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The siege of Utica took place from 204 to 201 BC when a Roman army under Publius Cornelius Scipio attempted to seize the port to use as a secure base from which to defeat the Carthaginian Empire in its North African homeland. The First Punic War was fought between Carthage and Rome for 23 years, from 264 to 241 BC. After a 23-year interbellum, war broke out again in 218 BC as the Second Punic War. After a further 13 years of war, the Roman general Scipio, who had recently expelled the Carthaginians from Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal), was assigned to Sicily with the intention of invading the Carthaginian homeland in North Africa.

Scipio's army landed in North Africa in 204 BC, pillaged a large area and laid siege to the port city of Utica, intending to use it as a permanent base and a harbour proof against the winter weather. Scipio expected the city to surrender readily, but despite being attacked fiercely from land and sea it held out; the garrison and citizens assumed they would be relieved from Carthage. A large Carthaginian army, supported by a larger force of allied Numidians, set up camp 11 kilometres (7 mi) south of Utica. This caused the Romans to break off the siege and withdraw into their own camp for the winter. In the spring, while feigning that he was renewing the siege of Utica, Scipio launched night attacks on the enemy camps, wiping out both armies.

The Carthaginian army reassembled 120 kilometres (75 mi) from Utica, but the Romans marched to meet them, leaving the siege largely in the hands of the navy. At the battle of the Great Plains the Carthaginians were again badly beaten. The Roman army marched on Tunis, in time to see the Carthaginian fleet sail from Carthage to relieve Utica. When it arrived, the Carthaginians found that the Roman fleet had adopted a novel formation which they were unable to overcome; they retreated after a day's fighting. Hannibal was then recalled from Italy, and Scipio set out to meet him, again leaving the siege to be prosecuted by the Roman navy. Hannibal's army was annihilated at the battle of Zama and the Carthaginians sued for peace. The Romans enforced harsh terms in the subsequent peace treaty, agreed in 201 BC, although they did leave North Africa, and Utica remained a Carthaginian city.

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Mount Edziza (/ədˈzaɪzə/ əd-ZY-zə; Tahltan: Tenh Dẕetle [ten̥ ˈdðetle]) is a volcanic mountain in Cassiar Land District of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the Big Raven Plateau of the Tahltan Highland which extends along the western side of the Stikine Plateau. Mount Edziza has an elevation of 2,786 metres (9,140 feet), making it the highest point of the Mount Edziza volcanic complex and one of the highest volcanoes in Canada. However, it had an elevation of at least 3,396 m (11,142 ft) before its formerly cone-shaped summit was likely destroyed by a violent eruption in the geologic past; its current flat summit contains an ice-filled, 2-kilometre-in diameter (1.2-mile) crater. The mountain contains several lava domes, cinder cones and lava fields on its flanks, as well as an ice cap containing several outlet glaciers which extend to lower elevations. All sides of Mount Edziza are drained by tributaries of Mess Creek and Kakiddi Creek which are situated within the Stikine River watershed.

Mount Edziza consists of several types of volcanic rocks and at least six geological formations that formed during six distinct stages of volcanic activity. The first stage 1.1 million years ago produced basalt flows and a series of rhyolite and trachyte domes. Basalt flows and smaller amounts of trachyte, tristanite, trachybasalt, benmoreite and mugearite produced during the second stage about 1 million years ago comprise Ice Peak, a glacially eroded stratovolcano forming the south peak of Mount Edziza. The third and fourth stages 0.9 million years ago created basalt ridges and the central trachyte stratovolcano of Mount Edziza, respectively. Thick trachyte flows were issued during the fifth stage 0.3 million years ago, most of which have since eroded away. The sixth stage began in the last 20,000 years with the eruption of cinder cones, basalt flows and minor trachyte ejecta. Renewed volcanism could block local streams with lava flows, disrupt air traffic with volcanic ash and produce floods or lahars from melting glacial ice.

Indigenous peoples have lived adjacent to Mount Edziza for thousands of years. It is a sacred mountain to the Tahltan people, who historically used volcanic glass from it to make tools and weaponry. Mineral exploration just southeast of Mount Edziza had commenced by the 1950s where gold, silver and other metals were discovered. This mineral exploration was conducted by several mining companies into the early 1990s. Mount Edziza and the surrounding area were made into a large provincial park in the early 1970s to preserve the volcanic landscape. The mountain and provincial park can only be accessed by aircraft or by a network of horse trails from surrounding roads.

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Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Seydlitz[a] (3 February 1721 – 8 November 1773[1]) was a Prussian officer, lieutenant general, and among the most renowned of the Prussian cavalry generals. He commanded one of the first Hussar squadrons of Frederick the Great's army and is credited with the development of the Prussian cavalry to its efficient level of performance in the Seven Years' War. His cavalryman father retired and then died while Seydlitz was still young. Subsequently, he was mentored by Frederick William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Seydlitz's superb horsemanship and his recklessness combined to make him a stand-out subaltern, and he emerged as a redoubtable Rittmeister (cavalry captain) in the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748) during the First and Second Silesian Wars.

Seydlitz became legendary throughout the Prussian Army both for his leadership and for his reckless courage. During the Seven Years' War, he came into his own as a cavalry general, known for his coup d'œil, his ability to assess at a glance the entire battlefield situation and to understand intuitively what needed to be done: he excelled at converting the king's directives into flexible tactics. At the Battle of Rossbach, his cavalry was instrumental in routing the French and Imperial armies. His cavalry subsequently played an important role in crushing the Habsburg and Imperial left flank at the Battle of Leuthen. Seydlitz was wounded in battle several times. After the Battle of Kunersdorf in August 1759, he semi-retired to recover from his wounds, charged with the protection of the city of Berlin. He was not healthy enough to campaign again until 1761.

Frederick rewarded him with Order of the Black Eagle on the field after the Battle of Rossbach; he had already received the Pour le Mérite for his action at the Battle of Kolin. Although estranged from Frederick for several years, the two were reconciled during Seydlitz's final illness. Seydlitz died in 1773, and Frederick's heirs included his name on the equestrian statue of Frederick the Great in Berlin, in a place of honor.

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Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her 1955 refusal to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in defiance of Jim Crow racial segregation laws, which sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. She is sometimes known as the "mother of the civil rights movement".[1]

Born in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks grew up under Jim Crow segregation. She later moved to Montgomery and joined the city's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1943, serving as the organization's secretary. Despite policies designed to disenfranchise Black citizens, Parks successfully registered to vote after three separate attempts between 1943 and 1945. She investigated cases and organized campaigns around cases of racial and sexual violence in her capacity as NAACP secretary, including those of Recy Taylor and Jeremiah Reeves, laying the groundwork for future civil rights campaigns.

Custom in Montgomery required Black passengers to surrender their seats in the front of the bus to accommodate white riders. The rows in the back were designated for Black riders. Before Parks's refusal to move, several Black Montgomerians had refused to do so, including 15-year-old high school student Claudette Colvin, leading to arrests. When Parks was arrested in 1955, local leaders were searching for a person who would be a good legal test case against segregation. She was deemed a suitable candidate, and the Women's Political Council (WPC) organized a one-day bus boycott on the day of her trial. The boycott was widespread. Many Black Montgomerians refused to ride the buses that day. After Parks was found guilty of violating state law, the boycott was extended indefinitely, with the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) organizing its own community transportation network to sustain it. Parks and other boycott leaders faced harassment, ostracization, and various legal obstacles. The boycott lasted for 381 days, finally concluding after segregation on buses was deemed unconstitutional in the court case Browder v. Gayle.

After the boycott ended, Parks experienced financial hardship and health problems due, in part, to her participation. In 1957, she relocated to Detroit, Michigan. She continued to advocate for civil rights, supporting people such as John Conyers, Joanne Little, Gary Tyler, Angela Davis, Joe Madison, and Nelson Mandela. She was also a supporter of the Black power movement and an anti-apartheid activist, participating in protests and conferences as part of the Free South Africa Movement. In 1987, she co-founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development with Elaine Eason Steele. After Parks's death in 2005, she was honored with public viewings and memorial services in three cities: in Montgomery; in Washington, D.C., where she lay in state at the United States Capitol rotunda; and in Detroit, where she was ultimately interred at Woodlawn Cemetery. Parks received many awards and honors, both throughout her life and posthumously. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a Congressional Gold Medal, and was the first Black American to be memorialized in the National Statuary Hall.

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The saxaul sparrow (Passer ammodendri) is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in parts of Central Asia. At 14–16 centimetres (5.5–6.3 in) and 25–32 grams (0.88–1.13 oz), it is among the larger range of sparrows. Both sexes have plumage ranging from dull grey to sandy brown, and pale brown legs. Females have less boldly coloured plumage and bills, lacking the pattern of black stripes on the male's head. The head markings of both sexes make the saxaul sparrow distinctive and unlikely to be confused with any other bird. Vocalisations include a comparatively soft and musical chirping call, a song, and a flight call.

Three subspecies are recognised, differing in the overall tone of their plumage and in the head striping of the female. The subspecies ammodendri occurs in the west of the saxaul sparrow's range, while stoliczkae and nigricans occur in the east. This distribution falls into six probably disjunct areas across Central Asia, from central Turkmenistan to northern Gansu in China. A bird of deserts, the saxaul sparrow favours areas with shrubs such as the saxaul (Haloxylon), near rivers and oases. Though it has lost parts of its range to habitat destruction caused by agriculture, it is not seriously threatened by human activities.

Little is known of the saxaul sparrow's behaviour. Often hidden in foliage, it forages in trees and on the ground. It feeds mostly on seeds, such as from saxaul, as well as insects while breeding and as a nestling. When not breeding, it forms wandering flocks, but it is less social than other sparrows while breeding, often nesting in isolated pairs. Nests are round bundles of dry plant material lined with soft materials such as feathers. They are built in holes in tree cavities, earth banks, rocky slopes, and within man-made structures or the nests of birds of prey. Two clutches of five or six eggs are typically laid in a season. Both parents construct the nest and care for their eggs and young.

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Tara Kristen Lipinski (born June 10, 1982) is an American former competitive figure skater, actress, sports commentator, and documentary film producer. A former competitor in women's singles, she was the 1997 U.S. national champion and world champion, a two-time Champions Series Final champion (1997–1998), and the 1998 Olympic champion. Until 2019, she was the youngest single skater to win the U.S. Nationals, and the youngest to become an Olympic and world champion in figure skating history. She was the first woman to complete a triple loop–triple loop combination, her signature jump element, in competition. Starting in 1997, Lipinski had a rivalry with fellow skater Michelle Kwan, which was played up by the American press, and culminated when Lipinski won the gold medal at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano.

Lipinski retired from competitive figure skating in 1998. She performed in live shows before retiring from figure skating in 2002. Lipinski became one of NBC's primary figure skating commentators in 2014, alongside sports commentator Terry Gannon and fellow figure skater and good friend Johnny Weir.

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Aesthetics[a] is the branch of philosophy that studies beauty, taste, and related phenomena. In a broad sense, it includes the philosophy of art, which examines the nature of art, artistic creativity, the meanings of artworks, and audience appreciation.

Aesthetic properties are features that influence the appeal of objects. They include aesthetic values, which express positive or negative qualities, such as the contrast between beauty and ugliness. Philosophers debate whether aesthetic properties have objective existence or depend on the subjective experiences[b] of observers. According to a common view, aesthetic experiences are associated with disinterested pleasure detached from practical concerns. Taste is a subjective sensitivity to aesthetic qualities, and differences in taste can lead to disagreements about aesthetic judgments.

Artworks are artifacts or performances typically created by humans, encompassing diverse forms such as painting, music, dance, architecture, and literature, typically included among the fine arts, and often extending to applied and decorative arts. Some definitions focus on their intrinsic aesthetic qualities; others understand art as a socially constructed category. Art interpretation and criticism seek to identify the meanings of artworks. Discussions focus on elements such as what an artwork represents, which emotions it expresses, and what the author's underlying intent was.

Many fields investigate aesthetic phenomena, examining their roles in ethics, religion, and everyday life, as well as the psychological processes involved in aesthetic experiences. Comparative aesthetics analyzes the similarities and differences between traditions such as Western, Indian, Chinese, Islamic, and African aesthetics. Aesthetic thought has its roots in antiquity but only emerged as a distinct field of inquiry in the 18th century when philosophers systematically engaged with the subject.

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Snail guy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tresider/770455655/
Snail guy