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English novelist Charles Dickens wrote many books and stories about Christmas. His first, the now-beloved A Christmas Carol, was written in just weeks, reputedly to meet the expenses of his wife's fifth pregnancy. An instant success, it has since been adapted countless times for theatre and film. The last name of the story's protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, has even entered the English lexicon as a word meaning a mean-spirited, miserly person. Who is thought to have inspired the character? More...
Historic Trivia pick - Macek
THE CAT WHO GLOWED IN THE DARK
Physicist, electrical engineer, and inventor Nikola Tesla is considered one of the most prolific and enigmatic geniuses of all time. In addition to pioneering the systems that made home electricity practical, he was instrumental in developing radio. His more futuristic pursuits included building machines to communicate with extraterrestrials, creating remote-controlled vehicles, and even attempting to refute Einstein's work on a unified field theory.
This was pretty heady stuff for a man born in 1856.
He was definitely ahead of his time. When Tesla, who became a U.S. citizen, died in a New York City hotel room in 1943 at the age of eighty-six, the FBI swooped down on his residence, rounded up his papers, and sealed them in a secret file. In his later years the great scientist was rumoured to be tinkering with a "death ray". The powers that be couldn't afford not to believe it.
From his youth, Tesla was fascinated by the unknown - a fascination inspired by his cat. He grew up in an isolated farmhouse in what is now Croatia. As a child, his beloved companion was a large feline named Macek (Serbian for "male cat").
Tesla, who described his four-legged friend as "the finest of all cats in the world", went everywhere with him.
As a boy of three, Tesla displayed no particular interest in science. But during one particularly cold and dry winter day, a huge charge of static electricity built up in the atmosphere. People who walked in the snow left glowing footprints, and snowballs exploded like fireworks when they were thrown against walls or trees.
But that was nothing compared to what happened to Macek. "In the dusk of the evening, as I stroked Macek's back, I saw a miracle that made me speechless with amazement", Tesla wrote in later years. "Macek's back was a sheet of light and my hand produced a shower of sparks loud enough to be heard all over the house". Even more amazing, when the cat walked through darkened rooms, he faintly glowed.
The sign fired the boy's imagination, and sent him on a lifelong quest to understand electricity. Some say that Tesla, through his work, helped make the twentieth century possible. If so, then the world also owes a debt to Macek, who inspired him.
A Christmas Carol is Published
English novelist Charles Dickens wrote many books and stories about Christmas. His first, the now-beloved A Christmas Carol, was written in just weeks, reputedly to meet the expenses of his wife's fifth pregnancy. An instant success, it has since been adapted countless times for theatre and film. The last name of the story's protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, has even entered the English lexicon as a word meaning a mean-spirited, miserly person. Who is thought to have inspired the character? More...
- 2012 - Election of First female President of South Korea
Park Geun-hye is the eleventh President of South Korea and also holds the distinction of being the first female head of state in Northeast Asia. She assumed office in February 2013. - 1984 - Hong Kong Treaty Signed
Formally known as the Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong, the Sino-British Treaty was signed by Zhao Ziyang of China and Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom in Beijing. The treaty decided the fate of Hong Kong as a territory of China from July 1, 1997. - 1972 - Apollo 17 returns to Earth
The last mission of the United States' Apollo program spent 12 days in space and was the first human spaceflight launched at night from the United States. The three-member crew spent more time orbiting the Moon and on the surface of the Moon than during any other Moon landings. It was also the last time humans set foot on Earth's only natural satellite. - 1971 - A Clockwork Orange released
The dystopian film was directed by Stanley Kubrick and was based on a novella of the same name by British author, Anthony Burgess. Based in a futuristic London, the film opened with critical acclaim, though the centrality of violence in it drew a lot of mainstream criticism. Today, the movie is considered to be one of the best movies of the 20th century. - 1886 Sherlock Holmes' The Adventure of Beryl Coronet begins on this date
The short detective story written by Arthur Conan Doyle and featuring detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend and assistant Dr. Watson began on this date with the theft of 3 precious crystals from a coronet. The story is the 11th in a series of 12 stories contained in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
Historic Trivia pick - MacekTHE CAT WHO GLOWED IN THE DARK
Physicist, electrical engineer, and inventor Nikola Tesla is considered one of the most prolific and enigmatic geniuses of all time. In addition to pioneering the systems that made home electricity practical, he was instrumental in developing radio. His more futuristic pursuits included building machines to communicate with extraterrestrials, creating remote-controlled vehicles, and even attempting to refute Einstein's work on a unified field theory.
This was pretty heady stuff for a man born in 1856.
He was definitely ahead of his time. When Tesla, who became a U.S. citizen, died in a New York City hotel room in 1943 at the age of eighty-six, the FBI swooped down on his residence, rounded up his papers, and sealed them in a secret file. In his later years the great scientist was rumoured to be tinkering with a "death ray". The powers that be couldn't afford not to believe it.
From his youth, Tesla was fascinated by the unknown - a fascination inspired by his cat. He grew up in an isolated farmhouse in what is now Croatia. As a child, his beloved companion was a large feline named Macek (Serbian for "male cat").
Tesla, who described his four-legged friend as "the finest of all cats in the world", went everywhere with him.
As a boy of three, Tesla displayed no particular interest in science. But during one particularly cold and dry winter day, a huge charge of static electricity built up in the atmosphere. People who walked in the snow left glowing footprints, and snowballs exploded like fireworks when they were thrown against walls or trees.
But that was nothing compared to what happened to Macek. "In the dusk of the evening, as I stroked Macek's back, I saw a miracle that made me speechless with amazement", Tesla wrote in later years. "Macek's back was a sheet of light and my hand produced a shower of sparks loud enough to be heard all over the house". Even more amazing, when the cat walked through darkened rooms, he faintly glowed.
The sign fired the boy's imagination, and sent him on a lifelong quest to understand electricity. Some say that Tesla, through his work, helped make the twentieth century possible. If so, then the world also owes a debt to Macek, who inspired him.
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