Month: June 2021

inflammation

pleuritis, pleurisy – Greek pleura, “side” or “rib,” came to be used for the “inner lining of the chest; lungs,” and pleuritis or pleurisy is the inflammation of this area. More…

intertrigo – Inflammation caused by the rubbing of one area of skin on another. More…

phlegm – Comes from Latin phlegma, “clammy moisture,” and Greek phlegma, “inflammation.” More…

polio – An abbreviation of poliomyelitis, from Greek polios, “gray,” and muelos, “marrow,” meaning “inflammation of the gray matter of the spinal cord.” More…

Democratic Republic of Congo Independence Day

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) gained independence from Belgium on this day in 1960. It had been a Belgian colony since 1907, and powerful movements had struggled for self-rule since the 1950s. The people celebrated the first independence day with fireworks and bonfires in the capital city of Léopoldville (now Kinshasa). Discuss

The Beheading of St. John the Baptist

In the Bible, Judean ruler Herod Antipas imprisoned the prophet John the Baptist for denouncing his decision to divorce his wife and marry—unlawfully, under Jewish law—his brother’s wife, Herodias, while his brother was still alive. On Herod’s birthday, Herodias’s daughter, Salome, danced for Herod. In return, he promised her anything, up to half his kingdom. She demanded John’s head on a platter, and Herod obliged. Where was John the Baptist’s head said to have been found centuries later? Discuss

Mnarja

Mnarja is the principal folk festival of Malta and a public holiday there, thought to have been originally a harvest festival. It is held in Buskett Gardens, a park with extensive vineyards and orange and lemon orchards not far from Mdina, Malta’s medieval capital. Festivities begin on the eve of Mnarja with an agricultural show that continues through the next morning and folk-singing and folk-music competitions. The traditional food of the evening is fried rabbit. On the following day, bareback horse and donkey races bring the feast to an end. Discuss

Pangaea

In 1912, German geophysicist Alfred Wegener proposed that all land on Earth was once part of a hypothetical protocontinent, which he called Pangaea. Wegener hypothesized that the supercontinent, completely surrounded by a world ocean called Panthalassa, began to drift apart approximately 200 million years ago. Evidence supporting Pangaea’s existence includes the presence of identical species on continents that are now far apart, as well as the continuity of what on different continents? Discuss