Hispaniola, formerly Española,
second largest island of the West Indies, lies within the Greater Antilles. It is divided
politically into the Republic of Haiti (west) and the Dominican Republic (east). The island’s
area is 29,418 square miles (76,192 square km); its greatest length is nearly
400 miles (650 km), and its width is 150 miles (241 km). Christopher Columbus landed on the island in 1492 and named it La Isla
Española, which was supposedly Anglicized to Hispaniola. During Spanish colonial times it was commonly called Santo Domingo (English: San Domingo), after the capital city, and
this name is still sometimes used. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/266962/Hispaniola
Santo Domingo, capital
of the Dominican
Republic, is situated on the southeast coast of the island of Hispaniola,
at the mouth of the Ozama River, and is the oldest permanent city established
by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere.
Santo Domingo was founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, as the capital of the
first Spanish colony in the New World. The
original city site was located on the left (east) bank of the Ozama River and
was called Nueva Isabela in honour of Queen Isabella I of Spain. It was destroyed by a hurricane, however, and
was rebuilt in 1502 at its present location on the right bank of the river. It became the starting point of most of the
Spanish expeditions of exploration and conquest of the other islands of the West Indies and the adjacent mainland. In 1586 Sir Francis Drake, the English buccaneer,
sacked the city. In 1655 its inhabitants
defeated a British force that had been sent to seize the city. From 1795 to 1809 Santo Domingo was under
French domination, and then, after another brief Spanish period, it was
conquered by invaders from Haiti, its neighbour to the west on Hispaniola. Independence was proclaimed in 1844, and Santo
Domingo became the capital of the new Dominican Republic until the republic’s
annexation to Spain in 1861–65. The city has been the Dominican capital since the restoration of
independence in 1865. The city’s name,
officially changed in 1936 to Ciudad Trujillo in honour of the dictator Rafael Trujillo, was restored after his
assassination in 1961. Santo Domingo claims the oldest university in the
Western Hemisphere: the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (founded 1538). The historic district of the city was
designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/523322/Santo-Domingo
Santo Domingo is known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán. Two
novels about Santo Domingo are The Goats of Santo Domingo by Robert McEvilla
and The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa.
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo Molina (1891-1961) ruled the
Dominican Republic from 1930-1961. He
was referred to as The Chief or The Goat.
Find Trujillo in the media at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Trujillo
Caribmap, a cartographic history of Caribbean islands
The common names
"pansy" and "violet" are often used
interchangeably. When a distinction is
made, plants considered to be pansies have four petals pointing upwards, and
only one pointing down. Violets have
three petals pointing up and two pointing down.
Thus Viola cornuta is commonly referred to as a
pansy. The name pansy is derived
from the French word pensée "thought", and
was imported into Late Middle English as a name of viola
in the mid 15th century, as the flower was regarded as a symbol of
remembrance. The name "love in
idleness" was meant to imply the image of a lover who has little or no
other employment than to think of his beloved one. The name "heart’s-ease" came from
the woman St. Euphrasia, whose name in Greek signifies
cheerfulness of mind. Modern
horticulturalists tend to use the term "pansy" for those
multi-coloured large-flowered hybrids that are grown for bedding purposes every
year, while "viola" is usually reserved for smaller, more delicate
annuals and perennials. In Hamlet, Ophelia distributes flowers with the remark,
"There's pansies, that's for thoughts" (IV.5). Other poets referencing the pansy include Ben Jonson,
Bernard
Barton, Michael Drayton, Edmund
Spenser, William Wakefield, and William Wordsworth. Nathaniel Hawthorne published his last literary
effort, an unfinished piece, entitled Pansie, a Fragment, sometimes
called Little Pansie, a fragment in 1864. D. H.
Lawrence's Pansies: Poems by D.
H. Lawrence was published in 1929, and Margaret
Mitchell originally chose Pansy as the name of her Gone with the Wind heroine, but settled on
Scarlett just before the book went into print.
See images at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansy
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg
harry (HAR-ee) verb. tr., intr. 1. To harass,
attack, or annoy, especially repeatedly.
2. To raid or pillage. From Old
English hergian. Ultimately from the
Indo-European root koro- (war, host, army) which also gave us harbor,
harbinger, herald, harness, hurry, and harangue. Earliest documented use: 1330.
mulligan (MUHL-i-guhn)
noun 1. A second chance, especially in golf where a
player is sometimes given another shot to make up for a poor shot which is not
counted. 2. A stew made from odds and ends, using
whatever is available. Both senses of
the word are from the name Mulligan.
It's not certain who these two Mulligans were -- maybe a golf player and
a chef. Earliest documented use: 1936.
Nov. 19, 2013 Wikimedia Foundation has asked editing
services firm Wiki-PR to cease and desist editing the Wikipedia site for
allegedly authoring articles for money and passing them off as written by
unbiased sources. The foundation hosts
Wikipedia and other sites, supported by a community of volunteers. Its terms of use warn against "Attempting
to impersonate another user or individual, misrepresenting your affiliation
with any individual or entity, or using the username of another user with the
intent to deceive..." On its website, Wiki-PR offers Wikipedia page
creation, monitoring and translation services, though it states that it never
directly edits Wikipedia. Editors of the
English version of Wikipedia have started investigating into allegations of
suspicious edits and sockpuppetry, the practice of using online identities for
purposes of deception, Sue Gardner, executive director of Wikimedia, wrote last
month in a blog post. Wikipedia blocked or banned more than 250
user accounts, as it appeared that probably several hundred accounts may have
been paid to write articles on Wikipedia promoting organizations or products,
in violation of website policies and guidelines, Gardner wrote. The online encyclopedia has been struggling with a
credibility issue after reports that companies and some individuals have edited
the site to promote their companies, products and viewpoints. "Editing-for-pay has been a divisive
topic inside Wikipedia for many years, particularly when the edits to articles
are promotional in nature," Gardner wrote.
In October, Wiki-PR and its agents, who derive financial benefit from
the editing, were banned by the Wikimedia community of independent volunteers
from editing the English version of Wikipedia, according to the letter to French on Tuesday from
Wikimedia's lawyer. Wiki-PR is said to
have stated its intention to work with the community to get the ban lifted, yet
admitted on Monday that it has continued to "actively market paid advocacy
editing services," despite the ban, according to the letter. Wikimedia
said it had discovered evidence independently that Wiki-PR was continuing its
paid advocacy. John Ribiero http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9244193/Wikipedia_asks_Wiki_PR_to_stop_making_changes_to_pages
Nov. 23, 2013 As two
giant “legs” crisscrossed the football field, Jonathan Waters watched the
Ohio State University marching band give life to a complex vision. Michael Jackson was moon-walking. The quick-footed musicians — their protruding
instruments within inches of colliding — drew wild applause from the crowd at
Ohio Stadium. In previous weeks,
spectators in the stands had been treated to formations depicting surfers,
Shrek and a galloping horse — and, this time, the King of Pop. The performances have scored tens of millions
of YouTube hits. Today broadcast
a live performance last month on the NBC morning show. Headlines have peppered news outlets worldwide
— from Britain’s Daily Mail to Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald.
Katherine Jackson, mother of the deceased King of Pop, even phoned Waters to
offer kudos. Such far-reaching
attention has elevated an already-celebrated group to a new artistic echelon —
thanks to the premium put on eye-popping animations and pop-culture savvy, an
extension of Waters’ philosophy of “tradition through innovation.” On campus, the mass whose bodies form likenesses
of battling pirate ships and Harry Potter maintains rock-star status. “It’s really great to see the support,” said
Ryan Barta, a 21-year-old senior trumpet player from Dublin. “People are so intrigued by what we do.” The stylistic sea change introduced by Waters
has left audiences — both in the stadium and online — eagerly awaiting the
group’s next feat. Until this season,
the OSU musicians used dozens of paper charts with coordinates detailing where
members needed to be on the field at precise moments throughout a song. But that method — common among bands at all
levels — has its drawbacks. “On paper,
it’s static images,” Barta said. “You
don’t see the in-between.” With 1
million pages printed during a season (price tag: $24,000), concerns about
costs and waste arose. A high-tech
solution — an iPad application — was introduced this year after Barta and OSU
band mate Charlie King pushed for the purchase of 45 iPads for squad leaders,
drum majors and staff members. (A
$25,000 gift from a private donor covered the expense.) The $6.99 software, known as Drillbook Next,
allows users to upload charts whose results unfold, beat by beat, with the
repeated tap of a finger. Similar to
flip-book animation, an entire routine plays out in real time on an iPad. Each member’s name appears alongside his or
her coordinates — so a director “can put names with a dot instead of calling
out ‘A1,’ ”
said Scott Rundell, creator of the app. “You want to know exactly where people are all the
time,” said Rundell, a computer engineer from Troy, Mich., and a University of
Michigan graduate. Kevin Joy http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2013/11/23/march-madness.html
REPENT for saying literally when you mean
figuratively! For grammarians, every day
is doomsday. Nov. 25, 2013 Non Sequitur
comic strip http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/
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