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From today's featured article

September 11 memorial at the Pentagon

Khalid al-Mihdhar (1975–2001) was one of five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was deliberately crashed
Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks. He was born in Saudi Arabia and fought in the Bosnian War during the 1990s.
he traveled to Afghanistan where, as an experienced al-Qaeda member, he was selected by Osama bin Laden to participate in
Mihdhar attended the Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit in Malaysia and then went to California with fellow hijacker Nawaf a
January 2000. Arriving in San Diego, they were to train as pilots, but spoke English poorly and did not do well with flight le
2000, Mihdhar left the United States for Yemen; after spending time in Afghanistan, he returned to the U.S. in early July 200
morning of September 11, he boarded Flight 77. The attack killed all 64 people aboard, along with 125 on the ground. (Full
Rec
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Did you know...

The Hague map of Crusader Jerusalem

 ... that almost all pre-modern maps of Jerusalem (example pictured) were made by Christians for a Christian European
 ... that in 1908, Silver Quilty was the first man to play the flying wing position in Canadian football?
 ... that a ditch in Scotland has been the subject of acts of parliament since 1696?
 ... that Australian actor George Pullar attended an army boot camp to prepare for his role in the drama series Fighting S
 ... that Larry Kramer frequently invoked the AIDS–Holocaust metaphor and compared Reagan Administration official
criminals?
 ... that the role-playing video game Kenshi was inspired by stories of wandering rōnin, and the idea of a survivor traveli
wasteland?
 ... that Juan Gabriel's own cover of "Así Fue", which he originally composed for Isabel Pantoja, was the best-performin
of 1998 in the United States?
 ... that Alexina Maude Wildman's biting, sarcastic gossip column in The Bulletin was headed by the cartoon image of
disguising the fact that she was in her 20s?

 Star
 Nomi

From today's featured list

Excerpt from the 1833 Nautical Almanac with symbols

Astronomical symbols are abstract pictorial symbols used to represent astronomical objects,
theoretical constructs and observational events in European astronomy. The earliest forms of
these symbols appear in Greek papyrus texts of late antiquity. The Byzantine codices in which
many Greek papyrus texts were preserved continued and extended the inventory of astronomical
symbols. Further new symbols were invented to represent many newly
discovered planets and minor planets discovered in the 18th to 20th centuries. These symbols
were once commonly used by professional astronomers, amateur astronomers, alchemists,
and astrologers. While they are still commonly used in almanacs and astrological publications,
their occurrence in published research and texts on astronomy is relatively infrequent, with some
exceptions such as the Sun and Earth symbols appearing in astronomical constants, and certain
zodiacal signs used to represent the solstices and equinoxes. (Full list...)
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Today's featured picture

Panoramic view of the Amphitheatre of El Jem, an archeological site in the city of El Djem, Tunisia. The amphitheatre,
Tunisia belonged to the Roman province of Africa. It is the third-biggest amphitheatre in the w
Photogr

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The Pentagon, in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington,
D.C., is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense. As a symbol of the
U.S. military, the phrase The Pentagon is often used as a metonym for the Department of
Defense and its leadership.