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Daemon |
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Advanced Member |
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Inside Farlex computers |
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Saturday, March 07, 2009 |
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Friday, March 27, 2009 2:05:40 PM |
6,350
[2.39% of all post / 5.86 posts per day] |
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 Record Chain of Kidney Donations
The world's longest chain of organ donations, involving 30 living kidney donors and 30 recipients, has been completed in the US. The chain matched up donors, most of whom had wanted to give a kidney to a relative or friend but were incompatible, with suitable recipients who also had someone willing to donate a kidney on their behalf. Still, none of it would have been possible without a Good Samaritan from California who decided he wanted to donate a kidney to a complete stranger. His surgery in August was the first in the chain of 60 operations that gave 30 grateful people a second chance at life. More...
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arrant
(adjective) Utter; out-and-out.
Synonyms: double-dyed, sodding, thoroughgoing, unadulterated, staring, perfect, pure, everlasting, consummate, complete, stark, gross
Usage: That is the most arrant nonsense I have ever heard.
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 Viking Longships
Longships were the boats used by the Vikings of Scandinavia and Iceland for trade, exploration, and warfare between the 8th and 11th centuries. Long and narrow, the boats were designed for speed and were propelled by teams of rowers, sometimes aided by sails. They were shallow enough to land on beaches and light enough to be carried over land. They were also double-ended and could reverse direction quickly. Why, according to legend, were crows brought along on some longship voyages? More...
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 Battle of the Alamo Begins (1836)
In the 1835 Texas Revolution, the predominantly American settlers of Texas sought independence from the Mexican government. In December, they took the Alamo, an old chapel in San Antonio. When Mexican forces arrived in February, the Texians were outnumbered and unprepared to withstand the 13-day siege. Nearly all of them were killed. The loss became a rallying point for Texians, who went on to win the war. What short-lived independent nation did they establish that year? More...
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 Karl Theodor Jaspers (1883)
Jaspers was a German philosopher and psychopathologist often identified as an exponent of existentialism, although he rejected this classification. In his magnum opus, Philosophy, he argued that the aim of philosophy is practical and that its purpose is the fulfillment of human existence. He believed illumination is achieved through the experience of "limit situations" like conflict, guilt, and suffering, which define the human condition. What forced him to give up his teaching career? More...
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 To flatter and follow others, without being flattered and followed in turn, is but a state of half enjoyment.
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
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 US Apologizes for Qur'an Burning
The US military is facing intense criticism in Afghanistan for burning copies of the Qur'an on an American airbase near Bagram. According to US sources, the copies of the Qur'an, along with other Islamic texts, were inadvertently sent for incineration after military officials discovered that prisoners were using them to pass extremist messages to one another. Afghan laborers on the base noticed the burning Qur'ans and tried to recover them. US and NATO officials have issued apologies and stated that steps will be taken to ensure that this sort of thing never happens again, but the incident has no doubt dealt a heavy blow to already strained US-Afghan relations. More...
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thaumaturge
(noun) One who practices magic or sorcery.
Synonyms: necromancer, sorcerer, wizard, magician
Usage: The self-proclaimed thaumaturge bowed to his audience before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
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 Pulp Magazines
Pulp magazines were popular, inexpensive fiction magazines published from the late 19th century through the 1950s, primarily in the US. Printed on cheap paper with ragged, untrimmed edges, "pulps" were cheaper than books or standard magazines. While many respected, now-famous authors wrote for pulps, the magazines were known for their lurid, exploitative stories and sensational cover art, often featuring scantily-clad women. What famous masked hero made his rapier-toting debut in pulp magazines? More...
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 Adams-Onís Treaty: Spain Sells Florida to the US (1819)
In the early 1800s, tensions between the US and Spain were increasing over border disputes in North America. With Spanish power in the New World declining, it was widely believed that Spain would lose land to the US. The Adams-Onís Treaty settled the dispute by attempting to draw clearer borders, roughly granting Florida and Louisiana to the US while giving everything west of Louisiana to Spain. The US did not pay Spain directly for the new land. Instead, it compensated Spain in what way? More...
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