Psilocybin mushrooms have probably been used since prehistoric times. They may be seen in rock art. Many cultures have used these mushrooms in religious rites. Psychedelic mushrooms have been used by native peoples of Mesoamerica for religious communion and healing. Catholic missionaries were against the use of magic mushrooms. In Modern society, they are sometimes used recreationally. Their medical use in psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy is studied, for example, in the treatment for anxiety and depression in patients with life-threatening cancer, the treatment of depression and to help quit smoking.
The function of compounds like this in nature is they reduce the likelihood of the mushroom being eaten before its spores have been scattered. It is a defence against herbivory.
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson was King Harold II of England (c. 1022 – 14 October 1066). He ruled England after king Edward the Confessor died. He ruled from 5 January 1066 until he was killed at the Battle of Hastings. His death marked the Norman conquest of England and the end of Anglo-Saxon England.
Harold was the son of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and Gytha, a Danish noblewoman. His sister, Edith, was married to the king he succeeded, Edward the Confessor. About that same time Harold became Earl of East Anglia. When his father died in 1053, Harold inherited his earldom of Wessex. Elfgar, son of Leofric of Mercia was appointed to replace Harold in East Anglia. Berkshire and Somerset were joined to Wessex again. Wessex itself was, in those days, an enormous amount of land that covered about a third of England. Harold ruled over a large portion of England, making him the most powerful man in the whole kingdom, after the King.
Harold Godwinson had three brothers: Tostig, Swegen and Gryth. He claimed to have been made King by Edward the Confessor. Before Harold Godwinson became king, he swore to help William, Duke of Normandy to become king.
In September 1066 Harold Godwinson defeated an invasion from the north by Harald Hardrada. He returned south to fight Duke William's invasion. He was killed, it is generally assumed, by an arrow shot by one of William's archers, but some reports say he was cut down by many soldiers.
Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada was a spanish naval fleet (army of ships) most famous for being used by Spain's King Philip II against Britain in 1588. The ships were on their way to Flanders (across the English channel from England) to fetch an army to invade England. The Royal Navy of England during queen Elizabeth I's reign caught up with them on the way. The English defeated the Armada by using the wind to blow ships that were lit on fire into the anchored fleet. This started on 12 July 1588 and ended during August 1588.
The Second in Command of the Royal Navy was Sir Francis Drake. Drake was playing a game of bowling with his friends when he heard of the attack. He boldly insisted that he had time to finish the game and defeat the Spanish Armada afterwards.
The Spanish Armada was led by the Spanish "Duke of Medina Sidonia", who had no naval experience. He replaced the original commander, who died in February.
The defeat of the Armada is often attributed to a severe storm which scattered the Spanish vessels before they met the British fleet, meaning they could not use the many more ships they had to their advantage as planned. The British had only 55 ships, but these ships were not bigger but carried more guns. The Spanish only had short-range cannons, while the English had long-range cannons. Part of the English strategy was to sink or damage the enemy ships before they got close enough to fire back at them.
The English ships were also more manoeuvrable. The Spanish galleons could have their oars broken off completely by a heavy vessel sailing past nearby. The morale and dedication of the British sailors was high, improved by the famous speech by Queen Elizabeth and loyalty to England. They were led by experienced captains who had years of naval battles behind them.
The defeated Spanish fled north through the North Sea with the English chasing them. Many more ships were lost, and thousands of men died during the retreat.
Even though the English sailors had done so well, they didn't get paid and were made to stay on their ships and 'Guard' in case there was another Spanish attack. Lord Howard of Effingham was shocked, when he found out that his soldiers were not getting paid, claiming that "I would rather have never a penny in the world, than they (his sailors) should lack..." ("I would rather die poor than see my men go unpaid)".
A year later, Queen Elizabeth sent a similar English Armada of more than a hundred ships and 19,000 troops to complete her victory. They were to seize a fleet of Spanish treasure ships and impose a new king on Portugal. This expedition also failed.
Frank Griswold
Frank Tracy Griswold III (born 18 September 1937 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania) was the 25th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
Griswold went to school at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He earned an A.B. in English literature from Harvard College (1959). He attended the General Theological Seminary and earned his B.A. and M.A, in theology from Oriel College, Oxford University (1962, 1966). Griswold became a priest in 1963. He became a priest in Pennsylvania. He worked at three churches there. Frank Griswold was the bishop of Chicago from 1987 until he became presiding bishop in 1997.
Griswold is a member of the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates of the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Consultative Council. He was co-chair of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission from 1998 to 2003. He was a member of the standing committee for the 1998 Lambeth Conference. He has also served on diocesan, national and international committees for liturgy, worship and ecumenism. He is also a member of The Fellowship of Saint John.
His term as presiding bishop ended on November first 2006. He was replaced by the Rt. Reverand Katharine Jefferts Schori. She was elected by the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.
Sun
The Sun is a star which is located at the center of our solar system. It is a yellow dwarf star that gives off different types of energy such as infra-red energy (heat), ultraviolet light, radio waves and light. It also gives off a stream of particles, which reaches Earth as "solar wind". The source of all this energy is nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion is the reaction in the star which turns hydrogen into helium and makes huge amounts of energy.
The Sun is a star like many others in our Milky Way galaxy. The Sun is a type of star called a G-type main-sequence star based on its spectral class. It has existed for a little over 4.5 billion years. It is going to continue for at least as long. The Sun is about a hundred times as wide as the Earth. It has a mass of . This is 333,000 times the mass of the Earth. 1.3 million Earths can fit inside the Sun.
The Sun fuses about 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second. It can take between 10,000 and 170,000 years for the energy in the core of the Sun to escape.
The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star. The Sun has about 99.86% of the mass of the Solar System. The Sun has an absolute magnitude of +4.83. It is estimated to be brighter than about 85% of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The Sun is a Population I star. That means it is a metal-rich fairly young star.
The Sun is the brightest object in the Earth's sky. It has an apparent magnitude of −26.74. It takes 8 minutes and 19 seconds for light to travel from the Sun's horizon to Earth's horizon.
Scientists think that the Sun started from a very large cloud of dust and small bits of ice about 4.567 billion years ago.