News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
King Xuan of Zhou ruled China 800 years before Christ. He wasn’t a nice guy. He heard a rumor of a dangerous woman in the town of Jiangshan so he ordered all the women there killed. Du Bo, the Duke of Tangdu, objected so Xuan ordered him killed too.
The Duke, though, said he was coming back. Three years later Xuan had a dream where Du Bo shot him with an arrow. He fell ill and died.
Happy Halloween.
Mummy Brown — The Pre-Raphaelites painters of the mid-19th century loved the deep rich brown a particular pigment provided and used it often.
At least until they learned it was made of human remains namely, Egyptian mummies.
Liberius, the 36th Pope who served from 352-366, is the first pope not be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church, albeit the Eastern Orthodox Church does.
Anastasius II, the 50th pope (496-498), is the first one nobody recognizes as a saint. Actually, Dante even puts him in Hell but that might be a case of mistaken identity.
The 47-story, 612-feet tall Singer Building in New York City surpassed Philadelphia City Hall as the world’d tallest building when it was completed in 1908, a title it held for one year. It is the tallest building to ever be purposefully demolished by its owner which happened in 1968.
The Latin alphabet had all our letters but the J, U and W.
Carpenter vs joiner? Yes Anthony, there is a difference. A carpenter uses metal like nails and screws to fasten wood whereas the joiner traditionally never uses metal but relies on glue or dowels.
What exactly is julep as in mint julep? It’s what the French of old called sweet medicinal syrup. They got it from the Arabs who got it from the Persians. Gul in Persian means rose and ab related to water. Gulab was rosewater.
Uranium glaze was the thing in the 1920s and 1930s. It gave tiles a bright, shine. It is thought that 25 percent of homes built between 1920 and 1940 came with radioactive tiles in the bathrooms and kitchens. You have an old house? Get a Geiger counter and check it out.
Iranians once ruled land in Europe. They were called Alans. Alan in the Iranian language is Aryan.
What musician holds the record for having the longest stay on the Billboard Top Ten charts? C’mon guess. Need a hint? OK, who said: “My handle’s Smokey Bear and I’m tail-grabbin yo ass right now!” That’s right, Jackie “Buford T. Justice” Gleason. The album was Music for Lovers Only from 1953 (or 1952 depending on source) and stayed on the charts for 153 weeks.