Machado de Assis (1839–1908) was a Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short-story writer, widely regarded as the greatest writer of Brazilian literature. In 1897, he founded and became the first president of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. He was multilingual, having taught himself French, English, German and Greek later in life. Machado's work shaped the realist movement in Brazil and the birth of the Brazilian republic made Machado become more critical and an observer of the Brazilian society of his time. Generally considered to be Machado's greatest works are Dom Casmurro (1899), Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas (Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas, also translated as Epitaph of a Small Winner) and Quincas Borba (also known in English as Philosopher or Dog?). In 1893, he published "A Missa do Galo" ("Midnight Mass"), often considered to be the greatest short story in Brazilian literature. This photograph of Machado was taken by the Brazilian photographer Marc Ferrez in 1890.
Broke news about the two original people questioned 1
Broke news about arrested arson suspect Raymond Lee Oyler both when he was regarded as "a person of interest" 2 and when he was officially charged (including court date and location) 3
Added the information about the funeral service that will be held for the five fallen fire fighters 4
Contributed to the first seven sections of article in its preliminary stages (The Theory, Words (Sound Reflexes), Criticism, DVD, About Priscilla Dunstan, See also, and External Links) 12
12th-century illustration of the use of Greek fire
The first Arab siege of Constantinople in 674–678 was a major conflict of the Arab–Byzantine wars, and the first culmination of the Umayyad Caliphate's expansionist strategy towards the Byzantine Empire. In 672–673 Arab fleets secured bases along the coasts of Asia Minor, and set up a loose blockade around Constantinople. They used the peninsula of Cyzicus near the city as a base to spend the winter, and returned every spring to launch attacks against the city's fortifications. Finally the Byzantines managed to destroy the Arab navy using a new invention, the liquid incendiary substance known as Greek fire(pictured). The Byzantines also defeated the Arab land army in Asia Minor, forcing them to lift the siege. A peace treaty was signed, and following the outbreak of another Muslim civil war, the Byzantines experienced a brief period of ascendancy. The siege was the first major Arab defeat in 50 years of expansion. Tales of a large-scale siege of Constantinople even reached China. (Full article...)
PersianPoetGal here, pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm a half Persian (Iranian) female born and raised in great sunny California! I enjoy many things such as poetry (obvious of course), reading, writing, history, playing video games, filmmaking, light programming, and just making a person's day better :). I used to be active at the Windows Movie Maker Forums but now I have sort of semi-retired due to being crammed with my studies. I also contributed to "The Persian Page", a page devoted to implementing custom effects and transitions into Windows Movie Maker 2 using xml which is hosted and now fully edited by "PapaJohn" Buechler. I voluntarily patrol the "Recent Changes Page". While on patrol I keep on the lookout to make sure articles are free of vandalism and abide by the Wikipedia Golden Rules :P. I also help create Wikipedia Ads for different WikiProjects, see this page for details. Believe it or not I start new articles and edit pre-existing ones every now and then! So please feel free to mercilessly edit any of my Wiki-Contributions just the same. I honestly feel there is always someone who can add a little extra ;). However, those not-so-nice enough to vandalize my page or anyone else's for that matter, it will not do you any good. Thanks for reading a little bit about me :D!
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