People

The Cagots (France)

Cagots were forbidden to enter most trades or professions. They were forced, in effect, to be
the drawers of water and hewers of wood. So they made barrels for wine and coffins for the
dead. They also became expert carpenters: ironically they built many of the Pyrenean churches
from which they were partly excluded.

Molokai Colony (Hawaii)

The government established Kalawao located on the isolated Kalaupapa peninsula on the
northern side of Molokaʻi, followed by Kalaupapa as the sites of a leper colony that operated
from 1866 to 1969. Because Kalaupapa had a better climate and sea access, it developed as
the main community.

Rehoboth Basters (Namibia)

The first Kaptein was Hermanus van Wyk, the 'Moses' of the Baster nation, who led the
community to Rehoboth from South Africa. He served as Kaptein until his death in 1905. After
his death, the German colonial government established a separate council.

Dalits (India)
Dalits in the countryside have traditionally lived in satellite hamlets, separated from main
villages, or segregated neighborhoods. They have their own shrines and wells because they are
not allowed to use the ones used by upper castes. Local Dalit communities have traditionally
been led by headmen.

Scientist
Edward Jenner
Jenner was found in a state of apoplexy in January 1823, with his right side paralyzed. He never
fully recovered, and finally died of an apparent stroke on 26 January 1823, aged 73, in Berkeley,
Gloucestershire, England.

Marie Curie
A towering figure in the history of chemistry and physics, Marie Curie is most famous for the
discovery of the elements polonium and radium. Prohibited from higher education in her native
Poland (then controlled by Russia), she moved to Paris in 1891 and studied at the Sorbonne.
Galen
Galen of Pergamum (AD 129 – 199/217) was a prominent Roman physician and philosopher
from Greece. He was an important medical researcher during the time of the Roman Empire. His
theories influenced Western medical science for over a thousand years.

Antoine Lavoisier
Lavoisier is most noted for his discovery of the role oxygen plays in combustion. He recognized
and named oxygen (1778) and hydrogen (1783), and opposed the phlogiston theory. Lavoisier
helped construct the metric system, wrote the first extensive list of elements, and helped to
reform chemical nomenclature.

Places
Bermuda Triangle
Bermuda Triangle, section of the North Atlantic Ocean off North America in which more than 50
ships and 20 airplanes are said to have mysteriously disappeared. The area, whose boundaries
are not universally agreed upon, has a vaguely triangular shape marked by the Atlantic coast of
the Florida panhandle (in the United States), Bermuda, and the Greater Antilles.

Atlantis
The Lost City of Atlantis, first mentioned by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato more than
2,300 years ago, is known as one of the oldest and greatest mysteries of the world. According
to Plato, the utopian island kingdom existed some 9,000 years before his time and mysteriously
disappeared one day.

Uluru
Uluru or Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation located 450 kilometer (280 miles)
away from Alice Springs in the middle of the Australian Outback. Uluru is probably Australia's
best-known natural landmark. Uluru is estimated to be around 600 million years old.

Roanoke Colony
White took the letters to mean that the colonists had moved to Croatoan Island, some 50 miles
away, but a later search of the island found none of the settlers. The Roanoke Island colony, the
first English settlement in the New World, was founded by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh in
August 1585.
Animals
Weasel
Weasels have long, slim bodies. Their short legs have five small-clawed toes on each foot. Their
necks are long, their heads small and triangular; eyes are small in relation to head size, and the
ears, set low on the skull, are rounded and well-furred.

Dog
There are more than 150 dog breeds, divided into 8 classes: sporting, hound, working, terrier,
toy, non-sporting, herding, and miscellaneous. Contrary to popular belief, dogs do not sweat by
salivating. They sweat through the pads of their feet.

Pig
Pigs have poor eyesight, but a great sense of smell. The pig's nostrils are on its leathery snout,
which is very sensitive to touch. The pig uses the snout to search, or root, for food. Pigs are
among the smartest of all domesticated animals and are even smarter than dogs.

oxen
The great thing about oxen is that they can use their strength to pull heavy wagons and heavy
machinery that are used on farms. This helps to move heavy equipment back and forth for
irrigation, as well as plows to prepare farms for planting fruits and vegetables.

Massacres
The Great Cat Massacre
The Great Cat Massacre on the Rue Saint-Séverin was, in the words of the perpetrators, “the
funniest thing that ever happened at Jacques Vincent’s printing works.” The episode took place
in the Latin Quarter of Paris in 1730. As a way to take revenge on their masters who treated
even their cats better than them, two apprentices organized the “biggest felinicide in French
history.” After convincing members of the bourgeoisie that the animals were possessed, the
pair staged a mock trial, knocked the cats unconscious, sentenced them to death, and hanged
them.

St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

Saint Bartholomew's Day, massacre of, murder of French Protestants, or Huguenots , that began
in Paris on Aug. ... 22, by an attempt, ordered by Catherine de' Medici , on the life of the
Huguenot leader Admiral Coligny . The failure of the attempt led to formulation of the plan for a
general massacre.
My Lai Massacre
A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children and old
men—in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. More than 500 people were slaughtered in the
My Lai massacre, including young girls and women who were raped and mutilated before being
killed.

Wounded Knee Massacre

Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota,
was the site of two conflicts between North American Indians and representatives of the U.S.
government. An 1890 massacre left some 150 Native Americans dead, in what was the final
clash between federal troops and the Sioux.

Love Stories
Abelard and Eloïse
To help further her studies, her uncle Fulbert, canon of Notre Dame, enlisted the assistance of
Peter Abelard, an outstanding philosopher. Abelard began to tutor Heloise, and although he was
20 years her senior, the two fell deeply in love [source: Abelard and Heloise]. Soon Heloise was
pregnant.

Victoria and Albert

Victoria first met her future husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, when she was 16. He
was her first cousin, the son of her mother's brother; their mutual uncle, the ambitious Leopold,
engineered the meeting with the idea that the two should marry.

Hadrian and Antinous

There's a Roman love story between Emperor Hadrian and his Greek sex servant, Antinous, that
is so fantastic, it's almost impossible to believe. It's a tragic tale of immense love, scandal,
sacrifice, and mystery.

Dante and Beatrice

Beatrice and Dante. Beatrice was Dante's true love. In his Vita Nova, Dante reveals that he saw
Beatrice for the first time when his father took him to the Portinari house for a May Day party.
They were children: he was nine years old and she was eight.

Birds
Ravens
Ravens have larger, thicker, curved beaks, which are stronger than crows' beaks. Including their
beaks. Ravens are often seen alone or in pairs, while crows often fly and feed in a group,
referred to as a murder. Unlike crows with their distinctive cawing sound, the raven's call is a
deep, croaking sound.

Crows
Crows are black birds known for their intelligence and adaptability, and for their loud, harsh
"caw." They also have a reputation for damaging crops; however, their impact may be less than
previously thought. The genus Corvus comprises crows, ravens and rooks.
These results show that crows will avoid an area or thing that is deemed dangerous to their own
species. In other words, they know what death is and know to fear it.

Vultures
Vultures are carnivorous and eat carrion almost exclusively. They prefer fresh meat but can
consume carcasses that may have rotted so much that the meat can be toxic to other animals.
This gives vultures a unique and important ecological role because they help prevent the spread
of diseases from old, rotting corpses.

Cuckoos
Cuckoo has long and pointed wings and long and thin beak. While flying, it resembles to hawk.
Cuckoos are named after onomatopoeic sound which they produce: 'cuck-oo, cuck-oo'. Even
thought the whole family is named by this unique sound, only one cuckoo species (Common
cuckoo) is able to produce this sound.

Dates
September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people were killed, 400 were police officers and
firefighters, in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in NYC, at the Pentagon building in
Washington, D.C., and in a plane crash near Shanksville, PA. 9/11 was not the first terrorist
attack on the World Trade Center.

1917
Pop Culture News: Jeannette Rankin, the first Congresswoman, served just two non-consecutive
terms starting in 1917 and 1941, and was the only person to vote against the declaration of war
in both WWI and WWII. A bank in Utah was built using 80,000 bricks mailed via USPS in 50-
pound packages to save on freight costs.
1348
Victims often died within 12 hours of being bitten. This outbreak of the Black Death originally
started in the 1200s in Central Asia, before sweeping Europe between 1348 and 1350. It killed
up to half the population in some countries. The Black Death killed 75 million people in Asia,
three times more than in Europe.

1789
The poor had to pay taxes to the king while the rich did not. When the French Revolution began
and the Bastille was stormed on July 14th, 1789, only seven prisoners were found inside. The
French revolutionaries stormed the Bastille in search of gunpowder; they were not as interested
in the prisoners.

Inventions
Guillotine
Guillotine, instrument for inflicting capital punishment by decapitation, introduced into France in
1792.

Gunpowder
Until the mid-19th Century, gunpowder was the only known chemical explosive. Gunpowder is a
classic green tea from Zhejiang province, China. Gunpowder tea is made up of leaves hand-
rolled into tiny pellets that resemble gunpowder, giving, it is said, this tea its distinct name.

Penicillin
Penicillin is an antibiotic made from Penicillium mold that can kill bacteria or keep it from
making more bacteria. Alexander Fleming was a doctor in England who originally discovered
that the mold killed bacteria.

Plastic
Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1 million sea
creatures every year. Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy than burning it in an
incinerator. An estimated 14 billion pounds of trash, much of it plastic is dumped in the world's
oceans every year.

Objects
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is capable of measuring the position of celestial objects in the sky. Astrolabes can
measure the time of day or night when used as a mobile sundial. It can also be used to measure
the altitude of the sun which provides a more accurate time of day or night.

Fabergé Egg
These were the eggs commissioned by the Russian royal family. They would give them as
Easter presents to each other and are the most elaborate of the eggs. There were only 50 made
in total; 43 survived.

Bechstein
Found almost exclusively in woodland, Bechstein's bat is one of our rarest bats. All UK bats are
nocturnal, feeding on midges, moths and other flying insects that they find in the dark by using
echolocation. Bechstein's bats hibernate over the winter.