Avex CEO Max Matsuura, she released a string of modestly selling singles that concluded with her 1999 debut album A Song for ××. The album debuted atop the Oricon charts and stayed there for four weeks, establishing her popularity in Japan. Because of her constantly changing image and tight control over her artistry, Hamasaki's popularity extends across Asia; music and fashion trends she has started have spread to countries such as China, Singapore, and Taiwan. She has appeared in or lent her songs to many advertisements and television commercials. Though she originally supported the exploitation of her popularity for commercial purposes, she later reconsidered and eventually opposed her status as an Avex "product". (more...
dragoons to retrieve the cannon. For two days colonists used a variety of excuses to keep the soldiers at bay, allowing up to 140 Texian reinforcements to gather. In the early hours of October 2, Mexican soldiers opened fire as Texians approached their camp. After several hours of desultory firing, Mexican soldiers withdrew. Although the skirmish had little military significance, it marked a clear break between the colonists and the Mexican government. The battle, considered to have been the start of the Texas Revolution, has been referred to as the "Lexington of Texas". The cannon’s fate is disputed. (more...
Charlotte Stuart (1753–1789) was the illegitimate daughter of the Jacobitepretender Prince Charles Edward Stuart, and his only child to survive infancy. Her mother was Clementina Walkinshaw, who was mistress to the Prince from 1752 until 1760. After years of abuse, Clementina left him, taking Charlotte with her. Charlotte spent most of her life in French convents, estranged from a father who refused to make any provision for her. Unable to marry, she herself became a mistress with illegitimate children, taking the Archbishop of Bordeaux as her lover. She was finally reconciled to her father in 1784, when he legitimised her and created her Duchess of Albany. She left her own children with her mother, and became her father's carer and companion in the last years of his life, before dying less than two years after him. Her three children were raised in anonymity; however, as the only grandchildren of the pretender, they have been the subject of Jacobite interest since their lineage was uncovered in the 20th century. (more...)
greatest hits collection. The band has had three consecutive No. 1 albums (Faceless, IV, and The Oracle) on the Billboard 200. Godsmack has sold almost 15 million records worldwide, one of the highest figures for an American rock band. Since its inception, the band has performed at Ozzfest on more than one occasion, has played at many other festivals, and has supported its albums with its own arena tours. In the summer of 2009, Godsmack made appearances as support to Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest 2. (more...
Proxima Centauri is a red dwarfstar approximately 4.2 light-years (3.97×1013 km) distant in the constellation of Centaurus. The star is the nearest star to the Sun and is only 0.24 ly (15,000 ± 700 astronomical units) away from the binary star system Alpha Centauri. Proxima Centauri's diameter is one-seventh that of the Sun; its mass is about an eighth of the Sun's, and its average density is about 40 times that of the Sun. Although it has a very low average luminosity, Proxima Centauri is a flare star that undergoes random increases in brightness because of magnetic activity; during a flare the star generates a total X-ray emission similar to that produced by the Sun. The star's relatively low energy production rate means that it will be a main-sequence star for another four trillion years, or nearly 300 times the current age of the universe. Searches for companions orbiting Proxima Centauri have been unsuccessful; the detection of smaller objects will require the use of new instruments, such as the proposed James Webb Space Telescope. Whether a planet orbiting this star could support life is disputed. Because of the star's proximity, it has been proposed as a destination for interstellar travel. (more...)
roleplaying game. TSR, Inc. released it as a standalone adventure booklet in 1983, including art by Clyde Caldwell with maps by David Sutherland III. The plot of Ravenloft focuses on the villain Strahd von Zarovich, a vampire who pines for his lost love. Various story elements, including Strahd's motivation and the locations of certain items, are randomly determined by drawing cards. The player characters attempt to defeat Strahd and, if successful, the adventure ends. The Hickmans began work on Ravenloft in the late 1970s, intent on creating a frightening portrait of a vampire in a setting that combined Gothic horror with the D&D game system. Strahd has since appeared in a number of D&D accessories and novels. The module inspired numerous revisions and adaptations, including a campaign setting of the same name and a sequel. In 1999, on the 25th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, two commemorative versions of Ravenloft were released. Ravenloft won the 1984 Strategists' Club Award for Outstanding Play Aid, and appeared second in Dungeon magazine's list of the top 30 D&D adventures. (more...
reverse, or "tails", design was modified in 1867. Even so, production difficulties continued, causing many minor varieties which are collected today. Minting of the Shield nickel for circulation was suspended in 1876 for a period of over two years, and it was struck in only small quantities until 1882. The following year, the coin was replaced by Charles E. Barber's Liberty head design. (more...
Convoy GP55 was a convoy of Allied ships that travelled between Sydney and Brisbane in June 1943 during World War II. It comprised ten cargo ships, three Landing Ships, Tank and an escort of five corvettes. The Japanese submarine I-174 attacked the convoy on 16 June, sinking the United States Army transport ship Portmar and damaging USS LST-469. Two of the corvettes subsequently counter-attacked I-174, but only lightly damaged her. The Australian military conducted an intensive search for I-174 in the days after the attack in the mistaken belief that she had been significantly damaged. This search was not successful and highlighted the unsatisfactory communications between the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Due to Japan's deteriorating strategic situation, I-174 was the last Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) submarine to operate off the Australian east coast. (more...)
the Football League, the first organised football league in the world. After moving from Perthshire to Birmingham to set up business as a draper, McGregor became involved with local football club Aston Villa, which he helped to establish as one of the leading teams in England. He served the club for over twenty years in various capacities, including president, director and chairman. In 1888, frustrated by the regular cancellation of Villa's matches, McGregor organised a meeting of representatives of England's leading clubs, which led to the formation of the Football League, giving member clubs a guaranteed fixture list each season. This was instrumental in the transition of football from an amateur pastime to a professional business. McGregor served as both chairman and president of the Football League and was also chairman of the Football Association (the FA). He was recognised by the FA for his service to the game shortly before his death in 1911, and was posthumously honoured by the local football authorities and Aston Villa. (more...
KC-135 Stratotankers in the 1980s, creating the KC-135R variant of this aircraft. It is also one of two engines used to power the Airbus A340, the other being the Rolls-Royce Trent. The engine is also fitted to Airbus A320 series aircraft. Several fan blade failure incidents were experienced during the CFM56's early service, including one failure that was noted as a cause of the Kegworth air disaster, and some variants of the engine experienced problems caused by flight through rain and hail. However, both these issues were resolved with engine modifications. (more...
Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills inspection in 2007 graded The Judd School as "outstanding", and in 2009, The Sunday Times newspaper ranked The Judd School as the 27th best state secondary school in the country. The Judd School is a music, English, science and mathematics specialist school. (more...
Alessandro Striggio. It is based on the Greek legend of Orpheus, and tells the story of his descent to Hades and his fruitless attempt to bring his dead bride Eurydice back to the living world. Written in 1607 for a court performance during the annual Carnival at Mantua, L'Orfeo is one of the earliest music dramas still regularly performed. Its score was published by Monteverdi in 1609 and again in 1615. After the composer's death in 1643 the opera remained unperformed, and was largely forgotten until a revival of interest in the late 19th century led to a spate of modern editions and performances. After the Second World War most new editions sought authenticity through the use of period instruments. Strings, harpsichords and recorders represent the pastoral fields of Thrace with their nymphs and shepherds; heavy brass illustrates the underworld and its denizens. Composed at the point of transition from the Renaissance era to the Baroque, L'Orfeo employs all the resources then known within the art of music, with particularly daring use of polyphony. The work is not orchestrated as such; in the Renaissance tradition instrumentalists followed the composer's general instructions but were given considerable freedom to improvise. (more...
Horatio Nelson. Hoste had raised the message "Remember Nelson" as the French bore down and had then manoeuvred to drive Dubourdieu's flagship ashore and scatter his squadron in what has been described as "one of the most brilliant naval achievements of the war". (more...
clearcut in the 19th and early 20th centuries, it is now covered by second growth forest, thanks in part to the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The park is named for Leonard Harrison, a Wellsboro lumberman who cut the timber, then donated the land to the state in 1922. The park attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and was chosen by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for its "Twenty Must-See Pennsylvania State Parks" list, which praised its "spectacular vistas and a fabulous view of Pine Creek Gorge". (more...
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It moved in a counterclockwise loop and hit Cuba again. It then tracked toward Florida, landing near Cape Romano. After moving through the state, it hugged the coast of the Southeastern United States on its way out to sea. Due to its unusual loop, initial reports suggested it was two separate storms which hit in rapid succession. It is considered one of the worst natural disasters in Cuban history. It also had a widespread impact in Florida. (more...
Leeds United. The team has won the second tier title five times in that period and the third tier title once. Sunderland play their home games at the 49,000 capacity all-seaterStadium of Light having moved from Roker Park in 1997. The original ground capacity was 42,000 which was increased to 49,000 following redevelopment in 2000. Sunderland have a long-standing rivalry with their neighbouring club Newcastle United, with whom they have contested the Tyne–Wear derby since 1898. (more...
Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912) was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13. During this second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, only to find that they had been preceded by Roald Amundsen's Norwegian expedition. On their return journey, Scott and his four comrades all perished from a combination of exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold. Following the news of his death, Scott became an iconic British hero, a status maintained for more than 50 years and reflected by the many permanent memorials erected across the nation. In the closing decades of the 20th century, however, in a more sceptical age, the legend was reassessed as attention focused on the causes of the disaster and the extent of Scott's personal culpability. From a previously unassailable position, Scott became a figure of controversy, with questions raised about his competence and character. Commentators in the 21st century have on the whole regarded Scott more positively, emphasising his personal bravery and stoicism while acknowledging his errors, but ascribing his expedition's fate primarily to misfortune. (more...)
Wild and Scenic since October 28, 1988. Supporting a large population of salmon and trout, the Chetco's water is of very high quality. The watershed is home to many other species, including several that are endemic to the Siskiyou Mountains area. The northernmost grove of Redwoods—the tallest trees on Earth—grow in the southern region of the Chetco's drainage basin. In total, the river is home to over 200 species of animals, and 97 percent of the watershed is forested. (more...
right-wing politics. Fritz the Cat was the most successful independent animated feature of all time, grossing over $100 million worldwide. The film had a troubled production history and controversial release. Creator Robert Crumb is known to have had disagreements with the filmmakers, claiming in interviews that his first wife signed over the film rights to the characters, and that he did not approve the production. Crumb was also critical of the film's approach to his material. Fritz the Cat was controversial for its rating and content, which viewers at the time found to be offensive. (more...
physiocrat and classical schools of thought, Essai was largely forgotten until its rediscovery by Jevons in the late 19th century. During the late 1710s and early 1720s, Cantillon speculated in, and later helped fund, John Law's Mississippi Company, from which he acquired great wealth. Cantillon's entrepreneurial success, however, came at a cost to his debtors, who pursued him with lawsuits, criminal charges, and even murder plots until his death in 1734. (more...
ducking her in water. If the water rejected her and she floated, then she was guilty; if the water accepted her and she drowned, then she was innocent. Sherwood floated to the surface, and subsequently spent up to seven years and nine months in the jail next to Lynnhaven Parish Church. She was free by 1714 and succeeded in recovering her property from Princess Anne County, after which she lived quietly until her death in 1740 at the age of 80. (more...
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After 12:28 UTC, the TFA was this:
USD, $4.8 million 2008 USD), due to the combined impact of high waves, moderate winds, and rainfall. Overall damage was minor. (more...
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