The Brothers Karamazov is generally considered the greatest novel by
Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky and the culmination of his life's
work. It has been acclaimed all over the world, from authors as
diverse as Sigmund Freud, Andrew R. MacAndrew, and Konstantin
Mochulsky, as a masterpiece of literature and one of the greatest
novels ever written. The basic structure of the book is arranged in
two arcs. On the surface the book relates the story of a patricide in
which all of the murdered man's sons share varying degrees of
complicity. But on a deeper level this is a spiritual drama
chronicling the moral struggles between faith, doubt, reason, and free
will. The novel was composed primarily in Staraya Russa, which also
served as the main setting for the book. Dostoevsky spent the better
part of two years writing The Brothers Karamazov, which was published
in serial form in The Russian Messenger, and completed in November of
1880. The author died less than four months after publication.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brothers_Karamazov
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1099:
Crusaders of the First Crusade reached Jerusalem and began a five-week
siege of the city.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_%281099%29)
1905:
Norway dissolved the union with Sweden.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_between_Sweden_and_Norway)
1940:
King Haakon VII of Norway, Crown Prince Olav and the Norwegian
government left Tromsø and went into exile in London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haakon_VII_of_Norway)
1948:
Edvard Beneš resigned as President of Czechoslovakia rather than sign
a Constitution making his nation a Communist state
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edvard_Benes)
1981:
The Israeli Air Force attacked and destroyed Iraq's Osiraq nuclear
reactor.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osiraq)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Truth-tellers are not always palatable. There is a preference for
candy bars." -- Gwendolyn Brooks
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks)
Benjamin Mountfort was an English emigrant to New Zealand, where he
became one of that country's most prominent 19th century architects.
He was instrumental in shaping the city of Christchurch. He was
appointed the first official Provincial Architect of the developing
province of Canterbury. Heavily influenced by the Anglo-Catholic
philosophy behind early Victorian architecture he is credited with
importing the Gothic revival style to New Zealand. His Gothic designs
constructed in both wood and stone in the province are considered to
be unique to New Zealand. Today he is considered the founding
architect of the province of Canterbury.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Mountfort
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1654:
Charles X succeeded his cousin Christina to the Swedish throne.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_X_of_Sweden)
1925:
The Chrysler Corporation was founded by Walter Chrysler.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysler_Corporation)
1944:
The Battle of Normandy began with 155,000 Allied troops landing on the
beaches of Normandy in the largest amphibious military operation in
history.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Normandy)
1971:
The Ed Sullivan Show went off the air.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ed_Sullivan_Show)
1982:
A war in Lebanon began when Israeli forces invaded southern Lebanon to
root out PLO militants.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Lebanon_War)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"Fearing no insult, asking for no crown, receive with indifference
both flattery and slander, and do not argue with a fool." -- Aleksandr
Pushkin
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Pushkin)
Windows XP is the latest desktop version of the Microsoft Windows
operating system. Released on October 25, 2001, Windows XP has brought
to the consumer line of Windows new features not available before,
such as stronger stability and efficiency due to its pure 32-bit
kernel, instead of the hybrid 16-bit/32-bit in consumer versions of
prior Windows versions. It also contains work-arounds to avoid the
"DLL hell" that plagued older consumer versions of Windows, which
stemmed from inefficient software management. It also contains a
graphical user interface (GUI) that Microsoft touts as more
user-friendly than the older versions of Windows. Windows XP has had
many security issues; as of February 2005, there have been two service
packs released to address security problems with Windows XP. Windows
XP has also been the first consumer version of Windows to use product
activation to combat software piracy, and this restriction did not sit
well with some privacy activists, and indeed many home users. Spyware
and adware—unwanted programs that can cause system instability,
display advertisements, and track a user's activities for marketing
purposes—are a continuing problem on Windows XP and other versions of
Windows.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1849:
Denmark became a constitutional monarchy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark)
1947:
George Marshall called for economic aid to war-torn Europe.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Marshall)
1967:
The Six-Day War began with an Israeli air force attack on Egypt,
Jordan, and Syria.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War)
1968:
Sirhan Sirhan mortally shot Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirhan_Sirhan)
1995:
A new phase of matter, the Bose-Einstein condensate was discovered.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose-Einstein_condensate)
2004:
U.S. President Ronald Reagan died.</div>
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the
emancipation of the mind." -- John Maynard Keynes
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Maynard_Keynes)
The Papal Tiara is the three-tiered jewelled papal crown of Byzantine
and Persian origin that is the symbol of the papacy. Papal Tiaras were
worn by all popes from Pope Clement V up to and including Pope Paul
VI, who was crowned in 1963. Though Pope Paul VI abandoned the use of
his own tiara during the Second Vatican Council, symbolically laying
it on the altar of St. Peter's Basilica, he did not abolish the
tiara's use, explicitly requiring in his 1975 Apostolic Constitution
Romano Pontifici Eligendo that his successor be crowned. Though not
currently used as part of papal regalia, the papal tiara's continuing
symbolism is reflected in its use on the flag and coats of arms of the
Holy See and the Vatican. In a controversial break with tradition,
Benedict's personal coat of arms does not show a tiara in the
ornaments; it being replaced by with the papal mitre, though the mitre
does contain three levels reminiscent of the three tiers on the papal
tiara.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_Tiara
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1615:
Forces under the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu took Osaka Castle in Japan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka_Castle)
1792:
Captain George Vancouver claimed Puget Sound for Great Britain.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound)
1920:
The Kingdom of Hungary was split into five countries with the signing
of the Treaty of Trianon in Paris.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Trianon)
1942:
The Battle of Midway began with a massive Imperial Japanese strike on
Midway Atoll.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway)
1989:
PRC military units cracked down on the Tiananmen Square protests in
Beijing.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance." -- Socrates
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Socrates)
Steve Dalkowski is a former Minor League Baseball left handed pitcher.
He is sometimes called the fastest pitcher in baseball history with a
fastball that may have gone as fast as 110 mph (177 km/h), while
others stated that his pitches only traveled at 105 mph (169 km/h) or
less. His fastball earned him the nickname "White Lightning". He was
also notorious for his unpredictable performance and inability to
control his pitches. His alcoholism and violent behavior off the field
caused him problems during his career and after his retirement. After
he retired from baseball he spent many years as an alcoholic, making a
meager living as a migrant worker. He cleaned up in the 1990s but his
alcoholism has left him with dementia and he has difficulty
remembering his life after the mid 1960s. Writer and director Ron
Shelton played in the minor leagues alongside Dalkowski. His 1988 film
Bull Durham contains a character named "Nuke" LaLoosh (played by Tim
Robbins) who is based loosely on his life.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Dalkowski
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1889:
The first long-distance electric power transmission line in the United
States was constructed betweeen Willamette Falls to downtown Portland,
Oregon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/electric_power_transmission)
1937:
The Duke of Windsor married Wallis Simpson.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII_of_the_United_Kingdom)
1940:
World War II: The Battle of Dunkirk ended with a German tactical
victory.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dunkirk)
1944:
Charles de Gaulle became Prime Minister of France.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Gaulle)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"A time is marked not so much by ideas that are argued about as by
ideas that are taken for granted. The character of an era hangs upon
what needs no defense. Power runs with ideas that only the crazy would
draw into doubt. The "taken for granted" is the test of sanity... In
these times, the hardest task for social or political activists is to
find a way to get people to wonder again about what we all believe is
true. The challenge is to sow doubt." -- Lawrence Lessig
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Lawrence_Lessig)
Technetium is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the
symbol Tc and atomic number 43. The chemical properties of this
silvery gray, radioactive, crystalline transition metal are
intermediate between rhenium and manganese. Its short-lived isotope
Tc-99m is used in nuclear medicine to diagnose certain cancers, Tc-99
is used as a gamma ray-free source of beta rays, and its pertechnate
ion could find use as a corrosion preventer for steel (this possible
use is hindered by technetium's radioactivity). Dmitri Mendeleev
predicted many of the properties of element 43, which he called
ekamanganese, well before its actual discovery. In 1937 its isotope
Tc-97 became the first element to be artificially produced, hence its
name (from the Greek technètos, meaning "artificial"). Most technetium
produced on Earth is a by-product of fission of uranium-235 in nuclear
reactors and is extracted from nuclear fuel rods. On earth, technetium
occurs naturally only in uranium ores as a product of spontaneous
fission; the quantities are infinitesimal but have been measured.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technetium
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
455:
The Vandals plundered Rome.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandals)
1800:
The first smallpox vaccination was administered in North America.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/smallpox)
1865:
Forces under General Edmund Kirby Smith became the last Confederate
army to surrender in the American Civil War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Kirby_Smith)
1946:
Birth of the Italian Republic: Italy became a republic and abolished
the monarchy, exiling Umberto.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birth_of_the_Italian_Republic)
1953:
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the first to
be televised.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_II_of_the_United_Kingdom)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat." -- W. Mark Felt
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/W._Mark_Felt)
Spring Heeled Jack is a character said to have existed in England
during the Victorian era. Sightings of Spring Heeled Jack officially
began in 1837 and are recorded all over England, from London up to
Sheffield and Liverpool, but they were especially prevalent in
suburban London and later in the Midlands, where they peaked between
the 1850s and 1880s. Although some unconfirmed reports claim that it
could still be active, it is generally believed to have disappeared
after 1904, year of the last recorded incident. Many theories have
been proposed to ascertain its nature and identity, none of which have
been capable of clarifying the subject completely, and the phenomenon
still remains unexplained. The story of Spring Heeled Jack gained an
immense popularity in its time due to the tales of his bizarre
appearance and his capacity to perform extraordinary leaps, to the
point that it transcended the role of a mere paranormal phenomenon and
attained the status of urban legend. Since the moment the events
gained notoriety, it gradually became an integral part of English
folklore, exerting a lasting influence on England's popular culture
that endures to present date.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Heeled_Jack
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1495:
Friar John Cor recorded the first known batch of scotch whisky.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/scotch_whisky)
1779:
Benedict Arnold was court-martialed for malfeasance.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold)
1922:
A police force in Northern Ireland called the Royal Ulster
Constabulary was founded.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Ulster_Constabulary)
1938:
The first Superman comic was published.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superman)
1980:
The Cable News Network began broadcasting.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
"I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it." --
Alanis Morissette
(http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alanis_Morissette)