Thứ Sáu, 31 tháng 3, 2017

Wikipedia article of the day for April 1, 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for April 1, 2017 is Nominative determinism.
Nominative determinism is the hypothesis that people are drawn to professions that fit their name. The term was first used in the magazine New Scientist in 1994, after its humorous Feedback column mentioned a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon. The hypothesis had been suggested by psychologist Carl Jung, citing as an example Sigmund Freud (German for "joy"), who studied pleasure. A few recent empirical studies have indicated that certain professions are disproportionately represented by people with appropriate surnames, though the methods of these studies have been challenged. One explanation for nominative determinism is the theory of implicit egotism, which states that humans have an unconscious preference for things they associate with themselves. An alternative explanation is genetic: an ancestor might have been named Smith or Taylor according to their occupation, and the genes they passed down might correlate to aptitudes for those professions.

Thứ Năm, 30 tháng 3, 2017

Wikipedia article of the day for March 31, 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 31, 2017 is Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar.
The Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar is a commemorative coin that was authorized on March 31, 1936, and struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint that year. Produced with the stated purpose of commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Cincinnati as a center of music, it was conceived by Thomas G. Melish, a coin enthusiast whose group bought the entire issue from the government, and who resold them at high prices. Melish had hired sculptor Constance Ortmayer to design the coin, but the Commission of Fine Arts objected to Stephen Foster being on the obverse, finding no connection between Foster, who died in 1864, and the supposed anniversary. Nevertheless, 5,000 sets of three coins, one from each of the three mints, were issued and sold to Melish's group, the only authorized purchaser. He likely held back much of the issue for later resale, and with few pieces available, prices spiked to over five times the issue price. The coins are still valuable today. Melish has been assailed by numismatic writers as greedy.

Thứ Tư, 29 tháng 3, 2017

Wikipedia article of the day for March 30, 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 30, 2017 is Juan Manuel de Rosas.
Juan Manuel de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877) was an army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Like other wealthy provincial warlords, Rosas enlisted rural workers from his landholdings in a private militia, and took part in the numerous disputes and civil wars in his country. He eventually became the undisputed leader of the Argentine army and the Federalist Party. In 1831, he signed the Federal Pact, recognizing provincial autonomy and creating the Argentine Confederation. He established a dictatorship and formed the repressive Mazorca, an armed parapolice that killed thousands of citizens. By 1848, after a war against the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, a blockade by France, and a revolt in his own province, he ruled all of Argentina, and was attempting to annex the neighboring nations of Uruguay and Paraguay. When the Empire of Brazil came to Uruguay's aid, Rosas declared war in August 1851. The short Platine War ended with the defeat of Rosas and his flight to Britain. His last years were spent in exile living as a tenant farmer.

Thứ Ba, 28 tháng 3, 2017

Wikipedia article of the day for March 29, 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 29, 2017 is Boise National Forest.
Boise National Forest is a federally protected area of the U.S. state of Idaho in the national forest system. Created in 1908 from part of Sawtooth National Forest, it is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The Idaho Batholith underlies most of Boise National Forest, forming its Boise, Salmon River, and West mountain ranges; the forest reaches a maximum elevation of 9,730 feet (2,970 m) on Steel Mountain. Common land cover includes sagebrush steppe and spruce-fir forests. It contains 75 percent of the known populations of Sacajawea's bitterroot, a flowering plant endemic to Idaho. The Shoshone people occupied the forest before European settlers, and archeological sites have been found along rivers in the area. Trappers and fur traders of European descent arrived in the area in the early 1800s, starting with John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company in 1811. The first settlers moved into the mountains in the 1860s after gold was discovered. The gold rush forced many of the Shoshone out and led to conflicts including the Bannock War in southern Idaho. Tungsten, silver, antimony, and gold were mined in the forest until the mid-twentieth century.

Chủ Nhật, 26 tháng 3, 2017

Wikipedia article of the day for March 27, 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 27, 2017 is Mayabazar.
Mayabazar (Market of Illusions) is an Indian epic fantasy film directed by Kadiri Venkata Reddy and produced by B. Nagi Reddy and Aluri Chakrapani, first released on 27 March 1957. The film was shot in Telugu and Tamil with the same title, but with a few differences in the cast. The story is an adaptation of the folk tale Sasirekha Parinayam, which in turn is based on the epic Mahabharata. It tells the story of Krishna (N. T. Rama Rao) and Ghatotkacha (S. V. Ranga Rao), who try to reunite Arjuna's son Abhimanyu with his love, Balarama's daughter (Savitri). Though Rama Rao was initially reluctant to play the lead role, his portrayal of Krishna received acclaim and yielded more offers to reprise the same role in several unrelated films. Most of the musical score was composed by Ghantasala. Both versions of the film were critically and commercially successful. The film is considered a landmark in both Telugu and Tamil cinema, with praise for its cast and technical accomplishments, despite the limitations of the technology at the time. A May 2013 CNN-News18 poll listed Mayabazar as the greatest Indian film of all time.

Thứ Bảy, 25 tháng 3, 2017

Wikipedia article of the day for March 26, 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 26, 2017 is Interstate 8.
Interstate 8 (I-8) is an Interstate Highway in the southwestern United States. From the southern edge of Mission Bay in San Diego, California, it runs eastward across the Cuyamaca Mountains and the Imperial Valley. Crossing the Colorado River into Arizona, it continues through the city of Yuma across the Sonoran Desert, to the junction with I-10, between Phoenix and Tucson. The first route over the Cuyamaca Mountains was dedicated in 1912, and a plank road served as the first road across the Imperial Valley to Yuma; east of there, the Gila Trail continued east to Gila Bend. Several controversies erupted during I-8's construction process; questionable labor practices in Imperial County led to the federal conviction of mobster Jimmy Fratianno, and the Arizona government was found to have mismanaged financial resources by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee. The route was completed in 1975 through California, and by 1977 through Arizona, though the bridge over the Colorado River was not completed until 1978. A portion of the freeway in Imperial County had to be rebuilt following damage by the remnants of Hurricane Kathleen.

Thứ Năm, 23 tháng 3, 2017

Wikipedia article of the day for March 23, 2017

The Wikipedia article of the day for March 23, 2017 is Oran fatwa.
The Oran fatwa was an Islamic legal opinion issued in 1504 to address the forced conversion to Christianity of Muslims in the Crown of Castile in Iberia in 1500–1502. The fatwa sets out detailed relaxations of the sharia (Islamic law) requirements, allowing the Muslims to conform outwardly to Christianity and perform acts that are ordinarily forbidden in Islamic law, when necessary to survive. It includes relaxed instructions to fulfill the ritual prayers, charity and purification, and recommendations for how to handle obligations that violated Islamic law, such as worshipping as Christians, performing blasphemy, and consuming pork and wine. The fatwa enjoyed wide currency in Spain among Muslims and Moriscos – Muslims nominally converted to Christianity and their descendants – from the time of the first forced conversions up to the expulsion of the Moriscos (1609–1614). The author of the fatwa was Ahmad ibn Abi Jum'ah, a North African Islamic law scholar (mufti) of the Maliki school.