Daily Knowledge

"Who covets more is evermore a slave."
[Robert Herrick]

Quote of the Day, from brainyquote.com (2025/11/25)

Aristippus, an early Greek proponent of philosophical hedonism

Hedonism is a family of philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is a theory of motivation stating that the self-interested pursuit of pleasure and avoidance of pain drive all human conduct. Axiological hedonism is the view that pleasure is the sole source of intrinsic value. It asserts that other things, like knowledge and money, only have value insofar as they produce pleasure and reduce pain. Ethical hedonism applies this view to morality, arguing that people have a moral duty to pursue pleasure. Utilitarian versions aim to increase overall happiness for everyone, whereas egoistic versions state that each person should only look out for their own happiness. The paradox of hedonism and the hedonic treadmill are proposed psychological barriers to the hedonist goal of long-term happiness. As one of the oldest philosophical theories, hedonism was already discussed in ancient Greek, Indian, and Chinese philosophy. (Full article...)

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November 25: Evacuation Day in New York City (1783)

Johan Ferrier in 1975

1510 – Adil Shahi–Portuguese conflicts: Afonso de Albuquerque, the governor of Portuguese India, led an armada to conquer Goa.
1940 – The de Havilland Mosquito, one of the most successful military aircraft in the Second World War, made its first flight.
1960 – Three of the four Mirabal sisters, who opposed the dictatorship of military strongman Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, were beaten and strangled to death.
1970 – After failing to instigate a military coup to restore the powers of the Emperor of Japan, author Yukio Mishima and a member of his militia publicly committed ritual suicide.
1975 – Upon Suriname's independence from the Netherlands, Johan Ferrier (pictured) became its first president.

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 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