Popeye, the popular cartoon character who turns from sailor to strongman with a few swallows of spinach, started out as a minor character in the Thimble Theater comic strip. In its early days, the strip starred Olive Oyl and her boyfriend, Ham Gravy. However, after cartoonist E.C. Segar introduced Popeye, he became so popular that his role was expanded, and he soon replaced Ham as Olive’s love interest, going on adventures with her brother, Castor Oyl, and facing what nemesis? Discuss
Mack Sennett (1880)
Sennett was an American movie director, considered the father of slapstick comedy in film. After directing comedies under the tutelage of D.W. Griffith, he left to form his own Keystone Company and produced the first American feature-length comedy, Tillie’s Punctured Romance, in 1914. He made more than 1,000 comedy shorts, often featuring the wild antics of the Keystone Kops, and received a special Academy Award in 1937. As an actor, Sennett played what iconic character in several films? Discuss
Hatching
Hatching and cross-hatching are artistic techniques in which artists use closely-spaced parallel or crossed lines to create tonal or shading effects in their work. By varying the length, angle, spacing, and thickness of these lines, artists achieve a variety of visual effects. Western artists developed cross-hatching in the Middle Ages, and many 15th-century old master prints contain examples of the technique. Which artist is said to have perfected the techniques in his woodcuts and engravings? Discuss
Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote Is Published (1605)
A founding work of modern Western literature, Cervantes’s Don Quixote presents a profound picture of the divide between idealistic and realistic world views. A burlesque of chivalric romances, it was an immediate success. In 1614, a spurious Part II was published by an unidentified author who insulted Cervantes in his prologue. Offended, Cervantes responded by publishing his own Part II, which some literary critics consider superior to Part I. What is Don Quixote’s real name in the book? Discuss
Eric Henry Liddell (1902)
Liddell was a Scottish athlete and missionary. Because of his Christian convictions, Liddell refused to run track events on Sundays, a decision that forced him to withdraw from his best event, the 100-meter sprint, during the 1924 Paris Olympics. Instead, he ran the 400 meters, winning the gold medal and breaking the existing world record. His story is depicted in the Academy Award-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. Why is he listed in some literature as China’s first Olympic champion? Discuss
The Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine
Perhaps the most famous lost mine in US history, the Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine is a legendary gold mine allegedly located in Arizona’s Superstition Mountains. It is named after German immigrant Jacob Waltz, who, in most versions of the story, was told of the mine’s location as a reward for aiding a member of the Peralta mining family. Though many say the mine is a legend, some historians argue that the story has some basis in fact. Whose suspicious death sparked renewed interest in the mine? Discuss
Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht Murdered While Under Arrest (1919)
During WWI, Luxemburg and Liebknecht formed a revolutionary, antiwar socialist group in Germany that became the Spartacus League. After the proclamation of the German republic in 1918, they opposed the moderate government formed by the Social Democrats and advocated its violent overthrow, to be replaced by a dictatorship of the proletariat. They transformed their league into the German Communist Party and led an uprising, which was crushed. Arrested, they were murdered by whom while in custody? Discuss
Mihai Eminescu (1850)
Eminescu is considered Romania’s greatest poet. His first poems were published when he was just a teen, and a few years later he joined the literary circle Junimea and began contributing to its journal, Convorbiri literare. His lyrical, passionate, and revolutionary poems had a profound influence on Romanian letters. Eminescu suffered from periodic attacks of insanity and died shortly after one such attack. He is honored in a monument in the capital city of what Islamic country? Discuss
Japanese Sake
Sake is a Japanese alcoholic beverage made from rice. Although there are multiple theories about how it was developed, the first sakes were likely made from rice, millet, chestnuts, and acorns that people chewed and spit into a tub. The enzymes from the saliva converted the starches to sugars, resulting in a sweet mixture that was combined with freshly cooked grain and allowed to ferment. What does drinking sake from another’s cup signify in Japanese culture? Discuss
Felice Orsini Attempts to Assassinate French Emperor Napoleon III (1858)
Orsini was an Italian revolutionary in the movement for Italian unification. In 1858, he made an attempt on the life of Napoleon III, whom he held responsible for the failure of the Italian revolutions of 1848 to 1849. Although ably defended by French statesman Jules Favre, Orsini was executed. His act, designed to arouse world interest in the Italian cause, paradoxically influenced Napoleon’s own decision to intervene in favor of Italian unification. How did Orsini try to kill Napoleon? Discuss