Like elsewhere in the world, New Year's resolutions in Germany are a bit like astrology, in the sense that some people take this very seriously, while others might be sarcastic about the whole concept but in the end, it's a great topic for small talk, as everyone has their own very special opinion on the matter. Most people know, of course, that it's also part of the tradition to abandon any New Year's self-improvement plan within the first weeks of January.
Today is Monday, Dec. 15, the 349th day of 2025. There are 16 days left in the year. Today in history: On Dec. 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge between Gallipolis (gal-ih-puh-LEES'), Ohio, and Point Pleasant, West Virginia, collapsed into the Ohio River, killing 46 people. Also on this date: In 1791, the Bill of Rights, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, went into effect following ratification by Virginia.
All I want for Christmas is the Nairn Museum potato flask. Showcased as part of the Highland museum's virtual Advent calendar on Instagram last week, it's a late-18th-century Staffordshire pottery flask to be filled with strong drink and used to toast a safe journey for a traveller shaped like a very realistic, knobbly spud, complete with green bits. The benefactor who donated the flask apparently explained it was so ugly that no one in his family wanted to inherit it.
Why Are We Covering This? Understanding the military aircraft produced by Lockheed Martin is important for a few reasons. These aircraft represent significant advancements in aerospace technology and innovation, and they have ultimately shaped what we know of modern air combat and transportation. These aircraft also are crucial to the overall defense strategy of the United States and its allies in maintaining global stability.
Fresh air, balanced food, regular exercise, emotional moderation-this might sound like modern wellness advice, but medieval physicians were already promoting these ideas centuries ago. One popular medieval text even reduced healthy living to just six simple rules. The Theatre of Health ( Theatra Sanitatis) was a widely read work in medieval Europe between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. Better known as Tacuinum Sanitatis, the original version of this work was by Ibn Butlan, a physician who worked in Baghdad during the eleventh century.
McLoughlin, the Chief Factor of the Hudson's Bay Company's fort in Vancouver, Wash., receives more attention than any other figure. Long does a good job in revealing McLoughlin's personality, his reactions to crimes, and his advocation of crime penalties. Parts of this information will be new to many readers. Similarly, the author's treatment of the murders of the Whitmans and the later hanging of five American Indians for that crime also includes material fresh to most readers.
A family story: Just before the beginning of World War II - in my ancestral town of Krosno, Poland - my great uncle, Inek Trenczer, courted and fell in love with a woman of the town, Malka Fruhman, and they decided to marry. Their plans, however, were abruptly and tragically interrupted when the Nazi German army invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.
Salvatore taught at the ILR School and in the American Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences for 36 years, retiring in 2017 as the Maurice and Hinda Neufeld Founders Emeritus Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations. The author of three books, including " Eugene V. Debs: Citizen and Socialist " (1982), which received both the Bancroft Prize and the John H. Dunning Prize.
A new study offers a striking re-evaluation of the Augustinian Order, revealing that its medieval reputation rested not on urban preaching or scholastic learning, but on miracles rooted in the countryside: healing livestock, restoring barren land, multiplying crops, and even defeating dragons. Cambridge University historian Krisztina Ilko presents the findings in her new book, The Sons of St Augustine, published today by Oxford University Press. She contends that historians have long misunderstood the Augustinians' place in medieval and early Renaissance religion.
Love him or hate him, it's hard to take one step into the medieval world without running into the larger-than-life figure of Richard the Lionheart. Rebel, crusader, prisoner, castle-builder Richard is one of the most colourful and quotable kings of the Middle Ages. This week, Danièle speaks with Heather Blurton about how Richard's contemporaries saw him, the wild stories told about him in the later Middle Ages, and why we still just can't get enough of this controversial king.
On Dec. 11, 1978, nearly $6 million in cash and jewelry were stolen from the Lufthansa cargo terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport; the Lufthansa Heist,' the largest cash robbery in history at the time, was immortalized in the film Goodfellas. Also on this date: In 1816, Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th U.S. state. In 1936, Britain's King Edward VIII abdicated the throne so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Warfield Simpson;
In 1883, Yomut women from Krasnovodsk-today called Türkmenbaşy in Turkmenistan-were photographed wearing the Kasaba, a remarkable cylindrical headpiece. Tall and ornate, the Kasaba immediately stood out with its intricate craftsmanship, serving not only as adornment but as a marker of social standing, wealth, and marital status. Decorated with silver ornaments, carnelian, turquoise, and fine embroidery, each detail carried symbolic meaning, linking personal prosperity with the tribe's cultural heritage.
Archaeologists in Suffolk have uncovered the remains of a medieval village near the modern village of Friston in eastern England, revealing a long-lost Anglo-Saxon community and offering an extraordinary look at more than 6,000 years of human activity in East Anglia. The excavation-conducted by a team of ninety specialists from MOLA-Wessex Archaeology on behalf of ScottishPower Renewables-has exposed a sprawling ancient landscape covering over twenty-four hectares, roughly the size of seventeen football pitches.
Superior weapons can win wars, and during the First World War (1914-18) all sides attempted to gain an advantage over the enemy by producing more and more destructive devices that could be used effectively on land, at sea, and in the air. Germany produced such effective weapons as the Luger pistol, the MG08 machine gun, the Mauser rifle, the U-boat submarine, and the Zeppelin airship.
The marble head of a kore, a type of free-standing statue from the Greek Archaic period (800-480 B.C.) depicting a young female figure, has been discovered in the ancient Etruscan city of Vulci, central Italy. The head of the female statue is one of only a handful of known large-scale Greek Archaic statues ever discovered outside of Greece. The kore head was found in an excavation of the area of a monumental temple discovered in 2021 as part of the ongoing Vulci Cityscape project.
To determine which sidearms were used by the U.S. Army since the 18th century, 24/7 Wall St. used data from the Army report Survey of U.S. Army: Uniforms, Weapons, and Accoutrements. For earlier weapons, we listed the era in which they were primarily used, but for more modern handguns, the exact years of use are noted. This list includes flintlock pistols from the earliest days of American independence to modern-day semi-automatics. (These are the 15 American military guns of the future.)
Its popularity was attributed to a best-selling 1848 book by Orson Squire Fowler, a phrenologist, sexologist, and amateur architect, called "The Octagon House: A Home For All." Fowler championed eight-sided houses because they received twice as much light as a traditional four-sided property and allowed owners to view the grounds from all angles. The Armour-Stiner Octagon House in the New York City suburb of Irvington-on-Hudson, around 18 miles from the northern tip of Manhattan, is a prime example of the genre.
Using pollen data from six lake sediment cores, researchers reconstructed 4,000 years of plant diversity in the western Lake Constance region. Their analysis shows a 48% rise in plant richness between 500 and 1000 CE, during which the number of estimated plant taxa increased from around 27 to 40. Shannon's Diversity Index - a standard measure of ecological diversity - increased by 23%, which corresponds to a 65% rise in the effective number of taxa.
Victoria and Albert loved to give gifts to each other, usually ones that reminded of what they had done together that particular year or included portraits of their children. The royal family also helped promote the idea of charitable deeds as the old year was replaced by the new, distributing Christmas trees, presents, food, and useful goods like blankets and coal to the poor.
She enjoyed a distinguished career in public education, remembered for her intelligence, articulate teaching style, and dedication to preserving history and culture. Beyond the classroom, Ms. Boyce was celebrated for her joy in singing and her beautiful operatic voice. She performed widely, bringing to life African American spirituals, operatic arias, Broadway classics, and art songs. Her recitals often included sing-alongs, inviting audiences to share in the music and storytelling traditions she cherished.
A gold wedding ring from the Roman era has been discovered in the ancient city of Bononia (modern-day Vidin) in Bulgaria. It weighs a hefty 26.63 grams and dates to the second half of the 2nd century A.D. The central plate of the ring is oval and contains an image of a couple, typical iconography in this period for marital fidelity rings which were exchanged between newlyweds.
Archaeologists in Denmark have uncovered more than 50 skeletons during an excavation in central Aarhus, offering new insight into the city's earliest Christian past. The discovery comes from work led by Moesgaard Museum at a historic burial ground once located on the edge of the medieval town. The excavation is taking place in St. Oluf's Street (Sankt Olufs Gade), close to what were once the defensive ramparts of Aros, the Viking settlement that grew into modern Aarhus.
Strabo had visited the Egyptian city around 29-25BC and wrote of such boats: These vessels are luxuriously fitted out and used by the royal court for excursions; and the crowd of revellers who go down from Alexandria by the canal to the public festivals; for every day and every night is crowded with people on the boats who play the flute and dance without restraint and with extreme licentiousness.
VisiCorp is better known for VisiCalc. Launched for the Apple II in 1979, this was the first spreadsheet program for personal computers. Later, VisiCalc was supplanted by Lotus 1-2-3, as developed by MIT laureate Mitch Kapor - before 1-2-3 was outcompeted by Excel. It was very rudimentary indeed, but it was transformative and created an entirely new category of software.
"Everybody thought it was the most horrible idea ever, because of the kids," Schmitt told SFGATE. "They thought the kids wouldn't understand many Santas. But I found out later, kids think in 'many.'"
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
A herder tending to his goats in the highlands of southwestern Turkey's Mugla Province discovered a Roman funerary stele in the shape of an altar with figural reliefs. The front of stele features a relief of a man and woman under an arch, likely a married couple, with a Greek inscription underneath. Reliefs of two different types of wreaths are carved into each of the sides.
