History Lesson

"History Lesson" is a short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1949.

The two-part story speculates on the cooling of the Sun as a doomsday scenario for Earth and an evolutionary advent for Venus.

Plot summary

The first part of the story is told from the perspective of a tribe of nomadic humans in a future where Earth has entered a final ice age. The tribe is travelling toward the equator ahead of glaciers that are descending from the North Pole, but discovers, when they arrive in the last hospitable region of the planet, that glaciers from the South Pole have already almost reached them. The tribe carries with it a few relics from the mid-21st century which it considers sacred, although the functions of the various objects have been forgotten. Before the ultimate extinction of the human species, the relics are safely relocated to a mountain that stands between the two advancing bodies of ice.

The second part of the story is told from the perspective of a race of Venusian reptiles who have evolved into intelligent beings capable of space travel in the 5,000 years since the cooling of the Sun. The Venusians travel to Earth and recover the relics of the last tribe of humans, now the only remnants of civilization not buried under ice. The title of the story comes from the attempts of the Venusian scientist, to reconstruct the life and times of erect bipeds that once walked on the Third Planet through the analysis of one of the last relics of mankind — a film reel that apparently contains a Disney animated cartoon short, which ends with a section of text, which no amount of effort and speculation can decipher : "A Walt Disney Production". .

List of Latin phrases (I)

This page lists English translations of notable Latin phrases, such as veni vidi vici and et cetera. Some of the phrases are themselves translations of Greek phrases, as Greek rhetoric and literature reached its peak centuries before the rise of ancient Rome.

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Second-in-command

The second-in-command (2i/c or 2IC) is the deputy commander of any British Army or Royal Marines unit, from battalion or regiment downwards. He or she is thus the equivalent of an executive officer in the United States Army. This terminology is also used in many other Commonwealth armies.

The second-in-command of a battalion is usually a major and the second-in-command of a regiment is a lieutenant colonel. The second-in-command of a company, squadron or artillery battery (in which he or she is called the battery captain) is usually a captain (although infantry company second-in-commands were usually lieutenants until after the Second World War), the second-in-command of a platoon or troop is the platoon or troop sergeant, and the second-in-command of a section is usually a lance corporal.

In the Royal Navy, the second-in-command of a vessel is known as the first lieutenant or executive officer.

Other meanings/uses

In common usage, the term refers to a deputy. Its basic meaning is "someone who relieves a commander". When the first-in-command is absent, the second-in-command will temporarily assume the duties thereof. Some have asserted that there exists the theoretical concept of a third-in-command whereby the so-called "third-in-command" assumes the duties of the absent second-in-command, excepting, of course, when the first-in-command is not absent.

I&C

I&C may refer to: