In Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel *Brave New World *the calendar years are numbered in the “AF” era (“after Ford”) with year 1 AF being equivalent to AD 1908, the year in which Ford’s first Model T car rolled off the assembly line.
Brave New World is the title of the 2000 album by Iron Maiden, which reunited the band with vocalist Bruce Dickinson after a seven-year absence. Additionally, Brave New World is also the title of the 1999 album by Styx, which reunited the band with guitarist Tommy Shaw after a ten-year absence.
In cricket a ‘maiden’ over occurs when the bowler delivers the ball six successive times (collectively known as an “over”) and the batsmen are unable to score any runs.
In cricket, a “beamer” is somewhat similar to baseball’s bean ball pitch or brush-back pitch. In cricket a beamer results in a “no ball” which yields a run (sometimes two runs) for the batting team, but in baseball a bean ball or brush-back pitch means the batter picks himself up off of the dirt, unless he is beaned in which case he gets one base.
Nm.
The ancient Babylonians used a *sexagesimal *(i.e. base-60) positional numeral system.
The number 60 is a superior highly composite number, which means it has more divisors than any other number scaled relative to the number itself. The first ten superior highly composite numbers are 2, 6, 12, 60, 120, 360, 2520, 5040, 55440, and 720720.
In maths the *factorial *of a positive integer n is denoted by n! and is equal to the product of all the positive integers less than or equal to n. For example:
7! = 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 = 5,040
The factorial operation is encountered in many areas of maths, particularly in combinatorics and probability.
The largest factorial calculation that can be displayed on calculators that use scientific notation with 2-digit decimal exponents is 69!, which has a value of 1.71 x 10[sup]98[/sup]
The factorial notation n! was introduced by French mathematician Christian Kramp in 1808.
King Christian IX of Denmark was termed the Father-in-law of Europe. One son succeeded him on the throne of Denmark; another became the King of the Hellenes. His two elder daughters became the Queen of the United Kingdom and Tsarina of Russia respectively.
Christian’s grandsons included Nicholas II of Russia, Constantine I of the Hellenes, George V of the United Kingdom, Christian X of Denmark and Haakon VII of Norway.
Norwegian pianist and composer Edvard Grieg (“greeg”), 1843-1907, was born in Bergen. He traveled widely throughout Europe and his music helped identify Norway to the continent. The largest building in Bergen is Grieg Hall.
Though he cheerfully admitted his poor technique, Edgar Bergen was one of the most successful ventriloquists in American stage and screen and was host of the Chase and Sanborn Show on radio for many years, with his dummies Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. He’s best known today as the father of Candice.
Candice Bergen provided the voice of HAL’s Earthbound companion computer, SAL, in 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Bergen was credited as “Olga Mallsnerd.”
The Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, and the rest of the murdered Russian imperial family, were canonised as passion bearers in 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church.
A passion play, depicting the final days of the life of Jesus, has been staged in the Bavarian town of Oberammergau since 1634, in gratitude for being spared from the bubonic plague. It is now staged once every ten years, primarily as a tourist attraction. The text of the play is a composite of four distinct manuscripts dating from the 15th and 16th centuries, including anti-Semitic overtones typical of the time.
Each of the four Evangelists’ version of the Passion is read during Holy Week (the week prior to Easter):
- on Palm Sunday, that of Saint Matthew;
- on the Tuesday in Holy Week, that of Saint Mark;
- on the Wednesday in Holy Week, that of Saint Luke; and
- on Good Friday, that of Saint John.
Saint John, New Brunswick, has often been confused by travellers with St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador. In response, the city and travel agents recommend that “Saint” always be spelled out in full, to distinguish Saint John from St. John’s.
Cartoonist B. Kliban, best known for the craze over his cats some years ago, was not above a Bible gag either, as his cartoon of John the Baptist shows: https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3337/3191470815_673dd20e81_b.jpg
The day of a saint’s death is normally celebrated as his feast day, because that day marks his entrance into heaven. However there are two feasts of Saint John the Baptist in the liturgical calendar: his birth on 24 June and his death on 29 August.
According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus Christ and John the Baptist were cousins; John was slightly older.