Historical Events, Birthdays And Quotations

World's First Parking Meter Installed (1935)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

The parking meter was invented in 1935 by Carl C. Magee in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The first meter was installed there later that year, guaranteeing drivers a parking space for an amount of purchased time. Used until the 1980s, Magee's original design had a coin acceptor, a dial, and a visible flag indicating the expiration of paid time. Reverend C.H. North was the first person in the US to get a parking ticket because of an expired meter. What happened when he disputed his ticket in court?

The Chowchilla School Bus Kidnapping (1976)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Chowchilla is a small California town that made national headlines when kidnappers took control of a school bus full of children in 1976. The 26 children and their bus driver, Ed Ray, were driven around in two vans for 11 hours before being forced into a moving van buried in a quarry. After 16 hours underground, Ray and the children managed to escape. All were safely returned home, and the kidnappers were soon arrested. Who were they?

St. Mark's Campanile Collapses (1902)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Originally built in the 9th century, St. Mark's Campanile is the 323-foot (98.6-m) bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy. It has been damaged many times in its history, including by fire and an earthquake. In 1902, a crack appeared in its north wall. On the morning of July 14, the campanile collapsed. Remarkably, no one was killed by the collapse, and only one building was damaged. Reconstruction of the campanile was completed in 1912. What was the one casualty of the collapse?

pineapple

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

collective fruit - That which is formed from a mass of flowers, as the mulberry, pineapple, etc. More...

Hawaiian pizza - A pizza topped with pineapple and ham or prosciutto. More...

pineapple - Originally, pineapple was the word for pinecone, since the cone is the fruit of the pine and apple had the former general meaning "fruit"; pineapple is neither "pine" nor "apple," but is a very big berry and is also called "king pine" or "excellent fruit." More...

multiple fruit, fruitlet - The pineapple is termed a multiple fruit because it forms from the individual ovaries of several flowers; each raised button on its surface is called a fruitlet. More...

recent

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Amazonian epoch - The Amazonian epoch is the most recent of the Martian geologic epochs, from 1,800 years ago to the present. More...

grey, gray - The distinction in spelling between British grey and American gray is recent, popping up in the 20th century. More...

Pleistocene, Pliocene, Miocene, Oligocene - Epochs indicating periods in the Earth's geology; Pleistocene means "most recent," Pliocene means "more recent," Miocene means "moderately recent," and Oligocence means "but a little recent." More...

neoteric - Used to describe a person, especially an author, it means one belongs to modern/recent times—but it might also refer to a person having a modern outlook or new ideas; when used of things, it indicates that they are modern, new, or recent. More...

wandering

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

evagation - Means mental wandering or digression, also a digression in speech or writing. More...

mundivagant - Means "wandering around the world." More...

vagation - The action of wandering, straying, or departing from the proper or regular course. More...

wanderjahr - Literally German for "wander year," it refers to a year of wandering or travel. More...

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (1872)

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Amundsen was a Norwegian polar explorer who led the first expeditions to traverse the Northwest Passage and to reach the South Pole. Turning to air exploration, in 1926 he and Umberto Nobile succeeded in flying over the North Pole and unexplored regions of the Arctic Ocean in a dirigible built and piloted by Nobile. A bitter controversy followed with Nobile as to the credit for the success. Yet in 1928, when Nobile crashed a different dirigible, Amundsen launched a rescue mission. What happened?

Dame Iris Murdoch (1919)

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

An Irish-born novelist and philosopher, Murdoch studied at Cambridge under prominent philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein before pursuing a career in writing. Her novels focus on the idea that free will is illusory and depict humans as "accidental" creatures, seemingly free but actually bound to self, society, and the natural world. She penned 26 novels and many philosophical works before Alzheimer's ended her writing career. To what non-medical condition did she initially attribute her symptoms?

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858)

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Pankhurst was a leading British suffragette. In 1889, she founded the Women's Franchise League, which in 1894 secured for married women the right to vote in local elections. She later advocated militancy, mainly in the form of arson, and was once arrested 12 times in a year. During World War I, she organized a rally of 30,000 women to encourage employers to let men fight while women did their jobs in England. Pankhurst also founded the Women's Social and Political Union, whose motto was what?

Captain Nemo

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

One of the most famous antiheroes in fiction, Captain Nemo is an enigmatic character featured in Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island. A scientific genius, Nemo roams the depths of the sea in his submarine, the Nautilus. Though he projects a stern confidence, he is driven by a thirst for vengeance and, at the same time, is wracked with remorse over the deaths of his crew members and even his enemies. What does "Nemo" mean in Latin?

Psychedelic Psychotherapy

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

The use of psychedelic agents in Western psychotherapy began in the 1950s, after Sandoz Laboratories, the manufacturer of LSD, began distributing it to researchers. Concern over the unauthorized use of psychedelics by the general public, however, led to widespread bans in the 1960s. Since then, the study of psychedelic psychotherapy has been limited. In recent years, investigators have studied the possibility of treating post-traumatic stress disorder with the drug MDMA, commonly known as what?

Dead Malls

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Dead malls are shopping centers with high vacancy rates or low consumer traffic. Due to changes in the department store industry, many formerly popular malls have been left without an "anchor" store, causing other retailers to fail. Since newer "big box" chains typically prefer to occupy their own free-standing buildings, malls' anchor store spaces are being left vacant, and the malls then slowly "die." What can be done with dead mall sites?

Charles Dickens

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

We are not rich in the bank, but we have always prospered, and we have quite enough. I never walk out with my husband but I hear the people bless him ... I never lie down at night but I know that in the course of that day he has alleviated pain and soothed some fellow-creature in the time of need ... Is not this to be rich?

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

Of course there must be lots of Magic in the world ... but people don't know what it is like or how to make it. Perhaps the beginning is just to say nice things are going to happen until you make them happen.

Sir Walter Scott

Tue, 14 Jul 2026 05:00:00 GMT

For he that does good, having the unlimited power to do evil, deserves praise not only for the good which he performs, but for the evil which he forbears.