Daily Knowledge "Silence is the mother of truth."
[Benjamin Disraeli]
Quote of the Day, from brainyquote.com (2026/03/29)
Article of the Day
The Goldfinch is a painting of a chained goldfinch by Carel Fabritius, a Dutch Golden Age artist. Signed and dated 1654, it is now in the collection of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, Netherlands. The work is a trompe-l'œil oil painting on panel measuring 33.5 by 22.8 centimetres (13.2 by 9.0 in) that was once part of a larger structure, perhaps a window jamb or a protective cover. A common and colourful bird with a pleasant song, the goldfinch was used in Italian Renaissance painting as a symbol of Christian redemption and the Passion of Jesus. The Goldfinch is unusual for Dutch Golden Age paintings in the simplicity of its composition and use of illusionary techniques. After Fabritius was killed in the gunpowder explosion that destroyed much of the city of Delft in 1654, the painting was lost for more than two centuries before its rediscovery in Brussels. It plays a central role in the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, and also in its film adaptation. (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: March 29
March 29: Boganda Day in the Central African Republic (1959); Martyrs' Day in Madagascar (1947)
- 845 – Viking expansion: Viking raiders, possibly led by the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok, plundered and occupied Paris, holding the city for a large ransom.
- 1823 – Joaquín de Oreamuno led a coup d'état that overthrew Rafael Francisco Osejo, attempting to restore allegiance to the Mexican Empire.
- 1931 – Authorities held an inquest at New Town, Tasmania, into the deaths of a woman and two children who were fatally poisoned after eating smooth toadfish.
- 1974 – A group of farmers in the Chinese province of Shaanxi discovered a vast collection of terracotta statues (pictured) depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China.
- Wilhelm Liebknecht (b. 1826)
- Lou Henry Hoover (b. 1874)
- Nick Ut (b. 1951)
- Haane Manahi (d. 1986)
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].