Eleven of the most beautiful museum libraries in the
world
Thanks, Paul
What does conchiglie mean? Seashell-shaped
pasta See list of pastas, names, descriptions and
pictures at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pasta
British Royal Family: the Plantagenets See history of King Richard III (1452-1485) and link to all Plantagenets from the
menu at the center top. There are five
Edwards, four Henrys and two Richards. http://www.britroyals.com/plantagenet.asp?id=richard3
King Richard I (1157-1199) was called
Richard the Lion Heart and you can go to his page, then link to the entire
British royal line at: http://www.britroyals.com/kings.asp?id=richard1
From either of these Web pages, you can link to frequently asked questions
about the British royal family.
Exalted by a suite of fifteen
classical pieces by Russian composer, (Modest) Petrovich Mussorgsky, the Great Gate of
Kiev, is not actually a gate but a design submitted by artist Victor Hartmann
to commemorate the attempted assassination of Tsar Alexander II in the city of Kiev in 1866. Hartmann's majestic design for The Great Gate
of Kiev caused a sensation, and the artist believed it was the finest work he
had ever done. The sketch for stone
gates to replace the wooden gates of Kiev incorporated a cupola in the form of
a Slavonic helmet. In the design, the
archway rested on granite pillars and its peak was to be decorated with a huge
headpiece of Russian carved designs including the Russian state eagle. To commemorate what was referred to by the
Tsar as "the event of April 4, 1866", a design competition commenced.
Though proposals poured in including a
drawing by Hartmann, Russian
authorities scrapped the effort and while the Tsar may have been relieved to
dodge assassination, explicit acknowledgement of the event may have led to the
cancellation of the competition. Hartmann's
early death at the age of thirty-nine devastated Mussorgsky, a close personal
friend. Distraught by his friend's
passing, Mussorgsky agreed to become involved in a commemorative art exhibition
of over 400 paintings by his friend. The
exhibition inspired Mussorgsky to complete a classical piano suite, Pictures at
an Exhibition, representing pieces of Hartmann's artwork. Mussorgsky's homage to his friend was
universally ignored until Ravel arranged the work to be played by a symphonic
orchestra. Pictures in an
Exhibition has since been orchestrated by at least ten different composers.
Victor Hartmann was a painter, architect and designer whose paintings went back to traditional Russian legends and folktales. As an architect, he rejected the neo-classical Roman styles that were becoming fashionable, and designed buildings based on medieval and traditional styles. In 1873 Hartmann died suddenly at the age of 39. Vladimir Stassov, an art critic and mutual friend, organised a posthumous exhibition of Hartmann's paintings, sketches and designs, over 400 in total. Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition is a musical representation of wandering through an art gallery. Few of Hartmann's original paintings survive, but the few that do may be seen at: http://www.good-music-guide.com/reviews/057_mussorgsky_pictures.htm
Any list of the leading novelists
of the 19th century, writing in English, would almost surely include Charles Dickens, Thomas
Hardy, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain. But they do not
appear at the top of a list of the most influential writers of their time. Instead, a recent study has found, Jane
Austen, author of “Pride and Prejudice, “ and Sir Walter Scott, the creator of
“Ivanhoe,” had the greatest effect on other authors, in terms of writing style
and themes. These two were “the literary
equivalent of Homo erectus, or, if you prefer, Adam and Eve,” Matthew L.
Jockers wrote in research published last year. He based his conclusion on an analysis of
3,592 works published from 1780 to 1900. It was a lot of digging, and a computer did
it. The study, which involved
statistical parsing and aggregation of thousands of novels, made other striking
observations. For example, Austen’s
works cluster tightly together in style and theme, while those of George Eliot
(a k a Mary Ann Evans) range more broadly, and more closely resemble the
patterns of male writers. Using similar
criteria, Harriet Beecher Stowe was 20 years ahead of her time, said Mr.
Jockers, whose research will soon be published in a book, “Macroanalysis:
Digital Methods and Literary History” (University of Illinois
Press). These findings are hardly the
last word. At this stage, this kind of
digital analysis is mostly an intriguing sign that Big Data technology is
steadily pushing beyond the Internet industry and scientific research into
seemingly foreign fields like the social sciences and the humanities. The new tools of discovery provide a fresh
look at culture, much as the microscope gave us a closer look at the subtleties
of life and the telescope opened the way to faraway galaxies. Steve Lohr
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/technology/literary-history-seen-through-big-datas-lens.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
"The presidents of the twelve Federal Reserve Banks have submitted a
joint letter responding to the Financial Stability
Oversight Council's proposal on money market mutual fund (MMF) reform. The presidents support the Council's efforts
to address the structural vulnerabilities of MMFs. They also agree with the Council's
determination that MMFs' activities and practices could create or increase the
risk of liquidity and credit problems spreading through the financial
system." See Feb. 12, 2013 letter
on Financial Stability Oversight
Council’s Proposed Recommendations Regarding Money Market Mutual Fund Reform
(the “Proposal”), FSOC–2012–0003, 77 FR 69455, November 19, 2012. http://www.bostonfed.org/news/press/2013/pr021213-letter.pdf
Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday") is an
annual Carnival
celebration held in Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans,
Louisiana. The celebration of Mardi Gras was brought to Louisiana by
early French
settlers. The first record of the
holiday being celebrated in Louisiana was at the mouth of the Mississippi
River in what is now lower Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, on
March 3, 1699. The traditional colors of Mardi Gras are purple (justice), green (faith)
and gold (power). These colors are said to have been chosen by Grand Duke Alexis
Alexandrovitch Romanoff of Russia during a visit to New Orleans in 1872. Inexpensive strings of beads and toys have
been thrown from floats to parade-goers since at least the late 19th century. Until the 1960s, the most common form was
multi-colored strings of glass beads made in Czechoslovakia.
These were supplanted by less expensive
and more durable plastic beads, first from Hong Kong,
then from Taiwan,
and more recently from China. Lower-cost beads
and toys allow riders to purchase greater quantities and throws have become
more numerous and common. In the 1990s,
many people lost interest in small, cheap beads, often leaving them where they
landed on the ground. Larger, more
elaborate metallic beads and strands with figures of animals, people, or other
objects have become the sought-after throws. In a retro-inspired twist, glass beads have
returned to parades. Now made in India,
glass beads are one of the most valuable throws. Celebrations begin early on Mardi Gras Day,
which can fall on any Tuesday between February 3 and March 9 (depending on the
date of Easter). Monday is known as Lundi
Gras ("Fat Monday"). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans_Mardi_Gras
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