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155: 19th Amendment Grants Women the Right to Vote in U.S.
Today is the 95th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which gave women the right to vote. Here are some things you may not have known about the amendment. The 19th amendment was introduced in 1878 by Senator Aaron A. Sargent of California, but was not…
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154: “Animal Farm” by George Orwell is published
On this date in 1945, George Orwell’s novella “Animal Farm” was published in Great Britain. Here are some things you may not have known about Orwell and “Animal Farm.” Orwell wrote Animal Farm as a response to the British public’s admiration for Joseph Stalin as an ally during World War II. Orwell used the character…
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W4: Week in Review, August 15, 2015
[QTL-Quiz id=3] This week we talked about: • The Louvre and Smithsonian Institution • Genius Marilyn vos Savant and the Monty Hall Problem • The introduction of the IBM Personal Computer • International Left-Handers Day • Japan’s surrender to end World War II This week’s quiz will be posted soon. LINKS Follow us on Twitter, Facebook or…
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153: End of World War II
Today is the 70th anniversary of the announcement of Japan’s surrender which ended World War Two. Here are some things you may not have known about what has come to be known as VJ Day. The surrender came nine days after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and…
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152: Left-Handers Day
Today is International Left-Handers Day. Here are some things you may not have known about southpaws. Left-handers make up about seven to ten percent of the world’s population. About 70-90 percent is right-handed. For centuries cultures have favored right-handers over lefties and that extends to language. The fact that Right also means correct, is no accident.…
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151: IBM Personal Computer
Today is the 34th anniversary of the release of the IBM Personal Computer. Here are some things you might not have known about the machines. First, a base model original IBM PC cost $1,565 and had 16 kilobytes of RAM and no disk drives and no monitor. The model with 64 kilobytes of RAM, a…
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150: Marilyn vos Savant
Today is the birthday of the person who held the world record for highest IQ. Here are some things you may not have known about Marilyn vos Savant. First, Savant is an author, columnist and lecturer who was born on August 11, 1946 in St. Louis, Missouri. At the age of 10 she said she…
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149: Louvre and Smithsonian
Today is the anniversary of two of the world’s great museums, the Louvre and the Smithsonian Institution. First, the Louvre opened in Paris on this date in 1793. The building was originally constructed as a fortress in the 12th century by Phillip the Second. The museum opened one year after the fall of the French…
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Week in Review Quiz: Aug. 3-8
[QTL-Quiz id=2] Take our weekly quiz at triviapeople.com/w3. Topics this week include: Theme parks, Maurice Richard, Harry Houdini, Lucille Ball and Mata Hari.
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148: Mata Hari
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod, better known by her stage name of Mata Hari. Here are some things you may not have known about the dancer and German spy during World War One. She was born in 1876 in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. At the age of 13, her father went…