Daily Knowledge "The person who can bring the spirit of laughter into a room is indeed blessed."
[Bennett Cerf]
Quote of the Day, from brainyquote.com (2026/08/01)
Article of the Day
Aquilegia is a genus of perennial flowering plants commonly known as columbines. Part of the buttercup family, Aquilegia contains between 70 and 400 described species and subspecies with natural ranges across the Northern Hemisphere. Aquilegia first evolved in Asia, with natural and introduced populations present on all continents except Antarctica. The flowers of most columbines feature nectar spurs; variation in the length of spurs, alongside other flower attributes, evolved to attract pollinators. Popular as garden plants, columbines may have first entered cultivation 1,700 years ago. Their high physical variability and ease of hybridization has resulted in the development of many cultivated varieties. Several cultures have used columbines for medicinal purposes. Columbines have also taken on symbolic connotations: the horn-like shape of the nectar spurs has resulted in associations with cuckoldry, while the species Aquilegia coerulea (pictured) is the state flower of Colorado. (Full article...)
Current Events
BBC One-minute World News
Fast briefed every day.
- Trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony counts (1970-01-01 01:00)
- Haberman reveals why Trump attacked judge and his family in speech (2023-04-05 15:30)
- What to know about the Trump indictment on the eve of his court appearance (2023-04-06 00:50)
- READ: Trump indictment related to hush money payment (1970-01-01 01:00)
- Russian authorities detain suspect over St. Petersburg cafe blast (1970-01-01 01:00)
Image of the Day
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
On this day: August 1
August 1: Emancipation Day in former British colonies; Lughnasadh in the Northern Hemisphere; Buwan ng Wika begins in the Philippines; PLA Day in China (1927)
.jpg)
- 527 – Upon the death of Justin I, his nephew and adopted son Justinian I became the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.
- 1814 – Britain celebrated the Grand Jubilee to mark 100 years since the accession of George I and 16 years since the start of the Battle of the Nile.
- 1971 – The Concert for Bangladesh, a pair of benefit concerts organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar for refugees of the Bangladesh genocide, took place at Madison Square Garden in New York.
- 2004 – Nearly 400 people died in a supermarket fire in Asunción, Paraguay, when exits were locked to prevent people from stealing merchandise.
- 2007 – Bridge 9340, carrying Interstate 35W across the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, United States, suffered a catastrophic failure and collapsed (aftermath pictured), killing 13 people and injuring 145 others.
- Andrew Melville (b. 1545)
- Helen Sawyer Hogg (b. 1905)
- Frances Farmer (d. 1970)
- Lolita Lebrón (d. 2010)
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].