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November 9

George Floyd Jr. (born 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive back for two seasons with the New York Jets in the National Football League. Floyd played college football for the Eastern Kentucky University Colonels, where he won the 1979 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I-AA football championship and set several school records, including for the most career interceptions (22), and the most career interception return yards (328). Floyd appeared in ten games during the 1982 New York Jets season, including three playoff games. He missed the entire 1983 season and appeared in eight games during the 1984 season before retiring after his third knee injury. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999. After the murder of George Floyd, an unrelated black American man, in June 2020, his photograph was erroneously included in a montage at the funeral. As of 2023, Floyd is a defensive backs coach for Conner High School in Kentucky. (Full article...)

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April 9

The Government of Maryland is conducted according to the state constitution. Like the rest of the 50 states, it follows the requirements of Article Four of the U.S. Constitution by being republican in nature. As the United States is a federation, the Government of Maryland, like all state governments, generally has exclusive authority over matters that lie entirely within the state's borders. Power in Maryland is divided among three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial. Unlike most other states, significant autonomy is granted to many of Maryland's counties. Most state government activity occurs in the state capital, Annapolis, and virtually all state and county elections occur in even numbered years in which an election for the President of the United States does not occur. (more...)

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March 9

San José is a major city in the U.S. state of California and is the county seat of Santa Clara County. The city is located at the south end of the San Francisco Bay, within the informal boundaries of Silicon Valley, and is the largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of 2003, it reported an estimated population of 925,000, making it the most populous city in Northern California and overtaking Detroit as the United States' tenth most populous city. San Jose, founded in 1777 as a farming community to provide food for nearby military installations, was the first town in the Spanish colony of California. It served as the first capital of California after statehood was granted in 1850. Aggressive expansion during the 1950s and 1960s led first to San Jose being a bedroom community for Silicon Valley in the 1970s, then attracting businesses to the city; by 1990 the city was calling itself the Capital of Silicon Valley. (more...)

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February 9

Jonathan Wild in the condemned cell at Newgate Prison

Jonathan Wild was perhaps the most famous criminal of London, if not of the United Kingdom, in the 18th century, both because of his own actions and the uses novelists, playwrights, and political satirists made of them. He invented a scheme which allowed him to run one of the most successful gangs of thieves of the era, all the while appearing to be the nation's leading policeman. He manipulated the press and the nation's fears to become the most loved public figure of the 1720s; this love turned to hatred when his villany was exposed. After his death, he became a symbol of naked corruption and hypocrisy. (more...)

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January 9

A pet skunk is a skunk kept by humans for companionship and enjoyment. Although capable of living indoors with humans similarly to dogs or cats, pet skunks are relatively rare, partly due to restrictive laws and the complexity of their care. Pet skunks are mainly kept in the United States, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. In the United States, pet skunks can be purchased from licensed shelters or breeders with a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Baby skunk availability peaks during springtime, immediately following the skunk mating season. Some large fur farms sell surplus skunks to pet stores. Most wild skunks only spray as a defense mechanism when injured or attacked. The mercaptan-emitting scent glands are usually removed in pet skunks at about four weeks of age. (more...)

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December 9

Paragraph 175 (known formally as §175 StGB) was a provision of the German Criminal Code from May 15, 1871 to March 10, 1994, which made male homosexual sex a crime. The statute was amended numerous times. Nazi Germany greatly exacerbated its severity in 1935. East Germany reverted to the old version of the law in 1950, limited its effect to sex with youths under 18 in 1968, and abolished it entirely in 1988. West Germany retained the Nazi-era statute until 1969, when it was limited to "qualified cases"; it was further attenuated in 1973 and finally revoked entirely after German reunification in 1994. In some of its forms, the law also addressed zoophilia. (more...)

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November 9

The Shrine of Remembrance, located in St Kilda Road, Melbourne, is one of the largest war memorials in Australia. It was built as a memorial to the 114,000 men and women of Victoria who served in World War I, but soon came to be seen as Australia's major memorial to all the 60,000 Australians who died in that war. It now serves as a memorial for all Australians who served in war, and is the site of annual observances of ANZAC Day (25 April) and Remembrance Day (11 November). Around the Sanctuary walls is a frieze of 12 carved panels depicting the armed services at work and in action during World War I. The Sanctuary is surrounded by a narrow walkway called the Ambulatory. Along the Ambulatory are 42 bronze caskets containing hand-written, illuminated Books of Remembrance with the names of every Victorian who enlisted for active service with the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) or Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force in World War I or died in camp prior to embarkation. (more...)

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October 9

Io is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. It is named after the Greek mythological figure Io. Although the name "Io" was suggested by Simon Marius soon after its discovery, this name and the names of the other Galilean satellites fell into disfavor for a considerable time, and were not revived in common use until the mid-20th century. In much of the earlier astronomical literature, Io is simply referred to by its Roman numeral designation as "Jupiter I," or simply as "the first satellite of Jupiter." (more...)

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September 9

The Milgram experiment was a famous scientific experiment of social psychology described by Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram in 1974. It was intended to measure the willingness of a participant to obey an authority who instructs the participant to do something that may conflict with the participant's personal conscience. The participant is assigned the role of "teacher". The participant is then given simple memory tasks to give to the "learner" (an actor) and instructed to administer a shock by pressing a button each time the learner makes a mistake. The participant is also told that the voltage is to be raised by 15 volts after each mistake. In reality, there are no actual shocks being given to the learner – the actor is acting. The experiment raised questions about the ethics of scientific experimentation itself because of the extreme emotional stress suffered by the participants. Most modern scientists would consider the experiment unethical today, though it resulted in valuable insights into human psychology. (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 9

minarets overlooks the central market of Djenné

The Great Mosque of Djenné is the largest mud brick building in the world and is considered by many architects to be the greatest achievement of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style, albeit with definite Islamic influences. The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, Mali on the flood plain of the Bani River. The first mosque on the site was built in the 13th century, but the current structure dates from the 1900s. As well as being the centre of the community of Djenné, it is one of the most famous landmarks in Africa. Along with the entire city of Djenné it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988. (more...)

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July 9

The separation of powers, in the United States Constitution, is a doctrine whereby the legislative, executive and judicial branches are kept distinct in the hope of precluding each of them from abusing power. The phrase itself never appears in the United States Constitution, but is clearly implied by the structure of the Constitution. The Constitution, however, does provide for limited interference by each branch in the affairs of another. This system, called checks and balances, is designed to prevent any one branch from becoming too powerful or abusive of power. (more...)

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June 9

The beverage tea is an infusion made by steeping the dried leaves or buds of the shrub Camellia sinensis in hot water. Tea may also include other herbs, spices, or fruit flavors. The word "tea" is also used, by extension, for any fruit or herb infusion; for example, "rosehip tea" or "camomile tea". In cases where they contain no tea leaves, some people prefer to call these beverages "infusions" or "tisanes" to avoid confusion. (more...)

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May 9

The European Union is an international organisation of 25 European states, established in 1992. It originates from the Coal and Steel Community, founded in 1951 by Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux countries. However, the French-German politician Robert Schuman presented his proposal of a united Europe, known as the Schuman declaration, already in 1950, which is considered to be the beginning of what is now the European Union. The Union has many activities, the most important being a common single market, consisting of a customs union, a single currency, a Common Agricultural Policy and a Common Fisheries Policy. (more...)

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April 9

The Dreyfus Affair was a political cover-up which divided France for many years in the late 19th century. It centered on the 1894 treason conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French army. Dreyfus was, in fact, innocent: the conviction rested on false documents, and when high-ranking officers realised this they attempted to cover up the mistakes. The writer Emile Zola exposed the affair to the general public in the literary newspaper L'Aurore (The Dawn) in a famous open letter to the Président de la République Félix Faure, titled J'accuse! (I Accuse!) on January 13, 1898. In the words of historian Barbara W. Tuchman, it was "one of the great commotions of history". (more...)

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March 9

The bathing machine was a device which flourished in the 19th century to allow people to wade in the ocean at beaches without violating Victorian notions of modesty. Bathing machines were in the form of roofed and walled wooden carts which would be rolled into the sea. Some had solid wooden walls; others had canvas walls over a wooden frame. The bathing machine was part of sea-bathing etiquette which was more rigorously enforced upon women than men, but was expected to be observed by people of both genders among those who wished to be considered "proper". (more...)

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