Julius Caesar

This general was a Roman politician and notable author of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the events that led to the demise of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire. IN 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed a political alliance that dominated Roman politics for several years. Their attempts to amass power as Populares were opposed by the Optimates within the Roman Senate, among them Cato the Younger with the frequent support of Cicero.

Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars, completed by 51 BC, extended Rome's territory to the English Channel and the Rhine. Caesar became the first Roman general to cross both the Channel and the Rhine, when he built a bridge across the Rhine and crossed the Channel to invade Britain. These achievements granted him unmatched military power and threatened to eclipse the standing of Pompey, who had realigned himself with the Senate after the death of Crassus in 53 BC.

With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to step down his military command and return to Rome. Caesar refused the order, and instead marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon with the 13th Legion, leaving his province and illegally entering Roman Italy under arms, Civil war resulted, and Caesar's victory in the war put him in an unrivalled position of power and influence.

After assuming control of government, Caesar began a programme of social and governmental reforms, including the creation of the Julian calendar. He centralised the bureaucracy of the Republic and was eventually proclaimed "dictator in perpetuity", giving him additional authority. But the underlying political conflicts had not been resolved, and on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, Caesar was assassinated by a group of rebellious senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus.

Christopher Columbus

Chistopher Columbus (Italian: Cristoforo Colombo, 1451-1506) was an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer, and citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Those voyages and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola initiated the European colonization of the New World.

Western imperialism and economic competition were emerging among European kingdoms through the establishment of trade routes and colonies. Columbus proposed to reach the East Indies by sailing westward, and this eventually received the support of the Spanish Crown, which saw a chance to enter the spice trade with Asia through a new westward route.

During his first voyage in 1492, he reached the New World instead of arriving at Japan as he had intended, landing on an island in the Bahamas archipielago that he named "San Salvador". Over the course of three more voyages, he visited the Greater and Lesser Antilles, as well as the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming all of it for the Crown of Castile.

Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas, having been preceded by the Viking expedition led by Leif Erikson in the 11th century, but his voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the Americas, inaugurating a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted several centuries.

The Battle of Shiroyama

The Battle of Shiroyama took place on 24 September 1.877, in Kagoshima, Japan. It was the final battle of the Satsuma Rebellion, where the heavily outnumbered samurai under Saigö Takamori made their last stand against Imperial Japanese Army under the command of Generals Yamagata Aritomo and Kawamura Sumiyoshi. The battle culminated in the annihilation of Saigö's army as well as his death, marking the end of the Satsuma Rebellion.

Following defeat at the Siege of Kumamoto Castle and in other battles in central Kyüshü, the surviving remnants of the samurai forces loyal to Saigö Takamori fled back to Satsuma, seizing the hill of Shiroyama overlooking Kagoshima on 1 September 1.877. Imperial army troops under the command of General Yamagata Aritomo and marines under the command of  Admiral Kawamura Sumiyoshi began arriving soon after, and the rebels were surrounded.

After combat losses and defections, Saigö had only about 500 samurai remaining of a force of over 20.000 which had besieged the government garrison in the city of Kumamoto only six weeks earlier. With 30.000 troops, Yamagata, although greatly outnumbering Saigö, bided his time constructing a series of fortifications to encircle Saigö and preempt any chance of a breakout, additionally requisitioning five warships to bombard the rebels and reduce their defenses.

He was planning an attack from all sides, and in an effort to prevent another escape, ordered that any position engaged by the enemy was to be fired upon, regardless of friendly casualties. Saigö defended his position with limited musket support and a few pieces of artillery, melting down metal statues to produce bullets and tending to injuries with a carpenter's saw. After firing a final barrage of artillery lasting the night, Yamagata's men attacked Saigö's position.

The samurai, under heavy fire, charged the lines of the imperial army, which had not been trained for close-quarter sword fighting. In just a few minutes, the once organized line turned into disarray. Highly skilled samurai swordsmanship prevailed against an army with very little traditional training. For a short time, Saigö's lines held, but was forced back due to weight of numbers. 

Saigö was mortally wounded in the femoral artery and stomach, and was carried by Beppy Shinsuke downhill to find a place to end his life. 

Music Education

In primary schools in European countries, children often learn to play instruments such as keyboards or recorders, sing in small choirs, and learn about the elements of music and history of music. In countries such as India, the harmonium is used in schools, but instruments like keyboards and violin are also common. Students are normally taught basics of Indian Raga music.

In primary and secondary schools, students may often have the opportunity to perform in some type of musical ensemble, such as a choir, orchestra, or school band: concert band, marching band, or jazz band. In some secondary schools, additional music classes may also be available. In junior high school or its equivalent, music usually continues to be a required part of the curriculum.

At the university level, students in most arts and humanities programs receive academic credit for music courses such as music history, typically of Western art music, or music appreciation, which focuses on listening and learning about different musical styles. In addition, most North American and European universities offer music ensembles, such as choir, concert band, marching band, or orchestra, that are open to students from various fields of study.

English study

English study is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the United Kingdom, the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and the Middle East, among other areas), English linguistics, etc.

More broadly, English studies explores the production of and analysis of texts created in English (or in areas of the world in which English is a common mode of communication). In most English-speaking countries, the literary and cultural dimensions of English studies are typically practiced in university departments of English, while the study of texts produced in non-English languages takes place in other departments, such as departments of foreign language or comparative literature.

English linguistics is often studied in separate departments of linguistics. This disciplinary divide between a dominant linguistic or a literary orientation is one motivation for the division of the North American Modern Language Association (MLA) into two subgroups. 

The English Major (alternatively "English concentration" or "B.A. in English" is a term in the U.S. and a few other countries for an undergraduate university degree focused around the consumption, analysis, and production of texts in the English language. The term may also be used to describe a estudent who is pursuing such a degree.

Stundents who major in English reflect upon, analyse, and interpret literature and film, presenting their analyses in clear, cogent writing. Although help-wanted postings rarely solicit English majors specifically, a degree in English hones critical thinking skills essential to a number of career fields, including writing, editing, publishing, teaching and research, adevertising, public relation, law, and finance.

A digital divide

A digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact of information and communication technologies (ICT). The divide within countries (such as the digital divide in the United States) may refer to inequalities between individuals, households, businesses, or geographic areas, usually at different socioeconomic levels or other demographic categories.

The divide between differing countries or regions of the world is referred to as the global digital divide, examinig this technological gap between developing and developed countries on an international scale. The term digital divide describes a gap in terms of access to and usage of information and communication technology.

It was traditionally considered to be a question of having or not having access, but with a global mobile phone penetration of over 95%, it is becoming a relative inequality between those who have more and less bandwidth and more or less skills. Conceptualizations of the digital divide have been described as "who, with which charateristics, connects how to what":

Who is the subject that connects: individuals, organizations, enterprises, schools, hospitals, countries, etc. Which characteristics or attributes are distinguished to describe the divide: income, education, age, geographic location, motivation, reason not to use, etc. How sophisticated is the usage: mere access, retrieval, interactivity, intensive and extensive in usage, innovative contributions, etc. To what does the subject connect: fixed or mobile, Internet or telephony, digital TV, broadband, etc.

Different authors focus on different aspects, which leads to a large variety of definitions of the digital divide. "For example, counting with only 3 different choices of subjects (individuals, organizations, or countries), each with 4 characteristics (age, wealth, geography, sector), distinguishing between 3 levels of digital adoption (access, actual usage and effective adoption), and 6 types of technologies (fixed phone, mobile... Internet...), already results in 3 x 4 x 3 x 6 = 216 different ways to define the digital divide. Each one of them seems equally reasonable and depends on the objective pursued by the analyst".

UNED

The National University of Distance Education, known in Spanish as UNED, is a distance learning and research university founded in 1.972 and is the only university run by the central run by the central government of Spain. It has headquarters in Madrid, Spain, with campuses in all Spanish autonomous communities. In addition, there are 14 study centres, and 3 exam points, in 13 countries in Europe, Americas and Africa. 

The University awards undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, as well as non-degree qualifications such as diplomas and certificates, or continuing education units. UNED combines traditional onsite education with distance learning programs. With over 260.000 students, this university is the largest in Spain and the second largest in Europe.

UNED was founded in 1.972 following the idea of the UK's Open University to provide quality higher and continuing education opportunities to all through a distance education system. It awards the same qualifications as other Spanish universities and has the same entry requirements.

This implies that it is not "Open". Even though the study is at distance, admissions are as strict as for "on-site" education and exams are supervised as in the other Spanish universities. However, some special features of UNED make it different from most other Spanish universities: it is nationwide in scope, applies the most advanced teaching technologies and has a wide social influence with radio and TV programming.

UNED is a university where distance is no object for the fact that, through its educational methodology, UNED is the only university that offers the possibility of obtaining formal qualifications adapted to the European Higher Education Area (AHEA) from anywhere in the world.

Likewise, UNED is the only with centres in the Americas, Africa, Europe and all the Autonomous Communities of Spain; finally, training at UNED is carried out using new technologies, principally the Internet. UNED's mission is to be present as a centre of excellence throughout the world.