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pierre-j · 3 years
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The killing of Muhammad al-Durrah took place in the Gaza Strip on 30 September 2000, during the widespread protests and riots of the Second Intifada. Jamal al-Durrah and his 12-year-old son Muhammad were filmed by Talal Abu Rahma, a Palestinian television cameraman freelancing for France 2, as the two were caught in crossfire between Israeli and Palestinian forces. The footage shows the pair crouching behind a concrete cylinder, the boy crying and the father waving, then a burst of gunfire and dust, with the boy slumping over. Some of the footage was broadcast in France with a voiceover from Charles Enderlin, who told viewers that the al-Durrahs had been the target of Israeli fire, killing the boy. This interpretation has been questioned by critics and by the Israel Defense Forces, which retracted an initial apology. After an emotional public funeral, Muhammad was hailed throughout the Muslim world as a martyr, with the scene appearing on postage stamps.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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The two submarines of the U-1 class, U-1 and U-2, were built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Constructed according to an American design, they were launched in 1909. A diving chamber, wheels for traveling along the seabed, and other experimental features were tested extensively in sea trials. Their gasoline engines were replaced around the start of World War I over safety and efficiency concerns. The boats have been described by naval historians as obsolete by the time they were commissioned in 1911. Both submarines were mobilized briefly during the Balkan Wars, and otherwise served as training boats before 1915. From 1915 to 1918 they conducted reconnaissance cruises out of Trieste and Pola, though neither sank any enemy vessels during the war. Facing defeat in October 1918, the Austro-Hungarian government transferred the bulk of its fleet, including these submarines, to the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs to avoid having to hand its ships over to the Allied Powers.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is an annual plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae, often grown as a leaf vegetable, and sometimes for its stem or seeds. Often used for salads, lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps. In addition to its use as a leafy green, it has religious and medicinal significance. World production of lettuce and chicory for 2017 was 27 million tonnes, 56 percent of which came from China. Generally grown as a hardy annual, lettuce is easily cultivated, although it requires relatively low temperatures to prevent it from flowering quickly. It can be plagued by numerous nutrient deficiencies, as well as insect and mammal pests, and fungal and bacterial diseases. Lettuce is a rich source of vitamin K and vitamin A, and a moderate source of folate and iron. Contaminated lettuce can be a source of bacterial, viral, and parasitic outbreaks in humans, including E. coli and Salmonella.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Transandinomys is a genus of rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of the family Cricetidae—a grouping of medium-sized, soft-furred rice rats. It includes two species—T. bolivaris and T. talamancae—found in forests from Honduras in Central America to southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Venezuela in South America. The upperparts—brownish in T. bolivaris and reddish in T. talamancae—are much darker than the whitish underparts. Both species are characterized by very long vibrissae (whiskers), but those of T. bolivaris are particularly long. In addition, several other morphological differences distinguish the two, including wider first upper molars in T. bolivaris. Both species live on the ground, are active during the night, eat both plant and animal matter, and construct nests of vegetation. They are hosts to various external parasites. They are in no apparent danger of extinction and have been assessed as least-concern species on the IUCN Red List.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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British nuclear tests were conducted at Maralinga in the Woomera Prohibited Area in South Australia between 1956 and 1963. A total of seven major nuclear tests took place at Maralinga, with explosive yields ranging from approximately 1 to 27 kilotonnes of TNT (4 to 110 terajoules). Two major test series were conducted: Operation Buffalo (final test pictured) in 1956 and Operation Antler the following year. One bomb used cobalt pellets as a tracer for determining yield, resulting in rumours that Britain was developing a cobalt bomb. The site was also used for trials of neutron initiators and tests on the compression of nuclear weapon cores and the effects of fire on atomic weapons. It was left contaminated with radioactive waste, and a clean-up was attempted in 1967. A further clean-up was completed in 2000. In 1994, the Australian government paid $13.5 million in compensation to the traditional owners, the Maralinga Tjarutja people. The land was restored to them in 2014.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Illustrations of the Family of Psittacidae, or Parrots is an 1832 book by Edward Lear containing 42 hand-coloured lithographs (example pictured). Lear started painting parrots for the book in 1830 when he was 18 years old, and to get material for his book he studied live birds at the London Zoo and in private collections. Although the book was a financial failure, Lear's paintings of parrots established his reputation as one of the best natural history artists of his time. It found him work with leading contemporary naturalists, and the young Queen Victoria engaged him to help her with her painting technique. Lear's works influenced children's illustrators such as Beatrix Potter and Maurice Sendak. He continued with his nature painting for some years, but from about 1835 he became concerned about his failing eyesight, and increasingly concentrated on his nonsense works and landscape painting. He may have contributed to the illustrations for Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Star Control 3 is an action-adventure game developed by Legend Entertainment and published by Accolade. The third and final official entry in the Star Control trilogy, the game was released for MS-DOS on September 24, 1996, and Mac OS in 1998. It features a single-player campaign combining space exploration, alien dialogue, and ship-to-ship combat; the player engages in top-down battles between starships with unique abilities. To create this sequel, Accolade hired Legend (president pictured) after series creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford decided to pursue other projects. Legend was selected for their familiarity with Star Control and experience with interactive fiction writing. They designed the game in consultation with fans, replacing features from Star Control II that had received negative feedback. Star Control 3 was considered a critical and commercial success upon release, but later suffered from comparisons to the award-winning Star Control II.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional football. The stadium is situated on Harry Potts Way, named after the manager who won the 1959–60 First Division with the club, and has a capacity of 21,944. The Turf Moor site has been used for sporting activities since at least 1843, when Burnley Cricket Club moved to the area. In 1883, they invited Burnley F.C. to use a pitch adjacent to the cricket field. A grandstand and terraces were added in 1885. During the 1990s, the Longside and the Bee Hole End terraces were replaced by all-seater stands following the recommendations of the Taylor Report. The stadium's record attendance was set in 1924, when 54,775 people attended an FA Cup third round game between Burnley and Huddersfield Town.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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The Triumph of Cleopatra is an oil painting by the English artist William Etty, depicting a scene from Plutarch's Life of Antony and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, in which Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, voyages to Tarsus to cement an alliance with the Roman general Mark Antony. The painting shows a large group of people in various states of nudity, watching her ship's arrival. First exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1821, the painting was an immediate success and made the then-obscure Etty famous almost overnight. Although some commentators considered it offensive and indecent, the painting's success prompted Etty to spend the next decade painting further history paintings containing nude figures, becoming well known for combining these with moral messages.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Banksia sceptrum, the sceptre banksia, is a plant that grows in Western Australia near the central west coast from Geraldton north through Kalbarri to Hamelin Pool, extending inland almost to Mullewa. It is generally a shrub up to 4 m (13 ft) in diameter and 2���4 m (7–13 ft) high, sometimes reaching 5 m (16 ft). First collected and grown by early settler James Drummond in Western Australia, it was described by Swiss botanist Carl Meissner in 1855. In nature, B. sceptrum grows in deep yellow or pale red sand in tall shrubland, commonly on dunes. It is killed in bushfires and regenerates by seed, the woody follicles opening with fire. B. sceptrum is one of the most striking yellow-flowered banksias, with tall bright flower spikes (inflorescences) that are well displayed on the ends of branches. Flowering is in summer, mainly December and January, though flowers are occasionally seen at other times.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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William IV (1765–1837) was King of Britain and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death on 20 June 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover. William served in the Royal Navy in his youth, and was later nicknamed the "Sailor King". As his two older brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, he inherited the throne when he was 64 years old. His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all of the British Empire, and the British electoral system refashioned by the Reform Act 1832. Although William did not engage in politics during his reign as much as earlier kings, he was the last British monarch to appoint a prime minister against the will of Parliament. He granted his German kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution. William was succeeded by his niece Victoria in Britain and his brother Ernest Augustus in Hanover.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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M-1 is a north–south state trunkline highway in the Metro Detroit area of the US state of Michigan. The highway runs from Detroit north-northwesterly to Pontiac. The Federal Highway Administration has listed it as the Automotive Heritage Trail, an All-American Road in the National Scenic Byways Program. Created after Detroit's Great Fire of 1805, the road follows the route of the Saginaw Trail, a Native American trail that linked Detroit with Pontiac, Flint, and Saginaw. M-1 passes through several historic districts in Detroit, and runs next to the Highland Park Ford Plant, home of the original moving assembly line used to produce Model Ts. Commonly known as Woodward Avenue, the street has become synonymous with Detroit's cruising culture and automotive industry. Downtown entertainment venues along Woodward include the Fox Theatre and the Majestic Theatre. M-1 exits Detroit at 8 Mile Road and runs through the city's northern suburbs in Oakland County.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Acamptonectes is a genus of ophthalmosaurid ichthyosaur, a type of dolphin-like marine reptile that lived during the Early Cretaceous around 130 million years ago. The first specimen—a partial adult skeleton—was discovered in Speeton, England, in 1958, but it was not formally described until 2012. Acamptonectes had unusual adaptations that made its trunk rigid, including tightly-fitting bones in the occiput (back and lower part of the skull) and interlocking vertebral centra, likely allowing it to swim at high speeds with a tuna-like form of locomotion. Other distinguishing characteristics include an extremely slender snout and unique ridges on the basioccipital bone of the braincase. As an ichthyosaur, Acamptonectes had large eye sockets and a tail fluke. Its teeth, which were slender and textured with longitudinal ridges, were probably adapted for impaling prey such as squid and fleshy fish.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Hurricane Humberto was a large and powerful tropical cyclone that caused extensive wind damage in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda during September 2019. It was the eighth named storm and third hurricane of the 2019 Atlantic hurricane season. Humberto formed on September 13, then paralleled the eastern coastline of Florida until September 16, when it turned sharply northeastward and became a hurricane. It reached peak intensity as a Category 3 hurricane on September 18. After its center passed within 65 miles (100 km) of Bermuda on September 19, the storm transitioned the next day to a potent extratropical cyclone. Rip currents killed one person in Florida and another in North Carolina. In Bermuda, peak surface winds of around 110 mph (180 km/h), with higher gusts, caused widespread damage to trees, roofs, crops, and power lines. About 600 buildings had roof damage, and L.F. Wade International Airport and the Bermuda Weather Service campus suffered property damage.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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The Roman withdrawal from Africa in 255 BC was the attempt by the Roman Republic to rescue the survivors of their defeated expeditionary force to Carthaginian Africa (in what is now north-eastern Tunisia) during the First Punic War. A force of 390 warships fought and defeated 200 Carthaginian vessels off Cape Hermaeum (the modern Cape Bon or Ras ed-Dar), north of the town of Aspis. The Carthaginians had 114 of their ships captured, together with their crews, and 16 sunk. Most modern historians assume there were no Roman losses. The Romans landed in Aspis – where the Roman survivors of the previous year's invasion were besieged – sortied, dispersed the besiegers and raided the surrounding country for food. All then re-embarked and left for Italy. While returning the Roman fleet encountered a storm off the south-east corner of Sicily; 384 ships were sunk and more than 100,000 men were lost.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Raymond Pace Alexander (1897–1974) was a civil rights leader, lawyer, and politician who was the first African-American judge appointed to the Pennsylvania courts of common pleas. In 1920, he became the first black graduate of the Wharton School of Business. He married in 1923; in 1927 his wife, Sadie, became the first black woman to earn a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1923, Alexander became one of the leading civil rights attorneys in Philadelphia. He represented black defendants in high-profile cases, including the Trenton Six, a group of black men arrested for murder in Trenton, New Jersey. Alexander also entered politics, unsuccessfully running for judge multiple times. He finally ran for, and won, a seat on the Philadelphia City Council in 1951. After serving two terms, Alexander was appointed as the first black judge to sit on the courts of common pleas, where he served until his death in 1974.
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pierre-j · 3 years
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Keechaka Vadham (The Extermination of Keechaka) is an Indian silent film produced, directed, filmed and edited by R. Nataraja Mudaliar (pictured), and released in the late 1910s. No print of it is known to survive. The first Tamil film and the first film to be made in South India, it was shot in about five weeks at Mudaliar's production house, India Film Company. The screenplay by C. Rangavadivelu is based on an episode from the Virata Parva segment of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, focusing on Keechaka's attempts to woo Draupadi. The film stars Raju Mudaliar and Jeevarathnam as the central characters. Keechaka Vadham was commercially successful and received positive critical feedback. The film's success prompted the director to make a series of similar historical films that laid the foundation for the South Indian cinema industry. His works were an inspiration to other filmmakers, including Raghupathi Surya Prakasa and J. C. Daniel.
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