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January 1
"Ulysses" is a poem by the Victorian poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, written in 1833 and published in 1842 in Tennyson's well-received second volume of poems. An oft-quoted poem, it is popularly used to illustrate the dramatic monologue poetic form. Ulysses describes, to an unspecified audience, his discontent and restlessness upon returning to his kingdom, Ithaca, after his far-ranging travels. Facing old age, Ulysses yearns to explore again, despite his reunion with his wife Penelope and son Telemachus. The character Ulysses (Greek: Odysseus) has been explored widely in literature. The adventures of Odysseus were first recorded in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (c. 800–600 BC), and Tennyson draws on Homer's narrative in the poem. Most critics, however, find that Tennyson's Ulysses recalls the character Ulisse in Dante's Inferno (c. 1320). For most of the poem's history, readers viewed Ulysses as resolute and heroic, admiring him for his determination "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield". The view that Tennyson intended a heroic character is supported by his statements about the poem, and by the events in his life—the death of his closest friend—that prompted him to write it. In the twentieth century, scholars began to offer interpretations of "Ulysses" that highlight potential ironies in the poem. (more...)
Recently featured: 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl – Ganesha – Love. Angel. Music. Baby.
January 2
Gregory of Nazianzus was a 4th century Christian bishop of Constantinople. He is widely considered the most accomplished rhetorical stylist of the patristic age. As a classically trained speaker and philosopher he infused Hellenism into the early church, establishing the paradigm of Byzantine theologians and church officials. Gregory made a significant impact on the shape of Trinitarian theology among both Greek-speaking and Latin-speaking theologians, and he is remembered as the "Trinitarian Theologian". Much of his theological work continues to influence modern theologians, especially in regard to the relationship among the three persons of the Trinity. Along with two brothers, Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa, he is known as one of the Cappadocian Fathers. Gregory is honored as a saint in both Eastern and Western Christianity. In the Roman Catholic Church he is among the Doctors of the Church; in Eastern Orthodoxy and the Eastern Catholic Churches he is revered as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs along with Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom. (more...)
Recently featured: Ulysses – 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl – Ganesha
January 3
The Fin Whale is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. It is the second largest whale and the second largest living animal after the Blue Whale, growing to nearly 27 metres (88 ft) long. Long and slender, the Fin Whale's body is brownish-gray with a paler underside. There are at least two distinct subspecies: the Northern Fin Whale of the North Atlantic, and the larger Antarctic Fin Whale of the Southern Ocean. It is found in all the world's major oceans, from polar to tropical waters. It is absent only from waters close to the ice pack at both the north and south poles and relatively small areas of water away from the open ocean. Its food consists of small schooling fish, squid and crustaceans including mysids and krill. Like all other large whales, the Fin Whale was heavily hunted during the twentieth century and is an endangered species. The International Whaling Commission (IWC) has issued a moratorium on commercial hunting of this whale, although Iceland and Japan have announced intentions to resume hunting, the latter country stating it will kill a quota of 50 whales for the 2008 season. Collisions with ships and noise from human activity are also significant threats to the recovery of the species. (more...)
Recently featured: Gregory of Nazianzus – Ulysses – 2006 Chick-fil-A Bowl
January 4
William Cooley was one of the first American settlers, and a regional leader, in what is now known as Broward County, Florida. He is known primarily because his family was murdered by Seminoles in 1836, during the Second Seminole War. The attack, known as the "New River Massacre", caused immediate abandonment of the area by whites. Cooley was born in Maryland, but little else is known about his life prior to 1813, when he arrived in East Florida as part of a military expedition. He established himself as a farmer in the northern part of the territory before moving south, where he traded with local Indians and continued to farm. He sided with natives in a land dispute against a merchant who had received a large grant from the King of Spain and was evicting the Indians from their lands. Unhappy with the actions of the Spanish, he moved to the New River area in 1826 to get as far as possible from the Spanish influence. In New River, Cooley sustained himself as a salvager and farmer, cultivating and milling arrowroot. His fortune and influence grew: he became the first lawman and judge in the settlement, besides being a land appraiser. Local Indians held him responsible for what they saw as a misjudgment involving the murder of one of their chiefs and attacked the settlement in revenge on January 4, 1836. (more...)
Recently featured: Fin Whale – Gregory of Nazianzus – Ulysses
January 5
The Queluz National Palace is a Portuguese 18th-century palace located at Queluz, a freguesia of the modern-day Sintra municipality, in the District of Lisbon. One of the last great Rococo buildings to be designed in Europe, the palace was conceived as a summer retreat for Dom Pedro of Braganza, who was later to become husband and then king consort to his own niece, Queen Maria I. It served as a discreet place of incarceration for Queen Maria as her descent into madness continued in the years following Dom Pedro's death in 1786. Following the destruction by fire of the Ajuda Palace in 1794, Queluz Palace became the official residence of the Portuguese prince regent, John VI, and his family and remained so until the Royal Family fled to Brazil in 1807 following the French invasion of Portugal. Work on the palace began in 1747 under the architect Mateus Vicente de Oliveira. Despite being far smaller, the palace is often referred to as the Portuguese Versailles. From 1826, the palace slowly fell from favour with the Portuguese sovereigns. In 1908, it became the property of the state. Following a serious fire in 1934, which gutted the interior, the palace was extensively restored, and today is open to the public as a major tourist attraction. (more...)
Recently featured: William Cooley – Fin Whale – Gregory of Nazianzus
January 6
G. Ledyard Stebbins was an American botanist and geneticist who is widely regarded as one of the leading evolutionary biologists and botanists of the 20th century. His work with E. B. Babcock on the genetic evolution of plant species, and his association with a group of evolutionary biologists known as the Bay Area Biosystematists, led him to develop a comprehensive synthesis of plant evolution incorporating genetics. His most important publication was Variation and Evolution in Plants, which combined genetics and Darwin's theory of natural selection to describe plant speciation. It is regarded as one of the main publications which formed the core of the modern evolutionary synthesis and still provides the conceptual framework for research in plant evolutionary biology; according to Ernst Mayr, "Few later works dealing with the evolutionary systematics of plants have not been very deeply affected by Stebbins' work." He also researched and wrote widely on the role of hybridization and polyploidy in speciation and plant evolution; his work in this area has had a lasting influence on research in the field. From 1950, Stebbins was instrumental in the establishment of the Department of Genetics at the University of California, Davis, and was active in numerous organizations involved in the promotion of evolution, and of science in general. (more...)
Recently featured: Queluz National Palace – William Cooley – Fin Whale
January 7
Ælle is recorded in early sources as the first king of the South Saxons, reigning in what is now Sussex, England from 477 to perhaps as late as 514. The information about him is so limited that it cannot be said with certainty that Ælle even existed. Ælle and three of his sons are reported to have landed near what is now Selsey Bill—the exact location is under the sea, and is probably what is now a sandbank known as the Owers—and fought with the British. A victory in 491 at what is now Pevensey is reported to have ended with the Saxons slaughtering their opponents to the last man. Although the details of these traditions cannot be verified, evidence from the place names of Sussex does make it clear that it was an area with extensive and early settlement by the Saxons, supporting the idea that this was one of their early conquests. Ælle was the first king recorded by the eighth century chronicler Bede to have held "imperium", or overlordship, over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In the late ninth century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (around four hundred years after his time) Ælle is recorded as being the first bretwalda, or "Britain-ruler", though there is no evidence that this was a contemporary title. Ælle's death is not recorded, and it is not known who succeeded him as king of the South Saxons. (more...)
Recently featured: G. Ledyard Stebbins – Queluz National Palace – William Cooley
January 8
The Chicxulub Crater is an ancient impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula, with its center located near the town of Chicxulub, Yucatán, Mexico. The crater is over 180 kilometers (110 mi) in diameter, making the feature one of the largest confirmed impact structures in the world; the asteroid or comet whose impact formed the crater was at least 10 km (6 mi) in diameter. The crater was named for the nearby town, as well as for the literal Maya translation of the name: "tail of the devil." The crater was discovered by Glen Penfield, a geophysicist who had been working in the Yucatán while looking for oil during the late 1970s. The presence of tektites, shocked quartz and gravity anomalies, as well as the age of the rocks and isotope analysis, show that this impact structure dates from the late Cretaceous Period, roughly 65 million years ago. The impact associated with the crater is implicated in causing the extinction of the dinosaurs as suggested by the K–T boundary, although some critics disagree that the impact was the sole reason and also debate whether there was a single impact or whether the Chicxulub impactor was one of several that may have struck the Earth at around the same time. Recent evidence suggests that the impactor was a piece of a much larger asteroid which broke up in a collision more than 160 million years ago. (more...)
Recently featured: Ælle of Sussex – G. Ledyard Stebbins – Queluz National Palace
January 9
During the Swedish emigration to the United States in the 19th and early 20th centuries, about 1.3 million Swedes left Sweden for the United States of America. While the virgin land of the U.S. frontier was a magnet for the rural poor all over Europe, some factors encouraged Swedish emigration in particular. The religious repression practiced by the Swedish Lutheran State Church was widely resented, as was the social conservatism and class snobbery of the Swedish monarchy. Population growth and crop failures made conditions in the Swedish countryside increasingly bleak. By contrast, reports from early Swedish emigrants painted the American Midwest as an earthly paradise, and praised American religious and political freedom and undreamed-of opportunities to better one's condition. Swedish migration to the United States peaked in the decades after the American Civil War (1861–65). Most immigrants became classic pioneers, clearing and cultivating the prairie, while others remained in the cities, particularly Chicago. Many established Swedish Americans visited the old country in the later 19th century, their narratives illustrating the difference in customs and manners. (more...)
Recently featured: Chicxulub Crater – Ælle of Sussex – G. Ledyard Stebbins
January 10
The Oregon State Capitol is the building housing the state legislature and the offices of the governor, secretary of state, and treasurer of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located in the state capital, Salem. The current building, constructed in 1935 and expanded in 1977, is the third to house the Oregon state government since the state administration moved to Salem in 1852. Two former capitol buildings were destroyed by fire, one in 1855 and the other in 1935. New York architects Trowbridge & Livingston conceived the current structure's Art Deco design, in association with Francis Keally. Much of the interior and exterior are made of marble. The Oregon State Capitol was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The Public Works Administration, part of the U.S. government, partially financed construction, which was completed during the Great Depression, in 1937. The building was erected at a cost of $2.5 million for the central portion of the building, which includes a dome of 166 feet (51 m). (more...)
Recently featured: Swedish emigration to the United States – Chicxulub Crater – Ælle of Sussex
January 11
The Boshin War was a civil war in Japan, fought from 1868 to 1869 between forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and those seeking to return political power to the imperial court. The war found its origins in dissatisfaction among many nobles and young samurai with the Shogunate's handling of foreigners following the opening of Japan the prior decade. An alliance of southern samurai and court officials secured the cooperation of the young Emperor Meiji, who declared the abolition of the two-hundred-year-old Shogunate. Military movements by imperial forces and partisan violence in Edo led Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the sitting shogun, to launch a military campaign to seize the emperor's court at Kyoto. The military tide rapidly turned in favor of the smaller but relatively modernized imperial faction, and after a series of battles culminating in the surrender of Edo, Yoshinobu personally surrendered. The Tokugawa remnant retreated to northern Honshū and later to Hokkaidō, where they founded the Ezo republic. Defeat at the Battle of Hakodate broke this last holdout and left the imperial rule supreme throughout the whole of Japan, completing the military phase of the Meiji Restoration. Around 120,000 men were mobilized during the conflict, and of these about 3,500 were killed. (more...)
Recently featured: Oregon State Capitol – Swedish emigration to the United States – Chicxulub Crater
January 12
Trembling Before G-d is a 2001 documentary film about gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews trying to reconcile their sexuality with their faith. It was directed by Sandi Simcha DuBowski, who wanted to compare Orthodox attitudes to homosexuality with his own upbringing as a gay Conservative Jew. The film received ten award nominations, winning seven, including the Teddy Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2001 Berlin Film Festival, 2003 GLAAD Media Award for Best Documentary. Trembling Before G-d is filmed in the style of cinéma vérité, which aims for extreme naturalism using non-intrusive filming techniques, genuine locations instead of sound stages, and little post-production mixing or voiceovers. The film is mostly in English, but also has some subtitled Yiddish and Hebrew. The film follows the lives of several gay and lesbian Orthodox Jews and includes interviews with rabbis and psychotherapists about Orthodox attitudes towards homosexuality. During the film's six-year production, DuBowski met hundreds of homosexual Jews but only a handful agreed to be filmed out of fear of being ostracized from their communities. Many people who agreed to be interviewed are shown only in silhouette or with their faces pixelized. Trembling Before G-d was moderately successful at the box office, grossing over $5,500 on a single screen on its first day of release and $788,896 on eight screens by its close date on January 5, 2003. (more...)
Recently featured: Boshin War – Oregon State Capitol – Swedish emigration to the United States
January 13
The 2007 UEFA Champions League Final was a football match played at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece, on 23 May 2007, to decide the winner of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. English club Liverpool faced Italy's A.C. Milan in a repeat match-up of the 2005 final. A.C. Milan won the match 2–1, after two goals from man of the match Filippo Inzaghi. Before 2007, A.C. Milan's last triumph had been in the 2003 final, while Liverpool's was against Milan in the 2005 final. Liverpool and A.C. Milan started their UEFA Champions League campaigns in the Third Qualifying round, both sides progressed to the group stages, and won their respective groups. Before the match there were ticketing problems. This was due to a large number of fans gaining entry to the stadium, without tickets. After the match, a UEFA spokesman accused Liverpool of having the worst fans in Europe, a claim later denied by the UEFA president, Michel Platini. (more...)
Recently featured: Trembling Before G-d – Boshin War – Oregon State Capitol
January 14
British anti-invasion preparations of World War II entailed a large scale programme of military and civilian mobilisation in response to the threat of invasion by German armed forces in 1940 and 1941. The army needed to recover from the defeat of the British Expeditionary Force in France and one and a half million men were enrolled as part-time soldiers in the Home Guard. The rapid construction of field fortifications transformed much of Britain, especially southern England, into a prepared battlefield. Short of heavy weapons and equipment, the British had to make the best use of whatever was available. The German invasion plan, known to English speakers as Operation Sealion, was never taken beyond the preliminary assembly of forces stage. Today, very little remains of Britain's anti-invasion preparations. Only reinforced concrete structures such as pillboxes are common and even these have, until very recently, been unappreciated as historical monuments. (more...)
Recently featured: 2007 UEFA Champions League Final – Trembling Before G-d – Boshin War
January 15
Reign in Blood is the third studio album and major label debut by the American thrash metal band Slayer. Released in October 1986, the album was the band's first collaboration with record producer Rick Rubin, whose input helped the band's sound evolve. Reign in Blood was very well received by both critics and fans, and was responsible for bringing Slayer to the attention of a mainstream metal audience. Kerrang! magazine described the record as "the heaviest album of all time", and a breakthrough in thrash metal. Reign in Blood's release was delayed because of concerns regarding its graphic artwork and lyrical subject matter. The opening track, "Angel of Death", references Josef Mengele and details acts committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp, which provoked allegations of Nazism. However, the band stated numerous times they do not condone Nazism, and are merely interested in the subject. The album was Slayer's first to enter the Billboard 200; the release peaked at number 94, and on November 20, 1992 was awarded gold certification. (more...)
Recently featured: British anti-invasion preparations of World War II – 2007 UEFA Champions League Final – Trembling Before G-d
January 16
The Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act of 1956 was an Act of Congress passed to improve mental health care in the United States territory of Alaska. Introduced in the House of Representatives by Alaska Congressional Delegate Bob Bartlett in January 1956, it became the focus of a major political controversy. The legislation was opposed by a variety of far-right, anti-Communist and fringe religious groups, prompting what was said to have been the biggest political controversy seen on Capitol Hill since the early 1940s. Prominent opponents nicknamed it the "Siberia Bill" and asserted that it was part of an international Jewish, Roman Catholic or psychiatric conspiracy intended to establish United Nations-run concentration camps in the United States. With the sponsorship of the conservative Republican senator Barry Goldwater, a modified version of the Act was approved unanimously by the United States Senate in July 1956 after only ten minutes of debate. (more...)
Recently featured: Reign in Blood – British anti-invasion preparations of World War II – 2007 UEFA Champions League Final
January 17
John Day was an English Protestant printer. He specialised in printing and distributing Protestant literature and pamphlets and produced many small-format religious books, such as ABCs, sermons, and translations of psalms. He found fame, however, as the publisher of John Foxe's Actes and Monuments, also known as the Book of Martyrs, the largest and most technologically accomplished book printed in sixteenth-century England. Day rose to the top of his profession during the reign of Edward VI (1547–1553). At this time, restrictions on publishers were relaxed, and a wave of propaganda on behalf of the English Reformation was encouraged by the government of the Lord Protector, Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. During the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I, many Protestant printers fled to the continent, but Day stayed in England and continued to print Protestant literature, which led to his arrest and imprisonment in 1554. Under Queen Elizabeth I, Day returned to his premises at Aldersgate in London, where he enjoyed the patronage of high-ranking officials and nobles. With their support, he published the Book of Martyrs and was awarded monopolies for some of the most popular English books. Day, whose technical skill matched his business acumen, has been called "the master printer of the English Reformation". (more...)
Recently featured: Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act – Reign in Blood – British anti-invasion preparations of World War II
January 18
The SR Merchant Navy Class was a class of air-smoothed 4-6-2 Pacific steam locomotive designed for the Southern Railway by Oliver Bulleid. The Pacific design was chosen in preference to several others proposed by Bulleid. The first members of the class were constructed during the Second World War, and the last of the 30 locomotives in 1949. Incorporating a number of new developments in British steam locomotive technology, the design of the Packets was among the first to use welding in the construction process; this enabled easier fabrication of components during the austerity of the war and post-war economies. The locomotives featured thermic syphons and Bulleid's controversial, innovative chain-driven valve gear. The class members were named after the Merchant Navy shipping lines involved in the Battle of the Atlantic, and latterly those which used Southampton Docks, an astute publicity masterstroke by the Southern Railway, which operated Southampton Docks during the period. Due to problems with some of the more novel features of Bulleid's design, all members of the class were rebuilt by British Railways during the late 1950s, losing their air-smoothed casings in the process. The Packets operated until the end of Southern steam in July 1967. A third of the class have survived and can be seen on heritage railways throughout Great Britain. (more...)
Recently featured: John Day – Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act – Reign in Blood
January 19
The Tuck School of Business is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Founded in 1900, Tuck is the oldest graduate school of business in the world, and was the first institution to offer master's degrees in business administration. It is one of six Ivy League business schools, and it consistently ranks in the top ten of national business school rankings. Tuck grants only one degree, the Master of Business Administration, alongside shorter programs for executives and recent college graduates, as well as opportunities for dual degrees with other institutions. The school places a heavy emphasis on its tight-knit and residential character, and has a student population typically in the region of 500 students and a full-time teaching staff of 46. Tuck currently enjoys the highest rate of alumni donation of any business school in the United States. (more...)
Recently featured: SR Merchant Navy Class – John Day – Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act
January 20
Jack Sheppard was a notorious English robber, burglar and thief of early 18th-century London. Born into a poor family, he was apprenticed as a carpenter but took to theft and burglary in 1723, with little more than a year of his training to complete. He was arrested and imprisoned five times in 1724 but escaped four times, making him a notorious public figure, and wildly popular with the poorer classes. Ultimately, he was caught, convicted, and hanged at Tyburn, ending his brief criminal career after less than two years. The inability of the noted "Thief-Taker General" (and thief) Jonathan Wild to control Sheppard, and injuries suffered by Wild at the hands of Sheppard's colleague, Joseph "Blueskin" Blake, led to Wild's downfall. Sheppard was as renowned for his attempts to escape justice as for his crimes. He returned to the public consciousness in around 1840, when William Harrison Ainsworth wrote a novel entitled Jack Sheppard, with illustrations by George Cruikshank. The popularity of his tale, and the fear that others would be drawn to emulate his behaviour, led the authorities to refuse to license any plays in London with "Jack Sheppard" in the title for forty years. (more...)
Recently featured: Tuck School of Business – SR Merchant Navy Class – John Day
January 21
Bruno Maddox is a British literary novelist and journalist who is best known for his critically acclaimed novel My Little Blue Dress (2001) and for his satirical magazine essays. After graduating from Harvard University in 1992, Maddox began his career reviewing books for The New York Times Book Review and The Washington Post Book World. In early 1996, he was appointed to an editorship at SPY magazine and within a few months he was promoted to editor-in-chief, a position he held until the magazine shut down in 1998. Maddox wrote My Little Blue Dress between 1999 and 2001. Since its publication, he has focused on writing satirical essays for magazines such as GEAR and Travel + Leisure; he also contributes a monthly humor column to Discover magazine called "Blinded by Science", drawing on his early exposure to science and technology. Maddox is likewise a contributing editor to the American edition of The Week magazine. (more...)
Recently featured: Jack Sheppard – Tuck School of Business – SR Merchant Navy Class
January 22
The geology of the Lassen volcanic area presents a record of sedimentation and volcanic activity in the area in and around Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. The park is located in the southernmost part of the Cascade Mountain Range in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Oceanic tectonic plates have plunged below the North American Plate in this part of North America for hundreds of millions of years. Heat from these subducting plates has fed scores of volcanoes in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia over at least the past 30 million years and is also responsible for activities in the Lassen volcanic area. Between 2 and 4 million years ago, volcanic-derived mud flows called lahars streamed down several major mountains that included nearby but now extinct Mount Yana and Mount Maidu to become the Tuscan Formation. Phreatic eruptions, dacite and andesite lava flows along with cinder cone formation have persisted into modern times. Most notable of these is the 18th century formation of Cinder Cone and the 1914 to 1921 eruption of Lassen Peak. The only activity since then has been the constant bubbling of mud pots and steaming of fumaroles from the various geothermal areas in Lassen Volcanic National Park. However, there exists a potential for renewed vigorous volcanic activity that could threaten life and property in the area. (more...)
Recently featured: Bruno Maddox – Jack Sheppard – Tuck School of Business
January 23
Stede Bonnet was an early 18th-century Barbadian pirate, sometimes called "the gentleman pirate". Because of marital problems, Bonnet turned to piracy in the summer of 1717. He bought a sailing vessel, named it Revenge, and traveled with his paid crew along the American eastern seaboard, capturing other vessels and burning down Barbadian ships. After arriving in Nassau, Bonnet met the infamous pirate Blackbeard. Incapable of leading his crew, Bonnet temporarily ceded his ship's command to Blackbeard. Before separating in December 1717, Blackbeard and Bonnet plundered and captured merchant ships along the East Coast. After Bonnet failed to capture the Protestant Caesar, his crew abandoned him to join Blackbeard on the Queen Anne's Revenge. Bonnet stayed on Blackbeard's ship as a guest, and did not command a crew again until summer 1718, when he was pardoned by North Carolina governor Charles Eden and received clearance to go privateering against Spanish shipping. By July 1718, he had returned to piracy. In late August and September of that year, Colonel William Rhett led a naval expedition against pirates on the Cape Fear River. Rhett and Bonnet's men fought each other for hours, but the outnumbered pirates ultimately surrendered. Rhett arrested the pirates and brought them to Charleston in early October. Bonnet was brought to trial, and sentenced to death. After his request for clemency was turned down, Bonnet was hanged in Charleston on December 10, 1718. (more...)
Recently featured: Geology of the Lassen volcanic area – Bruno Maddox – Jack Sheppard
January 24
Crazy Taxi is a series of score attack racing video games that was developed by Hitmaker and published by Sega. The first game appeared in arcades in 1999 and was very successful, prompting Sega to port the arcade version to their Dreamcast console in 2000. It was the fifth best-selling game on the Dreamcast, selling over a million copies. The game was later ported to the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube and PC with sequels also appearing on the Microsoft Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable systems. Each game has the player assume the role of a taxi driver who must accumulate money by delivering passengers to their destinations in the fastest time possible, earning tips by performing "crazy stunts" before the time runs out. The franchise has been recognized for its innovative gameplay design which is easy to learn but difficult to master, its use of unobtrusive in-game advertising, and its soundtrack music provided by the bands The Offspring and Bad Religion. The core gameplay mechanic has been patented by Sega, which has led to at least one lawsuit over similar gameplay in The Simpsons: Road Rage game which has since been settled out of court. (more…)
Recently featured: Stede Bonnet – Geology of the Lassen volcanic area – Bruno Maddox
January 25
Several treatments for multiple sclerosis exist, although there is no known cure. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease that affects the central nervous system. The most common initial course of the disease is the relapsing-remitting subtype, which is characterized by unpredictable attacks (relapses) followed by periods of relative remission with no new signs of disease activity. Other, less common, courses of the disease are the primary progressive (decline from the beginning without attacks) and the progressive-relapsing (steady neurologic decline and superimposed attacks). Different therapies are used for patients experiencing acute attacks, for patients who have the relapsing-remitting subtype, for patients who have the progressive subtypes, for patients without a diagnosis of MS who have a demyelinating event, and for managing the various consequences of MS. The primary aims of therapy are returning function after an attack, preventing new attacks, and preventing disability. As with any medical treatment, medications used in the management of MS have several adverse effects, and many possible therapies are still under investigation. At the same time different alternative treatments are pursued by many patients, despite the paucity of supporting, comparable, replicated scientific study. (more...)
Recently featured: Crazy Taxi – Stede Bonnet – Geology of the Lassen volcanic area
January 26
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer and hunter whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of the Thirteen Colonies. Despite resistance from American Indians, for whom Kentucky was a traditional hunting ground, in 1775 Boone blazed the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap and into Kentucky. There he founded Boonesborough, one of the first English-speaking settlements beyond the Appalachian Mountains. He was a legend in his own lifetime, especially after an account of his adventures was published in 1784, making him famous in America and Europe. After his death, he was frequently the subject of tall tales and works of fiction. His adventures—real and legendary—were influential in creating the archetypal Western hero of American folklore. In American popular culture, he is remembered as one of the foremost early frontiersmen, even though the mythology often overshadows the historical details of his life. (more...)
Recently featured: Treatment of multiple sclerosis – Crazy Taxi – Stede Bonnet
January 27
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Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, probably written between 1599 and 1601. Set in Denmark, the play tells how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle for murdering the previous king, Hamlet's father. Hamlet's uncle has since stolen the throne and taken Hamlet's mother, the dead king's widow, as his wife. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, incest, and moral corruption. Despite much literary detective work, the exact year of writing remains in dispute. Three different early versions of the play survived, which are known as the First Quarto, the Second Quarto, and the First Folio. Each has lines, and even scenes, that are missing from the others. Shakespeare probably based Hamlet on an Indo-European legend—preserved by a 13th-century chronicler, and retold by a 16th-century scholar—and a lost Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet. The play's dramatic structure and Shakespeare's depth of characterisation mean that Hamlet can be analysed and interpreted—and argued about—from many perspectives. Hamlet is by far Shakespeare's longest play, and among the most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language. The title role was almost certainly created for Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeare's time; in the four hundred years since, it has been played by the greatest actors, and sometimes actresses, of each successive age. (more...)
Recently featured: Daniel Boone – Treatment of multiple sclerosis – Crazy Taxi
January 28
The Battle of Ramillies was a major engagement of the War of the Spanish Succession fought on 23 May, 1706. 1706 had begun well for Louis XIV's generals who gained early success in Italy and in Alsace. Louis now pressed Marshal Villeroi to seek out Marlborough and bring the Allies to battle in the Spanish Netherlands. Accordingly, the French marshal set off from Louvain at the head of 60,000 men, and provocatively marched towards Léau. Marlborough, also determined to fight a major engagement, assembled his forces – some 62,000 men – near Maastricht, before advancing towards the Mehaigne River and the plain of Ramillies. But the French had forestalled the Allies, and Marlborough's advance party found the location already occupied. Nevertheless, the Duke decided to attack at once. In less than four hours, Villeroi's army was utterly defeated. Marlborough's subtle moves and changes in emphasis during the battle – something the French and Bavarian commanders failed to realize until it was too late – caught his foe between the jaws of a tactical vice. The Franco-Bavarian army broke and ran en masse, losing in total over 20,000 casualties. With Prince Eugéne's subsequent success at Turin in northern Italy, the Allies had imposed the greatest loss of territory and resources Louis XIV would suffer during the war. Town after town – including Brussels, Bruges and Antwerp – fell to Marlborough's forces; by the end of the campaign, the Franco-Spanish army had been driven from most of the Spanish Netherlands. (more...)
Recently featured: Hamlet – Daniel Boone – Treatment of multiple sclerosis
January 29
Archimedes was an ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, astronomer and engineer. Although little is known of his life, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists in classical antiquity. Among his advances in physics are the foundations of hydrostatics and the explanation of the principle of the lever. His early use of calculus included the first known summation of an infinite series with a method that is still used today. He is also credited with designing innovative machines, including weapons and the screw pump that bears his name. He is best known for allegedly exclaiming "Eureka!" after discovering what is known today as Archimedes' principle. Archimedes died during the Siege of Syracuse, when he was killed by a Roman soldier despite orders that he should not be harmed. The relatively few copies of his treatises that survived through the Middle Ages were an influential source of ideas for scientists during the Renaissance. The historians of Ancient Rome showed a strong interest in Archimedes and wrote accounts of his life and works, while the discovery of previously unknown works by Archimedes in the Archimedes Palimpsest has provided new insights into how he obtained mathematical results. Carl Friedrich Gauss is said to have remarked that Archimedes was one of the three epoch-making mathematicians, with the others being Sir Isaac Newton and Ferdinand Eisenstein. (more...)
Recently featured: Battle of Ramillies – Hamlet – Daniel Boone
January 30
"Manos" The Hands of Fate is a 1966 American horror film written, directed and produced by El Paso fertilizer salesman Harold P. Warren. Warren also starred in the film, alongside El Paso theater actors Tom Neyman and John Reynolds. The film is best known for having been featured in a 1993 episode of the television comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, a show based on the premise of mocking B movies, which gave the film cult status. The plot of the film revolves primarily around a vacationing family taking a road trip to a hotel. After a long drive in the Texas desert, the family is trapped at a lodge maintained by a polygamous pagan cult and they attempt to escape as the cult's members decide what to do with them. Produced as a result of a bet, Manos was an independent production by a crew that had little or no background or experience in filmmaking and with a very limited budget at their disposal. Upon its theatrical debut, the film was critically slammed, and remained in obscurity until its Mystery Science Theater appearance. It has since gained infamy as one of the worst films ever made. (more...)
Recently featured: Archimedes – Battle of Ramillies – Hamlet
January 31
Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Ueshiba's goal was to create an art practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury. Aikido techniques are normally performed after first blending with the motion of the attacker, so that the defender may redirect the attacker's momentum without directly opposing it, thus using minimum effort. This is often done with various types of throws or joint locks, resulting in aikido typically being categorized under the general umbrella of grappling arts. Aikido derives mainly from the martial art of Daitō-ryū Aiki-jūjutsu, but began to diverge from it in the late 1920s, partly due to Ueshiba's involvement with the Oomoto religion. Many of Ueshiba's senior students have different approaches to aikido, depending on when they studied with him. Today, aikido is found all over the world in a number of styles, with a broad range of interpretation and emphasis. However, they all share techniques learned from Ueshiba and most have concern for the well-being of the attacker. (more...)
Recently featured: "Manos" The Hands of Fate – Archimedes – Battle of Ramillies