Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 2009

Today's featured article archive

August 1

Don Tallon (1916–1984) was an Australian cricketer who played 21 Test matches as a wicket-keeper between 1946 and 1953. He was widely regarded by his contemporaries as Australia's finest ever wicket-keeper and one of the best in Test history, with an understated style, an ability to anticipate the flight, length and spin of the ball and an efficient stumping technique. Tallon toured England as part of Don Bradman's Invincibles of 1948 and was recognised as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1949 for his performances during that season. During his Test career, Tallon made 58 dismissals comprising 50 catches and 8 stumpings. His early cricket was played in Bundaberg where he was selected to represent Queensland Country against the England cricket team during the infamous Bodyline tour. Following the Second World War and the retirement or unavailability of other candidates, he was finally given an opportunity to play Test cricket, making his debut against New Zealand in 1946 aged 30. Following the Invincibles tour, poor health dogged Tallon, causing him to miss the 1949–50 tour of South Africa. He retired from first-class cricket in 1953 and returned to Bundaberg, assisting his brother in running a corner store. He died in Bundaberg aged 68. (more...)

Recently featured: Forest Park – Augusta, Lady Gregory – 243 Ida

August 2

Members of the Armenian "Dashnak battalion" celebrate the capture of Shusha

The Nagorno-Karabakh War was an armed conflict that took place from February 1988 to May 1994, in the small ethnic enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in southwestern Azerbaijan, between the majority ethnic Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh backed by the Republic of Armenia against the Republic of Azerbaijan. As the war progressed, Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet Republics, became enveloped in a protracted, undeclared war in the mountainous heights of Karabakh as Azerbaijan attempted to curb a secessionist movement in Nagorno-Karabakh. The enclave's parliament had voted in favor of uniting itself with Armenia and a referendum was held with the vast majority of the Karabakh population voting in favor of independence. The demand to unify with Armenia, which proliferated in the late 1980s, began in a relatively peaceful manner; however, in the following months, as the Soviet Union's disintegration neared, it gradually grew into an increasingly violent conflict between the two ethnic groups, resulting in claims of ethnic cleansing by all sides. Full-scale fighting erupted in the late winter of 1992. By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held and currently control approximately 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the enclave. A Russian-brokered ceasefire was signed in May 1994 and peace talks, mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, have been held ever since by Armenia and Azerbaijan. (more...)

Recently featured: Don Tallon – Forest Park – Augusta, Lady Gregory

August 3

Michael Gomez (born 1977) is a former professional boxer. He was born to an Irish Traveller family in Longford, County Longford, Ireland, spending his early years in Dublin before moving to Manchester, England with his family at the age of nine. Gomez finished his career fighting in the lightweight division, however, he is more notable for his fights in the featherweight and super featherweight divisions. During his career he has amassed a number of championship title belts: the IBF Inter-Continental featherweight title; and the British, WBO Inter-Continental, WBA Inter-Continental and WBU super featherweight titles. He was the first Irish boxer to win the Lonsdale Belt outright. Of his 17 fights between February 2001 and March 2008, 16 ended in knockouts. On 21 June 2008, Gomez lost what was seen as possibly his last bout—a last chance saloon opportunity to resurrect his career against rising star and Olympic silver medallist Amir Khan. The fight ended with Gomez's suffering a TKO when the referee stopped the fight in the fifth round. (more...)

Recently featured: Nagorno-Karabakh War – Don Tallon – Forest Park

August 4

The Rosewood massacre was a violent, racially motivated conflict that took place during the first week of January 1923 in rural Levy County, Florida. Six blacks and two whites were killed, and the town of Rosewood was abandoned and destroyed during what was characterized as a race riot. Florida had an especially high number of lynchings in the years before the massacre, including a well-publicized incident in December 1922. Rosewood was a quiet, primarily black, self-sufficient whistle stop on the Seaboard Air Line Railway. Spurred by unsupported accusations that a white woman in nearby Sumner had been beaten and possibly raped by a black drifter, white men from nearby towns lynched a Rosewood resident. When black citizens defended themselves against further attack, several hundred whites combed the countryside hunting for black people, and burned almost every structure in Rosewood. Survivors hid for several days in nearby swamps, and were evacuated by train and car to larger towns. Although state and local authorities were aware of the violence, they made no arrests for the activities in Rosewood. The town was abandoned by black residents during the attacks. As of 2009, none have returned. Although the rioting was widely reported around the country, few official records documented the event. The massacre was the subject of a 1997 film directed by John Singleton. In 2004 the state designated the site of Rosewood as a Florida Heritage Landmark. (more...)

Recently featured: Michael Gomez – Nagorno-Karabakh War – Don Tallon

August 5

"Premiere" is the series premiere of the television series The O.C., which first aired on the Fox network on August 5, 2003. Written by series creator Josh Schwartz (pictured) and directed by executive producer Doug Liman, the episode depicts the introduction of troubled teenager Ryan Atwood (Benjamin McKenzie) into the wealthy lifestyle of the Cohen family in Newport Beach, Orange County, California. The casting directors, Patrick J. Rush and Alyson Silverberg, began selecting the principal cast eight to ten weeks before filming started. Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) was based on Schwartz's experiences at the University of Southern California as a "neurotic Jewish kid from the East Coast in a land of water polo players". Other central characters in the episode are Seth's parents—Sandy (Peter Gallagher) and Kirsten (Kelly Rowan)—and teenage neighbor Marissa Cooper (Mischa Barton). The series premiere led the first half-hour of its time slot in viewership. It was generally well received by critics, and earned Schwartz a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for Best Screenplay in an Episodic Drama. Originally broadcast and released in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the episode was remastered in a widescreen ratio for the series DVD, released in November 2007. (more...)

Recently featured: Rosewood massacre – Michael Gomez – Nagorno-Karabakh War

August 6

Phagocytes are the white blood cells that protect the body by ingesting (phagocytosing) harmful foreign particles, bacteria and dead or dying cells. They are essential for fighting infections, and for subsequent immunity. Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom, and are highly developed in vertebrates. One liter of human blood contains about six billion phagocytes. Phagocytes were first discovered in 1882 by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was studying starfish larvae. Phagocytes of humans and other animals are called professional or non-professional, depending on how effective they are at phagocytosis. The professional phagocytes include cells called neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, dendritic cells, and mast cells. The main difference between professional and non-professional phagocytes is that the professional phagocytes have molecules called receptors on their surfaces that can detect harmful objects, such as bacteria, that are not normally found in the body. Phagocytes are therefore crucial in fighting infections, as well as in maintaining healthy tissues by removing dead and dying cells that have reached the end of their life-span. During an infection, chemical signals attract phagocytes to places where the pathogen has invaded the body. (more...)

Recently featured: Premiere – Rosewood massacre – Michael Gomez

August 7

Opera is a web browser and internet suite developed by the Opera Software company. Opera handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, IRC online chatting, downloading files via BitTorrent, and reading web feeds. Opera is offered free of charge for personal computers and mobile phones, but for other devices it must be paid for. Features of Opera include tabbed browsing, page zooming, mouse gestures, and an integrated download manager. Its security features include built-in phishing and malware protection, strong encryption when browsing secure web sites, and the ability to easily delete private data such as cookies and browsing history by simply clicking a button. Opera runs on a variety of personal computer operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris. Though evaluations of Opera have been largely positive, Opera has captured only a fraction of the worldwide personal computer browser market. Opera has a stronger market share on mobile devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, and personal digital assistants. Editions of Opera are available for devices using the Symbian and Windows Mobile operating systems, as well as Java ME-enabled devices. Approximately 40 million mobile phones have shipped with Opera pre-installed. (more...)

Recently featured: Phagocyte – Premiere – Rosewood massacre

August 8

Maiden Castle is an Iron Age hill fort 2.5 km (1.6 mi) south of Dorchester, in the English county of Dorset. Hill forts were fortified hill-top settlements constructed across Britain during the Iron Age. The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the site consists of a Neolithic causewayed enclosure and bank barrow. In about 1800 BC, during the Bronze Age, the site was used for growing crops before being abandoned. Maiden Castle itself was built in about 600 BC; the early phase was a simple and unremarkable site, similar to many other hill forts in Britain and covering 64,000 m² (690,000 sq ft). Around 450 BC it underwent major expansion, during which the enclosed area was nearly tripled in size to 190,000 m² (2,000,000 sq ft), making it the largest hill fort in Britain and by some definitions the largest in Europe. In around 100 BC habitation at the hill fort went into decline and became focused at the eastern end of the site. It was occupied until at least the Roman period, and by this time was in the territory of the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe. After the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century AD, Maiden Castle appears to have been abandoned, although the Romans may have had a military presence on the site. In the 1930s, archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler undertook the first archaeological excavations at Maiden Castle, raising its profile among the public. Today the site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and is maintained by English Heritage. (more...)

Recently featured: Opera – Phagocyte – Premiere

August 9

The Arena Active Protection System is an active countermeasure system developed at Russia's Kolomna-based Engineering Design Bureau for the purpose of protecting armored fighting vehicles from destruction by light anti-tank weapons, anti-tank guided missiles, and missiles with top attack warheads. It uses a Doppler radar to detect incoming warheads. Upon detection, a defensive rocket is fired that detonates near the inbound threat, destroying it before it hits the vehicle. Arena is the successor to Drozd, a Soviet active protection system from the late 1970s. The successful use by the Chechnyans of the rocket propelled grenade against the Russian fighting vehicles prompted the Kolomenskoye machine-building design bureau to devise the Arena active protection system in the early and mid-1990s. An export variant, Arena-E, was also developed. The system has been tested on the T-80UM-1, demonstrated at Omsk in 1997, and was considered for use on the South Korean K2 Black Panther main battle tank. (more...)

Recently featured: Maiden Castle – Opera – Phagocyte

August 10

Vagrant Story is a Japanese-developed console role-playing game developed and published by Square (now Square Enix) for the Sony PlayStation video game console in 2000. The game was released in Japan in February 2000, in the United States in May 2000, and in Canada and Europe later, at the time of Square's promotional "Summer of Adventure" game package, and in PAL territories in June 2000. It was largely developed by the team responsible for Final Fantasy Tactics, with Yasumi Matsuno serving as producer and director. The game takes place in the fictional kingdom of Valendia and the ruined city of Leá Monde. The story centers on Ashley Riot, an elite agent known as a Riskbreaker, who must travel to Leá Monde to investigate the link between a cult leader and a senior Valendian Parliament member, Duke Bardorba. In the prologue, Ashley was blamed for murdering the duke, and the game discloses the events that happened one week before the murder. Vagrant Story is unique as a console action/adventure role-playing game because it features no shops and no player interaction with other characters; instead, the game focuses on weapon creation and modification, as well as elements of puzzle-solving and strategy. Overall, the game received positive reviews from gaming magazines and websites. (more...)

Recently featured: Arena Active Protection System – Maiden Castle – Opera

August 11

Scene from 1886 Savoy Theatre souvenir programme

H.M.S. Pinafore is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical theatre piece up to that time. H.M.S. Pinafore was Gilbert and Sullivan's fourth operatic collaboration and their first international sensation. The story takes place aboard the titular ship, H.M.S. Pinafore. The captain's daughter, Josephine, is in love with a lower-class sailor, Ralph Rackstraw, although her father intends her to marry Sir Joseph Porter, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Drawing on several of his earlier "Bab Ballad" poems, Gilbert imbued this plot with mirth and silliness. The opera's humour focuses on love between members of different social classes and lampoons the British class system in general. Pinafore also pokes good-natured fun at patriotism, party politics, the rise of unqualified people to positions of authority and the Royal Navy. Pinafore's extraordinary popularity in Britain, America and elsewhere was followed by the similar success of a series of Gilbert and Sullivan works. Their works, later known as the Savoy operas, dominated the musical stage on both sides of the Atlantic for more than a decade and continue to be performed today. (more...)

Recently featured: Vagrant Story – Arena Active Protection System – Maiden Castle

August 12

PNC Park is a baseball park located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the fifth home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, the city's Major League Baseball franchise. It opened during the 2001 Major League Baseball season, after the controlled implosion of the Pirates' previous home, Three Rivers Stadium. The ballpark is named for locally based PNC Financial Services, which purchased the naming rights in 1998. PNC Park features a natural grass playing surface and seats 38,496 people for baseball, which as of 2008, is the second-smallest capacity of any Major League park. Funded in conjunction with Heinz Field, the $216 million park stands along the Allegheny River, on the North Shore of Pittsburgh with a view of Downtown Pittsburgh. Built in the style of "classic" stadiums, such as Boston's Fenway Park, PNC Park also introduced unique features, such as the use of limestone in the building's facade. The park also features a riverside concourse, steel truss work, an extensive out-of-town scoreboard, and many local eateries. Since completion, PNC Park has been hailed as one of the best ballparks in the country. PNC Park hosted the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, the fifth MLB All-Star Game held in Pittsburgh. (more...)

Recently featured: H.M.S. Pinafore – Vagrant Story – Arena Active Protection System

August 13

The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960–1279 AD; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a permanent standing navy. The Song Dynasty is divided into two distinct periods: the Northern Song and Southern Song. During the Northern Song, the Song capital was in the northern city of Bianjing and the dynasty controlled most of inner China. The Southern Song refers to the period after the Song lost control of northern China to the Jin Dynasty. During this time, the Song court retreated south of the Yangtze River and established their capital at Lin'an. The Southern Song Dynasty considerably bolstered naval strength to defend its waters and land borders and to conduct maritime missions abroad. To repel the Jin (and later the Mongols), the Song developed revolutionary new military technology augmented by the use of gunpowder. In 1234, the Jin Dynasty was conquered by the Mongols, who took control of northern China, maintaining uneasy relations with the Southern Song. After two decades of sporadic warfare, Kublai Khan's armies conquered the Song Dynasty in 1279. China was once again unified, under the Yuan Dynasty. (more...)

Recently featured: PNC Park – H.M.S. Pinafore – Vagrant Story

August 14

Magic Johnson (born 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA Draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired in 1991 after announcing that he had HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. He retired again for four years, but returned in 1996 to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time. Johnson's career achievements include three NBA MVP Awards, nine NBA Finals appearances, twelve All-Star games, and ten All-NBA nominations. He led the league in regular-season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in assists per game. Johnson was a member of the "Dream Team", the U.S. basketball team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1992. He was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996, and enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. (more...)

Recently featured: Song Dynasty – PNC Park – H.M.S. Pinafore

August 15

Maynard James Keenan (born 1964) is an American rock singer, songwriter, musician, producer, winemaker, and actor. He is best known as the lead singer of the multi-platinum rock bands Tool and A Perfect Circle. In 2003, he created Puscifer as a side project, financing and releasing its first studio album in October 2007. Puscifer made its concert debut in Las Vegas in February 2009, and Tool began their 2009 summer tour, headlining the Mile High Music Festival and Lollapalooza, with Keenan integrating dates for signing sessions to promote his wine. In addition to his music career, he has performed improvisational stand-up comedy, as inspired by close friend Bill Hicks, and ventured into acting, making his feature film debut in April 2009 with the release of Crank: High Voltage. He is the current owner of Merkin Vineyards and the associated winery, Caduceus Cellars, and has part ownership of Stronghold Vineyards, all located in Arizona, where he resides. Among other business ventures, he is a partner in the Los Angeles restaurant Cobras & Matadors and owns a produce market in Cornville, Arizona. In July 2009, Keenan opened an organic market in Arizona featuring a tasting room for his wines as well as a food court. (more...)

Recently featured: Magic Johnson – Song Dynasty – PNC Park

August 16

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver is a third-person action-adventure video game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Eidos. It was released for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows in 1999 and for the Dreamcast in 2000. As the second game in the Legacy of Kain series, Soul Reaver is the sequel to Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. Soul Reaver was followed by three games, one of which, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2, is a direct sequel. Taking place 1500 years after the events of Blood Omen, Soul Reaver chronicles the journey of the vampire-turned-wraith Raziel, lieutenant to the vampire lord Kain. Raziel is killed by Kain, but is revived by The Elder God to become his "soul reaver" and to exact revenge. Raziel shares this title with Kain's sword, Soul Reaver, which he acquires during the game. Crystal Dynamics began development of the game in 1997, but a deteriorating relationship with Silicon Knights, who had developed Blood Omen, created legal problems. This and other delays forced material originally planned for Soul Reaver to be instead released with later games of the series. Soul Reaver was generally well received by critics and praised for its intriguing gothic story and high-quality graphics. However, the game was criticized for simple and repetitive gameplay and an unsatisfying climax. The game is included on Sony's "Greatest Hits" list. (more...)

Recently featured: Maynard James Keenan – Magic Johnson – Song Dynasty

August 17

Matthew Boulton (1728–1809) was an English manufacturer and the partner of engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the mechanisation of factories and mills. He became associated with James Watt when Watt's business partner, John Roebuck, was unable to pay a debt to Boulton, who accepted Roebuck's share of Watt's patent as settlement. He then successfully lobbied Parliament to extend Watt's patent for an additional seventeen years, enabling the firm to market Watt's steam engine. Boulton applied modern techniques to the minting of coins, striking millions of pieces for Britain and other countries, and supplying the Royal Mint with up-to-date equipment. Boulton was a key member of the Lunar Society, a group of Birmingham-area men prominent in the arts, sciences, and theology. Members included Boulton, Watt, Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgwood, and Joseph Priestley. Members of the Society have been given credit for developing concepts and techniques in science, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transportation that laid the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution and for later discoveries, including the theory of evolution. (more...)

Recently featured: Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – Maynard James Keenan – Magic Johnson

August 18

The Emperor Penguin is the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and is endemic to Antarctica. The male and female are similar in plumage and size, reaching 122 cm (48 in) in height and weighing anywhere from 22 to 37 kg (48 to 82 lb). Like all penguins, it is flightless, with a streamlined body and wings stiffened and flattened into flippers for a marine lifestyle. Fish form the bulk of its diet, which can include crustaceans, such as krill, and cephalopods, such as squid. In hunting, the species can remain submerged up to 18 minutes, diving to a depth of 535 m (1,755 ft). It has several adaptations to facilitate this, including an unusually structured haemoglobin to allow it to function at low oxygen levels, solid bones to reduce barotrauma, and the ability to reduce its metabolism and shut down non-essential organ functions. The Emperor Penguin is perhaps best known for the sequence of journeys adults make each year in order to mate and to feed their offspring. The only penguin species that breeds during the Antarctic winter, it treks 50–120 km (31–75 mi) over the ice to breeding colonies which may include thousands of individuals. The lifespan is typically 20 years in the wild, although observations suggest that some individuals may live to 50 years of age. (more...)

Recently featured: Matthew Boulton – Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver – Maynard James Keenan

August 19

Harry Murray (1880–1966) was an Australian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces. Decorated several times throughout his service in the First World War, Murray rose from the rank of private to lieutenant colonel in three-and-a-half years. He is often described as the highest decorated infantry soldier of the British Empire during the First World War. Born in Tasmania, Murray worked as a farmer, courier and timber cutter before enlisting in September 1914. He served during the Gallipoli Campaign, where he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. He was later transferred along with the rest of his battalion to France for service on the Western Front, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order during the Battle of the Somme. In February 1917, Murray commanded a company during the battalion's attack on the German position of Stormy Trench. During the engagement, the company was able to capture the position and repulse three fierce counter-attacks, with Murray often leading bayonet and bombing charges himself. For his actions during the battle, Murray was awarded the Victoria Cross. Returning to Australia in 1920, Murray eventually settled in Queensland. Re-enlisting for service in the Second World War, he was appointed as commanding officer of the 26th (Militia) Battalion. Taking his discharge in 1944, Murray returned to his farm and died in 1966 at the age of 85. (more...)

Recently featured: Emperor Penguin – Matthew Boulton – Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver

August 20

Gangtok is the capital and largest town of the Indian state of Sikkim. Gangtok is located in the Shivalik Hills of the eastern Himalayan range, at an altitude of 1,437 metres (4,715 ft). The town, with a population of thirty thousand belonging to different ethnicities such as Nepalis, Lepchas and Bhutia, is administered by various departments of the Government of Sikkim. Nestled within higher peaks of the Himalaya and enjoying a year-round mild temperate climate, Gangtok is at the centre of Sikkim’s tourism industry. Gangtok rose to prominence as a popular Buddhist pilgrimage site after the construction of the Enchey Monastery in 1840. In 1894, the ruling Sikkimese Chogyal, Thutob Namgyal, transferred the capital to Gangtok. In the early 20th century, Gangtok became a major stopover on the trade route between Lhasa in Tibet and cities such as Kolkata (then Calcutta) in British India. After the British granted India its independence in 1947, Sikkim chose to remain an independent monarchy, with Gangtok as its capital. In 1975, after the integration with the union of India, Gangtok was made India's twenty-second state capital. Today, Gangtok is a centre of Tibetan Buddhist culture and learning, with the presence of several monasteries, religious educational institutions, and centres for Tibetology. (more...)

Recently featured: Harry Murray – Emperor Penguin – Matthew Boulton

August 21

Zinc is a metallic chemical element with atomic number 30. It is a first-row transition metal in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2. Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in the Earth's crust and has five stable isotopes. The most exploited zinc ore is sphalerite, a zinc sulfide; the largest exploitable deposits are found in Australia, Canada and the United States. Brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc, has been used since at least the 10th century BC. German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf is normally given credit for discovering pure metallic zinc in a 1746 experiment. Work by Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta uncovered the electrochemical properties of zinc by 1800. Corrosion-resistant zinc plating of steel is the major application for zinc. Other applications are in batteries and alloys, such as brass. Zinc is an essential mineral of "exceptional biologic and public health importance". Zinc deficiency affects about two billion people in the developing world and is associated with many diseases. (more...)

Recently featured: Gangtok – Harry Murray – Emperor Penguin

August 22

Noël Coward (1899–1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise". Coward achieved enduring success as a playwright, publishing more than 50 plays from his teens onwards. Many of his works, such as Hay Fever, Private Lives, Design for Living, Present Laughter and Blithe Spirit, have remained in the regular theatre repertoire. He composed hundreds of songs, in addition to well over a dozen musical theatre works (including the operetta Bitter Sweet and comic revues), poetry, several volumes of short stories, the novel Pomp and Circumstance, and a three-volume autobiography. Coward's stage and film acting and directing career spanned six decades, during which he starred in many of his own works. Coward won an Academy Honorary Award in 1943 for his naval film drama, In Which We Serve, and was knighted in 1969. In the 1950s he achieved fresh success as a cabaret performer, performing his own songs, such as "Mad Dogs and Englishmen", "London Pride" and "Don't Let's Be Beastly to the Germans". His plays and songs achieved new popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and his work and style continue to influence popular culture. (more...)

Recently featured: Zinc – Gangtok – Harry Murray

August 23

Candide is a 1759 French satire by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. The novella begins with a young man, Candide, who is living a sheltered life in an Edenic paradise and being indoctrinated with Leibnizian optimism by his tutor, Pangloss. The work describes the abrupt cessation of this existence, followed by Candide's slow, painful disillusionment as he witnesses and experiences great hardships in the world. Voltaire concludes with Candide, if not outright rejecting optimism, advocating an enigmatic precept, "we must cultivate our garden", in lieu of the Leibnizian mantra of Pangloss, "all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds". Candide is known for its sarcastic tone and its erratic, fantastical, and fast-moving plot. With a story similar to that of a more serious bildungsroman or picaresque novel, it parodies many adventure and romance clichés, the struggles of which are caricatured in a tone that is mordantly matter-of-fact. Still, the events discussed are often based on historical happenings, such as the Seven Years' War and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. As philosophers of Voltaire's day contended with the problem of evil, so too does Candide in this short novel, albeit more directly and humorously. Immediately after its secretive publication, the book was widely banned because it contained religious blasphemy, political sedition and intellectual hostility hidden under a thin veil of naïveté. Today, Candide is recognised as Voltaire's magnum opus. (more...)

Recently featured: Noël Coward – Zinc – Gangtok

August 24

Title page Certaine Errors in Navigation

Edward Wright (1561–1615) was an English mathematician and cartographer noted for his book Certaine Errors in Navigation, which for the first time explained the mathematical basis of the Mercator projection, and set out a reference table giving the linear scale multiplication factor as a function of latitude, calculated for each minute of arc up to a latitude of 75°. This was the essential step needed to make practical both the making and the navigational use of Mercator charts. In 1589 Elizabeth I requested that he carry out navigational studies with a raiding expedition organised by the Earl of Cumberland to the Azores to capture Spanish galleons. The expedition's route was the subject of the first map to be prepared according to Wright's projection, which was published in Certaine Errors in 1599. The same year, Wright created and published the first world map produced in England and the first to use the Mercator projection since Gerardus Mercator's original 1569 map. Apart from a number of other books and pamphlets, Wright translated John Napier's pioneering 1614 work which introduced the idea of logarithms from Latin into English. This was published after Wright's death as A Description of the Admirable Table of Logarithmes. Wright's work influenced, among other persons, Dutch astronomer and mathematician Willebrord Snellius; Adriaan Metius, the geometer and astronomer from Holland; and the English mathematician Richard Norwood. (more...)

Recently featured: Candide – Noël Coward – Zinc

August 25

The atmosphere of Jupiter is the largest planetary atmosphere in the Solar System. It is primarily made of molecular hydrogen and helium in roughly solar proportions; other chemical compounds are present only in small amounts, and include methane, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and water. The latter one is thought to reside deep in the atmosphere—its directly measured concentration is very low. The oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur and noble gas abundances in Jupiter's atmosphere exceed solar values by a factor of about three. The atmosphere of Jupiter lacks a clear lower boundary and gradually transitions into the fluid interior of the planet. From lowest to highest, the atmospheric layers are the troposphere, stratosphere, thermosphere and exosphere. Each layer has characteristic temperature gradients. The lowest layer, the troposphere, has a complicated system of clouds and hazes, comprising layers of ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide and water. The upper ammonia clouds visible at Jupiter's surface are organized in a dozen zonal bands parallel to the equator and are bounded by powerful zonal atmospheric flows (winds) known as jets. The bands alternate in color: the dark bands are called belts, while light ones are called zones. Zones, which are colder than belts, correspond to upwellings, while belts mark descending air. The zones' lighter color is believed to result from ammonia ice; what gives the belts their darker colors is not known with certainty. The Jovian atmosphere shows a wide range of active phenomena, including band instabilities, vortices (cyclones and anticyclones), storms and lightning. (more...)

Recently featured: Edward Wright – Candide – Noël Coward

August 26

Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972) was an American playwright, poet and novelist who lived as an expatriate in Paris. Barney's salon was held at her home on Paris's Left Bank for more than 60 years and brought together writers and artists from around the world, including many leading figures in French literature along with American and British Modernists of the Lost Generation. She worked to promote writing by women and formed a "Women's Academy" in response to the all-male French Academy while also giving support and inspiration to male writers from Remy de Gourmont to Truman Capote. She was openly lesbian and began publishing love poems to women under her own name as early as 1900, considering scandal as "the best way of getting rid of nuisances". In her writings she supported feminism and pacifism. She opposed monogamy and had many overlapping, long and short-term relationships, including an on-and-off romance with poet Renée Vivien, dancer Armen Ohanian and a 50-year relationship with painter Romaine Brooks. (more...)

Recently featured: Atmosphere of Jupiter – Edward Wright – Candide

August 27

Alice in Chains is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by guitarist Jerry Cantrell and vocalist Layne Staley. Although widely associated with grunge music, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal and acoustic elements. Since its formation, Alice in Chains has released three studio albums, three EPs, two live albums, four compilations, and two DVDs. The band is known for its distinct vocal style which often included the harmonized vocals of Staley and Cantrell. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s, along with bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The band was one of the most successful music acts of the 1990s, selling over 17 million albums worldwide, including 14 million in the United States alone. The band achieved two number-one Billboard 200 albums (Jar of Flies and Alice in Chains), 11 top ten singles on the Mainstream Rock Tracks charts, and six Grammy Award nominations. Although never officially disbanding, Alice in Chains was plagued by extended inactivity due to Layne Staley's problems with substance abuse, culminating in his death in 2002. Alice in Chains reunited in 2005 and as of 2009 have finished recording their first studio album in 14 years with new lead vocalist William DuVall. The album, Black Gives Way to Blue, is due for release on September 29, 2009, via Virgin/EMI. (more...)

Recently featured: Natalie Clifford Barney – Atmosphere of Jupiter – Edward Wright

August 28

The Samlesbury witches were three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury—Jane Southworth, Jennet Bierley, and Ellen Bierley—accused by a 14-year-old girl, Grace Sowerbutts, of practising witchcraft. Their trial at Lancaster Assizes in England on 19 August 1612 was one in a series of witch trials held over two days, among the most famous in English history. They were unusual for England at that time in two respects: Thomas Potts, the clerk to the court, published the proceedings in his The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster; the number of the accused found guilty and hanged was unusually high, ten at Lancaster and another at York. However, all three Samlesbury witches were acquitted. The charges against the women included child murder and cannibalism. In contrast, the others tried at the same assizes, who included the Pendle witches, were accused of maleficium—causing harm by witchcraft. The case against the three women collapsed "spectacularly" when Grace Sowerbutts was exposed by the trial judge to be "the perjuring tool of a Catholic priest". Many historians, notably Hugh Trevor-Roper, have suggested that the witch trials of the 16th and 17th century were a consequence of the religious struggles of the period, with both Catholic and Protestant Churches determined to stamp out what they regarded as heresy. (more...)

Recently featured: Alice in Chains – Natalie Clifford Barney – Atmosphere of Jupiter

August 29

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–1894) was an American physician, professor, lecturer and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best poets of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table (1858). Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Holmes was educated at Phillips Academy and Harvard College. He began writing poetry at an early age; one of his most famous works, "Old Ironsides", was published in 1830. Following training at the prestigious medical schools of Paris, Holmes was granted his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1836. He taught at Dartmouth Medical School before returning to teach at Harvard and, for a time, served as dean there. During his long professorship, he became an advocate for various medical reforms and notably posited the then-controversial idea that doctors were responsible for carrying puerperal fever from patient to patient. Holmes retired from Harvard in 1882 and continued writing poetry, novels and essays until his death in 1894. Surrounded by Boston's literary elite—which included friends such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and James Russell Lowell—Holmes made an indelible imprint on the 19th century literary world. Holmes's writing often commemorated his native Boston area, and much of it was meant to be humorous or conversational. Holmes also coined several terms that are now popular, including "anesthesia" and "Boston Brahmin". (more...)

Recently featured: Samlesbury witches – Alice in Chains – Natalie Clifford Barney

August 30

Harriet Bosse (1878–1961) was a Norwegian–Swedish actress. A celebrity in her own day, Bosse is today most commonly remembered as the third wife of August Strindberg, one of the originators of modern drama. Having secured an engagement at the Royal Dramatic Theatre ("Dramaten"), the main drama venue of Sweden's capital Stockholm, Bosse caught the attention of Strindberg with her intelligent acting and exotic "oriental" appearance. Strindberg wrote a number of major roles for Bosse during their short and stormy relationship, especially in 1900–1901, a period of great creativity and productivity for him. Like his previous two marriages, the relationship failed through Strindberg's jealousy, which some biographers have considered paranoid. The arc of Strindberg's feelings about Bosse, from worship to rage, is reflected in the roles he wrote for her to play, or as portraits of her. Despite her real-life role as muse to Strindberg, she remained an independent artist. Bosse married Swedish actor Gunnar Wingård in 1908, and Swedish screen actor, director, and matinee idol Edvin Adolphson in 1927. All three of her marriages ended in divorce after a few years, leaving her as a hard-working single mother with a daughter by Strindberg and a son by Wingård. On retiring after a high-profile acting career based in Stockholm, she returned to her roots in Oslo. (more...)

Recently featured: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. – Samlesbury witches – Alice in Chains

August 31

Oxygen toxicity is a condition resulting from the harmful effects of breathing molecular oxygen at elevated partial pressures. Severe cases can result in cell damage and death, with effects most often seen in the central nervous system, lungs and eyes. Oxygen toxicity is a concern for scuba divers, those on high concentrations of supplemental oxygen (particularly premature babies), and those undergoing hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The result of breathing elevated concentrations of oxygen is hyperoxia, an excess of oxygen in body tissues. Central nervous system toxicity is caused by short exposure to high concentrations of oxygen at greater than atmospheric pressure. Pulmonary and ocular toxicity result from longer exposure to elevated oxygen levels at normal pressure. Symptoms may include disorientation, breathing problems, and vision changes such as myopia. Prolonged or very high oxygen concentrations can cause oxidative damage to cell membranes, the collapse of the alveoli in the lungs, retinal detachment, and seizures. Oxygen toxicity is managed by reducing the exposure to elevated oxygen levels. Studies show that, in the long term, a good recovery from most types of oxygen toxicity is possible. Prevention of oxygen toxicity is an important precaution whenever oxygen is breathed at partial pressures greater than normal. It has led to use of protocols for avoidance of hyperoxia in such fields as scuba diving, hyperbaric medicine, neonatal care and human spaceflight. (more...)

Recently featured: Harriet Bosse – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. – Samlesbury witches