A leading figure of early Indian literature in English, Narayan first came to international attention in 1935, with the publication of his first novel Swami and Friends. This book and many of his later novels and short stories are set in the fictional town of Malgudi and give readers a witty, vital, and perceptive glimpse of village life in South India, where modern life and tradition often clash. Narayan also penned several nonfiction works and modern prose versions of what Indian epics? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
The Mungo Man was an early human inhabitant of Australia discovered at Lake Mungo in New South Wales, Australia, in 1974, when shifting sand dunes exposed his remains. Although his exact age is a matter of debate, he is believed by many to have lived approximately 40,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch—making his remains the oldest anatomically modern human remains found in Australia to date. What is significant about the method of his burial? 
One of the highest dams in the world, the Vaiont Dam was constructed on the Vaiont River about 60 mi (100 km) north of Venice, Italy. Two years after its completion, a massive landslide fell into its reservoir, causing the stored water to spill over the dam, sweeping away the village of Longarone and flooding several nearby towns. Some 2,000 people drowned. The dam itself surprisingly remained intact. In 2008, who cited the disaster as one of five “cautionary tales” for engineers and geologists? 
This national holiday commemorates 
Ellis has the notorious distinction of being the last woman executed in the UK. In 1955, a jury took just 14 minutes to convict her of murdering her lover, racecar driver David Blakely. The two had had a volatile relationship, and Ellis had previously suffered a miscarriage as a result of a punch to the stomach from Blakely, but this mattered little after she admitted openly in court that she had shot him with the intention of killing him. In what film does Ellis have an uncredited cameo? 
Filk is a musical genre that grew out of the science-fiction and fantasy fan community. During the early days of science-fiction conventions, many participants would gather for late-night singing sessions. The phenomenon has since spread to include professional recordings and conventions devoted entirely to filk. Though filkers have been known to write songs about a variety of topics, most songs reference specific works of fiction or cultural aspects of fandom. How did the genre get its name?