The noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala) is a bird native to eastern and south-eastern Australia in the honeyeater family. It is grey with a black head, orange-yellow beak and feet, a distinctive yellow patch behind the eye and white tips on the tail feathers. Its almost constant vocalizations, particularly from young birds, include a large range of calls, scoldings and alarms. Primarily inhabiting dry, open eucalypt forests without understory shrubs, noisy miners are gregarious and territorial; they forage, bathe, roost, breed and defend territory communally, forming colonies of up to several hundred birds. Birds that live close to each other form stable associations called coteries. Temporary flocks are formed for activities such as mobbing a predator. The noisy miner is an aggressive bird, chasing, pecking, fighting, scolding, and mobbing both intruders and colony members throughout the day. The bird's numbers have increased significantly in many locations across its range, particularly in human-dominated habitats in which avian diversity has decreased. (Full article...)
1986 – Henri Toivonen was killed in an accident while leading the Tour de Corse rally, resulting in FISA banning the popular Group B rally cars for the following season.
The Ballon d'Or, often referred to as the European Footballer of the Year award, was an annual association football award presented by France Football between 1956 and 2009. Conceived by chief magazine writer Gabriel Hanot, the award honoured the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous year, based on a voting by Europe-based journalists. Originally, only European players were in contention for the Ballon d'Or, but from 1995 all players at European clubs were eligible. Three players won the award three times each: Johan Cruyff of Ajax and Barcelona, Michel Platini(pictured) of Juventus, and Marco van Basten of Milan. In 2007, the Ballon d'Or changed in scope from an honour bestowed on Europe-based players by Europe-based journalists to one open to all players and voted on by journalists from around the world. It was subsequently merged with a similar award, the FIFA World Player of the Year award, to create the FIFA Ballon d'Or, which has been awarded to the world's best male player since 2010. (Full list...)
SMS Baden was one of four Sachsen-class armored frigates of the GermanImperial Navy. Built in the Imperial Dockyard in Kiel from 1876 to 1883 and armed with a main battery of six 26 cm (10 in) guns in two open barbettes, she was commissioned in September 1883. Baden served on numerous training exercises and cruises in the 1880s and 1890s and participated in several cruises escorting Kaiser Wilhelm II on state visits. During 1896–1897, the ship was extensively rebuilt. She was removed from active duty in 1910, served in a number of secondary roles, and was sold in April 1938 and broken up in 1939–1940.
Illustration: Hugo Graf; restoration: Adam Cuerden
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