Historical Events, Birthdays And Quotations

This Day in History

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

In 1773, American colonists led by Samuel Adams dressed as Native Americans and threw hundreds of chests of tea from three British ships into Boston Harbor. The action was taken to prevent the payment of a British tax on tea and to protest the British monopoly of the colonial tea trade authorized by the Tea Act. In retaliation, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts, which further united the colonies against the British. What American founding father called for the cost of the tea to be repaid? Discuss

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

American writer Margaret Mitchell only published one novel during her lifetime—Gone with the Wind—and it became one of the most popular novels in the history of American publishing. In 1939, an extraordinarily successful film version of the book was released, transferring the romantic, panoramic portrait of the Civil War and Reconstruction periods in Georgia to the big screen. The movie won 10 Academy Awards. What is the last line spoken in the film?

Sat, 14 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The Dayton Agreement was a peace agreement that put an end to the Bosnian War that began in 1992. The accord was the result of a meeting between Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian leaders under US auspices in Dayton, Ohio. It called for a Bosnian republic with a central government and two semiautonomous regions roughly equal in size—one dominated by Serbs and the other by Bosniaks and Croats in federation. Later signed in Paris, the accord also provided for the dispatch of what military force?

Word Trivia

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

rentier - A person who makes income from rent. More...

disposable income, discretionary income - Disposable income is money you have left after paying taxes; discretionary income is money left over after paying for rent, food, utilities, and life's other necessities. More...

farm - Comes from medieval Latin firma, "fixed annual payment or rent." More...

ablocate - To rent or rent out. More...

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

moment - To have a moment is to suddenly forget where you are and what's going on; it is also called a bristlecone or a senior moment. More...

absence of mind - The failure to remember what one is doing. More...

brain cloud - The temporary inability to think properly, or to remember something. More...

souvenir - Literally French for "remember," from Latin subvenire, "occur to the mind." More...

Sat, 14 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

bed push - A fundraising event, sometimes run by hospitals, in which a wheeled bed is pushed through the streets to raise awareness of the campaign. More...

on the wagon - Before paved roads, horse-drawn water wagons sprayed the streets to settle the dust, and anyone who had sworn abstinence from alcohol was said to have "climbed aboard the water wagon," later shortened to "on the wagon." More...

juggernaut - Derived from Sanskrit Jagannamacrtha, "lord of the world," a title of Krishna, worshipped at an annual festival by the dragging of his image through the streets in a heavy chariot. More...

one-way - Came into English in 1906 in reference to travel tickets, in 1914 in reference to streets, and in 1940 in reference to windows, mirrors, etc. More...

Today's Birthdays

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

One of the greatest composers of Western classical music, Beethoven was born to a musical family and was a precociously gifted pianist and violist. After nine years as a court musician, he moved to Vienna to study with Joseph Haydn. There, he quickly won fame and renown as both a virtuoso and a composer. He went on to become the first major composer to be able to earn a living independently, without support from the church or court. Beethoven's deafness resulted in what unique historical record? Discuss

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The son of an oil millionaire, Getty was an American industrialist who increased his fortune and became the richest man in the world by acquiring oil companies and obtaining rights to a tract of land in Saudi Arabia that yielded great quantities of oil. Married and divorced five times, he was known for such bizarre behavior as installing a payphone in his mansion for guests to use and refusing to pay a ransom for his grandson even after being sent the boy's ear. What happened to the grandson?

Sat, 14 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

A newspaper editor, De Leon joined the Socialist Labor Party in the US in 1890 and soon became one of its leaders. He led a radical faction that seceded from the Knights of Labor in 1895 and formed the Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance (STLA). The STLA was later absorbed by the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which he helped found in 1905. After being refused a seat at a 1908 IWW convention by extremists who favored violent tactics over political action, he founded what organization?

Article of the Day

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The printing press is widely regarded as one of the most important inventions of the second millennium, one that revolutionized people's access to information and ushered in the modern age. Johannes Gutenberg, the first European to print using movable type and a press, is generally credited with the development of the process that remained the principal means of printing until the late 20th century. Which of his printed works, completed by 1455, are perhaps the most valuable books in the world? Discuss

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Tonsure is the practice in some Christian churches and other religious orders of cutting some of the hair from the scalps of clerics. In the West, the tonsure consisted of a circular patch on the crown of the head that was kept bald. Different religious orders had different tonsures: some kept the entire head shaved above the ears; others retained a broad band of hair around the head. The Catholic Church abolished the practice in 1972. What modern religious organizations still practice tonsure?

Sat, 14 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

The Russkaya Pravda was the legal code that grew out of common law and the feudal regulations of the medieval state known as Kievean Rus, the earliest predecessor of modern Ukraine and Russia. Codified by Yaroslav the Wise in the 11th century, it bears a resemblance to contemporary German law but is unique in its omission of capital punishment. It originally allowed the avenging of a murder, but the penalty was later limited to a hefty fine. How was guilt established in the absence of witnesses?

Quotations of the Day

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire. Discuss

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate and replace the savage races throughout the world.

Sat, 14 Dec 2019 05:00:00 GMT

I don't like compliments, and I don't see why a man should think he is pleasing a woman enormously when he says to her a whole heap of things that he doesn't mean.