Junkers was a pioneering German engineer who held many patents for his original developments in the fields of gas engine and aircraft design. He had innovative ideas about metal airplanes and flying wings, and he put them to the test—somewhat ironically, as he was purportedly a pacifist—developing warplanes for World War I. In the lead-up to World War II, the Nazis stripped Junkers of control of his company and sentenced him to house arrest. He died soon after. What was the “Sheetmetal Donkey”? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
El Dorado—Spanish for “the gilded man”—is the fabled city of gold and jewels believed by the 16th-century Spanish and other Europeans to exist somewhere in South America. The legend supposedly originated from the Chibcha people of Colombia, who each year anointed a chieftain and rolled him in gold, which he then ceremonially washed off in a sacred lake, casting offerings of emeralds and gold into the waters. Who were some of the explorers who searched for El Dorado, and where did they look? 
Love is…the principal means of escape from the loneliness which afflicts most men and women throughout the greater part of their lives. 
In the late 1970s, the Syrian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood sought to drive President Hafez al-Assad from power through a terror campaign that culminated in an uprising in the Syrian city of Hama. Government forces allegedly led by al-Assad’s brother quelled the revolt, destroying much of the old city in the process. The Syrian military shelled the town for weeks, and estimated deaths numbered more than 20,000. What incident involving al-Assad and the Muslim Brotherhood occurred in June 1980? 
There was a medieval superstition that all hibernating animals came out on 
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing is a French political leader who rose through the ranks over nearly two decades to become president of France in 1974, defeating Socialist François Mitterrand, who would later unseat him in the 1981 election. A supporter of European economic integration, Giscard later served as a member of the European Parliament and as president of the Convention on the Future of Europe. What fueled rumors in 2009 that he had once had a fling with the late Diana, Princess of Wales? 
A filibuster is an obstructionist tactic used in legislative assemblies. It is particularly associated with the US Senate, where the tradition of unlimited debate is strong, and it has been used by conservatives and liberals for very different purposes. It was not until 1917 that the Senate provided for cloture—or ending of the debate—by a vote of two-thirds of the Senators present. Yet, despite many attempts, cloture has been applied only rarely. What is the etymology of the term “filibuster”? 
Success comes to a writer, as a rule, so gradually that it is always something of a shock to him to look back and realize the heights to which he has climbed.