Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 2006
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October 1
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a video game that was released in 2000 for the Nintendo 64 console. Majora's Mask is the sixth release in The Legend of Zelda series and the second 3D release in the series. Although it failed to match the sales success of its predecessor, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask features a broader storyline. The protagonist Link is placed in the land of Termina, rather than the usual Hyrule. A mysterious mask-wearing imp, known as the Skull Kid, has been persuading the moon to abandon its orbit and crash into Termina. The player repeatedly lives three days through time travel in order to prevent this catastrophe. Majora's Mask has been cited as the darkest game in the Zelda series to date, largely due to its plot leading up to an impending apocalypse. (more...)
Recently featured: Aleksandr Vasilevsky – Hurricane Katrina – Nepal
October 2
Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Wayne County. Founded in 1701 by French fur traders, it is a major port city north of Windsor, Ontario located on the Detroit River in the Midwestern region of the United States. In 2005, Detroit ranked as the United States's 11th most populous city with 886,675 residents; this is less than half of the peak population it had in 1950, and Detroit leads the nation in terms of declining urban population. It is the focus city of the nation's tenth-largest metropolitan area, and the fourth-largest if Windsor and its environs are included. Detroit's crime rate has brought it notoriety while the city continues to struggle with the burdens of racial disharmony between itself and its suburban neighbors. (more...)
Recently featured: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask – Aleksandr Vasilevsky – Hurricane Katrina
October 3
Lost is an American drama television series that follows the past and present lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious, seemingly deserted island, somewhere in the South Pacific. The show was created by Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, and is filmed primarily on location in Hawaii. The pilot episode was first broadcast on September 22, 2004. Since then, two seasons have aired and a third begins on October 4, 2006. Due to its large ensemble cast and cost of filming in Hawaii, the series is one of the most expensive on television. A critical and ratings success, the show garnered an average of 15.5 million viewers per episode on ABC, and has won numerous industry awards, including the Emmy Award for outstanding drama series. Reflecting its devoted fan base, the series has become a staple of popular culture with references to the story and its mythology appearing in other television shows, commercials, comic books, humor magazines and even song lyrics. Its fictional universe has also been explored in tie-in novels, board and video games, and has spawned an alternate reality game, The Lost Experience. (more...)
Recently featured: Detroit – The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask – Aleksandr Vasilevsky
October 4
Dürer's Rhinoceros is the name commonly given to a woodcut carved by Albrecht Dürer in 1515. The image was based on a written description and brief sketch by an unknown artist of an Indian rhinoceros that had arrived in Lisbon earlier that year. Dürer never saw the actual rhinoceros, which was the first living example seen in Europe since Roman times. In late 1515, the King of Portugal, Manuel I, sent the animal as a gift for Pope Leo X, but it died in a shipwreck off the coast of Italy in early 1516. A live rhinoceros was not seen again in Europe until a second specimen arrived from India at the court of Phillip II in Spain in around 1579. Despite its anatomical inaccuracies, Dürer's woodcut became very popular in Europe and was copied many times in the following three centuries. It was regarded as a true representation of a rhinoceros into the late 18th century. Eventually, it was supplanted by more realistic drawings and paintings, particularly paintings and engravings of Clara the rhinoceros, who toured Europe in the 1740s and 1750s. It has been said of Dürer's woodcut that "probably no animal picture has exerted such a profound influence on the arts". (more...)
Recently featured: Lost – Detroit – The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
October 5
The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy novel written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier fantasy book The Hobbit and soon developed into a much larger story. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, with much of it being written during World War II. It was originally published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955, and has since been reprinted numerous times and translated into at least 38 different languages, becoming one of the most popular works in twentieth-century literature. The action in The Lord of the Rings is set in what the author conceived to be the lands of the real Earth, inhabited by humanity but placed in a fictional past before our history. Tolkien gave this setting a modern English name, Middle-earth, a rendering of the Old English Middangeard. The story concerns peoples such as Hobbits, Elves, Men, Dwarves, Wizards, and Orcs, and centres on the Ring of Power made by the Dark Lord Sauron. Starting from quiet beginnings in The Shire, the story ranges across Middle-earth and follows the courses of the War of the Ring. (more...)
Recently featured: Dürer's Rhinoceros – Lost – Detroit
October 6
Gas tungsten arc welding is an arc welding process that uses a nonconsumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld. The weld area is protected from atmospheric contamination by a shielding gas (usually an inert gas such as argon), and a filler metal is normally used, though some welds, known as autogenous welds, do not require it. A constant-current welding power supply produces energy which is conducted across the arc through a column of highly ionized gas and metal vapors known as a plasma. GTAW is most commonly used to weld thin sections of stainless steel and light metals such as aluminum, magnesium, and copper alloys. The process grants the operator greater control over the weld than competing procedures such as shielded metal arc welding and gas metal arc welding, allowing for stronger, higher quality welds. However, GTAW is comparatively more complex and difficult to master, and furthermore, it is significantly slower than most other welding techniques. A related process, plasma arc welding, uses a slightly different welding torch to create a more focused welding arc and as a result is often automated. (more...)
Recently featured: The Lord of the Rings – Dürer's Rhinoceros – Lost
October 7
Adi Shankara was the first philosopher to consolidate the doctrine of Advaita Vedanta, a sub-school of Vedanta. His teachings are based on the unity of the soul and God, in which God is viewed as simultaneously personal and attributeless. In the Smārta tradition, Adi Shankara is regarded as an incarnation of Shiva. Adi Shankara toured India with the purpose of propagating his teachings through discourses and debates with other philosophers. He founded four mathas which played a key role in the historical development and spread of Hinduism and Advaita Vedanta. Adi Shankara was the founder of the Dashanami monastic order and the Shanmata tradition of worship. His works in Sanskrit, all of which are extant today, concern themselves with establishing the doctrine of Advaita (Sanskrit, "Non-dualism"). Adi Shankara quotes extensively from the Upanishads and other Hindu scriptures in forming his teachings. He also includes polemics against opposing schools of thought like Samkhya and Buddhism in his works. (more...)
Recently featured: Gas tungsten arc welding – The Lord of the Rings – Dürer's Rhinoceros
October 8
Acute myeloid leukemia is a cancer of the myeloid line of white blood cells, characterized by the rapid proliferation of abnormal cells which accumulate in the bone marrow and interfere with the production of normal blood cells. AML is the most common acute leukemia affecting adults, and its incidence increases with age. While AML is a relatively rare disease overall, accounting for approximately 1.2% of cancer deaths in the United States, its incidence is expected to increase as the population ages. The symptoms of AML are caused by replacement of normal bone marrow with leukemic cells, resulting in a drop in red blood cells, platelets, and normal white blood cells. While a number of risk factors for AML have been elucidated, the specific cause of AML remains unclear. As an acute leukemia, AML progresses rapidly and is typically fatal in weeks to months if untreated. Acute myeloid leukemia is a potentially curable disease; however, only a minority of patients are cured with current therapy. AML is treated initially with chemotherapy aimed at inducing a remission; some patients may go on to receive a hematopoietic stem cell transplant. (more...)
Recently featured: Adi Shankara – Gas tungsten arc welding – The Lord of the Rings
October 9
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is an iconic photograph taken on February 23, 1945 by Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five United States Marines and a U.S. Navy corpsman raising the Flag of the United States atop Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. The photograph was instantly popular, being reprinted in hundreds of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant and recognizable images in history, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time. Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (Franklin Sousley, Harlon Block, and Michael Strank) did not survive the battle; the three survivors (John Bradley, Rene Gagnon, and Ira Hayes) became suddenly famous. The photograph was later used by Felix de Weldon to sculpt the USMC War Memorial, located just outside Washington, D.C. (more...)
Recently featured: Acute myeloid leukemia – Adi Shankara – Gas tungsten arc welding
October 10
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was an Indian political and social leader, who played a major role in the country's struggle for independence, and guided its political integration to a united, independent nation. Raised in the countryside of Gujarat, Vallabhbhai Patel was a self-educated and successful Gujarati lawyer, when he was inspired by the work and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. As the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India, Patel organized relief efforts for refugees in Punjab and Delhi, and led efforts to restore peace across the nation. Patel took charge of the task to forge a united India from the 565 semi-autonomous princely states and British-era colonial provinces and possessions. Using frank diplomacy backed with the option (and the use) of military action, Patel's leadership enabled the accession of almost every princely state. (more...)
Recently featured: Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima – Acute myeloid leukemia – Adi Shankara
October 11
Enzymes are proteins that accelerate, or catalyze, chemical reactions. In these reactions, molecules called substrates are converted by enzymes into different molecules called products. Almost all processes in the cell need enzymes in order to occur at significant rates. Like all catalysts, enzymes work by providing an alternative path of lower activation energy for a reaction and dramatically increasing its rate; some enzymes can make the conversion of substrate to product occur many millions of times faster. Enzymes are not consumed in chemical reactions, nor do they alter the equilibrium of a reaction. However, enzymes do differ from most other catalysts by being much more specific. Since enzymes are extremely selective for their substrates and speed up only a few reactions, the set of enzymes made in a cell determines which metabolic pathways occur in that cell. Many drugs and poisons work by inhibiting enzyme activity. (more...)
Recently featured: Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel – Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima – Acute myeloid leukemia
October 12
The FA Premier League is a league competition for football clubs located at the top of the English football league system (above The Football League), making it England's primary football competition. The Premier League is presently contested by twenty clubs each season, but in a total of fourteen seasons, the title has been won by only four teams: Arsenal, Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea and Manchester United. Of these, the most successful is Manchester United, who have won the title eight times. The current Premier League champions are Chelsea, who won their second consecutive title in the 2005-06 season. (more...)
Recently featured: Enzyme – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel – Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima
October 13
Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as the 32nd President of the United States and was elected to four terms in office. He served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only President to serve more than two terms. A central figure of the 20th century, he is ranked by scholarly surveys among the three greatest U.S. Presidents. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Roosevelt created the New Deal to provide relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy, and reform of the economic system. Roosevelt built the New Deal coalition that dominated politics into the 1960s. After 1938, Roosevelt championed re-armament and led the nation away from isolationism as the world headed into World War II. He provided extensive support to Winston Churchill and the British war effort before the attack on Pearl Harbor pulled the U.S. into the fighting. As the Allies neared victory, Roosevelt played a critical role in shaping the post-war world, particularly through the Yalta Conference and the creation of the United Nations. Roosevelt died on the eve of victory in World War II and was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman. (more...)
Recently featured: FA Premier League – Enzyme – Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
October 14
The photon is the elementary particle responsible for electromagnetic phenomena. It mediates electromagnetic interactions and is the fundamental constituent of all forms of electromagnetic radiation, that is, light. The photon has zero rest mass and, in empty space, travels at a constant speed c; in the presence of matter, it can be slowed or even absorbed, transferring energy and momentum proportional to its frequency. The modern concept of the photon was developed gradually by Albert Einstein to explain experimental observations that seemed anomalous by the classical wave model of light. The photon concept has led to many advances in experimental and theoretical physics, such as lasers, Bose–Einstein condensation, quantum field theory, and the probabilistic interpretation of quantum mechanics. (more...)
Recently featured: Franklin D. Roosevelt – FA Premier League – Enzyme
October 15
Banff National Park is Canada's first national park, established in 1885, in the Canadian Rockies. The park, located 120 kilometres west of Calgary in the province of Alberta, encompasses 6,641 square kilometres of mountainous terrain, with numerous glaciers and icefields, dense coniferous forest, and alpine landscapes. The Icefields Parkway extends from Lake Louise, connecting to Jasper National Park in the north. Provincial forests and Yoho National Park are neighbours to the west, while Kootenay National Park is located to the south, and Kananaskis Country to the southeast. The main commercial centre of the park is the town of Banff, in the Bow River valley. Millions more pass through the park on the Trans-Canada Highway. As one of the world's most visited national parks, the health of Banff's ecosystem has been threatened. In the mid-1990s, Parks Canada responded by initiating a two-year study, which resulted in management recommendations, and new policies that aim to preserve ecological integrity. (more...)
Recently featured: Photon – Franklin D. Roosevelt – FA Premier League
October 16
The Chola dynasty was a Tamil dynasty that ruled primarily in southern India until the 13th century CE. The dynasty originated in the fertile valley of the Kaveri River. Territories under their domain stretched from the islands of Maldives in the south to as far north as the banks of the river Ganges in Bengal. The dynasty was at the height of its power during the tenth and the eleventh centuries. Under Rajaraja Chola I (Rajaraja the Great) and his son Rajendra Chola, the dynasty rose as a military, economic and cultural power in Asia. The legacy of Chola rule has lasted in the region through modern times. Their patronage of Tamil literature and their zeal in building temples have resulted in some great works of Tamil architecture and poetry. The Chola kings were avid builders and envisioned the temples in their kingdoms not only as places of worship, but also as centres of economic activity, benefiting their entire community. They pioneered a centralised form of government and established a disciplined bureaucracy. (more...)
Recently featured: Banff National Park – Photon – Franklin D. Roosevelt
October 17
Georg Forster was an 18th-century German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist, and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father on several scientific expeditions, including James Cook's second voyage to the Pacific. His report from that journey, A Voyage Round the World, contributed significantly to the ethnology of the people of Polynesia and remains a respected work among both scientists and ordinary readers. As a result of the report Forster was admitted to the Royal Society at the age of 22 and he came to be considered one of the founders of modern scientific travel literature. Forster was a central figure of the Enlightenment in Germany, and corresponded with most of its adherents, including Georg Christoph Lichtenberg who was a close friend of his. His ideas and personality influenced strongly one of the greatest German scientists of 19th century, Alexander von Humboldt. In July 1793, while he was in Paris as a delegate of the young Mainz Republic, Prussian and Austrian coalition forces regained control of the city and Forster was declared an outlaw. Unable to return to Germany and separated from his friends and family, he died in Paris of illness in early 1794. (more...)
Recently featured: Chola dynasty – Banff National Park – Photon
October 18
Al-Kateb v Godwin was an important Australian court case decided in the High Court of Australia on 6 August 2004. It concerned a stateless man who was detained under the policy of mandatory immigration detention. His application for a protection visa had been denied, and because he was stateless no other country would accept him. The issue in the case was whether indefinite immigration detention was lawful, and the court ultimately decided that it was. The court considered two main questions: firstly, whether the Migration Act 1958 (the legislation which governs immigration in Australia) permitted a person in Al-Kateb's situation to be detained indefinitely; and secondly, if it did, whether that was permissible under the Constitution of Australia. A majority of the court decided that the Act did allow indefinite detention, and that the Act was not unconstitutional. (more...)
Recently featured: Georg Forster – Chola dynasty – Banff National Park
October 19
Nirvana was a popular American rock band from Aberdeen, Washington. With the lead single "Smells Like Teen Spirit" from their 1991 album Nevermind, Nirvana exploded into the mainstream, bringing along with it an offshoot of punk and alternative rock referred to as grunge. As Nirvana's frontman, Kurt Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation", with Nirvana the "flagship band" of "Generation X". Cobain was uncomfortable with the attention, and placed his focus on the band's music, challenging the band's audience with their third studio album In Utero. While Nirvana's mainstream popularity waned in the months following its release, their core audience cherished the band's dark interior, particularly after their 1993 performance on MTV Unplugged. Nirvana's brief run ended with the death of Cobain in 1994, but the band's popularity expanded in the years that followed. Since their debut, the band has sold more than fifty million albums worldwide, including more than ten million copies of Nevermind in the US alone. (more...)
Recently featured: Al-Kateb v Godwin – Georg Forster – Chola dynasty
October 20
The history of the Philippines begins with the arrival of the first humans in the Philippines by land bridges at least 30,000 years ago, while the first recorded history of the Philippines was scripted by Europeans beginning with the arrival of Ferdinand Magellan on Homonhon Island. Permanent settlements in the island of Cebu were established with the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi in 1565, and soon after began the era of Spanish colonization that lasted for more than three centuries. The Philippine Revolution against Spain began in 1896, culminating two years later with a proclamation of independence and the establishment of the First Philippine Republic. However, the Treaty of Paris in 1898 at the end of the Spanish-American War transferred control of the Philippines to the United States. Full independence was only granted to the Philippines in July 1946. With a promising economy in the 1950s and 1960s second only to Japan, the Philippines in the late 1960s and early 1970s saw a rise of student activism and civil unrest against the corrupt dictatorship of President Ferdinand Marcos who declared martial law in 1972. The peaceful and bloodless 1986 EDSA Revolution brought about the ouster of Marcos and a return to democracy for the country. The period since then, however, has been marked by political instability and hampered economic productivity. (more...)
Recently featured: Nirvana – Al-Kateb v Godwin – Georg Forster
October 21
Vivien Leigh was an English theatre and film actress. Although her film appearances were relatively few, she won two Academy Awards playing "Southern belles", Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, a role she had also played in London's West End. She was a prolific stage performer, frequently in collaboration with her husband, Laurence Olivier, who directed her in several of her roles. During her thirty-year stage career, she played parts that ranged from the heroines of Noël Coward and George Bernard Shaw comedies to classic Shakespearean characters such as Ophelia, Cleopatra, Juliet and Lady Macbeth. Lauded for her beauty, Leigh felt that it sometimes prevented her from being taken seriously as an actress, but ill health proved to be her greatest obstacle. Affected by bipolar disorder for most of her adult life, she gained a reputation for being difficult, and her career went through periods of decline. She was further weakened by recurrent bouts of tuberculosis, which was first diagnosed in the mid-1940s. She and Olivier divorced in 1960, and Leigh worked sporadically in film and theatre until her death from tuberculosis. (more...)
Recently featured: History of the Philippines – Nirvana – Al-Kateb v Godwin
October 22
The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds which comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the prions and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes. The procellariids are the most numerous family of tubenoses, and the most diverse. They range in size from the giant petrels, which are almost as large as the albatrosses, to the prions, which are as small as the larger storm-petrels. They feed on fish, squid and crustacea, with many also taking fisheries discards and carrion. All species are accomplished long-distance foragers, and many undertake long trans-equatorial migrations. They are colonial breeders, exhibiting long-term mate fidelity and site philopatry. In all species, each pair lays a single egg per breeding season. Their incubation times and chick-rearing periods are exceptionally long compared to other birds. (more...)
Recently featured: Vivien Leigh – History of the Philippines – Nirvana
October 23
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the Neo-Stalinist government of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from October 23 until November 101956. It began as a student demonstration which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building. The revolt spread quickly across Hungary, and the government fell. Thousands organized into militias, battling the State police force and Soviet troops. The new government formally disbanded the State police force, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact and pledged to re-establish free elections. On November 4, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest using artillery and air strikes, killing thousands of civilians. Organized resistance ceased by 10 November 1956, and mass arrests began. An estimated 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. By January 1957 the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened Soviet control over Eastern Europe, cultivating the perception that communism was both irreversible and monolithic. Public discussion about this revolution was suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years, but since the thaw of the 1980s it has been a subject of intense study and debate. (more...)
Recently featured: Procellariidae – Vivien Leigh – History of the Philippines
October 24
The Rugby World Cup is the premier international rugby union competition in the world. The event is organised by the the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board, and is contested by the men's national rugby union teams. The inaugural tournament was held in 1987, hosted by both Australia and New Zealand, and now held every four years. The winners are awarded the Webb Ellis Cup which is named after the pupil of Rugby school credited with the game's invention. The tournament is one of the largest international national sporting competitions in the world with 20 nations competing and a cumulative world television audience - including all of the matches - of 3.5 billion in the most recent tournament. The title of world champions is currently held by England, who won the 2003 tournament, held in Australia. Other champions include South Africa, New Zealand and Australia, with Australia being the most successful with two titles. The next Rugby World Cup will be hosted in France during September and October of 2007. (more...)
Recently featured: Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – Procellariidae – Vivien Leigh
October 25
0.999... (also denoted or ) is a recurring decimal which is exactly equal to 1. In other words, the symbols 0.999… and 1 represent the same real number. Mathematicians have formulated a number of proofs of this identity, which vary with their level of rigor, preferred development of the real numbers, background assumptions, historical context and target audience. The equality 0.999… = 1 has long been taught in textbooks, and in the last few decades, researchers of mathematics education have studied the reception of this equation among students, who often vocally reject the equality. Their reasoning is often based on an expectation that infinitesimal quantities should exist, that arithmetic may be broken, or simply that 0.999… should have a last 9. These ideas are false in the real numbers, as can be proven by explicitly constructing the reals from the rational numbers, and such constructions can also prove that 0.999… = 1 directly. (more...)
Recently featured: Rugby World Cup – Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – Procellariidae
October 26
The Relapse is a Restoration comedy from 1696 by John Vanbrugh, a sequel to Colley Cibber's notorious tear-jerker Love's Last Shift, or, Virtue Rewarded. In Cibber's Love's Last Shift, a free-living Restoration rake is brought to repentance and reform by the ruses of his wife, while in The Relapse, the rake succumbs again to temptation and has a new love affair. His virtuous wife is also subjected to a determined seduction attempt, and resists with difficulty. Vanbrugh planned The Relapse around particular actors at Drury Lane, writing their stage habits, public reputations, and personal relationships into the text. One such actor was Colley Cibber himself, who played the luxuriant fop Lord Foppington in both Love's Last Shift and The Relapse. However, Vanbrugh's artistic plans were threatened by a cut-throat struggle between London's two theatre companies, each of which was "seducing" actors from the other. The Relapse came close to not being produced at all, but the successful performance that was eventually achieved in November 1696 vindicated Vanbrugh's intentions, as well as saving the company from bankruptcy. (more...)
Recently featured: 0.999... – Rugby World Cup – Hungarian Revolution of 1956
October 27
The Compact Cassette is a widely used magnetic tape sound recording format. Although originally intended as a medium for dictation, improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant reel-to-reel tape recording in most applications. Its uses ranged from portable audio to home recording to data storage for computers. Between the 1970s and early 1990s, the cassette was one of the two most common formats for prerecorded music, alongside the LP and later the Compact Disc. Compact Cassettes consist of two miniature reels, between which a magnetic tape is passed and wound. These reels and their attendant parts are held inside a protective plastic shell. Two stereo pairs of tracks (four total) or two monaural audio tracks are available on the tape; one stereo pair or one monophonic track is played when the cassette is inserted with its 'A' side facing up, and the other when it is turned over. (more...)
Recently featured: The Relapse – 0.999... – Rugby World Cup
October 28
The Bricker Amendment is the collective name of a series of proposed amendments to the United States Constitution considered by the United States Senate in the 1950s. Named for their sponsor, Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio, the best-known version of the Bricker Amendment declared that no treaty could be made by the United States that conflicted with the Constitution, was self-executing without the passage of separate enabling legislation through Congress, or which granted Congress legislative powers beyond those specified in the Constitution. It also limited the president's power to enter into executive agreements with foreign powers. Bricker's proposal attracted broad bipartisan support across the ideological spectrum and was a focal point of intra-party conflict between the Eisenhower Administration and the Old Right faction of conservative Republican senators. Despite the initial support, the Bricker Amendment was blocked through the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and failed in the Senate by a single vote in 1954. Three years later, the United States Supreme Court explicitly ruled in Reid v. Covert that the Bill of Rights cannot be abrogated by agreements with foreign powers. (more...)
Recently featured: Compact Cassette – The Relapse – 0.999...
October 29
Hydrogen is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol H and atomic number 1. At standard temperature and pressure it is a colorless, odorless, nonmetallic, univalent, tasteless, highly flammable diatomic gas. With an atomic mass of 1.00794 g/mol, hydrogen is the lightest element. It is also the most abundant, constituting roughly 75% of the universe's elemental matter. Stars in their main sequence are overwhelmingly composed of hydrogen in its plasma state. Elemental hydrogen is relatively rare on Earth, and is industrially produced from hydrocarbons, after which most free hydrogen is used "captively" (meaning locally at the production site), with the largest markets about equally divided between fossil fuel upgrading (e.g. hydrocracking) and in ammonia production (mostly for the fertilizer market). The most common naturally occurring isotope of hydrogen contains one electron and an atomic nucleus of one proton. Hydrogen can form compounds with most elements and is present in water and all organic compounds. It plays a particularly important role in acid-base chemistry, in which many reactions involve the exchange of protons between soluble molecules. (more...)
Recently featured: Bricker Amendment – Compact Cassette – The Relapse
October 30
The Defense of Sihang Warehouse took place from 26 October to 1 November 1937, and marked the beginning of the end of the three-month Battle of Shanghai in the opening phase of the Second Sino-Japanese War. The defenders of the warehouse, popularly known as both the "Eight Hundred Heroes" and the "Lone Battalion", held out against numerous waves of Japanese forces and covered the movements of the Chinese forces retreating west during the Battle of Shanghai. The successful defense of the warehouse provided a morale-lifting consolation to the Chinese army and people in the demoralizing aftermath of the Japanese invasion of Shanghai. The warehouse's location just across the Suzhou River from the foreign concessions in Shanghai meant the battle took place in full view of the western powers. This drew the attention, if only briefly, of the international community to Chiang Kai-shek's bid for worldwide support against Japanese aggression. (more...)
Recently featured: Hydrogen – Bricker Amendment – Compact Cassette
October 31
Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 black-and-white independent horror film directed by George A. Romero. The film stars Duane Jones as Ben and Judith O'Dea as Barbra. The plot revolves around the mysterious reanimation of the dead and the efforts of Ben, Barbra and five others to survive the night while trapped in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse. Romero produced the film on the low budget of $114,000, but after a decade of theatrical re-releases it had grossed an estimated $12 million in the United States and $30 million internationally. Reviewers criticized the graphic contents, but three decades later the Library of Congress placed Night of the Living Dead on the United States National Film Registry with other films deemed "historically, culturally or aesthetically important." The culture of Vietnam-era America had a tremendous impact on the film. It is so thoroughly riven with critiques of late 1960s American society that one historian described the film as "subversive on many levels." While not the first zombie film made, Night of the Living Dead influenced subsequent films in the sub-genre. The film is the first of five Living Dead films (completed or pending) directed by Romero, and has been remade twice. (more...)
Recently featured: Defense of Sihang Warehouse – Hydrogen – Bricker Amendment