"I have noticed that nothing I never said ever did me any harm."
[Calvin Coolidge]
Quote of the Day, from brainyquote.com (2024/10/06)
Article of the Day
Markham's storm petrel (Hydrobates markhami) is a seabird native to the Pacific Ocean around Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. It is a large and slender storm petrel; its plumage is black to sooty brown with a grayish bar that runs diagonally across the upper side of the wings. A colonial breeder, the species nests in natural cavities in salt crusts in northern Chile and Peru; 95 percent of the known colonies are found in the Atacama Desert. Pairs produce one egg per season, which is laid on bare ground without any nesting material. Parents will attend their brood only at night, returning to the sea before dawn. The diet of Markham's storm petrel consists mainly of fish, cephalopods and crustaceans. Despite its relatively large population, the species is in decline and listed as near threatened. Primary threats are habitat destruction and light pollution, which attracts or disorients fledglings on their first flight to the sea. (Full article...)
Current Events
BBC One-minute World News
Fast briefed every day.
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Image of the Day
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
On this day: October 6
October 6: German-American Day in the United States
- 618 – Transition from Sui to Tang: Wang Shichong's army defeated Li Mi's forces at the Battle of Yanshi, allowing Wang to consolidate power and soon depose China's Sui dynasty.
- 1934 – Catalonia's autonomous government, led by Lluís Companys (pictured), declared a general strike, an armed insurgency, and the establishment of the Catalan State in reaction to the inclusion of conservatives in the Spanish republican regime.
- 1976 – Two bombs placed by the CIA-linked Cuban dissident group Coordination of United Revolutionary Organizations exploded on Cubana Flight 455, killing all 73 aboard.
- 1989 – About 200 members of the San Francisco Police Department instigated a police riot in the Castro following a peaceful protest held by the political group ACT UP.
- Samuel of Bulgaria (d. 1014)
- Wenceslaus III of Bohemia (b. 1289)
- Guru Har Rai (d. 1661)
- Sadiq al-Ahmar (b. 1956)
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].