August 23 (today) - the date on which the Romans celebrated Volcanalia in worship of Vulcan, the god of fire - is the 235th day of 2009, meaning there are 130 days left ...
One hundred and thirty is the diameter in metres of asteroid 2007 VK184, the near-earth object deemed most likely to collide with our planet within the next 100 years. Astronomers estimate the asteroid has a one-in-3,030 chance of hitting earth in the year 2048 ...
2048 is also the year in which - according to a report published in 2006 that shocked the world - mankind will have wiped out all our stocks of seafood. The study on which the report was based was led by Boris Worm, a professor at Canada's Dalhousie University ...
Dalhousie was founded in 1818 as a non-denominational university by the 9th Earl of Dalhousie, at the time the governor of Nova Scotia. The earl, George Ramsay, was born in 1770 in Scotland's Dalhousie Castle ...
The Midlothian castle, now a luxury hotel and spa, has seen its fair share of history. In 1298, the king of England, Edward I (Longshanks), stayed there on his way to meet his foe at the Battle of Falkirk, Sir William Wallace ...
A Scottish knight and landowner who is celebrated as a national hero, Wallace - Mel Gibson's character in the movie Braveheart (1995) - was defeated at the battle but escaped. In 1305, though, he was captured and handed over to Longshanks, who had him executed for treason. Wallace was hanged, drawn and quartered on August 23.