By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/30/2024 1:54 PM
A controversial sculpture of a giant hand with a human face is being removed from atop a gallery in Wellington, New Zealand, after overlooking the city for five years. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/30/2024 12:33 PM
A fast-fingered concert pianist from Romania unofficially broke a Guinness World Record by hitting a piano key 500 times in 30 seconds. ... Read full Story
The Vatican has unveiled a new mascot for the Catholic Church in the hope of engaging young people - a cartoon character named Luce. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/29/2024 1:42 PM
A passenger on a plane at a Florida airport captured video of the moment a large alligator wandered among the planes on the tarmac. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/29/2024 12:34 PM
An Idaho man put his color-coding skills to the test and broke a world record by sorting 17.6 ounces of Peanut M&M's by color in 57.78 seconds. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/29/2024 11:18 AM
An Alabama couple's home security camera captured the moment a bear stood up on its hind legs to roll their trash can out toward -- but not quite to -- the road. ... Read full Story
A "staggering array" of witches' marks have been found at Gainsborough Old Hall, including "curse" inscriptions aimed at its old owner. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/28/2024 4:23 PM
A Florida man who lost his U.S. Naval Academy class ring on a Pennsylvania golf course was reunited with the prized item by a fellow golfer 54 years later. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/28/2024 4:21 PM
A North Carolina man found a $20 bill on the ground and used it to buy a scratch-off lottery ticket that earned him a $1 million prize. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/28/2024 2:04 PM
A Georgia police department urged couples seeking to "reconcile" to kindly "get a room," rather than copulating in the grass between businesses. ... Read full Story
By United Press International, Inc. | | 10/28/2024 1:58 PM
A duo of parrots who escaped from the London Zoo during a free-flight exercise were found six days later after flying about 60 miles. ... Read full Story
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 30, 2024 is:
syncretism \SING-kruh-tiz-um\ noun
Syncretism refers to the combining of different forms of belief or practice.
// As a scholar of religion, Laila is especially interested in the syncretism of Manichaeism, which was influenced by Christianity, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism.
"Explore the archaeological wonders of Chavín de Huantar, where history comes alive. This village, steeped in cultural richness, provides a journey into Peru's ancient past. 'The village of Chavín de Huántar is an example of how tourism can foster syncretism between religious traditions and ancestral cultural elements, generating experiences with a positive impact for the population and improving the quality of life of its residents,' said the UNWTO [United Nations World Tourism Organization]." — Laura Begley Bloom, Forbes, 26 Nov. 2023
Did you know?
The ancient Greeks used the term synkrētismos to refer to Cretan cities allied in opposition to a common enemy. In the early 17th century, English speakers adopted the term in the anglicized form syncretism to refer to the union of different religious beliefs. Three centuries later, lexicographers of the 1909 edition of Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language added a new definition of syncretism ("the union or fusion into one or two or more originally different inflectional forms, as of two cases"), but this specialized sense is rarely encountered outside of the field of linguistics. Some related terms that you are more likely to encounter are syncretize ("to attempt to unite and harmonize"), syncretist ("one who advocates syncretism"), and syncretic and syncretistic ("characterized or brought about by syncretism").