It has spent some 175 years homeless, wandering many paths of taxonomy without a single branch to call its own. In the time since it was first described, this now-extinct, cone-shaped sea creature has known a number of presumed families — from mollusks … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
A founding work of modern Western literature, Cervantes’s Don Quixote presents a profound picture of the divide between idealistic and realistic world views. A burlesque of chivalric romances, it was an immediate success. In 1614, a spurious Part II was published by an unidentified author who insulted Cervantes in his prologue. Offended, Cervantes responded by publishing his own Part II, which some literary critics consider superior to Part I. What is Don Quixote’s real name in the book? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
This is one of the most colorful festivals in the Philippines, held in Kalibo, the capital city of the province of Aklan. Originally falling on the Feast Day of Santo Niño, the celebration combines Christian and non-Christian elements. During the present-day festival, revelers cover their skin with soot and wear Ati costumes that are patchworks of coconut shells, feathers, and fronds. They converge on the main streets, pound their spears, and repeatedly dance a two-step dance. From a distance, the celebrants look like a solid mass of people lurching in a frenzied rhythm. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Liddell was a Scottish athlete and missionary. Because of his Christian convictions, Liddell refused to run track events on Sundays, a decision that forced him to withdraw from his best event, the 100-meter sprint, during the 1924 Paris Olympics. Instead, he ran the 400 meters, winning the gold medal and breaking the existing world record. His story is depicted in the Academy Award-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. Why is he listed in some literature as China’s first Olympic champion? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Hatching and cross-hatching are artistic techniques in which artists use closely-spaced parallel or crossed lines to create tonal or shading effects in their work. By varying the length, angle, spacing, and thickness of these lines, artists achieve a variety of visual effects. Western artists developed cross-hatching in the Middle Ages, and many 15th-century old master prints contain examples of the technique. Which artist is said to have perfected the techniques in his woodcuts and engravings? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The man who is not loved hovers like a vulture over the sweetheart of others. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (noun) A supplier of victuals or supplies to an army.
Synonyms: provisioner, victualler.
Usage: The sutler loaded his mule with provisions and followed the army.
Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
“Absolute zero” isn’t just cold — it’s still. It is the point at which the motion of the atoms that make up an object stops completely, when the object has no energy left to give. The rules of physics say it’s impossible to cool an object to absolute … Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
During WWI, Luxemburg and Liebknecht formed a revolutionary, antiwar socialist group in Germany that became the Spartacus League. After the proclamation of the German republic in 1918, they opposed the moderate government formed by the Social Democrats and advocated its violent overthrow, to be replaced by a dictatorship of the proletariat. They transformed their league into the German Communist Party and led an uprising, which was crushed. Arrested, they were murdered by whom while in custody? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
For many people in Central and South America, the pilgrimage to the Black Christ of Esquipulas begins well in advance of the January 15 festival. Quite a number make the journey to Esquipulas entirely on foot. Many don wide-brimmed straw hats, to which they attach gray Spanish moss and chiches (breasts), a yellow fruit that resembles a gourd; those making the journey from Quetzaltenango blacken their hands with the juice from a special fruit. Ceremonial sites resembling altars, built from rocks brought by pilgrims, are scattered through the hills surrounding Esquipulas. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary