City of Salford, in Greater Manchester, England. North of the River
Irwell, 5 miles (8 km) to the west of Manchester, it occupies an area
of about 10.6 square miles (27.5 km2). Peat development seems to have
begun there at the end of the last ice age, about 10,000 years ago, and
the depth of peat ranges from 24 to 30 feet (7 to 9 m). A great deal of
reclamation work has been carried out, but a large network of drainage
channels is required to keep it from reverting to bog. In 1958 peat
extractors discovered the severed head of what is believed to be a
Romano-British Celt, possibly a sacrificial victim. Much of Chat Moss is
now prime agricultural land, although farming in the area is in decline.
A 228-acre (92 ha) area of Chat Moss, notified as Astley and Bedford
Mosses, has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Chat
Moss threatened the completion of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
until George Stephenson succeeded in constructing a railway line through
it in 1829; his solution was to "float" the line on a bed of bound
heather and branches topped with tar and covered with rubble stone.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chat_Moss>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
838:
Arab–Byzantine wars: The forces of the Abbasid Caliphate
defeated Byzantine Empire troops, led by Emperor Theophilos himself, at
the Battle of Anzen near present-day Dazman, Turkey.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Anzen>
1864:
American Civil War: Confederate forces unsuccessfully attacked
Union troops at the Battle of Atlanta.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Atlanta>
1933:
Wiley Post became the first pilot to fly solo around the world,
landing after a seven-day, nineteen-hour flight at Floyd Bennett Field
in Brooklyn, New York City.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiley_Post>
1992:
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escaped from his luxurious
private prison and spent the next 17 months on the run.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Escobar>
2011:
Two sequential terrorist attacks in Oslo and Utøya claimed the
lives of 77 people, in the deadliest attack in Norway since World
War II.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Norway_attacks>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
roundelay:
(music) A poem or song having a line or phrase repeated at regular
intervals.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/roundelay>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
 I've lived most of my entire adult life outside the law, and
never have I compromised with authority. But neither have I gone out and
picked fights with authority. That's stupid. They're waiting for that;
they invite it; it helps keep them powerful. Authority is to be
ridiculed, outwitted and avoided. And it's fairly easy to do all three.
If you believe in peace, act peacefully; if you believe in love, acting
lovingly; if you believe every which way, then act every which way,
that's perfectly valid — but don't go out trying to sell your beliefs
to the system. You end up contradicting what you profess to believe in,
and you set a bum example. If you want to change the world, change
yourself.
--Tom Robbins
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tom_Robbins>
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