Among the best primary sources on Aztec culture, Aztec codices contain firsthand accounts of the civilization's history and religion. While the pre-Colombian codices are largely pictorial, later colonial era codices contain Aztec pictograms, as well as Aztec, Spanish, and occasionally Latin writings. Though there are few surviving pre-conquest codices, the tradition endured the transition to colonial culture, and about 500 such works survive today. What massacre is described in the Aubin Codex? Discussfrom Article of the Day http://ift.tt/2dvHujj
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In the final year of his life, prolific composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart produced the opera Die Zauberflöte—The Magic Flute—featuring a libretto by the actor Emmanuel Schikaneder. The work is considered a singspiel—an opera in German that contains spoken dialogue and is usually comic in tone. Mozart brought this form of light musical entertainment to a height of lyrical and symbolic art. How much longer did Mozart live after The Magic Flute debuted? 
The idea had got into his mind that he would some time die unexpectedly and always when he got into bed he thought of that...The effect in fact was quite a special thing and not easily explained. It made him more alive, there in bed, than at any other time. 
After receiving a doctorate in physics in Germany in 1906, Geiger traveled to England, where he assisted chemist Ernest Rutherford. In 1908, they designed an instrument to detect and count alpha particles, positively charged ionizing particles produced by radioactive decay. He then returned to Germany, directing radiation research at several universities. Two decades later, Geiger developed the sensitive, portable radiation counter that now bears his name. Geiger was a member of what "club"? 
Frustrated by the way his fountain pen's sharp tip would tear paper and by the amount of time he wasted filling the pen with ink and cleaning up smudges, László Bíró set to work developing a better pen. A Hungarian newspaper editor, he noticed that the ink used in newspaper printing dried quickly and without smudging, but it was too viscous for use with existing pens. With the help of his brother, a chemist, he developed the modern ballpoint pen. How long did it take him to build his pen? 
The Feast of the 
Abbreviated as CERN after the original French name, the European Organization for Nuclear Research is the world's largest particle physics laboratory. CERN's activities are sponsored by 20 European countries. It was there that the World Wide Web—developed to promote scientific collaboration by facilitating information sharing—was invented in the 1990s. CERN's latest project, the Large Hadron Collider, is, among other things, being used to discover the hypothesized Higgs boson, which is what? 
Revered as the primary means by which the Qur'an has been preserved, Islamic calligraphy is the art of decorative writing that often employs Arabic script, which consists of a 28-letter alphabet and 18 different forms of writing. These calligraphic scripts are often woven into intricate pictographic calligrams depicting animals, mosques, and various other figures. Which Christian saint's relics are wrapped in a shroud decorated with Islamic calligraphy? 
Great men are seldom over-scrupulous in the arrangement of their attire. 
A number of years before he was placed on the US Secret Service's Most Wanted List, bold con man Matthew Cox wrote a novel detailing the exploits of a man who travels across America committing many of the crimes for which Cox himself is currently incarcerated. Cox used approximately 30 aliases in his real life criminal pursuits, including the name of cartoon millionaire C. Montgomery Burns, and acquired between $5 million and $25 million in fraudulent property mortgaging deals. How did he do it? 
Famed American TV host Ed Sullivan started out as a journalist and gossip columnist but was hired by CBS to host the variety program that eventually became The Ed Sullivan Show because of his talent for discovering interesting performers. The program, featuring diverse entertainment, became a national institution for over 20 years, while Sullivan's terse introductions of guests and distinctive mannerisms made him a popular target for comedians. What acts were banned from Sullivan's show? 
This is a time to commemorate the birth of the teacher 
In 1962, the Paddington Tram Depot in Brisbane, Australia, and 65 of its trams were destroyed in one of the largest fires in the city's history. The strain that the destruction put on local transportation resources is generally considered to have brought about the beginning of the end for Brisbane's tram system, which closed in 1969. After the fire, parts were salvaged from the destroyed trams and incorporated into new ones. What mythical creature adorns the trams bearing the salvaged parts? 
The composition of vacuum energy, an underlying background energy that exists in space even when that space is devoid of matter, remains one of physics' great unsolved mysteries. The phenomenon results in the existence of most, if not all, of the fundamental forces, such as gravity and electromagnetism, and many experts suspect that it affects the behavior of the universe on a cosmological scale. What 1948 experiment provided the first experimental verification of the existence of vacuum energy? 
Influenced by the verismo—"realism"—school, Nobel Prize-winning Italian novelist Grazia Deledda wrote her first stories while just a teen and was still having her works published after her death. Her work is lyric and in part naturalistic and combines sympathy and humor with occasional touches of violence. In her approximately 40 novels, the ancient ways of her native Sardinia often come into conflict with modern mores. What are her most famous works? 
Urban VII was chosen to succeed Sixtus V as pope on September 15, 1590. His death from malaria 13 days later made his the shortest papal reign in history. His very short time as pope nevertheless gave rise to the world's first known public smoking ban when he threatened to excommunicate anyone who "took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe, or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose." Who succeeded him? 
Built in the 5th century BCE on the Acropolis of Athens, the Parthenon was the chief temple of Athena in ancient Greece and the finest example of Doric architecture. In 1687, during the Venetian attack on Athens, the Turks used it for storing gunpowder. The stores were ignited during the bombardment, causing an explosion that partly destroyed the building. Still, its basic structure remains intact and reconstruction efforts are underway. What does the word "Parthenon" mean in Greek? 
The elixir of life is a mythical potion said to confer immortality. The ancient Chinese thought that precious substances like gold and mercury brought longevity, and these ingredients were often used in their elixirs. Ironically, some metals are highly toxic and thus poisoned the longevity seekers who ingested them. Buddhism gave the Chinese alternate routes to immortality, but the elixir of life received renewed attention in the 18th century with what claims about the Comte de St. Germain? 
Hine was an American photographer whose career began shortly after he bought his first camera in 1903. Devoted to capturing images of the dark side of the industrial revolution in the US, he documented the poverty of immigrants and the plight of child laborers. The power of his images placed him at the forefront of 20th-century documentary photographers and helped bring about the passage of child labor laws. Some of his most famous images document the construction of what iconic skyscraper? 
Since 1936, the last Sunday in September has been designated by the U.S. Congress as Gold Star Mother's Day in the United States, honoring the mothers of US service men and women who have died at war. The 
Fluxus, "to flow" in Latin, is an international group of artists noted for blending various artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. Considered an attitude rather than a movement or style, Fluxus encourages a do-it-yourself aesthetic and values simplicity. Fluxus developed out of many of the concepts explored by composer John Cage, who focused on the notion of chance in art through works such as 4'33"—a "composition" performed without a single note being played. What are Fluxus boxes? 
Largely self-taught, Rothko was an American painter who became a leading exponent of a uniquely personal strain within the larger movement of abstract expressionism. By 1950, he was creating his so-called color-field paintings, works with large rectangles of color that express moods. In 1970, he committed suicide shortly after completing what some regard as his masterwork, a group of murals for a chapel in Houston, Texas. For what record-breaking price did one of Rothko's paintings sell in 2007? 
O'Connor is a lawyer and jurist who was the first female associate justice of the US Supreme Court. She served as an assistant state attorney general in her home state of Arizona in the late 1960s and, in 1969, was appointed to the state senate, where she became the country's first female majority leader. She was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the Supreme Court in 1981, becoming the first female justice. Who took O'Connor's Supreme Court seat when she retired in 2006? 
I've always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties. 
In 1946, Japanese mechanic, race car driver, and self-taught engineer Soichiro Honda founded a company that made small, efficient engines. It was incorporated as Honda Motor Co. two years later and originally produced only motorcycles. Its clean-burning CVCC engine created an automotive revolution, and its cars won a large share of the US market after they went on sale in 1963. Today, Honda is one of the world's leading automakers. What else besides cars and motorcycles does Honda manufacture? 
An evolutionary arms race is a struggle between interdependent organisms that evolve competing genetic adaptations with the back-and-forth escalation characteristic of an arms race. This competitive adaptation may occur between members of the same species or between different species, such as a predator and its prey, and it can be either symmetrical or asymmetrical, meaning competitors strive either for the same trait or to counter a trait in the other. What are some examples of this phenomenon? 
This event is a weekend celebration of the famous Kentucky smoked ham, held in 
Potemkin was a Russian army officer who helped bring Catherine II to power in 1762. After fighting in the Russo-Turkish War, he became Catherine's lover and perhaps the most powerful man in Russia. He played an important role in the annexing of the Crimea, but he underestimated the cost of colonizing it and left many projects incomplete. His success in disguising his shortcomings led to the claim that when he gave Catherine a tour of the region, he showed her "Potemkin villages," which are what? 
Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival is California's oldest wine festival, held since the late 1890s in 
The Concordat of Worms was an agreement reached by Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V that put an end to the first phase of the power struggle between Rome and what was becoming the Holy Roman Empire. Under its terms, the king was recognized as having the right to invest bishops "by the lance" but not "by ring and staff," meaning he could grant them secular but not sacred authority. What message about the divine right of kings did the concordat convey? 
Commonly called fireflies or lightning bugs, the carnivorous beetles of the family Lampyridae are named for their use of bioluminescence when attracting mates or prey. Fireflies are capable of producing red, yellow, or green "cold light" containing no ultraviolet or infrared rays. Approximately 90% of the energy used in the process is converted to visible light—compared to 10% for incandescent electric bulbs, which emit the remainder of their energy as heat. How do fireflies produce their light? 
Rooney was an American actor who began his career when he was just 17 months old, as part of his family's vaudeville act, and made his film debut at 6. He went on to star in 50 RKO short comedies, and his diminutive size allowed him to play boys until he was nearly 30. From 1937, he played the cocky, energetic Andy Hardy in a series of popular films, often teamed with Judy Garland. In 1983, he received an honorary Academy Award for lifetime achievement. What was Rooney's name at birth? 
In September 1975, Ford was the target of two assassination attempts. Just 17 days after Manson Family member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme unsuccessfully attempted to shoot Ford, Moore shot at him outside a San Francisco, California, hotel. The bullet just missed the president, and Moore was then subdued by a bystander, who likely saved Ford's life. Moore was sentenced to life in prison but was paroled in 2007. What has she since said about the assassination attempt? 
Known pejoratively as "Aucas," meaning "naked ones" or "savages," the Huaorani are an indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Oriente in the Amazon basin. With a population of approximately 2,000, the Huaorani speak Huao Terero, a language unrelated to any other known living language. Several Huaorani communities have rejected all contact with outsiders and move often to progressively more isolated areas. During the mid-20th c, what led them to become one of the most violent cultures ever known? 
On September 22, 1908, 
Anne was the fourth queen consort of King Henry VIII of England. She was the sister of a powerful German Protestant leader and was considered a desirable match for Henry by English councilors, most notably Thomas Cromwell, who sought to ally England with Protestants in Germany. The marriage was agreed upon in 1539, and although Henry tried to break the contract after actually seeing his bride, they married in 1540. The marriage was never consummated, however, and they divorced after how long?