Curio Cabinet
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December 7, 2019
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FREEPlay Teaser Curio #216Free1 CQ
If you don't mind, we're going to plant this teaser in the corner of your mind for the weekend. The nutrients in your brain will feed it. Your natural curiosity will shine upon it to help it grow. Just add in the water leaking into your ears in the shower, and the answer to this word riddle will spring forth like a weed. A brain weed. OK, this metaphor may have gone too far. This is a common 6-letter English word. (The original word) A vine visitor (Remove the 3rd letter) A plant you dig up, quickly (Remove the 1st letter) A flower (Remove the last letter) It can be influenced by fragrance What's the original word?
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #216" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!
If you don't mind, we're going to plant this teaser in the corner of your mind for the weekend. The nutrients in your brain will feed it. Your natural curiosity will shine upon it to help it grow. Just add in the water leaking into your ears in the shower, and the answer to this word riddle will spring forth like a weed. A brain weed. OK, this metaphor may have gone too far. This is a common 6-letter English word. (The original word) A vine visitor (Remove the 3rd letter) A plant you dig up, quickly (Remove the 1st letter) A flower (Remove the last letter) It can be influenced by fragrance What's the original word?
Think you know the answer? Email support@curious.com with the subject "Teaser #216" and let us know, or check back next week to find out!
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2 minFREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree2 CQ
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by 60-Second Science. Indigenous artists in what’s now British Columbia created pigments by cooking aquatic bacteria. C...
with 60-Second ScienceToday's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by 60-Second Science. Indigenous artists in what’s now British Columbia created pigments by cooking aquatic bacteria. C...
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
November’s jobs numbers promise to be underwhelming. Kroger gets into the food delivery business. Plus, a woman deals with ailing parents as an only child.
November’s jobs numbers promise to be underwhelming. Kroger gets into the food delivery business. Plus, a woman deals with ailing parents as an only child.
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4 minFREEHumanities Worldly CurioFree3 CQ
Just about everyone playing with the Boston Hurricanes has roots in China, which is no coincidence — it’s the rules. The game started in the city parks and a...
with PRI's The WorldJust about everyone playing with the Boston Hurricanes has roots in China, which is no coincidence — it’s the rules. The game started in the city parks and a...
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3 minFREEPoetry Poem CurioFree2 CQ
Poem of the Day: Totem Poem [Abandoned in a field near Yass]. by Luke Davies.
with Poetry FoundationPoem of the Day: Totem Poem [Abandoned in a field near Yass]. by Luke Davies.
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day : February 26, 2017
indigenous \in-DIJ-uh-nuss\ adjective
Definition
1 : having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occu...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day : February 26, 2017
indigenous \in-DIJ-uh-nuss\ adjective
Definition
1 : having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occu...
December 6, 2019
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3 minFREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree2 CQ
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by Engines of Our Ingenuity. Episode: 1789 Goethe's Farbenlehre: science and Romanticism. Today, light and color.
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by Engines of Our Ingenuity. Episode: 1789 Goethe's Farbenlehre: science and Romanticism. Today, light and color.
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6 minFREEHumanities Worldly CurioFree4 CQ
With the recent success of the Alternative for Germany party in local elections in Germany, artists and directors are worried that freedom of expression — an...
with PRI's The WorldWith the recent success of the Alternative for Germany party in local elections in Germany, artists and directors are worried that freedom of expression — an...
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FREEMusic Appreciation Song CurioFree2 CQ
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
Alright stop, deliberate a decision, Ice is back with a brand new conviction. Okay, so rapper Vanilla Ice makes for easy joke fodder, but the legacy of Ice Ice Baby, off the 1989 album Hooked, remains undeniable. Allegedly written by Ice, K. Kennedy, and DJ Earthquake, the track's hook samples the bassline from Queen and David Bowie's legendary song Under Pressure (1981). Ice initially denied the connection, though the original songwriters took notice when Ice became the first hip-hop record to top the Billboard Hot 100, quickly selling seven million records; in a watershed plagiarism case regarding hip-hop samples, Bowie and Queen received songwriting credit and royalties. Meanwhile, Vanilla's viral popularity spurred journalists to investigate his "gangster" background: that of Robert Van Winkle from Dallas, Texas suburbia. Lambasted as the appropriating "Elvis of rap," Vanilla was then purportedly held out a window by producer Suge Knight, who alleged Ice had been stolen from one of his associates. (Bear with us.) After strong-arming his cut, Knight used it to launch Death Row Records, which produced rap legends Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, among others. Yup—Vanilla nice.
Other streaming options
Image credit & copyright: Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
Alright stop, deliberate a decision, Ice is back with a brand new conviction. Okay, so rapper Vanilla Ice makes for easy joke fodder, but the legacy of Ice Ice Baby, off the 1989 album Hooked, remains undeniable. Allegedly written by Ice, K. Kennedy, and DJ Earthquake, the track's hook samples the bassline from Queen and David Bowie's legendary song Under Pressure (1981). Ice initially denied the connection, though the original songwriters took notice when Ice became the first hip-hop record to top the Billboard Hot 100, quickly selling seven million records; in a watershed plagiarism case regarding hip-hop samples, Bowie and Queen received songwriting credit and royalties. Meanwhile, Vanilla's viral popularity spurred journalists to investigate his "gangster" background: that of Robert Van Winkle from Dallas, Texas suburbia. Lambasted as the appropriating "Elvis of rap," Vanilla was then purportedly held out a window by producer Suge Knight, who alleged Ice had been stolen from one of his associates. (Bear with us.) After strong-arming his cut, Knight used it to launch Death Row Records, which produced rap legends Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, among others. Yup—Vanilla nice.
Other streaming options
Image credit & copyright: Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images
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FREELight & Exposure Photo CurioFree1 CQ
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
Check out Sol in the sky with diamonds! This photo, taken by Czech astrophotographer Petr Horálek, recently won the grand prize in 2019 Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition. Beautiful, if not menacing, Three diamonds in the sky shows the sun and moon engaged in a hybrid eclipse. Exceedingly rare, these appear like total eclipses in some parts of the world, but annular, or incomplete in others. Luckily for Horálek, the photographer happened to be in Pakwero, Uganda, which was treated to a mixture of the two types—and also an extraordinary three-part "diamond ring" (the bright bursts of light). The term refers to when solar flares from the sun's photosphere peek out from behind the moon's shadow; the hairline band of the sun's corona, paired with a solar flare, appear like rings of fire in the sky. Three diamonds was up against some beautiful and downright captivating scenery, but the gem nevertheless ran rings around the competition!
Below: more photos from the competition, including Baby on board by Anton Sorokin, Courting Royals: two Royal Terns in courtship display by Kristian Bell, and Waxwing and Rowan berries in the snow by Alwin Hardenbol.
Image credit & copyright: Petr Horálek / Anton Sorokin / East Carolina University / Kristian Bell / Deakin University / Alwin Hardenbol / University of Eastern Finland / Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2018
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
Check out Sol in the sky with diamonds! This photo, taken by Czech astrophotographer Petr Horálek, recently won the grand prize in 2019 Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition. Beautiful, if not menacing, Three diamonds in the sky shows the sun and moon engaged in a hybrid eclipse. Exceedingly rare, these appear like total eclipses in some parts of the world, but annular, or incomplete in others. Luckily for Horálek, the photographer happened to be in Pakwero, Uganda, which was treated to a mixture of the two types—and also an extraordinary three-part "diamond ring" (the bright bursts of light). The term refers to when solar flares from the sun's photosphere peek out from behind the moon's shadow; the hairline band of the sun's corona, paired with a solar flare, appear like rings of fire in the sky. Three diamonds was up against some beautiful and downright captivating scenery, but the gem nevertheless ran rings around the competition!
Below: more photos from the competition, including Baby on board by Anton Sorokin, Courting Royals: two Royal Terns in courtship display by Kristian Bell, and Waxwing and Rowan berries in the snow by Alwin Hardenbol.
Image credit & copyright: Petr Horálek / Anton Sorokin / East Carolina University / Kristian Bell / Deakin University / Alwin Hardenbol / University of Eastern Finland / Royal Society Publishing Photography Competition 2018
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FREEAesthetic Art CurioFree1 CQ
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
Title: The Sea of Ice
Artist: Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)
Created: 1823
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 38 x 50 in (96.7 x 126.9 cm)
Current location: Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Brrrr! It's hard to imagine a colder and more desolate landscape than that depicted by Caspar David Friedrich in his painting, The Sea of Ice (also called The Polar Sea or The Wreck of the Hope). In this majestic work, the shattered carcass of a ship is being swallowed by the frigid sea: the heaving ice slabs and shipboards are gradually being transformed into an ice floe. In his work, Friedrich tried to infuse natural landscapes with spiritual meaning, and to contrast the grandeur and power of nature with human frailty. The sculptor Pierre-Jean David d'Angers argued that Friedrich had created a new artistic genre: "the tragedy of landscape." Friedrich himself never traveled to the Arctic, but he was clearly influenced by William Edward Parry's polar expedition in 1819-20. Some critics say his artistic vision was also shaped by Napoleon's hubristic rise and ultimate defeat when his troops were beaten back by the Russian winter. But in the Sea of Ice, where the ice is vanquishing all signs of life, one can't help but detect echoes of Friedrich's boyhood tragedy: the loss of his brother when he fell into a frozen lake and drowned.
Image credit & copyright: WikiArt
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
Title: The Sea of Ice
Artist: Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)
Created: 1823
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 38 x 50 in (96.7 x 126.9 cm)
Current location: Kunsthalle Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
Brrrr! It's hard to imagine a colder and more desolate landscape than that depicted by Caspar David Friedrich in his painting, The Sea of Ice (also called The Polar Sea or The Wreck of the Hope). In this majestic work, the shattered carcass of a ship is being swallowed by the frigid sea: the heaving ice slabs and shipboards are gradually being transformed into an ice floe. In his work, Friedrich tried to infuse natural landscapes with spiritual meaning, and to contrast the grandeur and power of nature with human frailty. The sculptor Pierre-Jean David d'Angers argued that Friedrich had created a new artistic genre: "the tragedy of landscape." Friedrich himself never traveled to the Arctic, but he was clearly influenced by William Edward Parry's polar expedition in 1819-20. Some critics say his artistic vision was also shaped by Napoleon's hubristic rise and ultimate defeat when his troops were beaten back by the Russian winter. But in the Sea of Ice, where the ice is vanquishing all signs of life, one can't help but detect echoes of Friedrich's boyhood tragedy: the loss of his brother when he fell into a frozen lake and drowned.
Image credit & copyright: WikiArt
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FREEPlay Daily CurioFree1 CQ
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
Normally an icy runway is a very bad thing. Unless ice is the runway. That's the case in Alton Bay, New Hampshire. For a few months each winter, they turn their frozen Lake Winnipesaukee into an airstrip. It's the United State’s only all-ice runway. Far from scaring pilots away, amateur pilots from across the country fly in to give it a try! The runway is created by local volunteers, who plow snow from the lake almost constantly once the ice is deemed strong enough by the FAA. When the weather is nicer, Alton Bay is used for landing seaplanes. The bay typically lands about 50 seaplanes in warmer months, but in the 22 days the ice runway operated this winter, 366 planes landed. The freshly plowed ice provides a surprising amount of traction because of the snow on the ice. Still it takes pilot skill, as evidenced by the attached video of a plane struggling to land on Alton's strip. Click below to see that and a great photo of the runway in operation.
Below: Alton Bay Ice Runway on one of the few days each year it is in operation.
It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
Normally an icy runway is a very bad thing. Unless ice is the runway. That's the case in Alton Bay, New Hampshire. For a few months each winter, they turn their frozen Lake Winnipesaukee into an airstrip. It's the United State’s only all-ice runway. Far from scaring pilots away, amateur pilots from across the country fly in to give it a try! The runway is created by local volunteers, who plow snow from the lake almost constantly once the ice is deemed strong enough by the FAA. When the weather is nicer, Alton Bay is used for landing seaplanes. The bay typically lands about 50 seaplanes in warmer months, but in the 22 days the ice runway operated this winter, 366 planes landed. The freshly plowed ice provides a surprising amount of traction because of the snow on the ice. Still it takes pilot skill, as evidenced by the attached video of a plane struggling to land on Alton's strip. Click below to see that and a great photo of the runway in operation.
Below: Alton Bay Ice Runway on one of the few days each year it is in operation.
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8 minFREEWork Business CurioFree5 CQ
Trump reimposes steel and aluminium tariffs on Brazil and Argentina. NATO turns 70, and some world leaders say the alliance is needed now more than ever. You...
Trump reimposes steel and aluminium tariffs on Brazil and Argentina. NATO turns 70, and some world leaders say the alliance is needed now more than ever. You...
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6 minFREEPoetry Poem CurioFree4 CQ
Poem of the Day: The Operation. By Anne Sexton.
with Poetry FoundationPoem of the Day: The Operation. By Anne Sexton.
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day : February 25, 2017
hoary \HOR-ee\ adjective
Definition
1 : gray or white with or as if with age
2 : extremely old : ancient
Examples
T...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day : February 25, 2017
hoary \HOR-ee\ adjective
Definition
1 : gray or white with or as if with age
2 : extremely old : ancient
Examples
T...
December 5, 2019
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2 minFREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree2 CQ
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by 60-Second Science. Recycled wastewater can be cleaner than bottled water, but people still avoid drinking it because...
with 60-Second ScienceToday's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by 60-Second Science. Recycled wastewater can be cleaner than bottled water, but people still avoid drinking it because...
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4 minFREEHumanities Worldly CurioFree3 CQ
More than four million Venezuelans have fled their country’s economic and political crisis in the last five years, most to neighboring nations such as Colomb...
with PRI's The WorldMore than four million Venezuelans have fled their country’s economic and political crisis in the last five years, most to neighboring nations such as Colomb...
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FREEHumanities Daily Curio #1953Free1 CQ
Sometimes, royalty is not all it's cracked up to be. Last month, a journalist named Ellen Barry debunked a claim to an Indian throne by Ali Raza, or Cyrus, the supposed heir to the Nawab of Oudh. Cyrus' bizarre story begins with his mother, Begum Wilayat. She was a strong-willed woman who lost her sanity after the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, her subsequent escape to Pakistan, and the later the loss of her husband. Begum missed India. So much so that the widow started believing she was royalty. She ended up slapping the Prime Minister of Pakistan and got herself locked in a mental hospital for six months. When she was released, she smuggled her young son and daughter into India, where she camped in the First Class Waiting Room of the Delhi railway station. Among her were a retinue of servants, beautiful Persian artifacts, and a dozen ferocious dogs. She squatted there for nearly a decade, decrying British colonialism and the deceit of the Indian government, while also demanding her royalty be reinstated.
Eventually, the frustrated Indian government bequeathed her the Malcha Mahal palace in 1985. This "palace" was no more than a run-down hunting lodge from the 14-century, built in a dense jungle. There, among jackals and spiders, the family lived in seclusion. Begum's two children, newly known as Prince Cyrus and Princess Sakina (shown above), addressed her only as "Her Royal Highness." They were such snobs, they refused to associate with their "commoner" neighbors. Then, in 1997, Begam allegedly crushed diamonds and pearls into a liquid poison and drank it: a final protest against Britain and India's treachery. After her death, Cyrus and Sakina lived alone. The servants abandoned them. Then Sakina died, and Cyrus buried her himself. All that remained was Cyrus, who lived as a conceited hermit in the jungle, convinced of his superiority. He died of a fever fairly recently—nobody knows exactly when—and journalists tracked some of his letters to an address in Bradford, England. It turns out Begum had a third and eldest son there, named Shahid, who escaped his mother's epic fantasy. He spent his life working in England to finance his family's shenanigans. Shahid lived a happy life and died holding his wife's hand. Meanwhile, Cyrus and Sakina were spared the soul-crushing reality of their fake lineage—a 40-year lie turned Indian legend. Sakina once said, "Ordinariness is not just a crime, it is a sin." If there's anything I've taken away from this strange tale, it's that ordinariness can be a real blessing!
Image credit & copyright: Barry Bearak/NYT
Sometimes, royalty is not all it's cracked up to be. Last month, a journalist named Ellen Barry debunked a claim to an Indian throne by Ali Raza, or Cyrus, the supposed heir to the Nawab of Oudh. Cyrus' bizarre story begins with his mother, Begum Wilayat. She was a strong-willed woman who lost her sanity after the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, her subsequent escape to Pakistan, and the later the loss of her husband. Begum missed India. So much so that the widow started believing she was royalty. She ended up slapping the Prime Minister of Pakistan and got herself locked in a mental hospital for six months. When she was released, she smuggled her young son and daughter into India, where she camped in the First Class Waiting Room of the Delhi railway station. Among her were a retinue of servants, beautiful Persian artifacts, and a dozen ferocious dogs. She squatted there for nearly a decade, decrying British colonialism and the deceit of the Indian government, while also demanding her royalty be reinstated.
Eventually, the frustrated Indian government bequeathed her the Malcha Mahal palace in 1985. This "palace" was no more than a run-down hunting lodge from the 14-century, built in a dense jungle. There, among jackals and spiders, the family lived in seclusion. Begum's two children, newly known as Prince Cyrus and Princess Sakina (shown above), addressed her only as "Her Royal Highness." They were such snobs, they refused to associate with their "commoner" neighbors. Then, in 1997, Begam allegedly crushed diamonds and pearls into a liquid poison and drank it: a final protest against Britain and India's treachery. After her death, Cyrus and Sakina lived alone. The servants abandoned them. Then Sakina died, and Cyrus buried her himself. All that remained was Cyrus, who lived as a conceited hermit in the jungle, convinced of his superiority. He died of a fever fairly recently—nobody knows exactly when—and journalists tracked some of his letters to an address in Bradford, England. It turns out Begum had a third and eldest son there, named Shahid, who escaped his mother's epic fantasy. He spent his life working in England to finance his family's shenanigans. Shahid lived a happy life and died holding his wife's hand. Meanwhile, Cyrus and Sakina were spared the soul-crushing reality of their fake lineage—a 40-year lie turned Indian legend. Sakina once said, "Ordinariness is not just a crime, it is a sin." If there's anything I've taken away from this strange tale, it's that ordinariness can be a real blessing!
Image credit & copyright: Barry Bearak/NYT
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2 minFREEPoetry Poem CurioFree2 CQ
Poem of the Day: A Locked House. By W. D. Snodgrass.
with Poetry FoundationPoem of the Day: A Locked House. By W. D. Snodgrass.
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6 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
The FDA weighs in on the safety of CBD. Charities fear an even bigger drop in giving this year. Plus, how realistic is the prospect of wiping out student debt?
The FDA weighs in on the safety of CBD. Charities fear an even bigger drop in giving this year. Plus, how realistic is the prospect of wiping out student debt?
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FREEPhotography Photo CurioFree1 CQ
Whatever lies at the end of this vibrant, red path of fallen pine needles is surely something magical. Path in the Woods by American photographer Eliot Porter, born December 6, 1901, is just one example of his dedication to capturing nature in living color. During the 1940s, when most serious photographers still worked in black and white, Porter became known for his color photographs of landscapes, trees, and birds. In Path in the Woods, color plays the vital role of making a bare pine forest seem warm and inviting, beckoning the viewer to explore vivid reds, greens, and browns. Porter certainly did his fair share of wilderness exploration: he not only captured images of America's disappearing wilderness, but also the Galápagos Islands, Antarctica, and East Africa. His widely-published work was a powerful tool in promoting conservation, particularly of wild birds. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1941 to photograph several threatened avian species, which led to his famous Birds in Color series. The latter was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art two years later. It goes to show that the power of color photography was no pigment of Porter's imagination!
Below: more of Porter's nature photos.
Image credit & copyright: Eliot Porter
Whatever lies at the end of this vibrant, red path of fallen pine needles is surely something magical. Path in the Woods by American photographer Eliot Porter, born December 6, 1901, is just one example of his dedication to capturing nature in living color. During the 1940s, when most serious photographers still worked in black and white, Porter became known for his color photographs of landscapes, trees, and birds. In Path in the Woods, color plays the vital role of making a bare pine forest seem warm and inviting, beckoning the viewer to explore vivid reds, greens, and browns. Porter certainly did his fair share of wilderness exploration: he not only captured images of America's disappearing wilderness, but also the Galápagos Islands, Antarctica, and East Africa. His widely-published work was a powerful tool in promoting conservation, particularly of wild birds. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1941 to photograph several threatened avian species, which led to his famous Birds in Color series. The latter was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art two years later. It goes to show that the power of color photography was no pigment of Porter's imagination!
Below: more of Porter's nature photos.
Image credit & copyright: Eliot Porter
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day : February 24, 2017
kudos \KOO-dahss\ noun
Definition
1 : fame and renown resulting from an act or achievement : prestige
2 : praise give...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day : February 24, 2017
kudos \KOO-dahss\ noun
Definition
1 : fame and renown resulting from an act or achievement : prestige
2 : praise give...
December 4, 2019
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FREEMusic Daily Curio #1952Free1 CQ
Scientists just found a new way to help Earth's vanishing coral reefs: music. That's the major takeaway from a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications. A team of British and Australian scientists came to the conclusion after arraying loudspeakers around artificial reefs. To be precise, each new reef consisted of dead coral rubble and was set up adjacent to the battered Great Barrier Reef, near Australia. The researchers then positioned underwater loudspeakers around the patches of dead coral and continuously played "acoustic enrichment," or the sounds of a healthy reef, for local wildlife that help maintain ecologies. This sort of music sounds like radio static or sizzling bacon to us. But to marine life, it reverberates with the snaps of crustaceans clicking their claws and fish grunting, humming, and whooping. (Yes, fish apparently "whoop.") The presumption was that this cacophony would draw neighboring animals to the dead coral, to inhabit it. And it worked. At 33 locations, the team played the music for 40 happening nights. Meanwhile, 22 other locations sported silent dummy speakers. As if summoned to a pool party, all stripes of wildlife across the food chain inundated the dead corals that had music, ballooning local species diversity by 50 percent. The 22 silent locations remained unsurprisingly vacant. Marine biologists are already scrambling to isolate the most attractive acoustics, in hopes of reproducing the effect worldwide. That being said, the factors that cause reef degradation—warming oceans, fish blasting, and unmitigated boat traffic—remain dire threats. Saving Earth's coastal habitats will still require us to change. Still, it puts a smile on my face to know both fish and humans can't resist a good tune!
Image credit & copyright: McPhoto/Nilsen/Alamy
Scientists just found a new way to help Earth's vanishing coral reefs: music. That's the major takeaway from a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications. A team of British and Australian scientists came to the conclusion after arraying loudspeakers around artificial reefs. To be precise, each new reef consisted of dead coral rubble and was set up adjacent to the battered Great Barrier Reef, near Australia. The researchers then positioned underwater loudspeakers around the patches of dead coral and continuously played "acoustic enrichment," or the sounds of a healthy reef, for local wildlife that help maintain ecologies. This sort of music sounds like radio static or sizzling bacon to us. But to marine life, it reverberates with the snaps of crustaceans clicking their claws and fish grunting, humming, and whooping. (Yes, fish apparently "whoop.") The presumption was that this cacophony would draw neighboring animals to the dead coral, to inhabit it. And it worked. At 33 locations, the team played the music for 40 happening nights. Meanwhile, 22 other locations sported silent dummy speakers. As if summoned to a pool party, all stripes of wildlife across the food chain inundated the dead corals that had music, ballooning local species diversity by 50 percent. The 22 silent locations remained unsurprisingly vacant. Marine biologists are already scrambling to isolate the most attractive acoustics, in hopes of reproducing the effect worldwide. That being said, the factors that cause reef degradation—warming oceans, fish blasting, and unmitigated boat traffic—remain dire threats. Saving Earth's coastal habitats will still require us to change. Still, it puts a smile on my face to know both fish and humans can't resist a good tune!
Image credit & copyright: McPhoto/Nilsen/Alamy
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2 minFREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree2 CQ
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by 60-Second Science. Bots masquerading as humans in a game outperformed their human opponents—but the their superiorit...
with 60-Second ScienceToday's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by 60-Second Science. Bots masquerading as humans in a game outperformed their human opponents—but the their superiorit...
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4 minFREEHumanities Worldly CurioFree3 CQ
TikTok blamed the removal of the video on a “human moderation error.” But the ordeal has reignited concerns that the Chinese-owned, short video app is censor...
with PRI's The WorldTikTok blamed the removal of the video on a “human moderation error.” But the ordeal has reignited concerns that the Chinese-owned, short video app is censor...
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
From the BBC World Service… It’s meant to be the world’s most powerful defense alliance, but is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization still relevant? Why “g...
From the BBC World Service… It’s meant to be the world’s most powerful defense alliance, but is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization still relevant? Why “g...
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FREEMusic Appreciation Song CurioFree2 CQ
By the time The Clash wrote 1979's epic double album London Calling, they could have renamed one of their early disaffected tracks to "I'm So Bored With Punk Rock." During their previous album tours in America, the band abandoned punk contemporaries as openers in favor of early rock 'n' rollers, like Bo Diddley and Sam & Dave. Bouts of writer's block had also hit singer-songwriters Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, adding to the group's general weariness. To give their sound the jolt it needed, the group took on the erratic producer Guy Stevens and holed up in Wessex Sound Studios. They created, often in one or two takes, songs that shed the fast, atonal punk sound for swingin' horns, rockabilly guitar strumming, and bluesy walkin' bass lines. Punk music no longer had to be characterized by abrasive sounds and solipsistic lyrics, as The Clash proved with London Calling 40 years ago this month. It could weave in and out of popular genres and speak to the struggles and triumphs of ordinary people. Take a listen to the call-to-arms of the title track, whose marching staccato riffs and name recall World War II BBC broadcasts in allied countries.
Other streaming options
Image credit & copyright: David Montgomery / Getty Images
By the time The Clash wrote 1979's epic double album London Calling, they could have renamed one of their early disaffected tracks to "I'm So Bored With Punk Rock." During their previous album tours in America, the band abandoned punk contemporaries as openers in favor of early rock 'n' rollers, like Bo Diddley and Sam & Dave. Bouts of writer's block had also hit singer-songwriters Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, adding to the group's general weariness. To give their sound the jolt it needed, the group took on the erratic producer Guy Stevens and holed up in Wessex Sound Studios. They created, often in one or two takes, songs that shed the fast, atonal punk sound for swingin' horns, rockabilly guitar strumming, and bluesy walkin' bass lines. Punk music no longer had to be characterized by abrasive sounds and solipsistic lyrics, as The Clash proved with London Calling 40 years ago this month. It could weave in and out of popular genres and speak to the struggles and triumphs of ordinary people. Take a listen to the call-to-arms of the title track, whose marching staccato riffs and name recall World War II BBC broadcasts in allied countries.
Other streaming options
Image credit & copyright: David Montgomery / Getty Images
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1 minFREEPoetry Poem CurioFree1 CQ
Poem of the Day: Buddy Caesar and his Starlighters. by W. S. Di Piero (read by Michael Stuhlbarg).
with Poetry FoundationPoem of the Day: Buddy Caesar and his Starlighters. by W. S. Di Piero (read by Michael Stuhlbarg).
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day : February 23, 2017
finesse \fuh-NESS\ verb
Definition
1 : to make a finesse in playing cards : to play (a card) in a finesse
2 a : to br...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day : February 23, 2017
finesse \fuh-NESS\ verb
Definition
1 : to make a finesse in playing cards : to play (a card) in a finesse
2 a : to br...
December 3, 2019
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4 minFREEHumanities Worldly CurioFree3 CQ
America faces a shortage of early childhood teachers. One program in Portland, Oregon, is trying to address it while helping immigrants overcome challenges i...
with PRI's The WorldAmerica faces a shortage of early childhood teachers. One program in Portland, Oregon, is trying to address it while helping immigrants overcome challenges i...
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FREEMind + Body Daily Curio #1951Free1 CQ
Texting and driving just got even riskier in New South Wales, Australia. That's because the southeastern state recently unveiled a new system of A.I. cameras to catch cell phone-using drivers. It's the world's first-ever mobile phone detection camera system. It continuously takes photos of motorists. Two cameras lurk at a single location—one aimed at the driver's ear, the other at their lap. An algorithm then flags a photo if it detects a phone. Each flagged photo is then sent off for verification by human eyes. Australian drivers are being given a three-month grace period. After that, a first violation carries a fine of $235 (or over $300 in school zones). Drivers licenses get demerited as well. Also, these new cameras come with a presumption of guilt. Meaning drivers must prove themselves innocent in court if they are flagged, or else suffer automatic fines. It may seem austere, considering so many of us are guilty of firing off missives from behind the wheel. Cynics worry the cameras are more so a ploy to wring out revenue from communities than a method of public safety. But it's worth noting that texting and driving annually causes 1.6 million accidents in the U.S. alone, according to the National Safety Council. In other words, one in four road accidents. And in Australia, over 300 people have died from the act so far in 2019. The hope is that steep fines will seriously curb cell phone use among drivers. Regardless of your thoughts on the new camera system, it will face challenges. Legal ones. It's estimated that Australian courts could easily be inundated with over 70,000 court challenges in its first year of operation. That's because New South Wales plans to conduct 135 million camera searches by 2023. If the system reduces traffic fatalities, we may see it rolled out worldwide. Let's just hope it exempts Google Maps usage. Anybody out there remember how to use a road atlas?
Image credit & copyright: ARAG Legal
Texting and driving just got even riskier in New South Wales, Australia. That's because the southeastern state recently unveiled a new system of A.I. cameras to catch cell phone-using drivers. It's the world's first-ever mobile phone detection camera system. It continuously takes photos of motorists. Two cameras lurk at a single location—one aimed at the driver's ear, the other at their lap. An algorithm then flags a photo if it detects a phone. Each flagged photo is then sent off for verification by human eyes. Australian drivers are being given a three-month grace period. After that, a first violation carries a fine of $235 (or over $300 in school zones). Drivers licenses get demerited as well. Also, these new cameras come with a presumption of guilt. Meaning drivers must prove themselves innocent in court if they are flagged, or else suffer automatic fines. It may seem austere, considering so many of us are guilty of firing off missives from behind the wheel. Cynics worry the cameras are more so a ploy to wring out revenue from communities than a method of public safety. But it's worth noting that texting and driving annually causes 1.6 million accidents in the U.S. alone, according to the National Safety Council. In other words, one in four road accidents. And in Australia, over 300 people have died from the act so far in 2019. The hope is that steep fines will seriously curb cell phone use among drivers. Regardless of your thoughts on the new camera system, it will face challenges. Legal ones. It's estimated that Australian courts could easily be inundated with over 70,000 court challenges in its first year of operation. That's because New South Wales plans to conduct 135 million camera searches by 2023. If the system reduces traffic fatalities, we may see it rolled out worldwide. Let's just hope it exempts Google Maps usage. Anybody out there remember how to use a road atlas?
Image credit & copyright: ARAG Legal
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
How President Trump’s legislative rebuke of Hong Kong’s policies could actually hurt the region. A record number of packages shipping out this holiday season...
How President Trump’s legislative rebuke of Hong Kong’s policies could actually hurt the region. A record number of packages shipping out this holiday season...
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2 minFREEPoetry Poem CurioFree2 CQ
Poem of the Day: Gone Away Blues. By Thomas McGrath.
with Poetry FoundationPoem of the Day: Gone Away Blues. By Thomas McGrath.
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FREEPhotography Photo CurioFree1 CQ
Why be camera shy when you're this adorable? The silver-backed chevrotain pictured above was recently captured on camera by conservationists in Vietnam—and is the first of its kind to be photographed in 30 years. Commonly called the Vietnamese mouse-deer, this hooved mammal is neither a mouse nor a deer. Chevrotains are the world's smallest hoofed mammals, or ungulates, with silver-backed chevrotains being about the size of a rabbit. It had been so long since scientists had spotted a silver-backed chevrotain that they feared the species was extinct. To find out for sure, they placed hidden cameras in the Vietnamese wilderness, and what they captured was astonishing. At least two silver-backed chevrotains, identifiable by their distinctive grey rumps, were caught on film. Footage showed the animals rummaging for food, with their long muzzles, on the forest floor. Conservationists were excited by the footage, which quickly went viral online, and stated that immediate protections should be put in place to ensure the species' survival. Shy or not, there's no denying that the rabbit-sized, deer-like chevrotains have become overnight stars.
Below: a video and more photos of the silver-backed chevrotains spotted in Vietnam.
Image credit & copyright: Southern Institute of Ecology / Global Wildlife Conservation / Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research / NCNP
Why be camera shy when you're this adorable? The silver-backed chevrotain pictured above was recently captured on camera by conservationists in Vietnam—and is the first of its kind to be photographed in 30 years. Commonly called the Vietnamese mouse-deer, this hooved mammal is neither a mouse nor a deer. Chevrotains are the world's smallest hoofed mammals, or ungulates, with silver-backed chevrotains being about the size of a rabbit. It had been so long since scientists had spotted a silver-backed chevrotain that they feared the species was extinct. To find out for sure, they placed hidden cameras in the Vietnamese wilderness, and what they captured was astonishing. At least two silver-backed chevrotains, identifiable by their distinctive grey rumps, were caught on film. Footage showed the animals rummaging for food, with their long muzzles, on the forest floor. Conservationists were excited by the footage, which quickly went viral online, and stated that immediate protections should be put in place to ensure the species' survival. Shy or not, there's no denying that the rabbit-sized, deer-like chevrotains have become overnight stars.
Below: a video and more photos of the silver-backed chevrotains spotted in Vietnam.
Image credit & copyright: Southern Institute of Ecology / Global Wildlife Conservation / Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research / NCNP
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2 minFREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree2 CQ
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by Minute Earth.
with Minute EarthToday's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by Minute Earth.
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day : February 22, 2017
mayhap \MAY-hap\ adverb
Definition
: possibly but not certainly : perhaps
Examples
"The very footmen sometimes grinn...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day : February 22, 2017
mayhap \MAY-hap\ adverb
Definition
: possibly but not certainly : perhaps
Examples
"The very footmen sometimes grinn...
December 2, 2019
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6 minFREEHumanities Worldly CurioFree4 CQ
A new animated show that reimagines Hindu gods as preschoolers has been greenlighted by Netflix.
with PRI's The WorldA new animated show that reimagines Hindu gods as preschoolers has been greenlighted by Netflix.
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FREEMixed Media Art Art CurioFree1 CQ
Title: Floor Dance
Artist: Tschabalala Self (1990-)
Created: 2016
Medium: linen, fabric, oil pastel, acrylic and Flashe on canvas
Dimensions: 96 x 90 in (243.8 x 228.6 cm)
This piece of art gives new meaning to the phrase "dance as if no one is watching"! Floor Dance, by U.S. artist Tschabalala Self, was auctioned on November 14, at Sotheby's, for an impressive $225,000. In the mixed-media piece, a black woman with green hair and six arms performs the splits in a leopard-print outfit—all while winking and sticking her tongue out. Self specializes in depicting irrepressible black female figures in ways which she says "create alternative narratives around the black body." Indeed, Self's figures seem unconcerned with what the viewer thinks about them. On her website, Self says, "My subjects are fully aware of their conspicuousness and are unmoved by the viewer. Their role is not to show, explain, or perform but rather 'to be.' In being, their presence is acknowledged and their significance felt." Her colorful mixed media pieces have struck a nerve in the art world, where they have been exhibited in museums from London to North Carolina. Self's work serves as an important reminder that art has the power to make people see the world—and the people in it—in entirely new ways.
Two more of Self's mixed-media pieces, Mista & Mrs. and Out of Body, and a video of Self talking about her Bodega Run installation.
Image credit & copyright: Tschabalala Self
Title: Floor Dance
Artist: Tschabalala Self (1990-)
Created: 2016
Medium: linen, fabric, oil pastel, acrylic and Flashe on canvas
Dimensions: 96 x 90 in (243.8 x 228.6 cm)
This piece of art gives new meaning to the phrase "dance as if no one is watching"! Floor Dance, by U.S. artist Tschabalala Self, was auctioned on November 14, at Sotheby's, for an impressive $225,000. In the mixed-media piece, a black woman with green hair and six arms performs the splits in a leopard-print outfit—all while winking and sticking her tongue out. Self specializes in depicting irrepressible black female figures in ways which she says "create alternative narratives around the black body." Indeed, Self's figures seem unconcerned with what the viewer thinks about them. On her website, Self says, "My subjects are fully aware of their conspicuousness and are unmoved by the viewer. Their role is not to show, explain, or perform but rather 'to be.' In being, their presence is acknowledged and their significance felt." Her colorful mixed media pieces have struck a nerve in the art world, where they have been exhibited in museums from London to North Carolina. Self's work serves as an important reminder that art has the power to make people see the world—and the people in it—in entirely new ways.
Two more of Self's mixed-media pieces, Mista & Mrs. and Out of Body, and a video of Self talking about her Bodega Run installation.
Image credit & copyright: Tschabalala Self
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FREEPhysics Daily Curio #1950Free1 CQ
Make like a bee and surf off. Confused? So are scientists who recently witnessed something hard to bee-lieve. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, witnessed bees take to the water. In particular, the buzzing insects used water surface locomotion, or "surfing," to safely reach land after falling into pools. They had just minutes to execute the maneuver, to avoid drowning. The oddest part is their seemingly-counterintuitive technique: the bees actually embrace their wetted wings. They use the sopping limbs as hydrofoils, generating waves to propel themselves ashore. This behavior has never been documented before. It wasn't until the co-author of the experiment, engineer Chris Roh, was strolling Caltech's campus that the mystery began to unfold. Roh witnessed a bee wipeout in a pool and beat its wings to swim. Stoked by the bee's radical recovery, Roh snatched it up as a test subject alongside 32 other specimens. Roh and others then used slow-motion cameras to observe the bees use their wingbeats to create asymmetrical wave patterns that produce a propulsive roller behind them (video below). The crazy thing is that only the bottoms of their wings stick to the water. It's an efficient method, but bees can only manage it for about five minutes. Once they've beached, it also takes them a short while to dry themselves off, gather their wits, and take flight. This revelation isn't the only takeaway from Roh's experiment; the physics of bee wings and their beats offer a perfect model for future multi-purpose hydro-aerial vehicles. Imagine this: you're on a passenger jet that needs to make an emergency landing. No worries—the plane can land on water and beat its wings safely to shore!
Below: footage of the bees using water surface locomotion.
Image credit & copyright: Caltech
Make like a bee and surf off. Confused? So are scientists who recently witnessed something hard to bee-lieve. Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, witnessed bees take to the water. In particular, the buzzing insects used water surface locomotion, or "surfing," to safely reach land after falling into pools. They had just minutes to execute the maneuver, to avoid drowning. The oddest part is their seemingly-counterintuitive technique: the bees actually embrace their wetted wings. They use the sopping limbs as hydrofoils, generating waves to propel themselves ashore. This behavior has never been documented before. It wasn't until the co-author of the experiment, engineer Chris Roh, was strolling Caltech's campus that the mystery began to unfold. Roh witnessed a bee wipeout in a pool and beat its wings to swim. Stoked by the bee's radical recovery, Roh snatched it up as a test subject alongside 32 other specimens. Roh and others then used slow-motion cameras to observe the bees use their wingbeats to create asymmetrical wave patterns that produce a propulsive roller behind them (video below). The crazy thing is that only the bottoms of their wings stick to the water. It's an efficient method, but bees can only manage it for about five minutes. Once they've beached, it also takes them a short while to dry themselves off, gather their wits, and take flight. This revelation isn't the only takeaway from Roh's experiment; the physics of bee wings and their beats offer a perfect model for future multi-purpose hydro-aerial vehicles. Imagine this: you're on a passenger jet that needs to make an emergency landing. No worries—the plane can land on water and beat its wings safely to shore!
Below: footage of the bees using water surface locomotion.
Image credit & copyright: Caltech
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
Airline food service workers protest low pay. Will consumer confidence continue to carry through the shopping season? Plus, ranging from pig picnics to llama...
Airline food service workers protest low pay. Will consumer confidence continue to carry through the shopping season? Plus, ranging from pig picnics to llama...
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3 minFREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree2 CQ
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by 60-Second Science. Researchers activated specific brain cells in zebra finches to teach them songs they'd ordinarily...
with 60-Second ScienceToday's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by 60-Second Science. Researchers activated specific brain cells in zebra finches to teach them songs they'd ordinarily...
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1 minFREEPoetry Poem CurioFree1 CQ
Poem of the Day: Edward Hopper Study: Hotel Room. By Victoria Chang.
with Poetry FoundationPoem of the Day: Edward Hopper Study: Hotel Room. By Victoria Chang.
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day : February 21, 2017
distaff \DISS-taff\ adjective
Definition
1 a : related through a mother
b : inherited or derived from the female pare...
with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day : February 21, 2017
distaff \DISS-taff\ adjective
Definition
1 a : related through a mother
b : inherited or derived from the female pare...
December 1, 2019
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5 minFREEHumanities Worldly CurioFree3 CQ
Former Hong Kong politician Emily Lau explained the impact of Hong Kong's recent district council elections that were overwhelmingly won by pro-democracy can...
with PRI's The WorldFormer Hong Kong politician Emily Lau explained the impact of Hong Kong's recent district council elections that were overwhelmingly won by pro-democracy can...
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7 minFREEWork Business CurioFree4 CQ
Alibaba opens big in Hong Kong. New homes are becoming affordable again. Plus, businesses along the U.K.’s massive, delayed Crossrail project are losing thei...
Alibaba opens big in Hong Kong. New homes are becoming affordable again. Plus, businesses along the U.K.’s massive, delayed Crossrail project are losing thei...
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3 minFREESTEM Nerdy CurioFree2 CQ
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by Engines of Our Ingenuity. Episode: 1781 Flora Haines Loughead, social change and airplanes. Today, airplanes and Fl...
Today's Nerdy Curio is brought to you by Engines of Our Ingenuity. Episode: 1781 Flora Haines Loughead, social change and airplanes. Today, airplanes and Fl...
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FREEUS History PP&T CurioFree1 CQ
The activist whose arrest sparked the flame of the Civil Rights Movement.
In photos, she looks like a normal, middle-aged woman. Yet, her face is iconic, her strength legendary. She is Rosa Parks, the woman who started the American Civil Rights Movement with one brave act on a Montgomery bus, on today's date in 1955. But the act of courage wasn't preplanned—in fact, a personal vendetta may have had a hand.
Racial prejudice was familiar to Parks from a young age. Born in 1913, she was raised in Pine Level, Alabama, by her mother and maternal grandparents, both of whom were former slaves. As a child, Parks once watched her grandfather stand guard as Klu Klux Klan members marched down the street. At Parks's childhood school, white students rode the bus while black students were forced to walk.
Before she could earn her high school diploma, Parks had to drop out and get a job in Montgomery to support her family. At age 19, she married Raymond Parks, an NAACP member and civil rights advocate who supported her while she went back to attain her diploma. Parks joined him in the Montgomery NAACP in 1943, becoming the chapter's youth leader and secretary. She also worked as a seamstress at a Montgomery Department store.
On December 1, 1955, Parks boarded a bus on the way home from work. At the time, Jim Crow laws made racial segregation legal. White passengers boarded and sat at the front of the bus, and black passengers did both at the back. If the white section became full, black passengers had to give up their seats to white passengers. The driver that day was James Blake, who in 1943 had forced Parks to re-enter through his bus' back door after paying, only to drive off when she obeyed. She had managed to avoid him for 10 years.
When the white section of the bus became full that day, Blake demanded that four black passengers give up their seats. Three complied, but 42-year-old Rosa Parks refused. When Blake asked, "Why don't you stand up?" Parks answered, "I don't think I should have to stand up." He called the police, and Parks was arrested. In her 1992 autobiography, Parks stated that she was too tired to give up her seat that day—not physically, but mentally. "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in," she wrote.
By the time Parks was released from jail that evening, the Montgomery NAACP was planning a bus boycott. It began on December 5, the day of Parks' trial. Black community leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and elected Martin Luther King Jr. as minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. King became one of the boycott's most important leaders.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted a whopping 381 days, and Parks was arrested again in February of 1956 alongside 100 fellow protestors. White supremacists retaliated by burning black churches and bombing the homes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Montgomery NAACP President E.D. Nixon. Eventually, a legal suit against Jim Crow laws, filed by Parks's lawyer, made it to the district court. The laws were ruled unconstitutional—a decision the U.S. Supreme Court upheld. The boycott ended on December 20, 1956, when the city stopped segregating their buses.
Parks and her husband, now targets for violence, moved to Detroit. She worked as a secretary in the office of U.S. Representative John Conyer and served on the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's board. After publishing her autobiography in 1992 and memoir in 1995, Parks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. These are the highest awards given by the U.S. executive and legislative branches. Hardship continued to strike Parks late in life, however: she was robbed and assaulted at her apartment in 1994. Fortunately, the founder of Little Caesar's pizza, Mike Ilitch, got in touch with her network upon hearing the news, and secretly paid her rent at a more secure location for the rest of her life.
Even after she passed away in 2005, at the age of 92, Parks was honored as an American hero. She was the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, in Washington, D.C. Today, Rosa Parks is referred to as "the mother of the civil rights movement." Her life serves as a reminder that the bravery of a single person can change the world.
Below: Rosa Parks speaks about her arrest and the Civil Rights Movement.
Image credit & copyright: AP Photo
The activist whose arrest sparked the flame of the Civil Rights Movement.
In photos, she looks like a normal, middle-aged woman. Yet, her face is iconic, her strength legendary. She is Rosa Parks, the woman who started the American Civil Rights Movement with one brave act on a Montgomery bus, on today's date in 1955. But the act of courage wasn't preplanned—in fact, a personal vendetta may have had a hand.
Racial prejudice was familiar to Parks from a young age. Born in 1913, she was raised in Pine Level, Alabama, by her mother and maternal grandparents, both of whom were former slaves. As a child, Parks once watched her grandfather stand guard as Klu Klux Klan members marched down the street. At Parks's childhood school, white students rode the bus while black students were forced to walk.
Before she could earn her high school diploma, Parks had to drop out and get a job in Montgomery to support her family. At age 19, she married Raymond Parks, an NAACP member and civil rights advocate who supported her while she went back to attain her diploma. Parks joined him in the Montgomery NAACP in 1943, becoming the chapter's youth leader and secretary. She also worked as a seamstress at a Montgomery Department store.
On December 1, 1955, Parks boarded a bus on the way home from work. At the time, Jim Crow laws made racial segregation legal. White passengers boarded and sat at the front of the bus, and black passengers did both at the back. If the white section became full, black passengers had to give up their seats to white passengers. The driver that day was James Blake, who in 1943 had forced Parks to re-enter through his bus' back door after paying, only to drive off when she obeyed. She had managed to avoid him for 10 years.
When the white section of the bus became full that day, Blake demanded that four black passengers give up their seats. Three complied, but 42-year-old Rosa Parks refused. When Blake asked, "Why don't you stand up?" Parks answered, "I don't think I should have to stand up." He called the police, and Parks was arrested. In her 1992 autobiography, Parks stated that she was too tired to give up her seat that day—not physically, but mentally. "The only tired I was, was tired of giving in," she wrote.
By the time Parks was released from jail that evening, the Montgomery NAACP was planning a bus boycott. It began on December 5, the day of Parks' trial. Black community leaders formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) and elected Martin Luther King Jr. as minister of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. King became one of the boycott's most important leaders.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted a whopping 381 days, and Parks was arrested again in February of 1956 alongside 100 fellow protestors. White supremacists retaliated by burning black churches and bombing the homes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Montgomery NAACP President E.D. Nixon. Eventually, a legal suit against Jim Crow laws, filed by Parks's lawyer, made it to the district court. The laws were ruled unconstitutional—a decision the U.S. Supreme Court upheld. The boycott ended on December 20, 1956, when the city stopped segregating their buses.
Parks and her husband, now targets for violence, moved to Detroit. She worked as a secretary in the office of U.S. Representative John Conyer and served on the Planned Parenthood Federation of America's board. After publishing her autobiography in 1992 and memoir in 1995, Parks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. These are the highest awards given by the U.S. executive and legislative branches. Hardship continued to strike Parks late in life, however: she was robbed and assaulted at her apartment in 1994. Fortunately, the founder of Little Caesar's pizza, Mike Ilitch, got in touch with her network upon hearing the news, and secretly paid her rent at a more secure location for the rest of her life.
Even after she passed away in 2005, at the age of 92, Parks was honored as an American hero. She was the first woman to lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, in Washington, D.C. Today, Rosa Parks is referred to as "the mother of the civil rights movement." Her life serves as a reminder that the bravery of a single person can change the world.
Below: Rosa Parks speaks about her arrest and the Civil Rights Movement.
Image credit & copyright: AP Photo
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< 1 minFREEPoetry Poem CurioFree1 CQ
Poem of the Day: Tar Kettle on Prince Street. by Jesse Jennison (read by Barbara Rosenblatt).
with Poetry FoundationPoem of the Day: Tar Kettle on Prince Street. by Jesse Jennison (read by Barbara Rosenblatt).
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2 minFREEHumanities Word CurioFree2 CQ
Word of the Day : February 20, 2017
onus \OH-nuss\ noun
Definition
1 : burden
2 : a disagreeable necessity : obligation
3 : blame
4 : stigma
Examples
...with Merriam-WebsterWord of the Day : February 20, 2017
onus \OH-nuss\ noun
Definition
1 : burden
2 : a disagreeable necessity : obligation
3 : blame
4 : stigma
Examples
...