A small asteroid has been found circling Earth as the two objects orbit the sun together. Scientists say it looks like the asteroid — called 2016 HO3 — has been out there for about 50 years and isn’t going away anytime soon. “Our calculations indicate … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
In the first days of the French Revolution, the deputies of the Third Estate were locked out of their usual meeting hall at Versailles. Believing that their newly formed National Assembly was to be disbanded, they met at a nearby tennis court and took an oath not separate until a constitution was established for France. The oath was an assertion that power came from the people not the monarch, and their solidarity forced King Louis XVI to concede. Who was the only deputy not to sign the oath? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Following its defeat of Ethiopian government forces in 1991 to establish national independence, Eritrea instituted an official holiday to pay tribute to those who died for the country’s liberation. The struggle, which lasted from 1961 to 1991, claimed the lives of an estimated 65,000 freedom fighters and tens of thousands of civilians. Many Eritreans observe Martyrs’ Day by filing into mass mourning processions that conclude at the “Martyrs’ Graveyards” located throughout the country. In 1997, the government opened the National Martyrs’ Park outside the capital city, Asmara. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
After working as a book reviewer, press agent, and play reader, Hellman began writing plays in the 1930s. Her first major success, The Children’s Hour, concerned two schoolteachers falsely accused of lesbianism. She examined family infighting in her hit The Little Foxes and political injustice in Watch on the Rhine. All were made into successful films. Hellman was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952. What happened when she refused to testify? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The term sexual dimorphism describes the physical differences between males and females of the same species that arise as a consequence of sexual maturation. These differences can manifest as variations in size and color, and the presence or absence of body parts used in courtship displays or fights. In some cases, the sexual dimorphism is so striking that males and females of the same species are mistaken as members of entirely different species. What is one example of this? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (noun) A dunghill or refuse heap.
Synonyms: muckheap, muckhill, dunghill.
Usage: His opponent, as proud as the rooster who is left unchallenged upon the midden, crowed away in a last long burst of quotation and deduction.
Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Oxygen has been detected in a galaxy from long, long ago and far, far away. 13.1 billion light-years away, to be exact. This galaxy — which we’re observing as it was just 700 million years after the birth of the universe — shows the oldest signs of … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Father’s Day is a day set apart in many countries for honoring fathers. In the US, UK, and Canada, it is observed on the third Sunday in June. The idea for a father’s day originated when Sonora Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, heard a sermon on Mother’s Day in 1909 and was inspired to create a date to honor fathers like her own, a Civil War veteran. Through her efforts, the first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane in 1910. When was the holiday made official in the US? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The Fyr Bal Fest held every year in Ephraim, Wisconsin, reflects the town’s Swedish and Norwegian heritage by incorporating customs traditionally associated with Scandinavian Midsummer celebrations. The festival is presided over by a “Viking chieftain,” chosen on the basis of his contributions to the community. After a coronation ceremony, he proclaims the official opening of summer and lights a bonfire in which an effigy of the Winter Witch is burned. Other traditional Scandinavian events at the festival include folk dancing and welcome mats in doorways made out of evergreen boughs. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher. A child prodigy, he earned the envy of René Descartes with an essay he wrote on conic sections when he was still a teen. Credited with founding the modern theory of probability and advancing differential calculus, he also made important contributions to physics, notably in the study of atmospheric pressure. Why did he later abandon his scientific work to focus on theology and philosophy? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary