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Mowing-Devil
''The Mowing-Devil: or, Strange News out of Hartford-shire'' is the title of an English woodcut pamphlet published in 1678. The pamphlet tells of a farmer in Hertfordshire who, refusing to pay the price demanded by a labourer to mow his field, swore he would rather the Devil mowed it instead. According to the pamphlet, that night his field appeared to be in flame. The next morning, the field was found to be perfectly mowed, "that no mortal man was able to do the like". This pamphlet, and the accompanying illustration, are often cited by crop circle researchers as among the first recorded cases of crop circles. Crop circle researcher Jim Schnabel does not consider it to be a historical precedent because it describes the stalks as being cut, while modern crop circles involve the wheat, barley or, less commonly, other plants being bent. Transcription References {{reflist External links archive of transcription of the entire work (scroll to end Pamphlets 1678 books Alleged ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crop Circles
A crop circle, crop formation, or corn circle is a pattern created by flattening a crop, usually a cereal. The term was first coined in the early 1980s by Colin Andrews. Crop circles have been described as all falling "within the range of the sort of thing done in hoaxes" by Taner Edis, professor of physics at Truman State University. Although obscure natural causes or alien origins of crop circles are suggested by fringe theorists, there is no scientific evidence for such explanations, and all crop circles are consistent with human causation. The number of reports of crop circles has substantially increased since the 1970s. There has been scant scientific study of them. Circles in the United Kingdom are not distributed randomly across the landscape but appear near roads, areas of medium to dense population and cultural heritage monuments, such as Stonehenge or Avebury. In 1991, two hoaxers, Doug Bower and Dave Chorley, took credit for having created many circles throughout E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The block is cut along the wood grain (unlike wood engraving, where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas. Multiple colors can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks (using a different block for each color). The art of carving the woodcut can be called "xylography", but this is rarely used in English for images alone, although that and "xylographic" are used in connection with block books, which are small books containing text and images in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book. For the "International Standardization of Statistics Relating to Book Production and Periodicals", UNESCO defines a pamphlet as "a non-periodical printed publication of at least 5 but not more than 48 pages, exclusive of the cover pages, published in a particular country and made available to the public" and a book as "a non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages, exclusive of the cover pages". The UNESCO definitions are, however, only meant to be used for the particular purpose of drawing up their book production statistics. Etymology The word ''pamphlet'' for a small work (''opuscule'') issued by itself without covers came into Middl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For government statistical purposes, it forms part of the East of England region. Hertfordshire covers . It derives its name – via the name of the county town of Hertford – from a hart (stag) and a ford, as represented on the county's coat of arms and on the flag. Hertfordshire County Council is based in Hertford, once the main market town and the current county town. The largest settlement is Watford. Since 1903 Letchworth has served as the prototype garden city; Stevenage became the first town to expand under post-war Britain's New Towns Act of 1946. In 2013 Hertfordshire had a population of about 1,140,700, with Hemel Hempstead, Stevenage, Watford and St Albans (the county's only ''city'') each having between 50,000 and 100,000 r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of the devil can be summed up as 1) a principle of evil independent from God, 2) an aspect of God, 3) a created being turning evil (a ''fallen angel''), and 4) a symbol of human evil. Each tradition, culture, and religion with a devil in its mythos offers a different lens on manifestations of evil.Jeffrey Burton Russell, ''The Devil: Perceptions of Evil from Antiquity to Primitive Christianity'', Cornell University Press 1987 , pp. 41–75 The history of these perspectives intertwines with theology, mythology, psychiatry, art, and literature developing independently within each of the traditions. It occurs historically in many contexts and cultures, and is given many different names— Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Iblis—and at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cosmos (magazine)
''Cosmos'' (subtitled The Science of Everything) is a science magazine published in Adelaide, South Australia, by the Royal Institution of Australia that covers science globally. It appears four times a year in print as ''Cosmos Magazine'', and the online edition is updated daily with news as well as long features and multi-media content, and includes the print magazine content. ''Cosmos Weekly'' is a subscription-based weekly online edition published on Fridays, and a podcast was launched in April 2022. History The magazine was established in Sydney in November 2004 by the Sydney magazine publishing executive Kylie Ahern and science journalist Wilson da Silva. with the first issue published in 2005. In June 2006, the magazine launched a daily Internet news and features service. The magazine was the originator of ''Hello from Earth'', a web-based initiative to send messages from the public, each just 160 characters in length, to Gliese 581d, the (then) nearest Earth-like pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Skeptical Inquirer
''Skeptical Inquirer'' is a bimonthly American general-audience magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI) with the subtitle: ''The Magazine for Science and Reason''. Mission statement and goals Daniel Loxton, writing in 2013 about the mission and goals of the skeptical movement, criticized the idea that people wanted to read about the paranormal, Uri Geller and crystal skulls not being relevant any longer. Paul Kurtz in 2009 seemed to share this sentiment and stated that the organization would still research some paranormal subjects as they have expertise in this area, but they would begin to investigate other areas. S.I. "has reached an historic juncture: the recognition that there is a critical need to change our direction." While editor Frazier did expand the scope of the magazine to include topics less paranormal and more that were an attack on science and critical thinking such as climate change denialism, conspiracy theories and the influence of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Center For Inquiry
The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a US nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal, as well as to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in 1991 by atheist philosopher and author Paul Kurtz. It brought together two organizations: the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (founded by Kurtz in 1976) and the Council for Secular Humanism (founded by Kurtz in 1980). In January 2016, CFI announced that it was merging with the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. In June 2009, Kurtz left CFI over a conflict with then-CEO Ronald A. Lindsay. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Through the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and its journal, ''Skeptical Inquirer'' magazine, published by the Center for Inquiry, CSI examines evidential claims of the paranormal or supernormal, including psychics, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, UFOs, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashgate Publishing
Ashgate Publishing was an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham ( Surrey, United Kingdom). It was established in 1967 and specialised in the social sciences, arts, humanities and professional practice. It had an American office in Burlington, Vermont, and another British office in London. It is now a subsidiary of Informa (Taylor & Francis). The company had two imprints: Gower Publishing published professional business and management titles, and Lund Humphries, originally established in 1939, publishes illustrated art books, particularly in the field of modern British art. In March 2015, Gower unveiled GpmFirst, a web-based community of practice allowing subscribers access to more than 120 project management titles, as well as discussions and articles relevant to business and project management. In July 2015, it was announced that Ashgate had been sold to Informa for a reported £20M, and Lund Humphries was relaunched as an independent publisher in December 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamphlets
A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book. For the "International Standardization of Statistics Relating to Book Production and Periodicals", UNESCO defines a pamphlet as "a non-periodical printed publication of at least 5 but not more than 48 pages, exclusive of the cover pages, published in a particular country and made available to the public" and a book as "a non-periodical printed publication of at least 49 pages, exclusive of the cover pages". The UNESCO definitions are, however, only meant to be used for the particular purpose of drawing up their book production statistics. Etymology The word ''pamphlet'' for a small work (''opuscule'') issued by itself without covers came into Middl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1678 Books
Events January–March * January 10 – England and the Dutch Republic sign a mutual defense treaty in order to fight against France. * January 27 – The first fire engine company (in what will become the United States) goes into service. * February 18 – The first part of English nonconformist preacher John Bunyan's Christian allegory, ''The Pilgrim's Progress'', is published in London. * March 21 – Thomas Shadwell's comedy ''A True Widow'' is given its first performance, at The Duke's Theatre in London, staged by the Duke's Company. * March 23 – Rebel Chinese general Wu Sangui takes the imperial crown, names himself monarch of "The Great Zhou", based in the Hunan report, with Hengyang as his capital. He contracts dysentery over the summer and dies on October 2, ending the rebellion against the Kangxi Emperor. * March 25 – The Spanish Netherlands city of Ypres falls after an eight-day siege by the French Army. It is later returned ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
