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Sacrificial Lamb
A sacrificial lamb is a metaphorical reference to a person or animal sacrificed for the common good. The term is derived from the traditions of Abrahamic religion where a lamb is a highly valued possession. In politics In politics, a sacrificial lamb candidate is a candidate chosen to contest an election with little chance of victory. The political party thus appoints the person as a sort of "sacrifice" to the stronger opponent. In some cases, fielding a sacrificial lamb candidate can serve as an opportunity for the party to be more creative in choosing a candidate than would normally be considered acceptable in a closely contested race. Alan Keyes and Geraldine A. Ferraro are examples in American politics. In 1956, Adlai Stevenson was considered a sacrificial lamb candidate for president against Dwight Eisenhower. In 2004, Howard Mills was considered a sacrificial lamb candidate for the U.S. Senate from New York against Chuck Schumer. In the arts In cinema and literature, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghent Altarpiece D - Lamb
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in size only by Brussels and Antwerp. It is a port and university city. The city originally started as a settlement at the confluence of the Rivers Scheldt and Leie and in the Late Middle Ages became one of the largest and richest cities of northern Europe, with some 50,000 people in 1300. The municipality comprises the city of Ghent proper and the surrounding suburbs of Afsnee, Desteldonk, Drongen, Gentbrugge, Ledeberg, Mariakerke, Mendonk, Oostakker, Sint-Amandsberg, Sint-Denijs-Westrem, Sint-Kruis-Winkel, Wondelgem and Zwijnaarde. With 262,219 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019, Ghent is Belgium's second largest municipality by number of inhabitants. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of and h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and is the senior United States senator from New York. He is the dean of New York's congressional delegation. A native of Brooklyn and a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Schumer was a three-term member of the New York State Assembly from 1975 to 1980. He served nine terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1999, first representing New York's 16th congressional district before being redistricted to the 10th congressional district in 1983 and 9th congressional district ten years later. In 1998, Schumer was elected to the Senate, defeating three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato. He was reelected in 2004 with 71% of the vote, in 2010 with 66% of the vote, in 2016 with 70% of the vote, and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cannon Fodder
Cannon fodder is an informal, derogatory term for combatants who are regarded or treated by government or military command as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where combatants are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds (with the foreknowledge that they will suffer extremely high casualties) in an effort to achieve a strategic goal; an example is the trench warfare of World War I. The term may also be used (somewhat pejoratively) to differentiate infantry from other forces (such as artillery troops, air force or the navy), or to distinguish expendable low-grade or inexperienced combatants from more militarily valuable veterans. The term derives from fodder, as food for livestock. Soldiers are the metaphorical food for enemy cannon fire. Etymology The concept of soldiers as fodder, as nothing more than "food" to be consumed by battle, dates back to at least the 16th century. For example, in William Shakespeare's play ''Henry I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cadmean Victory
A Cadmean victory ( el, καδμεία νίκη, translit=kadmeía níkē) is a reference to a victory involving one's own ruin,Liddell, Henry George (Compiler), Scott, Robert (Compiler), Jones, Henry Stuart (Editor), McKenzie, Roderick. ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', 9th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. from Cadmus (Greek: ''Kadmos''), the legendary founder of Thebes in Boeotia and the mythic bringer of script to Greece.Howatson, M. C. (Ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature'', 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. p. 105. On seeking to establish the city, Cadmus required water from a spring guarded by a water-dragon similar to the Lernaean Hydra. He sent his companions to slay the dragon, but they all perished. Although Cadmus eventually proved victorious, the victory cost the lives of those who were to benefit from the new settlement. In Classic Literature In '' Histories'', Herodotus refers to a Cadmean victory: "In the engagement th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Avengers (2012 Film)
''Marvel's The Avengers'' (classified under the name ''Marvel Avengers Assemble'' in the United Kingdom and Ireland), or simply ''The Avengers'', is a 2012 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the sixth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Written and directed by Joss Whedon, the film features an ensemble cast including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans (actor), Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeremy Renner as the Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Avengers, alongside Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the film, Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Nick Fury and the spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. (Marvel Cinematic Universe), S.H.I.E.L.D. recruit Tony Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Tony Stark, Steve Rogers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner (Marvel Cine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil Coulson
Agent Phillip J. Coulson ( ) is a fictional character portrayed and voiced by Clark Gregg in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise. Coulson is depicted as a high-ranking member of the espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and longtime partner of Nick Fury. After being killed by Loki and the Avengers form to avenge him, Fury has Coulson resurrected with Kree blood to continue serving S.H.I.E.L.D., putting together a small team of agents supervised by Melinda May and coming to view one agent, Daisy Johnson, as a surrogate daughter. After rebuilding S.H.I.E.L.D. following its infiltration and destruction by Hydra, saving the planet, and making a deal with a demon to briefly become Ghost Rider, stripping him of the blood keeping him alive, Coulson retires to Tahiti with May, where he dies once again. Following the destruction of Sarge, a biological duplicate of Coulson created by a monolith and inhabited by the Aztec god Pachakutiq, a Life Model Decoy (L.M.D.) of Coulson is m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Top Gun
''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired by an article titled "Top Guns", written by Ehud Yonay and published in ''California'' magazine three years earlier. It stars Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, a young naval aviator aboard the aircraft carrier . He and his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant (junior grade) Nick "Goose" Bradshaw ( Anthony Edwards), are given the chance to train at the US Navy's Fighter Weapons School (Top Gun) at Naval Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California. Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer and Tom Skerritt also appear in supporting roles. ''Top Gun'' was released on May 16, 1986. Upon its release, the film received mixed reviews from film critics, but despite this, its visual effects and soundtrack were universally acclaimed. Four weeks after it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Edwards (actor)
Anthony Charles Edwards (born July 19, 1962) is an American actor and director. He is known for his role as Dr. Mark Greene on the first eight seasons of '' ER'', for which he received a Golden Globe award and six Screen Actors Guild Awards, and was nominated for four consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards. He has appeared in various films and television series, including '' Top Gun'', ''Zodiac'', '' Gotcha!'', ''Miracle Mile'', ''Revenge of the Nerds'', '' Planes'', '' Northern Exposure'' and ''Designated Survivor''. Early life Edwards was born in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Erika Kem Edwards Plack (née Weber), an artist/landscape painter, and Peter Edwards, an architect to whom he was one of five children His maternal grandfather was designer Kem Weber. He is partly of German and Irish descent. He graduated from San Marcos High School in 1980. Edwards was encouraged by his parents to attend college before pursuing his interest in acting, which grew from the area's th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ... of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him, but the ''Suda'' says it was ninety-two at most. Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived more or less complete (''Rhesus (play), Rhesus'' is suspect). There are many fragments (some substantial) of most of his other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly because his popularity grew as theirs declinedMoses Hadas, ''Ten Plays by Euripides'', Bantam Classic (2006), Introduction, p. ixhe became, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heracleidae (play)
''Children of Heracles'' ( grc, Ἡρακλεῖδαι, ''Hērakleidai''; also translated as ''Herakles' Children'' and ''Heracleidae'') is an Athenian tragedy by Euripides that was first performed c. 430 BC. It follows the children of Heracles (known as the Heracleidae) as they seek protection from Eurystheus. It is the first of two surviving tragedies by Euripides where the children of Heracles are suppliants (the second being ''Heracles''). Background Eurystheus was responsible for many of the troubles of Heracles. In order to prevent the children of Heracles from taking revenge on him, he sought to kill them. They flee under the protection of Iolaus, Heracles' close friend and nephew. Plot synopsis The play begins at the altar of Zeus at Marathon. The herald Copreus, in the employ of King Eurystheus of Mycenae, attempts to seize the children of Heracles, together with Heracles's old friend, Iolaus. When King Demophon, son of Theseus, insists that Iolaus and Heracles's child ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macaria
Macaria or Makaria (Greek Μακαρία) is the name of two figures from ancient Greek religion and mythology. Although they are not said to be the same and are given different fathers, they are discussed together in a single entry both in the 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia the ''Suda'' and by Zenobius. Daughter of Heracles In the ''Heracleidae'' of Euripides, Macaria ("she who is blessed") is a daughter of Heracles. Even after Heracles' death, King Eurystheus pursues his lifelong vendetta against the hero by hunting down his children. Macaria flees with her siblings and her father's old friend Iolaus to Athens, where they are received by Demophon, the king. Arriving at the gates of Athens with his army, Eurystheus gives Demophon an ultimatum, threatening war upon Athens unless Demophon surrenders Heracles's children. When Demophon refuses and begins to prepare for war, an oracle informs him that Athens will be victorious only if a noble maiden is sacrificed to Persephon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Villain
A villain (also known as a "black hat" or "bad guy"; the feminine form is villainess) is a stock character, whether based on a historical narrative or one of literary fiction. ''Random House Unabridged Dictionary'' defines such a character as "a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel; or a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot". The antonym of a villain is a hero. The villain's structural purpose is to serve as the opposition of the hero character and their motives or evil actions drive a plot along. In contrast to the hero, who is defined by feats of ingenuity and bravery and the pursuit of justice and the greater good, a villain is often defined by their acts of selfishness, evilness, arrogance, cruelty, and cunning, displaying immoral behavior that can oppose or pervert justice. Etymology The term ''villain'' first came into English from the Anglo-French and Old ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
