Historical Events, Birthdays And Quotations

This Day in History

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

In the European scramble for African territory in the late 19th century, France took control of the region that is now Burkina Faso. During World War I, however, the area was torn apart by violent opposition to colonial rule. To prevent continued uprisings, it was named a separate territory, Upper Volta, in 1919. When anti-colonial agitation resumed after World War II, the area became a republic, achieving full independence two years later in 1960. After what was "Upper Volta" named? Discuss

Wed, 4 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

In the summer of 1964, young civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner travelled to Mississippi to help African Americans register to vote. On June 21, they disappeared. A month and a half later, the FBI found their bodies buried on a nearby farm. The Neshoba County deputy sheriff and 17 others, all Ku Klux Klan members, were indicted for the crime. Seven were convicted in 1967. One suspect whose trial ended in a hung jury was retried in 2005 and convicted of what?

Tue, 3 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

The USS Nautilus was the world's first operational nuclear-powered submarine. In 1958, the Nautilus embarked on Operation Sunshine, during which it completed the first submerged journey across the North Pole, resurfacing northeast of Greenland 96 hours later. During the mission, deep ice in the area of the Chukchi Sea forced the Nautilus to turn back temporarily. In the event that the submarine became trapped in ice, what dramatic action did its commander plan to take?

Word Trivia

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

frontage road - A smaller road that runs alongside a highway or major road. More...

highway, expressway, freeway, parkway, turnpike - A highway is a main road, while an expressway is a multilane highway; freeways, parkways, and turnpikes are types of expressways. More...

scamp - Once meant a highwayman; as a verb, it meant "rob on the highway." More...

interstate - A highway that is part of the federal network of major roads; despite their name, some interstates do not cross state lines. More...

Wed, 4 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

manage - Once a noun meaning "age at which one becomes a man." More...

sui juris - "Legally competent to manage one's own affairs." More...

agronomy - The management and husbandry of land. More...

improvement - Its early spelling was emprowement, meaning "profit, profitable use or management." More...

Tue, 3 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

ledgit - A label or memo slip projecting from a book's pages. More...

broach - Comes from Latin brocchus/broccus, "projecting." More...

eminent - Can mean "projecting, protruding" and is based on Latin eminere, "project." More...

eaves - Its etymological meaning is "going over the edge, projecting." More...

Today's Birthdays

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Several years after immigrating to Australia from England, Eyre decided to explore his new home. His expeditions took him, often with one or more Aboriginal companions, through some of Australia's harshest terrain. He subsequently became a British colonial official, serving for a time as a protector of Aborigines. His sympathies, however, appear not to have extended to other marginalized groups. As governor of Jamaica, Eyre authorized hundreds of executions while suppressing what uprising? Discuss

Wed, 4 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Mehta was a leading Indian lawyer, politician, and activist during the time of British rule in India. Though he was not directly opposed to the crown, he advocated for greater Indian autonomy and self-government. He is considered the father of municipal government in Bombay and promoted education, sanitation, and healthcare reforms in the city and around India. In 1885, he helped found the Indian National Congress, and he later served as its president. What was his opinion of English culture?

Tue, 3 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

After being denied ordination at least once, German Jewess Regina Jonas finally found a rabbi willing to defy convention and make her, in 1935, the first ordained woman rabbi. A victim of the Holocaust, Jonas's story went forgotten for many years, only coming to light when some of her writings, including a document titled "Lectures of the One and Only Woman Rabbi, Regina Jonas," were rediscovered long after her death at the hands of the Nazis. Where was she when she delivered these lectures?

Article of the Day

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Free speech zones are, in the US, fenced-in areas set aside in public places for activists to exercise their right to free speech. Though the zones give protesters space to voice their opinions, critics claim that the cages in fact censor dissenters by delineating where they must be when expressing themselves. Free speech zones were widely used during Vietnam-era protests and are still used at various political events. For whom did one California airport install free speech zones in the 1990s? Discuss

Wed, 4 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

When not a single copy of a film is known to exist in any archive, it is considered lost. An estimated 90% of all American silent films and 50% of American sound films made before 1950 are believed to have been lost, in part because early nitrate film was chemically unstable and prone to rapid decomposition. Early film was highly flammable too, and fires claimed more than a few archives. While many of Charlie Chaplin's films survived, he sought to destroy his own A Woman of the Sea. Why?

Tue, 3 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Electric eels are the sluggish inhabitants of slow freshwater basins in South America. Cylindrical, scaleless, and gray-brown, they can grow to nine feet (2.75 m) long and weigh up to 49 pounds (22 kg). The electric eel, however, is not a true eel, but is rather a knifefish that can produce a shock—powerful enough to stun a human—while hunting or in self-defense. The shock is produced by the electric organs in its body that generate charge in a manner similar to what common household item?

Quotations of the Day

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Thu, 5 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

The truth is, we each of us have an inborn conviction that the whole world, with everybody and everything in it, was created as a sort of necessary appendage to ourselves. Our fellow men and women were made to admire us and to minister to our various requirements. Discuss

Wed, 4 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die.

Tue, 3 Aug 2021 05:00:00 GMT

Hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing whatever to do.