Aldersgate Experience

On the evening of May 24, 1738, John Wesley (1703-1791), co-founder of the Methodist Church, visited a house on Aldersgate Street, London, to join a group reading of Martin Luther‘s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. As they were reading, Wesley underwent a conversion experience—”I felt my heart strangely warmed,” he said. From that time until his death in 1791, Wesley considered it his mission in life to tell people about his experience and to invite them to share his beliefs. The anniversary of this event is commemorated by the Methodist Church on the Sunday nearest May 24. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Pontormo (1494)

Pontormo was a Florentine painter and one of the creators of mannerism, an artistic style characterized by distortion of elements such as scale and perspective. In fact, his altar for the church of San Michele Visdomini, Florence, is considered by many to be the first mannerist work in recorded history. He was also a talented portraitist. Pontormo was a recluse for much of his life and kept a diary in which he chronicled his obsessions. With which famous Florentine painters did he apprentice? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Tiffany & Co.

Tiffany & Co. is a jewelry and silverware company. It was founded in New York City in 1837 and, today, has stores in major cities all over the world. The corporation has an agreement with the Tahera Diamond Corporation to buy or market the entire production of Canada’s Jericho Diamond Mine. The Tiffany flagship store on New York’s Fifth Avenue at 57th Street is a popular tourist attraction, largely as a result of what 1961 movie? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Explorer I Ceases Transmission (1958)

Following the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I in October 1957, there was a frenzied effort by the US to launch a satellite of its own, beginning the so-called Space Race. Launched in January 1958 as part of the US program for the International Geophysical Year project, Explorer-I was the first Earth satellite of the US. It contributed to the discovery of the Van Allen Belts but stopped transmission of data when its batteries died in 1958. It remained in orbit, however, for how long? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Abbey Road on the River

Abbey Road on the River, which takes place along the banks of the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky, on Memorial Day Weekend, is the largest celebration of the Beatles‘ music in North America. Once a three-day affair, the festival has expanded to five days. Festival highlights include shows of complete albums, including a 30-member performance of the White Album. In addition to the live music, the event also offers a film festival, lectures, and vendors selling a variety of merchandise, collectibles, and artwork. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Elias Ashmole (1617)

Ashmole was a celebrated English archaeologist and antiquary who donated most of his collection of artifacts and curiosities to the University of Oxford in 1677 to create the Ashmolean Museum, the first such public institution in England. Though most of Ashmole’s acquisitions focused on the study of nature, he was also interested in mysticism and was a student of astrology and alchemy. What anagrammatic pseudonym did Ashmole use to publish an anthology of alchemical writings in 1650? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The History of the Sewing Machine

The sewing machine is a device that stitches cloth and other materials. An attempt at mechanical sewing was made in England in 1790 with a machine having a forked, automatic needle that made a single-thread chain, but it was American inventor Elias Howe who made the first successful machine in 1846, using an eye-pointed needle and an intermittent feed. Isaac M. Singer, who is often credited with inventing the machine, patented what improvements to the device? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary