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Whisky Galore! is a British comedy film produced by Ealing Studios and released on 16 June 1949, starring Basil Radford, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood and Gordon Jackson. The directorial debut of Alexander Mackendrick, it was based on the 1947 novel Whisky Galore by Compton Mackenzie (pictured), and written by Mackenzie and Angus MacPhail. Inspired by the 1941 wreck of the SS Politician, the story concerns a shipwreck off a fictional Scottish island. The islanders, who have run out of whisky because of wartime rationing, salvage cases of it from the ship, against the opposition of the local Customs and Excise men. Like other Ealing comedies, Whisky Galore! explores the actions of a small group facing and overcoming a more powerful opponent. The film was well received on release; renamed Tight Little Island, it became the first film from the studios to achieve box office success in the US. It was followed by Rockets Galore!, a sequel. A remake was released in 2016. (Full article...)
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The almond (Prunus amygdalus) is a species of tree in the family Rosaceae, the family named after roses. It prospers in a moderate Mediterranean climate with cool winter weather, and is native to Iran and surrounding countries, although it is rarely now found wild in its original setting. The fruit of the almond is a drupe, consisting of an outer hull and a hard shell with the seed; botanically, it is not considered a true nut. It is used extensively as a culinary nut, however, and is cultivated worldwide. Around 80% of the world's almond supply is produced in the US state of California. This photograph shows an almond drupe in shell, shell cracked open, unshelled and blanched seed.
Photograph credit: Ivar Leidus
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Yesterday's featured picture |
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Trithemis annulata, commonly known as the violet dropwing, is a species of dragonfly in the family Libellulidae. It is found in most of Africa, the Middle East, and southern Europe. Males of this species are violet-red with red veins in the wings, while females are yellow and brown. Both sexes have red eyes. This female violet dropwing was photographed near Kalopanagiotis in Cyprus.
Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp
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Featured Picture from Day before Yesterday |
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Al-Hajj is the 22nd chapter (surah) of the Quran, describing the pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj. This Chinese scroll in ink, watercolour and gold on paper was produced in the second half of the 19th century, contains the full text of the chapter in Arabic, and is now part of the Khalili Collection of Hajj and the Arts of Pilgrimage. Almost five metres (16 feet) in length, the scroll's illustrations include a map entitled "Routes of the Hajj", a view of the Great Wall of China, and views of Mecca and Medina, as well as diagrammatic depictions of the stations of pilgrimage and Jerusalem, including the Kaaba. The illustrations are captioned in Chinese.
Calligraphy credit: 'Abdallah; photographed by the Khalili Collections
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Featured Picture from Two Days before Yesterday |
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The Heart Nebula is an emission nebula, 7500 light years from Earth, located in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way in the constellation Cassiopeia. It was discovered by William Herschel on 3 November 1787. Spanning almost 2 degrees in the sky, its shape is driven by stellar winds from the hot stars in its core. The nebula displays glowing ionized hydrogen gas and darker dust lanes, and is also made up of ionised oxygen and sulfur gasses, which cause rich blue and orange colours to be seen in narrowband images. This photograph of the Heart Nebula, with the Fish Head Nebula also visible in the top right corner, is a narrowband image captured on a 70mm scope with a capture period of around 44 hours.
Photograph credit: Ram Samudrala
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Religion in Society
There is a great disconnect between how athiests and religionist view the proper place for religion in the public square. Briefly, atheists (usually) want no religion in the public square, and religionists want equal access (non-denominational) to the public square and view athiesm as just one other "religion" that needs access. |
Wikipedia's Reputation
I've been thinking about this key principle: "[What] reliable sources ... have in common is process and approval between document creation and publication." This is also the key to Wikipedia's reliability and reputation. The core principles of neutrality and verifiability along with the standards for articles (featured/good/etc) and the implicit approval of every person who reads an article and makes no changes to it. |
Intellectual Property
We (Americans) often "borrow" other people's intellectual property because the transaction method (i.e. limited use permission) does not exist and can not be created without the transaction cost exceeding the value of the permission (which is close to $0.00 in most cases) so we keep using other's work, and they don't sue us. |
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Alec Guinness edit that claims he believed Star Wars would be a big hit
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