Hussars originated in 15th-century Hungary as a light-horse corps, but the term now applies to members of various light cavalry regiments in European armies, renowned for their elegant dress. The brilliantly colored Hungarian hussar's uniform consisted of a high cylindrical cap, a jacket with heavy braiding, and a loose coat worn hanging from the left shoulder. Several hussar regiments of the British army survive today as armored units. What were the original meanings of the word "hussar"? Discussfrom Article of the Day http://ift.tt/2moj26J
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Though his struggles with mental illness made him initially reject a lucrative job with DuPont, chemist Wallace Carothers accepted the offer in the late 1920s and enjoyed much success there. Perhaps his greatest achievement was the invention of nylon, which rapidly gained widespread use in an array of products. First used to make toothbrush bristles, nylon was soon replacing silk in the parachutes and flak vests of American WWII combatants and in women's stockings. How did nylon get its name? 
An American chemist, Pauling was the first person to win two unshared Nobel Prizes: one for chemistry in 1954 and one for peace in 1962. He was one of the first to study molecular structure using quantum mechanics, and he made discoveries in biochemistry and medicine. In the 1950s, he became concerned about nuclear weapons testing and radioactive fallout and wrote an appeal—signed by thousands of scientists—to halt such tests. What publication called his peace prize "A Weird Insult from Norway"? 
The most flamboyant of 
The 1933 fire at the German Parliament building known as the Reichstag was a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany. Allegedly set by a Dutch communist, the fire was used by Adolf Hitler to turn public opinion against his opponents, especially the communists. Immediately after the fire, he enacted a decree suspending constitutional protection of personal rights, effectively establishing the Nazi Party dictatorship. Why do some believe the fire was set by the Nazis themselves? 
The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch is an oil painting better known as The Skating Minister. Completed in the 1790s, the work was practically unknown until 1949, but it is now one of Scotland's most famous paintings. Although it is traditionally attributed to Scottish portrait painter Sir Henry Raeburn, some have argued that the painting was actually made by French artist Henri-Pierre Danloux. What evidence do they cite to support these claims? 
Black was a US Supreme Court Justice for 34 years. A prominent supporter of the New Deal, he was also in the majority that struck down mandatory school prayer and guaranteed the availability of legal counsel to suspected criminals. He was known for an absolutist belief in the Bill of Rights, and his last major opinion supported the right of The New York Times to publish the Pentagon Papers, which revealed improper government conduct. To what secret society did Black once belong? 
Many countries celebrate Shrove Monday as well as 
The sea—this truth must be confessed—has no generosity. No display of manly qualities—courage, hardihood, endurance, faithfulness—has ever been known to touch its irresponsible consciousness of power. 
There are approximately 1,300 known species of scorpion, and they are all venomous. Scorpions have two types of venom: a translucent, weaker venom used to stun and an opaque, more potent venom used to kill heavier threats. Although their venom is optimized to affect other arthropods and is relatively harmless to humans, a few species have venom potent enough to be lethal. What scientific fact challenges the ancient belief that scorpions sting themselves to death when surrounded by fire? 
The highlight of the annual pre-
A shoemaker's son, Marlowe attended Cambridge University and then became an actor and dramatist in London. His plays, such as Dr. Faustus and The Jew of Malta, often center on a heroic personality ruined by his own ambition. Most critics hold that the poetic beauty of his language elevates his plays' violence to high art, and many believe that he influenced Shakespeare's work. At 29, he was stabbed to death in a tavern brawl, possibly due to his involvement in what covert activity? 
Before US President Calvin Coolidge signed a bill creating Grand Teton National Park, the National Park Service and homesteaders around Jackson Hole, Wyoming, fought for decades about the best way to preserve the landscape there. Much of the steep Teton Range lies within the boundaries of the park. Its peaks rise above deep valleys, called "holes" by the first white trappers and traders in the area. It has been suggested that early French trappers named the Teton Range after what body part? 
Colt did not invent the revolver, but his design was the first practical, working version of one, and he developed assembly-line techniques that drove down manufacturing costs. Even so, securing funding for his novel production system proved difficult, and his fledgling company struggled and eventually folded. He then turned to work on underwater mines and telegraph lines. In 1847, Colt reestablished his gun manufacturing business after what famous lawman placed an order for 1,000 revolvers? 
Riggs began playing tennis at the age of 11, won Wimbledon when he was 21, and became one of the top-rated male tennis players of the 1940s. He retired in the early 1950s and was largely forgotten until 1973, when he proclaimed men superior to women in athletics and came out of retirement to challenge two of the top female tennis players in the world. After beating Margaret Court, he played Billie Jean King in one of the most famous tennis events of all time, "The Battle of the Sexes." Who won? 
The 
Read was an Australian criminal and author. He committed numerous crimes, including armed robbery, assault, and kidnapping and spent only 13 months outside of jail between the ages of 20 and 38. He used his criminal and prison exploits as fodder for a bestselling series of true-crime books. In them, he tells of attacking a judge, robbing drug dealers, torturing members of the criminal underworld, and starting a prison war. What children's book written by Read was the target of an attempted ban? 
That's the reason they're called lessons...because they lessen from day to day. 
Wagner was an American baseball player who led the National League in batting eight times. He entered the majors in 1897, and played for Pittsburgh most of his career. Though massively built, he was agile, leading his league in stolen bases five times and scoring almost 1,800 runs. He retired in 1917 but returned to coach the Pirates for almost two decades. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1936. Fans called him "The Flying Dutchman" for his speed, but he had another nickname. What was it? 
The term National Socialist—or Nazi, for short—was added to the name of the German Workers' Party the year after it was founded. On the day it was renamed, swiftly-rising new member Adolf Hitler outlined the party's official platform before 2,000 people, its largest audience yet. During the Great Depression, millions of jobless voters joined the party, and in 1932 it became the largest bloc in the Reichstag. How did Hitler manage to make it the only political party in Germany? 
A combination of the words "smoke" and "fog," smog is a kind of air pollution that plagues cities throughout the world. Smog can form in almost any climate but is worse during periods of warm, sunny weather, when it can build up to dangerous levels and cause a number of health problems. It has even led to acute incidents in which thousands of people in a single metropolitan area have been killed. In what city did the Great Smog of 1952 kill approximately 4,000 people over a four-day period? 
Legend says that on this night Lord 
Books must follow sciences, and not sciences books. 
Tooth decay is a common health problem, second in prevalence only to the common cold. About 75% of all people have had their first cavity by the age of 5. Decay is caused by 3 factors: plaque bacteria, sugar, and a vulnerable tooth surface. Although several microorganisms can cause tooth decay, the primary disease agent appears to be Streptococcus mutans. If left untreated, decay can lead to tooth loss, infection, and, in severe cases, death. What drugs can lead to rampant tooth decay? 
Jaspers was a German philosopher and psychopathologist often identified as an exponent of existentialism, although he rejected this classification. In his magnum opus, Philosophy, he argued that the aim of philosophy is practical and that its purpose is the fulfillment of human existence. He believed illumination is achieved through the experience of "limit situations" like conflict, guilt, and suffering, which define the human condition. What forced him to give up his teaching career? 
In the 1835 Texas Revolution, the predominantly American settlers of Texas sought independence from the Mexican government. In December, they took the Alamo, an old chapel in San Antonio. When Mexican forces arrived in February, the Texians were outnumbered and unprepared to withstand the 13-day siege. Nearly all of them were killed. The loss became a rallying point for Texians, who went on to win the war. What short-lived independent nation did they establish that year? 
In the early 1800s, tensions between the US and Spain were increasing over border disputes in North America. With Spanish power in the New World declining, it was widely believed that Spain would lose land to the US. The Adams-Onís Treaty settled the dispute by attempting to draw clearer borders, roughly granting Florida and Louisiana to the US while giving everything west of Louisiana to Spain. The US did not pay Spain directly for the new land. Instead, it compensated Spain in what way? 
Powell was a British army officer and founder of the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, later the Girl Scouts. He was a hero of the South African War and author of Aids to Scouting, a military textbook. Upon learning that his book was being used to train boys in woodcraft, he wrote Scouting for Boys and established the Boy Scout movement in 1908. In 1910, with his sister and wife, he founded the Girl Guides. What disguise did Powell use while gathering information in war? 
Meerkats are members of the mongoose family that inhabit the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and South Africa. They are highly social creatures and live in groups called "mobs," "gangs," or "clans,” which have a dominant breeding pair and up to 23 helpers to assist with rearing the young. Mob members regularly groom each other, and some even babysit or stand guard while others forage for food. They have also been known to engage in what playful social activities? 
The 
In 1939, American educator Frank Cyr organized the first national standards conference for school transportation. One of the most memorable accomplishments of the conference was the selection of a highly visible, standardized color for school buses that would allow them to be easily identified by other motorists. The hue became known as "National School Bus Chrome," and Cyr was hailed as the "Father of the Yellow School Bus." According to Cyr, what was the main priority of conference attendees? 
Since the 1930s the town of 
The New Yorker is an American magazine known for its sophisticated tone, liberal political perspective, varied literary fare, and witty single-panel cartoons. It was founded by journalist Harold Ross, who aimed to create a sophisticated, metropolitan magazine—in contrast to publications such as Life, which he saw as unrefined. Now one of the most respected publications in the US, The New Yorker is recognized for its strict style and high-quality content. Who is its mascot? 
Born in France to a Spanish father and French-Dutch mother, Nin began her literary career in Paris in the 1930s but did not receive widespread recognition until the 60s. Frequently moving between France and the US, Nin was influenced by psychoanalysis and Surrealism. Her intensely personal diaries were the basis for many of her novels and stories, which are noted for their poetic style and searching portraits of women. She was also known for her relationship with which well-known author? 
"The Met" is the foremost repository of art in the US, with a collection of more than two million works of art. Established for the purpose of encouraging the study of fine art, the museum opened in 1872 with just one stone sarcophagus and 174 paintings. However, the collection quickly outgrew its gallery space and in 1880 was moved to its iconic present-day location on the eastern edge of Central Park. In recent decades, the Met has used what controversial practice to acquire high-quality art? 
The passage of Public Law 90-363 in 1968, also known as the "
An icebreaker is a ship specially designed to force its way through ice-covered waters. Whether powered by gas turbines, diesel-electric power, or nuclear energy, icebreakers are expensive to build, very expensive to run, and uncomfortable to travel in on the open sea because they roll easily. Nevertheless, icebreakers are needed to keep trade routes open where there exist seasonal or permanent ice conditions. What three features must a ship possess in order to be considered an icebreaker? 
Adams was an American photographer famous for his black-and-white landscape photographs and for his many books about photography, including a series of technical instruction manuals: The Camera, The Negative, and The Print. He invented the "zone system," a technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, and advocated a more sharply focused and composed style of photography than was in vogue at the time. What initially spurred his interest in photography? 
Too much work and too much energy kill a man just as effectively as too much assorted vice or too much drink. 
Tagore was a Bengali poet, philosopher, artist, writer, and composer whose works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His writings, which often exhibit rhythmic lyricism, colloquial language, and philosophical contemplation, received worldwide acclaim, and he became Asia's first Nobel laureate in 1913, when he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. Knighted by the British government in 1915, Tagore resigned the honor 4 years later in protest of what? 
Born in Oakland, California, to Chinese immigrants, Tan is an award-winning author whose novels focus on the lives of Asian-Americans and the complexities of intergenerational relationships, particularly those of mothers and daughters. Her best-selling novel The Joy Luck Club was based on the tragic experiences of her mother, who had years earlier fled an abusive marriage, though it meant leaving her three daughters behind in Shanghai. When did Tan finally meet her half-sisters? 
Though his formal schooling was limited to just three months of instruction before he was ten years old, Edison was one of the most prolific inventors of his time. His work in improving telegraph technology—particularly his discovery of a method for recording telegraph messages—led Edison to suspect he could do similar things with sound. Within months, the first working model of his phonograph was ready. Why, according to Edison, was he "taken aback" when his invention worked on the first try? 
On February 19, 1942, Japanese bomber and fighter planes conducted a devastating air raid on the town of 
Ono is a Japanese artist, musician, author, and peace activist best known for her marriage to John Lennon of the Beatles. She was raised in Japan and the US, where she started exploring conceptual and performance art. A member of the Fluxus movement, Ono developed a reputation as an avant-garde filmmaker, conceptual artist, performance artist, and experimental musician. Her 1964 Cut Piece, a commentary on identity, gender issues, suffering, and loneliness, invited the audience to do what? 
Earnhardt was a seven-time champion and one of NASCAR's most successful drivers when he was killed at the 2001 Daytona 500 race. In the final lap, his car veered abruptly down the track and made contact with two others before hitting a concrete retaining wall head-on at about 160 mph (258 km/h). He was killed instantly. In the wake of the tragedy, NASCAR launched an intensive safety campaign and the Florida Legislature passed the Earnhardt Family Protection Act changing what laws? 
A star cluster is a group of related stars usually held together by gravity. Globular clusters are densely packed groups of hundreds of thousands of very old stars. Open clusters are smaller, scattered groups of younger stars. Until recently, astronomers wrestled with a great cosmological mystery: according to theories of stellar evolution, it appeared that some globular clusters were actually older than the universe itself. How was this paradox resolved? 
I never reasoned on what I should do, but what I had done; as if my Reason had her eyes behind, and could only see backwards. 
Born in London, Rendell became an author of murder mysteries and psychological thrillers in the 1960s. She has since published dozens of award-winning novels—many featuring her Chief Inspector Wexford—and has been recognized for her sharp prose and psychological insight by both critics and audiences. Originally a journalist, Rendell was fired after writing about a society dinner she did not attend. What notable misfortune, which was absent from Rendell's article, befell the speaker of the event?