Jamestown was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. It was founded by the London Company on a peninsula—now an island—in the James River and named after the reigning English monarch, James I. Disease, starvation, and Native American attacks wiped out most of the colony, but the London Company continually sent more men and supplies. A successfully exported strain of tobacco was cultivated there by a colonist named John Rolfe, who later married what Native American princess? Discuss
Month: May 2024
Pierre Victor Auger (1899)
Auger was a French physicist who worked in the fields of nuclear and atomic physics and also advanced the study of cosmic rays. He directed the mathematical and natural sciences department at UNESCO from 1948 to 1959 and was instrumental in creating the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). In 1977, he was made a member of the French Academy of Sciences. The Auger effect as well as the world’s largest detector of what are named after him? Discuss
Proprioception: Sense of Position
Unlike the classical five senses—sight, taste, smell, touch, and hearing—by which people perceive the outside world, proprioception is a distinct sensory modality that provides feedback regarding the position, location, orientation, and movement of the body and its parts. The sense of body awareness is believed to utilize information from sensory receptors found chiefly in muscles, tendons, joints, and the inner ear. How do police officers use this information to identify drunk drivers? Discuss
hibernal
Lei Áurea: Slavery Abolished in Brazil (1888)
By the 1870s, the plantation culture of northeast Brazil was already crumbling, and the growth of the movement to abolish slavery threatened it even more. The slave trade had been abolished in 1850, and a law for gradual emancipation was passed in 1871. In 1888, while Pedro II was in Europe and his daughter Isabel was governing, slavery was completely abolished—making Brazil the last Western nation to do so. The law that officially abolished slavery was called Lei Áurea, which means what? Discuss
Beatrice "Bea" Arthur (1922)
Arthur was an American actress, comedian, and singer whose lengthy career began on the stage. In 1966, she won a Tony award for her role in the musical Mame. She went on to achieve fame on television as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both roles. Arthur appeared in what notoriously poorly received 1978 holiday TV special? Discuss
Damnatio Memoriae
Damnatio memoriae is a Latin phrase meaning “damnation of memory.” The practice was a form of dishonor that could be passed by the Roman Senate upon traitors or others who brought disgrace to Rome. The sanction, a form of removal from remembrance, essentially erased all traces of a person from public life and record in order to preserve the honor of the Roman State. What interfered with the Senate’s attempt to obliterate all records of Emperor Caligula? Discuss
plexor
North American Aerospace Defense Command Founded (1958)
North American Aerospace Defense Command, commonly abbreviated NORAD, is a bi-national command of the US and Canada that maintains the sovereignty of North American airspace by providing aerospace surveillance as well as warning and assessment of aerospace attacks. Headquartered deep inside Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, NORAD was formed in 1958 during the Cold War to provide security in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack. What false alarms have occurred since its inception? Discuss
Katharine Hepburn (1907)
Hepburn made her Broadway debut in 1928 and became a star with her first film, A Bill of Divorcement, in 1932. She brought a spirited individuality and strength of character to the screen in her roles in films such as Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story, and The African Queen. She made eight films with her longtime partner Spencer Tracy, eventually starring in 43 films. No actress has ever won more Academy Awards than Hepburn. How many did she win? Discuss