Answer of the Day
Where did the Piltdown Man get his name? Between 1911 and 1915, researcher Charles Dawson found fragments of a cranium, a tooth and some tools in a gravel deposit in Piltdown, in Sussex, England. The scientific world was agog with the findings — anthropologists believed that the fossilized remains of an ancient hominid had been discovered, a missing link between ape and man. The fossil was called the Piltdown man after the area in which he was found. However, much as the word Edsel has become synonymous with lemon, Piltdown has become synonymous with fraud. It took 40 years for the discovery to be scientifically disproved. On this date in 1953, the Piltdown man was declared a fake. The skull was found to be composed of a combination of the remains of a man and an orangutan.

Quote
"Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it." — Samuel Johnson

Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Today in History

• hot-air balloon: first manned free flight was taken by Jean François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes on a 20-minute, 9-km. flight over Paris (1783)
• phonograph: a new invention was announced by Thomas Edison (1877)
• Verrazano-Narrows Bridge: span connecting Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City opened to the public; it was the longest suspension bridge in the world until overtaken by the UK's Humber Bridge (1964)
• Who shot J.R.?: 350 million people worldwide tuned in to Dallas to find out (1980)

Björk

Today's Birthdays

• Voltaire (1694-1778): philosopher and writer; plus, writers Beryl Bainbridge (75) and Tina Brown (56)
• René Magritte (1898-1967): surrealist painter
• Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969): jazz's first great tenor sax player; plus, musician Dr. John (69)
• Nicollette Sheridan (46): Edie Britt on Desperate Housewives; also, actors Joseph Campanella (82), Laurence Luckinbill (75), Marlo Thomas (72), Juliet Mills (68), Harold Ramis (65), Goldie Hawn (64), Cherry Jones (53) and Jenna Malone (25)
• Björk (43): Icelandic singer, songwriter, actor; singer/songwriter Livingston Taylor (59) shares this birth date
• Troy Aikman (42): Dallas Cowboys quarterback; team players Stan Musial (89), Earl Monroe (65), Michael Strahan (38) and Ken Griffey, Jr., (40) were also born on this date

Word of the Day
 cui bono?

(A maxim of Cassius, quoted by Cicero)
For whose advantage? Generally used, however, as, What is the good of it?

  (© Answers Corporation)

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