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In the news
- A cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone is declared a national emergency following the deaths of more than 300 people.
- At least 36 people are suspected dead after Hurricane Isaac (satellite image pictured) strikes the Gulf Coast of the United States, Lesser Antilles, Greater Antilles and the Bahamas.
- The opening ceremony of the Summer Paralympic Games is held in London.
- An Israeli court rules that the Israel Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense were not responsible for the death of Rachel Corrie in the Gaza Strip in 2003.
- More than 2,000 people riot in Mombasa, Kenya, in reaction to the shooting death of Muslim cleric Aboud Rogo.
- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announces the commencement of peace talks with the rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Today's featured article
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn written by English poet and clergyman John Newton (pictured) and published in 1779. Based on Newton's personal experiences at sea (in the Royal Navy and the slave trade), it was originally written in 1773 and published in Newton and Cowper's Olney Hymns in 1779. Although it became relatively obscure in England, in the United States it was commonly used during the Second Great Awakening. The original tune, if any, is unknown, but it is now most commonly sung to the tune "New Britain". It conveys a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit, and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God. One of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world, it has been called "the most famous of all the folk hymns", having been recorded thousands of times during the 20th century and becoming emblematic in African American spiritual music. (more...)
Recently featured: Simon Bolivar Buckner – History of Michigan State University – John Martin Scripps
On this day...
September 1: Start of the Liturgical year in the Eastern Orthodox Church; Constitution Day in Slovakia; Independence Day in Uzbekistan (1991)
| 1715 | Louis XIV of France (pictured), the "Sun King", died after a reign of 72 years, longer than any other French or other major European monarch at the time. |
| 1804 | German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding discovered one of the largest main belt asteroids, naming it Juno after the Roman goddess. |
| 1862 | American Civil War: Confederate forces attacked retreating Union Army troops at the Battle of Chantilly during a rainstorm in Chantilly, Virginia, but the fighting ended up being tactically inconclusive. |
| 1914 | The Passenger Pigeon, which once had a population of at least 3 billion birds, became extinct, when the last individual died in captivity. |
| 1969 | A bloodless coup d'état led by Muammar Gaddafi overthrew Idris I of Libya. |
| 1972 | American chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer became the 11th World Chess Champion when he defeated Russian Boris Spassky in a match that was widely publicized as a Cold War confrontation. |
Did you know...
- ... that dogs (example pictured) have much more sensitive noses and ears than humans, but have trouble distinguishing red from green?
- ... that in 1809, two ministers leading the British war effort against Napoleon fought a duel against each other?
- ... that in his first year in the NFL, Lou Rash was told he was released and began flying back home, but was told upon landing that the release was a mistake and he was to return?
- ... that muthkwey was not harvested or walked over, because oral tradition held that it had grown from the droppings of a two-headed serpent?
- ... that the Mongol princess Al-Altan was rumoured to have poisoned her brother Ögedei Khan?
- ... that the Saybrook Colony was sold to Connecticut for an annual payment of 180 pounds of equal quantities of wheat, peas, and either rye or barley?
- ... that future Olympic weightlifter Chiu Yuh-chuan received a job offer in marketing after media coverage about his difficulty securing employment?
- ... that out of 148 candidates in the 1957 Manipur Territorial Council election there was only one woman?
- ... that basketball coach Trisha Stafford-Odom left the Eagles to join the Eagles?
Today's featured picture
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The fall of man is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. The doctrine of the Fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis, chapters 1–3. At first, Adam and Eve lived with God in the Garden of Eden, but a serpent tempted them into eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden. After doing so, they became ashamed of their nakedness and God expelled them from the Garden to prevent them from eating the fruit of the tree of life and becoming immortal. The narrative of the Garden of Eden and the fall of humanity constitute a mythological tradition shared by all the Abrahamic religions. The fall of man has been depicted many times in art and literature. This 1828 oil-on-canvas painting, titled Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, by Thomas Cole (1801–1848), is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, United States. Painting credit: Thomas Cole
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