24 August 2014

taxonomy

[tak-son-uh-mee]

noun, plural taxonomies.

1. the science or technique of classification.
2. a classification into ordered categories:
a proposed taxonomy of educational objectives.
3. Biology. the science dealing with the description, identification, naming, and classification of organisms.

Origin

1805-15; French taxonomie. See taxo-, -nomy
Related forms
taxonomic [tak-suh-nom-ik], taxonomical, adjective
taxonomically, adverb
taxonomist, taxonomer, noun
nontaxonomic, adjective
nontaxonomical, adjective
nontaxonomically, adverb

Anagram

atom onyx

Today’s aphorism

We are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more from imagination than from reality.

– Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 5AD – 65AD

On this day

24 August 79AD – eruption of Mt Vesuvius, Italy, completely destroying the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae. The cities were buried under approximately 75m of tephra. The initial eruption produced a cloud of ash and pumice ranging from 15km to 30km high. It is estimated that 16,000 people perished.

24 August 479 – Fall of the Roman Empire as Visigoths conquer Rome.

24 August 1936 – establishment of the Australian Antarctic Territory.

24 August 1954 – Communist Party outlawed in the United States with the passing of the Communist Control Act.

24 August 1995 – Microsoft launches Windows 95. Bill Gates is embarrassed during a demonstration of the product, when his audience experiences the infamous ‘blue screen of death’.