The siege of Guînes took place from May to July 1352 when a French army under Geoffrey de Charny unsuccessfully attempted to recapture the French castle (pictured) at Guînes which had been seized by the English the previous January. The siege was part of the Hundred Years' War and took place during the uneasy and ill-kept truce of Calais. The strongly fortified castle had been taken by the English during a period of nominal truce and the English king, Edward III, decided to keep it. Charny led 4,500 men and retook the town but was unable to either recapture or blockade the castle. After two months of fierce fighting, a large English night attack on the French camp inflicted a heavy defeat and the French withdrew. Guînes was incorporated into the Pale of Calais. The threat posed by this enclave caused the French to garrison 60 fortified positions around it, at ruinous expense. The castle was besieged by the French in 1436 and 1514, but was relieved each time, before falling to the French in 1558. (Full article...)
The common moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) is a bird species in the rail family, Rallidae. It is distributed across many parts of the Old World, from Africa to Europe and Asia. It lives around well-vegetated marshes, ponds, canals and other wetlands. A midsized to large rail, the common moorhen ranges in length from 30 to 38 cm (12 to 15 in) in length and spans 50 to 62 cm (20 to 24 in) across the wings. It gives a wide range of gargling calls and will emit loud hisses when threatened. This common moorhen was photographed in the Parc des Chanteraines near Gennevilliers in the suburbs of Paris, France.
A peanut, also known as a groundnut, is the fruit of Arachis hypogaea, a plant in the family Fabaceae. The peanut is classed as a grain legume rather than as a botanical nut, although in culinary and colloquial use it is generally treated as one. Uses of peanuts include consumption as a snack and in various dishes, peanut butter, and – due to its high oil content – as a vegetable oil. Peanuts cause allergic reactions in some humans. Clockwise from top left, this photograph shows a peanut with its shell cracked open, a whole unshelled peanut, an unpeeled peanut seed, a halved peeled seed, and a whole peeled seed. This picture was focus-stacked from 31 separate images.
Lake Estancia was a prehistoric body of water in the Estancia Valley, in the center of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Mostly fed by creek and groundwater from the Manzano Mountains, the lake had diverse fauna, including cutthroat trout. It appears to have formed when a river system broke up. It reached a maximum water level (highstand) presumably during the Illinoian glaciation and subsequently fluctuated between a desiccated basin and fuller stages. Wind-driven erosion has excavated depressions in the former lakebed that are in part filled with playas (dry lake beds). The lake was one of several pluvial lakes in southwestern North America that developed during the late Pleistocene. Their formation has been variously attributed to decreased temperatures during the ice age and increased precipitation; a shutdown of the thermohaline circulation and the Laurentide Ice Sheet altered atmospheric circulation patterns and increased precipitation in the region. The lake has yielded a good paleoclimatic record. This map shows the shoreline of Lake Estancia at three different periods: early Estancia (1,939 m / 6,362 ft above sea level), late Estancia (1,897 m / 6,224 ft), and "Lake Willard" (1,870 m / 6,135 ft). Present-day populated places, county boundaries and roads are overlaid on the map for identification.
Acraea terpsicore, commonly known as the tawny coster, is a species of butterfly in the Nymphalidae family, the brush-footed butterflies. It is found across eastern Asia from India and Sri Lanka to Singapore, Indonesia and the Maldives and, more recently, Australia. It is small, with a size of 53–64 millimetres (2.1–2.5 in), has leathery wings and is common in grassland and scrub habitats. Acraea terpsicore has a weak fluttery flight and is avoided by most insect predators. This A. terpsicore individual was photographed in Komodo National Park, Indonesia.
There is a great disconnect between how athiests and religionist view the proper place for religion in the public square. Briefly, atheists (usually) want no religion in the public square, and religionists want equal access (non-denominational) to the public square and view athiesm as just one other "religion" that needs access.
Wikipedia's Reputation
I've been thinking about this key principle: "[What] reliable sources ... have in common is process and approval between document creation and publication." This is also the key to Wikipedia's reliability and reputation. The core principles of neutrality and verifiability along with the standards for articles (featured/good/etc) and the implicit approval of every person who reads an article and makes no changes to it.
Intellectual Property
We (Americans) often "borrow" other people's intellectual property because the transaction method (i.e. limited use permission) does not exist and can not be created without the transaction cost exceeding the value of the permission (which is close to $0.00 in most cases) so we keep using other's work, and they don't sue us.
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