In 1997, thousands of people reported a series of optical phenomena—since known as the Phoenix Lights—taking place in the skies over the US states of Arizona and Nevada. The sightings consisted of two events: a triangular formation of lights observed passing overhead and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. Although the US Air Force identified the second group of lights as flares, many believe the first set of lights were those of a UFO, including what notable politician? Discuss
Month: March 2024
Percival Lowell (1855)
Lowell was an astronomer who built a private observatory in Arizona to study Mars and championed the idea that intelligent inhabitants of the Red Planet had constructed a planetwide system of irrigation there. He believed that the so-called canals of Mars were bands of cultivated vegetation dependent on this irrigation. His theory, long vigorously opposed, was finally put to rest by images taken by the US Mariner spacecrafts. Lowell did, however, correctly predict the existence of what “planet”? Discuss
wash (someone's) mouth out (with soap)
To punish someone for using rude, vulgar, or obscene language by cleaning their mouth with soap (usually used merely as a threat). Watch the video
Memes
A meme is an idea, thought, or piece of information that is passed from generation to generation through imitation and behavioral replication. The terms memes and memetics, coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, are the cultural counterpart to the biological study of genes and genetics. In his book, Dawkins hypothesizes that human cultures evolve via “contagious” communications in a manner similar to the gene pools of populations. What is a memeplex? Discuss
conversant
California's St. Francis Dam Fails (1928)
Constructed between 1924 and 1926, the St. Francis Dam was a concrete gravity-arch dam designed to act as a reservoir to store water for the Los Angeles Aqueduct. In 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, and the resulting flood of 12 billion US gallons (45 billion liters) of water killed more than 450 people. The dam’s collapse was the worst American civil engineering failure of the 20th century and remains the second-greatest loss of life disaster in California’s history, after what event? Discuss
Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott (1832)
Boycott was the estate agent for the Earl of Erne, an absentee landowner in County Mayo, Ireland, at a time when the Irish Land League was pressing for agrarian reform. In 1880, Boycott’s refusal to reduce rents for tenant farmers, combined with his attempted eviction of 11 of them, led the League to launch a campaign of ostracism and isolation—now known as a “boycott”—against him and his family. Upon finding himself suddenly without servants, farmhands, or local services, Boycott did what? Discuss
get down to work
To begin being serious about something; to begin attending to business or work at hand. Watch the video
Automats
An automat is a fast food restaurant where food and drinks are served by coin- and bill-operated vending machines. Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart opened the first automat in the US in 1902 and quickly popularized the notion of take-out food with their slogan “Less work for Mother.” The original automat machines, which had little windows containing the prepared meals, were filled from behind by workers who cooked the fresh food in an unseen kitchen. What led to the decline of automat dining? Discuss