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December 25
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A Very Trainor Christmas is a Christmas album by American singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor (pictured). It was released on October 30, 2020. Trainor co-wrote the album with her brothers, Ryan and Justin, among others. It features artists such as Earth, Wind & Fire, Seth MacFarlane, Trainor's cousins, and her father. The album covers Christmas standards such as "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (1951) and "Last Christmas" (1984), with six original recordings. Trainor promoted A Very Trainor Christmas with public appearances and televised performances. Trainor and MacFarlane's cover of "White Christmas" (1942) reached number one on the Adult Contemporary chart. Several other tracks received music videos. Critical commentary for the album was generally positive, with praise directed towards Trainor's charisma and the material. It reached number 7 on the US Holiday Albums chart and the top 50 in Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. (This article is part of a featured topic: Meghan Trainor albums.)
April 25
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Hydrochloric acid is the aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl) gas. It is a strong acid, facilitating wide use. As a highly corrosive liquid, hydrochloric acid should be handled only with appropriate safety precautions. Hydrochloric acid has been an important and frequently-used chemical from early history, and was discovered by the Persian alchemist Jabir around 800. It was used throughout the Middle Ages by alchemists in the quest for the philosopher's stone, and later by several European scientists including Glauber, Priestley, and Davy. During the Industrial Revolution, it became an important industrial chemical for many applications. Applications include large scale production of organic compounds such as vinyl chloride for PVC and MDI/TDI for PUR. (more...)
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March 25
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The military history of the Soviet Union began in the early days following the 1917 October Revolution and the creation of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, which joined with other former provinces of the Russian Empire to become the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. In the 1940s, the Soviet Union took part in World War II, assisting in the defeat of Nazi Germany and militarily occupied many former Axis nations in eastern Europe, which formed its satellite states in the Soviet bloc. Following the end of World War II, the Soviet Union became one of two superpowers, rivaling the United States. The Cold War between the two nations led to Soviet military buildups, the arms race, and the Space Race. By the early 1980s, the Soviet armed forces were the world's largest by every measure—in number of weapons, in manpower, and in size of their military-industrial base. In the end, the Soviet Union fell in 1991 due to economic and political factors rather than due to military defeat. (more...)
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February 25
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Sir John Vanbrugh was an English architect and dramatist, best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restoration comedies, The Relapse (1696) and The Provoked Wife (1697), which have become enduring stage favourites but originally occasioned much controversy. Vanbrugh was in many senses a radical throughout his life. As a young man and a committed Whig, he was part of the scheme to overthrow James II, put William III on the throne and protect English parliamentary democracy, dangerous undertakings which landed him in the dreaded Bastille of Paris as a political prisoner. In his career as a playwright, he offended many sections of Restoration and 18th-century society, not only by the sexual explicitness of his plays, but by their messages in defence of women's rights in marriage. His architectural work was as bold and daring as his early political activism and his marriage-themed plays, and jarred conservative opinions on the subject. (more...)
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January 25
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Hip hop music is a popular style of music. It is composed of two parts: rapping (emceeing) and DJing; along with breakdancing and graffiti art, these are the four components of hip hop, a cultural movement which began among African Americans in New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is sometimes used synonymously with hip hop music, though it is also used to refer specifically to the practice of rapping, which is just one component of hip hop music. Most typically, hip hop consists of one or more rappers who spout semi-autobiographic tales, often relating to a fictionalized counterpart, in an intensely rhythmic lyrical form, making abundant use of techniques like assonance, alliteration and rhyme. Along with the rapper a DJ or a live band plays a beat. This beat is often from the percussion of a different song, usually rock, funk or soul, and is sometimes sampled. In addition to the beat, other sounds are often sampled, synthesized or performed. (more...)
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December 25
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The Shroud of Turin is a linen cloth bearing the image of a man who appears to have been physically traumatized in a manner consistent with crucifixion. It is presently kept in the royal chapel of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, Italy. Some believe it is the cloth that covered Jesus when he was placed in his tomb and that his image was somehow recorded on its fibers. Skeptics contend it is a medieval hoax or forgery. It is the subject of intense debate among some scientists, believers, historians and writers regarding where, when and how the shroud and its image were created. (more...)
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November 25
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The history of English poetry stretches from the middle of the 7th century to the present day. Over this period, English poets have written some of the most enduring poems in European culture, and the language and its poetry have spread around the globe. Consequently, the term English poetry is unavoidably ambiguous. It can mean poetry written in England (and, by extension, the United Kingdom), or poetry written in English. With the growth of British trade and the British Empire, the English language has been widely used outside England. In the twenty-first century, only a small percentage of the world's native English speakers live in England, and there is also a vast population of non-native speakers of English who are capable of writing poetry in the language. A number of major national poetries, including the American, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian poetry have emerged and developed. Since 1922, Irish poetry has also been increasingly viewed as a separate area of study. (more...)
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October 25
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Karl Dönitz was a naval leader in Nazi Germany during World War II. Despite never joining the Nazi Party, Dönitz attained the high rank of Grand Admiral and served as Commander in Chief of Submarines, and later Commander in Chief of the German War Navy. Under his command, the U-boat fleet fought the Battle of the Atlantic, attempting to starve the United Kingdom of vital supply shipments. He also briefly served as President of Germany following the death of Adolf Hitler. Following the war, Dönitz went on trial as a war criminal in the Nuremberg Trials, charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace and planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression. Dönitz produced an affidavit from Admiral Chester Nimitz who testified that the United States had used unrestricted warfare as a tactic in the Pacific and that American submarines did not rescue survivors in situations where their own safety was in question. Ultimately, the tribunal found Dönitz guilty of both charges. He served ten years in Spandau Prison, West Berlin. Later, numerous Allied officers sent letters to Dönitz expressing their dismay over the verdict of his trial. (more...)
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September 25
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Du Fu was a Chinese poet during the Tang Dynasty. Along with Li Po, he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His own greatest ambition was to help his country by becoming a successful civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations. His life, like the country, was devastated by the An Lushan Rebellion of 755, and the last 15 years of his life were a time of almost constant unrest. Initially unpopular, his works came to be hugely influential in both Chinese and Japanese poetry. He has been called "poet historian" and "poet sage" by Chinese critics, while the range of his work has allowed him to be introduced to Western readers as "the Chinese Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Shakespeare, Milton, Burns, Wordsworth, Béranger, Hugo or Baudelaire". (more...)
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September 6
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The Warsaw Uprising was an armed struggle during the Second World War by the Polish Home Army (Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw from German occupation and Nazi rule. It started on August 1, 1944 as a part of a nationwide uprising, Operation Tempest. The Polish troops resisted the German-led forces until October 2. An estimated 85% of the city was destroyed during the urban guerrilla war and after the end of hostilities. The Uprising started at a crucial point in the war as the Soviet army was approaching Warsaw. Although the Soviet army was within a few hundred metres of the city from September 16 onward, the link between the uprising and the advancing army was never made. This failure and the reasons behind it have been a matter of controversy ever since. (more...)
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August 25
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Tuberculosis is the most common major infectious disease today, infecting one-third of the world's population with nine million new cases of active disease annually, resulting in two million deaths, mostly in developing countries.
Hopes that the disease could be completely eliminated have been dashed since the rise of drug-resistant strains in the 1980s. (more...)
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July 25
[edit]Lollapalooza was an American traveling music festival featuring alternative rock, rap, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. Organized in 1991 by Perry Farrell, singer for the band Jane's Addiction, Lollapalooza ran annually through 1997, and was revived in 2003. The festival encapsulated youth culture for the 1990s much as Woodstock did for the 1960s; Lollapalooza Generation is often used as a synonym for Generation X. (more...)
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June 25
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Greek mythology is the set of myths which come from the religion of ancient Hellenic civilization. These stories were familiar to all ancient Greeks and, although some thinkers professed skepticism, they provided the people with both rituals and history. Like the religions of most of their neighbors, the Greeks believed in gods and goddesses who were associated with specific aspects of life. Although there were hundreds of beings that could be considered "gods" in one sense or another, most figured only into obscure bits of folklore, perhaps as fragments of remembrances of more ancient deities. (more...)
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May 25
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The British East India Company was founded by a Royal Charter of Queen Elizabeth I on December 31, 1600. Over the next 250 years, it became one of the most powerful commercial enterprises of its time. The British East India Company's business was centered on India, where it also acquired auxiliary governmental and military functions which came to overshadow its commercial activities. India was often referred to as the Jewel in the Crown. (more...)
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April 25
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Assassin has come to mean someone who kills people selectively, usually for ideological or political reasons. The immediate motivation for an assassin may be money (in the case of a hit man), opposition to a person's beliefs or belief systems (in the case of a fanatic, for example), orders from a government (often carried about by a subversive agent such as a spy), or loyalty to a competing leader or group. Assassin, like companion terms such as terrorist and freedom fighter, are often considered to be loaded terms; however, the definition of assassin is clearer than others and most assassins appear, publicly, comfortable enough with their deed to describe it as such, whereas few would call themselves a terrorist. (more...)
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March 25
[edit]Edward Gough Whitlam was an Australian politician and the 21st Prime Minister of Australia from 1972 to 1975. When elected, he was Australia's first Labor Prime Minister for 23 years. He is the only Australian Prime Minister to be dismissed by the Governor-General. He has been deified by his admirers and demonized by his opponents, and is one of the most controversial figures in Australian political history. (more...)
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