Month: May 2020

The Railgun

A railgun is an experimental weapon that uses electricity instead of explosives to fire long-range projectiles. In a railgun, a conductive projectile is propelled electromagnetically along two parallel rails. Though the device uses a tremendous amount of energy, it can launch objects hundreds of miles at many times the speed of sound. Both the US and Britain have developed and fired experimental models. What are the advantages and disadvantages of railguns compared to traditional guns? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Memphis in May

This month-long festival in Memphis, Tennessee, focuses on a different nation’s culture each year, with exhibitions, lectures, films, performing arts presentations, and sporting events. The festival opens with the Beale Street Music Festival. The second weekend features a salute to the year’s honored country with special exhibits and events showcasing the culture of the country, and the third weekend is an international barbecue competition. The festival ends with the Sunset Symphony playing a concert of music from the featured country and an impressive display of fireworks. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Electric Lady Studios

In 1968, legendary rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix and his manager bought a nightclub in New York’s Greenwich Village. They decided to turn it into a studio of their own design: dreamy, colorful, and inspiring. Hendrix died less than a month after it opened and created his final studio recordings there. Dozens of famous artists spanning multiple genres have since recorded at Electric Lady Studios, including The Rolling Stones, Coldplay, and Kanye West. What was the last track Hendrix recorded there? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Wiesbaden May Festival

Germany’s second oldest music festival (after the Bayreuth Festival) is the Wiesbaden May Festival, founded in 1896. Kaiser Wilhelm II came to Wiesbaden, which is about 26 miles west of Frankfurt, to officiate at the grand opening. The month-long festival offers eight or nine full-length operas performed in the original language, symphonic concerts, ballet, drama, experimental theater, and mime. Most of the festival events are held in the rococo-style Hessian State Theater, the Kleines Haus (a small auditorium for plays), and the Kurhaus (for symphonic concerts). Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Dou Shou Qi

Popular with children, Dou Shou Qi, also known as Jungle Chess, is a traditional Chinese board game similar to chess and Stratego. Each player has eight pieces representing animals, including an elephant, lion, tiger, leopard, dog, wolf, cat, and rat. More powerful animals, such as the lion, can capture and eat weaker animals, such as the rat. The board itself is marked with traps, dens, and water areas, and some animals move across the board differently than others. How is the game won? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Queen Elisabeth International Music Competition

One of the world’s most prestigious music competitions and the largest musical event in Brussels takes place throughout the month of May each year. Open to young competitors from around the world, it focuses on violinists, pianists, singers, and cellists in alternating years. Named for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, it was started by violinist-composer Eugène Ysaÿe in 1937. The public is invited to attend every stage of the contest, from the initial tests at the Royal Conservatory of Music to the winner’s performance at the Beaux Arts Palace. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Honorificabilitudinitatibus

The longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels, honorificabilitudinitatibus appears only once in Shakespeare’s works—in Love’s Labour’s Lost (1598). Its use has been cited by Baconists as evidence that Francis Bacon was the real author of Shakespeare’s plays. They see in it an anagram for hi ludi, F. Baconis nati, tuiti orbi, meaning “these plays, F. Bacon’s offspring, are preserved for the world.” What does the original word mean? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary