Exabytes

An exabyte is a unit of information or computer storage equal to one quintillion bytes—an amount roughly represented by the number 1 followed by 18 zeros. Though the term is rarely encountered in any practical context, a popular, hotly contested assertion, which often cites as support a project at the UC Berkeley School of Information, is that “all words ever spoken by human beings” can be represented by approximately 5 exabytes of data. What is meant by the related term “exaflood”? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Michelangelo Begins Carving His Statue of David (1501)

Begun when the artist was just 26 years old and completed three years later, Michelangelo’s David is considered the prime example of the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity and a masterpiece of sculpture. The 17-ft (5.2-m) marble figure differs from other representations of David in that he appears tense and is not carrying the head of the slain Goliath. A replica of David on display in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has a detachable fig-leaf that was made for whose visit? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice)

This most important feast of the Muslim calendar is the concluding rite of those performing the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca. For those not on pilgrimage, Eid al-Adha is a three-day festival celebrating Ibrahim’s (Abraham‘s) willingness to obey Allah by killing his son, believed by Muslims to be Ishmael, and not Isaac as written in the Old Testament. Muslims consider Ishmael to be the forefather of the Arabs. Many Muslim families reenact this show of faith by sacrificing a cow, a ram, or a lamb on this day, using a portion of it for the family feast and donating one- or two-thirds to the poor. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Samuel “Uncle Sam” Wilson (1766)

Wilson was an American Revolutionary War veteran who owned a meatpacking plant in Troy, New York. He provided beef to the army during the War of 1812 in barrels stamped “US,” indicating that they were US property. According to some sources, the soldiers began joking that the initials stood for “Uncle Sam,” referring to Wilson, unwittingly inventing the character that would soon come into widespread use as a symbol of the US government. What resolution regarding Wilson did Congress pass in 1961? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Mail Art

Some claim that mail art, an art form that uses the postal system as a medium, began when Cleopatra had herself delivered to Julius Caesar in a rolled-up carpet, but the thousands-strong, international network of mail artists as it exists today is a more recent development, evolving between the 1950s and 90s. Mail artists typically exchange ephemera in the form of decorated envelopes, illustrated letters, artist trading cards, and many other items. Who is deemed the pioneer of modern mail art? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Elizabeth Barrett Elopes with Robert Browning (1846)

Elizabeth Barrett’s Poems, published in 1844, brought her immediate fame and became a favorite of the poet Robert Browning. The two began to correspond, fell in love, and, after a courtship kept secret from her tyrannical father, married and settled in Italy. The once frail and sickly Elizabeth grew stronger and, at age 43, gave birth to a son. Her poetic reputation rests chiefly on the love poems written during their courtship, Sonnets from the Portuguese. Who is “the Portuguese”? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary