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Omphalotus nidiformis

Omphalotus nidiformis.
Omphalotus nidiformis, or ghost fungus, is a bioluminescent gilled mushroom that occurs primarily in southern Australia and Tasmania, and has been reported from India. The cream-coloured fan- or funnel-shaped caps, up to 30 cm (12 in) across, have shades of orange, brown, purple, or bluish-black. The white or cream gills run down the length of the stalk, which is up to 8 cm (3 in) long and tapers in thickness to the base. The fungus is both saprotrophic and parasitic, and its fruit bodies are generally found growing in overlapping clusters on a wide variety of dead or dying trees. First described scientifically in 1844, O. nidiformis (from Latin for 'nest-shaped') was known by several names before Orson K. Miller Jr. assigned its current name in 1994. Similar in appearance to the common edible oyster mushrooms, O. nidiformis is poisonous, with compounds called illudins that can produce severe cramps and vomiting.

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Milorad Petrović

Milorad Petrović.
Milorad Petrović (18 April 1882 – 12 June 1981) was a lieutenant general in the Royal Yugoslav Army who commanded the 1st Army Group during World War II. He was commissioned into the Royal Serbian Army in 1901 and served in staff positions during the Balkan Wars and the Serbian campaign of World War I. After the 27 March 1941 Yugoslav coup d'état, he was appointed to command the 1st Army Group, responsible for the northern borders of Yugoslavia with Italy, Germany and Hungary. His formations were only partially mobilised when the German-led invasion of Yugoslavia began on 6 April. Significant fifth column activities affected the Yugoslav units from the outset. On 10 April, two determined armoured thrusts by the Germans caused the 1st Army Group to disintegrate, and the following day Petrović was captured by fifth columnists. He was soon handed over to the Germans and spent the rest of the war in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. After the war, he chose to return to communist-led Yugoslavia, living in Belgrade, and remaining active, swimming daily in the Sava well into his nineties. (This article is part of a featured topic: 1st Army Group (Kingdom of Yugoslavia).)

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First Silesian War

First Silesian War.
The First Silesian War was a conflict between Prussia and Austria lasting from 1740 to 1742, which resulted in Prussia's seizure of most of the region of Silesia (now in south-western Poland). The war was fought mainly in Silesia, Moravia and Bohemia and was part of the wider War of the Austrian Succession. The war commenced in late 1740 with an invasion of Habsburg Silesia when Maria Theresa's contested succession to the Habsburg Monarchy provided an opportunity for Prussia to expand. It ended in a Prussian victory with the 1742 Treaty of Berlin. The War of the Austrian Succession continued, and would draw Austria and Prussia into the Second Silesian War only two years later, which also ended in Prussian control of Silesia. The First Silesian War marked the unexpected defeat of the Habsburg Monarchy by a lesser German power and initiated the Austria–Prussia rivalry that would shape German politics for more than a century. (This article is part of a featured topic: Silesian Wars.)

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