Five things you didn’t know about Debussy
By Elliot Antokoletz
To mark the anniversary of Debussy’s birth today in 1862, a list of little known facts about the composer.
August 2013
Ten ways to use a bibliography
What is a student to do with a list of citations? Are an author’s sources merely proof or can they be something more? We often discuss the challenges of the research process with students, scholars, and librarians.
Looking “askance”
By Anatoly Liberman
I have been meaning to tell the story of askance for quite some time—as a parable or an exemplum. Popular books and blogs prefer to deal with so-called interesting words. Dude, snob, and haberdasher always arouse a measure of enthusiasm, along with the whole nine yards, dated and recent slang, and the outwardly undecipherable family names.
A quiz on the history of sandwiches
August in National Panini month, honoring the lightly grilled, trendy sandwich that Americans have come to love over that past few decades. Instead of just focusing on just one sandwich though, we would like to present the entirety of the sandwich universe.
Five important facts about the Russian economy
By Michael V. Alexeev
Churchill once famously said that Russia was “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” While this definition was based mainly on Russia’s behavior in international politics in the late 1930s, it could also apply it to Russia’s economy today.
A Who’s Who of the Edinburgh Festival
By Daniel Parker
It’s that time of year again; Edinburgh is ablaze with art, theatre and music from around the world. For the month of August, Edinburgh is the culture capital of the world, as thousands of musicians, street-performers, actors, comedians, authors, and artists demonstrate their art at various venues across the city. Listed in Who’s Who and Who Was Who are some of the most famous names to have performed at the festival since its inception in 1947.
100th anniversary of the first crystal structure determinations
By André Authier
This year celebrates the hundredth anniversary of the first crystal structure determinations. On 30 July 1913, the crystal structure of diamond was published by W. H. and W. L. Bragg, father and son, and those of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and potassium bromide, by W. L. Bragg, the son.
Who were the Carlisle Commissioners? Part two: Jeremy Bentham
By Daniel Parker
Jeremy Bentham wanted to become a Carlisle Peace Commissioner but his application was wilfully ignored by Governor Johnstone. The Carlisle Peace Commissioners set out to the United States in 1778, three years into the American Revolutionary War, to negotiate a peace treaty.
The 1812 Overture: an attempted narration
I was a sophomore in college, sitting in my morning music history course on the Romantic period, and my professor was discussing the concept of program music, which Grove Music Online defines as “Music of a narrative or descriptive kind; the term is often extended to all music that attempts to represent extra-musical concepts without resort to sung words.”
Happy birthday, Scofield!
By Kate Pais
Best known for its cross referencing system, helpful commentary in the margins, and highlighting quotations from Jesus in red, the Scofield Study Bible provides many resources for modern readers of various backgrounds. The Scofield Reference Bible, as it is also known, is used by millions of readers around the world from numerous denominations of Christianity and academic fields.
Celebrating Coco Chanel (1883-1971)
By Audrey Ingerson
“I, who love women, wanted to give her clothes in which she could drive a car, yet at the same time clothes that emphasized her femininity, clothes that flowed with her body. A woman is closest to being naked when she is well dressed.”
Just who are humanitarian workers?
By Jennifer Moore
On the 19th of August, World Humanitarian Day, we honor the contributions of humanitarian workers around the world, especially those who have lost their lives helping people in war-torn societies. This day was first marked in 2008 through a Swedish-sponsored resolution in the United Nations General Assembly
Gender politics and the United Nations Security Council
By Gina Heathcote
On 25 June 2013, the United Nations Security Council issued its sixth resolution on women, peace, and security: Resolution 2106. In line with three of the preceding resolutions on women, peace, and security – Resolutions 1820, 1889 and 1960 – the Council focused on the issue of sexual violence in armed conflict.
Who were the Carlisle Commissioners? Part one
By Dr. Robert V. McNamee
In July, Electronic Enlightenment (EE) updated with materials taken from the Virginia Historical Society and the correspondence of Adam Ferguson, amongst others. These apparently disparate historical correspondences (and others already published in EE) are brought together within this unique digital framework so that students, scholars and the public can read, in this instance, “across the Atlantic”.
The black quest for justice and innocence
By Brenda Stevenson
Those who followed the Trayvon Martin case this summer did so not just because of the conflicting details of the shooting deaths of these two unarmed black youth, but because these cases, like too many others, have played out in our public consciousness as markers of American justice. Does “liberty and justice for all” actually exist; or are these words from our Pledge of Allegiance just part of the grand American narrative that is more myth than reality?
Antarctica in the imagination
Long before it was first spotted in 1820, Antarctica has captured imaginations, and the many quests undertaken to explore it never fail to be dramatic adventures. Although Antarctica has been and continues to be studied, many do not know the continent’s past and the challenges it will face in the coming decades.