Capovilla was an Ecuadorian supercentenarian whose life spanned three centuries. At the time of her death shortly before her 117th birthday in 2006, she was recognized as the world’s oldest living person. She was also the last remaining documented person born in the 1880s. At age 100, Capovilla nearly died and was given last rites by a priest, but she recovered and lived in good health for another 16 years. She had 20 great-grandchildren and how many great-great-grandchildren? Discuss
Month: September 2024
Mail Art
Some claim that mail art, an art form that uses the postal system as a medium, began when Cleopatra had herself delivered to Julius Caesar in a rolled-up carpet, but the thousands-strong, international network of mail artists as it exists today is a more recent development, evolving between the 1950s and 90s. Mail artists typically exchange ephemera in the form of decorated envelopes, illustrated letters, artist trading cards, and many other items. Who is deemed the pioneer of modern mail art? Discuss
laic
Michelangelo Begins Carving His Statue of David (1501)
Begun when the artist was just 26 years old and completed three years later, Michelangelo’s David is considered the prime example of the Renaissance ideal of perfect humanity and a masterpiece of sculpture. The 17-ft (5.2-m) marble figure differs from other representations of David in that he appears tense and is not carrying the head of the slain Goliath. A replica of David on display in London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has a detachable fig-leaf that was made for whose visit? Discuss
Samuel "Uncle Sam" Wilson (1766)
Wilson was an American Revolutionary War veteran who owned a meatpacking plant in Troy, New York. He provided beef to the army during the War of 1812 in barrels stamped “US,” indicating that they were US property. According to some sources, the soldiers began joking that the initials stood for “Uncle Sam,” referring to Wilson, unwittingly inventing the character that would soon come into widespread use as a symbol of the US government. What resolution regarding Wilson did Congress pass in 1961? Discuss
Olbers's Paradox
If the universe is assumed to contain an infinite number of uniformly distributed luminous stars, then every point in the sky should be as bright as a star. So why is the sky dark at night? That is the question posed by Olbers’s paradox, named for astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers, who described it in 1823, more than 200 years after Johannes Kepler first posed the question as an argument against the notion of a limitless universe with infinite stars. How has the paradox since been resolved? Discuss
lore
Definition: (noun) Accumulated facts, traditions, or beliefs about a particular subject.
Synonyms: traditional knowledge.
Usage: He had taught the children something of the forest lore that he had himself learned from Tiger Lily and Tinker Bell, and knew that in their dire hour they were not likely to forget it.
Discuss
Elizabeth Barrett Elopes with Robert Browning (1846)
Elizabeth Barrett’s Poems, published in 1844, brought her immediate fame and became a favorite of the poet Robert Browning. The two began to correspond, fell in love, and, after a courtship kept secret from her tyrannical father, married and settled in Italy. The once frail and sickly Elizabeth grew stronger and, at age 43, gave birth to a son. Her poetic reputation rests chiefly on the love poems written during their courtship, Sonnets from the Portuguese. Who is “the Portuguese”? Discuss
Alfred A. Knopf (1892)
Knopf was a leading American publisher of the 20th century who founded Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., in 1915. He emphasized translations of great contemporary European literature, at that time neglected by American publishers, and paid special attention to the printing, binding, and design of his books, earning a reputation as a purist in both content and presentation. By the time of his death, authors published by the firm had won 16 Nobel and 27 Pulitzer prizes. What was his colophon? Discuss
Active Denial System
Informally labeled the “pain ray,” the Active Denial System (ADS) is a non-lethal weapon being developed by the US military. Designed for use in crowd control operations, the ADS emits electromagnetic radiation that excites water molecules in the epidermis, causing an intensely painful burning sensation. Though the device does not actually burn the skin, its effect is said to feel similar to a hot light bulb being pressed against it. How long do these painful effects last? Discuss