During which event did Alberto Korda take the most famous photo of Che Guevara?
Alberto Korda took the photograph "Guerrillero Heroico" in Havana, Cuba, on 5 March 1960. Che Guevara, an Argentinian, was there for a memorial for the 75-100 people blown to bits by the explosion of the French freighter Le Coubre on 4 March 1960. Fidel Castro blamed the US for the sabotage of 76 tons of munitions on board.
(FatherSteve)
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Mar 04 26 by pehinhota
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Jan 01 26 by gmackematix
Why does Australia compete in the Eurovision song contest? It is about as far away from Europe as you can get!
This is what the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) says about it:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-07/why-is-australia-competing-in-eurovision-song-contest/103801224
[quote]Why is Australia in Eurovision?
In short, because Australian broadcaster SBS has been such a big supporter of the event. It's been covering the contest since 1983 - a whopping four decades - but Australian acts have only been taking the stage for 10 years.
It kicked off in 2014, when iconic Australian singer Jessica Mauboy was invited to be a guest singer during the interval. The following year, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) invited Australia to compete as a wildcard entry.[/quote]
So it's fun fan service, but geography-wise, it's like inviting Texans to the Oktoberfest contest. (wellenbrecher)
1 answer
Mar 01 26 by ozzz2002
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Dec 30 25 by GBfan
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Feb 27 26 by pehinhota
Which wall is considered the second longest in the world after the Great Wall of China?
The Kumbhalgarh Fort, known for possessing the world's second-longest wall, after the Great Wall of China, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is nestled 84 kilometres north of Udaipur amidst the beauty of the wilderness.
https://www.incredibleindia.gov.in/en/rajasthan/udaipur/kumbhalgarh-fort#:~:text=The%20Kumbhalgarh%20Fort%2C%20known%20for,the%20beauty%20of%20the%20wilderness.
(elvislennon)
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Feb 27 26 by pehinhota
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Feb 25 26 by serpa
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Feb 25 26 by serpa
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Feb 25 26 by serpa
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Feb 24 26 by pehinhota
The Romanian David Stoliar was the sole survivor of which tragic shipwreck?
David Stoliar survived the torpedoing of the Struma in 1942. Out at sea, the ship's engine had died with no way to repair it. A distress signal was sent out, and although the vessel was towed, a Soviet torpedo destroyed the ship. David survived by clinging to debris, but everyone else died.
https://www.yadvashem.org/exhibitions/struma/david-stoliar.html (Buddy1)
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Feb 24 26 by pehinhota
In terms of passenger travel through, but not into or out of, its airspace, what would be the number 1 "flyover" state in the USA?
According to the link above, in raw numbers they calculate Virginia, but if you consider flyovers as a proportion of aircraft entering the airspace, it is West Virginia.
However, their analysis ignores Delaware - with no instate airports, there are no landings to divide by in producing their ratio, so the table has no entry at all. Given its location on the busy east coast airway, it may well be competitive! (looney_tunes)
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Feb 22 26 by etymonlego
Which immigrant printed the first Bible in the German language in North America, in 1743?
That would be Christopher Sower.
On a fun note, one can be yours for just under $7,000 USD at the moment.
https://hsp.org/blogs/question-of-the-week/christopher-sower-printed-and-published-the-first-american-edition-of-which-book
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Sauer
https://moons-rare-books.myshopify.com/products/saurs-german-bible
(maripp2002)
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Feb 23 26 by pehinhota
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Feb 23 26 by pehinhota
What is the 90 Mile Straight?
This is Australia's longest stretch of straight road situated on the Nullarbor Plain.
https://www.australia.com/en-nz/trips-and-itineraries/perth-and-surrounds/crossing-the-nullarbor.html
(elvislennon)
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Feb 22 26 by serpa
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Feb 22 26 by etymonlego
What is the 90 Mile Straight?
Driving along the Eyre Highway in Western Australia, we encountered the famous 90 Mile Straight, the longest straight road in Australia. This record-breaking stretch runs between the Balladonia and Caiguna roadhouses, covering a distance of 145.6 kilometers (about 90 miles) without a single bend.
https://dulkeith.net.au/90-mile-straight-western-australia
(pehinhota)
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Feb 22 26 by serpa
Which woman was the mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother of four Roman emperors?
Octavia the Younger
[quote]Octavia the Younger (69 BCE - 11 BCE), also known as Octavia Minor or simply Octavia, is the sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus (known also as Octavian), half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and fourth wife of Mark Antony.
She is also the mother-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, great-grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, maternal grandmother of the Emperor Claudius, and paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great grandmother of the Emperor Nero.[/quote]
https://www.historyatlas.com/people/octavia-the-younger/ (elburcher)
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Feb 21 26 by pehinhota
How did Eric Clapton (according to "Rolling Stone" magazine, the second greatest guitarist of all time) earn the nickname 'Slowhand'?
It appears to have come from the fact that audiences would clap very slowly, out of boredom, while Clapton was changing a broken guitar string, something that happened often -- he must have been using cheap strings. A slow clap in the UK apparently signifies boredom or frustration. (After all the time I've spent there, I've learned something new.)
I personally consider Clapton to be the greatest guitarist of all time. I couldn't care less what RS has to say about it.
https://whereseric.com/faq/how-did-eric-clapton-get-his-nickname-slowhand/ (lanfranco)
1 answer
Feb 18 26 by odo5435
Where is the world's longest continuous staircase?
If you're keen on climbing over 11,000 steps in a single workout without using an indoor stepper or going back down between ascents, the annual Niesen Stairway Run on the Swiss mountain of the same name gives you the chance of doing these Guinness-recognized longest stairs. It is the service staircase for the tracks of a funicular railway for about 3500 meters with an elevation change of 1643 meters. If you take that challenge, you have a time limit of 2:20 hours to finish - a pace slightly better than one step per second!
(Technically, the staircase might not be called 100% continuous as there is an interchange station on the funicular, so there's a few meters between the lower and upper section. If you count that as an interruption, the lower section would be the record holder as it's longer and higher than the upper one.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niesenbahn
https://www.niesen.ch/treppenlauf/ (in German) (WesleyCrusher)
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Feb 18 26 by odo5435
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Feb 17 26 by pehinhota
Which is the world's shortest river?
That would be the Tamborasi River in Indonesia.
[quote]Tamborasi River
The Tamborasi River in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, is 20 meters long, 15 m wide and flows into the Flores Sea in Bone Bay. It is a tourist attraction given its forest-clad rocky banks and cool waters, as well as the white sand of the Tamborasi beach at its mouth. It is situated 85 km from the city of Kolaka and is fed by the numerous streams that run through the mountainous Sulawesi province.[/quote]
https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/shortest-rivers-in-the-world.html (elburcher)
1 answer
Feb 17 26 by odo5435
What was Operation Tic-Toc?
It could be either: [quote]Operation Tic Toc is a fictional project that the United States of Americas first venture into time travel. It is never stated, but hindered that the project has something to do with the 20th Century cold war.[/quote] https://scifi.fandom.com/wiki/Project_Tic-Toc
or it could be...
[quote]Seven alleged members of drug-trafficking gangs were jailed Tuesday at the end of a yearlong multi-agency investigation... According to court documents, the investigation, dubbed "Operation Tic Toc," revealed two networks of methamphetamine traffickers and distributors operating in San Diego.[/quote] https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/seven-alleged-drug-trafficking-gang-members-arrested/509-c756d95c-7a48-4288-8b14-a7ffc65ce85a
(elburcher)
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Feb 16 26 by serpa
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Sep 11 23 by BigTriviaDawg
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Feb 15 26 by tjoebigham
Which animal is closest to man - bonobos or chimpanzees?
So here's the deal - it's a tie! We humans share approximately 98.7% of our DNA with both bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). While bonobos and chimpanzees are more closely related to each other than they are to us, they are both equidistant from humans on the evolutionary tree. In the Hominidae family, about 5 to 7 million years ago, the lineage that led to humans split off from the lineage that led to the Pan genus (chimps and bonobos). Much later, roughly 1 to 2 million years ago, the Pan lineage split into two separate species: chimpanzees and bonobos.
If one looks at behaviour, the answer is equally equal - we're a healthy mix of both of these apes. The main difference between chimpanzees and bonobos stemmed from the fact that the chimpanzees had to compete with gorillas, whereas the bonobos had the Congo River to separate them from any aggressive adversaries. Humans, the weakest of the four major genii, had to develop advanced tools to survive in the wild.
Then we developed machines that would think for us, and then they became sentient, and that became our downfall...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fylC9yMm1nE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxrXMKyB-Ug
https://www.apeinitiative.org/bonobos-chimpanzees
And Wikipedia (LeoDaVinci)
1 answer
Feb 16 26 by chabenao1
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Feb 12 26 by queproblema
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Feb 12 26 by queproblema
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Feb 12 26 by queproblema
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Feb 12 26 by queproblema
Astronaut Frank Borman (Apollo 8) is on the cover of which Led Zeppelin album?
Frank Borman appears on the cover of Led Zeppelin's second album titled "Led Zeppelin II". The album cover was based on a photo of The Red Baron (German pilot Baron Manfred Von Richthofen) amongst other German pilots. The artist David Juniper replaced the German faces with those of the band members, management and other famous people. Juniper stated he believed he used a photo of Neil Armstrong for one of the faces, however it turned out to be Frank Borman instead. Borman was Commander of Apollo 8, which was the first mission to fly humans around the moon.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140429124902/http://feelnumb.com/2014/04/26/led-zeppelin-twice-attempted-to-put-neil-armstong-on-album-covers-and-failed/ (patrickk)
1 answer
Feb 12 26 by serpa
In the U.S.A., which type of vehicle is required by law to meet more stringent passenger safety standards; a Sports Utility Vehicle or a standard sedan?
As SUVs are classified as "light trucks" they actually have less stringent safety standards than the traditional sedan. They're also both more likely to suffer rollover accidents, and for those rollover accidents to be fatal. In short, because of the additional size and weight of SUVs (light trucks) they're more statistically safer in a crash than a sedan, but also more likely to get into a crash in the first place.
"Under the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), passenger cars must adhere to stringent safety regulations that set specific requirements for bumper height, impact resistance, and crashworthiness. These "crash compatibility" requirements are designed to ensure that vehicles of different sizes and types interact as safely as possible during collisions. However, due to their classification, light trucks are subject to less stringent safety standards regarding their structure and crash compatibility, posing unique hazards to both pedestrians and occupants of smaller vehicles."
https://publications.lawschool.cornell.edu/jlpp/2024/11/25/the-unchecked-rise-of-trucks-and-suvs-in-america/
SUVs are considerably more dangerous to pedestrians as well, mainly due to the increased size, the shape of the front end, and the decreased visibility in the vehicles.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24139147/suvs-trucks-popularity-federal-policy-pollution
Also, interestingly consumer reports won't even compare trucks/SUVs safety with sedans because of their size. They're more likely to get into accidents in the first place because the additional weight and size mean that they just can't avoid accidents that traditional sedans would.
"You won't see any full-sized SUVs or pickups on this list, either. "Larger vehicles take longer to stop and don't handle as nimbly as smaller vehicles," he says. "A large vehicle might get into a crash that a small vehicle could have avoided." https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-safety/how-to-find-safest-new-car-using-crs-safety-verdict-a3169270635/
So while your question was only about standards in the event of a crash, just overall, crashes are more likely in SUVs or trucks, but when they do happen they're slightly more safe from fatalities because larger vehicles tend to be safer in light impact crashes, especially between two vehicles.
(maripp2002)
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Feb 07 26 by odo5435
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Feb 07 26 by pehinhota
How did the cigarette snail get so named?
It is a nickname given to a highly venomous marine gastropod, so-called because if a person were to be stung by one they would only have time to smoke a cigarette before dying.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conus_geographus
(elvislennon)
1 answer
Feb 08 26 by serpa
What is a Cyr wheel?
It is a variation on the German wheel gymnastic / acrobatic apparatus. Instead of the double rim of the German wheel, the Cyr wheel consists of a single metal ring, similar to an oversized Hula Hoop with a diameter a bit larger than the user is tall.
Due to its narrow design, it is hard to balance, but also very flexible in the terms of movements and tricks it can do.
The wheel was developed as a circus apparatus by Daniel Cyr in the late 1990s. Official gymnastics championships using it have been held since the early 2010s, with the first World Championship in 2013.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyr_wheel (WesleyCrusher)
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Feb 07 26 by serpa
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Feb 07 26 by pehinhota
The so-called "quietest place on Earth" has something in common with the site of Earth's loudest noise. What is it?
The loudest noise is a volcano. The Krakatoa eruption was famously heard for thousands of miles away. At it's source it was 310 decibels (enough to shatter eardrums and shatter windows for miles around). So, the connection is Volcano.
The quietest place on earth is also...in a volcano (albeit a dormant one):
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/25/1119484767/experience-the-quietest-place-on-earth
https://www.audiology.org/the-loudest-known-sound-ever/ (maripp2002)
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Feb 06 26 by etymonlego
Why is January 1st considered to be the first day of a new year? Why not April 1st? Or October 15th?
1 January was traditionally used as the first day of the year from the period of the use of the Roman calendar, which was believed to have been established by the legendary first King of Rome, Romulus. Originally featuring ten months of 30 or 31 days, this was revised into a 12 month calendar that roughly corresponded to the solar year. In 46BC, the calendar was amended by Julius Caesar, creating the Julian calendar. This continued to have 1 January as the first day of the year. However, although other states began to align their calendars to the new Julian, many maintained their old customs of beginning the year on different dates - the Alexandrian calendar used in Egypt for example started the year on 29 August.
By the Middle Ages, European nations had begun to accept 1 January as their official first day of the year, many of them doing so before the adoption of the new Gregorian calendar. One of the major outliers was England, and subsequently Great Britain, who kept their official start of the year as 25 March, which corresponded with the start of the legal year. By this system, the date would change from (for example) 24 March 1707 to 25 March 1708. It was the passing of the Calendar (New Style) Act in 1750, which mandated the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendars in Great Britain and its colonies, that also brought about the change to the start of the calendar year. The provisions of the Act came into force following "the last said day of December 1751", meaning that, as 1752 officially began on 1 January, 1751 officially lasted for 281 days. Despite this, some areas of the UK continue to celebrate the new year on dates based on earlier calendars, with the Gwaun Valley in Wales, and the island of Foula in the Shetlands still having new year celebrations on 13 January, which is the corresponding date from the Julian calendar. (Red_John)
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Dec 31 25 by odo5435
As traditionally draped garments, do the Sari and Toga share techniques for construction or wear?
Not exactly. They may look similar, but there are significant differences.
First, the shape of the sari fabric is rectangular, while the shape of the toga fabric was more or less semi-circular. (It took a lot of effort and experimentation for a researcher to figure that out some decades ago, because the ancient sources do not tell us.)
In addition, a sari can be draped in several different ways, depending on the look you want, whereas there was only one really correct way to drape a toga. The main differences between togas involved colors (mostly variations on white) and borders. Sari fabric can be pinned in place, over a blouse and petticoat, but the toga was simply supposed to be draped over a tunic. However, given the annoyances of having to wear a toga, I wouldn't be surprised if some men occasionally used pins to help hold them in place. They were certainly used in other ancient garments.
Finally, of course, the sari is a garment for women, while the toga was for men. Roman women wore a garment called a "stola" over a long dress.
The sites below are instructive:
https://www.singhanias.in/blogs/singhanias-saree-journal/how-to-wear-a-saree-step-by-step-guide-to-draping-a-saree-perfectly?srsltid=AfmBOorORapQK1uAo78qjy0Qm1bpGxqIz4RcAodgKp76YJZnt2b4u2dH
https://www.tastesofhistory.co.uk/post/the-toga (lanfranco)
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Jan 29 26 by maripp2002
4 answers
Jan 21 26 by serpa