running of the bulls and the bullfights. An early and enduring modernist novel, it received mixed reviews upon publication. The novel was published in the US in 1926 and in 1927 in England with the title of Fiesta. The basis for the novel was Hemingway's 1925 trip to Spain. The setting was unique and memorable, showing the seedy café life in Paris and the excitement of the Pamplona festival, with a middle section devoted to descriptions of a fishing trip in the Pyrenees. Also unique was Hemingway's spare writing style, combined with his restrained use of description to convey characterizations and action, which became known as the iceberg theory. The characters are based on real people (who are pictured) and the action is based on real events. (more...
U.S. Highway serving the Four Corners region of the United States. One of the newest designations in the U.S. Highway System, it was created in 2003 as a renumbering of U.S. Route 666. With the 666 designation, this road was nicknamed Devil's Highway because of the common Christian belief that 666 is the Number of the Beast. This satanic connotation, combined with a high fatality rate along the New Mexico portion, convinced some people the highway was cursed. The problem was compounded with persistent sign theft. These factors led to two efforts to renumber the highway, by officials in Arizona and then in New Mexico. Since the renumbering, as a result of safety improvement projects, fatality rates have decreased. The highway runs through Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, as well as the tribal nations of the Navajo Nation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe. Features along the route include an extinct volcanic core named Shiprock, Mesa Verde National Park, and the self-proclaimed pinto-bean capital of the world, Dove Creek, Colorado. (more...
U.S. Army forces in Korea at the time. In the first encounter, a North Korean tank column overran the task force and continued its advance south. After the column had successfully breached American lines, the task force opened fire on a force of some 5,000 North Korean infantry approaching its position, temporarily holding up the North Korean advance. Eventually, North Korean troops overwhelmed American positions, and the remnants of the task force retreated in disorder. (more...
Primates are a mammalian order which includes humans. Most non-human primates live in tropical or subtropical regions of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Primates range in size from the Madame Berthe's mouse lemur, which weighs only 30 grams (1 oz), to the mountain gorilla, weighing 200 kilograms (440 lb). According to fossil evidence, the primitive ancestors of primates may have existed in the late Cretaceous period around 65 million years ago, and the oldest known primate is the Late PaleocenePlesiadapis, c. 55–58 million years ago. Primates are characterized by their large brains, and increased reliance on stereoscopic vision at the expense of smell. These features are most marked in monkeys and apes, and noticeably less so in lorises and lemurs. Three-color vision has developed in some primates. Most also have opposable thumbs and some have prehensile tails. (more...)
Anglo-Saxon times formed a boundary between Wessex and Dumnonia. From the medieval period the river served the Port of Bridgwater, enabling cargoes to be transported inland. The arrival of the railways led to a decline and commercial shipping now only docks at Dunball. The Parrett along with its connected waterways and network of drains supports an ecosystem that includes several rare species of flora and fauna. The River Parrett Trail has been established along the banks of the river. (more...
Doctor and his companions fight for their lives trying to revert the situation. The episode was filmed in December 2005 and January 2006. One of the most popular Doctor Who episodes since the show's revival, "Doomsday" is favoured by critics both for the Cyberman–Dalek conflict and for the farewell scene between the Doctor and his companion, Rose Tyler. (more...
Walter Bache (1842–88) was an English pianist and conductor noted for championing the music of Franz Liszt and other composers of the New German School. He studied privately with Liszt in Italy from 1863 to 1865, and continued to attend Liszt's master classes in Weimar, Germany, regularly until 1885. This led to a particularly close bond between the two men. Bache's major accomplishment was the establishment of Liszt's music in England at the height of the War of the Romantics, when conservative and liberal musical factions openly argued about the future of classical music and the merits of the compositions written in their respective schools. Bache programmed several of Liszt's orchestral and choral works through an annual series of concerts, which he single-handedly funded, organized and promoted. He performed two-piano arrangements of Liszt's orchestral works before the debuts of the original versions, and programmed some of his symphonic poems shortly after they had been premiered at the Crystal Palace. The English musical press, while generally hostile to the music he presented, noted and appreciated Bache's efforts. Liszt remained grateful; without Bache, he acknowledged, his music might not have gained the foothold it did. (more...)
Battle of Greece, convincing the British Commander-in-Chief, General Sir Archibald Wavell, to alter his campaign plan to reduce the danger from malaria. In the South West Pacific Area, Fairley became responsible for coordinating the activities of all allied forces in the fight against malaria and other tropical diseases. After the war Fairley returned to London where he became a consulting physician to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Wellcome Professor of Tropical Medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. A serious illness in 1948 forced him to resign his professorship, but he retained his practice and membership of numerous committees, becoming an "elder statesman" of tropical medicine. (more...
hippy era". It led to favorable media exposures for Prabhupada and his followers, and brought the Hare Krishna movement to the wider attention of the American public. (more...
Dauphin Island. Flooding, power outages, and beach erosion occurred throughout the Gulf Coast, and flood rescues had to be performed in the immediate aftermath. The storm produced several tornadoes on the East Coast, causing a great amount of damage. (more...
Georgia Institute of Technology from 1971 to 1972. Along with two fellow Georgia Tech researchers, Boyd co-founded Scientific Atlanta, where he was a board member for 25 years. As director of the Engineering Experiment Station (now GTRI), Boyd was involved with the establishment of nuclear research at Georgia Tech and the construction of the Neely Nuclear Research Center. As president of West Georgia College, Boyd oversaw the racial integration of the campus in 1963, unprompted by a court order. In 1971, Boyd was assigned as interim president of Georgia Tech following a brief tenure as a vice chancellor for the University System of Georgia. At Georgia Tech, Boyd resolved issues involving the attempted takeover of the Engineering Experiment Station by former president Arthur G. Hansen and alumni calls to fire head football coach Bud Carson. (more...
Richter scale, it originated from a hypocenter 40 km (25 mi) beneath the surface. The earthquake initially followed an intersection of several northwest–southeast-trending faults in the Inter-Andean Valley, which were created by the subduction of the Carnegie Ridge. Strata of rock cracked as the earthquake ruptured the faults, sending out powerful shockwaves. The nearby villages of Guano, Patate, Pelileo, and Pillaro were destroyed, and the city of Ambato suffered heavy damage. The earthquake flattened entire buildings, and subsequent landslides caused damage throughout the Tungurahua, Chimborazo, and Cotopaxi Provinces. It disrupted water mains and communication lines and opened a fissure into which the small town of Libertad sank. Moderate shaking from the event extended as far away as Quito and Guayaquil. (more...
last ice age. The turtle's skin is olive to black with distinctive red, orange, or yellow stripes. Reliant on warmth from its surroundings, the painted turtle can frequently be seen basking on logs. Crayfish and dragonflies are among the turtle's preferred prey. Many predators eat the turtle eggs or hatchlings, but the adult's shell protects it from most enemies except for raccoons, alligators and humans. Turtles in the wild can live for more than 55 years. (more...
ununoctium was synthesized by bombarding californium-249 atoms with calcium-48 ions. Use of californium must take into account radiological concerns and the element's ability to disrupt the formation of red blood cells by bio-accumulating in skeletal tissue. (more...
aboriginal peoples of Canada, and uniquely Canadian elements such as the Canadian pale, derived from the Canadian flag. In 1988, governance of both personal and corporate heraldry in Canada was patriated from the heraldic authorities in England and Scotland with the formation of the Canadian Heraldic Authority, which now has exclusive jurisdiction over granting awards of arms in Canada. Coats of arms are used throughout Canada by all levels of government, in many cases including royal insignia as a mark of authority. All citizens of Canada have the right to petition for an award of arms, as do other entities including businesses and religious institutions. The granting of arms is regarded as an honour from the monarch, via the Governor General, and thus are bestowed only on those whom the Chief Herald has deemed worthy of receiving a grant of arms. (more...
Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Both in its lyrics and instruments, the song mixes traditional Chinese styles with modern rock elements. In the lyrics, the singer addresses a girl who is scorning him because he has nothing. The song has also been interpreted as being about the dispossessed youth of the time, because it evokes a sense of disillusionment and lack of individual freedom that was common among the young generation during the 1980s. (more...
Constantine in Trier. At the Council of Carnuntum in November 308, Diocletian forced Maximian to once again renounce his imperial claim. In early 310, Maximian attempted to seize Constantine's title while the emperor was on campaign on the Rhine. Few supported him, and he was captured by Constantine. He committed suicide later that year on Constantine's orders. (more...
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers forms the Ohio River. The structure was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright on commission from Edgar J. Kaufmann in the late 1940s. Wright initially envisioned a circular building more than 1,000 feet (300 m) in diameter and 175 feet (50 m) tall. The structure, containing an opera house, sports arena, three movie theaters, and a convention hall, was wrapped with a spiraling strip of road. The plan expressed Wright's insistence on bringing the automobile into the social setting. It did not find favor with Pittsburgh authorities. To make the design more palatable to its audience, Wright developed a radically different proposal for a monolithic tower supporting bridges across the Allegheny and Monongahela. This too was unsuccessful, and none of Wright's work for the site was ever built. The site is now occupied by Point State Park. The unused design has garnered scholarly attention, and elements of it have been compared to other Wright designs, such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and his unrealized plans for Monona Terrace. (more...
blacklisting" of Hollywood directors, actors, screenwriters, and technicians. Despite his controversial public image, Warner remained a force in the motion picture industry until his retirement in the early 1970s. (more...
The use of horses in World War I reflected a transitional period in the evolution of armed conflict. Cavalry units were initially considered essential, but the vulnerability of the horse to modern machine gun and artillery fire eventually fostered interest in mechanized forces. All of the major combatants in World War I began the conflict with cavalry forces. Germany and Austria-Hungary stopped using them on the Western Front soon after the war began, but they continued to be deployed in a limited fashion on the Eastern Front well into the war. On the Allied side, the United Kingdom used mounted infantry and cavalry charges throughout the war, but the United States used cavalry for only a short time. Horses were mainly used for reconnaissance and for carrying messengers, as well as to pull artillery, ambulances, and supply wagons. The presence of horses often increased morale among the soldiers at the front, but contributed to disease and poor sanitation in camps. The value of horses was such that by 1917 it was made known to some troops that the loss of a horse was of greater tactical concern than the loss of a human soldier. Ultimately, the Allied blockade prevented the Central Powers from importing horses to replace those lost, which contributed to Germany's defeat. (more...)
cleared its neighbourhood" of smaller objects around its orbit. Under this new definition, Pluto and the other trans-Neptunian objects do not qualify as planets. (more...
