Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 2009

Today's featured article archive

March 1

Edgar Speyer (1862–1932) was an American-born financier and philanthropist. He became a British citizen in 1892 and was chairman of Speyer Brothers, the British branch of his family’s international finance house, and a partner in the German and American branches. He was chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited from 1906 to 1915, a period during which the company opened three underground railway lines, electrified a fourth and took over two more. Speyer was a supporter of the musical arts and a friend of several leading composers, including Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy. He was chairman of the Classical Music Society for ten years, and he largely funded the Promenade Concerts between 1902 and 1914. His non-musical charitable activities included being honorary treasurer of the fund for Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition. For his philanthropy he was made a baronet in 1906 and a Privy Counsellor in 1909. After the start of the First World War, he became the subject of anti-German attacks in the Press. In 1921, the British government investigated accusations that Speyer had traded with the enemy during the war, and had participated in other wartime conduct incompatible with his British citizenship. Speyer denied the charges, but his naturalisation was revoked and he was struck off the list of members of the Privy Council. (more...)

Recently featured: Scene7 – Caspar David Friedrich – Hours of service

March 2

The King Vulture is a large Central and South American bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae. This vulture lives predominantly in tropical lowland forests stretching from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, though some believe that William Bartram's Painted Vulture of Florida may be of this species. It is the only surviving member of the genus Sarcoramphus, though fossil members are known. It is large and predominantly white, with gray to black ruff, flight, and tail feathers. Its head and neck are bald, with the skin color varying, including yellow, orange, blue, purple, and red. The King Vulture has a very noticeable yellow fleshy caruncle on its beak. This vulture is a scavenger and it often makes the initial cut into a fresh carcass. It also displaces smaller New World Vulture species from a carcass. King Vultures have been known to live for up to 30 years in captivity. King Vultures were popular figures in the Mayan codices as well as in local folklore and medicine. Though currently listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, they are declining in number, due primarily to habitat loss. (more...)

Recently featured: Edgar Speyer – Scene7 – Caspar David Friedrich

March 3

Vithoba is a Hindu god, worshipped predominantly in the Indian states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. While generally considered a manifestation of the Hindu god Vishnu or his avatar Krishna, he is sometimes associated with the god Shiva, the Buddha or both. Vithoba is often depicted as a dark young boy, standing arms-akimbo on a brick, sometimes accompanied by his main consort Rakhumai (Rukmini). Vithoba is the focus of the monotheistic, non-brahminical Varkari sect of Maharashtra and the Haridasa sect of Karnataka. Vithoba's main temple stands at Pandharpur in Maharashtra, close to the Karnataka border. Vithoba legends revolve around his devotee Pundalik, who is credited with bringing the deity to Pandharpur, and around Vithoba's role as a saviour to the poet-saints of the Varkari faith. The Varkari poet-saints are known for their unique genre of devotional lyric, the abhanga, dedicated to Vithoba and composed in Marathi. Other devotional literature dedicated to Vithoba includes the Kannada hymns of the Haridasa, and Marathi versions of the generic Hindu arati songs, associated with rituals of offering light to the deity. Though the origins of both his cult and his main temple remain subjects of debate, there is clear evidence that they already existed by the 13th century. (more...)

Recently featured: King Vulture – Edgar Speyer – Scene7

March 4

Hurricane Linda was the strongest Pacific hurricane on record. Forming from a tropical wave on September 9, 1997, Linda steadily intensified and reached hurricane status within 36 hours of developing. Subsequently, it rapidly intensified, reaching winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and an estimated central pressure of 902 millibars (26.65 inches of mercury). The hurricane was briefly forecast to move toward southern California, but instead, it turned out to sea and dissipated on September 17. It was the fifteenth tropical cyclone, thirteenth named storm, seventh hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season. While near peak intensity, Hurricane Linda passed near Socorro Island, where it damaged meteorological instruments. The hurricane produced high waves along the southwestern Mexican coastline, forcing the closure of five ports. When Linda was predicted to make landfall on California, it would have been the first to do so since a storm in 1939. Although it did not hit the state, the hurricane produced light to moderate rainfall across the region, causing mudslides and flooding in the San Gorgonio Wilderness; two houses were destroyed and 77 others were damaged, and damage totaled $3.2 million (1997 USD, $4.3 million 2008 USD). Despite the intensity, the name was not retired. (more...)

Recently featured: Vithoba – King Vulture – Edgar Speyer

March 5

Giants: Citizen Kabuto is a third-person shooter video game with real-time strategy elements for Microsoft Windows. It was the first project for Planet Moon Studios comprising former Shiny Entertainment employees who had worked on the game MDK. The game went through four years of development before Interplay Entertainment published it on December 6, 2000, and followed up with a PlayStation 2 port in 2001. MacPlay published the Mac OS X port earlier in the same year. The subtitle "Citizen Kabuto" refers to the thundering behemoth who is one of the playable characters in the game. Players can also take on the roles of jet pack-equipped and heavily armed Meccaryns, or amphibious spellcasting Sea Reapers; they challenge each other in multiplayer games. The single-player mode is framed as a sequential story, and puts the player through missions, several of which test the player's reflexes in action game-like puzzles, to teach the abilities of each playable race. Game critics praised the game for its state of the art graphics, humorous story, and success in blending in one genre with another. Criticisms of the game centered on crippling software bugs and lack of an in-game save feature. The critics also rated its console version as technically inferior to its PC versions. The game sold poorly for both Windows and PlayStation 2, although it enjoyed a successful launch for its small Mac OS X market. (more...)

Recently featured: Hurricane Linda – Vithoba – King Vulture

March 6

The Saxbe fix is a mechanism by which the President of the United States, in appointing to a civil office a Member of the Congress whose elected term has not yet expired, seeks to avoid the restriction of the Constitution's Ineligibility Clause. That clause prohibits the president from appointing a current or former member of Congress to a position that was created, or to a position for which the pay and/or benefits (collectively "emoluments") were increased, during the term for which that member was elected until the term has expired. The rollback, implemented by an Act of Congress in 1909, reverts the emoluments of the office to the amount they were when that member began his or her elected term. Historically, the restriction has been met with various responses: choosing another nominee, allowing the desired nominee's elected term of office to expire, ignoring the clause entirely, or using a "Saxbe fix" to reduce the offending emoluments. Although the latter mechanism was passed by Congress in 1909, it is named for William Saxbe, who was confirmed as Attorney General in 1973 after Congress reduced the office's salary to the level it had been before his term in the Senate commenced. Since the late 1970s, the use of the "Saxbe fix" has been common. The Saxbe fix has subsequently become relevant as a successful—though not universally accepted—solution for appointments of sitting members of the Congress to the Cabinet. (more...)

Recently featured: Giants: Citizen Kabuto – Hurricane Linda – Vithoba

March 7

Luc Bourdon (1987–2008) was a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who played for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, from 2006 until 2008. After overcoming childhood arthritis, he was selected third overall in the 2003 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League draft and played for the Val-d'Or Foreurs, Moncton Wildcats, and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, spending four seasons in the QMJHL. The Canucks drafted Bourdon with their first selection, tenth overall, in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Noted as a strong defenceman who could contribute on offence, Bourdon represented Canada in three international tournaments, winning two gold medals at the IIHF World U20 Championship and a silver medal at the IIHF World U18 Championship. Bourdon died at the age of 21 near his hometown of Shippagan, New Brunswick, when his motorcycle collided with a tractor trailer. (more...)

Recently featured: Saxbe fix – Giants: Citizen Kabuto – Hurricane Linda

March 8

Harriet Tubman (c. 1820 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the U.S. Civil War. After escaping from slavery, into which she was born, she made thirteen missions to rescue over seventy slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger". Large rewards were offered for the capture and return of many of the people she helped escape, but no one ever knew it was Harriet Tubman who was helping them. When a far-reaching United States Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850, she helped guide fugitives further north into Canada, and helped newly-freed slaves find work. When the American Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid on the Combahee River, which liberated more than seven hundred slaves. After the war, she retired to the family home in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. (more...)

Recently featured: Luc Bourdon – Saxbe fix – Giants: Citizen Kabuto

March 9

The Greece Runestones comprise about 30 runestones containing information related to voyages made by Norsemen to "Greece", which referred to the Byzantine Empire. They were made during the Viking Age and until c. 1100. The stones were engraved in the Old Norse language with Scandinavian runes. All of the stones were found in modern-day Sweden, and the majority reside in Uppland (18 runestones) and Södermanland (7 runestones). Most of the stones were carved in memory of members of the Varangian Guard who never returned home, but a few stones mention men who returned with wealth. The only group of runestones that refer to expeditions abroad that are comparable in number are those that mention expeditions to England, the England Runestones. The stones vary in size from the small whetstone from Timans, to the boulder in Ed which is 18 m (59 ft) in circumference. Most of them are adorned with various runestone styles that were in use during the 11th century, and especially styles that were part of the Ringerike style (eight or nine stones) and the Urnes style (eight stones). The runestones have been continuously identified by scholars beginning with Johannes Bureus in the late 16th century, with many stones discovered during a national search for historic monuments in the late 17th century. (more...)

Recently featured: Harriet Tubman – Luc Bourdon – Saxbe fix

March 10

Western Chalukya architecture is the distinctive style of ornamented architecture that evolved during the rule of the Western Chalukya Empire in the Tungabhadra region of central Karnataka, India, in the 11th and 12th centuries. Western Chalukyan political influence was at its peak in the Deccan Plateau during this period. The centre of cultural and temple-building activity lay in the Tungabhadra region, where large medieval workshops built numerous monuments. These monuments, regional variants of pre-existing dravida temples, defined the Karnata dravida tradition. Temples of all sizes built by the Chalukyan architects during this era remain today as examples of the architectural style. Most notable of the many buildings dating from this period are the Mahadeva Temple at Itagi in the Koppal district, the Kasivisvesvara Temple at Lakkundi in the Gadag district, and the Mallikarjuna Temple at Kuruvatti and the Kallesvara Temple at Bagali, both in the Davangere district. None of the military, civil, or courtly architecture has survived; being built of mud, brick and wood, such structures may not have withstood repeated invasions. The influence of this style extended beyond the Kalyani region in the northeast to the Bellary region in the east and to the Mysore region in the south. (more...)

Recently featured: Greece Runestones – Harriet Tubman – Luc Bourdon

March 11

The Mozart family grand tour was a 1763–1766 journey around the capitals and other major cities of western Europe, undertaken by Leopold Mozart, his wife Anna Maria, and their musically gifted children, Maria Anna and Wolfgang Amadeus. Leopold was a court musician to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and by 1763 held the post of deputy Kapellmeister. He obtained a protracted leave of absence so that the precocious talents of his children, then aged eleven and seven respectively, could be demonstrated to the wider world. The social and pecuniary opportunities that might accrue from a prolonged trip, taking in the major European courts, complemented what Leopold saw as his duty, as a Catholic and a German, to display the talents of his miraculous children. The grand tour itinerary took the family, via Munich and Frankfurt, to Brussels. From there they travelled to Paris and then London. In London Wolfgang made the acquaintance of some of the leading musicians of the day, heard much music, and composed his first symphonies. The family moved on to Holland, where the schedule of performances was interrupted by the illnesses of both children, but Wolfgang continued to compose prolifically. (more...)

Recently featured: Western Chalukya architecture – Greece Runestones – Harriet Tubman

March 12

Lazare Ponticelli (1897–2008) was the longest-surviving officially recognized veteran of the First World War from France and the last poilu of its trenches to die. Born in Italy, he moved to France in 1906, and lied about his age to join the French Army in 1914. Italy entered the War in 1915, and subsequently Ponticelli was transferred to its army when authorities discovered his true ancestry. After the War, he and his brothers founded the piping and metal work company "Ponticelli Frères" ("Ponticelli Brothers"), which produced supplies for the Second World War effort and as of 2009 is still in business. Ponticelli was the oldest living man of Italian birth and the oldest man living in France. Every Armistice Day until 2007, he attended ceremonies honoring deceased veterans. In his later years, he criticized war and stored his bravery awards from the First World War in a shoe box. While he felt unworthy of the state funeral the French government offered him, he eventually accepted one. However he asked for the emphasis of the procession to be on the common soldiers who died on the battlefield. (more...)

Recently featured: Mozart family grand tour – Western Chalukya architecture – Greece Runestones

March 13

Megatokyo is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustrations is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on its official website, with updates on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is among the most popular webcomics, and is currently published in book-format by CMX, although the first three volumes are published by Dark Horse. Sales of the comic's print editions rank it as the best selling original English-language manga. Set in a fictional version of Tokyo, Megatokyo portrays the adventures of Piro, a young fan of anime and manga, and his friend Largo, an American video game enthusiast. The comic often parodies and comments on the archetypes and clichés of anime, manga, dating sims and video games, occasionally making direct references to real-world works. Megatokyo originally emphasized humor, with continuity of the story a subsidiary concern. Over time, it focused more on developing a complex plot and the personalities of its characters. This transition was due primarily to Gallagher's increasing control over the comic, which led to Caston choosing to leave the project. (more...)

Recently featured: Lazare Ponticelli – Mozart family grand tour – Western Chalukya architecture

March 14

Chelsea Football Club are a professional English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions three times, and have won the FA Cup four times, the League Cup four times and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup twice. The club had their first major success in 1955, winning the league championship. Chelsea won several cup competitions during the 1960s and 1970s, but after that did not win another major title until 1997. The past decade has been the most successful period in Chelsea’s history, capped by winning consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, and reaching their first UEFA Champions League final in 2008. Chelsea's home is the 42,500-person-capacity Stamford Bridge football stadium in Fulham, West London, where they have played since their establishment. Despite their name, the club are based just outside the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Chelsea's traditional kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks. (more...)

Recently featured: Megatokyo – Lazare Ponticelli – Mozart family grand tour

March 15

John Steinbeck bust, Monterey, CA

The Log from the Sea of Cortez is a book written by John Steinbeck, published in 1951, which details a six-week marine specimen-collecting boat expedition he made in 1940 at various sites in the Gulf of California (also known as the Sea of Cortez), with his friend, marine biologist Ed Ricketts. It is regarded as one of Steinbeck's most important works of non-fiction chiefly because of the involvement of Ricketts, who shaped Steinbeck's thinking and provided the prototype for many of the pivotal characters in his fiction, and the insights it gives into the philosophies of the two men. The Log from the Sea of Cortez is the narrative portion of an unsuccessful earlier work, Sea of Cortez: A Leisurely Journal of Travel and Research, which was published by Steinbeck and Ricketts shortly after their return from the Gulf of California, and combined the journals of the collecting expedition, reworked by Steinbeck, with Ricketts' species catalogue. After Ricketts' death in 1948, Steinbeck dropped the species catalogue from the earlier work and republished it with a eulogy to his friend added as a foreword. (more...)

Recently featured: Chelsea F.C. – Megatokyo – Lazare Ponticelli

March 16

The Chaser APEC pranks constituted a series of comic stunts that targeted the 2007 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Summit, which occurred from 2–9 September, in Sydney, Australia. They were coordinated and performed by the Australian satire group The Chaser for the television series The Chaser's War on Everything. The most prominent prank was the breach of an APEC restricted zone in the heart of Sydney's CBD on 6 September. Julian Morrow directed a fake Canadian motorcade, which was allowed through the restricted zone by police and not detected until Chas Licciardello alighted, dressed as Osama bin Laden. Although pranks that involved public locations, figures, and organisations were always a feature of the series, the APEC pranks yielded unprecedented local and international publicity, both positive and negative. Some team members faced charges for breaching the APEC zone, but these were dropped because police had allowed their entry in the restricted zone. Other less controversial and less publicised stunts were also shown on The Chaser's War on Everything, with ratings peaking at almost three million Australian viewers for the APEC wrap-up episode. (more...)

Recently featured: The Log from the Sea of Cortez – Chelsea F.C. – Megatokyo

March 17

On November 11, 1960, a failed coup attempt against President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam was led by Lieutenant Colonel Vuong Van Dong and Colonel Nguyen Chanh Thi of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The rebels launched the coup in response to Diem's autocratic rule and the negative political influence of his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu and his sister-in-law Madame Ngo Dinh Nhu. After initially being trapped inside the Independence Palace, Diem stalled the coup by holding negotiations and promising reforms. However, his real aim was to buy time for loyalist forces to enter Saigon and relieve him. The coup failed when the Fifth and Seventh Divisions of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam entered Saigon and defeated the rebels. More than four hundred people—many of whom were spectating civilians—were killed in the ensuing battle. Dong and Thi fled to Cambodia, while Diem excoriated the United States for a perceived lack of support during the crisis. Afterwards, Diem ordered a crackdown, imprisoning numerous anti-government critics and former cabinet ministers. (more...)

Recently featured: The Chaser APEC pranks – The Log from the Sea of Cortez – Chelsea F.C.

March 18

Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently. There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level-, instruction-level-, data-, and task parallelism. As power consumption by computers has become a concern in recent years, parallel computing has become the dominant paradigm in computer architecture, mainly in the form of multicore processors. Parallel computers can be roughly classified according to the level at which the hardware supports parallelism—with multi-core and multi-processor computers having multiple processing elements within a single machine, while clusters, MPPs, and grids use multiple computers to work on the same task. Parallel computer programs are more difficult to write than sequential ones, because concurrency introduces several new classes of potential software bugs, of which race conditions are the most common. Communication and synchronization between the different subtasks are typically one of the greatest obstacles to getting good parallel program performance. The speed-up of a program as a result of parallelization is given by Amdahl's law. (more...)

Recently featured: 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt – The Chaser APEC pranks – The Log from the Sea of Cortez

March 19

Gyromitra esculenta is an ascomycete fungus from the genus Gyromitra, widely distributed across Europe and North America and one of several species of fungi known as false morels. It normally sprouts in sandy soils under coniferous trees, in spring and early summer. The fruiting body, or mushroom, is an irregular brain-shaped cap dark brown in colour which can reach 10 cm (4 in) high and 15 cm (6 in) wide, perched on a stout white stipe up to 6 cm (2.4 in) high. Although potentially fatal if eaten raw, Gyromitra esculenta is a popular delicacy in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, and the upper Great Lakes region of North America. It may be sold fresh in Finland, but it must be accompanied by warnings and instructions on correct preparation. It is eaten in omelettes, soups, or sautéed in Finnish cuisine. Once popular in the Pyrenees, it is now prohibited from sale for consumption in Spain. Although it is still commonly consumed after parboiling, recent evidence suggests that even this procedure may not make the fungus entirely safe; thus raising concerns of risk even when prepared properly. When consumed, the false morel's principal active agent, gyromitrin, is metabolized into the toxic compound monomethylhydrazine. The toxin affects the liver, central nervous system, and sometimes the kidneys. (more...)

Recently featured: Parallel computing – 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt – The Chaser APEC pranks

March 20

The Manchester skyline

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. In 2007, the population of the Manchester local government district was estimated to be 458,100, whilst the surrounding Metropolitan County of Greater Manchester had an estimated population of 2,562,200. Forming part of the English Core Cities Group, often described as the second city of the UK, and the "Capital of the North", Manchester today is a centre of the arts, the media, higher education and commerce. In a poll of British business leaders published in 2006, Manchester was regarded as the best place in the UK to locate a business. Manchester was the host of the 2002 Commonwealth Games, and among its other sporting connections are its two Premier League football teams, Manchester City and Manchester United. Historically, most of the city was a part of Lancashire, with areas south of the River Mersey being in Cheshire. Manchester was the world's first industrialised city and played a central role during the Industrial Revolution. Manchester City Centre is now on a tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, mainly due to the network of canals and mills constructed during its 19th-century development. (more...)

Recently featured: Gyromitra esculenta – Parallel computing – 1960 South Vietnamese coup attempt

March 21

The first-move advantage in chess is the inherent advantage of the player (called White) who makes the first move in chess. Chess players and theorists generally agree that White begins the game with some advantage. Statistics compiled since 1851 support this view, showing that White consistently wins slightly more often than Black, usually scoring between 53 and 56 percent. Chess players and theoreticians have debated whether, given perfect play by both sides, the game should end in a win for White or a draw. Since at least 1889, when World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz addressed the issue, the overwhelming consensus has been that a game of chess should end in a draw with best play. However, a few notable players have argued that White's advantage may be sufficient to win: Weaver Adams and Vsevolod Rauzer claimed that White is winning after the first move 1.e4, while Hans Berliner argued that 1.d4 may win for White. Since 1988, chess theorists have challenged previously well-established views about White's advantage. Grandmaster András Adorján wrote a series of books on the theme that "Black is OK!", arguing that the general perception that White has an advantage is founded more in psychology than reality. (more...)

Recently featured: Manchester – Gyromitra esculenta – Parallel computing

March 22

Bezhin Meadow is a 1937 Soviet film, directed by Sergei Eisenstein, which is renowned for having been suppressed and believed destroyed before its completion. It tells the story of a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest, and of the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, and culminates in the boy's murder and a social uprising. The film draws its title from a story by Ivan Turgenev, but is based on the life of Pavlik Morozov, a young Russian boy who became a political martyr following his death in 1932 after he denounced his father to Soviet government authorities and subsequently died at the hands of his family. Commissioned by a Communist youth group, the film's production ran from 1935 to 1937, when it was halted by the central Soviet government for alleged artistic, social, and political failures in the film's content. Some, however, blamed the failure of Bezhin Meadow on government interference and policies extending all the way to Joseph Stalin himself. Bezhin Meadow was long thought lost in the wake of World War II bombings. In the 1960s, however, cuttings and partial prints of the film were found; and from these, a reconstruction of Bezhin Meadow, based on the original script, was undertaken. (more...)

Recently featured: First-move advantage in chess – Manchester – Gyromitra esculenta

March 23

Proserpine is a verse drama written for children by the Romantic writers Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary wrote the blank verse drama and Percy contributed two lyric poems. Composed in 1820 while the Shelleys were living in Italy, it is often considered a partner to the Shelleys' play Midas. Proserpine was first published in the London periodical The Winter's Wreath in 1832. The drama is based on Ovid's tale of the abduction of Proserpine by Pluto, which itself was based on the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone. Mary Shelley's version focuses on the female characters. In a largely feminist retelling from Ceres's point of view, Shelley emphasises the separation of mother and daughter and the strength offered by a community of women. Ceres represents life and love, and Pluto represents death and violence. The genres of the text also reflect gender debates of the time. Proserpine is part of a female literary tradition which, as feminist literary critic Susan Gubar describes it, has used the story of Ceres and Proserpine to "re-define, to re-affirm and to celebrate female consciousness itself". However, the play has been both neglected and marginalised by critics. (more...)

Recently featured: Bezhin Meadow – First-move advantage in chess – Manchester

March 24

Operation Varsity was a joint American–British airborne operation that took place in March 1945, towards the end of World War II. It was planned to aid the British 21st Army Group, under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, in securing a foothold across the River Rhine in western Germany by landing two airborne divisions on the eastern bank of the Rhine near the towns of Hamminkeln and Wesel. The operation involved two airborne divisions from US XVIII Airborne Corps: the British 6th Airborne Division and the US 17th Airborne Division. Despite some errors by the airborne forces, the operation was an overall success, with both divisions landing and capturing a number of bridges across the Rhine and securing several towns which could have been used by the enemy to delay the advance of the British ground forces. The two divisions incurred more than 2,000 casualties, but captured approximately 3,000 German soldiers in the process. The operation was the last large-scale Allied airborne operation of World War II, and was the largest single airborne drop in history. (more...)

Recently featured: Proserpine – Bezhin Meadow – First-move advantage in chess

March 25

The Hellingly Hospital Railway was a light railway owned and operated by East Sussex County Council, used to deliver coal and passengers to Hellingly Hospital, a psychiatric hospital near Hailsham, via a spur from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway’s Cuckoo Line at Hellingly railway station. The railway was constructed in 1899 and opened to passengers on 20 July 1903, following its electrification in 1902. After the railway grouping of 1923, passenger numbers declined so significantly that the hospital authorities no longer considered passenger usage of the line to be economical, and the service was withdrawn. The railway closed to freight in 1959, following the hospital's decision to convert its coal boilers to oil, which rendered the railway unnecessary. The route took a mostly direct path from a junction immediately south of Hellingly Station to Hellingly Hospital, past sidings known as Farm Siding and Park House Siding respectively, used as stopping places to load and unload produce and supplies from outbuildings of the hospital. Much of the railway has since been converted to footpath, and many of the buildings formerly served by the line are now abandoned. (more...)

Recently featured: Operation Varsity – Proserpine – Bezhin Meadow

March 26

Nathu La is a mountain pass in the Himalayas. It is located on the Indo-China border connecting the Indian state of Sikkim with the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The pass, at 4,310 m (14,140 ft) above mean sea level, forms part of an offshoot of the ancient Silk Road. Nathu means "listening ears" and La means "pass" in Tibetan. It is also spelled Ntula, Natu La, Nathula, or Natula. Nathu La is one of the three trading border posts between China and India; the other two are Shipkila in Himachal Pradesh and Lipulekh (or Lipulech) in Uttarakhand. Sealed by India after the 1962 Sino-Indian War, it was re-opened in 2006 following numerous bilateral trade agreements. The opening of the pass is expected to bolster the economy of the region and play a key role in the growing Sino-Indian trade. Currently, agreements between the two nations limit trade across the pass to the export of 29 types of goods from India and import of 15 from the Chinese side. The opening also shortens the travel distance to important Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage sites in the region. (more...)

Recently featured: Hellingly Hospital Railway – Operation Varsity – Proserpine

March 27

Peter Jones (1802–1856) was an Ojibwa Methodist minister, translator, chief and author from Burlington Heights, Upper Canada. Jones converted to Methodism at age 21 after attending a camp-meeting with his half sister. As a bilingual and bicultural preacher, he enabled the Methodists to make significant inroads with the Mississaugas and Iroquois of Upper Canada, both by translating hymns and biblical texts in Ojibwe and Mohawk and preaching to Indians who did not understand English. Beyond his preaching to the Indians of Upper Canada, he was an excellent fundraiser for the Canadian Methodists, and toured the United States and Great Britain giving sermons and speeches. Jones drew audiences of thousands, filling many of the buildings he spoke in, but came to resent the role, believing the audiences came to see Kahkewāquonāby, the exotic Indian, not Peter Jones, the good Christian he had worked so hard to become. Jones was also a political leader. In 1825, he wrote the Indian Department; his letter was the first the department had ever received from an Indian. This brought him into contact with Superintendent of the Indian Department James Givins and influential Bishop John Strachan, with whom he arranged the funding and support of the Credit Mission. (more...)

Recently featured: Nathu La – Hellingly Hospital Railway – Operation Varsity

March 28

Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is a lustrous, hard, greyish-white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically similar to its group neighbors tin and silicon. Germanium has five naturally occurring isotopes ranging in atomic mass number from 70 to 76. It forms a large number of organometallic compounds, including tetraethylgermane and isobutylgermane. Germanium was discovered relatively late despite the fact that it is relatively abundant in the Earth's crust. In 1869, Dmitri Mendeleev predicted its existence and some of its properties based on its position on his periodic table and called the element ekasilicon. In 1886, Clemens Winkler found it in the mineral argyrodite. His experimental observations agreed with Mendeleev's predictions and he named the element after his country, Germany. Germanium is an important semiconductor material used in transistors and various electronic devices. Its major end uses are fiber-optic systems and infrared optics, but is also used for polymerization catalysts, in electronics and in solar electric applications. Germanium is mined primarily from sphalerite, though it is also recovered from silver, lead, and copper ores. Some germanium compounds, such as germanium chloride and germane, can irritate the eyes, skin, lungs, and throat. (more...)

Recently featured: Peter Jones – Nathu La – Hellingly Hospital Railway

March 29

Barthélemy Boganda (1910–1959) was the leading nationalist politician of what is now the Central African Republic. Born to subsistence farmers and adopted by Roman Catholic missionaries, in 1938 Boganda was ordained as the first Catholic priest from Oubangui-Chari in French Equatorial Africa. During World War II Boganda served in a number of missions and subsequently was persuaded by the Bishop of Bangui to enter politics. In 1946, he became the first Oubanguian elected to the French National Assembly, where he maintained a political platform against racism and the colonial regime. He then returned to Oubangui-Chari to form a grassroots movement in opposition to French colonialism. The movement led to the foundation of the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa, and became popular among villagers and the working class. In 1958, after the French Fourth Republic began to consider granting independence to most of its African colonies, Boganda met with Prime Minister Charles de Gaulle to discuss terms for the independence of Oubangui-Chari. De Gaulle accepted Boganda's terms, and on 1 December, Boganda declared the establishment of the Central African Republic. He became the autonomous territory's first Prime Minister and intended to serve as the first President of the independent CAR. However, he was killed in a mysterious plane crash. (more...)

Recently featured: Germanium – Peter Jones – Nathu La

March 30

The Red River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony and Fort Garry in British North America, with the head of navigation on the Mississippi River in the United States. These trade routes ran from the location of present-day Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba across the international border and by a variety of routes across what is now the eastern part of North Dakota and western and central Minnesota to Mendota and Saint Paul, Minnesota on the Mississippi. Travellers began to use the trails by the 1820s, with the heaviest use from the 1840s to the early 1870s, when they were superseded by railways. They gave the Selkirk colonists and their neighbours, the Métis people, an outlet for their furs and a source of supplies other than the Hudson's Bay Company, which was unable to enforce its monopoly in the face of the competition that used the trails. Free traders, independent of the Hudson's Bay Company and outside its jurisdiction, developed extensive commerce with the United States, making Saint Paul the principal entrepôt and link to the outside world for the Selkirk Settlement. That corridor has now seen a resurgence of traffic, carried by more modern means of transport than the crude ox carts that once travelled the Red River Trails. (more...)

Recently featured: Barthélemy Boganda – Germanium – Peter Jones

March 31

The main sequence is a continuous and distinctive band of stars that appear on plots of stellar color versus brightness. These color-magnitude plots are known as Hertzsprung-Russell diagrams after their co-developers, Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell. After a star has formed, it generates energy at the hot, dense core region through the nuclear fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium. During this stage of the star's lifetime, it is located along the main sequence at a position determined primarily by its mass, but also based upon its chemical composition and other factors. All main sequence stars are in hydrostatic equilibrium, where outward thermal pressure from the hot core is balanced by the inward gravitational pressure from the overlying layers. The main sequence is sometimes divided into upper and lower parts, based on the dominant process that a star uses to generate energy. Stars below about 1.5 times the mass of the Sun primarily fuse hydrogen atoms together in a series of stages to form helium, a sequence called the proton-proton chain. Above this mass, in the upper main sequence, the nuclear fusion process mainly uses atoms of carbon, nitrogen and oxygen as intermediaries in the production of helium from hydrogen atoms. Main sequence stars below 0.4 solar masses undergo convection throughout their mass. In general, the more massive the star the shorter its lifespan on the main sequence. (more...)

Recently featured: Red River Trails – Barthélemy Boganda – Germanium