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August 1
The Order of the Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization. Founded in 1882, it is named in honor of Christopher Columbus and dedicated to the principles of Charity, Unity, Fraternity, and Patriotism. There are more than 1.7 million members in 14,000 councils, including nearly 200 on college campuses. Membership is limited to "practical Catholic" men who are at least 18 years old. Councils have been chartered in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, the Philippines, Guam, Saipan and most recently in Poland. All the Order's ceremonials and business meetings are restricted to members though all other events are open to the public. An oath not to reveal any details of the ceremonials except to an equally qualified Knight is required to ensure their impact and meaning for new members; an additional clause in the oath subordinates the vow to the swearer's legal and religious duties. Knights are known for their strong Catholicity and have been called the "strong right arm of the Church." In the 2005 fraternal year the Order gave $136 million directly to charity and performed over 63.2 million hours of voluntary service. (More...)
Recently featured: Thrasybulus – Chromatophore – Battle of Smolensk (1943)
August 2
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Charter is intended to protect certain political and civil rights of people in Canada from the policies and actions of all levels of government. It is also supposed to unify Canadians around a set of principles that embody those rights. The Charter was preceded by the Canadian Bill of Rights, which was introduced by the government of John Diefenbaker in 1960. However, the Bill of Rights was only a federal statute, rather than a constitutional document, and therefore limited in scope and easily amendable. Hence, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's government enacted the Charter in 1982. One of the most notable effects of the adoption of the Charter was to greatly expand the scope of judicial review. The Court system of Canada, when confronted with violations of Charter rights, have struck down unconstitutional statutes or parts of statutes. However, the Charter granted new powers to the courts to enforce more creative remedies and to exclude more evidence in trials. As a result, the Charter has attracted both passionate support from liberals and criticisms by opponents of increased judicial power. (More...)
Recently featured: Knights of Columbus – Thrasybulus – Chromatophore
August 3
Damon Hill is a retired British racing driver and the 1996 Formula One World Champion. The son of the late, two time Formula One world champion Graham Hill, he is the only son of a world champion to win the title himself. Hill started his Formula One career with the Brabham team in 1992. He went on to take his first win at the 1993 Hungarian Grand Prix for the Williams team, the first of 22 victories, of which 21 were for Williams. In 1994 he won the British Grand Prix, a race his father had never won during his own career. In the mid 1990s, Hill was Michael Schumacher's main rival for the Formula One Driver's Championship, finishing runner-up in the German's 1994 and 1995 title seasons. The two had a series of controversial clashes on and off track, including the famous collision at Adelaide in 1994 that gave Schumacher his first title by a single point. Hill was dropped by Williams for 1997 despite taking eight victories and winning his world championship in 1996. He went on to record the Jordan team's first ever win at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix, and came within a few miles of being the only driver to win a Grand Prix for the Arrows team and their Yamaha engine supplier at the 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix. (More...)
Recently featured: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Knights of Columbus – Thrasybulus
August 4
The music of the United States reflects the country's multicultural population through a diverse array of styles. Rock and roll, hip hop, country, rhythm and blues, and jazz are among the country's most internationally renowned genres. Since the beginning of the 20th century, popular recorded music from the United States has become increasingly known across the world, to the point where some form of American popular music is listened to almost everywhere. The original inhabitants of the United States were the hundreds of Native American tribes, who played the first music in the area. Beginning in the 17th century, immigrants from England, Spain, and France began arriving in large numbers, bringing with them new styles and instruments. African slaves brought their own musical traditions, and each subsequent wave of immigrants also contributed to a sonic melting pot. Long a land of immigrants, the United States has also seen documented folk music and recorded popular music produced in the ethnic styles of Ukrainian, Irish, Scottish, Polish, Mexican and Jewish communities, among others. Many American cities and towns have vibrant local music scenes which, in turn, support a number of regional musical styles. (More...)
Recently featured: Damon Hill – Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Knights of Columbus
August 5
Ubuntu is a predominantly desktop-oriented Linux distribution based on Debian GNU/Linux, and sponsored by Canonical Ltd. It is released roughly every six months — more frequently than Debian — shortly after each new GNOME version. The sudo utility is used for administrator access, and the Ubiquity install tool included with the Live CD makes it possible for users to install Ubuntu straight to the hard disk without the need for a restart or change of CDs. Ubuntu version 6.06 LTS, codenamed "Dapper Drake", was released on June 1, 2006, and will be supported for three years on the desktop and five years on the server, instead of the usual 18 months. Ubuntu aims to use only free software to provide an up-to-date yet stable operating system for the average user. Kubuntu and Xubuntu are official subprojects of the Ubuntu project, aiming to bring the KDE and Xfce desktop environments to the Ubuntu core, respectively. Edubuntu is an official subproject "designed for school environments, and should be equally suitable for kids to use at home." (More...)
Recently featured: Music of the United States – Damon Hill – Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
August 6
The Azerbaijani people are an ethnic group mainly found in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. The Azerbaijanis, commonly referred to as Azeris, live in a wider area from the Caucasus to the Iranian plateau. The Azeris are typically at least nominally Muslim and have a mixed cultural heritage of Turkic, Iranian, and Caucasian elements. Despite living on both sides of an international border, the Azeris form a single group. However, northerners and southerners differ due to nearly two centuries of separate social evolution in Russian/Soviet-influenced Azerbaijan and Iranian Azarbaijan. The Azerbaijani language unifies Azeris and is mutually intelligible with Turkmen and Turkish. As a result of this separate existence, the Azeris are mainly secularists in Azerbaijan and religious Muslims in Iranian Azarbaijan. Since Azerbaijan's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, there has been renewed interest in religion and cross-border ethnic ties. (More...)
Recently featured: Ubuntu – Music of the United States – Damon Hill
August 7
The Schabir Shaik trial was one of the most important court trials in post-apartheid South Africa. The case, tried in Durban High Court before Judge Hilary Squires, proved the fraudulent and corrupt relationship between a Durban-based businessman named Schabir Shaik and South African politician and anti-apartheid leader Jacob Zuma. After Shaik's brother Chippy was suspended from the Ministry of Defence for his involvement in a corrupt arms deal, Schabir Shaik was arrested in 2001 for the possession of secret documents, after which investigators found that he was involved in corrupt dealings with Zuma as well as fraud. He was brought to trial in October 2004, pleading not guilty. Shaik's trial was the subject of intense media attention due to the involvement of several high-profile members of the South African government. Though Shaik claimed that his financial dealings were legitimate, on May 30, 2005 the Durban High Court handed down its final judgement. He was pronounced guilty of corruption for paying Zuma Rand 1.2 million (US$185,000) to further their relationship and for soliciting a bribe from the French arms company Thomson-CSF. Judge Squires sentenced Shaik to two terms of 15 years in prison for corruption, and one term of 3 years for fraud, to be served concurrently. (More...)
Recently featured: Azerbaijani people – Ubuntu – Music of the United States
August 8
Libya is a country in North Africa. Bordering the Mediterranean Sea to the north, it lies between Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. With an area of 1.8 million square kilometres, 90% of which is desert, Libya is the fourth largest nation-state in Africa by area, and the 17th largest in the world. The capital, Tripoli, is home to 1.7 million of Libya's 5.8 million people. The three traditional parts of the country are Tripolitania, the Fezzan and Cyrenaica. Libya's name is derived from the ancient Egyptian term "Lebu", referring to Berber peoples living west of the Nile. With one of the largest proven oil reserves in the world, Libya has one of the largest gross domestic products per capita in Africa. Libya is led by revolutionary Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, whose foreign policy has often brought him into conflict with the West. (More...)
Recently featured: Schabir Shaik trial – Azerbaijani people – Ubuntu
August 9
The shotgun house is a type of house that was the most popular style in the American South from just after the Civil War until the 1920s. The style was developed in New Orleans, but these houses can be found as far away as Chicago and California. Shotgun houses are characterized by their narrow rectangular structure, usually no more than 12 feet (3.5 m) wide, three to five rooms deep, all connected to each other with no hallways, with doors at each end. The term "shotgun" is usually said to come from the saying that one could fire a shotgun through the front door and the pellets would fly cleanly through the house and out the back door. Initially popular with the middle class as much as with the poor, shotgun houses became a symbol of poverty in the mid-20th century. Opinion is now more mixed, with some becoming the targets of bulldozing due to urban renewal, but others the recipients of historic preservation and gentrification. They remain the most prevalent housing in many southern U.S. cities and towns. (More...)
Recently featured: Libya – Schabir Shaik trial – Azerbaijani people
August 10
The Kargil War was an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in Kashmir. The cause of the war was the infiltration of Pakistani soldiers and Kashmiri militants into positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control, which serves as the de facto border between the two nations. The Indian Army, supported by the air force, attacked the Pakistani positions and, with international diplomatic support, eventually forced a Pakistani withdrawal across the Line of Control. The war is one of the most recent examples of high altitude warfare, in mountainous terrain, and posed significant logistics problems for the combating sides. This was the first ground war between the two nuclear armed countries. (India and Pakistan both test-detonated fission devices in May 1998, though the first Indian nuclear test was conducted in 1974.) The conflict led to heightened tensions between the two nations and increased defense spending on the part of India. In Pakistan, the aftermath caused instability to the government and the economy, and on October 12 1999, a coup d'etat by the military placed army chief Pervez Musharraf in power. (More...)
Recently featured: Shotgun house – Libya – Schabir Shaik trial
August 11
Manchester City Football Club are an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880, they have won the League Championship twice, the FA Cup four times, the League Cup twice and the European Cup Winners' Cup once. Manchester City's most successful period came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they acquired several trophies under the management team of Joe Mercer and assistant Malcolm Allison and with great players such as Colin Bell, Francis Lee and Mike Summerbee. In more recent years, the club have fallen on harder times, and have not won a major honour since 1976. The club's decline culminated in getting relegated twice in three years in the 1990s, meaning Manchester City spent one year in the third tier of English football. However, they have since regained their FA Premier League status, putting them back in the top flight, the division in which they have spent the majority of their history. The team enjoy a large fanbase, regularly attracting more than 40,000 spectators to their home ground, the City of Manchester Stadium. (More...)
Recently featured: Kargil War – Shotgun house – Libya
August 12
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Augustan drama most commonly refers to the plays of Great Britain in the early 18th century, a subset of 18th-century Augustan literature. King George I referred to himself as "Augustus," and the poets of the era took this reference as apropos, as the literature of Rome during Caesar Augustus moved from historical and didactic poetry to the poetry of highly finished and sophisticated epics and satire. In poetry, the early 18th century was an age of satire and public verse, and in prose, it was an age of the developing novel. In drama, by contrast, it was an age in transition between the highly witty and sexually playful Restoration comedy, the pathetic she-tragedy of the turn of the century, and any later plots of middle-class anxiety. The Augustan stage retreated from the Restoration's focus on cuckoldry, marriage for fortune, and a life of leisure. Instead, Augustan drama reflected questions the mercantile class had about itself and what it meant to be gentry: what it meant to be a good merchant, how to achieve wealth with morality, and the proper role of those who serve. (More...)
Recently featured: Manchester City F.C. – Kargil War – Shotgun house
August 13
Caroline Island is the easternmost of the uninhabited coral atolls which comprise the southern Line Islands in the central Pacific Ocean. First sighted by Europeans in 1606, claimed by United Kingdom in 1868, and part of the Republic of Kiribati since the island nation's independence in 1979, Caroline Island has remained relatively untouched and is considered one of the world's most pristine tropical islands, despite guano mining, copra harvesting, and human habitation in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is home to one of the world's largest populations of the coconut crab and is an important breeding site for seabirds, most notably the Sooty Tern. The atoll is best known for its role in celebrations surrounding the arrival of the year 2000 – a 1995 realignment of the International Date Line made Caroline Island the easternmost land west of the Date Line and therefore one of the first points of land on earth to see sunrise in the year 2000. (More...)
Recently featured: Augustan drama – Manchester City F.C. – Kargil War
August 14
The O-Bahn Busway in the South Australian capital city of Adelaide is the world's longest and fastest guided busway. The O-Bahn—from the Latin omnibus and the German bahn ("way" or "road")—design was conceived by Daimler-Benz to enable buses to avoid traffic congestion by sharing tram tunnels in the German city of Essen. The system was introduced in 1986 to service Adelaide's rapidly expanding north-eastern suburbs, replacing an earlier plan for a tramway extension. The design is unique among public transport systems; busways typically use dedicated bus lanes or separate carriageways, but the O-Bahn runs on specially built track, combining elements of both bus and rail systems. The track is 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) long and includes one station and two interchanges: Klemzig Station in Payneham, Paradise Interchange in Campbelltown and Tea Tree Plaza Interchange in Tea Tree Gully. Interchanges allow buses to enter and exit the busway and to continue on suburban routes, avoiding the need for passengers to change. (More...)
Recently featured: Caroline Island – Augustan drama – Manchester City F.C.
August 15
The Cane Toad is a large, terrestrial true toad native to Central and South America. It is a member of the genus Bufo, which includes hundreds of different true toad species in different habitats throughout the world. The Cane Toad is a prolific breeder; females lay single-clump spawns with large numbers of eggs. Its reproductive success is partly due to opportunistic feeding: it has a diet, unusual among frogs, of both dead and living matter. Adults average 10 to 15 centimetres (4–6 in) in length, the largest recorded specimen weighed 2.65 kilograms (5.84 lb) and measured 38 centimetres (15 in) from snout to vent. The Cane Toad has large poison glands, and adults and tadpoles are highly toxic to most animals if ingested. Because of its voracious appetite, the Cane Toad has been introduced to many regions of the Pacific as a method of agricultural pest control, notably in the case of Australia in 1935, and derives its common name from its use against sugar cane pests. The Cane Toad is considered a pest in many of its introduced regions, as its toxic skin kills many native predators when ingested. (More...)
Recently featured: O-Bahn Busway – Caroline Island – Augustan drama
August 16
Hurricane Mitch was one of the most powerful and deadliest hurricanes ever observed, with maximum sustained winds of 180 mph (290 km/h). The storm was the ninth hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season. At the time, Mitch was the strongest hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic Ocean in the month of October, though it has since been surpassed by Hurricane Wilma. Mitch formed in the western Caribbean Sea on October 22, and after drifting through extremely favorable conditions, it rapidly strengthened to peak as a Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. After drifting southwestward and weakening, the hurricane hit Honduras as a minimal hurricane. It drifted through Central America, reformed in the Bay of Campeche, and ultimately struck Florida as a strong tropical storm. Due to its slow motion, Hurricane Mitch dropped historic amounts of rainfall from October 29 to November 3, with unofficial reports of up to 75 inches (1,900 mm). Deaths due to catastrophic flooding made it the second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history, killing between 11,000 and 18,000 people. The flooding caused extreme damage, amounting to around $7 billion (2005 USD). (more...)
Recently featured: Cane Toad – O-Bahn Busway – Caroline Island
August 17
Sikhism is a religion that began in sixteenth-century North India with the teachings of Nanak and nine successive human Gurus. This system of religious philosophy and expression has been traditionally known as the Gurmat. Sikhism is the fifth-largest organised religion in the world. The principal belief in Sikhism is faith in one God — Vāhigurū. Sikhism advocates the pursuit of salvation through disciplined, personal meditation on the name and message of God. The followers of Sikhism are ordained to follow the teachings of the ten Sikh Gurus, or enlightened leaders, as well as the holy scripture — the Gurū Granth Sāhib — which includes the selected works of many authors from diverse socioeconomic and religious backgrounds. The text was decreed by Gobind Singh as the final guru of the Khalsa Panth. Adherents of Sikhism are known as Sikhs and number over 23 million across the world. However, most Sikhs live in the state of Punjab in India; prior to partition, millions of Sikhs used to live in what is now the Punjab province of Pakistan. (more...)
Recently featured: Hurricane Mitch – Cane Toad – O-Bahn Busway
August 18
Illmatic is the debut album by rapper Nas, released on April 19, 1994 through Columbia Records. Featuring production from Large Professor, Pete Rock, Q-Tip and DJ Premier, as well as a guest appearance from AZ, Illmatic was immediately hailed as a masterpiece by critics, and is today one of the most celebrated and most influential albums in hip hop history. The release of Illmatic redefined the musical milieu of East Coast hip hop in the mid-1990s, resulting in a renewed focus on lyricism and in the revival of the Queensbridge rap scene, which had been latent after a period of prominence during the 1980s. Upon its release, Illmatic attracted a significant amount of attention within the hip hop community and caused an instant sensation within hip hop's underground circuit. In spite of this, the modest record sales of Illmatic fell well below expectations, partially due to bootlegging. A remastered commemorative edition of Illmatic was issued by Columbia for the album's tenth anniversary in 2004, with a bonus disc of four remixes and two previously unreleased tracks. (more...)
Recently featured: Sikhism – Hurricane Mitch – Cane Toad
August 19
Roman Vishniac was a renowned Russian-American photographer, best known for capturing on film the culture of Jews in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. He was, however, an extremely diverse photographer, an accomplished biologist and a knowledgeable student and teacher of art history. Throughout his life, he made significant scientific contributions to the fields of photomicroscopy and time-lapse photography. He later became a teacher and collector of historic art and artifacts. Vishniac was very interested in history, especially that of his ancestors. In turn, he was strongly tied to his Jewish roots and was a Zionist later in life. Roman Vishniac won international acclaim for his photography: his pictures from the shtetlach and Jewish ghettos, celebrity portraits, and images of microscopic biology. He is known for his book A Vanished World, published in 1947, which was one of the first such pictorial documentations of Jewish culture in Eastern Europe from that period. He is known also for his extreme humanism and respect and awe for life, sentiments that can be seen in all aspects of his work. (more...)
Recently featured: Illmatic – Sikhism – Hurricane Mitch
August 20
Cynna Kydd is an Australian netball player. She is currently goal shooter for the Melbourne Phoenix in the Commonwealth Bank Trophy, after a controversial defection from local rivals the Melbourne Kestrels in early 2006. Kydd had previously played for the Kestrels since 2000, and was the Kestrels captain from 2005 until her transfer. An often accurate and high-scoring shooter, Kydd was voted as the Commonwealth Bank Trophy's Most Valuable Player in 2004, and was a frequent member of the Australian national netball team from 2003 to 2005, but injury and a downturn in form saw her dropped from the national side in early 2005. Although she took some time to settle in at the Phoenix after her shock departure from the Kestrels, she subsequently recovered to have a successful season, and remains in contention to re-enter the national team in 2007. (more...)
Recently featured: Roman Vishniac – Illmatic – Sikhism
August 21
Sesame Street is an educational American children's television series designed for preschoolers and is recognized as a pioneer of the contemporary standard which combines education and entertainment in children's television shows. Sesame Street is well known for the inclusion of the Muppet characters created by the puppeteer Jim Henson. More than 4,000 episodes of the show have been produced in 36 seasons, which distinguishes it as one of the longest-running shows in television history. The program is produced in the United States by non-profit organization Sesame Workshop, founded by Joan Ganz Cooney and Ralph Rogers; the original series has been televised in 120 countries, and more than 20 international versions have been produced, not including dubs. Sesame Street has received 108 Emmy Awards, more than any other series in television history. An estimated 75 million Americans watched the series as children; millions more have watched around the world, or as parents. (more...)
Recently featured: Cynna Kydd – Roman Vishniac – Illmatic
August 22
The IG Farben Building was built from 1928 to 1930 as the corporate headquarters of the IG Farben conglomerate in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. A competition was held to design the building and was won by the architect Hans Poelzig. On completion, the complex was the largest office building in Europe and remained so until the 1950s. The IG Farben Building's six square wings retain a modern, spare elegance, despite its mammoth size. It is also notable for its paternoster elevators. The building was the headquarters for research projects relating to the development of Nazi wartime synthetic oil and rubber, and the production administration of magnesium, lubricating oil, explosives, methanol, and Zyklon B. After WWII, the IG Farben Building served as the headquarters for the Supreme Allied Command and became the principal location for implementing the Marshall Plan, which largely financed the post-war reconstruction of Europe. The US Army returned control of the IG Farben Building to the German government in 1995. It was purchased on behalf of the University of Frankfurt by the state of Hesse, which committed €25 million to the restoration. (more...)
Recently featured: Sesame Street – Cynna Kydd – Roman Vishniac
August 23
Watchmen is a twelve-issue comic book written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Originally published by DC Comics as a monthly limited series from 1986 to 1987, it was later republished as a trade paperback. It was one of the first superhero comic books to present itself as serious literature, and it also popularized the more adult-oriented "graphic novel" format. Watchmen is the only graphic novel to have won a Hugo Award, and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time magazine's list of "100 best novels from 1923 to present." Watchmen is set in 1985 in an alternative history United States where costumed adventurers are real and the country is edging closer to a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. It tells the story of the last remaining superheroes and the events surrounding the mysterious murder of one of their own. In Watchmen, superheroes are presented as real people who must confront ethical and personal issues, who have neuroses and failings, and who are largely lacking in superpowers. (more...)
Recently featured: IG Farben Building – Sesame Street – Cynna Kydd
August 24
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Catholic Church, performed in the Mass and the monastic Office. Although popular legend credits Pope St. Gregory the Great with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later synthesis of Roman chant and Gallican chant commissioned by Carolingian rulers, especially Charlemagne. Gregorian chant supplanted or marginalized the other indigenous plainchant traditions of the Christian West to become the official music of the Catholic liturgy. Although Gregorian chant is no longer obligatory, the Catholic Church still officially considers it the music most suitable for worship. (more...)
Recently featured: Watchmen – IG Farben Building – Sesame Street
August 25
Mercury is the innermost and smallest planet in the Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 88 days. It ranges in brightness from about −2.0 to 5.5 in apparent magnitude. The planet remains comparatively little known: the only spacecraft to approach Mercury was Mariner 10 from 1974 to 1975, which mapped only 40%–45% of the planet's surface. Physically, Mercury is similar in appearance to the Moon as it is heavily cratered. It has no natural satellites and no real atmosphere. The planet has a large iron core which generates a magnetic field about 1% as strong as that of the Earth. Surface temperatures on Mercury range from about 90 to 700 K, with the subsolar point being the hottest and the bottoms of craters near the poles being the coldest. (more...)
Recently featured: Gregorian chant – Watchmen – IG Farben Building
August 26
The Indian Institutes of Technology are a group of seven autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institutes of higher education established by the Government of India. These institutes were created to train scientists and engineers, with the aim of developing a skilled workforce to underpin India's economic and social development after independence in 1947. IIT Kharagpur was the first IIT to be established, in 1951. Each IIT is an autonomous university, linked to the others through a common IIT Council, which oversees their administration. They have a common admission process, using the Joint Entrance Examination to select around 4,000 candidates a year. About 15,500 undergraduate and 12,000 graduate students study in the seven IITs, in addition to research scholars. The success of the IITs has led to the creation of similar institutes in other fields, such as the National Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and the Indian Institute of Information Technology. (more...)
Recently featured: Mercury – Gregorian chant – Watchmen
August 27
The Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson primarily between 1969 and 1971. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex- and magic-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both historical and imaginary, which hinge around the authors' version of the Illuminati. The narrative often switches between third and first person perspectives and jumps around in time. It is thematically dense, covering topics like counterculture, numerology and Discordianism. The trilogy comprises the books The Eye in the Pyramid, The Golden Apple and Leviathan. The popularity of the word "fnord" and the 23 enigma can both be attributed to the trilogy. It remains a seminal work of conspiracy fiction, predating Foucault's Pendulum and The Da Vinci Code by decades. (more...)
Recently featured: Indian Institutes of Technology – Mercury – Gregorian chant
August 28
A sequence alignment in bioinformatics is a way of arranging DNA, RNA, or protein primary sequences to emphasize their regions of similarity, which may indicate functional or evolutionary relationships between the genes or proteins in the query. Aligned sequences are typically written with their characters (generally representing amino acids or nucleotides) in columns into which gaps are inserted so that residues with identical or similar characters are aligned in the successive columns. If two sequences in an alignment share a common ancestor, mismatches can be interpreted as point mutations and gaps as indels (that is, insertion or deletion mutations) introduced in one or both lineages in the time since they diverged from one another. In protein sequence alignment, the degree of similarity between amino acids occupying a particular position in the sequence can be interpreted as a rough measure of how conserved a particular region or sequence motif is among lineages. (more...)
Recently featured: The Illuminatus! Trilogy – Indian Institutes of Technology – Mercury
August 29
The history of Central Asia is defined primarily by the area's climate and geography. The aridity of the region made agriculture difficult and its distance from the sea cut it off from much trade. Thus, few major cities developed in the region; instead the area was for millennia dominated by the nomadic horse peoples of the steppe. The nomadic lifestyle was well suited to warfare, and the steppe horse riders became some of the most militarily potent peoples in the world, limited primarily by their lack of internal unity. The dominance of the nomads ended in the 16th century as firearms allowed settled peoples to gain control of the region. Russia, China, and other powers expanded into the region, and had captured the bulk of Central Asia by the end of the 19th century. After the Russian Revolution, most Central Asian regions were incorporated into the Soviet Union; only Mongolia remained nominally independent. The Soviet areas of Central Asia saw much industrialization and construction of infrastructure, but also the suppression of local cultures, hundreds of thousands of deaths from failed collectivization programs, and a lasting legacy of ethnic tensions and environmental problems. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, five Central Asian countries gained independence, although none of the new republics could be considered a functional democracy. (more...)
Recently featured: Sequence alignment – The Illuminatus! Trilogy – Indian Institutes of Technology
August 30
The Talbot Tagora is an executive car developed by Chrysler Europe and produced by Peugeot Société Anonyme (PSA). The Tagora was marketed under the Talbot marque after PSA took over Chrysler's European operations in 1979. PSA presented the first production vehicle in 1980 and launched it commercially in 1981. The Tagora fell far short of sales expectations, and PSA cancelled the model only two years later. Fewer than 20,000 Tagoras were ever built, all of them at the former Simca factory in the Poissy commune near Paris. (more...)
Recently featured: History of Central Asia – Sequence alignment – The Illuminatus! Trilogy
August 31
The Chew Valley is an area in North Somerset, England, named after the River Chew, which rises at Chewton Mendip, and joins the River Avon at Keynsham. Technically, the area of the valley is bounded by the water catchment area of the Chew and its tributaries; however, the name Chew Valley is often used less formally to cover other nearby areas, for example, Blagdon Lake and its environs, which by a stricter definition are part of the Yeo Valley. The valley is an area of rich arable and dairy farmland, interspersed with a number of villages. The landscape consists of the valley of the River Chew and is generally low-lying and undulating. It is bounded by higher ground ranging from Dundry Down to the north, the Lulsgate Plateau to the west, the Mendip Hills to the south and the Hinton Blewett, Marksbury and Newton Saint Loe plateau areas to the east. The valley's boundary generally follows the top of scarp slopes except at the southwestern and southeastern boundaries where flat upper areas of the Chew Valley grade gently into the Yeo Valley and eastern Mendip Hills respectively. (more...)
Recently featured: Talbot Tagora – History of Central Asia – Sequence alignment