Proserpine is a verse drama written for children by the Romantic
writers Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary wrote the blank
verse drama and Percy contributed two lyric poems. Composed in 1820
while the Shelleys were living in Italy, it is often considered a
partner to the Shelleys' play Midas. Proserpine was first published in
the London periodical The Winter's Wreath in 1832. The drama is based
on Ovid's tale of the abduction of Proserpine by Pluto, which itself
was based on the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Mary Shelley's
version focuses on the female characters. In a largely feminist
retelling from Ceres's point of view, Shelley emphasises the separation
of mother and daughter and the strength offered by a community of
women. Ceres represents life and love, and Pluto represents death and
violence. The genres of the text also reflect gender debates of the
time. Proserpine is part of a female literary tradition which, as
feminist literary critic Susan Gubar describes it, has used the story
of Ceres and Proserpine to "re-define, to re-affirm and to celebrate
female consciousness itself". However, the play has been both neglected
and marginalised by critics.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proserpine_%28play%29>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1775:
American Revolution: Patrick Henry made his "Give me liberty or give
me death" speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses, urging the
legislature to take military action against the British Empire.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Give_me_liberty_or_give_me_death>
1868:
Governor of California Henry Huntly Haight signed a law establishing
the University of California, today a public university system that is
considered a model for public institutions across the United States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California>
1933:
The German Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, essentially giving German
Chancellor Adolf Hitler dictatorial powers by granting him and the
Cabinet the authority to enact laws without the participation of the
Reichstag.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enabling_Act_of_1933>
1940:
Pakistan Movement: During its three-day general session, the Muslim
League drafted the Lahore Resolution, calling for greater autonomy in
British India.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore_Resolution>
1996:
Lee Teng-hui was elected President of the Republic of China in the
first direct presidential election in Taiwan.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Teng-hui>
2007:
Iranian military personnel seized 15 British Royal Navy personnel from
HMS Cornwall, claiming that the British ship sailed into Iran's
territorial waters.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Iranian_seizure_of_Royal_Navy_personnel>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
furlough (n):
(US) A leave of absence or vacation, especially one granted to a member
of the armed forces, or to a prisoner
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/furlough>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour,
and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of
your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the
evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even
the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye
more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore
perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
--Jesus
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jesus>
Bezhin Meadow is a 1937 Soviet film, directed by Sergei Eisenstein,
which is renowned for having been suppressed and believed destroyed
before its completion. It tells the story of a young farm boy whose
father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by
sabotaging the year's harvest, the son's efforts to stop his own father
to protect the Soviet state, and culminates in the boy's murder and a
social uprising. The film draws its title from a story by Ivan
Turgenev, but is based on the life of Pavlik Morozov, a young Russian
boy who became a political martyr following his death in 1932, after he
denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently
died at the hands of his family. Commissioned by a Communist youth
group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, until it was halted
by the central Soviet government for alleged artistic, social, and
political failures in the film's content. Some, however, blamed the
failure of Bezhin Meadow on government interference and policies,
extending all the way to Joseph Stalin himself. Bezhin Meadow was long
thought lost in the wake of World War II bombings. In the 1960s,
however, cuttings and partial prints of the film were found; from
these, a reconstruction of Bezhin Meadow, based on the original script,
was undertaken. In spite of the failure of Bezhin Meadow, Eisenstein
would rebound to win Soviet acclaim and awards, and become artistic
director of a major film studio.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezhin_Meadow>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
238:
Because of his advanced age, both Gordian I and his son Gordian II were
proclaimed Roman Emperors.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordian_I>
1622:
The Powhatan Confederacy under Chief Opchanacanough killed almost 350
English settlers around Jamestown, a third of the Colony of Virginia's
population.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_massacre_of_1622>
1765:
The Parliament of Great Britain passed the Stamp Act, requiring that
many printed materials in the Thirteen Colonies in British North
America carry a tax stamp, adding fuel to the growing separatist
movement in the area.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stamp_Act_1765>
1849:
First Italian War of Independence: After capturing the fortress town of
Mortara, forces led by Austrian General Joseph Radetzky von Radetz
routed Sardinian troops at the Battle of Novara.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Novara_%281849%29>
1945:
Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Transjordan, and Yemen
founded the Arab League, a regional organization that facilitates
political, economic, cultural, scientific and social programs designed
to promote the interests of the Arab world.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_League>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
protean (adj):
Exceedingly variable; readily assuming different shapes or forms
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/protean>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Music and silence... combine strongly because music is done with
silence, and silence is full of music.
--Marcel Marceau
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcel_Marceau>
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester,
England. In 2007, the population of the Manchester local government
district was estimated to be 458,100, whilst the surrounding
Metropolitan County of Greater Manchester had an estimated population
of 2,562,200. Forming part of the English Core Cities Group, often
described as the second city of the UK, and the "Capital of the North",
Manchester today is a centre of the arts, the media, higher education
and commerce. In a poll of British business leaders published in 2006,
Manchester was regarded as the best place in the UK to locate a
business. Manchester was the host of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and
among its other sporting connections are its two Premier League
football teams, Manchester City and Manchester United. Historically,
most of the city was a part of Lancashire, with areas south of the
River Mersey being in Cheshire. Manchester was the world's first
industrialised city and played a central role during the Industrial
Revolution. Manchester City Centre is now on a tentative list of UNESCO
World Heritage Sites, mainly due to the network of canals and mills
constructed during its 19th-century development.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1815:
After escaping from his exile in Elba, Napoleon Bonaparte entered
Paris, officially beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Days>
1852:
American author Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin was first
published, profoundly affecting attitudes toward African Americans and
slavery in the United States, and further intensifying the sectional
conflict leading to the American Civil War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom%27s_Cabin>
1883:
Eleven countries signed the Paris Convention for the Protection of
Industrial Property, one of the first intellectual property treaties.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Industr…>
1987:
The antiretroviral drug zidovudine (AZT) became the first antiviral
medication approved for use against HIV and AIDS.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zidovudine>
1995:
The Aum Shinrikyo sect carried out a poison gas attack on the Tokyo
Subway, killing 12 people and injuring thousands of others with sarin.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarin_gas_attack_on_the_Tokyo_subway>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
bluster (v):
1. To speak or protest loudly.
2. To blow in strong or sudden gusts
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bluster>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
If we have learned one thing from the history of invention and
discovery, it is that, in the long run — and often in the short one —
the most daring prophecies seem laughably conservative.
--Arthur C. Clarke
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke>
Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations
are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large
problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved
concurrently. There are several different forms of parallel computing:
bit-level-, instruction-level-, data-, and task parallelism. As power
consumption by computers has become a concern in recent years, parallel
computing has become the dominant paradigm in computer architecture,
mainly in the form of multicore processors. Parallel computers can be
roughly classified according to the level at which the hardware
supports parallelism—with multi-core and multi-processor computers
having multiple processing elements within a single machine, while
clusters, MPPs, and grids use multiple computers to work on the same
task. Parallel computer programs are more difficult to write than
sequential ones, because concurrency introduces several new classes of
potential software bugs, of which race conditions are the most common.
Communication and synchronization between the different subtasks are
typically one of the greatest obstacles to getting good parallel
program performance. The speed-up of a program as a result of
parallelization is given by Amdahl's law.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_computing>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1229:
Sixth Crusade: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II crowned himself King of
Jerusalem, although his wife Queen Yolande of Jerusalem had died,
leaving their infant son Conrad as the rightful heir.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor>
1871:
French President Adolphe Thiers ordered the evacuation of Paris after
an uprising broke out as the result of France's defeat in the
Franco–Prussian War, leading to the establishment of the Paris Commune
government.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune>
1892:
Canadian Governor General Frederick Stanley of Preston pledged to
donate what would become the Stanley Cup , today the oldest
professional sports trophy in North America, as an award for Canada's
top-ranking amateur ice hockey club.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Cup>
1915:
World War I: In one of the largest naval battles in the Gallipoli
Campaign, a joint British and French operation to capture
Constantinople, the defences of the Ottoman Empire sunk three Allied
battleships and severely damaged three others.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_operations_in_the_Dardanelles_Campaign>
1965:
Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov donned a space suit and ventured outside the
Voskhod 2 spacecraft, becoming the first person to walk in space.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voskhod_2>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
clairvoyant (adj):
1. Of, or relating to clairvoyance.
2. Able to see things that cannot be perceived by the normal
senses.
3. Able to foresee the future
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clairvoyant>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause,
while the mark of a mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.
--Wilhelm Stekel
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Stekel>
On November 11, 1960, a failed coup attempt against President Ngo Dinh
Diem of South Vietnam was led by Lieutenant Colonel Vuong Van Dong and
Colonel Nguyen Chanh Thi of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The
rebels launched the coup in response to Diem's autocratic rule and the
negative political influence of his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu and his
sister-in-law Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu. After initially being trapped inside
the Independence Palace, Diem stalled the coup by holding negotiations
and promising reforms. However, his real aim was to buy time for
loyalist forces to enter Saigon and relieve him. The coup failed when
the Fifth and Seventh Divisions of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
entered Saigon and defeated the rebels. More than four hundred
people—many of whom were spectating civilians—were killed in the
ensuing battle. Dong and Thi fled to Cambodia, while Diem excoriated
the United States for a perceived lack of support during the crisis.
Afterwards, Diem ordered a crackdown, imprisoning numerous
anti-government critics and former cabinet ministers. A trial for those
implicated in the plot was held in 1963. Seven officers and two
civilians were sentenced to death in absentia, while 14 officers and 34
civilians were jailed.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1960_South_Vietnamese_coup_attempt>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1958:
Vanguard 1 , the first solar-powered satellite, was launched. It is the
oldest human-launched object still in Earth orbit today.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_1>
1969:
Golda Meir of the Labor Party became the first female Prime Minister of
Israel.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golda_Meir>
2004:
Unrest in Kosovo broke out, resulting in more than 20 killed, 200
wounded, and the destruction of several Serb Orthodox churches and
shrines.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_unrest_in_Kosovo>
45 BC:
Caesar's civil war: Julius Caesar scored his final military victory at
the Battle of Munda, defeating the Optimate forces of Titus Labienus
and Pompey the Younger.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Munda>
624:
History of Islam: The Muslims of Medina defeated the Quraysh of Mecca
in Badr, present-day Saudi Arabia, a victory that has been attributed
to divine intervention or the genius of Muhammad.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Badr>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
shamrock (n):
1. The trefoil leaf of any small clover, especially Trifolium repens,
or of any clover-like plant.
2. Any of several small forms of clover with trefoil leaves,
especially Trifolium repens
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shamrock>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Let anyone laugh and taunt if he so wishes. I am not keeping silent,
nor am I hiding the signs and wonders that were shown to me by the Lord
many years before they happened, who knew everything, even before the
beginning of time.
--Saint Patrick
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick>
The Chaser APEC pranks were a series of comic stunts that targeted the
2007 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit, which
occured from 2–9 September, in Sydney, Australia. They were coordinated
and performed by the Australian satire group The Chaser for the
television series The Chaser's War on Everything. The most prominent
prank was the breach of an APEC restricted zone in the heart of
Sydney's CBD on 6 September. Julian Morrow directed a fake Canadian
motorcade, which was allowed through the restricted zone by police and
not detected until Chas Licciardello alighted, dressed as Osama bin
Laden. Although pranks that involved public locations, figures, and
organisations were always a feature of the series, the APEC pranks
yielded unprecedented local and international publicity, both positive
and negative. Some team members faced charges for breaching the APEC
zone, but these were dropped because police had allowed their entry in
the restricted zone. Other less controversial and less publicised
stunts were also shown on The Chaser's War on Everything, with ratings
peaking at almost three million Australian viewers for the APEC wrap-up
episode.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chaser_APEC_pranks>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1660:
The Long Parliament, originally called by King Charles I of England in
1640 following the Bishops' Wars, dissolved itself.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Parliament>
1802:
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson authorized the establishment of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, today the world's largest public
engineering, design and construction management agency.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Corps_of_Engineers>
1926:
At the then-Asa Ward Farm in Auburn, Massachusetts, American scientist
Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, a
10-foot (3Â m) cylinder that reached an altitude of about 41Â feet (12Â m)
and flew for two-and-a-half seconds before falling to the ground.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard>
1968:
Vietnam War: American soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in
the Sơn Mỹ village in the Sơn Tịnh district of South Vietnam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_Massacre>
1978:
The oil tanker Amoco Cadiz split in two after running aground on
Portsall Rocks, about 3Â miles (5Â km) off the coast of Brittany, France,
resulting in one of the largest oil spills ever.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amoco_Cadiz>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
despotic (adj):
1. Of or pertaining to a despot or tyrant.
2. Acting or ruling as a depot, tyrannical
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/despotic>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger of
oppression. In our Governments, the real power lies in the majority of
the Community, and the invasion of private rights is chiefly to be
apprehended, not from the acts of Government contrary to the sense of
its constituents, but from acts in which the Government is the mere
instrument of the major number of the Constituents.
--James Madison
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Madison>
The Log from the Sea of Cortez is a book written by John Steinbeck,
published in 1951, which details a six-week marine specimen-collecting
boat expedition he made in 1940 at various sites in the Gulf of
California (also known as the Sea of Cortez), with his friend, marine
biologist Ed Ricketts. It is regarded as one of Steinbeck's most
important works of non-fiction chiefly because of the involvement of
Ricketts, who shaped Steinbeck's thinking and provided the prototype
for many of the pivotal characters in his fiction, and the insights it
gives into the philosophies of the two men. The Log from the Sea of
Cortez is the narrative portion of an unsuccessful earlier work, Sea of
Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, which was published
by Steinbeck and Ricketts shortly after their return from the Gulf of
California, and combined the journals of the collecting expedition,
reworked by Steinbeck, with Ricketts' species catalogue. After
Ricketts' death in 1948, Steinbeck dropped the species catalogue from
the earlier work and republished it with a eulogy to his friend added
as a foreword.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Log_from_the_Sea_of_Cortez>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1781:
American Revolutionary War: A British force under General Lord
Cornwallis, numbering 1,900, fought 4,400 American troops under Rhode
Island native General Nathanael Greene at the Battle of Guilford Court
House inside present-day Greensboro, North Carolina.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Guilford_Court_House>
1877:
Cricketers representing England and Australia began the first match in
Test cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Test_cricket_from_1877_to_1883%23Th…>
1917:
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate in the February
Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_II_of_Russia>
1943:
World War II: German forces recaptured Kharkov after four days of
house-to-house fighting against Soviet troops, ending the month-long
Third Battle of Kharkov.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Battle_of_Kharkov>
1985:
The company Symbolics became the first ever entity, individual or party
to register a .com top-level domain name: symbolics.com.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.com>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
rive (v):
1. To rend asunder by force; to split or cleave.
2. To be split or rent asunder
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/rive>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As long as our government is administered for the good of the people,
and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights
of person and property, liberty of conscience, and of the press, it
will be worth defending.
--Andrew Jackson
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson>
Chelsea Football Club are a professional English football club based in
West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have
spent most of their history in the top tier of English football.
Chelsea have been English champions three times, and have won the FA
Cup four times, the League Cup four times and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
twice. The club had their first major success in 1955, winning the
league championship. Chelsea won several cup competitions during the
1960s and 1970s, but after that did not win another major title until
1997. The past decade has been the most successful period in Chelsea’s
history, capped by winning consecutive Premier League titles in 2005
and 2006, and reaching their first UEFA Champions League final in 2008.
Chelsea's home is the 42,500-person-capacity Stamford Bridge football
stadium in Fulham, West London, where they have played since their
establishment. Despite their name, the club are based just outside the
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in the London Borough of
Hammersmith and Fulham. Chelsea's traditional kit colours are royal
blue shirts and shorts with white socks.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_F.C.>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1757:
British Royal Navy Admiral John Byng was court-martialled and executed
by firing squad for breaching the Articles of War when he failed to "do
his utmost" during the Battle of Minorca at the start of the Seven
Years' War.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Byng>
1794:
American inventor Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin (pictured), the
first ever machine that quickly and easily separated cotton fibers from
their seedpods.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cotton_gin>
1945:
The British Royal Air Force first used the Grand Slam, a 22,000 lb
(9.98 t) earth quake bomb, on strategic railroad viaduct in Bielefeld,
Germany.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_bomb>
1991:
The "Birmingham Six", wrongly convicted of the 1974 Birmingham pub
bombings in Birmingham, England, were released after sixteen years in
prison.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birmingham_Six>
1994:
Version 1.0.0 of the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel, was
released, becoming one of the most prominent examples of open Source
software.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
guerdon (n):
(now literary) A reward, prize or recompense for a service; an accolade
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/guerdon>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Today we must abandon competition and secure cooperation. This must be
the central fact in all our considerations of international affairs;
otherwise we face certain disaster. Past thinking and methods did not
prevent world wars. Future thinking must prevent wars ... The stakes
are immense, the task colossal, the time is short. But we may hope — we
must hope — that man’s own creation, man’s own genius, will not destroy
him.
--Albert Einstein
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein>