Teaching & Learning

These days, when we want to know how to spell a word, we have an accepted authority to look to: the dictionary. But that wasn’t always the case. Here's how Brits and Americans came to look to two different authorities. Produced for Mental Floss.

The former Portuguese Prime.Minister, António Guterres, is poised to become the next UN Secretary. A formal vote will take place in the UN Security Council tomorrow to confirm the choice of nominee. Mr Guterres, 66 years old, was the "clear favourite", Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin announced this Wednesday.  Mr Guterres, who led the UN refugee agency for 10 years, will take over from Ban Ki-moon early next year.
Who is António Guterres? 
An engineer by trade, Mr Guterres first entered into politics in 1976 in Portugal's first democratic election after the "Carnation revolution" that ended five decades of dictatorship. He quickly rose in the ranks, becoming leader of the Socialist party in 1992 and was elected prime minister in 1995.
As head of the UNHCR refugee agency from 2005 to 2015, Mr Guterres led the agency through some of the world's worst refugee crises, including Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq. During that time, he repeatedly appealed to Western s…

Steve Jobs died five years ago, but it is impossible to forget his incredible genius. Without you, Steve, it's much more difficult to Stay hungry. Stay Foolish. On October 5, 2011, Apple announced that co-founder Steve Jobs had died. He was 56 years old at the time. We all know who Steve Jobs is.. The genius who revolutionized modern technology and the mastermind who emphasized style as much as function in our everyday digital devices. However, there are a few facts about Steve Jobs that perhaps you don't know that would shock you. Let's learn a bit more about the real Steve Jobs with these 20 facts (slightly abridged), published by INC.
1. Steve Jobs was adopted shortly after being born.
2. Jobs was, biologically, half Arab. His biological father was Syrian and his mother was American.
3. Jobs and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak met in high school – Wozniak was 18 and Jobs was just 13.
4. Jobs was a pescetarian, meaning he ate no meat except for fish.
5. He was an official college…