The aria “Großmächtige Prinzessin” (High and mighty princess), sung by the character Zerbinetta in Richard Strauss’ opera *Ariadne auf Naxos *(Ariadne on Naxos), is consistently ranked among the most difficult operatic arias in the repertoire. It is quite lengthy - about 10 minutes - and is a very sustained exercise in coloratura technique.
Alfred Hitchcock’s remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much features a lengthy scene in Royal Albert Hall where Jimmy Stewart is racing about, trying to prevent a murder. The scene, over 10 minutes long, has no dialogue.
A statue of Prince Albert, Consort of Queen Victoria, was erected in 1866 in Hyde Park in Sydney. In 1987 the statue was moved to a more prominent position in front of Hyde Park Barracks, gazing earnestly across Macquarie Street at the imposing statue of Queen Victoria outside the Law Courts in Queen’s Square.
The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A), London, is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The V&A is located in the Brompton district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in an area that has become known as “Albertopolis” because of its association with Prince Albert, the Albert Memorial and the major cultural institutions with which he was associated. These include the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Royal Albert Hall.
The Victoria and Albert Museum still bears the marks of bomb blasts from the Blitz on its exterior walls. They have been left as is, and not repaired, as a reminder of the British sacrifices of World War II.
The Hiroshima Peace Memorial, with its distinctive dome-shaped roof beams, the only building left standing near the atomic bomb’s hypocenter, was previously the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall, and is commonly called the Genbaku (A-Bomb) Dome locally.
Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, a key leader of the Manhattan Project to develop the American atomic bomb, lost his security clearance during the Red Scare but had it restored by President John F. Kennedy.
Dr. Robert Oppenheimer’s first name was Julius: Julius Robert Oppenheimer. He attended Harvard, where his major was not physics, but chemistry.
The Orange Julius was named the official drink of the 1964 New York World’s Fair. The chain of orange juice stands was founded by Julius Freed in Los Angeles. During the 1950s and 1960s, Orange Julius was sold at a variety of outlets, including state and county fairs and freestanding Orange Julius stands. The original stand also provided medicinal tonics and Bible tracts. The chain is now owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
The Union of South Africa, the predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa, came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of four previously separate British colonies: Cape Colony, Natal Colony, Transvaal Colony and Orange River Colony.
In the 1890s in Canada, the Manitoba Schools Question was the burning issue of the day. It involved conflicting language claims (French v English), as well as religious claims (Protestantism v Roman Catholicism).
The situation cried out for a skilful political operator who could see all sides and work to reconciliation
Unfortunately, the Prime Minister of the day was a former Grand Master of the Loyal Orange Lodge of Ontario.
Things did not work out well.
The shortest day of 2015 in Sydney occurs on Monday 22 June, with a period of 9 hours, 53 minutes and 54 seconds between sunrise and sunset.
Four warships named Sydney have served in the Royal Australian Navy. The current one, an Adelaide-class guided missile frigate launched in 1980, is due to be retired this year. The next, a Hobart-class air warfare destroyer, is expected to enter service in 2020.
Garrett Hobart was President McKinley’s first Vice-President, who died in office in McKinley’s first term, thus clearing the way for Theodore Roosevelt to become Vice-President in McKinley’s second term, and then President upon McKinley’s assassination.
The current President of the Legislative Council (upper house) of the NSW Parliament is the Hon. Mr Don Harwin MLC. He was re-elected to the position following the general election in March 2015.
MLC for Mr. Don Harwin stands for member of the legislative council. In cancer radiotherapy, MLC stands for multileaf collimator. An MLC is a device that shapes the radiation beam of the linear accelerator (linac) so that it more closely fits the shape of the target, or tumor. When an MLC is used, the linac’s beam is shaped so as to irradiate less healthy tissue and focus more of the beam onto the target. MLCs have been used in radiotherapy since 1965.
Starting at the Prime Meridian and heading eastward, the Tropic of Cancer passes through: Algeria, Niger, Libya (the Tropic touches on the northernmost point of Chad), Egypt, Red Sea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi emirate only), Oman, Indian Ocean, India, Bangladesh, India, Bangladesh, India, Burma (Myanmar), China, Taiwan Strait, Taiwan, Pacific Ocean, Mexico, Gulf of California, Mexico, Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic Ocean, Bahamas, Atlantic Ocean, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali and Algeria.
Cancerous growths have been called ‘cancer’ for over 1,000 years, since at least the time of Hippocrates, because the malignant growths had a crab-like appearance.
The Christmas Island red crab is best known for the annual migration to the sea that occurs at the beginning of the wet season (usually October/November). During this migration the entire population of red crabs (30 million or so) abandon their burrows and travel to the coast to mate and spawn.
Joe’s Stone Crab Restaurant in Miami Beach, Florida (an overpriced tourist trap IMHO) is the world’s largest buyer of the claws of the Florida Stone Crab. Fishermen who sell to Joe’s break off the larger claw from each of their catch and let the crab go back into the water to regenerate it. The restaurant is reputedly referenced in Ian Fleming’s novel Goldfinger as “Bill’s on the Beach”, where James Bond says he ate the best meal he had ever eaten in his life.