"Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."
[Marie Curie]

Quote of the Day, from brainyquote.com (2026/04/05)

Article of the Day

Page from the original score
Page from the original score

The Easter Oratorio, BWV 249, is one of three oratorios composed by Johann Sebastian Bach for high holiday services of the Lutheran church in Leipzig. He wrote an autograph score (page pictured) in 1738, but had already composed the music in 1725 for two works: the congratulatory Shepherd Cantata and a church cantata for Easter. The text of the Shepherd Cantata was written by Picander, in his first documented collaboration with Bach. Picander may also have adapted the text for the Easter work, using unusually neither Biblical text nor chorales. Both works are musical dramas involving male and female characters, which, in the cantata, are from the Biblical Easter narratives. The music is structured in eleven movements, and scored for a festive Baroque instrumental ensemble of three trumpets, timpani, a variety of wind instruments, strings and continuo. Bach performed the Easter Oratorio in 1749, the year before his death. (Full article...)

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Source: Wikimedia Commons.

On this day: April 5

April 5: Easter in Western Christianity (2026); Qingming Festival in Greater China (2026); Feast day of Saint Vincent Ferrer (Catholicism)

First edition dust jacket of Carrie
First edition dust jacket of Carrie

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].