"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
[William Arthur Ward]

Quote of the Day, from brainyquote.com (2025/12/01)

Article of the Day

Crop from CDC publicity poster
Crop from CDC publicity poster

Julio and Marisol was a bilingual public-service advertising campaign that ran from 1989 to 2001 in the New York City Subway promoting condom use to prevent AIDS. The well-known catchphrase was a line from the first installment, in which Marisol sobs, "I love you, but not enough to die for you". The story follows a young Hispanic couple as they explore human sexuality and the effects of the AIDS epidemic on their relationship. Designed to appeal to a Hispanic audience particularly at risk due to cultural attitudes discouraging condom use, it has been described as "one part steamy soap opera, one part language instruction, and two parts AIDS education service". The ads were praised by public health officials for presenting situations which people could relate to, and by AIDS activists for breaking down the social stigma associated with the disease. They drew criticism, however, from family values advocates who objected to the promotion of condoms and the tacit acceptance of homosexuality. (Full article...)

  • Article of the Day

Image of the Day


Source: Wikimedia Commons.

On this day: December 1

December 1: World AIDS Day; Great Union Day in Romania; Rosa Parks Day in some states and cities in the United States

Pedro I of Brazil, later also Pedro IV of Portugal
Pedro I of Brazil, later also Pedro IV of Portugal

Knowledge about Earth

Facts and Figures

  • Age of Earth: ~ 4.568 billion years
  • World Population: 7.3 billion (July 2015)
  • Continents: 7 (Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia)
  • Mean Radius: 6371.0 km
  • Axial Tilt: 23,44°

Image Source: Wikipedia - License: Public Domain (thanks to NASA)

Our Solar System

Our solar system consists of
1 star (Sun) and 8 planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune).

  • 1 AU (astronomical unit) is roughly the distance between Earth and the Sun (about 150 million kilometres).
  • The space probe Voyager 1 was launched by the NASA in 1977 and is meanwhile (autumn 2015) about 133 AU away from Earth.

Image Source: Wikipedia - License: CC BY-SA 3.0

Why you should extend your general knowledge:

There are many reasons why one should or wants to extend his knowledge.
First you should consider that "general knowledge" is knowledge which a group of humans - who belong together regional, temporal or otherwise - owns. Thus, it describes a basic understanding of specific categories of knowledge.

As the English philosopher Francis Bacon said before: "Wisdom is Power" [Bacon 1597].