Historical Events, Birthdays And Quotations

Greek Art

This Day in History

 

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, Murdered by His Own Men (1687)

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

La Salle was a celebrated French explorer of North America. He began exploring the Great Lakes in 1679, setting up forts in the region and organizing a federation of native American tribes to fight the Iroquois. Given power to colonize the region between Lake Michigan and the Gulf of Mexico, he set sail in 1684 for the mouth of the Mississippi River, which he was ultimately unable to locate. Beset by losses of men and ships, La Salle was killed by mutineers after having mistakenly landed where? Discuss


UK Recognizes British Sign Language as Official Language (2003)

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Making use of space and involving movement of the hands, body, face, and head, British Sign Language (BSL) is the preferred language of deaf people in the UK and those who communicate with them, such as relatives and interpreters. BSL has regional and local dialects, and some signs go in and out of fashion or evolve over time, just like spoken words. Although English is the predominant spoken language in both the UK and US, BSL differs from American Sign Language in what ways?


Synthesis of Californium Announced (1950)

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

The sixth transuranium element to be synthesized, californium is an artificially produced, radioactive metallic chemical element. A member of the actinide series of elements, it has isotopes with half-lives ranging from about 40 seconds to 900 years. One isotope, californium-252, is used as a neutron source in nuclear reactors. Which four scientists first produced californium in a cyclotron at the University of California at Berkeley?



Word Trivia

 

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

noon

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

high noon - Exactly 12 noon. More...

luncheon - An extension of the word lunch, based on nuncheon, "a drink taken at noon." More...

noon - Derived from the Latin word nona, "ninth," as it originally meant the ninth hour after sunrise, about 3 p.m. More...

post meridiem - The expansion of p.m., from Latin, meaning "after noon" (1647). More...


utter

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

arrant - Means "complete, utter," as in arrant knave, "an extremely untrustworthy individual." More...

explore - Comes from Latin, meaning "search out," from ex-, "out," and plorare, "utter a cry." More...

whicker - To utter a half-suppressed laugh. More...

yodel - From Bavarian jodln, "to utter the syllable jo (yo)." More...


row

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

windbreak - A row of trees acting as a fence. More...

acrostic - From Greek akron, "end," and stikhos, "row, line of verse." More...

queue - Has the forms queued and queuing or queueing; queueing has five vowels in a row. More...

row - The verb comes from Germanic ro-, "steer," and row, "orderly line," which is from Germanic raigwa. More...



Today's Birthdays

 

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Wyatt Earp (1848)

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Earp was an American frontiersman. In the 1870s, he worked as a police officer in Wichita and Dodge City, Kansas, where he befriended gunmen Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson. He later worked as a guard for Wells, Fargo & Company. By 1881, he had moved to Tombstone, Arizona, living as a gambler and a saloon guard. His brother Virgil became town marshal, and his other brothers bought real estate and businesses. A feud with the Clanton gang ended in a shootout at the O.K. Corral, where what happened? Discuss


Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll (1848)

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

In 1840, Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and the two had nine children, whose marriages, and those of their grandchildren, in turn, allied the British royal house with those of Russia, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Romania, and others. Their sixth child, Princess Louise, is regarded by biographers as the couple's most beautiful daughter. In 1871, Louise married the Marquess of Lorne and became the Duchess of Argyll. Why was the marriage controversial?


John Wayne Gacy (1942)

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Gacy was an American serial killer who was convicted and later executed for murdering 33 boys and young men between 1972 and 1978. Gacy buried dozens of his victims in a crawl space under the floor of his house and threw several others in a nearby river. Known as the "Killer Clown," he often performed as a clown at local parties and even had drinks at a local bar while in costume on a few occasions. Gacy took up painting while on death row. What motif appeared in many of his art works?



Article of the Day

 

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Trembling Madness

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Delirium tremens, known colloquially as the DTs, is an acute, sometimes fatal episode of delirium generally caused by alcohol withdrawal following habitual excessive drinking. A patient suffering from the DTs may experience sweating, hallucinations, tremors, and convulsions, as well as increased heart rate and body temperature. In severe cases, delirium tremens may lead to hypothermia, cardiovascular collapse, and death. When left untreated, what percentage of DT sufferers die during withdrawal? Discuss


The Aramaic Language

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

During the 12th century BCE, Aramaean nomads, the native speakers of Aramaic, began to settle in modern-day Syria, Iraq, and Turkey. As Aramaic grew in importance, it spread throughout the Fertile Crescent as a lingua franca, or common language, and settlers and missionaries later brought the Semitic language to parts of N Africa, Europe, Persia, India, and China. What 2004 film became a major box-office success despite the fact that most of its dialogue is spoken in ancient Aramaic?


Destroying Angels

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Originally reserved as a delicacy for the elite, edible mushrooms are now extensively grown on a commercial scale. There are, however, many poisonous species of mushroom, and the destroying angels of the Amanita genus are among the most toxic mushrooms known to man. Destroying angels are characterized by their white stalks and gills and have a telltale collar-like structure, or volva, at the base of their stalks. How soon after ingesting the toxic mushroom do symptoms of poisoning appear?



Quotations of the Day

 

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Henry Fielding

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Great joy, especially after a sudden change and revolution of circumstances, is apt to be silent, and dwells rather in the heart than on the tongue. Discuss


Gustave Flaubert

Mon, 18 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

Art requires neither complaisance nor politeness; nothing but faith, faith and freedom.


Henry Fielding

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 05:00:00 GMT

He died...of a broken heart, a distemper which kills many more than is generally imagined.





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