onward, the link between the uprising and the advancing army was never made. This failure and the reasons behind it have been a matter of controversy ever since. (more...)

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August 10

Middle-earth is the name for the lands on J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional ancient Earth. The term can apply generally to the entire world (Arda) depicted in The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion, or in a narrow sense relating only to the main continent (also properly called Endor). Although Middle-earth's setting is often thought to be another world, it is actually a fictional period in Earth's own history — set 6,000 to 7,000 years ago. Tolkien emphatically insisted that Middle-earth is our Earth in several of his letters. The action of the books is largely confined to the north-west of the continent, corresponding to modern-day Europe. (more...)

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July 10

Cumulus humilis indicates a good day ahead.

Weather lore is the body of informal folklore related to the prediction of the weather. Prior to the invention of the mercury barometer, it was very difficult to gather numerical data of any predictive value. Even though there were devices such as the weather stick which gave some indication of moisture changes, the only instrument of any reliability was human experience. Oral and written history is full of rhymes, anecdotes and adages meant to guide the uncertain in determining whether the morrow will bring weather fair or foul. For the farmer wanting to plant his crop or the merchant about to send his ships on trade, foreknowledge of tomorrow's circumstances might mean the difference between success and failure. (more...)

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June 10

The Foundation Series is an epic science fiction series written by Isaac Asimov over the span of forty-nine years. The premise of the series is that mathematician Hari Seldon has spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, which can be used to predict the future. Using these techniques, Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way. He also predicts that there will be a thirty-thousand-year dark age before the next great empire rises. To prevent this, he decides to create a small haven of technology in a corner of the galaxy (on the planet Terminus) called the Foundation, whose job it will be to preserve knowledge from the collapse. (more...)

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May 10

Chess is a board game for two players, which requires 32 chesspieces. The board is a great square overall consisting of eight rows (ranks) by eight columns (files) of individual squares which alternate in color orthogonally (traditionally as white and black). Hence, there are a total of 64 individual squares. The object of the game is to put the opponent's king in checkmate. (more...)

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April 10

Heavy metal is a form of rock music characterised by aggressive, driving rhythms, highly amplified guitars, and often dark thematic elements. Heavy metal is an evolutionary product of pop, blues and classical music. Its first wave, between 1967 and 1974, was a product of pop and blues, while the classical element came to the fore in the later 1970s. By approximately 1991 most heavy metal had evolved into other hard rock genres, notably grunge. (more...)

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March 10

Leonardo da Vinci was a celebrated Italian Renaissance architect, inventor, engineer, sculptor and painter. He can be seen as the archetype of the Renaissance man and has been described as a genius. Leonardo is well known for his masterful paintings, such as The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. Only 17 of his paintings, and none of his statues, survive. (more...)

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