Learning Skills

Article of the day for June 3, 2019 is Kaiman-class torpedo boat . The 24 Kaiman-class ships were high-seas torpedo boats built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy between 1904 and 1910. Yarrow Shipbuilders built the lead ship (launched on 3 June 1905), Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino of Trieste built 13 boats, and Ganz-Danubius constructed the remaining 10 boats at their shipyards at Fiume. The class was considered to be a very successful design, and all boats saw extensive active service during World War I, undertaking a range of tasks, including escort duties, shore bombardments and minesweeping. All survived, although several were damaged by naval mines and collisions. One was torpedoed and badly damaged by a French submarine, and two sank an Italian submarine. All the boats were transferred to the Allies and scrapped at the end of the war, except for four that were allocated to the navy of the newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. These were discarded and broken up betwe...

With a high of 93F and a low of 67F.

Article of the day for June 2, 2019 is Gioachino Rossini . Gioachino Rossini (1792–1868) was an Italian composer known for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. In the period 1810–1823 he wrote his most popular works including the comic operas L'italiana in Algeri, Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola, building on the traditions of masters such as Domenico Cimarosa. He also composed opera seria works such as Otello, Tancredi and Semiramide. All of these show innovation in melody, harmonic and instrumental colour, and dramatic form. In 1824 he was contracted by the Opéra in Paris, for which he produced an opera to celebrate the coronation of Charles X, Il viaggio a Reims, later cannibalized for Le comte Ory, and in 1829 his last opera, Guillaume Tell (William Tell). He retired from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity.

With a high of 96F and a low of 71F.

By Unknown Author from NYT Books https://nyti.ms/2WhqBOX

By DAVID GATES from NYT Books https://nyti.ms/2EYir3F

Article of the day for June 1, 2019 is Cleopatra . Cleopatra (69–30 BC) was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, though nominally survived as pharaoh by her son Caesarion. As a member of the Ptolemaic dynasty, she was a descendant of its founder Ptolemy I Soter, a Macedonian Greek general and companion of Alexander the Great. After the death of Cleopatra, Egypt became a province of the Roman Empire, marking the end of the Hellenistic period that had lasted since the reign of Alexander (336–323 BC). While her native language was Koine Greek, she was the first Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language. Cleopatra's legacy survives in numerous works of art. She has been a pop culture icon of Egyptomania since the Victorian era, appearing in burlesque satire, Hollywood films such as Cleopatra (1963), and commercial brands.