Avatar Posted by duke 19 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
Groundbreaking in its depiction of sex and graphic violence and in its exploration of mental illness, Psycho is often seen as marking a turning point in film history, simultaneously labeled as the first slasher film and a work of cinematic art. The film's "shower scene" has taken on an iconic status as one of the most terrifying scenes ever filmed. What did director Alfred Hitchcock insist that theaters prohibit during screenings of the film?
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Avatar Posted by duke 20 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
Lisa Halaby is the fourth wife and widow of the late King Hussein of Jordan. She was raised and educated in the US, graduating from Princeton University in 1974. An architect-planner by training, she met King Hussein while working in Jordan on the development of the Amman Intercontinental Airport. They married on June 15, 1978. Halaby converted to Islam and, before the marriage took place, changed her first name from Lisa to Noor, an Arabic word meaning what?
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Avatar Posted by duke 21 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
The Flag Resolution of 1777 authorized the first official design of the United States national flag. Since that time, the American flag has undergone 26 changes, all of which altered the star portion of the flag to represent the number of states in the Union. Originally, there was no elaborate symbolism attached to the flag's colors. Meanings were assigned later, in 1782, when Charles Thomson gave a report to Congress defining the new Great Seal of the US. What do the colors now represent?
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Avatar Posted by duke 22 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
Launched in 1972, Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and to make up-close observations of Jupiter, capturing images that were later sent back to Earth. Pioneer 10 passed the orbit of Neptune in 1983 and became by some definitions the first artificial object to leave our solar system. By February 1998, Pioneer 10 was more than 7.5 billion miles away from Earth. When was the last signal received from the craft?
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Avatar Posted by duke 23 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
Yeltsin served as Russia's first democratically elected president. He directed the Russian Federation's secession from the USSR and the formation of a new, decentralized confederation, the Commonwealth of Independent States, with himself as its leader. As president, Yeltsin instituted a radical reform program that consisted of the mass privatization of state-run enterprises, after which the country experienced inflation, heavy taxes, and a protracted economic depression. Who succeeded Yeltsin?
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Avatar Posted by duke 24 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
McVeigh, an American domestic terrorist, was executed for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which claimed the lives of 168 men, women, and children and is considered the deadliest incident of domestic terrorism in US history. McVeigh was an anti-government survivalist and a keen reader of the controversial book The Turner Diaries, which describes terrorist acts similar to the one he perpetrated. How was McVeigh identified as one of the bombing's perpetrators?
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Avatar Posted by duke 25 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
The Jardin des Plantes, the main botanical garden in France, is situated on the left bank of the river Seine and is home to the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, France's museum of natural history, as well as an elaborate rose garden, numerous hothouses, an aquarium, and a zoo. Founded during the French Revolution, the museum is now a center for research and education. In recent decades, researchers at the museum have focused their efforts on the study of what global issue?
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Avatar Posted by duke 26 days ago (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
Category: This Day in History
Often remembered as a tyrant who played the fiddle while watching Rome burn, Nero was the fifth and last Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Though few surviving sources treat him favorably, some portray him as a competent emperor who was popular with the Roman people. In 68 CE, a military coup drove Nero into hiding, where he reportedly stabbed himself to avoid facing execution at the hands of the Roman Senate. Why do historians claim that the legend of Nero and his fiddle is false?
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