| Pope Innocent XI |
| Innocent XI was elected to the papacy because of his purity of character and unselfish and openhanded benevolence. His election was opposed by Louis XIV, with whom he had a long, bitter quarrel over Gallicanism, a Roman Catholic tradition of resistance to papal authority. As Pope, he passed strict ordinances against nepotism among the cardinals and lived very parsimoniously, exhorting the cardinals to do the same. What were the Gallican Liberties? |
| Read More...(Source: Today's Birthday - Fri, 16 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |
| Pierre Curie |
| Curie was a chemist who studied crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity, and radioactivity. He and his wife Marie worked to isolate polonium and radium and were the first to use the term 'radioactivity,' pioneering its study. He and one of his students discovered nuclear energy by identifying the continuous emission of heat from radium particles. Pierre and Marie were awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903. How many other Curies have received Nobel Prizes? |
| Read More...(Source: Today's Birthday - Thu, 15 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |
| George Lucas |
| Lucas is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter famous for his epic Star Wars saga and the Indiana Jones film series. Lucas has his own studio, Lucasfilm, in northern California. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light and Magic, the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm, respectively, are among the most respected firms in their fields. Lucasfilm Games, renamed LucasArts, is highly regarded in the gaming industry. What was Lucas' first feature-length film? |
| Read More...(Source: Today's Birthday - Wed, 14 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |
| Pope Benedict XV Canonizes Joan of Arc as Saint |
| Joan of Arc was a French military leader and heroine. Inspired and directed by religious visions, she organized the French resistance that forced the English to end their siege of Orléans in 1429 and secured the coronation of the dauphin, later Charles VII of France. Captured and sold to the English by the Burgundians, she was later tried for heresy and sorcery and was burned at the stake in Rouen. How old was she when she died? |
| Read More...(Source: This Day in History - Fri, 16 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |
| Van Gogh's Portrait of Doctor Gachet Sold for $82.5 Million |
| In June 1890, shortly before the artist's death, Vincent Van Gogh created two versions of a painting depicting his doctor, Paul Gachet. The paintings, called Portrait of Dr. Gachet, portray the doctor seated beside a foxglove plant, an extract of which is used to treat heart conditions. In 1990, 100 years after it was first painted, Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito purchased one version of the work for the record sum of $82.5 million. Why did he later threaten to have the painting burned? |
| Read More...(Source: This Day in History - Thu, 15 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |
| State of Israel Proclaimed |
| In November of 1947, the UN voted on a Partition Plan for Palestine, calling for the formation of two states, one Jewish and one Arab, in what had been a British-administered territory. The Arab leadership rejected this plan, arguing that it violated the rights of the 67 percent of the population who were not Jewish. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was declared in the territory that the Partition Plan allotted. The next day, five Arab states declared war on Israel. How did this war end? |
| Read More...(Source: This Day in History - Wed, 14 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |
| James Madison |
| Democracy is the most vile form of government...democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention: have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property: and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths. |
| Read More...(Source: Quote of the Day - Thu, 15 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |
| Victor Hugo |
| A compliment is like a kiss through a veil. |
| Read More...(Source: Quote of the Day - Wed, 14 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |
| Edgar Allan Poe |
| It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream. |
| Read More...(Source: Quote of the Day - Tue, 13 May 2008 05:00:00 GMT) |