Kamose

The final king in a succession of rulers with increasing power, Kamose was the last king of Egypt’s seventeenth dynasty. During his brief reign in the middle of the 16th century BCE, Kamose sought to extend his rule beyond Upper Egypt and Middle Egypt into Lower Egypt, which was then controlled by the Hyksos. Kamose launched military campaigns against the Hyksos, the Kushites, and the Nubians, but died in the fifth year of his reign. What happened to Kamose’s mummy? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

US President George W. Bush Introduces the “Axis of Evil” (2002)

During his 2002 State of the Union Address, US President George W. Bush described the countries of Iran, Iraq, and North Korea as an “Axis of Evil” for their alleged support of terrorism. Since then, the phrase has spawned many imitations, including the Eritrean-coined “Axis of Belligerence,” the South American “Axis of Good,” and the “Axis of Diesel” proposed by The Economist magazine. What word did Bush speechwriter David Frum originally use instead of “evil”? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

James Jamerson (1936)

Jamerson learned to play bass guitar in high school in Detroit, Michigan, in the 1950s and thereafter found work as a studio musician for Motown Records. He went on to perform on hundreds of songs by artists like Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, and The Supremes, but his work was largely uncredited, and he died in relative obscurity at the age of 47. Today, however, he is regarded as one of the most influential bassists in modern history. One of his fingers even had its own nickname. What was it? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem written by English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Published in 1798, it represented a shift to modern poetry and heralded the beginning of English Romanticism. The poem opens with a mariner stopping a man on his way to a wedding and recounting to him the supernatural events he experienced during a long sea voyage. As the story progresses, the wedding guest’s impatience fades and is replaced by fascination. What events may have inspired the poem? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Concerns Grow That Infections From ‘Zombie Deer’ Meat Can Jump To Humans

Would you eat venison if there was a chance it could slowly eat away at your brain? If there’s a slight possibility, it doesn’t bother Patrick States. On the menu this evening for his wife and two daughters at their Northglenn, Colo., home are pan-seared … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Lego Patents Its Interlocking Plastic Bricks (1958)

The founder of Lego, a Danish carpenter named Ole Kirk Christiansen, began making wooden toys in 1932. By the late 1940s, he had begun making plastic ones, including “automatic binding bricks,” which he patented in 1958. Today, Lego produces roughly 20 billion of those bricks annually, and today’s pieces are still compatible with the originals. By producing some 306 million miniature, functioning replicas of this item each year, Lego could be considered the world’s leading manufacturer of what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

St. Charlemagne’s Day

Charlemagne wasn’t actually a saint at all; he was an emperor and the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, crowned in 800 by Pope Leo III. Although he was never able to read and write himself, Charlemagne, whose name means “Charles the Great,” founded the University of Paris. In fact, his reign was marked by a huge cultural revival, including significant advances in scholarship, literature, and philosophy. He died on January 28, 814. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary