The Diviners

The Diviners is a novel by Margaret Laurence. Published by McClelland & Stewart in 1974, it was Laurence's final novel, and is considered one of the classics of Canadian literature.
The novel won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in 1974. The protagonist of the novel is Morag Gunn, a fiercely independent writer who grew up in Manawaka, Manitoba. Morag has a difficult relationship with her daughter Pique and her Métis lover Jules Tonnerre, and struggles to maintain her independence.
"The Diviners" was adapted for television by Anne Wheeler, with a screenplay by Linda Svendsen, and aired on CBC Television in 1993. Sonja Smits starred as Morag, and Tom Jackson starred as Jules Tonnerre.
The book has been repeatedly banned by school boards and high schools. It is a regularly featured book on the American Library Association's Freedom to Read campaign.
Plot summary.
"The Diviners" follows the story of fictional Canadian novelist, Morag Gunn. Morag's life is believed to be loosely based upon Laurence's personal experiences. Aritha Van Herk argues that when observing all of Laurence's work, it is evident that "The Diviners" explicitly connects the author's emotions, experiences, and professional development to the protagonist more than any of her other novels.
The novel begins in Morag's rural Ontario cabin. Morag wakes up one morning and finds a note from her daughter, Pique, explaining that she has left home to learn about her Metis heritage. Flashbacks explore Morag's adolescence when she embarked on a similar journey many years ago. As a novelist, Morag also struggles with her writing, and frequently questions her understanding of the world. She contemplates how words can describe the natural environment around her, but struggles without attaining success - she believes that nature is capable of both nurturing life and destroying it, and contemplates the strange duality.
Morag begins to have more flashbacks. She reflects on her traumatic childhood, including the death of her parents who both died from polio, and her transition into a foster care household. Morag's foster parents, Christie and Prin, were of a significantly lower economic standing than her biological parents, and she did not treat them with respect. Christie's eccentric actions ignore social norms, and provides a platform for the novel's critique of socioeconomic class. Morag yearns to leave home, and enrolls in university, moving to Winnipeg where she initiates a relationship an older professor, Brooke Skelton. Their relationship appears normal, and they are later married.
Skelton begins to verbally abuse Morag, and she begins an affair with fellow Metis and childhood friend, Jules Tonnerre. Morag attempts to become pregnant with Jules, and Pique is conceived. Her marriage with Skelton ends, and she moves to Vancouver to focus on writing.
Morag produces her first novel, and then moves to England. She continues to focus on writing, but must also care for Pique. She becomes lonely and moves back to Canada, where she learns that Christie is dying.
The novel's final section returns to the present. Morag finishes her latest novel, and Pique returns home.
Characters.
Main Characters.
Morag Gunn - Protagonist in "The Diviners", the story is told from her perspective. Gunn was born in Manawaka, a fictional town in Manitoba where Laurence lived and worked, and eventually moves to McConnell's Landing near the Wachakwa River. Gunn's character is fiercely independent, free spirited and throughout the story moves from various location to location in search of "home". Gunn's story, although told chronologically is often interspersed with Gunn's past, told in the characteristic "Memorybank Movies" that showcase her experience growing up in the prairies.
Morag is further interested in stories of old Scottish clans, stemming from her guardian Christie's love of the past. A story that keeps repeating is that of Piper Gunn and Colin “Gunner” Gunn, the latter who saved Christie during World War I. Morag further takes inspiration from and also questions femininity in female Canadian authors such as Catharine Parr Traill, often having conversations within her head.
Piquette "Pique" Gunn - Morag's daughter by Jules Tonnerre. Pique's character arc parallels that of Morag, growing up and exploring the world. Through her character arc Laurence depicts Pique's character as free spirited and fiercely independent, similar to Morag and Jules.
Jules "Skinner" Tonnerre - A descendant of the Metis people of Canada, specifically those of French and First Nations peoples. Jules is also independent and proud of his heritage, often seen composing songs regarding his grandfather and Louis Riel. Although Jules grows up in squalor he holds no animosity against his father and his sisters, often seen caring for them and mourning their untimely passing. Has siblings Val, Paul, Jacques and Pique, whom Piquette Gunn is later named after. Like Morag, is also interested in his heritage, often composing songs about Louis Riel and the character of Rider Tonnerre. Later in the novel forms a band with Billy Joe.
Christie Logan - Morag's caretaker growing up in Manawaka. Married to Princess "Prin" Logan. Derisively called by the children of Manawaka as the “scavenger”, works at the garbage dump of Manawaka called the “Nuisance grounds”. Christie is proud of his work, stating that one could learn a lot from what people throw out. Morag writes that the smell of the Nuisance Grounds does not leave him – he is an inexplicable part of it.
Princess "Prin" Logan - Overweight adoptive mother of Morag. Daughter of a British Remittance man, forced to come and settle down in Canada. Manufactures Morag's clothes in her childhood when she goes to school. Morag writes that Prin used to have a high pitched voice, “a born whiner”
Brooke Skelton – Morag's first and only marriage and committed relationship. Described as a man in his thirties with greying hair and a Professor of 17th Century Literature. Brooke reveals that he grew up in India, and came to Canada. Morag and Brooke's relationship falters eventually and Morag leaves for Vancouver. Afterwards revealed that he has married another by the name of Anne, who Morag states looked much younger than her.
Lazarus Tonnerre – Jules's abusive father, former war veteran.
Royland – Resident of Manawaka, one of the Diviners in Laurence's text. Is seen divining for water, and helping Morag by catching and providing them with Pickerel caught from the river. At the conclusion of the text states that he does not understand the process of divining stating that it is still a mystery to him and that he would not divine again.
The Smiths – “A-Okay”, Thomas and Maudie, Morag's neighbours and often seeking her advise on poetry
Minor Characters.
Dr. Paul Cates
Niall Cameron
Lachlan MacLachlan – editor and owner of the local Manawaka newspaper
Simon Pearl and Archie McVitie – Lawyers based around Manawaka
Miss Melrose – From Manwaka College, encourages Morag to write poetry, although Morag notes that she is a bit “grim” (141)
Ella – friend to Morag, marries Mort and has two children.
Gord – Pique's partner
Mrs. Maggie Tefler – short-tempered landlady in Kitsilano, Vancouver. Runs a boarding house that Morag titles “Bleak House” that contains another resident, Old Mr. Johnson
Hank Masterson – representative of Wand Publishing
Milward Crispin – Literary agent
Fan Brady – exotic snakedancer, provides Morag with lodging as she works on her writing.
Carol – Teenage babysitter in Kitsilano, Vancouver
Harold – broadcasters, reads the news, has an affair with Morag
Chas
J. Sampson – bookstore owner, “Agonistes Bookshop” in London, High Street.
Daniel McRaith – Highland Scotsman who meets Morag, has an affair with and later revealed to be a father of seven children with his wife Bridie. Morag accompanies Daniel to Scotland on a symbolic pilgrimage to find out about her clan roots.
Hector Jonas – owner of Jacopina Chapel, funeral home in Manawaka during Christie's funeral.
Students from the Manawaka school.
Stacey Cameron
Mavis Duncan
Julie Kazlik
Ross McVitie
Mike Lobodiak
Al Cates
Steve Kowalski
Jamie Halpern
Eva Winkler – One of the few individuals from Manawaka that Morag likes speaking with, Winkler also takes care of Prin during her later days coping with obesity.
Vanessa MacLeod – a reference to Laurence's separate work, “A bird in the house” where she explores the lives of the MacLeod family. Laurence's interest is in the prairie literature and how life functions within the vastness of the Canadian landscape.
Genre and style.
Critics have argued that "The Diviners" is a künstlerroman (a novel that follows the growth and development of an artist, like James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man). According to Nora Stovel, Laurence uses three methods to dramatize Morag's creative development: "first, she employs a tripartite educational model of reading, critiquing, and writing. Moreover, she includes mentors – Christie Logan, Miss Melrose, and Brooke Skelton – who teach Morag to read and write. Most important, she embeds Morag's fictions in the narrative to illustrate her literary development". In addition to being a künstlerroman, "the Diviners" is metafiction, as it dramatizes Morag's internal and external life as a writer. This is evident in the way Laurence frames the novel with “images of Morag, the writer, seated at her kitchen table in front of the window, overlooking the river, trying to write, in the Now of the novel”. These images dominate the frame sections of the novel – the first section, "River of Now and Then," and the last section, "The Diviners." Stovel notes that Morag reflects Laurence herself, and that she gives the reader a glimpse into her creative process through her focal character. Hence the metafictional elements of the novel can also be read as self-reflexive, as they reflect Laurence writing her novel in her cabin on the Otonabee River.
According to scholar Brenda Beckman-Long, genre and gender are intricately linked in "The Diviners," and the novel is "a hybrid of realism, autobiographical and confessional genres" that combine "to establish the authority of a female perspective". She considers the ending of the novel, which suggests that Morag's life story has come to an end as the novel reaches its conclusion, and reads the text as an autobiography. Further supporting this point are the numerous interior monologues that pervade the novel. For Beckman-Long, these passages are reminiscent of narration in a film, and she cites a specific line from the novel: "A popular misconception is that we can’t change the past – everyone is constantly changing their own past, recalling it, revising it”. Aside from these autobiographical elements, Laurence also employs literary realism, which is evidenced by her "ostensibly objective third-person narrator". These techniques are blended to create Morag's life story.
The Manawaka Cycle is part of a Canadian modernist movement, and thus many of Laurence's novels make use of modernist techniques. In "The Diviners," Laurence eschews linearity, and the text shifts through time and space to produce the effect of simultaneity. As a literary technique, simultaneity is characterized by the “concurrent presentation of elements from different places, multiple points-of-view, [and] radically disconnected segments of time". For instance, the opening section of "The Diviners", titled "River of Now and Then,"suggests "two levels of narrative" and conveys the simultaneity of past and present. (This is also demonstrated in the novel's opening line: "The river flowed both ways".) Throughout the novel, past and present interweave; they are irrevocably connected so that the reader's sense of time is distorted. Finally, critic Richard Lane brings in the issue of gender, and argues that the novel “foregrounds simultaneity as a major component of écriture féminine, the protagonist Morag Gunn and her Métis daughter shifting the focus of the cycle to class, ethnicity and history".
Themes.
Women and Self-Discovery.
As scholar Sumathy Swamy articulates, "Laurence's Manawaka novels "The Stone Angel" (1964), "A Jest of God" (1966), "The Fire Dwellers" (1969), and "The Diviners" (1974)...[have] given remarkable portraits of women fighting with their personal determination through self-assessment to find significant prototypes in their lives. Her characters, in the opening of the novels, might be victims but by the end they refuse to become victimized." Swamy goes onto describe that Laurence's main character, Morag, "searches for her identity as a woman, mother and writer and as an individual in a community." For example, Morag learns about her sexual identity, realizing that "in lovemaking...touch is significantly more meaningful for Morag than sight and speech."
Race and Post-Colonialism
Robert D. Chambers writes that "Morag dares to love across racial lines, and it may be this aspect, rather than anything else, which has made "The Diviners" so controversial within Canada." Morag is a white-Canadian, while her lover, and Pique's father, is Métis. Neil ten Kortenaar claims that "The Diviners" is a post-colonial novel, two possible reasons being that "it is a rejection of England and English literature in favour of a native tradition based on orality; and it is a celebration of creolization, the blending of different cultures in an indigenous mix." When Morag and Jules unite and Morag gives birth to Pique, the result "is a child who carries in her veins the blood of both settlers and indigenes. Pique Tonnerre Gunn's inheritance is cultural as well as genetic. Her mother passes on to her the stories of both sides of the racial divide."
Language Redefined
Christl Verduyn argues that ""The Diviners" comprises a movement 'against language.' By probing words' meanings, and by devices such as the use of 'memory bank movies' and photographs, Laurence includes an interrogation of language and of writing itself. This allows the novel to question itself as a 'formed/formal language.' In this way, "The Diviners" participates in the critical examination of literature and language carries out in recent years by feminist literary theory." For Verdyun, language in this novel is "a source and vehicle of contradiction." For example, Christie's misuse of language aims to expose "social inauthenticity and counterfeit language" and Morag is both "attracted to and at the same time would like to reject his particular diction."
Reception.
In a Kirkus review from 1974, "The Diviners" is described as one of Laurence's "least effective novels," and "generally too crowded and warmed over." Other sources, focusing on the inclusion of Canadian "socio-cultural engagements" state that the novel is "widely considered to be Laurence's masterpiece, and one of the greatest Canadian novels ever written."
The book is noted in a 1994 Globe and Mail article as "[c]ritically acclaimed but sexually explicit" alongside complaints from parents seeking to have the book banned from high schools in the Peterborough County Board of Education. Repeated mentions of the "salty language" and questionable content have followed the novel since its publication in 1974 through to the current time period. Yet, it is also praised for its acknowledgement of important social issue, including the after effects of colonialism, single motherhood, interracial relations, and the relationship between parent and child.
More recent discussion of the novel liken its relevance in the 2000s to aging rather than being considered a dated work of literature.


Donald W. Sherburne

Donald W. Sherburne (born 1929) is an American philosopher and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Vanderbilt University. He is a former president of the Metaphysical Society of America (1994).


Return to Me

Return to Me is a 2000 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Bonnie Hunt and starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. It was filmed in Chicago and was released on April 7, 2000 by Metro–Goldwyn–Mayer. It was Carroll O'Connor's final film before his death the following year.
Plot.
Bob and Elizabeth Rueland (David Duchovny and Joely Richardson) live and work in Chicago — Bob as an architect, Elizabeth as a zoologist at Lincoln Park Zoo.
On the night of her fundraiser for a new primate house, Bob promises Elizabeth he'll finish the building. Elizabeth is killed in a car accident leaving the fundraiser, and her heart is transplanted to artist Grace Briggs (Minnie Driver), who has suffered from heart disease since the age of 14 and is near death.
The surgery is successful; Grace is able to live a normal life for the first time and plans to make her first airplane trip to Italy to paint. Grace's best friend Megan Dayton (Bonnie Hunt), encourages her to start dating in spite of her self-consciousness about the long surgical scar on her chest.
Grace writes a letter to the donor's family after the surgery, thanking them for the heart she received; it takes her over a year to finally find the courage to mail the letter. Bob works to build the primate house Elizabeth raised money for; he is still depressed a year after her death. He recognizes that he must resume his life as he becomes frustrated seeing that his dog hasn't gotten over the loss either. His friend, veterinarian Charlie (David Alan Grier), organizes a blind date for him at O'Reilly's, a self-styled Irish-Italian restaurant. The date goes very badly, but Bob finds that he is interested in the waitress — Grace, who is also the granddaughter of the restaurant's owner, Marty O'Reilly (Carroll O'Connor).
Although they are both unaware of the connection they have through Elizabeth's heart, Bob and Grace begin to date. As they grow closer together, Grace is reluctant to tell Bob about her medical history. After several months of dating, Grace finally decides to tell Bob about her transplant. However, before she gets the chance, she finds in his house the letter that she had sent several months earlier. Horrified by the discovery, Grace flees and tells Megan what has happened. Megan's husband, Joe, (Jim Belushi) becomes infuriated as he has misunderstood Grace's panic and thinks Bob must be married. Megan then explains the situation to him in six monosyllables: "Grace has Bob's dead wife's heart!" When Grace meets Bob again, she tells him the truth. Stunned and not knowing what to say, he leaves.
Against Megan's advice to not run away from the situation, Grace goes to Italy alone. Back at home, Bob realizes that although he will always miss Elizabeth, he "aches" for Grace. He decides to go after her, and the two reunite in Italy. They return to Chicago for the dedication of the new primate house.
As the film ends we see Wally (William Bronder) and Sophie (Marianne Muellerleile) dancing happily at their wedding reception at O'Reilly's restaurant, and Charlie holding Joe and a visibly pregnant Megan's toddler, while they join Grace and Bob on the dance floor.
Reception.
The film received generally mixed reviews. Based on 99 reviews, it has a score of 62% on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus reading "David Duchovny and Minnie Driver provide heart-warming romance and comedy in this solid debut by director Bonnie Hunt." Peter Stack of the "San Francisco Chronicle" stated, "Old-fashioned as all get-out, "Return to Me" is swathed in an unabashed feel-good tone." Roger Ebert called it "so innocent, so naive, so sweet and sincere, that you must leave your cynicism at the door or choose another movie.""Entertainment Weekly"'s Lisa Schwarzbaum gave it a C+ grade, and stated "the alluringly deadpan Duchovny can make no headway with Driver." Jay Carr of "The Boston Globe" called it "ultimately too bland and safe."
The film opened at fourth place at the North American box office making $7.8 million USD in its opening weekend, behind "The Road to El Dorado", "Erin Brockovich" and "Rules of Engagement", which opened at the top spot. It would make a total of $32,662,299 USD in its entire box office run.


Hieronymus of Rhodes

Hieronymus of Rhodes (; c. 290 – c. 230 BC) was a Peripatetic philosopher, and an opponent of Arcesilaus and Lyco of Troas. Only a few fragments of his works survive, preserved in the quotations of later writers.
Life.
Hieronymus belonged to the Peripatetic school, though Cicero questions his right to the title. He appears to have lived down to the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. His philosophical opponents included not only the Academic philosopher Arcesilaus, but also the Peripatetic Lyco of Troas who was hostile towards him.
Works.
Hieronymus is frequently mentioned by Cicero, who tells us that he held the highest good to consist in freedom from pain and trouble, and denied that pleasure was to be sought for its own sake. There are quotations from his writings, and from his letters. Diogenes Laërtius mentions two works: "On Suspense of Judgement" and "Scattered Notes". It would seem from Cicero, compared with Rufinus, that he was the same as the Hieronymus who wrote on numbers and feet. He may also have been the author of a work on poets, and a commentary on the "Aspis" of Hesiod.


Spanish Society of Vexillology

The (SEV or Spanish Society of Vexillology) is an association devoted to the study of flags. Based in Spain, most of its members are Spanish-speaking vexillologists. Founded on 31 October 1977, the Spanish Society of Vexillology is a member of the Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques (FIAV) since 1979. In 1985 the Spanish Society of Vexillology hosted the XI International Congress of Vexillology with Madrid as the venue.
The Spanish Society of Vexillology distributes among its members a publication every month: 4 times a year the publication is the magazine "Banderas", and 8 times a year, the bulletin "Gaceta de banderas".
The Society also organizes every year, since 1986, a national congress of vexillology in Spain.


Nicomachus (son of Aristotle)

Nicomachus (; fl. c. 325 BC) was the son of Aristotle.
Biographical details.
The "Suda" — a massive 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world — states that Nicomachus was from Stageira, was a philosopher, a pupil of Theophrastus, and, according to Aristippus, his lover. He may have written a commentary on his father's lectures in physics. Nicomachus was born to the slave Herpyllis, and his father's will commended his care as a boy to several tutors, then to his adopted son, Nicanor. Historians think the "Nicomachean Ethics", a compilation of Aristotle's lecture notes, was probably named after or dedicated to Aristotle's son. However, Nicomachus is also believed to be the name of Aristotle's father. Several ancient authorities may have conflated Aristotle's ethical works with the commentaries that Nicomachus wrote on them. Ancient sources indicate that Nicomachus died in battle while still a "lad".


Archer Winsten

Archer Winsten was an American film critic from the late 1930s through the early 1980s. He was a graduate of Princeton University and a judge for many years of the International Ski Film Festival when it was held annually in New York City. He wrote for the "New York Post".


Hinduism in Zimbabwe

Hinduism is a minority faith in Zimbabwe
History.
Hinduism in Zimbabwe came with indentured servants brought by the colonial British administrators in late 19th and early 20th-century to what was then called British South Africa Company and later Rhodesia. This Hindu migration was different from those in East African countries such as Kenya and Uganda where Hindus arrived voluntarily for jobs but without restrictive contracts; it was quite similar to the arrival of Indian workers in South Africa, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago with slave-like contract restrictions for plantation work owned by Europeans, particularly the British. Most Hindus who arrived for these indentured plantation work were originally from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, people escaping from major repetitive famines in colonial British India from 1860s to 1910s. These laborers came for a fixed period irrevocable contract of exclusive servitude, with an option to either go back to India with plantation paid return fare, or stay in a local settlement after the contract ended. Most chose to stay and continue working for a salary.
Archaeological studies in Zimbabwe and the Swahili coast have revealed evidence that suggests that Indian traders had a small presence and sporadic interaction with the African people during the Roman Empire period (early 1st millennium CE) and thereafter, long pre-dating the European colonial era. Similarly, genetic studies suggest a direct ancient African-Indian trade and cooperation because by the 1st millennium BCE African crops were adopted in India, and Indian crops as well as the domesticated "zebu cow" (Bos indicus) were adopted in Africa, but these were missing from north Africa, the northeastern horn of Africa and Arabia during that age. The development of gold mining and processing methods among the Shona people in Zimbabwe highlands increased its trading activity with India before the 12th century, particularly through the city of Sofala. However, these traders did not engage in religious missionary activity and Hinduism was limited to the traders.
Hinduism came with indentured laborers brought to Zimbabwe, and they were a part of a global movement of workers during the colonial era, to help with plantation and mining related projects when local skilled labor was unavailable, to build infrastructure projects, establish services, retail markets and for administrative support. The immigrants, some educated and skilled but mostly poor and struggling in famine prone areas of India, came to escape starvation and work in plantations owned by the Europeans.
According to Ezra Chitando, the 19th- and early 20th-century encounters between European Christians with both Hinduism and African Traditional Religions in Zimbabwe were complex, generally demonizing and dehumanizing both Hinduism and African religions, but the Christian missionaries never totally condemn Hinduism or African religions. The Christian officials identified some positive elements in both, but states Chitando, then called upon the Hindu Indian workers and local Africans to "abandon their traditions and embrace their [Christian] version of reality". In contrast to Christian missionary approach, neither Hinduism nor African Traditional Religions were missionary in their approach or goals.
Demographics.
As of 1995 there were about 16,200 Hindus in Zimbabwe. It reduced to 3,000 or 500 families. They are mostly in the capital city of Harare.
Hindu temple and organisation.
The Hindus in Zimbabwe is represented by the Hindoo Society Harare (HSH).It is a Hindu welfare organization registered in 1916.Hindu Religious and Cultural Institute (HRCI) was founded 60 years ago. It is dedicated to teaching the Sanatana Dharma to children born into Hindu families of Zimbabwe, but non-Hindus can also study there.
There are two Hindu temples in Zimbabwe.The Omkar Temple in Harare is the first Hindu temple in Zimbabwe. Its fountain Stone was laid in 1929.
Contemporary Hindu community.
The "Hindu Religious and Cultural Institute" of Harare discusses Sanatana Dharma with children born into Hindu families of Zimbabwe, and welcomes non-Hindus. The major centers of Hindu community of about 3,000 in Harare include various schools, the Goanese Association, the Hindu Society, the Tamil Sangam, the Brahma Kumaris yoga centers and the Ramakrishna Vedanta Society all of which are in Harare. The Krishna-oriented ISKCON has a centre at Marondera.


Declet (unit)


Casanova in Bolzano

Casanova in Bolzano is a 1940 novel by Sándor Márai. The books begins with Casanova's escape from Piombi, from which he heads into the Alps, to Bolzano. It is here that he re-encounters an enemy from the past, the Duke of Parma, and again contests with him over a woman named Francesca. The books was published in Hungary in 1940, and published in an English translation in 2004.


Aid dependency


Sophia Lee

Sophia Lee (1750 – 13 March 1824) was an English novelist, dramatist and educator. She was a formative writer of Gothic fiction.
Life and literary production.
She was the daughter of John Lee (died 1781), actor and theatrical manager, and was born in London. Her first piece, "The Chapter of Accidents", a three-act drama based on Denis Diderot's "Le père de famille", was produced by George Colman the Elder at the Haymarket Theatre on 5 August 1780 and was an immediate success.
When her father died in 1781, Lee spent the proceeds of the play on establishing a school at Bath, where she made a home for her sisters Anne and Harriet. Her novel "The Recess, or a Tale of other Times" (1783–1785) was a historical romance. "The Recess", set in Elizabethan times, revolves around two fictional daughters of Mary, Queen of Scots. Lee also wrote the play "Almeyda, Queen of Granada" (1796) was a long tragedy in blank verse, which opened at Drury Lane on 20 April 1796 but ran for only five nights.
"The Recess" can also be regarded as a formative work of the original Gothic, echoing and pre-dating themes from other contemporary Gothic writers. It was so popular that a spin-off novelette appeared in 1820, "Rose Douglas; or, The Court of Elizabeth" William Hazlitt might consider it "dismal" by comparison with the works of Ann Radcliffe, but its influence both on the Gothic school of the Minerva Press, and on figures like Walter Scott is nonetheless clear. From this work, Italian writer Carlo Federici wrote the play "Il paggio di Leicester" "(Leicester's Page)" and, in turn, that became the source of "Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra", "(Elizabeth, Queen of England)" the 1812 opera by Gioachino Rossini, the libretto of which was written by Giovanni Schmidt.
With her sister Harriet Lee, Sophia also wrote a series of "Canterbury Tales" (1797). Other works included "The Life of a Lover" (1804) and "Ormond; or the Debauchee" (1810). She died at her house near Clifton, Bristol on 13 March 1824.


Joshua Knobe

Joshua Michael Knobe (born 1974) is an American experimental philosopher, whose work ranges across issues in philosophy of mind and action and ethics. He is Professor of Cognitive Science and Philosophy at Yale University. He is known for his work on the "Knobe effect" and use of experimental methods to understand personal reactions to moral dilemmas.
Education and career.
Knobe received his B.A. at Stanford University in 1996 and his Ph.D. from Princeton in 2006, where his dissertation was directed by Gilbert Harman.
He was Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2006 until moving to Yale in 2009.
Philosophical work.
His work has spanned various topics, including intentionality, free will, and the self.
Knobe effect.
Knobe is arguably most widely known for what has come to be called the Knobe effect or the "side-effect effect". According to Jones (2009):
Rather than consulting his own philosophical intuitions, Knobe set out to find out how ordinary people think about intentional action. In a study published in 2003, Knobe presented passers-by in a Manhattan park with the following scenario. The CEO of a company is sitting in his office when his Vice President of R&D comes in and says, ‘We are thinking of starting a new programme. It will help us increase profits, but it will also harm the environment.’ The CEO responds that he doesn’t care about harming the environment and just wants to make as much profit as possible. The programme is carried out, profits are made and the environment is harmed.
Did the CEO intentionally harm the environment? The vast majority of people Knobe quizzed – 82 per cent – said he did. But what if the scenario is changed such that the word ‘harm’ is replaced with ‘help’? In this case the CEO doesn’t care about helping the environment, and still just wants to make a profit – and his actions result in both outcomes. Now faced with the question ‘Did the CEO intentionally help the environment?’, just 23 per cent of Knobe’s participants said ‘yes’ (Knobe, 2003a).
This asymmetry in responses between the ‘harm’ and ‘help’ scenarios, now known as the Knobe effect, provides a direct challenge to the idea of a one-way flow of judgments from the factual or non-moral domain to the moral sphere. ‘These data show that the process is actually much more complex,’ argues Knobe. Instead, the moral character of an action’s consequences also seems to influence how non-moral aspects of the action – in this case, whether someone did something intentionally or not – are judged.


List of unexplained explosion events


An Introduction to Rhyme

An Introduction To Rhyme () is a book by Peter Dale which was published by Agenda/Bellew in 1998. The first chapter gives a detailed and comprehensive categorization of forty types of rhyme available in English.
Traditional pure rhyme.
Dale identifies the following varieties of Traditional Pure Rhyme:
Pararhyme.
Dale identifies the following varieties of Pararhyme:
Assonance rhyme.
Dale identifies the following varieties of Assonance Rhyme:
Consonance rhyme.
Dale identifies the following types of Consonance rhyme:
Syllable rhyme.
Dale identifies the following types of Syllable Rhyme:
Uneven rhyme.
Dale describes three types of Uneven Rhyme:
Other types of rhyme.
Dale also identifies the following types of rhyme:


Pam Cook

Pam Cook (born 6 January 1943) is Professor Emerita in Film at the University of Southampton. She was educated at Sir William Perkins's School, Chertsey, Surrey and Birmingham University, where she was taught by Stuart Hall, Richard Hoggart, Malcolm Bradbury, and David Lodge. Along with Laura Mulvey and Claire Johnston, she was a pioneer of 1970s Anglo-American feminist film theory. Her collaboration with Claire Johnston on the work of Hollywood film director Dorothy Arzner provoked debate among feminist film scholars over the following decades.
In the mid-1980s, Cook co-authored and edited the leading film studies textbook "The Cinema Book" for the British Film Institute (BFI). From 1985 to 1994, she was Associate Editor and contributor to the BFI magazines "Monthly Film Bulletin" and "Sight and Sound", before becoming a lecturer at the University of East Anglia. In 1998, she was appointed the first Professor of European Film and Media at the University of Southampton.
Since her retirement in 2006, she continues to publish books and articles on moving image history and culture. In 2007, she set up the independent campaigning blog bfiwatch to monitor developments at the BFI, and she has extended her work to scholarly videography.


In the Absence of Mrs. Petersen

In the Absence of Mrs. Petersen is a 1966 thriller novel by the British writer Nigel Balchin. A writer searches for his missing wife.


David J. Schwartz (science fiction writer)

David J. Schwartz (born September 22, 1970) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, whose book Superpowers was a finalist for the Nebula Award. Schwartz is also author of the Kindle Serial "Gooseberry Bluff Community College of Magic: The Thirteenth Rib".


Kerala State Film Award for Best Editor

The Kerala State Film Award for Best Editor winners:


Central Case Examination Group

The Central Case Examination Group (; CCEG) was a special organization established in the People's Republic of China in 1966 under the aegis of the Politburo Standing Committee to persecute those accused of "anti-party activities". It was, in essence, an organization dedicated to political persecution of senior party leaders as well as ordinary functionaries. Initially conceptualized as a beachhead by Chairman Mao Zedong's most radical supporters to 'gather dirt' on opponents of the Cultural Revolution, it later began taking up cases against all manner of perceived political opponents irrespective of their ideological allegiance. Many of its early leaders, such as Jiang Qing, later themselves became the subject of persecution by the Group. The Group was compared by Cultural Revolution-era propagandist Wang Li to the Soviet Cheka, but he noted that the CCEG had even broader powers. Its leading members included nearly all of the members of the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG) as well as Premier Zhou Enlai and the chief of Mao's security detail Wang Dongxing. The CCEG worked closely with the CRG during its investigations.
Background.
The precursor to the CCEG was the Special Case Examination Committee, an organ established by the Politburo in May 1966 to investigate the political offences of Peng Zhen, Luo Ruiqing, Lu Dingyi and Yang Shangkun. When it was found that there was a need for analysis of other cases, the committee was retained under a new name, and soon achieved a permanence as a central institution.
Role in the Cultural Revolution.
The Central Case Examination Group was founded at roughly the same time as the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG). The CRG was essentially "command central" of the Cultural Revolution. However, unlike the CRG, the CCEG was to operate throughout the entire of the Cultural Revolution decade and beyond, investigating and reporting on the purported crimes of many of the members of the higher echelons of the Communist Party of China (CCP) and all people considered to be counterrevolutionary. The group's highest profile case was that of Chinese President Liu Shaoqi, whose case was reportedly investigated by 400,000 people (including some Red Guards from Peking University), looking at over four million files. The findings of the CCEG on President Liu Shaoqi were compiled into a seventy-four page report to be considered by the Twelfth Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee of the CCP that met in October 1968. It was at this plenum that Liu Shaoqi was officially expelled from the CCP.
The CCEG's membership included most of the membership of the Cultural Revolution Group and Zhou Enlai, with Mao Zedong's wife Jiang Qing taking a particularly active role in the building of cases against individuals. In addition, other members included Wang Dongxing and Ye Qun, the wife of Lin Biao.
The CCEG was responsible to the Politburo Standing Committee, and wielded significant power in the realm of public security. It took the decisions to arrest, torture and imprison suspected 'revisionist' elements. For example, at the time of Twelfth Plenum in October 1968, 88 fully fledged or 'alternate' members of the CC were under CCEG investigation.
By the autumn of 1967, the CCEG had become too large an operation for its existing structure, and so the group was subdivided into a First Office and a Second Office. The First Office, led by Wang Dongxing, took responsibility for the cases from the initial phases of the Cultural Revolution, including cases surrounding Peng Zhen and his supporters. The Second Office, led by Yang Chengwu and (following Yang's demise in March 1968) General Huang Yongsheng, was solely concerned with the cases of members of the military. It took over several cases of senior PLA soldiers, including that of Marshal He Long. In 1968, a Third Office was established under Xie Fuzhi to investigate the May 16th Conspiracy, involving some members of the Cultural Revolution Group. The Third Office would later take on other cases of conspiracy groups.
Although there were suggestions that the CCEG should be dissolved at the same time as the Cultural Revolution Group, in 1969, it was retained as an institution for the remainder of the Cultural Revolution decade, continuing its investigative role until after the Cultural Revolution itself ended. In 1970, the group started to examine the case against Chen Boda, who was one of the staunchest proponents of the Cultural Revolution but by this point had fallen from political favour, and in 1971 the CCEG also began to investigate Lin Biao. In 1975, in an effort to bring the Cultural Revolution to a close, Mao ordered that the CCEG conclude its major cases swiftly and release of some prisoners. This led to the release of around 300 prisoners in the middle of 1975.
Dissolution.
The last case assigned to the CCEG was the case of the 'Gang of Four'. Jiang Qing, once an active member of the CCEG, came under investigation by the very apparatus she had been involved in. After completing its analysis of the 'Gang of Four' case, the Central Case Examination Group was formally dissolved after thirteen years of operation at the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee, held in December 1978.


Polish Academy Award for Best Editing

The Polish Academy Award for Best Editing is an annual award given to the best Polish film editing of the year.


Prudence (given name)

Prudence is a feminine given name. The name is a Medieval form of the Latin "Prudentia", meaning prudence, i.e. good judgment.
The usual diminutive or short form is Pru or Prue. These may also be short for the unrelated name Prunella, which means plum.


Listen (business)

Listen Fundraising was a UK-based telemarketing company that conducts telephone fundraising, mobile fundraising, and legacy fundraising campaigns on behalf of charitable and non-charitable institutions.
History.
Listen began operations on December 1, 2008. The company started out as a small operation of three Fundraisers conducting telephone-based fundraising campaigns. It now has two London-based offices calling across the UK and abroad. The company has raised £150 million for its clients across the UK.
The company has run campaigns for a number of high-profile charities, universities and other organisations in the UK and abroad. It is a Corporate Supporter of the Institute of Fundraising. It has also made a sizeable donation to the Showcase of Fundraising and Innovation and Inspiration, with a view to helping this global fundraising resource more accessible.
In August 2019, the company announced its closure.
Awards and recognition.
Listen Fundraising has gained public recognition for the quality of its work and received the “Best Use of Telephone Award” at the Institute of Fundraising National Awards in both 2012 and 2013.
In December 2013 Listen gained its first awards outside of the charity sector, receiving a Gold award from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) in the “Best Media Planning” category and a Silver award in the “Best Charity Campaign” category. It also had a Highly Commended campaign at the Third Sector Excellence Awards in September 2013 and was shortlisted for the Best Telephone Fundraising Agency at the Partners in Fundraising Awards in 2014.


Hinduism in Korea

Hinduism is a minority religion in Korea. There are 24,414 Indians in South Korea, most of whom are Hindus. Through Buddhism, it has also had an indirect impact on certain aspects of traditional Korean thought. The Four Heavenly Kings that can be seen in Korean Buddhist temples originated from the Lokapālas.
North Korea.
There are 586 Indians (most of them are embassy workers) in North Korea, most of whom are Hindus.
South Korea.
There are many Hindu temples in the Seoul region, like the Sri Radha Shyamasundar Mandir and the Sri Sri Radha Krishna temple, located on Seoul's outskirts, approximately 2 hours from the city centre. South Korea is home to a small number of expats, including students and engineers, from countries such as India and Nepal many of whom are Hindu. Yoga has also gained increasing popularity in recent years.
Sri Radha Shyamasundar Mandir is open daily, at specific times in the morning and evening. The temple offers various services to the mostly expat Hindu community, including children's classes, religious courses, festivals and ceremonies, such as weddings, as well as groceries for vegetarians.
Though South Korea is mostly secular, the range of religious beliefs displayed is quite broad. While Korean Shamanism shares some similarities with Hinduism, most religious people adhere to either Buddhism or Christianity, and there remains a strong Confucian presence.


Herwart von Hohenburg

Hans Georg Herwart von Hohenburg (also "Hans Georg Hörwarth"; 1553–1622) was a Bavarian statesman and scholar, and a patron and correspondent of Johannes Kepler.
Herwart served as chancellor to the Duke of Bavaria, and was regarded by the Bavarian aristocracy as an effective intermediary during the turbulent transition from the reign of Duke Wilhelm V to that of his successor, Maximilian I.
Herwart's fields as a scholar were astronomy, chronology, mathematics and philology. His work in chronology was admired by Michael Mästlin, among others, and his work in mathematics contributed to the early formulation of logarithms by Joost Bürgi and John Napier. He was also associated with Tycho Brahe, Johannes Praetorius, and Helisaeus Roeslin.
Herwart often lent Kepler books that might otherwise have been unavailable to him, and used his influence to help Kepler retain academic appointments despite his Protestantism, as Herwart himself was "an ardent Catholic and a friend of the Jesuits." His extant correspondence with Kepler covers a period from 1597 to 1611 and includes more than 90 letters. The correspondence was discovered by C. Anschütz at Munich, and was first published in 1886. A sample exchange, on an astronomical passage from the Neronian poet Lucan, is available online in English translation.
Herwart published a multiplication table in a folio volume of more than a thousand pages, "Tabulae arithmeticae προσθαφαιρἐσεως universales", (Munich, 1610).


The Anthologist

The Anthologist is a novel about poetry by Nicholson Baker, which was first published in 2009.
Its protagonist is Paul Chowder, a poet with a commission to prepare and edit an anthology of poetry, "Only Rhyme". The novel shows his life, his thoughts, aspirations and struggles with writer's block.
Reception.
Michael Schmidt, reviewing the book for "The Independent", gave it a mixed reception,
David Orr, reviewing for "The New York Times", liked the novel's portrayal of, and engagement with, the world of poets and poetry,


Blackbriar (novel)

Blackbriar is a 1972 supernatural young adult coming-of-age novel by William Sleator and was Sleator's first young adult novel. The book has been translated into German as "Das Geisterhaus" and into Danish as "Det forheksede hus".
Plot.
"Blackbriar" follows the character of Danny as he attempts to uncover the mysteries of his new home. Formerly abandoned, the local residents refuse to speak about the old cottage of Blackbriar. As Danny dreams of witches, fire, and maniacal laughter, he begins to discover that strange dreams might be the least of his worries.
Reception.
Critical reception for "Blackbriar" has been mixed to positive, with Kirkus Reviews calling it "perfectly eerie" and Teacher Magazine praising the writing as "skillful". In a 1972 review, Publishers Weekly wrote that "neither the characterization nor the plot is entirely convincing." The Horn Book Review also reviewed the book, stating "the story is mysterious and suspenseful, and its effectiveness lies in Sleator's characterizations and narrative skill".


Nichols Cube Puzzle


Marcus George Singer

Marcus George Singer (January 4, 1926 – February 21, 2016) was an American philosopher. His works include "Generalization in Ethics – An Essay in the Logic of Ethics, with the Rudiments of a System of Moral Philosophy" (1961).
Personal life.
Marcus George Singer was born in 1926 in New York City. His father, David Singer, a lawyer, died when MGS was 9 years old from a rare autoimmune disease. His mother, Esther Kobre Singer, was a concert level pianist and received awards from the City of New York for her service typing books in braille. Her father and uncle, through their small bank, provided loans to many Jews to pay passage to the USA (Kobre Bank, NYC). MGS enlisted in the US Army Air Corps Reserves in 1943. From 1944 to 1945 he served in the U.S. Army Air Force as an aerial engineer and was training as a pilot. After mustering out of the army, he attended the University of Illinois, met his future wife, Blanche Ladenson, and graduated with High Honors in Philosophy, Phi Beta Kappa in 1948. In 1952, Singer earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Cornell University. Immediately on receiving his doctorate, Singer accepted a position teaching in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he continued to teach until 1994. Marcus lived with his wife, Blanche Ladenson Singer, for almost 70 years. He died February 21, 2016 after battling chronic illness, likely autoimmune. His curiosity, humor, enthusiasm for life and the larger issues of living continued almost until the end of life. Marcus has two daughters, Karen and Debra, and one grand child, Isaac. Karen Singer is Principal and Artistic Director of Karen Singer Tileworks. Debra Singer is a photographer/designer focused on environmental advocacy, also working at UCSF Medical Center in research program administration. One of his closest friends was Claudia Card, Emma Goldman Professor of Philosophy, UW–Madison, whom he mentored since her undergraduate years at UW. She pre-deceased him by six months.
His brilliance manifested at a young age, with insatiable curiosity, quick wittedness, an interest in right and wrong. He served in the US Army Airforce to fight fascism in WW II - the war ended before he was sent to a front, but living through that time of evil profoundly influenced his thinking and actions. His family lost family in Germany and throughout Europe. His brother-in-law Lawrence Cane served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, fighting against Franco in Spain and was blacklisted as a Communist thinker (See 'Fighting Fascism in Spain: The World War II Letters of An American Veteran of the Spanish Civil War.' MG Singer persisted in focusing on moral philosophy and ethics despite it being out of fashion in philosophical circles. In later years, he explained what he did as 'teaching people how to think for themselves', one of the most important endeavors one can do.
MG Singer served as Chairman of the UW Philosophy Department 1963–1968, during the Vietnam War Years. He served as the president of the American Philosophical Association, Central Division, from 1985 until 1986. He gave generously to support civil liberties, free thought, environmental and social justice, wildlife protection, indigenous peoples' rights, the right to clean air, water, soil, food for all, among other issues. He taught that to keep silent in the face of evil, especially that perpetrated by the culture around one, is to be complicit in that evil. His latest works focused on Evil, and a History of the UW Philosophy Department (to be published in the next year.)
Works.
Singer's early work describes a moral philosophy which has become known as the generalization argument. He further refines this philosophy in later works. Similar to Immanuel Kant's universalizability principle, Singer argues that if it is acceptable for one person in a particular situation to take – or not take – an action, then it is acceptable for any person in that particular situation to do the same. He further posits that an action is ethical if the results would be positive if everyone took that action and the results would not be negative if no one took that action. According to Richard Flathman, Singer's 1961 book, "Generalization in Ethics – An Essay in the Logic of Ethics, with the Rudiments of a System of Moral Philosophy", was, at its publication, the "most detailed study of the topic" of generalization of the universalizability principle.
According to his profile in the "Encyclopedia of Ethics", Singer's "writings also include important work on the moral philosophies of" John Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick. Singer's views of utilitarianism have also been noted as some of the most influential of modern ethicists.
His latest work as Emeritus Professor focused on Evil in the world. More to come from Debra Singer, who is Literary Executor of his works.


William John Rose

William John Rose (7 August 1885 – 10 March 1968) was a Canadian slavist and historian. He served as the director of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies from 1945 to 1947.


Constantine Sandis

Constantine Sandis, FRSA (; born 1 October 1976) is a Greek and British philosopher working on philosophy of action, moral psychology, David Hume, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Biography.
Sandis read Literae Humaniores at St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, where he was taught by Gabriele Taylor, Roger Crisp, Alison Denham, and A.C. Grayling, as well as Peter Hacker at St Johns College, Oxford, Katherine Morris at Mansfield College, Oxford, and Hugh Rice at Christ Church, Oxford. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Reading (2005), under the supervision of Jonathan Dancy. Having worked at Oxford Brookes University from 2005 to 2015, he has since been Professor of Philosophy at the University of Hertfordshire and Secretary of the British Wittgenstein Society.He is also the editor of Why Philosophy Matters, Anthem Studies in Wittgenstein and "Philosophers in Depth" .Sandis writes a quarterly opinion column for The Philosophers' Magazine, contributes to Times Higher Education and The Times Literary Supplement, and frequently appears as a guest on radio programmes such as The Moral Maze, Analysis, and Free Thinking. He is a Research Associate at the Waterloo Institute for Hellenic Studies and CRÉ - University of Montreal. He is married to Louise Chapman, with whom he co-founded author services firm Lex Academic.
Research.
Sandis' research has primarily focused on the philosophy of action but he has also written about reasons, moral psychology, and understanding, as well as exegetical accounts of related works by Hume, Hegel, Anscombe, and Wittgenstein. His 2012 book "The Things We Do and Why We Do Them" argues for a pluralist account of actions and their explanations, and includes the controversial view that the reasons for which we act cannot in themselves explain why any action occurs. Since then he has published numerous articles defending the view that understanding others is not reducible to obtaining information about their 'mental contents' and that, consequently, no theory about the nature of such access can account for understanding others, which requires the sharing of behaviour. He has also collaborated with Microsoft Research on designing intelligible AI and co-written papers on the ethics of risk-taking with Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Publications.
Books
Articles


My Life at First Try

My Life at First Try is a 2008 semi-autobiographical flash fiction novel by Mark Budman that was published by Counterpoint Press.
Summary.
"My Life at First Try" follows the character of Alex, who was born in 1950s Soviet Union. Alex hopes for a future where two things come to pass: he becomes a writer and meets his American cousin Annie. He also wants to overcome the bleakness of the Soviet Union and become someone a carefree foreigner akin to some tourists he saw as a child. However, as he grows the institutionalized nature of his surroundings dims these dreams. When he and his family moves to America in the 80s, Alex finally gets to fulfill his wish of being a foreigner, only to discover that rather than being carefree, his new life feels alien to him and it's up to him to try to find his own self-fulfillment.
Reception.
Critical reception for "My Life at First Try" was mixed to positive, with Kirkus Reviews calling the book "a funny, little-seen version of the American dream". The Washington Post wrote that while readers won't want to stop reading, "Budman's success with this form is uneven, and too many wonderful scenes seem truncated or prematurely abandoned when he breaks off for the next year". Publishers Weekly and People Magazine both reviewed the book, with Publishers Weekly giving a positive review.


Raimund Karl

Raimund Karl (born September 15, 1969 in Vienna) is an Austrian archaeologist, Celticist and historian. He is currently a professor of Archaeology and Heritage Management Institute and at the School of History, Welsh History and Archaeology at Bangor University.
Life.
Between 1987 and 1995 Karl studied "Prehistory and Early History", and a combination of subjects on Celtic studies at the University of Vienna. He attended additional courses in Egyptology, Ethnology, Classical Archaeology, Ancient history, numismatics and linguistics. This study was followed by a doctorate in prehistory and early history, in which he graduated in 2003. His habilitation process took place in 2005-2006, his habilitation thesis appeared in 2006 under the title "Altkeltisch ("Old Celtic") Social Structures". With over one hundred professional publications, including many large and basic ones, he is one of the best known of the prehistorians from Austria and Central and Western Europe.
In October 2001 he worked as an AHRB (now: AHRC) Research Fellow at the "University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies", where he was on the "Project 5 - Celtic identity" project, among others, creating an "Atlas for Celtic Studies" and cooperated on the Encyclopedia "Celtic Culture - A Historical Encyclopedia". He also taught in 2002 at the Centre for Continuing Education of the "University of Wales, Aberystwyth" Archaeology. From January 2003 he joined Aberystwyth as Lecturer in Archaeology and Heritage at the University of Wales, Bangor. In 2006 he became its Senior Lecturer, 2008 promoted to Professor of Archaeology and Heritage. Since 2007 he is also Head of School of
History, Welsh History and Archaeology at Bangor University.
Since 2004 he is a member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In 2005 he became a member of the Board of Celtic Studies, where he remained until its dissolution in 2007. Since 2007 he is the representative for prehistoric archeology in the successor organization of the Board of Celtic Studies, the "Publications and Collaborative Research Committee" of the "Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies". Also in 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Professor Raimund Karl was formerly a Research Fellow at the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies "Ancient Britain and the Atlantic Zone Project (Ireland, Armorica, and the Iberian Peninsula)". His research interests and publications, while there, dealt with the Iron Age in Wales and Austria, Celtic social structure, and the Celtosceptic controversy. His contribution to the "Celtic from the West" book edited by Barry Cunliffe and John T. Koch was a more practical and useful cooperative definition of the "Celts" based on the contemporary inclusive and associative paradigm rather than just essentially on language which is the traditional paradigm. In this chapter he also outlined a model for development of "Celtic culture" that doesn't depend on any one particular site of origin but rather an association of cultural traits of disparate origins that leads to the culture propagated so widely over Europe in ancient times.
Together with his Austrian countryman David Stifter, professor for Old Irish at the University of Maynooth, Ireland, Karl is one of the international figureheads of Celtology.


The Yard of Wit

The Yard of Wit: Male Creativity and Sexuality, 1650–1750 is a 2003 book by literature scholar and professor Raymond Stephanson.
Overview.
In the book, Raymond Stephanson examines how the male literary establishment in England between 1650 and 1750 used metaphors of male genitalia and sexuality as rhetorical expressions of literary work and achievement. He devotes a great deal of his argument to Alexander Pope, in whose work, Stephanson contends, these genital references have an especially prominent place.
Reception.
"The Yard of Wit: Male Creativity and Sexuality, 1650–1750" was widely and mostly positively reviewed in academic journals.
G. D. Fulton, reviewing the book in the "Canadian Journal of History", said "Professor Stephanson's title, 'the yard of wit,' functions throughout the study as a shorthand reference to the strikingly different, even mutually contradictory ways in which a wide range of discourses—scientific, medical, judicial, literary, erotic, pornographic—used male genitalia to understand and evaluate male personality, creativity, and relations to other men."
Fulton also noted the care with which Stephanson handled the theme of male genitalia: "Professor Stephanson also respects his audience. It may not be possible to write about this topic with what all readers will consider consistently good taste, but he writes tactfully, mentioning rather than using taboo words wherever possible and relying on elegant variation to name what must be named most often: an ingenious, well-calculated deployment of 'yard,' 'pintle,' 'pego,' and other eighteenth-century synonyms for 'penis.'"
George E. Haggerty, writing in the "Journal of the History of Sexuality", found that Stephanson's book did justice to the
vast range of literary material from this period that takes as its subject the size, functionality, and production of the male member. Variously called the yard, the pego, the pintle, the prick, and so forth, the penis is shown in this study to be a central overriding metaphor for male creativity. Stephanson explains how various "collective metaphorical equations played a significant role in establishing the widespread associations of the male mind as sexualized body," and he sets out to show how this physiological system came to mark the literature of the period in general, not just in the work of libertine apologists but in fiction, satire, poetry, and pamphlet writing of various kinds. In addition, he hopes to show how "Pope became the first public emblem of these developments, symbolizing the first commercial traffic in the yard to wit."
Hugh Ormsby-Lennon in the "University of Toronto Quarterly" judged the book a success: "Stephanson's range of reading and allusion is impressive. . . . This is a compelling and eye-opening book, both for its bold thesis and for the coruscating light it sheds upon the workaday world of writing as well as upon major works ranging from Rochester's unbuttoned satires and lyrics to "Tristram Shandy" and to Pope's less familiar but disconcertingly phallic poems.”
Linda Zionkowski, reviewing "The Yard of Wit" in "Eighteenth-Century Fiction", offered a highly laudatory review. She wrote: "Joining the fairly recent project to historicize masculinity, "The Yard of Wit" takes as its subject the rich early modern discourse of male creativity, explaining how different configurations of sexual tropes—both literal and metaphoric references to the genitals in action—define the poetic character for male writers. This sexualized construction of authorship, Raymond Stephanson argues, both imagined creative ability as genital potency and ranked the writer’s position in the public, competitive world of the literary marketplace according to his capacity for virility and manliness."
One negative assessment came from Adam Rounce in "The Cambridge Quarterly": "Raymond Stephanson's exploration of the relationship between the penis and male creativity from the Restoration to the death of Alexander Pope begins with the author's puzzled sense of fellow academics not taking his topic seriously."
Rounce found Stephanson's focus on the role of penis envy to be so overriding that it distorted Pope's importance in other respects: "[S]uspicion grows when every example is read through such a lens to the almost complete detriment of any other factor. Pope here is so remorselessly repressed and full of penis envy that it would seem a wonder to the uninformed reader that he managed to become by a distance the most considerable, successful, and influential poet of the century; Stephanson is so busy chasing him into another neurotic corner that it seems to have slipped his mind as well."


Ruby Sparks

Ruby Sparks is a 2012 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, and written by Zoe Kazan. It stars Paul Dano as an anxious novelist whose fictional character, Ruby Sparks, played by Kazan, comes to life, and his struggles to reconcile his idealized vision of her with her increasing independence. The score was composed by Nick Urata of the band DeVotchKa.
Plot.
Calvin Weir-Fields is a novelist who found incredible success at an early age but is struggling to recreate the success of his first book, as well as to forge relationships. His therapist tasks him to write a page about someone who likes his dog, Scotty. After a dream in which he meets a strange young woman, Calvin is inspired to write about her, admitting to Dr. Rosenthal that he is falling in love with this character and telling him all about "Ruby Sparks".
Calvin's brother Harry and sister-in-law Susie come to visit, and Susie finds women's clothing around the house. Harry reads some of Calvin's new writing and criticizes it, saying that his version of a woman is overly idealized and unrealistic. Calvin writes a passage about Ruby falling in love with him, before falling asleep at his typewriter. The next day, he is stunned to find Ruby in his kitchen, a living person. He calls Harry, who does not believe him and advises him to meet with someone to take his mind off things. Ruby is confused by Calvin's behavior and insists on coming along, but he leaves her to shop while he meets with Mabel, a fan of his book who gave him her number. Ruby finds them and believes Calvin is cheating on her; the ensuing confrontation proves she is not a figment of his imagination.
Calvin introduces Ruby to Harry, who is incredulous and suggests alternate explanations, but Calvin proves that his writing directly affects Ruby. He asks Harry not to tell anyone of Ruby's origins, insisting that since he wrote her into existence, he truly knows her, and asserts he will never write about her again.
Months later, Calvin reluctantly takes Ruby to meet his free-spirited mother Gertrude and her boyfriend Mort. While the outgoing Ruby enjoys herself, the introverted Calvin grows jealous of her time with other people, and her happiness fades with his increased gloominess.
Returning home, their relationship becomes tense and a depressed Ruby explains to Calvin how lonely she is, suggesting they spend less time together. Fearful of Ruby's desertion, Calvin writes that Ruby is miserable without him. Ruby returns, now incredibly clingy. Tiring of this, Calvin writes that Ruby becomes constantly happy but he is morose, knowing her happiness is artificial.
After talking with Harry, Calvin tries to write Ruby back to her original self, but his wording leaves her confused. They fight once more, and he attempts to cheer her up by taking her to a party hosted by author Langdon Tharp. Calvin leaves Ruby and talks with others about his unfinished manuscript. He runs into his ex-girlfriend Lila, who accuses him of being uninterested in anyone outside of himself. Langdon finds Ruby alone and flirts with her, convincing her to strip to her underwear and join him in the pool. Furious and humiliated, Calvin drives Ruby home.
They fight, and Ruby tells Calvin that he cannot stop her from doing what she wants. As she prepares to leave, Calvin reveals that she is a product of his imagination and that he can make her do anything he writes. Their growing argument leads to a crazed Calvin forcing Ruby to perform increasingly frenzied and humiliating acts. Ruby collapses and when Calvin tries to approach her—feeling confused, lost, and having no control of her own self—she locks herself in his room.
Distraught and ashamed, Calvin writes a final page stating that as soon as Ruby leaves the house, she is no longer his creation, no longer subject to his will, and is free. He leaves the manuscript outside her door with a note telling her to read the last page and that he loves her. The next morning, Calvin finds the note and Ruby gone.
Time passes, and Harry suggests Calvin write a new book about his experiences with Ruby. The novel, "The Girlfriend", is a success. Walking Scotty in the park, Calvin sees a woman who appears to be Ruby but has no recollection of him, reading his book. She says that Calvin also seems familiar, which he deflects by showing her his author's photo on the book. She jokes that they ought to start over, urging him, "Don't tell me how it ends," to which he replies, "I promise."
Production.
Writing.
The film was written by Zoe Kazan, who plays the eponymous character. Kazan was initially inspired by a discarded mannequin and the myth of Pygmalion, quickly writing twenty pages, before putting the script aside for six months. She returned to the writing when she was clear on the central concept of comparing the idea of love to the actuality of it.
During the writing, Kazan thought of Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "Groundhog Day", wanting to present a slanted version of our own reality. From early in the development, she wrote the lead character Calvin with her boyfriend Paul Dano in mind. On the feminist aspects of the story, Kazan explains she wanted to explore the idea of "being gazed at but never seen", where a woman is not properly understood but in a way that wasn't unkind or alienating for men. She rejects the description of Ruby Sparks as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, calling it reductive and diminutive, whereas Ruby Sparks is about the danger of idealizing a person, of reducing a person down to an idea of a person.
Kazan thanks Warren Beatty for his indirect encouragement of Paul Dano to develop their own material, and Dano in turn suggested she write a project.
Development.
Kazan shopped the script around and got the attention of Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, the producers of "Little Miss Sunshine", who sent it to directing couple Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, who took it on as the first project since "Little Miss Sunshine" in 2006. Faris blamed their delay between films on their own need to be ready for the right project.
Location.
Kazan talked about the importance of Los Angeles as the location for the film, comparing it to a character as much as a setting. She sees Los Angeles as a place where it is easy to feel alone and isolated and that fits in with the isolation of Calvin in the story. Directors Dayton and Faris said it was great to show Los Angeles itself, rather than pretending to be another place.
Filming took place largely around the Silver Lake and Los Feliz neighborhoods. Other locations include Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, and the Hollywood Cemetery.
The party hosted by Langdon Tharp is held in a Lloyd Wright-designed house.
Reception.
Critical response.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received a "Certified Fresh" score of 79% based on 178 reviews, with an average rating of 7.08 out of 10. The website's critical consensus states "Cleverly written and wonderfully acted, "Ruby Sparks" overcomes its occasional lags in pace with an abundance of charm and wit". On Metacritic the film has a score of 67 out of 100 based on reviews from 40 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews."
Stephen Holden from "The New York Times" wrote, ""Ruby Sparks" doesn't try to pretend to be more than it is: a sleek, beautifully written and acted romantic comedy that glides down to earth in a gently satisfying soft landing." Online film critic Chris Pandolfi from At A Theater Near You called it "an intelligent commentary on the creative process, insecurity, controlling behavior, idealism, and the fragility of the male ego. It's all rather ingeniously combined into one of the most likeable films I've seen all year – a fantasy, a character study, and a cautionary tale all rolled into one."
Box office.
"Ruby Sparks" opened in a limited release in 13 theaters and grossed $140,822, with an average of $10,832 per theater and ranking #28 at the box office. The film's widest release in the U.S. was 261 theaters, and it ultimately earned $2,540,106 domestically and $6,588,157 internationally for a worldwide total of $9,128,263.
Music.
The score was composed by DeVotchKa's Nick Urata.


Self-bondage

Self-bondage refers to the use of restraints on oneself for erotic pleasure. It is a form of erotic bondage which can be practiced alone.
Self-bondage is characterized by experimentation and ingenuity, and can be riskier than conventional bondage. Self-bondage requires use of techniques for self-binding as movement becomes increasingly restricted as more restraints are applied, and also requires a reliable release mechanism. Many types of bondage equipment can be applied before the one that restrains the hands. For example, leg irons can be applied, as well as gags, blindfolds, etc.
For many of its practitioners, the added challenges and dangers are a part of the appeal of self-bondage, who often devise elaborate self-bondage schemes and release mechanisms, both in practice and in erotic fiction.
Risks.
Self-bondage is considered a higher-risk activity than many other BDSM practices — particularly when combined with autoerotic asphyxia — and has led to a number of recorded deaths. The death in 1994 of Stephen Milligan, the British Conservative MP for Eastleigh, was a case of autoerotic asphyxiation combined with self-bondage.
Self-bondage has all the risks of physical restraint and sexual bondage, with the added factor that should anything go wrong, there is no-one to effect a rescue. For example, if blood circulation cuts off sensation in limbs, the planned escape mechanism may not be usable.
Types.
Self-bondage can be either "strict" or "sensual".
Sensual self-bondage.
In sensual self-bondage, escape from restraints is simple and available immediately, if desired. For example, the keys might be within reach or the knots loosely tied. The chief aim is the sensation of immobility and of constrained movement.
Strict self-bondage.
Strict self-bondage requires that the means of escape be unavailable until the lapse of time before the release mechanism activates itself. This feature of strict self-bondage makes it potentially more hazardous, but some practice it for the greater sense of helplessness it creates.
Emergency intervention.
A compromise position between safety and strictness allows for a backup release mechanism that is available immediately, but carries with it some penalty or cost with its use. For example, keys could be placed in a bucket of paint. The person in self-bondage can escape quickly if necessary, such as a fire breaking out, or excessive numbness of limbs. However, the annoyance of cleaning up the paint afterwards would coerce the person into waiting for the main release mechanism to come into effect if he or she were merely bored or uncomfortable. Another penalty may be the need to contact somebody, with the penalty being having to explain what has happened.
Release mechanisms.
Many release mechanisms are used in self-bondage to allow the practitioner to escape the restraints after a period of time. There are various trade-offs to be made between ease of use, reliability, precision of timing, cost, and so forth. There should be several mechanisms available, thus ensuring redundancy and safety.
Emergency backup.
There are also a number of release mechanisms designed to be emergency backups. The idea behind these release mechanisms is that triggering them will cause something undesirable to happen, and thus are only used in situations where death or serious injury could occur otherwise.
Techniques.
Apart from release mechanisms, self-bondage poses a somewhat awkward problem of getting "into" bondage, especially when using rope. What might be a relatively simple matter for couples can be considerably more complex alone.
With rope, the main difficulty is tying the hands in a way that is not easy to untie. One common solution is to use a "cinch noose" — essentially a kind of slip knot — together with a "coil" (a loop of rope). The wrists are placed through the coil with the cinch noose between the wrists and around the coil. To achieve a basic hogtie position, the cinch noose is tied to the ankles. With pressure, the noose tightens the wrist coil, securing the hands. It proves very difficult to escape from, and usually a knife or scissors is required to cut free.
Equipment that can be tightened only, and not loosened, often has application in self-bondage. This includes handcuffs, zip ties and ratcheting pulleys.
Commercial equipment.
While for the most part self-bondage is performed using ordinary and easily available equipment (indeed, it lends itself to impromptu adaptation and a "do it yourself" approach), a few commercial products have appeared — in the United States and United Kingdom for the most part — catering for the self-bondage practitioner.


Venceslas Kruta

Venceslas Kruta (born 4 November 1939) is a French archaeologist and historian. He is the director of European protohistory studies at the École pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), and Professor emeritus at the Sorbonne University. Kruta has also directed the Centre d'Études Celtiques in Paris and the journal "Études Celtiques," and has chaired the editorial board of the journal "" (CNRS).
Kruta specializes on the protohistory of Europe, more specifically the commercial and cultural relations between Central Europe and the Mediterranean. He has directed numerous excavation sites, most notably the parvis of Notre-Dame and the Square Court of the Louvre in Paris. Kruta is a member of the German Archaeological Institute, the Real Academia de la Historia, the Istituto Nazionale di Studi Etruschi ed Italici, and the .
Biography.
Venceslas Kruta was born on 4 November 1939 in Saumur, Pays de la Loire. He studied prehistory and archeology at Masaryk University in Czechoslovakia between 1956 and 1961, then worked as an assistant at the Czech Academy of Sciences between 1963 and 1971. He obtained a doctorate in history from Sorbonne University in 1974.
In 1991, he directed an international exposition on the Celts in Venice, then another in Tokyo in 1998. His 2000 book "Les Celtes, histoire et dictionnaire" received the Grand Prix d'Histoire from the Académie Française and the from the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres.


Jerzy Sikorski

Jerzy Sikorski (born July 25, 1935) is a Polish historian, Copernicologist, medievalist, museologist, author, publisher, journalist, and encyclopedist, who writes and publishes primarily in Polish. He is a resident of Olsztyn, Poland.
Life.
Early life.
Jerzy Sikorski was born on July 25, 1935 in Vilnius (Polish: Wilno), to Anna Wołk-Lewanowicz (1914–1995) and Feliks Sikorski (1889–1980). Five years later (1940) Sikorski's sister Maria Danuta was born.
In October 1944, during World War II, Sikorski's mother Anna was arrested by the People's Commissariat for State Security along with 40 other people, when she was exposed as a courier between Vilnius' "Kedyw" and the general staff of the Polish Home Army. Early in January 1945 Sikorski's father Feliks was also arrested because he was a soldier of the 1st Polish Corps under the Polish general Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki in the "Polish-Soviet War,", but he was released after three months. Upon his release, Feliks made efforts to obtain Anna's release from prison, locate and take care of Jerzy and Maria, and reunite his family. Anna was released from prison camp in June 1946, and the family moved to Olsztyn. They chose Olsztyn based on the fact that most of the Vilnius board of education where Feliks once worked had been evacuated to Olsztyn, and Feliks could resume his position there.
Education.
Following World War II, Sikorski's mother was prevented from teaching due to political persecution. After Sikorski graduated from high school in 1953, he was repeatedly denied entry to university in spite of passing exams in Gdańsk, Warsaw, Toruń, and Poznań. Each time, he received the characteristic preprinted postcard with "not accepted due to lack of space". On the advice of a Polish studies specialist teacher (Polish philologist), Janina Kirkicka, Sikorski was able to enroll in a two-year teacher's college in Olsztyn, but after two weeks the director Bolesław Wytrążek instructed Sikorski to leave the college, due to the decision of the local Polish United Workers' Party (PZPR) in Olsztyn. Through , who was the director at the Museum of Warmia and Masuria located at Olsztyn Castle, Sikorski obtained employment (1954–1955) at the , which was under the patronage of the regional museum in Olsztyn. The work at Frombork's museum and the person of the great Polish Astronomer Nicolas Copernicus, who spent most of his life in Frombork and Warmia region, made a lasting impression on Sikorski. As a result, Copernicus and "Copernicana" research became the dominant subject in Sikorski's lifetime work and in his professional affiliations with various research centers. Ultimately, it led to Sikorski's discovery and publication of Copernicus' resting place at Frombork's cathedral in 1973, which was confirmed archaeologically in 2005.
In the fall of 1955 Sikorski enrolled at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, where he chose to study under professor , who among other scholarly pursuits studied and researched the life and politics of Copernicus' maternal uncle, Bishop Lucas Watzenrode. Sikorski wrote his master's thesis on Watzenrode, and subsequently wrote his doctoral dissertation "Polish monarchy and Warmia at the end of the 15th century: Issues in systemic-law and politics".
Upon completing of his academic studies at the Nicolas Copernicus University in Toruń in 1960, Sikorski accepted a position at the Museum of Warmia at Lidzbark Warmiński Castle, where Copernicus spent at least seven years (1503–1509). Copernicus had strong ties to the city of Lidzbark, and had visited there at the invitation of his maternal uncle Bishop Lucas Watzenrode in 1495. Sikorski worked at the museum from 1961 to 1962.
Lidzbark Warmiński Castle was of substantial significance for Jerzy Sikorski's "Copernicana" studies in terms of the history of astronomy; as well as because the castle was a strongly fortified seat of the bishops of Warmia and the administration center of their lands from the second half of the 14th century. At that time, Lidzbark city had one of the largest populations in Warmia, similar to Braniewo. In Lidzbark, Sikorski researched historic documents pertaining to the history of Poland's Baltic seashore (Pomerania, Warmia, Mazury, Prussia), and its extant architectural relics, documents, and other materials relating to Nicolaus Copernicus. Following the death of bishop Watzenrode in Toruń on March 29, 1512, Copernicus only sporadically visited Lidzbark, either as an emissary of the Warmia Chapter, or as a personal medical doctor for the successive bishops: (d. 1523), Mauritius Ferber (Polish: Maurycy Ferber 1471–1537), and Johannes Dantiscus (Polish: Jan Dantyszek; 1485–1548).
Author.
An organized index of published books and articles by Sikorski is listed at his web portal, covering four areas of research: 1. Copernicana; 2. Cities and castles of Prussia; 3. Historic tradition of the region; and, 4. The History of Science.
An additional indexed list of Sikorski's complete articles and papers is available online at the Database of Articles (in Polish), including two English language papers: "The Empirical Table of Olsztyn the Question of Nicolaus Copernicus' Scientific Workshop", and "The Practice of Bishops' Burials in Frombork Cathedral and the Question of the Grave of Nicolaus Copernicus' Uncle Łukasz Watzenrode".
In 1973, in time for the 500th anniversary of Nicolas Copernicus' birth, Sikorski authored a popular monograph on the astronomer's life, work, and times. Three updated editions were published, in 1985, 1995, and 2011.
History of Science consultant.
Dr Jerzy Sikorski is credited for history of science consultation in the opening titles to the Polish motion picture "Kopernik", released in Toruń, Poland, on February 14, 1973. The film was released on the occasion of the world and United Nations celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Copernicus’ birth that were organized by the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science.
Journalist.
Between 1966 and 2007 Jerzy Sikorski published a number of articles in "Mazury-Warmian Communications" (""), on the history of Poland's ancestral Baltic seashore Pomerania, and the Polish regions of Warmia and Masuria. He also published articles on the life and activities of the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
Sikorski was a member of the editorial staff at "Komunikaty Mazursko-Warmińskie", and also a member of staff at "Frombork's Commentaries" ("Komentarze Fromborskie"), and also the substitute editor-in-chief of "Olsztyn Yearly" (""),
Encyclopedist.
Jerzy Sikorski published a number of short biographies of Warmian Chapter canons and members in the "Polish Biographical Dictionary", which is printed by the Polish Academy of Sciences. These included biographies of Preuck Jan (1575–1631), Preuck Jerzy (d. 1556), Reich Feliks (c. 1475–1539), Sculteti Aleksander (1485–1564), Sculteti Bernard (d. 1518), and Sculteti Jan (d. 1526).
Copernicologist.
Copernicus' Polish nationality and descent.
Reviewing the document "Locationes mansorum desertorum" ("Allocation of abandoned fiefs"), which was written by Copernicus in the region of Olsztyn Castle, Olsztyn, Poland, Jerzy Sikorski discovered that, out of the 136 names of allocation of fiefs, 60 were Polish names (peasants had only first names) written in phonetically correct Polish. Sikorski also cites an extant document where Copernicus’ witness was Copernicus’ Polish servant: "Wojciech Cebulski". These documents indicate that Copernicus spoke and wrote Polish.
In a letter to king Sigismund I of Poland handwritten by Nicolas Copernicus in Olsztyn Castle, the administrator, chancellor, and commander in chief of the defense of Olsztyn Castle Copernicus and Warmia Canons together affirm their Polish nationality as subjects to King Sigismund I of Poland against the enemy, the German Teutonic Order. The writers say that they are willing to die defending Olsztyn Castle, Warmia, and Poland from the Teutonic Knights. Nicolas Copernicus is directly associated with Sigismund I of Poland in the wars against the Teutonic Order, the reform of royal mints and the minting of coins, in establishing modern market economy in 16th century Poland, in direct contacts with king's personal medical doctor, with Cracow (Kraków) and the Jagiellonian University, and with the Polish Roman Catholic Church in Cracow.
Sikorski wrote "the intellectual adventure of my life were my discoveries of Copernicus’ Polish ancestry and nationality".
Copernicus’ resting place.
Copernicus was reportedly buried in Frombork Cathedral, but archaeologists searched there in vain for centuries for his remains. Efforts to locate the remains in 1581, 1626, 1802, 1909, 1939 and 2004 came to nought. In 1973 Dr Jerzy Sikorski published the location of Copernicus' resting place in his book, including the photo of the Altar of Saint Wacław, today Altar of Saint Cross, with a subscription (English translation of Polish) "The remains of Mikołaj Kopernik rest unnamed next to this altar".
Sikorski's analysis of recovered chapter documents guided the Polish archaeological searches of Frombork in 2004–2005. The Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology at the Pultusk Academy of Humanities of Aleksander Gieysztor, with Polish archaeologists under the direction of , commenced the search for Copernicus’ grave from 16–31 of August, 2004, in an area of 10 square meters, and this search was financially supported by the Archaeologic Foundation of Prof Konrad Jażdżewski in Lódz, Poland. In the second archaeological search conducted in August 2005, Copernicus’ skull and remains were discovered in a grave marked by archaeologists as 13/5. Forensic expert Capt. Dariusz Zajdel of the Polish Police Central Forensic Laboratory used the skull to reconstruct a face that closely resembled the features—including a broken nose and a scar above the left eye—on a Copernicus self-portrait. The expert also determined that the skull belonged to a man who had died around age 70—Copernicus's age at the time of his death.
The remains were genetically tested in Poland and Sweden and found to match hair samples taken from a book owned by Copernicus which was kept at the library of the University of Uppsala in Sweden.
Location of Copernicus’ observatories.
Sikorski discovered the location of Copernicus' Canonic Curia outside the walls of Frombork (the "Curiae extra muros"). The building is not extant, having been burned by Teutonic Knights on February 1, 1520, but the foundation remains.
Sikorski searched the area nearby with instruments such as ground-penetrating radar in an effort to find Copernicus’ observatory "pavimentum", which was believed to have been nearby, but did not find it.
Sikorski was aided in the search by the notebook of Elias Olsen, who was sent by Tycho Brahe to Frombork in 1584 to use the still-extant "pavimentum" to obtain astronomic observations for comparison with those of Copernicus. the "pavimentum" has still not been located. Its foundations may have been destroyed during extensive ground works near Copernicus’ external curia.
Sikorski since 1973 researched and wrote on Copernicus' observatory in Olsztyn, which contains a still-extant plaster astronomical table that was used by Copernicus from 1516 to 1521.
Recognition.
Sikorski has been awarded Polish presidential medals for his professional work as a historian and Copernicologist: the Gold Cross of Merit (1975) and Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1986).
On the fifteenth anniversary of the Warmia-Mazury Business Club, the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński gave presidential orders and awards to deserving club members. On March 28, 2008, the title "Personality of the Year 2008 in Warmia and Mazury" was awarded to Jerzy Sikorski for his research into the life and science of Nicolas Copernicus, and for his 1973 discovery of Copernicus's resting place.


Vaishnava Upanishads

The Vaishnava Upanishads are minor Upanishads of Hinduism, related to Vishnu theology (Vaishnavism). There are 14 Vaishnava Upanishads in the Muktika anthology of 108 Upanishads. They, along with other minor Upanishads, are generally classified separate from the thirteen major Principal Upanishads considered to be more ancient and from the Vedic tradition.
The Vaishnava Upanishads also contrast from other groups of minor Upanishads, such as the Samanya Upanishads which are of a generic nature, the Sannyasa Upanishads which focus on the Hindu renunciation and monastic practice, the Yoga Upanishads related to Yoga, the Shaiva Upanishads which highlight aspects of Shaivism, and the Shakta Upanishads which highlight Shaktism.
These Upanishads propound Vishnu, Narayana, Rama or one of his avatars as the supreme metaphysical reality called Brahman in Hinduism. They discuss a diverse range of topics, from ethics to the methods of worship.
Some of the Vaishnava Upanishads exist in more than one version, each version attached to a different Veda depending on the region their manuscript has been discovered. Furthermore, scholars disagree on which minor Upanishads are Vaishnava; for example, Deussen classifies Maha Upanishad as a Vaishnava Upanishad, but Tinoco lists it as a Samanya Upanishad.
Date.
The composition date of each Vaishnava Upanishad is unclear, and estimates on when they were composed vary with scholar. According to Mahony, the minor Upanishads are approximately dated to be from about 100 BC to 1100 AD.
According to Ramdas Lamb, associate professor of religion at the University of Hawaii, the sectarian Upanishads which are the post-Vedic scriptures are not easily datable due to their very nature of the "multiple layers of material". Of these Upanishads the Purva Nrisimha Tapaniya and Uttara Tapaniya Upanishads, which are part of the Nrisimha Tapaniya Upanishadas, are the earliest dated to before the seventh century AD.
Patrick Olivelle states that sectarian Upanishads attached to Atharvaveda – which include some Vaishnava Upanishads – were likely composed in the second millennium, until about the 16th century.


Toadman

A toadman or toad-man is someone, in the folklore of The Fens of East Anglia and Lincolnshire, who has made a deal with the devil which gives them control over horses. Stories of toadmen seem to have been prevalent in the region during the inter-war period of 1918 to 1938.
The initiation ceremony, with certain regional variations, involved the initiate catching a male toad, hanging it from a thorn bush or pegging it to an anthill until its bones had been picked clean, and then carrying the bones on their person until dried. The bones were then thrown into a running stream on a full moon at midnight and all except one would be swept downstream. The remaining small fork-shaped bone when recovered would, through unspecified means, grant its holder psychic control over horses.