The Wikipedia article of the day for December 24, 2016 is Themes in Maya Angelou’s autobiographies.
Themes in Maya Angelou’s autobiographies include racism, identity, family, and travel. Angelou (1928–2014), an African-American writer, achieved critical acclaim for her first of seven autobiographies, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). That book and the second in the series, Gather Together in My Name (1974), are about the lives of Black women in America. Her autobiographies all have the same structure, a narrative of how she coped within the larger white society she inhabited. In her third autobiography, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas (1976), she showed the integrity of the African-American character as she experienced more positive interactions with whites. The series continues with The Heart of a Woman (1981), All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002), and Mom & Me & Mom (2013). Angelou’s autobiographies take place from Arkansas to Africa and back to the US, and span almost forty years, from the start of World War II to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 24, 2016
Wikipedia article of the day for December 23, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 23, 2016 is Richard Dannatt.
Richard Dannatt (born 23 December 1950) is a retired senior British Army officer who served as the Constable of the Tower of London from August 2009 to July 2016. He was commissioned into the Green Howards in 1971, and his first tour of duty was in Belfast as a platoon commander. During his second tour of duty, Dannatt was awarded the Military Cross. He commanded 4th Armoured Brigade in 1994 during its peace operations in Bosnia. In 1999 he simultaneously commanded 3rd Mechanised Division and the British forces in Kosovo. After a brief tour in Bosnia, he was appointed Assistant Chief of the General Staff. Following the attacks of 11 September 2001, Dannatt became involved in planning for subsequent operations in the Middle East. As Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps from 2003, he led the planning for their deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was appointed Chief of the General Staff in 2006, succeeding Sir Mike Jackson. Calling for improved pay and conditions for soldiers, less military focus on Iraq, and more on Afghanistan, Dannatt faced controversy over his outspokenness.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 22, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 22, 2016 is Andrew Sledd.
Andrew Sledd (1870–1939) was an American theologian, university professor and university president. A native of Virginia, he was ordained as a Methodist minister after earning his master’s degree; he later earned a doctorate at Yale. After teaching for several years, Sledd became the last president of the University of Florida at Lake City from 1904 to 1905, and the first president of what is now the University of Florida from 1905 to 1909. He was president of Southern University from 1910 to 1914, and became a professor and an influential biblical scholar at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology from 1914 to 1939. Bibliographies highlight his 1902 magazine article advocating better legal and social treatment of African-Americans, his role in founding the modern University of Florida, his scholarly analysis of biblical texts as literature, his call for an end to racial violence, and his influence on a generation of Methodist seminary students, scholars and ministers.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 21, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 21, 2016 is Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev).
Lieutenant Kijé is music by Sergei Prokofiev originally written to accompany the film of the same name, produced by the Belgoskino film studios in Leningrad and released in 1934 (poster pictured). It was his first attempt at film music, and his first commission from within the Soviet Union; he had lived abroad since the 1917 October Revolution. In the early days of sound cinema, among the distinguished composers ready to write film music, Prokofiev was not an obvious choice for the commission. Based in Paris for almost a decade, he had a reputation, at odds with the cultural norms of the Soviet Union, for experimentation and dissonance. Nevertheless, he was anxious to return to his homeland, and saw the film commission as an opportunity to write music in a more accessible style. After the film’s successful release, he adapted the music into what became a popular orchestral suite, his Op. 60. First performed on 21 December 1934, it became part of the international concert repertoire, and one of the composer’s best-known and most frequently recorded works. Elements of its score were used in several later films, and in two popular songs of the Cold War era.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 20, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 20, 2016 is Strepsirrhini.
Strepsirrhini is a suborder of primates that includes lemurs from Madagascar, bushbabies and pottos from Africa, and lorises from India and southeast Asia. Also included are the extinct adapiform primates, a diverse and widespread group that thrived during the Eocene in Europe, North America, and Asia, but disappeared from most of the Northern Hemisphere as the climate cooled. Characterized by their wet nose or rhinarium, strepsirrhines have diversified to fill many ecological niches. They have a smaller brain than comparably sized simians, large olfactory lobes for smell, and a vomeronasal organ to detect pheromones. Their eyes contain a reflective layer to improve their night vision. Lemurs have a toothcomb, a specialized set of teeth in the lower front part of the mouth, mostly used for combing fur during grooming. Strepsirrhines are primarily tree-dwelling, feeding on fruit, leaves, and insects. Many are endangered by habitat destruction, poaching for bushmeat, and live capture for the exotic pet trade.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 19, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 19, 2016 is Mulholland Drive (film).
Mulholland Drive is a 2001 American neo-noir mystery film written and directed by David Lynch (pictured) and starring Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Ann Miller, and Robert Forster. It tells the story of an aspiring actress named Betty, newly arrived in Los Angeles, who befriends an amnesiac woman hiding in an apartment that belongs to Betty’s aunt. The film includes seemingly unrelated vignettes that eventually interlock, along with darkly comic scenes and images, presented in Lynch’s signature surreal style. Much of the filming took place in 1999 as a television pilot. After it was rejected by television executives, Lynch gave the pilot an ending and completed the project as a feature film. The cryptic ending, which he declined to explain, has left the general meaning of the film’s events open to interpretation. Mulholland Drive was acclaimed by critics and earned award nominations for Lynch at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival and 74th Academy Awards. The film is now widely regarded as one of his finest works.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 18, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 18, 2016 is John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan.
John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (b. 18 December 1934), known as Lord Lucan, disappeared without trace in 1974. Born in Marylebone, he attended Eton College and served with the Coldstream Guards, later becoming a professional gambler. Lucan had expensive tastes; he raced power boats and drove an Aston Martin. In 1963 he married Veronica Duncan, with whom he had three children, but the marriage collapsed in 1972 and he moved out of the family home in Belgravia. He lost a bitter custody battle, began to spy on his wife and children, and incurred gambling losses. In November 1974 the children’s nanny, Sandra Rivett, was murdered in the basement of the Lucan family home. Lady Lucan was also attacked and she identified Lucan as her assailant. As the police investigated, Lucan drove to a friend’s house in East Sussex; hours later, he left and was never seen again. The car was found with a blood-stained interior and a lead pipe similar to one found at the crime scene in its boot. A warrant for his arrest was issued, but despite hundreds of reported sightings, he has not been found and as of 2016 is legally presumed dead.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 17, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 17, 2016 is Final Fantasy XIII.
Final Fantasy XIII is a science fiction role-playing video game, initially released by Square Enix for PlayStation 3 on December 17, 2009, and later for Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, and mobile devices. This edition in the series includes a new character-development system, as well as the return of summoned monsters, the chocobo race, and airships. The former soldier Lightning begins her fight along with a band of allies to save her sister from both the government and a deadly fate as an unwilling servant to a god-like being. Final Fantasy XIII is the first game to use Square Enix’s Crystal Tools engine and is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection of games. It received mostly positive reviews from video game publications for its graphics, presentation, and battle system. The game’s story received a mixed response, and its linearity was criticized. Selling 1.7 million copies in Japan in 2009, Final Fantasy XIII became the fastest-selling title in the history of the series. It sold over 7 million copies overall and led to two sequel games.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 16, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 16, 2016 is Vincent van Gogh.
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter. His early works, mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant labourers, contain few signs of the vivid colour that distinguishes his later work. In 1886 he moved to Paris where he met members of the avant-garde, including Emile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were reacting against the Impressionist sensibility. As Van Gogh’s work developed he created a new approach to still lifes and local landscapes. In the south of France in 1888, he turned to painting olive trees, cypresses, wheat fields and sunflowers, using brighter colours. Selling only one painting during his lifetime, he was considered a madman and a failure, and committed suicide at 37. His reputation began to grow in the early 20th century as Fauvists and German Expressionists took up elements of his painting style. He has attained widespread critical and popular acclaim, and is remembered as an important but tragic painter. His works are among the world’s most expensive paintings.
Wikipedia article of the day for December 15, 2016
The Wikipedia article of the day for December 15, 2016 is Yugoslav torpedo boat T1.
The Yugoslav torpedo boat T1 was a sea-going vessel operated by the Royal Yugoslav Navy between 1921 and 1941. Launched on 15 December 1913 as a 250t-class torpedo boat for the Austro-Hungarian Navy under the name 76 T, she was armed with two 66 mm (2.6 in) guns and four 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, and could carry 10–12 naval mines. The vessel performed anti-submarine operations and convoy, escort and minesweeping tasks during World War I. She was escorting the dreadnought SMS Szent István when that ship was sunk by Italian torpedo boats in June 1918. Following Austria-Hungary’s defeat, the torpedo boat was allocated to what became the Royal Yugoslav Navy. During the German-led Axis invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941, the vessel was captured by the Italians. She served with the Royal Italian Navy, but was returned to the Royal Yugoslav Navy-in-exile following the Italian capitulation in September 1943. She was commissioned by the Yugoslav Navy after World War II and, after a refit, served as Golešnica until 1959.
