Definition: (noun) A rude expression intended to offend or hurt.
Synonyms: insult, revilement, vilification, abuse.
Usage: I can bear Dishonor, public insult, many shames, Shrill scorn, and open contumely, but he Who filches from me something that is mine … he Perils his soul and body in the theft And dies for his small sin.
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Month: August 2023
Collapse of Warsaw Radio Mast (1991)
Upon its completion in 1974, the Warsaw radio mast in Poland became the world’s tallest structure. Standing 2,120 feet (646 m) tall, the tower was used for long-wave radio broadcasting. In 1991, the mast underwent repairs to exchange guy wires, the cables used to stabilize the tower. However, the mast bent and then snapped at approximately half its height. It was never rebuilt. What became the world’s tallest structure upon the Warsaw radio mast’s collapse? Discuss
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896)
Rawlings was an American author best known for her 1938 novel The Yearling, for which she won a Pulitzer Prize. Rawlings worked as a journalist until 1928, when she moved to the rural Florida backwoods and devoted herself to fiction. There, she incorporated the people and land around her into richly atmospheric works that resemble vivid factual reporting and are noted for their magical descriptions of landscape. The Yearling is about a boy who adopts what animal as a pet? Discuss
halfway decent
Somewhat good, useful, or enjoyable, but not very; passable. Watch the video
Ulan Bator
Ulan Bator, or Ulaanbaator, is the capital of the Republic of Mongolia. Founded in 1649 as a monastery town, today it is the junction point of the country’s major roads and caravan routes; it lies on the Trans-Siberian RR, linking Russia with Beijing. The city is home to a library of ancient Mongolian, Chinese, and Tibetan manuscripts. The 1904 British expedition to Tibet prompted the Dalai Lama to leave Lhasa for Ulan Bator, where he remained for 4 years. In whose honor was Ulaanbaator named? Discuss
unctuous
Battle of Guadalcanal Begins (1942)
During World War II, the Japanese occupied the island of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific. Hoping to prevent the Japanese from using this position to threaten supply routes between the US, Australia, and New Zealand, the Allies launched their first large-scale invasion of a Japanese-held island. After six months of bitter fighting on the ground, at sea, and in the air, the Allies captured the island. Why is the victory considered a strategically significant turning point in the war? Discuss
Louis Leakey (1903)
Leakey was a British anthropologist and archaeologist whose work helped establish the course of human evolution in Africa. The son of missionaries, Leakey grew up among the Kikuyu people of Kenya. After attending university in the UK, he returned to E Africa, where he and his wife discovered the first known remains of Homo habilis, an extinct species of hominin widely regarded as the earliest member of the human genus. Who are “Leakey’s Angels,” and what have they gone on to accomplish? Discuss
half-pint
Any small, weak, and/or insignificant person. Alludes to a pint, a unit of liquid measurement. Watch the video
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church
The Seventh-Day Adventist Church, a Christian denomination, is best known for its teaching that Saturday, the seventh day of the week, is the Sabbath and that the second advent of Jesus is imminent. Born out of the Millerite Movement of the 1840s, the church was part of the wave of revivalism known as the Second Great Awakening. The core set of theological beliefs held by the church are expressed in its 28 Fundamentals, which states what about death? Discuss