Andorra

Ludovicus XIV (Francogallice: Louis XIV; 5 Septembris 1638 – 1 Septembris 1715), filius Ludovici XIII et uxoris eius Annae Austriae, fuit rex Franciae et Navarrae ac coprinceps Andorrae. Francogallice Le Roi Soleil (scil. “rex qui et sol”) nuncupatus est.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for September 1, 2015, Andorra.

Henricus I (rex Angliae)

Henricus I Belloclericus cognominatus (Anglosaxonice Heanrig; natus circa annum 1068; mortuus die 1 Decembris 1135) fuit filius minimus regis Gulielmi I Angliae. Fratre Gulielmo II mortuo sine prole Henricus fit rex Angliae anno 1100; fratre maiore natu Roberto expugnato fit et duxNormannorum anno 1106.

Die 11 Novembris 1100 in matrimonium duxit Edgitham filiam regis Malcolmi III Scotiae, et ex ea duos liberos genuit:

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for August 5, 2015, Henry I of England.

Random article: Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball

Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball.
Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball is an oil painting by English artist William Etty. Although he was then known almost exclusively for history paintings featuring nude figures, he was commissioned in 1833 by Welsh Conservative politician Charles Williams-Wynn to paint a portrait of two of his daughters. Charlotte, the eldest, is shown standing, helping the seated Mary decorate her hair with a ribbon and a rose, both in lavish Italian-style costume. Etty put a good deal of effort into the piece and took much longer than usual to finish it, first exhibiting it at the 1835 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Generally well received, even by critics usually hostile to Etty, it demonstrated that he was both capable of high-quality work and deserving of patronage by the English elite, and the success led to further commissions. It remained in the collection of Mary Williams-Wynn’s descendants and was not shown publicly for 160 years, other than in an 1849 retrospective exhibition. In 2009 it was acquired by the York Art Gallery, where it now forms part of a major collection of Etty’s work.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for August 1, 2015, Preparing for a Fancy Dress Ball.

Random article: Eusèbe Jaojoby

Eusèbe Jaojoby.
Eusèbe Jaojoby (born 29 July 1955) is a composer and singer of salegy, a musical style of northwestern Madagascar. As one of the originators of salegy and its variants malessa and baoenjy, he is credited with transforming the genre from an obscure regional musical tradition into one of national and international popularity. In 1972 Jaojoby started performing with bands that were experimentally blending American soul and funk with northwestern Malagasy musical traditions. He produced four singles with The Players before the band broke up in 1979. He rose to national prominence with his 1988 hit “Samy Mandeha Samy Mitady”, recorded his first full-length album in 1992, and went on to release eight more full-length albums and tour extensively along with his wife and adult children. He was Madagascar’s Artist of the Year in 1998 and 1999 and the UN Population Fund’s Goodwill Ambassador in 1999.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for July 29, 2015, Eusèbe Jaojoby.

Random article: Operation Camargue

Operation Camargue.
Operation Camargue (1953) was one of the largest operations by the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and the Vietnamese National Army in the First Indochina War. French armored platoons, airborne units and troops, delivered by landing craft to the coast of modern-day central Vietnam, attempted to sweep forces of the communist Viet Minh from the critical Route One. On 28 July the first wave reached an inland canal without major incident, but French armored forces began to suffer a series of ambushes as they passed through small villages. Reinforced by paratroopers, the French and their Vietnamese allies tried to tighten a net around the defending Viet Minh guerillas, but most escaped, along with their arms caches. The French concluded that ensnaring operations were impossible in the dense jungle, which slowed down troops so that enemy forces could anticipate their movements, and they withdrew from the operation by late summer. Viet Minh Regiment 95 re-infiltrated Route One and resumed ambushes of French convoys, retrieving weapons caches missed by the French forces. The regiment continued to operate in the area as late as 1962, fighting the South Vietnamese Army.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for July 28, 2015, Operation Camargue.

Fact: Myotis escalerai

Myotis escalerai is a European bat, found in Spain (including the Balearic Islands), Portugal, and far southern France. Although the species was first named in 1904, it was included in the Natterer’s bat species (Myotis nattereri) until molecular studies in 2006 proved that the two are distinct. Similar to M. nattereri, it is mostly gray with lighter underparts, and of medium size, less than 9.5 g (0.3 oz). It has a pointed muzzle, a pink face, and long ears. The bat is an agile flyer, with rapid wingbeats and broad wings, 245 to 300 mm (9.6 to 11.8 in). Females start to aggregate in late spring in maternity colonies in caves, mines, tree holes, bridges or houses. Hibernation colonies need constant temperatures between 0 and 5 °C (32 and 41 °F), and are usually found in caves or basements. The species was first seen in France in 2009, and it is classified as vulnerable in Portugal and Aragon.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for July 27, 2015, Myotis escalerai.

Random article: 2013 Atlantic hurricane season

2013 Atlantic hurricane season.
The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season was the first since 1968 with no hurricanes of Category 2 or higher. The first storm of the season, Tropical Storm Andrea, developed on June 5, and the last, unnamed, dissipated on December 7. Humberto and Ingrid were the only two hurricanes, the lowest seasonal total since 1982. Andrea killed four people after making landfall in Florida and moving up the U.S. East Coast. In early July, Tropical Storm Chantal moved through the Leeward Islands, causing one fatality, but minimal damage overall. Tropical storms Dorian and Erin and Hurricane Humberto brought only squally weather to the Cape Verde Islands. Mexico, where Hurricane Ingrid, Tropical Depression Eight, and tropical storms Barry and Fernand all made landfall, was the hardest hit; Ingrid alone caused at least 23 deaths and $1.5 billion worth of damage. In early October, Tropical Storm Karen brought showers and gusty winds to the central U.S. Gulf Coast. All major forecasting agencies had predicted an above-average season, but an unexpected weakening of the Gulf Stream and other thermohaline currents prolonged the spring weather pattern over the Atlantic Ocean, suppressing tropical storm formation.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for July 26, 2015, 2013 Atlantic hurricane season.

Random article: Elliott Fitch Shepard

Elliott Fitch Shepard.
Elliott Fitch Shepard (1833–1893) was a New York lawyer, the owner of the Mail and Express newspaper, and a founder of three banks as well as the New York State Bar Association. He was born in Jamestown, New York, one of three sons of the president of a banknote-engraving company. During the American Civil War, Shepard earned the rank of colonel and was a Union Army recruiter. After attending the City University of New York, he practiced law for about 25 years. One of his residences, Woodlea, and the church he founded nearby, Scarborough Presbyterian, are contributing properties in the historic district of Scarborough-on-Hudson in the village of Briarcliff Manor. Woodlea, one of the largest privately owned houses in the United States at the time, is now part of Sleepy Hollow Country Club. Shepard was married to Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt, granddaughter of philanthropist, business magnate, and family patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt. Deeply religious, Shepard became the controlling stockholder of the Fifth Avenue Stage Company so he could force it to close on Sundays.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for July 25, 2015, Elliott Fitch Shepard.

Random article: Capcom Five

Capcom Five.
The Capcom Five is a set of five video games released between 2003 and 2005 by Capcom for the Nintendo GameCube, all overseen by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. Nintendo and Capcom had enjoyed a close relationship during the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super Nintendo eras, and the announcement of the five new games was initially seen as an important show of third-party developer support for the GameCube. P.N.03, a futuristic third-person shooter, Viewtiful Joe, a side-scrolling action-platformer, Dead Phoenix, a shoot ’em up, and Resident Evil 4, a survival horror third-person shooter, were developed by Capcom’s Production Studio 4; Killer7, an action-adventure game with first-person shooter elements, was developed by Grasshopper Manufacture. Viewtiful Joe and Killer7 sold modestly, the former in spite of critical acclaim and the latter owing to polarized reviews, but Killer7 gained a significant cult following, effectively launching the career of creator Suda51. Resident Evil 4 was the runaway success of the five, though its GameCube sales were undercut by the announcement of a Sony PlayStation 2 version, in an early sign of Nintendo’s failure to attract and hold third-party support during the GameCube era.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for July 23, 2015, Capcom Five.

Random article: 68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment

68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
The 68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. The men were recruited mostly from Manhattan, but some came from New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. Most were German immigrants, and many of the officers had served in the armies of Austria, Prussia, and other German states. Organized in July 1861, three months after the outbreak of war, they were initially assigned to the defense of Washington, D.C., with the Army of the Potomac, and later fought at the Battle of Cross Keys in the Shenandoah Valley. They found themselves in the thick of the fighting at Second Bull Run, and were routed by Confederate forces at Chancellorsville. At Gettysburg, they saw battle on two of the three days and took heavy losses. The regiment was then transferred to the west and participated in the Chattanooga campaign. They assisted in the Union victories at Wauhatchie and Missionary Ridge, and marched to relieve the siege of Knoxville. They spent the last year of the war on occupation duty in Tennessee and Georgia, before being disbanded in November 1865.

Source: Wikipedia article of the day for July 22, 2015, 68th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment.