English Corner: June 2009

This Day in History & Today's Birthday

This Day in History

USSR Begins Drilling World's Deepest Hole (1970)

The Kola Superdeep Borehole project was an attempt to dig as far as possible into the Earth's crust. It began when, in 1970, following setbacks in the Space Race, Soviet scientists looked downward. Digging on the remote Kola Peninsula for some 20 years, they reached a depth of 40,230 feet (12,262 m)—about a third of the way through the Earth's crust—before being forced to stop due to higher-than-expected temperatures of 350° F (180° C). Surprisingly, water was found at what depth? More... Discuss

This Day in History provided by The Free Dictionary

Today's Birthday

Joseph Brodsky (1940)

Soon after Brodsky began writing poetry in the USSR in the 1950s, he was accused by the government of "social parasitism" and sentenced to hard labor. Exiled in 1972, he settled in New York and began writing in English. He was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1987 and was poet laureate of the US for a time. His poetry, with its themes of loss and exile, is highly regarded for its intensity, depth, and wit. What was his retort when a Soviet judge once asked him, "Who enrolled you in the ranks of poets?" More... Discuss

Today's Birthday provided by The Free Dictionary

English Corner

4 Jun 2009

Words Unspoken. Supertramp

USSR Begins Drilling World's Deepest Hole (1970)

Joseph Brodsky (1940)