The Old Man and the Sea, composed in 1951 in Cuba and published in
1952, was the last major work of fiction to be written by Ernest
Hemingway and published in his lifetime. Likely his most famous work,
it centers upon an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant
marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Though the novella has been the
subject of disparate criticism, it is noteworthy in twentieth century
fiction and in Hemingway's canon, reaffirming his worldwide literary
prominence and significant in his selection for the Nobel Prize in
Literature in 1954.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_and_the_Sea
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
325:
The First Council of Nicaea was formally opened.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea)
1498:
Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived at Calicut, India.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasco_da_Gama)
1570:
Abraham Ortelius issued the first modern atlas.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Ortelius)
1862:
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homestead_Act)
1927:
By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognized the sovereignty
of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged
to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Saud)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"If all mankind minus one were of one opinion, and only one person
were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in
silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be
justified in silencing mankind." -- John Stuart Mill
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Stuart_Mill)
The Silverpit crater is a crater located in the North Sea off the
coast of the United Kingdom. It was discovered in 2002 during the
analysis of seismic data collected during routine exploration for oil,
and was initially reported as the UK's first known impact crater.
However, alternative origins have subsequently been proposed. Its age
is thought to be of the order of 65 million years, making its
formation roughly coincident with the impact that created the
Chicxulub Crater (KT boundary). If Silverpit is indeed an impact
crater, this may imply that the Earth was struck at that time by
several objects, possibly in a similar event to the collision of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in 1994. Several other impact craters
around the world are known to date from roughly the same epoch,
lending credence to this theory.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverpit_crater
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1536:
Anne Boleyn, the second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII of
England, was beheaded for adultery.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Boleyn)
1649:
The Rump Parliament passed an act to formally establish the
Commonwealth of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_England)
1802:
The Légion d'honneur was first instituted by Napoléon Bonaparte, First
Consul of the French Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%E9gion_d%27honneur)
1921:
The U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act, establishing
national quotas on immigration to the United States.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/immigration_to_the_United_States)
1922:
The Young Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union was founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Pioneer_organization_of_the_Soviet_Union)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Time is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against the
oppressor. Truth is on the side of the oppressed today, it's against
the oppressor. You don't need anything else." -- Malcolm X
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Malcolm_X)
Margaret Thatcher is a British politician and the first woman Prime
Minister of the United Kingdom, a position she held from 1979 to 1990.
She is a member of the Conservative Party and the figurehead of a
political ideology known as Thatcherism. Even before coming to power
she was nicknamed The Iron Lady in Soviet propaganda, an appellation
which stuck. The changes she set in motion between coming to power and
1985 were profound, and altered much of the economic, cultural and
commercial landscape of Britain and, by example, the world as a whole.
Along the way she also aimed to roll back the welfare state, or "nanny
state", as she termed it. Her popularity finally declined when she
replaced the unpopular local government Rates tax with the even less
popular Community Charge. At the same time the Conservative Party
began to split over her sceptical approach to European Economic and
Monetary Union. Her leadership was challenged from within and she was
forced to resign in 1990, her loss at least partly due to inadequate
advice and campaigning.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1268:
Baibars and his Mamluk forces captured Antioch, capital of the
crusader state, the Principality of Antioch.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baibars)
1896:
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark case Plessy v. Ferguson,
upholding the legality of racial segregation in public transportation.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plessy_v._Ferguson)
1944:
World War II: The Battle of Monte Cassino ended with a German
evacuation of Monte Cassino.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino)
1958:
A supersonic interceptor aircraft, F-104 Starfighter, set a world
speed record of 1,404.19 mph.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-104_Starfighter)
1980:
Mount St. Helens erupted in Washington, killing 57 people and causing
US$3 billion in damages.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_eruption_of_Mount_St._Helens)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"To fear love is to fear life, and those who fear life are already
three parts dead." -- Bertrand Russell
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell)
A kibbutz is an Israeli collective community. Although other countries
have had communal enterprises, in no other country have voluntary
collective communities played as important a role as kibbutzim have
played in Israel, indeed, kibbutzim played an essential role in the
creation of Israel. Combining Socialism and Zionism in a form of
practical Labor Zionism, kibbutzim are a unique Israeli experiment,
and part of the largest secular communal movement in history.
Kibbutzim were founded in a time when independent farming was not
practical. Forced by necessity into communal life, and inspired by
their own socialist ideology, kibbutz members developed a pure
communal mode of living that attracted interest from the entire world.
While kibbutzim lasted for several generations as utopian communities,
today kibbutzim are scarcely different from the capitalist enterprises
and regular towns to which kibbutzim were originally supposed to be
alternatives. The kibbutz movement, though it never accounted for more
than 7 percent of the Israeli population, did more to shape the image
Israelis have of their country, and the image of foreigners have of
Israel, than any other Israeli institution.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibbutz
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1792:
The New York Stock Exchange was formed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Stock_Exchange)
1846:
Adolphe Sax patented the saxophone.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/saxophone)
1902:
The Antikythera mechanism, the oldest known surviving geared
mechanism, was discovered in a shipwreck off the Greek island of
Antikythera.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism)
1943:
World War II: RAF Dam Busters successfully deployed bouncing bombs in
Operation Chastise.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._617_Squadron_RAF)
1995:
After 18 years as Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac was inaugurated as
President of the French Republic.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Chirac)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I had a stick of Carefree gum, but it didn't work. I felt pretty good
while I was blowing that bubble, but as soon as the gum lost its
flavor, I was back to pondering my mortality." -- Mitch Hedberg
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mitch_Hedberg)
The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is the international treaty
against illicit drug manufacture and trafficking that forms the
bedrock of the global drug control regime. Previous treaties had only
controlled opium, coca, and derivatives such asmorphine and heroin.
The Single Convention, adopted in 1961, consolidated those instruments
and broadened their scope to include cannabis and allow control of any
drugs with similar effects to those specified in the treaty. The
Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the World Health Organization were
empowered to add, remove, and transfer drugs among the treaty's four
Schedules of controlled substances. The International Narcotics
Control Board was put in charge of administering controls on drug
production, international trade, and dispensation. The United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime was delegated the Board's day-to-day work of
monitoring the situation in each country and working with national
authorities to ensure compliance with the Single Convention. This
treaty has since been supplemented by the Convention on Psychotropic
Substances, which controls LSD, ecstasy, and other mind-altering
pharmaceuticals, and the Convention Against Illicit Traffic in
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, which strengthens
provisions against money laundering and other drug-related offenses.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Convention_on_Narcotic_Drugs
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1252:
Pope Innocent IV issued the papal bull ad extirpanda, authorizing the
use of torture on heretics during the Medieval Inquisition.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_Inquisition)
1756:
Seven Years' War: Britain declared war on France, two years after
fighting began in Ohio.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years%27_War)
1928:
Cartoon characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse made their movie debut in
Plane Crazy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse)
1934:
Prime Minister K?rlis Ulmanis dissolved the Saeima and established an
authoritarian rule in Latvia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karlis_Ulmanis)
1990:
The Portrait of Doctor Gachet by Vincent van Gogh was sold for US$82.5
million, at the time the world's most expensive painting.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portrait_of_Doctor_Gachet)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I
believe that dreams— daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open
and your brain machinery whizzing— are likely to lead to the
betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the
imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and therefore to foster,
civilization." -- L. Frank Baum
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum)
The Battle of Aljubarrota took place on August 14 1385, between
Portuguese forces commanded by D. João I of Portugal and his general
Nuno Alvares Pereira, and the Castilian army of Juan I of Castile. The
place was Aljubarrota, between the towns of Leiria and Alcobaça in
central Portugal. The result was a decisive defeat for the Castilians
and the end of the 1383–1385 Crisis, establishing D. João I, Master of
the Order of Aviz, as King of Portugal. Independence was assured and a
new dynasty, the House of Aviz, started. Scattered border
confrontations with Castilian troops would persist until the death of
Juan I in 1390, but these posed no real threat to the Portuguese
crown. To celebrate his victory and acknowledge divine help, João I
ordered the construction of the Monastery of Santa Maria of Batalha
and the founding of the town of Batalha (the Portuguese word for
"battle"). The king, his wife, and several of his sons are buried in
this monastery, which is an important part of Portuguese heritage.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aljubarrota
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1264:
King Henry III was captured in the Battle of Lewes, making Simon de
Montfort the de facto ruler of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III_of_England)
1796:
Edward Jenner began testing cowpox as a vaccine for protection against
smallpox.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner)
1804:
The Lewis and Clark Expedition departed from Camp Dubois and began
traveling up the Missouri River.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_and_Clark_Expedition)
1948:
Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion publicly read the Declaration of the
Establishment of the State of Israel in Tel Aviv.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ben-Gurion)
1973:
The NASA space station Skylab was launched from Cape Canaveral.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"If I had my way, if I was lucky enough, if I could be on the brink my
entire life— that great sense of expectation and excitement without
the disappointment— that would be the perfect state." -- Cate
Blanchett
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cate_Blanchett)
Louis Riel was a Canadian politician and leader of the Métis people of
western Canada. He led two resistance movements against the Canadian
government that sought to preserve Métis rights and culture as their
homelands came under the Canadian sphere of influence. During the
first, the Red River Rebellion, the provisional government established
by Riel ultimately negotiated the terms under which the modern
province of Manitoba entered the Canadian Confederation. He was forced
into exile as a result of the controversial execution of Thomas Scott,
but in 1884 he returned to what is now the province of Saskatchewan to
participate in the North-West Rebellion of 1885. It ended in his
arrest, trial and eventual execution for treason. Riel was viewed
sympathetically in francophone regions of Canada, and his execution
has had a lasting influence on relations between the province of
Quebec and English-speaking Canada. Whether he is seen as a de facto
Father of Confederation or as a traitor, he remains one of the most
complex, controversial and ultimately tragic figures in the history of
Canada.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1497:
Girolamo Savonarola of Florence was excommunicated by Pope Alexander
VI.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girolamo_Savonarola)
1848:
Maamme, the national anthem of Finland, was performed for the first
time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maamme)
1888:
The Lei Áurea (Golden Law) was passed, legally ending slavery in
Brazil.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/slavery)
1969:
The May 13 Incident: Chinese-Malay race riots left at least 184 people
dead in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_13_Incident)
1981:
Mehmet Ali A?ca shot and critically wounded Pope John Paul II in Saint
Peter's Square, Vatican City.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehmet_Ali_Agca)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"It behoved that there should be sin— but all shall be well, and all
shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well." -- Julian of
Norwich
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_of_Norwich)
The mineral diamond is a crystalline form of carbon. Diamonds are
renowned for their superlative physical qualities, especially their
hardness and their dispersion of white light into a rainbow of colors,
known in the trade as fire, for which they have been highly prized
throughout history. Industrially, diamonds are ideal material for
cutting and grinding tools — common applications include the cutting
surfaces of saw blades and drill bits. The De Beers Group has been the
largest player in the diamond industry for over one hundred years. The
company own mines that produce some 40 percent of annual world diamond
production, and control distribution channels handling nearly two
thirds of all gem diamonds. Some controversy over diamonds has been
generated because of the monopolistic practices historically employed
by De Beers including strict control of supply and alleged price
manipulation, as well as the practice by some African revolutionary
groups of selling conflict diamonds in order to fund their often
violent activities.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
330:
Byzantium became Constantinople, the new capital of the Roman Empire
under Constantine I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantinople)
1792:
Explorer Robert Gray first sighted the Columbia River, the largest
river flowing into the Pacific Ocean from North America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_River)
1812:
British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated by John
Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Perceval)
1894:
The "wildcat" Pullman Strike began in Illinois.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike)
1960:
Mossad agents abducted Adolf Eichmann, a Nazi leader and fugitive war
criminal hiding in Argentina.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition,
it breeds violence. So a man who is trying to understand violence does
not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or
partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of
mankind." -- J. Krishnamurti
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._Krishnamurti)
Samantha Smith was an American schoolgirl from Manchester, Maine who
was called America's Youngest Ambassador in the USA and the Goodwill
Ambassador in the USSR during her lifetime. She became famous in these
two countries and well-known worldwide after writing a letter to the
Soviet leader Yuri Andropov during the Cold War period and receiving a
reply from Andropov which included a personal invitation to visit the
Soviet Union, which Smith accepted. Assisted by extensive media
attention in both countries, she participated in peacemaking
activities in some other countries after her visit to the Soviet
Union, wrote a book and co-starred in a television series before her
death in an air crash.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samantha_Smith
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1503:
Christopher Columbus and his crew became the first Europeans to visit
the Cayman Islands.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayman_Islands)
1768:
John Wilkes was imprisoned for criticizing King George III, sparking
riots in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes)
1857:
The Sepoy Rebellion broke out in colonial India, threatening the rule
of the British East India Company.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_rebellion_of_1857)
1869:
The First Transcontinental Railroad of North America was completed
with a golden spike ceremony.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad_%28North_Ameri…)
1941:
World War II: Nazi leader Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland,
claiming to be on a peace mission.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Hess)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"The world is more malleable than you think and it's waiting for you
to hammer it into shape." -- Bono
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Bono)
The history of Irish poetry is complicated by the fact that it has
been the history of two poetries, one in Gaelic and the other in
English. The complex interplay between these two traditions, and
between both of them and other poetries in English, has produced a
body of work that is both rich in variety and difficult to categorise.
The earliest surviving poems in Irish date back to the 6th century and
the first known poems in English from Ireland date from the 14th
century. Although some cross-fertilisation between the two language
traditions has always happened, the final emergence of an
English-language poetry that had absorbed themes and models from Irish
did not appear until the 19th century. This culminated in the work of
the poets of the Celtic Revival at the end of the 19th and beginning
of the 20th century. Towards the last quarter of the century, modern
Irish poetry has tended to a wide range of diversity, from the poets
of the Northern school to writers influenced by the modernist
tradition and those facing the new questions posed by an increasingly
urban and cosmopolitan society.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_poetry
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
328:
Athanasius became the Patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athanasius_of_Alexandria)
1092:
The Lincoln Cathedral in Lincolnshire, England was consecrated.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_Cathedral)
1671:
Thomas Blood was caught trying to steal the British Crown Jewels from
the Tower of London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Blood)
1901:
The first Parliament of Australia opened in the Royal Exhibition
Building in Melbourne.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Australia)
1945:
World War II: Vidkun Quisling, Minister-President of the puppet
government in Norway during the Nazi occupation, was arrested in Oslo.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidkun_Quisling)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Life is a long lesson in humility." -- J. M. Barrie
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/J._M._Barrie)