Great Neb's New Writeups

Victor I (person)

2004-10-03T15:24:07Z

St Victor I was born in Africa and was Bishop of Rome between 189 and 199 and is best known for his attempt to standardise the date of Easter. He also presided over a period of respite from persecution for Roman Christians. His feast day was celebrated on July 28th but was one of those suppressed in 1969 revision of the Missal.

During the second century Christians of Asia still celebrated Easter on the 14th day of Nisan, whatever day of the week that might be, as with Jewish Passover. The Roman Christians, however, celebrated Easter only on the Sunday following the 14th, arguing that this was the actual day that Christ was resurrected. Victor wrote to Bishop Polycrates of Ephesus requesting that he bring together the Bishops of Asia to discuss the matter with them. Polycrates did so but replied that the universal view was that the Quartodeciman custom was observed. Victor convened a synod of Roman Bishops, the first ever recorded,…

Soter (person)

2004-10-02T16:59:28Z

St Soter was Pope for eight years between 166 and 174 although, as with all early Popes, dates vary up to five or six years either way. His saint day is on 22nd April along with St Caius, a third century Pope.

Little is known about Soter it is thought he was born in Fondi, in Italy, and that his Greek name, meaning Saviour, was given to him by his Greek father. The only real information we have about him stems from a letter written to him by St Dionysius of Corinth that is quoted by Eusebius in his "Ecclesiastical History".

"From the beginning it has been your custom to do good to all the brethren in many ways, and to send alms to many churches in every city, refreshing the poverty of those who sent requests, or giving aid to the brethren in the mines, by the alms which you have had the habit of giving from old, Romans keeping up the traditional custom of the Romans; which your blessed Bishop Soter has not only preserved, but has even

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euro (thing)

2004-05-04T00:50:31Z

The euro was fully adopted by twelve members of the European Union on January 1st 2002. The currency has proved remarkably robust on the international markets and 36% of foreign exchange transactions involve euros (second only to USD). Whilst the euro has proved stable internationally economic problems within the member countries continue to cause problems, most noticeably for the European Central Bank (ECB) which determines interest rates for the Eurozone.

History

The adoption of the euro in 2002 followed a period of three years between January 1999 and 2002 when exchange rates between the Eurozone countries were fixed and use of the euro in banking financial markets was introduced. From 1999 debt began to be issued in euros as well. However the planning for a single currency in Europe goes back much further.

L'Europe se fera par la monnaie, ou elle ne se fera pas - Jacques Rueff,

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functionalism (idea)

2003-11-05T16:03:11Z

Functionalism is a political theory of integration proposed and almost entirely formulated by David Mitrany. First outlined in 1943 in Mitrany's pamphlet "A Working Peace System" functionalism approaches international relations and international integration from a different angle to traditional state-centric theories, such as realism. It places the emphasis on private actors as the primary agents for change. As with many works of the time it focuses on the creation a peaceful world society following the descent into world wide conflict for the second time in only thirty years.

David Mitrany

Mitrany (1888-1975) himself was Romanian but studied at the London School of Economics and spent most of his life working in London. The influence of British ideas on Mitrany was significant. In his autobiographical memoir in 1975 Mitrany identifies his influences as the politics of the international peace movement, social democracy and the…

Dancehall (idea)

2003-05-20T18:43:38Z

Dancehall music is a derivative of reggae music that developed in the 1970s. Dancehall was originally based around dub versions of reggae tunes but in the mid 80s it moved almost exclusively towards electronically produced beats. Over the top of these tunes, or "riddims" as they are known, a DJ "chats" or "toasts". Dancehall is the most popular type of music in Jamaica and now its appeal is starting to cross international boundaries with artists like Sean Paul and Wayne Wonder topping the charts in the US and UK.

Dancehall music has its roots in the dub records pioneered by King Tubby in the 1960s. Whilst King Tubby was developing the musical basis for dancehall Count Machuki became the first man to speak over a record. He started out by literally chatting over the records, telling jokes and making comments but he developed it further and supposedly his first prepared rap was,

If you dig my jive
you're cool and very much alive

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A badly organised mini-meet: The London Booze Monkeys Prep for Nottingham (thing)

2003-02-10T11:17:34Z

Break it down, this London scene is really swinging at the moment and it is already time for another meet. Dabcanboulet, everyone's favourite Canadian kernel hacker, is visiting London on business and before heading up to Nottingham he wants to meet and greet the London Booze Monkeys. To this end on the evening of Wednesday 12 February we will assemble and meet and drink and be merry and so on and so forth.

The venue chosen is the Bricklayer's Arms, a Samuel Smith pub just off the Tottenham Court Road. Some of you may remember this particular public house from a previous meet at which we were lucky enough to be graced by Chiisuta's presence, spy Frankie in a stunning dress and embarrass bol in front of his female flat mates.

Final details are as follows:

When – Wednesday 12 February, 5:

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