Daily Knowledge "There's no use doing a kindness if you do it a day too late."
[Charles Kingsley]
Quote of the Day, from brainyquote.com (2026/05/22)
Article of the Day
Intraproboscis is a genus in Acanthocephala (thorny-headed or spiny-headed parasitic worms) containing a single species. Found in Central Africa, it infests the black-bellied pangolin and the tree pangolin, which are both threatened with extinction. Female worms reach up to 180 mm (7.1 in) long (mostly trunk) and 2 mm (0.079 in) wide; males seem to be smaller. The body consists of a long, narrow trunk and a tubular proboscis covered with hooks (pictured), used for feeding and attachment. The life cycle of I. sanghae remains unknown but it likely involves a complex life cycle with at least two hosts, the pangolin and one believed to be an arthropod, such as an insect. Within this host, the larvae develop into an infectious stage called a cystacanth. When a vertebrate consumes the intermediate host, the cystacanths enter the intestines where they mature. The worm's eggs are expelled and hatch into new larvae. Infestation by I. sanghae can cause intestinal perforation and death in the black-bellied pangolin. (Full article...)
Current Events
BBC One-minute World News
Fast briefed every day.
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Image of the Day
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Source: Wikimedia Commons.
On this day: May 22
May 22: National Maritime Day in the United States; Harvey Milk Day in some parts of the United States; Unity Day in Yemen; First day of Shavuot, (Judaism, 2026)
- 1629 – Albrecht von Wallenstein and King Christian IV of Denmark signed the Treaty of Lübeck to end Danish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.
- 1826 – HMS Beagle (pictured) departed on her first voyage from Plymouth for a hydrographic survey of the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego regions of South America.
- 1960 – The most powerful earthquake ever recorded, registering approximately 9.5 Mw, struck near Valdivia, Chile, generating tsunamis that reached Hawaii and Japan.
- 2002 – Police announced that the skeletal remains of Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy, who had been missing for a year, had been found in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C.
- Itzam Kʼan Ahk I (b. 626)
- Rita Cetina Gutiérrez (b. 1846)
- Sun Ra (b. 1914)
- Joshua Zirkzee (b. 2001)
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].