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Al-Mu'tadid

Al-Mu'tadid.
Al-Mu'tadid (c. 857 – 5 April 902) was the Abbasid Caliph from 15 October 892 until his death. As a prince, he served under his father al-Muwaffaq during various military campaigns and helped suppress the Zanj Rebellion. As caliph, he restored to the Abbasid state some of the power it had lost during the turmoils of the previous decades. In a series of campaigns he recovered the provinces of Jazira, Thughur and Jibal, and effected a rapprochement with the Saffarids in the east and the Tulunids in the west. He brought the capital back to Baghdad, where he engaged in major building projects. He was a firm supporter of Sunni traditionalist orthodoxy, and notorious for his fiscal stringency and cruel punishments, but also interested in the learning and science that had flourished under his predecessors, promoting men like Thabit ibn Qurra, a mathematician and translator of Greek texts. His reign marks the last revival of the Abbasid empire before its terminal decline during the 10th century.

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Senghenydd colliery disaster

Senghenydd colliery disaster.
The Senghenydd colliery disaster occurred at the Universal Colliery in Senghenydd, near Caerphilly, Glamorgan, Wales, on 14 October 1913. The explosion, which killed 439 miners and a rescuer, is still the worst mining accident in the United Kingdom. In an earlier disaster in May 1901, three underground explosions at the colliery killed 81 miners. The inquest established that the colliery had high levels of airborne coal dust, which would have exacerbated the explosion and carried it further into the mine workings. The cause of the 1913 explosion may have been a spark from underground signalling equipment. The miners in the east side of the workings were evacuated, but the men in the western section bore the brunt of the explosion, fire and afterdamp—a poisonous mixture of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen left after an explosion. It took several weeks for most of the bodies to be recovered.

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Banksia caleyi

Banksia caleyi.
Banksia caleyi, the red lantern banksia, is a species of dense, woody shrub of the family Proteaceae native to Western Australia. It generally grows up to 2 m (7 ft) tall, with serrated leaves and red inflorescences. First described by Scottish naturalist Robert Brown in 1830, it was named in honour of the English botanist George Caley. No subspecies are recognised. It is one of three or four closely related species within the genus with hanging inflorescences. Found from the vicinity of Jerramungup to south and east of the Stirling Range, B. caleyi is killed by periodic bushfires and regenerates by seed afterwards. The species was classified as "Not Threatened" under the Wildlife Conservation Act of Western Australia. In contrast to most other Western Australian banksias, it appears to have some resistance to dieback from the soil-borne water mould Phytophthora cinnamomi, and is comparatively easy to grow in cultivation.