Among the world’s most celebrated artists, Michelangelo was one of the foremost figures of the Renaissance. The marble David, completed before his 30th birthday, is a sculptural masterpiece, and his paintings in the Sistine Chapel are among the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art. A true “Renaissance man,” he also was an architect and poet and wrote hundreds of sonnets and madrigals. Where in the Sistine Chapel is there a disguised self-portrait of Michelangelo? Discuss
Month: March 2023
collect dust
To be in a state of disuse for a prolonged period of time. Watch the video
Velcro
Velcro is a brand name of fabric hook-and-loop fasteners. It was invented by a Swiss engineer who came up with the idea after examining the burdock seeds that kept sticking to his clothes. Velcro consists of a layer of hooks and a layer of loops which, when pressed together, form a bond that can be very strong: full-body hook and loop suits have been made that can hold a person to a suitably-covered wall. Velcro was even involved in the first medical procedure of what kind? Discuss
fatuity
Definition: (noun) Something that is utterly stupid or silly.
Synonyms: absurdity, fatuousness, silliness.
Usage: In his fatuity, the beggar believed the princess to be in love with him.
Discuss
Boston Massacre (1770)
Many Bostonians resented the heavy British military presence in their city during the late 1700s, and the soldiers’ enforcement of the unpopular Townshend Acts merely exacerbated the tense situation. On March 5, 1770, soldiers opened fire on an aggressive, rioting civilian mob, killing five men. The Boston Massacre, as it became known, fueled the anti-British sentiment that culminated in the American Revolutionary War. Which future US president served as the troops’ defense lawyer? Discuss
Iditarod
The Iditarod is the world’s longest and toughest sled dog race, across the state of Alaska from Anchorage on the south-central coast to Nome on the Bering Sea just south of the Arctic Circle. The race, which began in 1973, follows an old frozen-river mail route and is named for a deserted mining town along the way. A number of events are clustered around the running of the race. At Wasilla, near Anchorage, Iditarod Days are held on the beginning weekend of the race and feature softball, golf on ice, fireworks, and snow sculptures. Discuss
Rosa Luxemburg (1871)
Luxemburg was a Polish-born German revolutionary and Marxist political theorist. She helped found the Polish Socialist party, was a leader in the German Social Democratic Party, and collaborated with Karl Liebknecht in founding the Spartacus League in 1916. Imprisoned during World War I for opposing the war, Luxemburg continued to secretly write politically inflammatory essays and had them illegally smuggled out of prison and published. How did she die? Discuss
code of silence
The practice of not disclosing important or vital information by members of a group, as due to the threat of violence, reprisal, being branded as a traitor, or an inherent sense of honor. Watch the video
Cuckoo Clocks
A cuckoo clock is a wall or shelf clock that announces intervals of time with a sound imitative of a cuckoo’s call and often with the simultaneous emergence of a mechanical bird from a small door. An Augsburg nobleman by the name of Philipp Hainhofer penned the first known description of a cuckoo clock in 1629. What region in southwest Germany boasts a strong clockmaking tradition that started in the late 17th century? Discuss