Month: July 2015

The Cerro Maravilla Incident (1978)

Cerro Maravilla, one of the highest peaks in Puerto Rico, is perhaps best known for being the site of a police ambush in 1978 in which two pro-independence activists were killed. Though initial inquiries by local authorities, the US Justice Department, and the FBI concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the part of the police, subsequent investigations resulted in four second-degree murder convictions. How many Puerto Rican Secretaries of Justice resigned following the incident? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Jousting the Bear

Although jousting normally involves two knights charging each other on horseback with lances, the custom has been changed somewhat in Pistoia, Italy, where La Giostra dell’Orso is held on July 25 each year. Twelve horsemen representing the town’s four districts join in a procession to the Cathedral Square, each accompanied by a group of costumed attendants. They compete against each other in pairs, racing at a gallop toward the effigies of two bears holding targets in their outstretched paws. The most successful knight is proclaimed Knight of the Golden Spur of Pistoia. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Gavrilo Princip (1894)

A member of the secret Serbian nationalist society known as the Black Hand, Princip sought to unite southern Slavic peoples and destroy Austro-Hungarian rule in the Balkans. When Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife made an official visit to Sarajevo in 1914, Princip—who was just a high school student at the time—assassinated them, setting off a chain of events that led to World War I. Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison, where he died in 1918. What killed him? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Gelatin

Gelatin is a foodstuff largely composed of denatured collagen, a protein that is readily digested and absorbed. It is found in the connective tissue of the cartilage, hoofs, and tendons of vertebrate animals and is extracted by the action of boiling water or dilute acid. Gelatin swells to an elastic, transparent mass when placed in contact with cold water and takes up to 10 times its own weight. It is an important food stabilizer, thickener and texturizer. What is gelatin’s ballistic use? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Nixon and Khrushchev Engage in “Kitchen Debate” (1959)

The Kitchen Debate was an impromptu debate—conducted through interpreters—between US Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959. Centering on a discussion of the merits of capitalism versus communism, it took place in the kitchen of a model suburban American house designed to showcase American household appliances, which Nixon touted as examples of American innovation. How did the debate end? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Mormon Pioneer Day

After their founder, Joseph Smith, was murdered in 1844, the Mormons moved westward from their settlement in Nauvoo, Illinois, under the leadership of Brigham Young. When Young surveyed the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, he proclaimed, “This is the right place.” Thousands of Mormon pioneers followed him over the next two decades, many of them pushing their belongings in handcarts. The original 40-acre plot where the Mormons settled is the modern Salt Lake City, and the day on which Young chose the site is celebrated not only in Utah but in surrounding states with significant Mormon populations, such as Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, and California. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Calogero Vizzini (1877)

Vizzini, don of the village of Villalba, was one of the most influential Mafia bosses of Sicily following WWII. After the war, the staunch anti-communist was made mayor of Villalba by the Allied occupiers, a move that some might say adds credence to claims that Allied Forces enlisted direct Mafia support during their invasion of Sicily in 1943. Between 1949 and 1954, Vizzini reportedly ruled a lucrative black market operation, allegedly using what business as a front for trafficking heroin? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

M. Night Shyamalan

Shyamalan is an Academy Award-nominated Indian-American film writer, director, and producer. The Sixth Sense, a film starring Bruce Willis, grossed over $600 million worldwide and is Shyamalan’s greatest commercial success. His filmmaking ambitions were encouraged when, at a young age, he received a Super-8 camera. He made his first film, Praying with Anger, while still an NYU student, using money borrowed from family and friends. What is Shyamalan’s first name? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary