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November 1
In mathematics, the eigenvalues, eigenvectors, and eigenspaces of a transformation are important properties of this transformation. These key concepts play a major role in mathematics and, in particular, in linear algebra and functional analysis, as well as in numerous applied disciplines. The prefix eigen emphasizes the fact that these properties are important characteristics of the transformation. In many common cases knowing all eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a transformation is equivalent to the explicit knowledge of the transformation. The word eigen is German for "own", "peculiar", or "individual": the most likely translation into English mathematical jargon would be "characteristic", and some older references do use the expressions "characteristic value", "characteristic vector" and so forth, or even "eigenwert" which is German for eigenvalue, but the more distinctive term "eigenvalue" has become standard.
Recently featured: Gray Wolf – Speaker of the House of Commons – Metrication
November 2
The geology of the Grand Canyon area exposes one of the most complete sequences of rock anywhere, representing a period of 1.4 billion years of the Earth's history in that part of North America. The major sedimentary rock layers exposed in the Grand Canyon and in the Grand Canyon National Park area range in age from 2 billion to about 200 million years old. Most were deposited in warm, shallow seas and near ancient, long-gone sea shores. Both marine and terrestrial sediments are represented, including fossilized sand dunes from an extinct desert. Uplift of the region started about 75 million years ago in the Laramide orogeny, a mountain-building event that is largely responsible for creating the Rocky Mountains to the east. The canyon did not start to form until 5.3 million years ago when the Gulf of California opened up and thus lowered the river's base level (its lowest point) from that of large inland lakes to sea level. About 2 million years ago volcanic activity started to deposit ash and lava over the area. The nearly 40 identified rock layers and 14 major unconformities (gaps in the geologic record) of the Grand Canyon form one of the most studied sequences of rock in the world.
Recently featured: Eigenvalue, eigenvector and eigenspace – Gray Wolf – Speaker of the House of Commons
November 3
Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 film noir containing elements of drama, horror, and black comedy. Directed and cowritten by Billy Wilder, it was named for the famous boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. William Holden plays down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis and Gloria Swanson is Norma Desmond, a faded movie star who entraps the unsuspecting Gillis into her fantasy world in which she dreams of making a triumphant return to the screen. Director Cecil B. DeMille and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper portray themselves, and the film includes cameo appearances by leading silent film figures Buster Keaton, H. B. Warner and Anna Q. Nilsson. Praised by many critics when first released, Sunset Boulevard was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three. It is widely accepted as a classic, often cited as one of the most noteworthy films of American cinema. Deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress in 1989, Sunset Boulevard was included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Recently featured: Geology of the Grand Canyon area – Eigenvalue, eigenvector and eigenspace – Gray Wolf
November 4
Cheese is a solid food made from the curdled milk of cows, goats, sheep, or other mammals. The milk is curdled using some combination of rennet and acidification. Bacteria acidify the milk and play a role in defining the texture and flavor of most cheeses. Some cheeses also feature molds, either on the outer rind or throughout. There are hundreds of types of cheese. Different styles and flavors of cheese are the results of using different species of bacteria and molds, different levels of milk fat, variations in length of aging, and differing processing treatments. Cheeses are eaten raw or cooked, alone or with other ingredients. As they are heated, most cheeses melt and brown. Some cheeses melt smoothly, especially in the presence of acids or starch. Cheese fondue, with wine providing the acidity, is a good example of a smoothly-melted cheese dish. Other cheeses turn elastic and stringy when they melt, a quality that can be enjoyed in dishes like pizza. Some cheeses melt unevenly, their fats separating as they heat, while a few acid-curdled cheeses, including paneer and ricotta, do not melt at all and can become firmer when cooked.
Recently featured: Sunset Boulevard – Geology of the Grand Canyon area – Eigenvalue, eigenvector and eigenspace
November 5
The Kammerlader was the first Norwegian breech loading rifle, and among the very first breech loaders adopted for use by an armed force anywhere in the world. A single shot, black powder rifle, the kammerlader was operated with a crank mounted on the side of the receiver. This made it much quicker and easier to load than the weapons previously used. Kammerladers quickly gained a reputation for being fast and accurate rifles, and would have been a deadly weapon against massed ranks of infantry. The kammerladers were phased out as more modern rifles were approved for use. They were either modified for rimfire cartridges, sold off to civilians or melted for scrap. Rifles sold to civilians were often modified for use as shotguns or hunting weapons. Today it is hard to find an unmodified kammerlader, and collectors often pay high prices for them.
Recently featured: Cheese – Sunset Boulevard – Geology of the Grand Canyon area
November 6
Witold Lutosławski was one of the major European composers of the 20th century, and possibly the most significant Polish composer since Chopin. Lutosławski studied piano and composition in Warsaw, and during World War II he made a living in that city by playing the piano in bars. In the late 1940s and early 1950s his music was banned as formalist by the Stalinist authorities. In the last three decades of the century he became the pre-eminent musician of his country, and was presented with a large number of international honours, awards and prizes. Lutosławski's early compositions were overtly influenced by Polish folk music; from the late 1950s onwards he developed his own characteristically dense harmonies and innovative aleatory techniques. His works include four symphonies and a Concerto for Orchestra; he also composed concertos and song cycles for renowned musicians including Mstislav Rostropovich, Peter Pears, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. He was also a notable conductor of his own music.
Recently featured: Kammerlader – Cheese – Sunset Boulevard
November 7
Arsenal Football Club is a football club based in north London. It plays in the FA Premier League and is one of the most successful clubs in England. Arsenal has won thirteen First Division and Premier League titles, and ten FA Cups, as well as being the first London club to reach the UEFA Champions League final. Arsenal was founded in south-east London in 1886, but moved across the city to the Arsenal Stadium, Highbury, in 1913. In 2006, the club moved again to the new 60,000-seater Emirates Stadium in nearby Ashburton Grove. Arsenal enjoys a fierce rivalry with Tottenham Hotspur, from nearby Tottenham, whom they play in the North London derby.
Recently featured: Witold Lutosławski – Kammerlader – Cheese
November 8
Gyeongju is a city and prominent tourist destination in eastern South Korea. It lies in the far southeastern corner of North Gyeongsang Province, on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Numerous low mountains, outliers of the Taebaek range, are scattered throughout the city. Gyeongju was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla, a fact to which it owes its present-day prominence. The Silla kingdom arose at the turn of the 1st millennium, and ruled most of the Korean Peninsula from the 7th to the 9th centuries. A vast number of sites from this period remain in the city today. After the kingdom fell, the city gradually declined in importance. Today Gyeongju is a typical medium-sized city, having shared in the economic, demographic, and social trends that have shaped modern South Korea. However, amidst these trends the city has retained a distinctive identity. In tourism, it is one of South Korea's most well-known destinations. In manufacturing, it profits from its proximity to major industrial centers such as Ulsan. Gyeongju is connected to nationwide rail and expressway networks, which facilitate both industrial and tourist traffic.
Recently featured: Arsenal Football Club – Witold Lutosławski – Kammerlader
November 9
Robert Arthur Lawson is considered one of New Zealand's most eminent 19th century architects. Lawson has been described as the architect who did more than any other to shape the architectural face of Victorian era cities, especially Dunedin. However, it is as the architect of over forty churches, including his monumental Gothic First Church and New Zealand's only complete "castle", Larnach Castle, that he is best remembered. Lawson is acclaimed for his work in both the Gothic revival and classical styles of architecture. He was prolific, and while isolated buildings remain in Scotland and Australia, it is in the Dunedin area that most surviving examples can now be found. Today he is held in high esteem in his adopted country; however, at the time of his death his reputation and architectural skills were still held by many in contempt following the partial collapse of his Seacliff lunatic asylum, at the time New Zealand's largest building. The great plaudits denied him in his lifetime were not to come until nearly a century after his death, when the glories of Victorian architecture began again to be recognised and appreciated.
Recently featured: Gyeongju – Arsenal Football Club – Witold Lutosławski
November 10
Dogpatch USA is a defunct theme park located on Arkansas State Highway 7 between the cities of Harrison and Jasper in the state of Arkansas, USA, an area known today as Marble Falls. It was opened to the public in 1968 and was based on the popular comic strip Li'l Abner, which was created by cartoonist Al Capp and set in a fictional town called "Dogpatch". Dogpatch USA was a commercial success in its early years, and investors, buoyed with optimism about the park's future, decided to pursue extensive and heavily financed expansion in the form of a sister park, "Marble Falls", designed as a ski resort and convention center. But the following years would see a combination of characters and unforeseen events transform the high hopes of investors into a financial roller coaster ride which eventually ended in the park's demise. Ownership of the park changed hands many times throughout its history, and it was finally closed in 1993. Since that time much of the property of the twin parks has been neglected and frequently vandalized, and portions of the acreage are either entangled in legal issues, in a state of redevelopment, or for sale once again.
Recently featured: Robert Arthur Lawson – Gyeongju – Arsenal Football Club
November 11
The Peterborough Chronicle is one of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles that contains unique information about the history of England after the Norman Conquest. According to philologist J.A.W. Bennett, it is the only prose history in English between the Conquest and the later 14th century. When William the Conqueror took England and Anglo-Norman became the official language, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles generally ceased. The monks of Peterborough Abbey, however, continued to compile events in theirs. While the Peterborough Chronicle is not professional history, it is one of the few first-hand accounts of the period 1070 to 1154 in England written in English and from a non-courtly point of view. It is also a valuable source of information about the early Middle English language itself. The linguistic innovations recorded in its second continuation are plentiful, and at least one innovation, the feminine pronoun "she", is first recorded in the Peterborough Chronicle.
Recently featured: Dogpatch USA – Robert Arthur Lawson – Gyeongju
November 12
Katamari Damacy is a Japanese video game designed by Keita Takahashi and published by Namco. The game's plot concerns a tiny Prince on a mission to rebuild the stars, constellations and Moon, which his father, the King of All Cosmos, has accidentally destroyed. This is achieved by rolling a magical sticky ball called a katamari around various locations, collecting increasingly large objects, ranging from thumbtacks to schoolchildren to mountains, until the ball has grown large enough to form a star. The game falls under both the puzzle and action game genres, since strategy as well as dexterity are needed to complete a mission. Katamari Damacy's story, characters and settings are bizarre and heavily stylized, rarely attempting any semblance of realism. The game's simple controls and colorful, blocky graphics make it superficially appear to be targeted towards a young audience, but its quirky humor, innovative gameplay and surreal setting have attracted the attention of gamers of all ages.
Recently featured: Peterborough Chronicle – Dogpatch USA – Robert Arthur Lawson
November 13
The German S-mine (Schrapnellmine) is the best-known version of a class of mines known as bounding mines, which when triggered launch into the air to about waist height and then explode, propelling shrapnel horizontally at lethal speeds. The S-mine was an anti-personnel landmine developed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and used extensively by German forces during World War II. It was designed to be used in open areas and to attack unshielded infantry. Two versions were produced, designated by the year of their first production: the SMi-35 and SMi-44. There are only minor differences between the two models (TM-E 30-451, 1945). The S-mine entered production in 1935 and served as a key part of the defensive strategy of the Third Reich. Until production ceased with the defeat of Germany in 1945, Germany produced over 1.93 million S-mines. These mines were responsible for inflicting heavy casualties and slowing, or even repelling, drives into German-held territory throughout the war. The design was lethal, successful and much imitated, and remains one of the definitive weapons of World War II.
Recently featured: Katamari Damacy – Peterborough Chronicle – Dogpatch USA
November 14
Pan American World Airways, most commonly known as "Pan Am", was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. Originally founded as a seaplane service out of Key West, Florida, the airline became a major company; it was credited with many innovations that shaped the international airline industry, including the widespread use of jet aircraft, jumbo jets, and computerized reservation systems. Identified by its blue globe logo and the use of "Clipper" in aircraft names and call signs, the airline was a cultural icon of the 20th century, and the unofficial flag carrier of the United States. Pan Am went through two incarnations after 1991. The second Pan Am operated from 1996 to 1998 with a focus on low-cost, long-distance flights between the U.S. and the Caribbean. The current incarnation, based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and known as the Pan Am "Clipper Connection," is operated by Boston-Maine Airways. The airline currently flies to destinations in the northeastern United States, Florida, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.
Recently featured: S-mine – Katamari Damacy – Peterborough Chronicle
November 15
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was discovered in a photograph taken on the night of March 24, 1993 with the Schmidt telescope at the Mount Palomar Observatory in California, and was the ninth comet discovered by astronomers Carolyn and Eugene M. Shoemaker and David Levy. It turned out to be the first comet observed orbiting a planet (Jupiter, in this case) and not the Sun. The comet was also unusual because it was in fragments, due to a close encounter with Jupiter in July 1992 when it approached closer to the planet than its Roche limit and was pulled apart by tidal forces. Between July 16 and July 22 1994, the fragments of the comet collided with Jupiter's southern hemisphere at 60 kilometres per second (37 miles per second), providing the first direct observation of the collision of two Solar System objects. The collision resulted in disruptions in Jupiter's atmosphere, such as plumes and bubbles of gas, and dark spots in the atmosphere which remained visible for several months. The event was closely observed and recorded by astronomers worldwide as a result of its tremendous scientific importance, and also generated a large amount of coverage in the popular media.
Recently featured: Pan American World Airways – S-mine – Katamari Damacy
November 16
Felice Beato was a British and Italian photographer. He was one of the first photographers to take pictures in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is also noted for his genre works, portraits, and views and panoramas of the architecture and landscapes of Asia and the Mediterranean region. Beato's travels to many lands gave him the opportunity to create powerful and lasting images of countries, people and events that were unfamiliar and remote to most people in Europe and North America. To this day his work provides the key images of such events as the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the Second Opium War and his photographs represent the first substantial oeuvre of what came to be called photojournalism. He had a significant impact on other photographers, and Beato's influence in Japan, where he worked with and taught numerous other photographers and artists, was particularly deep and lasting.
Recently featured: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 – Pan American World Airways – S-mine
November 17
"My Belarusy" is the unofficial title of the national anthem of Belarus and the first line of its lyrics. The anthem was originally written and adopted in 1955 for use in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. The music of the Byelorussian SSR anthem was composed by Nester Sakalouski and the lyrics were written by Maxim Klimkovich. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the music composed by Sakalouski was kept and the lyrics were discarded. New lyrics, which were written by Klimkovich and Uladzimir Karyzny, were adopted by a presidential decree issued on July 2, 2002.
Recently featured: Felice Beato – Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 – Pan American World Airways
November 18
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. MS can cause a variety of symptoms, including changes in sensation, visual problems, weakness, depression, and difficulties with coordination and speech. Although many patients lead full and rewarding lives, MS can cause impaired mobility and disability in the more severe cases. MS affects neurons, the cells of the brain and spinal cord that carry information, create thought and perception, and allow the brain to control the body. Surrounding and protecting these neurons is a layer of fat, called myelin, which helps neurons carry electrical signals. MS causes gradual destruction of myelin (demyelination) in patches throughout the brain and/or spinal cord, causing various symptoms depending upon which signals are interrupted. The name multiple sclerosis refers to the multiple scars (or scleroses) on the myelin sheaths. MS results from attacks by an individual's immune system on his or her own nervous system, and it is therefore categorized as an autoimmune disease.
Recently featured: My Belarusy – Felice Beato – Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9
November 19
Federalist No. 10 is an essay by James Madison and the tenth of the Federalist Papers, a series arguing for the ratification of the United States Constitution. It was published on November 22, 1787, under the pseudonym Publius, the name under which all the Federalist Papers were published. The essay is the most famous of the Federalist Papers and among the most highly regarded of all American political writings. No. 10 addresses the question of how to guard against "factions," groups of citizens with interests contrary to the rights of others or the interests of the whole community. In today's discourse the term special interest often carries the same connotation. Madison argued that a strong, large republic would be a better guard against those dangers than smaller republics—for instance, the individual states. Opponents of the Constitution offered counterarguments to his position, which were substantially derived from the commentary of Montesquieu on this subject. The whole series is cited by scholars and jurists as an authoritative interpretation and explication of the meaning of the Constitution. Jurists have frequently read No. 10 to mean that the Founding Fathers did not intend the United States government to be partisan.
Recently featured: Multiple sclerosis – My Belarusy – Felice Beato
November 20
November is a psychological thriller film first screened at film festivals in 2004. It stars Courteney Cox as Sophie, a photographer whose life begins to unravel following a traumatic incident on November 7 that involved her boyfriend, played by James LeGros. In the words of Cox, her character "goes through three phases. First there's denial. Then she feels guilty and sad about the situation. Then she has to learn to accept it." The film co-stars Michael Ealy as a co-worker of Sophie's, Nora Dunn as her psychiatrist, and Anne Archer as her mother. Nick Offerman plays a police officer investigating the incident, while Matthew Carey has a role as a robber of a convenience store. Directed by Greg Harrison, it was released to theatres in the United States by Sony Pictures Classics on July 22, 2005, and while its award-winning digital video photography was praised, many reviews criticised the film's story for being too ambiguous and derivative of other pictures. Critics have compared it to the work of film-makers such as David Lynch and M. Night Shyamalan.
Recently featured: Federalist No. 10 – Multiple sclerosis – My Belarusy
November 21
Mário de Andrade was a Brazilian poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian and critic, and photographer. One of the founders of Brazilian modernism, he virtually created modern Brazilian poetry with the publication of his Paulicéia Desvairada (Hallucinated City) in 1922. He has had an enormous influence on Brazilian literature in the 20th and 21st centuries, and as a scholar and essayist—he was a pioneer of the field of ethnomusicology—his influence has reached far beyond Brazil. Andrade was the central figure in the avant-garde movement of São Paulo for 20 years. Trained as a musician and best-known as a poet and novelist, Andrade was personally involved in virtually every discipline that was connected with São Paulo modernism, and became Brazil's national polymath. He was the driving force behind the Week of Modern Art, the 1922 event that reshaped both literature and the visual arts in Brazil. At the end of his life, he became the founding director of São Paulo's Department of Culture, formalizing a role he had long held as the catalyst of the city's—and the nation's—entry into artistic modernity.
Recently featured: November – Federalist No. 10 – Multiple sclerosis
November 22
The Ta-Yuan were a people of Ferghana in Central Asia, described in the Chinese Chronicles and in the Chinese Former Han History, following the travels of Zhang Qian in 130 BCE, and the numerous embassies that followed him into Central Asia thereafter. These Chinese accounts describe the Ta-Yuan as urbanized dwellers with Indo-European features, living in walled cities and having "customs identical to those of the Greco-Bactrians", a Hellenistic kingdom that was ruling Bactria at that time in today’s northern Afghanistan. The Ta-Yuan are also described as manufacturers and great lovers of wine. The Ta-Yuan were probably the descendants of the Greek colonies that were established by Alexander the Great in Ferghana in 329 BCE, and prospered within the Hellenistic realm of the Seleucids and Greco-Bactrians, until they were isolated by the migrations of the Yueh-Chih around 160 BCE. It has also been suggested that the name “Yuan” was simply a transliteration of the words “Yona”, or “Yavana”, used throughout antiquity in Asia to designate Greeks (“Ionians”), so that Ta-Yuan (lit. “Great Yuan”) would mean "Great Ionians".
Recently featured: Mário de Andrade – November – Federalist No. 10
November 23
"Cool" is a pop song written by American singer-songwriter Gwen Stefani and Dallas Austin for Stefani's debut solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. The song's musical style, and its production by Austin, was heavily inspired by music from the 1980s, and its lyrics chronicle a relationship in which two lovers have separated, but remain "cool" with each other and good friends. It received praise from critics, and parallels have been drawn by the media between the lyrical content of "Cool" and the real-life relationship Stefani had with Tony Kanal, a fellow group member of Stefani's in No Doubt. The song was released as the fourth single in the summer of 2005, and although it failed to match the chart success of its predecessor "Hollaback Girl", which reached number one in several countries, "Cool" is considered to be a worldwide hit as it reached number one in Canada, the top ten in Australia, and the top twenty in the United Kingdom and the United States, where it became Stefani's fifth top-twenty single.
Recently featured: Ta-Yuan – Mário de Andrade – November
November 24
The military history of Canada entails millennia of armed actions in the territory encompassing modern Canada, and the role of the Canadian military in conflicts and peacekeeping worldwide. For at least 10,000 years, the area that would become Canada was the site of intertribal wars among First Nation groups. Beginning in the 10th century, the arrival of Europeans led to conflicts with the Natives and among the colonizing Europeans in the New World. Starting in the 17th century, the region was the site of fighting between the French and the British for more than a century. New challenges soon arose when the northern colonies chose not to join the American Revolution and remained loyal to the British crown. Americans looked to extend their republic and launched an invasion in 1812. After Canada's independence, and amid much controversy, a fully-fledged Canadian military was created. Canada's links to Britain remained strong, and Canadian forces joined their British counterparts in the Boer War, the First and Second World Wars. Since the Second World War, Canada has been committed to multilateralism and has gone to war only within large multinational coalitions such as in the Korean War, the Gulf War, and the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.
Recently featured: Cool – Ta-Yuan – Mário de Andrade
November 25
The ATLAS experiment is one of the five particle detector experiments being constructed at the Large Hadron Collider, a new particle accelerator at CERN in Switzerland. It will be 45 meters long, 25 meters in diameter, and will weigh about 7,000 tons. The project involves roughly 2,000 scientists and engineers at 151 institutions in 34 countries. The construction is scheduled to be completed in 2007. The experiment is expected to measure phenomena that involve highly massive particles which were not measurable using earlier lower-energy accelerators and might shed light on new theories of particle physics beyond the Standard Model. ATLAS is designed as a general-purpose experiment, so that regardless of what is produced by the collision of the accelerator's proton beams, the results can be measured as accurately as possible.
Recently featured: Military history of Canada – Cool – Ta-Yuan
November 26
Mary II reigned as Queen of England and Ireland from 13 February 1689 until her death, and as Queen of Scotland (technically as Mary II of Scotland) from 11 April 1689 until her death. Mary, a Protestant, came to the throne following the Glorious Revolution, which resulted in the deposition of her Roman Catholic father, James II. Mary reigned jointly with her husband and first cousin, William III, who became the sole ruler upon her death. Popular histories usually know the joint reign as that of "William and Mary". Mary, although a sovereign in her own right, did not wield actual power during most of her reign. She did, however, govern the realm when her husband was abroad fighting wars.
Recently featured: ATLAS experiment – Military history of Canada – Cool
November 27
The Canon T90, introduced in 1986, was the top of the line in Canon's T series of 35 mm single-lens reflex cameras. It was the last professional-level manual-focus camera from Canon and thus the last to use the Canon FD lens mount. Although it was overtaken by the autofocus revolution and Canon's new, incompatible EOS after only a year in production, the T90 pioneered many concepts seen in high-end Canon cameras up to the present day, particularly the user interface, industrial design, and the high level of automation. The T90 gained the semi-official nickname The Tank from Japanese photojournalists because of its ruggedness. Many still rate it highly even nearly 20 years after its introduction.
Recently featured: Mary II – ATLAS experiment – Military history of Canada
November 28
Tom Brinkman is an American politician and a fiercely right-wing Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives from Cincinnati known as "Dr. No" for his opposition to higher taxes and public spending. Before his election to the Ohio General Assembly, he was active in Cincinnati politics and has been popular among rank-and-file conservatives for his strong anti-abortion and anti-taxation stances. However, Brinkman's reputation is of a principled but iconoclastic man who is ineffective because he is unwilling to compromise and is unpopular among party officials—the state chairman once told the press "Brinkman, in my opinion, is not a very intelligent human being"—because he has frequently challenged the Republican leadership and even endorsed the Democratic candidate for governor in 2002. Brinkman was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Congress to replace Rob Portman in the Second District of Ohio in the special primary held June 14, 2005, but finished third with one-fifth the vote, losing to Jean Schmidt who ultimately won the seat.
Recently featured: Canon T90 – Mary II – ATLAS experiment
November 29
Cyberpunk is a genre of science fiction that focuses on computers or information technology, usually coupled with some degree of breakdown in social order. The plot of cyberpunk writing often centers on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and mega corporations, tending to be set within a near-future dystopian Earth, rather than the "outer space" locales prevalent at the time of cyberpunk's inception. Much of the genre's "atmosphere" echoes film noir, and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction. While this gritty, hard-hitting style was hailed as revolutionary during cyberpunk's early days, later observers concluded that in terms of literature, most cyberpunk narrative techniques were less innovative than those of the New Wave, twenty years earlier. Primary exponents of the cyberpunk field include William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, John Shirley and Rudy Rucker. The term became widespread in the 1980s and remains current today.
Recently featured: Tom Brinkman – Canon T90 – Mary II
November 30
The flag of Hong Kong is red with a stylised, white, five-petal Bauhinia blakeana flower in the centre. The red colour on this regional flag is the same as that on the national flag. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region flag was adopted on 16 February 1990, and received formal approval from the Preparatory Committee on 10 August 1996. The flag was first officially hoisted on 1 July 1997, in a historical ceremony marking the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the PRC. The precise use of the regional flag is regulated through laws passed by the 58th executive meeting of the State Council held in Beijing. The former colonial flag was used from 27 July 1959, to 30 June 1997, when Hong Kong was under British rule. It was a blue Union Jack ensign with the Hong Kong coat of arms on a white disk centred on the outer half of the flag.
Recently featured: Cyberpunk – Tom Brinkman – Canon T90