My Country

"My Country" is an iconic patriotic poem about Australia, written by Dorothea Mackellar (1885–1968) at the age of 19 while homesick in the United Kingdom. After travelling through Europe extensively with her father during her teenage years, she started writing the poem in London in 1904 and re-wrote it several times before her return to Sydney. The poem was first published in The Spectator in London on 5 September 1908 under the title "Core of My Heart". It was reprinted in many Australian newspapers, quickly becoming well known and establishing Mackellar as a poet.

Mackellar's family owned substantial properties in the Gunnedah district of New South Wales and a property (Torryburn) in the Paterson district of the Hunter Region. The inspiration for her poems undoubtedly came from the time she spent on the rural properties as a child. The poem is believed to have been directly inspired by witnessing the breaking of a drought when she was at Torryburn; "My Country" uses imagery to describe the land after the breaking of a long drought. Of ragged mountain ranges possibly refers to the Mount Royal Ranges, and the Barrington Tops.

Untitled Nas album

The untitled ninth studio album by American rapper Nas was released by Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records on July 15, 2008 in the United States, with earlier dates in some other countries. Its original title—Nigger—was changed due to controversy surrounding the racial epithet. The album is distinguished for its political content, diverse sources of production and provocative subject matter.

The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, Nas' fifth to do so. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States. Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics; it holds an aggregate score of 71/100 from Metacritic.

Background

Title controversy

The original title of the album—Nigger—was mentioned by Nas several times, as well as on an October 12, 2007, performance at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City where he announced the title and release date.Def Jam made no comment on the title. This was similar to attempts to name his 2006 album—eventually titled Hip Hop Is Dead—both Nigga and Hip Hop Is Dead... The N. On May 19, 2008, it was confirmed that Nas changed the name of the album to an untitled one (although on iTunes, the album is self-titled), stating that "the people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it." The cover of the album shows the back of a shirtless Nas with flagellation scars forming the shape of the letter N, a reference to the racial slur and how slaves were tortured. Fort Greene, Brooklyn assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries requested New York's Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to withdraw $84 million from the state pension fund that has been invested into Universal and its parent company, Vivendi, if the album's title was not changed.

Nas (Ikaria)

Nas is a small village on the Greek island of Icaria. It is famous for the beach which is located near the ruins of an ancient temple dedicated to the goddess Artemis.

Coordinates: 37°37′19″N 26°03′36″E / 37.62194°N 26.06000°E / 37.62194; 26.06000

814 Naval Air Squadron

814 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It was formed in December 1938 and has been disbanded and reformed several times. Its nickname is "the Flying Tigers", not to be confused with the American Volunteer squadron of WWII.

History

The squadron was formed on December 1938 as a Torpedo plane Squadron equipped with six Fairey Swordfish aircraft. Originally embarked on HMS Ark Royal, it transferred to HMS Hermes at the outbreak of the Second World War. HMS Hermes helped search for the Graf Spee and taking part in the Battle of Dakar, damaging the French battleship Richelieu on 8 July 1940. HMS Hermes travelled to the Indian Ocean December 1940, providing support for the land forces in British Somaliland and capturing 5 enemy merchant ships. In May 1941 the squadron provided support to the Royal Air Force in Iraq and later providing convoy protection in the Indian ocean. In April 1942, while the squadron was ashore, HMS Hermes was sunk by Japanese aircraft off Ceylon and 814 subsequently disbanded at Katukurunda in December. The squadron was reformed in July 1944, equipped with Fairey Barracudas, to embark on HMS Venerable and headed to the Far East for patrols, although seeing no action.