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Ursula K. Le Guin

"The Day Before the Revolution" is a science fiction short story by American writer Ursula K. Le Guin (pictured). First published in Galaxy in August 1974, it was republished in Le Guin's The Wind's Twelve Quarters (1975). Set in her fictional Hainish universe, the story has strong connections to her novel The Dispossessed (also 1974), and is sometimes referred to as a prologue to the novel. The story follows Odo, an aging anarchist, who over the course of a day relives memories of her life as an activist as she learns of plans for a general strike the next day. The strike is implied to be the start of the revolt leading to the idealized anarchist society based on Odo's teachings depicted in the novel. The story was critically well-received. It won the Nebula and Locus Awards for Best Short Story in 1975, and was also nominated for a Hugo Award. Multiple scholars commented that it represented a shift in Le Guin's writing toward non-linear narrative structures and works infused with feminism. (Full article...)

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... that to mitigate religious violence in the city, Ambon mayor Marcus Jacob Papilaja made Muslim and Christian city employees mix?
... that the Vulcan Bridge, a bridge in Vulcan, West Virginia, was constructed after the mayor requested financial aid from the Soviet Union?
... that while going to the Strategion in Constantinople, Emperor Theodosius II was attacked with stones by a hungry mob?
... that during the "trial from hell" Matthew Charles Johnson and his co-accused hurled abuse at the judge and threw human excrement at a member of the jury?

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The European Union passes the Artificial Intelligence Act, aiming to establish a regulatory and legal framework for AI.
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In boxing, Oleksandr Usyk defeats Tyson Fury to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in twenty-four years.

On this day

May 26: National Sorry Day in Australia; Independence Day in Georgia (1918), Lag BaOmer (Judaism, 2024)

Damage to the Interstate 40 bridge

1644 – Portuguese Restoration War: Portuguese and Spanish forces both claimed victory at the Battle of Montijo.
1894 – Germany's Emanuel Lasker defeated Wilhelm Steinitz to become the world chess champion, beginning a record 27-year reign.
1999 – Manchester United won the UEFA Champions League final to become the first English football club to win three major championships in the same season.
2002 – Barges being towed destroyed part of a bridge (aftermath pictured) near Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, causing vehicles to fall into the Robert S. Kerr Reservoir on the Arkansas River.

Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604)
Yuan Xingqin (d. 926)
Jeremy Corbyn (b. 1949)
Elizabeth Peer (d. 1984)

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Today's featured picture

The Giechburg is a partly reconstructed hilltop castle located in the town of Scheßlitz in Bavaria, Germany. There was a hilltop fort at the site from at least Neolithic times, and the castle enters written history in 1125. In 1390, it entered the possession of the prince-bishops of Bamberg, and its history thereafter is closely allied to the bishopric and the city of Bamberg. The castle was destroyed and rebuilt several times over the subsequent centuries before undergoing extensive redevelopment between 1599 and 1609. It became less useful to the prince-bishops over the subsequent centuries however, and eventually fell into ruin. After a period in the 19th and 20th centuries in the hands of the von Giech family, the castle was eventually acquired by the district of Bamberg in 1971 and reconstructed as a conference and hospitality centre. This 2021 aerial photograph shows the Giechburg viewed from the north, with the village of Peulendorf in the background.

Photograph credit: Reinhold Möller

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