quotation: Liberty: One of imagination’s most precious possessions (The Devil’s Dictionary). Ambrose Bierce

Liberty: One of imagination’s most precious possessions.

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) Discuss

this day in the yesteryear: Suez Canal Crisis Begins (1956)

Suez Canal Crisis Begins (1956)

After Britain and the US withdrew their financial pledges to help Egypt build the Aswan High Dam, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, angering Britain and France, which had direct financial stakes in the canal. A joint invasion of Egypt ensued, but UN intervention led to an armistice in November. The canal, blocked for months due to damage, reopened in 1957. What politician involved in the aftermath is considered the father of the modern concept of “peacekeeping”? More… Discuss

October 29, 1875 in History Born:
Marie, queen consort of Ferdinand I of Romania, 1914-27

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Princess Marie of Edinburgh, more commonly known as Marie of Romania (Marie Alexandra Victoria; 29 October 1875 – 18 July 1938),^{[note 1]} was the last Queen consort of Romania as the wife of King Ferdinand I.

Born into the British royal family, she was titled Princess Marie of Edinburgh at birth. Her parents were Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. Marie’s early years were spent in Kent, Malta and Coburg. After refusing a proposal from her cousin, the future King George V, she was chosen as the future wife of Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania, the heir apparent of King Carol I, in 1892. Marie was Crown Princess between 1893 and 1914, and became immediately popular with the Romanian people.

Marie visiting a military hospital, 1917

 

Marie had controlled her weak-willed husband even before his ascension in 1914, prompting a Canadian newspaper to state that “few royal consorts have wielded greater influence than did Queen Marie during the reign of her husband”.^[2]

After the outbreak of World War I, Marie urged Ferdinand to ally himself with the Triple Entente and declare war on Germany, which he eventually did in 1916. During the early stages of fighting, Bucharest was occupied by the Central Powers and Marie, Ferdinand and their five children took refuge in Moldavia. There, she and her three daughters acted as nurses in military hospitals, caring for soldiers who were wounded or afflicted by cholera. On 1 December 1918, the province of Transylvania, following Bessarabia and Bukovina, united with the Old Kingdom. Marie, now Queen consort of Greater Romania, attended the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, where she campaigned for international recognition of the enlarged Romania. In 1922, she and Ferdinand were crowned in a specially-built cathedral in the ancient city of Alba Iulia, in an elaborate ceremony which mirrored their status as queen and king of a united state.

1882 portrait by John Everett Millais commissioned by Queen Victoria and exhibited at the Royal Academy.[9]

<<< 1882 portrait by John Everett Millais commissioned by Queen Victoria and exhibited at the Royal Academy.^[9]

1882 portrait by John Everett Millais commissioned by Queen Victoria and exhibited at the Royal Academy.^[9]

1882 portrait by John Everett Millais commissioned by Queen Victoria and exhibited at the Royal Academy.^[9]

As queen, she was very popular, both in Romania and abroad. In 1926, Marie and two of her children undertook a diplomatic tour of the United States. They were received enthusiastically by the people and visited several cities before returning to Romania. There, Marie found that Ferdinand was gravely ill and he died a few months later. Now queen dowager, Marie refused to be part of the regency council which reigned over the country under the minority of her grandson, King Michael. In 1930, Marie’s eldest son Carol, who had waived his rights to succession, deposed his son and usurped the throne, becoming King Carol II. He removed Marie from the political scene and strived to crush her popularity. As a result, Marie moved away from Bucharest and spent the rest of her life either in the countryside, or at her home by the Black Sea. In 1937, she became ill with cirrhosis and died the following year.

Following Romania’s transition to a Socialist Republic, the monarchy was excoriated by communist officials. Several biographies of the royal family described Marie either as a drunkard or as a promiscuous woman, referring to her many alleged affairs and to orgies she had supposedly organised before and during the war. In the years preceding the Romanian Revolution of 1989, Marie’s popularity recovered and she was offered as a model of patriotism to the population. Marie is primarily remembered for her work as a nurse, but is also known for her extensive writing, including her critically acclaimed autobiography.

Marie wearing her regalia. Photograph by George Grantham Bain.
Queen consort of Romania
Reign	10 October 1914 – 20 July 1927
Coronation	15 October 1922
Spouse	Ferdinand I, King of Romania
Issue	Carol II, King of Romania Elisabeth, Queen of the Hellenes Maria, Queen of Yugoslavia Prince Nicholas Princess Ileana Prince Mircea
Full name Marie Alexandra Victoria
House	House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (by birth) House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (by marriage)
Father	Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
Mother	Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
Born	29 October 1875 Eastwell Park, Kent, England
Died	18 July 1938 (aged 62) Pelișor Castle, Sinaia, Romania
Burial	24 July 1938[1] Curtea de Argeș Cathedral
Signature

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Itching to Take a Selfie

A Russian government agency is blaming the selfie craze for the spread of head lice and advising young people to abstain from the practice to protect themselves. It says group selfies, which typically require the individuals involved to squeeze close together to fit into a photo, have become the primary pathway for the critters to jump from host to host. While it is conceivable that a person carrying lice could inadvertently spread them to others in this manner, many find the notion that this is the leading cause of the parasite’s spread to be suspect and have taken to social media to mock the assertion (and the agency behind it). More… Discuss

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Chocolate

Chocolate is prepared in a complex process from ground, roasted cacao beans. The Maya had a chocolate beverage perhaps as early as 900 BCE, and the Aztecs prized the cacao tree. In the 16th century, Montezuma II served Hernán Cortés a cacao-bean drink called xocoatl—”bitter water”—that Cortés then introduced to Europe. It became a fashionable drink there, and chocolate shops thrived, becoming centers of political discussion. When did London’s first chocolate shop open? More… Discuss

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word: orphic

orphic 

Definition:	(adjective) Having an import not apparent to the senses nor obvious to the intelligence; beyond ordinary understanding.
Synonyms:	occult, mysterious, mystical, secret
Usage:	The orphic symbols on the tome could only be deciphered by the blind wizard. Discuss.

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