wiki archive
I use this to keep track of wikipedia articles I find interesting. By no means do I endorse, sponsor, hold, or promote any of these ideas. It's just random wikipedia articles.
.us
Internet country code top-level domain for the U.S.
.us is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United States. It was established in February 1985. Registrants of .us domains must be U.S. citizens, residents, or organizations – or foreign entities with a presence in the United States or a territory of the United States. Most registrants in the U.S. have registered for .com, .net, .org and other gTLDs, instead of .us, which has primarily been used by state and local governments, even though private entities may also register .us domains. The domain is managed by Registry Services, LLC, an acquired subsidiary domain name registry of GoDaddy, on behalf of the United States Department of Commerce.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25
Fuel cell
Device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity
A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that converts the chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidizing agent into electricity through a pair of redox reactions. Fuel cells are different from most batteries in requiring a continuous source of fuel and oxygen to sustain the chemical reaction, whereas in a battery the chemical energy usually comes from substances that are already present in the battery. Fuel cells can produce electricity continuously for as long as fuel and oxygen are supplied.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25
Fiat Phylla
Concept car by the Italian car manufacture Fiat
The Fiat Phylla concept car was unveiled in 2008 by the Italian car manufacture Fiat. Originally expected to form the basis of a production car in 2010, it remains a concept city car. The Phylla name means "leaves" in ancient Greek.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25
Disc herniation
Injury to the intervertebral disc
A disc herniation or spinal disc herniation is an injury to the intervertebral disc between two vertebrae, usually caused by excessive strain or trauma to the spine. It may result in back pain, pain or sensation in different parts of the body, and physical disability. The most conclusive diagnostic tool for disc herniation is MRI, and treatments may range from painkillers to surgery. Protection from disc herniation is best provided by core strength and an awareness of body mechanics including good posture.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/21/25
Bald eagle
Bird of prey species of North America
The bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle, which occupies the same niche as the bald eagle in the Palearctic. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Hand game
Game played using the hands
Hand games are games played using only the hands of the players. Hand games exist in a variety of cultures internationally, and are of interest to academic studies in ethnomusicology and music education. Hand games are used to teach music literacy skills and socio-emotional learning in elementary music classrooms internationally.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Rock paper scissors
Hand game for two players or more
Rock, Paper, Scissors is an intransitive hand game, usually played between two people, in which each player simultaneously forms one of three shapes with an outstretched hand. These shapes are "rock", "paper", and "scissors". The earliest form of "rock paper scissors"-style game originated in China and was subsequently imported into Japan, where it reached its modern standardized form, before being spread throughout the world in the early 20th century.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Gochujang
Spicy fermented Korean condiment
Gochujang or red chili paste is a savory, sweet, and spicy fermented condiment popular in Korean cooking. It is made from gochugaru, glutinous rice, meju powder, yeotgireum, and salt. The sweetness comes from the starch of cooked glutinous rice, cultured with saccharifying enzymes during the fermentation process. Traditionally, it would be naturally fermented over years in jangdok (earthenware) on an elevated stone platform called jangdokdae in the backyard.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Puffed grain
Type of food
Puffed grains are grains that have been expanded ("puffed") through processing. They have been made for centuries with the simplest methods like popping popcorn. Modern puffed grains are often created using high temperature, pressure, or extrusion.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Cheetos
Brand of corn puff snack food
Cheetos is a crunchy corn-cheese puff snack brand made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos in 1948, and began national distribution in the United States. The initial success of Cheetos was a contributing factor to the merger between The Frito Company and H.W. Lay & Company in 1961 to form Frito-Lay. In 1965 Frito-Lay became a subsidiary of The Pepsi-Cola Company, forming PepsiCo, the current owner of the Cheetos brand.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Hermit
Person who lives in seclusion from society
A hermit, also known as an eremite or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Micropub (protocol)
Client–server protocol based on HTTP to create, update, and delete postsMicropub (MP) is a W3C Recommendation that describes a client–server protocol based on HTTP to create, update, and delete posts on servers using web or native app clients. Micropub was originally developed in the IndieWebCamp community, contributed to W3C, and published as a W3C working draft on January 28, 2016.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Micropub
Very small, one room public house
The term micropub was originally devised by the Campaign for Real Ale, in the 1976 edition of its Good Beer Guide, simply as a description for an unusually small but otherwise traditional pub. Examples of pubs described as such in this era included Manchester's Circus Tavern and The Nutshell in Bury St Edmunds. In more recent years, the term came to be redefined much more tightly, as a very small, modern, one-room pub, serving no food other than snacks, and "based upon good ale and lively banter". The original of these newly defined micropubs is often cited as the Butchers Arms in Herne, Kent.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/20/25
Venetian Snares
Canadian electronic musician
Aaron Funk, known as Venetian Snares, is a Canadian electronic musician based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is widely known for innovating and popularising the breakcore genre, and is one of the most recognisable artists to be signed to Planet Mu, an experimental electronic music label. His signature style involves meticulously complex drums, eclectic use of samples, and odd time signatures, in particular, 74.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Piano
Keyboard instrument
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temperament. A musician who specializes in piano is called a pianist.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Alaska Statehood Act
1958 United States law
The Alaska Statehood Act was a legislative act introduced by Delegate E. L. "Bob" Bartlett and signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 7, 1958. Through it, Alaska became the 49th U.S. state on January 3, 1959. The law was the culmination of a multi-decade effort by many prominent Alaskans, including Bartlett, Ernest Gruening, Bill Egan, Bob Atwood, and Ted Stevens.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
This list consists of American politicians convicted of crimes either committed or prosecuted while holding office in the federal government. It includes politicians who were convicted or pleaded guilty in a court of law. It applies to federal officeholders, whether elected or appointed.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
John Steinbeck
American writer (1902–1968)
John Ernst Steinbeck was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social perception". He has been called "a giant of American letters."
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
East of Eden (novel)
1952 novel by John Steinbeck
East of Eden is a novel by American author and Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, published in September 1952. Many regard the work as Steinbeck's most ambitious novel, and Steinbeck himself considered it his magnum opus. Steinbeck said of East of Eden, "It has everything in it I have been able to learn about my craft or profession in all these years;" the author later said, "I think everything else I have written has been, in a sense, practice for this." Steinbeck originally addressed the novel to his young sons, Thom and John. Steinbeck wanted to describe the Salinas Valley for them in detail: the sights, sounds, smells, and colors.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Identified patient
Member of dysfunctional familyIdentified patient (IP) is a clinical term often used in family therapy discussion. It describes one family member in a dysfunctional family who is used as an expression of the family's authentic inner conflicts. As a family system is dynamic, the overt symptoms of an identified patient draw attention away from the "elephants in the living room" no one can talk about which need to be discussed. If covert abuse occurs between family members, the overt symptoms can draw attention away from the perpetrators.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Parenting styles
Psychological construct
A parenting style is a pattern of behaviors, attitudes, and approaches that a parent uses when interacting with and raising their child. The study of parenting styles is based on the idea that parents differ in their patterns of parenting and that these patterns can have an impact on their children's development and well-being. Parenting styles are distinct from specific parenting practices, since they represent broader patterns of practices and attitudes that create an emotional climate for the child. Parenting styles also encompass the ways in which parents respond to and make demands on their children.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Parent
Caregiver of offspring in their own species
A parent is either the progenitor of a child or, in humans, it can refer to a caregiver or legal guardian, generally called an adoptive parent or step-parent. Parents who are progenitors are first-degree relatives and have 50% genetic meet. A female can also become a parent through surrogacy. Some parents may be adoptive parents, who nurture and raise an offspring, but are not related to the child. Orphans without adoptive parents can be raised by their grandparents or other family members.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Virtue signalling
Pejorative termVirtue signalling is the act of expressing opinions or stances that align with popular moral values, often through social media, with the intent of demonstrating one's good character. The term virtue signalling is frequently used pejoratively to suggest that the person is more concerned with appearing virtuous than with actually supporting the cause or belief in question. An accusation of virtue signalling can be applied to both individuals and companies.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
History
Study of the past
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why and how it happened. Some theorists categorize history as a social science, while others see it as part of the humanities or consider it a hybrid discipline. Similar debates surround the purpose of history—for example, whether its main aim is theoretical, to uncover the truth, or practical, to learn lessons from the past. In a more general sense, the term history refers not to an academic field but to the past itself, times in the past, or to individual texts about the past.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
The Ascent of Ethiopia
1932 painting by Lois Mailou Jones
The Ascent of Ethiopia is a 1932 oil on canvas painting by American artist Lois Mailou Jones (1905–1998). It is in the collection of the Milwaukee Art Museum, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Great Migration (African American)
African-American migration from Southern US between 1916 and 1970
The Great Migration, sometimes known as the Great Northward Migration or the Black Migration, was the movement of six million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West between 1910 and 1970. It was substantially caused by poor economic and social conditions due to prevalent racial segregation and discrimination in the Southern states where Jim Crow laws were upheld. In particular, continued lynchings motivated a portion of the migrants, as African Americans searched for social reprieve. The historic change brought by the migration was amplified because the migrants, for the most part, moved to the then-largest cities in the United States at a time when those cities had a central cultural, social, political, and economic influence over the United States; there, African Americans established culturally influential communities of their own. According to Isabel Wilkerson, despite the losses they felt leaving their homes in the South, and despite the barriers which the migrants faced in their new homes, the migration was an act of individual and collective agency, which changed the course of American history, a "declaration of independence" which was written by their actions.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Hail fellow well met
English idiom"Hail fellow well met" is an English idiom used when referring to a person whose behavior is hearty, friendly, and congenial, typically in an excessive or insincere manner.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
2003 biography of Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life is a non-fiction book authored by American historian and journalist Walter Isaacson. Published in 2003 by Simon & Schuster, the biographical work details the life and times of prominent U.S. statesman and Founding Father Benjamin Franklin. The book has received praise from multiple publications including Foreign Affairs and The Guardian.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Age of Enlightenment
17th- to 18th-century European cultural movement
The Age of Enlightenment was a European intellectual and philosophical movement active from the late 17th to early 19th century. Chiefly valuing knowledge gained through rationalism and empiricism, the Enlightenment was concerned with a wide range of social and political ideals such as natural law, liberty, and progress, toleration and fraternity, constitutional government, and the formal separation of church and state.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/19/25
Double agent
Type of special intelligence serviceIn the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organization for the target organization.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Bridget Jones's Diary
2001 film by Sharon Maguire
Bridget Jones's Diary is a 2001 romantic comedy film directed by Sharon Maguire from a screenplay by Helen Fielding, Andrew Davies and Richard Curtis. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Fielding, which was itself a loose adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The film stars Renée Zellweger as Bridget Jones, a 32-year-old British single woman who writes a diary, which focuses on the things she wishes to happen in her life. However, her life changes when two men vie for her affection, portrayed by Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. Jim Broadbent and Gemma Jones appear in supporting roles.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Edward Bancroft
American physician (1745–1821)
Edward Bartholomew Bancroft was an American physician and chemist who became a double agent, spying for both the United States and Great Britain while serving as secretary to the American commission in Paris during the American Revolutionary War.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Haile Selassie
Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974
Haile Selassie I was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia under Empress Zewditu between 1916 and 1930. Widely considered to be a defining figure in modern Ethiopian history, he is accorded divine importance in Rastafari, an Abrahamic religion that emerged in the 1930s. A few years before he began his reign over the Ethiopian Empire, Selassie defeated Ethiopian army commander Ras Gugsa Welle Bitul, nephew of Empress Taytu Betul, at the Battle of Anchem. He belonged to the Solomonic dynasty, founded by Emperor Yekuno Amlak in 1270.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Autistic Pride Day
Annual celebration held on 18 JuneAutistic Pride Day is a pride celebration for autistic people held annually on June 18. Autistic pride recognises the importance of pride for autistic people and its role in bringing about positive changes in the broader society.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Chess annotation symbols
Notation indicating the writer's assessment of a chess moveWhen annotating chess games, commentators frequently use widely recognized annotation symbols. Question marks and exclamation points that denote a move as bad or good are ubiquitous in chess literature. Some publications intended for an international audience, such as the Chess Informant, have a wide range of additional symbols that transcend language barriers.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Gömböc
Convex shape with one stable and one unstable position of equilibrium
A gömböc is any member of a class of convex, three-dimensional and homogeneous bodies that are mono-monostatic, meaning that they have just one stable and one unstable point of equilibrium when resting on a flat surface. The existence of this class was conjectured by the Russian mathematician Vladimir Arnold in 1995 and proven in 2006 by the Hungarian scientists Gábor Domokos and Péter Várkonyi by constructing at first a mathematical example and subsequently a physical example.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Fever Tree (band)
American rock bandFever Tree is a former American psychedelic rock band of the 1960s, chiefly known for their anthemic 1968 hit, "San Francisco Girls ".
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Salt (chemistry)
Chemical compound involving ionic bonding
In chemistry, a salt or ionic compound is a chemical compound consisting of an assembly of positively charged ions (cations) and negatively charged ions (anions), which results in a compound with no net electric charge. The constituent ions are held together by electrostatic forces termed ionic bonds.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Edmund Morgan (historian)
American historian (1916–2013)Edmund Sears Morgan was an American historian and an authority on early American history. He was the Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, where he taught from 1955 to 1986. He specialized in American colonial history, with some attention to English history. Thomas S. Kidd says he was noted for his incisive writing style, "simply one of the best academic prose stylists America has ever produced." He covered many topics, including Puritanism, political ideas, the American Revolution, slavery, historiography, family life, and numerous notables such as Benjamin Franklin.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Digital identity in Australia
In Australia, there are three main forms of digital identity:Online identity providers such as myID and Australia Post's Digital iD Services Australia's single sign-on portal myGov Digital versions of physical credentials or identity documents such as a Driver's License or a Medicare card
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Declaration of Conscience
1950 speech by U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith
The Declaration of Conscience was a Cold War speech made by U.S. Senator from Maine, Margaret Chase Smith on June 1, 1950, less than four months after Senator Joseph McCarthy's "Wheeling Speech", on February 9, 1950. Her speech was endorsed by six other liberal-to-moderate Republicans. In it, she criticized national leadership and called for the country, the United States Senate, and the Republican Party to re-examine the tactics used by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and Senator McCarthy. She stated the basic principles of "Americanism" were:The right to criticize; The right to hold unpopular beliefs; The right to protest; The right of independent thought.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Vinegar
Liquid consisting mainly of acetic acid and water
Vinegar is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Tin whistle
Six-holed woodwind instrument
The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistler. The tin whistle is closely associated with Irish traditional music and Celtic music. Other names for the instrument are the flageolet, English flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, tin flageolet, or Irish whistle.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Iridescence
Optical property
Iridescence is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstructures or thin films. Examples of iridescence include soap bubbles, feathers, butterfly wings and seashell nacre, and minerals such as opal. Pearlescence is a related effect where some or most of the reflected light is white. The term pearlescent is used to describe certain paint finishes, usually in the automotive industry, which actually produce iridescent effects.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Postmillennialism
Christian conceptIn Christian eschatology, postmillennialism, or postmillenarianism, is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring after the "Millennium", a messianic age in which Christian ethics prosper. The term subsumes several similar views of the end times, and it stands in contrast to premillennialism and, to a lesser extent, amillennialism.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Arthur Frank Mathews
American painter
Arthur F. Mathews was an American Tonalist painter who was one of the founders of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Trained as an architect and artist, he and his wife Lucia Kleinhans Mathews had a significant effect on the evolution of Californian art in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His students include Granville Redmond, Xavier Martinez, Armin Hansen, Percy Gray, Gottardo Piazzoni, Ralph Stackpole, Mary Colter, Maynard Dixon, Rinaldo Cuneo and Francis McComas.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Production designer
Person responsible for the overall look of a filmed eventIn film and television, a production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Working directly with the director, cinematographer, and producer, production designers have a key creative role in the creation of motion pictures and television. The term production designer was coined by William Cameron Menzies while he was working on the film Gone with the Wind. Production designers are commonly confused with art directors as the roles have similar responsibilities. Production designers decide the visual concept and deal with the many and varied logistics of filmmaking including, schedules, budgets, and staffing. Art directors manage the process of making the visuals, which is done by concept artists, graphic designers, set designers, costume designers, lighting designers, etc. The production designer and the art director lead a team of individuals to assist with the visual component of the film. Depending on the size of the production the rest of the team can include runners, graphic designers, drafts people, props makers, and set builders. Productions Designers create a framework for the visual aesthetic of a project and work in partnership and collaboration with the Set Decorator & Set Decorating department to execute the desired look.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Maynard Dixon
American artist (1875–1946)
Maynard Dixon was an American artist. He was known for his paintings, and his body of work focused on the American West. Dixon is considered one of the finest artists having dedicated most of their art to the U.S. Southwestern cultures and landscapes at the end of the 19th-century and the first half of the 20th-century. He was often called "The Last Cowboy in San Francisco."
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Plaisance, Guyana
Town in Demerara-Mahaica, GuyanaPlaisance is a village in Guyana between Better Hope and Goedverwagting. It was purchased by freed slaves from cattle farmer A J Watershodt for $39,000 after the abolition of slavery in 1838. It was officially declared a village in 1892.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
The Equals
English rock band
The Equals are an English rock band. They are best remembered for their million-selling chart-topper "Baby, Come Back", though they had several other chart hits in the UK and Europe. Drummer John Hall founded the group with Eddy Grant, Pat Lloyd and brothers Derv and Lincoln Gordon, and they were noted as being "the first major interracial rock group in the UK" and "one of the few racially mixed bands of the era".
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
How to Train Your Dragon (2025 film)
2025 film by Dean DeBlois
How to Train Your Dragon is a 2025 American fantasy adventure film that is a live-action remake of the 2010 animated film, itself loosely based on the 2003 novel by Cressida Cowell. Produced by DreamWorks Animation, the film is co-executive produced, written, and directed by Dean DeBlois. It stars Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gabriel Howell, Julian Dennison, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Peter Serafinowicz, and Nick Frost, with Gerard Butler reprising his role as Stoick the Vast from the animated films.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Positive feedback
Feedback loop that increases an initial small effect
Positive feedback is a process that occurs in a feedback loop where the outcome of a process reinforces the inciting process to build momentum. As such, these forces can exacerbate the effects of a small disturbance. That is, the effects of a perturbation on a system include an increase in the magnitude of the perturbation. That is, A produces more of B which in turn produces more of A. In contrast, a system in which the results of a change act to reduce or counteract it has negative feedback. Both concepts play an important role in science and engineering, including biology, chemistry, and cybernetics.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Spiral of silence
Political science and mass communication theory
The spiral of silence theory is a political science and mass communication theory which states that an individual's perception of the distribution of public opinion influences that individual's willingness to express their own opinions. Also known as the theory of public opinion, the spiral of silence theory claims individuals will be more confident and outward with their opinion when they notice that their personal opinion is shared throughout a group. But if the individual notices that their opinion is unpopular with the group, they will be more inclined to be reserved and remain silent. In other words, from the individual's perspective, "not isolating themself is more important than their own judgement", meaning their perception of how others in the group perceive them is more important to themself than the need for their opinion to be heard.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Causal model
Conceptual model in philosophy of science
In metaphysics, a causal model is a conceptual model that describes the causal mechanisms of a system. Several types of causal notation may be used in the development of a causal model. Causal models can improve study designs by providing clear rules for deciding which independent variables need to be included/controlled for.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Causal loop diagram
Causal diagram that aids in visualizing how different variables in a system are interrelated
A causal loop diagram (CLD) is a causal diagram that visualizes how different variables in a system are causally interrelated. The diagram consists of a set of words and arrows. Causal loop diagrams are accompanied by a narrative which describes the causally closed situation the CLD describes. Closed loops, or causal feedback loops, in the diagram are very important features of CLDs because they may help identify non-obvious vicious circles and virtuous circles.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Catch-22 (logic)
Situation in which one cannot avoid a problem because of contradictory constraints
A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules or limitations. The term was first used by Joseph Heller in his 1961 novel Catch-22.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Vicious circle
Self-reinforcing sequence of events
A vicious circle is a complex chain of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop, with detrimental results. It is a system with no tendency toward equilibrium, at least in the short run. Each iteration of the cycle reinforces the previous one, in an example of positive feedback. A vicious circle will continue in the direction of its momentum until an external factor intervenes to break the cycle. A well-known example of a vicious circle in economics is hyperinflation.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Snowball effect
Metaphorical term for a process that builds upon itself
A snowball effect is a process that starts from an initial state of small significance and builds upon itself, becoming larger, and also perhaps potentially more dangerous or disastrous, though it might be beneficial instead. This is a cliché in cartoons and modern theatrics, and it is also used in psychology.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Blood quantum laws
Laws on Native American status
Blood quantum laws or Indian blood laws are laws that define Native Americans in the United States status by fractions of Native American ancestry. These laws were enacted by the federal government and state governments as a way to establish legally defined racial population groups. By contrast, many tribes do not include blood quantum as part of their own enrollment criteria. Blood quantum laws were first imposed by white settlers in the 18th century. Blood quantum (BQ) continues to be a controversial topic.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
World War III
Hypothetical future global conflict
World War III, also known as the Third World War, is a hypothetical future global conflict subsequent to World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). It is widely predicted that such a war would involve all of the great powers, like its two predecessors, and the use of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction, thereby surpassing all prior conflicts in scale, devastation, and loss of life.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Player Piano (novel)
First novel published by Kurt Vonnegut in 1952
Player Piano is the debut novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut Jr., published in 1952. The novel depicts a dystopia of automation partly inspired by the author's time working at General Electric, describing the negative impact technology can have on quality of life. The story takes place in a near-future society that is almost totally mechanized, eliminating the need for human laborers. The widespread mechanization creates conflict between the wealthy upper class, the engineers and managers, who keep society running, and the lower class, whose skills and purpose in society have been replaced by machines. The book uses irony and sentimentality, which were to become hallmarks developed further in Vonnegut's later works.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Scientific communism
Ideological term used in the Soviet UnionScientific communism, is one of three major elements of Marxism. The communist literature defines it as "the science dealing with general socio-political laws and patterns, ways, forms and methods of changing society" along communist lines, according to the historical mission of the proletariat ; in other words, it is the science regarding the "working-class" struggle and the social revolution, about the supposed "laws behind the building of socialism and communism, and about the world revolutionary process as a whole." In a broader sense, "scientific communism" can mean Marxism–Leninism as a whole; the "scientific expression of the radical interests and objectives involved in the struggle of the working class." In other words, it was the Marxist-Leninist school of sociology.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Project Cybersyn
Chilean economic project
Project Cybersyn was a Chilean project from 1971 to 1973 during the presidency of Salvador Allende aimed at constructing a distributed decision support system to aid in the management of the national economy. The project consisted of 4 modules: an economic simulator, custom software to check factory performance, an operations room, and a national network of telex machines that were linked to one mainframe computer.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Technocracy
Form of government ruled by expertsTechnocracy is a form of government in which decision-makers appoint knowledge experts in specific domains to provide them with advice and guidance in various areas of their policy-making responsibilities. Technocracy follows largely in the tradition of other meritocratic theories and works best when the state exerts strong control over social and economic issues.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Reductionism
Philosophical view explaining systems in terms of smaller parts
Reductionism is any of several related philosophical ideas regarding the associations between phenomena which can be described in terms of simpler or more fundamental phenomena. It is also described as an intellectual and philosophical position that interprets a complex system as the sum of its parts. Reductionism tends to focus on the small, predictable details of a system and is often associated with various philosophies like emergence, materialism, and determinism.
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Somebody else's problem
Dismissive figure of speech"Somebody else's problem" or "someone else's problem" is an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it.
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Attribution (psychology)
Process by which individuals explain causes of behavior and eventsAttribution is a term used in psychology which deals with how individuals perceive the causes of everyday experience, as being either external or internal. Models to explain this process are called Attribution theory. Psychological research into attribution began with the work of Fritz Heider in the early 20th century, and the theory was further advanced by Harold Kelley and Bernard Weiner. Heider first introduced the concept of perceived 'locus of causality' to define the perception of one's environment. For instance, an experience may be perceived as being caused by factors outside the person's control (external) or it may be perceived as the person's own doing (internal). These initial perceptions are called attributions. Psychologists use these attributions to better understand an individual's motivation and competence. The theory is of particular interest to employers who use it to increase worker motivation, goal orientation, and productivity.
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Diffusion of responsibility
Sociopsychological phenomenonDiffusion of responsibility is a sociopsychological phenomenon whereby a person is less likely to take responsibility for action or inaction when other bystanders or witnesses are present. Considered a form of attribution, the individual assumes that others either are responsible for taking action or have already done so.
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Sublime Text
Text editor
Sublime Text is a text and source code editor featuring a minimal interface, syntax highlighting and code folding with native support for numerous programming and markup languages, search and replace with support for regular expressions, an integrated terminal/console window, and customizable themes. Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux, its functionality can be expanded with plugins written in Python. Community-contributed plugins can be downloaded and installed via a built-in Package Control system, or written by the user via a Python API. Sublime Text is proprietary software, but can be downloaded for free and used as an evaluation version with no time limit.
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The First Slam Dunk
2022 Japanese animated film by Takehiko Inoue
The First Slam Dunk is a 2022 Japanese animated sports film written and directed by Takehiko Inoue, produced by Toei Animation and DandeLion Animation Studio. It is based on Inoue's Slam Dunk manga series. It was released theatrically in Japan on December 3, 2022.
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Barack Obama
President of the United States from 2009 to 2017
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.
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Monkeys and apes in space
Space travel by primates
Before humans went into space in the 1960s, several other animals were launched into space, including numerous other primates, so that scientists could investigate the biological effects of spaceflight. The United States launched flights containing primate passengers primarily between 1948 and 1961 with one flight in 1969 and one in 1985. France launched two monkey-carrying flights in 1967. The Soviet Union and Russia launched monkeys between 1983 and 1996. Most primates were anesthetized before lift-off.
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Video game graphics
Computer graphics related to video gamesA variety of computer graphic techniques have been used to display video game content throughout the history of video games. The predominance of individual techniques have evolved over time, primarily due to hardware advances and restrictions such as the processing power of central or graphics processing units.
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Interrobang
Combined question mark and exclamation markThe interrobang, also known as the interabang ‽, is an unconventional punctuation mark intended to combine the functions of the question mark and the exclamation mark. The glyph is a ligature of these two marks and was first proposed in 1962 by Martin K. Speckter.
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List of individual monkeys
This annotated list of individual monkeys includes monkeys who are in some way famous or notable. The list does not include notable apes or fictional primates.
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Albert II (monkey)
First primate and first mammal in space
Albert II was a male rhesus macaque monkey who was the first primate and first mammal to travel to outer space. He flew from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico, United States, to an altitude of 83 miles aboard a U.S. V-2 sounding rocket on June 14, 1949. Albert died upon landing after a parachute failure caused his capsule to strike the ground at high speed. Albert's respiratory and cardiological data were recorded up to the moment of impact.
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Dreyfus affair
1894–1906 political scandal in France
The Dreyfus affair was a political scandal that divided the Third French Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. The scandal began in December 1894 when Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a 35-year-old Alsatian French artillery officer of Jewish descent, was wrongfully convicted of treason for communicating French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent overseas to the penal colony on Devil's Island in French Guiana, where he spent the following five years imprisoned in very harsh conditions.
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Republic of Letters
Long-distance intellectual community in early modern Europe and the Americas
The Republic of Letters was the long-distance intellectual community in the late 17th and 18th centuries in Europe and the Americas. It fostered communication among the intellectuals of the Age of Enlightenment, or philosophes as they were called in France. These communities that transcended national boundaries formed the basis of a metaphysical republic. Because of societal constraints on women, the Republic of Letters consisted mostly of men.
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Intellectual
Person who engages in critical thinking and reasoning
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the nature of reality, especially the nature of society and proposed solutions for its normative problems. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or as a mediator, the intellectual participates in politics, either to defend a concrete proposition or to denounce an injustice, usually by either rejecting, producing or extending an ideology, and by defending a system of values.
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James Oglethorpe
British Army officer and politician (1696–1785)
Lieutenant-General James Edward Oglethorpe was a British Army officer, Tory politician and colonial administrator best known for founding the Province of Georgia in British North America. As a social reformer, he hoped to resettle Britain's "worthy poor" in the New World, initially focusing on those in debtors' prisons.
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Water stagnation
Water that does not flow
Water stagnation occurs when water stops flowing for a long period of time. Stagnant water can be a significant environmental hazard.
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You have two cows
Joke pattern pertaining to different economic systems
"You have two cows" is a political analogy and form of early 20th century American political satire to describe various economic systems of government. The setup of a typical joke of this kind is the assumption that the listener lives within a given system and has two cows. The punch line is what happens to the listener and the cows in the system; it offers a brief and humorous take on the subject or locale.
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In Soviet Russia
Form of joke
"In Soviet Russia", also called the Russian reversal, is a joke template taking the general form "In America you do X to/with Y; in Soviet Russia Y does X to/with you". Typically the American clause describes a harmless ordinary activity and the inverted Soviet form something menacing or dysfunctional, satirizing life under communist rule, or in the "old country". Sometimes the first clause is omitted, and sometimes either clause or both are deliberately rendered with English grammatical errors stereotypical of Russians.
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Antimetabole
Literary deviceIn rhetoric, antimetabole is the repetition of words in successive clauses, but in transposed order; for example, "I know what I like, and I like what I know". It is related to, and sometimes considered a special case of, chiasmus.
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Research
Systematic study undertaken to increase knowledge
Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to controlling sources of bias and error. These activities are characterized by accounting and controlling for biases. A research project may be an expansion of past work in the field. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects or the project as a whole.
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Inquiry
Any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problemAn inquiry is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ways that each type of inquiry achieves its aim.
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Cognitive closure (philosophy)
Proposition in philosophy of mindCognitive closure refers to the concept in the philosophy of mind and philosophy of science that suggests human cognitive faculties are fundamentally incapable of solving certain philosophical problems. These problems, which have persisted throughout the history of philosophy, are considered beyond the reach of human understanding, not because of insufficient data or research, but due to inherent limits in the structure or capabilities of the mind.
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The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences
1960 article by Eugene Wigner"The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences" is a 1960 article written by the physicist Eugene Wigner, published in Communication in Pure and Applied Mathematics. In it, Wigner observes that a theoretical physics's mathematical structure often points the way to further advances in that theory and to empirical predictions. Mathematical theories often have predictive power in describing nature.
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Computational complexity theory
Inherent difficulty of computational problemsIn theoretical computer science and mathematics, computational complexity theory focuses on classifying computational problems according to their resource usage, and explores the relationships between these classifications. A computational problem is a task solved by a computer. A computation problem is solvable by mechanical application of mathematical steps, such as an algorithm.
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Henry George
American political economist (1839–1897)
Henry George was an American political economist, social philosopher and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the economic philosophy known as Georgism, the belief that people should own the value they produce themselves, but that the economic value of land should belong equally to all members of society. George famously argued that a single tax on land values would create a more productive and just society.
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Volcker Rule
American investment banking rule
The Volcker Rule is section 619 of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The rule was originally proposed by American economist and former United States Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker in 2010 to restrict United States banks from making certain kinds of speculative investments that do not benefit their customers. It was not implemented until July 2015. Volcker argued that such speculative activity played a key role in the 2008 financial crisis. The rule is often referred to as a ban on proprietary trading by commercial banks, whereby deposits are used to trade on the bank's own accounts, although a number of exceptions to this ban were included in the Dodd–Frank law.
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Eliezer Yudkowsky
American AI researcher and writer (born 1979)
Eliezer S. Yudkowsky is an American artificial intelligence researcher and writer on decision theory and ethics, best known for popularizing ideas related to friendly artificial intelligence. He is the founder of and a research fellow at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI), a private research nonprofit based in Berkeley, California. His work on the prospect of a runaway intelligence explosion influenced philosopher Nick Bostrom's 2014 book Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies.
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LessWrong
Rationality-focused community blog
LessWrong is a community blog and forum focused on discussion of cognitive biases, philosophy, psychology, economics, rationality, and artificial intelligence, among other topics. It is associated with the rationalist community.
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Implicit and explicit atheism
Types of atheism
Implicit atheism and explicit atheism are types of atheism. In George H. Smith's Atheism: The Case Against God, "implicit atheism" is defined as "the absence of theistic belief without a conscious rejection of it", while "explicit atheism" is "the absence of theistic belief due to a conscious rejection of it". Explicit atheists have considered the idea of deities and have rejected belief that any exist. Implicit atheists, though they do not themselves maintain a belief in a god or gods, have not rejected the notion or have not considered it further.
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Information hazard
Risk caused by disseminating informationAn information hazard, infohazard, or cognitohazard is "a risk that arises from the dissemination of (true) information that may cause harm or enable some agent to cause harm". It was formalized by philosopher Nick Bostrom in 2011. It challenges the principle of freedom of information, as it states that some types of information are too dangerous, as people could either be harmed by it or use it to harm others. This is sometimes why information is classified based on its sensitivity.
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Special Air Mission
U.S. governmental flight service
The United States Air Force Special Air Mission provides air transportation for the president of the United States (POTUS), vice president of the United States (VPOTUS), first lady of the United States (FLOTUS), presidential Cabinet, U.S. congressional delegations (CODELs), and other high-ranking American and foreign dignitaries.
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False dilemma
Informal fallacy involving falsely limited alternatives
A false dilemma, also referred to as false dichotomy or false binary, is an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available. The source of the fallacy lies not in an invalid form of inference but in a false premise. This premise has the form of a disjunctive claim: it asserts that one among a number of alternatives must be true. This disjunction is problematic because it oversimplifies the choice by excluding viable alternatives, presenting the viewer with only two absolute choices when, in fact, there could be many.
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Border Gateway Protocol
Protocol for communicating routing information on the Internet
Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is a standardized exterior gateway protocol designed to exchange routing and reachability information among autonomous systems (AS) on the Internet. BGP is classified as a path-vector routing protocol, and it makes routing decisions based on paths, network policies, or rule-sets configured by a network administrator.
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Langton's ant
Two-dimensional Turing machine with emergent behavior
Langton's ant is a two-dimensional Turing machine with a very simple set of rules but complex emergent behavior. It was invented by Chris Langton in 1986 and runs on a square lattice of black and white cells. The idea has been generalized in several different ways, such as turmites which add more colors and more states.
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Emergence
Unpredictable phenomenon in complex systems
In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when a complex entity has properties or behaviors that its parts do not have on their own, and emerge only when they interact in a wider whole.
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Patterns in nature
Visible regularity of form found in the natural world
Patterns in nature are visible regularities of form found in the natural world. These patterns recur in different contexts and can sometimes be modelled mathematically. Natural patterns include symmetries, trees, spirals, meanders, waves, foams, tessellations, cracks and stripes. Early Greek philosophers studied pattern, with Plato, Pythagoras and Empedocles attempting to explain order in nature. The modern understanding of visible patterns developed gradually over time.
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Punched tape
Data storage device
Punched tape or perforated paper tape is a form of data storage that consists of a long strip of paper through which small holes are punched. It was developed from and was subsequently used alongside punched cards, the difference being that the tape is continuous.
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God Only Knows
1966 song by the Beach Boys
"God Only Knows" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. Written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher, it is a baroque-style love song distinguished for its harmonic innovation and complexity, unusual instrumentation, and subversion of typical popular music conventions, both lyrically and musically. It is often praised as one of the greatest songs of all time and as the Beach Boys' finest record.
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Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy)
Basic distinction in philosophyThe distinction between subjectivity and objectivity is a basic idea of philosophy, particularly epistemology and metaphysics. Various understandings of this distinction have evolved through the work of countless philosophers over centuries. One basic distinction is:Something is subjective if it is dependent on a mind. If a claim is true exclusively when considering the claim from the viewpoint of a sentient being, it is subjectively true. For example, one person may consider the weather to be pleasantly warm, and another person may consider the same weather to be too hot; both views are subjective. Something is objective if it can be confirmed independently of a mind. If a claim is true even when considering it outside the viewpoint of a sentient being, then it may be labelled objectively true.
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Boolean algebra
Algebraic manipulation of "true" and "false"In mathematics and mathematical logic, Boolean algebra is a branch of algebra. It differs from elementary algebra in two ways. First, the values of the variables are the truth values true and false, usually denoted by 1 and 0, whereas in elementary algebra the values of the variables are numbers. Second, Boolean algebra uses logical operators such as conjunction (and) denoted as ∧, disjunction (or) denoted as ∨, and negation (not) denoted as ¬. Elementary algebra, on the other hand, uses arithmetic operators such as addition, multiplication, subtraction, and division. Boolean algebra is therefore a formal way of describing logical operations in the same way that elementary algebra describes numerical operations.
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George Boole
English mathematician and philosopher (1815–1864)
George Boole was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ireland. He worked in the fields of differential equations and algebraic logic, and is best known as the author of The Laws of Thought (1854), which contains Boolean algebra. Boolean logic, essential to computer programming, is credited with helping to lay the foundations for the Information Age.
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Boolean data type
Data having only values "true" or "false"
In computer science, the Boolean is a data type that has one of two possible values which is intended to represent the two truth values of logic and Boolean algebra. It is named after George Boole, who first defined an algebraic system of logic in the mid 19th century. The Boolean data type is primarily associated with conditional statements, which allow different actions by changing control flow depending on whether a programmer-specified Boolean condition evaluates to true or false. It is a special case of a more general logical data type—logic does not always need to be Boolean.
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Icarus
Greek mythological figure
In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalus had revealed the labyrinth's secrets and imprisoned them—either in a large tower overlooking the ocean or in the labyrinth itself, depending upon the account. Icarus and Daedalus escaped using wings Daedalus constructed from birds’ molted feathers, threads from blankets, the leather straps from their sandals, and beeswax. Before escaping, Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too low or the water would soak the feathers and not to fly too close to the sun or the heat would melt the wax. Icarus ignored Daedalus's instructions to not to fly too close to the sun, causing the beeswax in his wings to melt. Icarus fell from the sky, plunged into the sea, and drowned. The myth gave rise to the idiom, "fly too close to the sun." In some versions of the tale, Daedalus and Icarus escape by ship. In some readings as well, his father made himself a pair of wings and that's why he knew he was going to die if he flew too close to the sun.
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2021 Facebook outage
Outage affecting all Facebook operated services
On October 4, 2021, at 15:39 UTC, the social network Facebook and its subsidiaries, Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, Mapillary, and Oculus, became globally unavailable for a period of six to seven hours. The outage also prevented anyone trying to use "Log in with Facebook" from accessing third-party sites. It lasted for 7 hours and 11 minutes.
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Sausalito, California
City in California, United States
Sausalito is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located 1.5 miles southeast of Marin City, 8 miles (13 km) south-southeast of San Rafael, and about 4 miles (6 km) north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge.
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John Quincy Adams and abolitionism
John Quincy Adams' thoughts on slaveryLike most contemporaries, John Quincy Adams's views on slavery evolved over time. He never joined the movement called "abolitionist" by historians—the one led by William Lloyd Garrison—because it demanded the immediate abolition of slavery and insisted it was a sin to enslave people. Further, abolitionism meant disunion and Adams was a staunch champion of American nationalism and union.
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Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
Sentence composed of homonyms
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo" is a grammatically correct sentence in English that is often presented as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs through lexical ambiguity. It has been discussed in literature in various forms since 1967, when it appeared in Dmitri Borgmann's Beyond Language: Adventures in Word and Thought.
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Christopher Seider
First American killed in the American RevolutionChristopher Seider was a boy who is considered to be the first American killed in the American Revolution. He was 11 years old when he was shot and killed by customs officer Ebenezer Richardson in Boston on February 22, 1770. His funeral became a major political event, with his death heightening tensions that erupted into the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770.
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Sons of Liberty
Dissident organization during the American Revolution
The Sons of Liberty was a loosely organized, clandestine, sometimes violent, political organization active in the Thirteen American Colonies founded to advance the rights of the colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It played a major role in most colonies in battling the Stamp Act in 1765 and throughout the entire period of the American Revolution. Historian David C. Rapoport called the activities of the Sons of Liberty "mob terror."
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Boston Massacre
1770 shooting by British soldiers
The Boston Massacre, known in Great Britain as the Incident on King Street, was a confrontation, on March 5, 1770, during the American Revolution in Boston in what was then the colonial-era Province of Massachusetts Bay.
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First Party System
Phase in U.S. electoral politics (1792–1824)
The First Party System was the political party system in the United States between roughly 1792 and 1824. It featured two national parties competing for control of the presidency, Congress, and the states: the Federalist Party, created largely by Alexander Hamilton, and the rival Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican Party, formed by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, usually called at the time the Republican Party.
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Era of Good Feelings
Period in the political history of the United States
The Era of Good Feelings marked a period in the political history of the United States that reflected a sense of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812. The era saw the collapse of the Federalist Party and an end to the bitter partisan disputes between it and the dominant Democratic-Republican Party during the First Party System. President James Monroe strove to downplay partisan affiliation in making his nominations, with the ultimate goal of national unity and eliminating political parties altogether from national politics. The period is so closely associated with Monroe's presidency (1817–1825) and his administrative goals that his name and the era are virtually synonymous.
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Polytetrafluoroethylene
Synthetic polymer
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene, and has numerous applications because it is chemically inert. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemours, a spin-off from DuPont, which originally invented the compound in 1938.
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Anti-Masonic Party
1820s–1830s American political partyThe Anti-Masonic Party was the earliest third party in the United States. Formally a single-issue party, it strongly opposed Freemasonry in the United States. It was active from the late 1820s, especially in the Northeast, and later attempted to become a major party by expanding its platform to take positions on other issues. It declined quickly after 1832 as most members joined the new Whig Party; it disappeared after 1838.
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Ticker tape
Digital communication media
Ticker tape was the earliest electrical dedicated financial communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines, in use from around 1870 to 1970. It consisted of a paper strip that ran through a machine called a stock ticker, which printed abbreviated company names as alphabetic symbols followed by numeric stock transaction price and volume information. The term "ticker" came from the sound made by the machine as it printed.
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Speculation
Engaging in risky financial transactions
In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.
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Aaron Burr's farewell address
1805 speech to U.S. SenateAaron Burr's March 1805 farewell address to the United States Senate is remembered as one of the preeminent speeches of the American Vice Presidency. Burr spoke for 20 or 30 minutes, and upon concluding, departed the chamber solemnly, the sound of the closing door resounding through the room upon his exit. The speech left U.S. Senators in tears. At least one of fragment of the address has been preserved:This house is a sanctuary; a citadel of law, of order, and of liberty; and it is here—it is here, in this exalted refuge; here, if anywhere, will resistance be made to the storms of political phrenzy and the silent arts of corruption; and if the Constitution be destined ever to perish by the sacrilegious hands of the demagogue or the usurper, which God avert, its expiring agonies will be witnessed on this floor.
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Benedict Arnold
American-born military officer (1740–1801)
Benedict Arnold was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of major general before defecting to the British in 1780. General George Washington had given him his fullest trust and had placed him in command of West Point in New York. Arnold was planning to surrender the fort to British forces, but the plot was discovered in September 1780, whereupon he fled to the British lines. In the later part of the war, Arnold was commissioned as a brigadier general in the British Army and placed in command of the American Legion. He led British forces in battle against the army which he had once commanded, and his name became synonymous with treason and betrayal in the United States.
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Burr conspiracy
Alleged conspiracy to create a country led by Aaron Burr
The Burr conspiracy of 1805-1807, was a treasonous plot alleged to have been planned by American politician and former military officer Aaron Burr (1756-1836), in the years during and after his single term as the third vice president of the United States (1801-1805), during the presidential administration and first term of the third president Thomas Jefferson.
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Aaron Burr
Vice President of the United States from 1801 to 1805
Aaron Burr Jr. was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 during Thomas Jefferson's first presidential term. He founded the Manhattan Company on September 1, 1799. His personal and political conflict with Alexander Hamilton culminated in the Burr–Hamilton duel where Burr mortally wounded Hamilton. Burr was indicted for dueling, but all charges against him were dropped. The controversy ended his political career.
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Jefferson's Manual
Book by Thomas Jefferson
A Manual of Parliamentary Practice for the Use of the Senate of the United States, written by Thomas Jefferson in 1801, is the first American book on parliamentary procedure. As Vice President of the United States, Jefferson served as the Senate's presiding officer from 1797 to 1801. Throughout these four years, Jefferson worked on various texts and, in early 1800, started to assemble them into a single manuscript for the Senate's use. In December 1800 he delivered his manuscript to printer Samuel Harrison Smith, who delivered the final product to Jefferson on February 27, 1801. Later, the House of Representatives also adopted the Manual for use in its chamber.
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Religious affiliations of presidents of the United States
Religious affiliations can affect the electability of the presidents of the United States and shape their stances on policy matters and their visions of society and also how they want to lead it. While no president so far has ever openly identified as an atheist, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and William Howard Taft were speculated to be atheists by their opponents during political campaigns; in addition, a survey during the first presidency of Donald Trump showed that 63% of Americans did not believe he was religious, despite his professed Christian affiliation. Conspiracy theorists also falsely circulated rumors that Barack Obama was a Muslim during his 2004 Senate campaign and later time as President. Conversely, other presidents, such as Jimmy Carter, used their faith as a defining aspect of their campaigns and tenure in office.
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Religious views of Thomas Jefferson
The religious views of Thomas Jefferson diverged widely from the traditional Christianity of his era. Throughout his life, Jefferson was intensely interested in theology, religious studies, and morality. Jefferson was most comfortable with Deism, rational religion, theistic rationalism, and Unitarianism. He was sympathetic to and in general agreement with the moral precepts of Christianity. He considered the teachings of Jesus as having "the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man," yet he held that the pure teachings of Jesus appeared to have been appropriated by some of Jesus' early followers, resulting in a Bible that contained both "diamonds" of wisdom and the "dung" of ancient political agendas.
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Jefferson Bible
1820 book constructed by Thomas Jefferson
The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, commonly referred to as the Jefferson Bible, is one of two religious works constructed by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson compiled the manuscripts but never published them. The first, The Philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, was completed in 1804, but no copies exist today. The second, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, was completed in 1820 by cutting and pasting, with a razor and glue, numerous sections from the New Testament as extractions of the doctrine of Jesus. Jefferson's condensed composition excludes all miracles by Jesus and most mentions of the supernatural, including sections of the four gospels that contain the Resurrection and most other miracles, and passages that portray Jesus as divine.
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Peter Fossett
Former slave (1815–1901)
Peter Farley Fossett was an enslaved laborer at Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's plantation, who after he attained his freedom in the mid-19th century, settled in Cincinnati where he established himself as a minister and caterer. He was a captain in the Black Brigade of Cincinnati during the Civil War. Fossett was an activist for education and prison reform. He was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. His remembrances, Once the slave of Thomas Jefferson, were published in 1898.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Thomas Jefferson and slavery
Exploration of the American founding father and president's views on slavery
Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, owned more than 600 slaves during his adult life. Jefferson freed two slaves while he lived, and five others were freed after his death, including two of his children from his relationship with his slave Sally Hemings. His other two children with Hemings were allowed to escape without pursuit. After his death, the rest of the slaves were sold to pay off his estate's debts.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
William Small
Scottish physician and professor
William Small (1734–1775) was a Scottish physician and a professor of natural philosophy at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. There he became an influential mentor of Thomas Jefferson, who went on to be a leading proponent of the American Revolution, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third President of the United States. From 1765, Small was an influential medical doctor in Birmingham, England, where he was a member of the Lunar Society.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Thomas Jefferson
Founding Father, U.S. president from 1801 to 1809
Thomas Jefferson was an American Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was the nation's first U.S. secretary of state under George Washington and then the nation's second vice president under John Adams. Jefferson was a leading proponent of democracy, republicanism, and natural rights, and he produced formative documents and decisions at the state, national, and international levels.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Thoughts on Government
1776 essay by John Adams
Thoughts on Government, or in full Thoughts on Government, Applicable to the Present State of the American Colonies, was written by John Adams during the spring of 1776 in response to a resolution of the North Carolina Provincial Congress which requested Adams' suggestions on the establishment of a new government and the drafting of a constitution. Adams says that "Politics is the Science of human Happiness—and the Felicity of Societies depends on the Constitutions of Government under which they live." Many of the ideas put forth in Adams' essay were adopted in December 1776 by the framers of North Carolina's first constitution.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
History of books
The history of books begins with the invention of writing, as well as other inventions such as paper and printing; this history continues all the way to the modern-day business of book printing. The earliest knowledge society has on the history of books actually predates what we came to call "books" in today's society, and instead begins with what are called either tablets, scrolls, or sheets of papyrus. The current format of modern novels, with separate sheets fastened together to form a pamphlet rather than a scroll, is called a codex. After this invention, hand-bound, expensive, and elaborate manuscripts began to appear in codex form. This gave way to press-printed volumes and eventually led to the mass-market printed volumes that are prevalent today. Contemporary books may even start to have less of a physical presence with the invention of the e-book. The book has also become more accessible to the disabled with the invention of Braille as well as audiobooks.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom
Forms of address for close relatives of peersA courtesy title is a form of address and/or reference in the British system of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer, as well as certain officials such as some judges and members of the Scottish gentry. These styles are used "by courtesy" in the sense that persons referred to by these titles do not in law hold the substantive title. There are several different kinds of courtesy titles in the British peerage system.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25
Social loafing
Psychological effect which occurs in groupsIn social psychology, social loafing is the phenomenon of a person exerting less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when working alone. It is seen as one of the main reasons groups are sometimes less productive than the combined performance of their members working as individuals.
Wikipedia↗ ‽⸘ 6/18/25