Wall Street Bombing (1920)

At about noon on September 16, 1920, a horse-drawn wagon stopped across from the headquarters of the J.P. Morgan Inc. bank on Wall Street in New York City’s Financial District. Moments later, the hundreds of pounds of explosives and shrapnel it was carrying exploded, killing 38 people and injuring hundreds more. Despite the chaos, markets reopened the next day. Now known as the Wall Street Bombing, it was the deadliest bomb attack on American soil at the time. Who was responsible for the attack? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

National Championship Air Races and Air Show

The National Championship Air Races and Air Show is a four-day nostalgia trip for air buffs, held since 1964 in Reno, Nevada, and providing some 180,000 spectators with the sight and sound of piston-engine planes flying around closed-pylon race courses. The race is the only one in the world that covers all four classes: Unlimited (vintage warbirds and homebuilt racers), AT-6 (World War II pilot trainers), Formula One (super-midget planes), and Biplane (double-winged barn stormers). Air shows of military demonstrations, parachuting exhibits, and military fly-bys are also some of the events. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Hans Augusto “H.A.” Rey (1898)

Rey and his wife were the creators of the Curious George series of children’s books. George, an impish monkey, first appeared in Rey’s little-remembered Cecily G. and the Nine Monkeys and was so well received that the Reys decided to write an entire book about him. Their work was interrupted by the outbreak of WWII, however, and the Reys, who were Jews, fled Paris hours before it fell to the Nazis, taking with them the illustrated manuscript of Curious George. How did they escape? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Sea Sponges

Sponges are sessile, mostly marine animals from the phylum Porifera. Until the 18th century, scientists classified them as plants because they demonstrated so little movement. More than 4,500 living species, which reproduce through both sexual and asexual means, have been documented. Sponges are colonial in nature, living in groups that may grow to 5 feet (150 cm) in diameter. In common usage, the term “sponge” refers to what part of this aquatic animal? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Tragedy at Opening of Liverpool and Manchester Railway (1830)

In 1830, festivities were held to mark the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the world’s first inter-city passenger railway. Unfortunately, the celebration turned tragic when William Huskisson, the Member of Parliament for Liverpool, got off the train to speak with the Duke of Wellington during a temporary stop and was fatally injured by an oncoming train. He thus became the world’s first railway passenger to be killed by a train. How fast did these trains initially travel? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Prinsjesdag

The state opening of Parliament in the Netherlands takes place on the third Tuesday in September at the 13th-century Ridderzaal, or Knights’ Hall, in The Hague. The reigning monarch rides to Parliament in a golden coach drawn by eight horses. He is received by the two houses of Parliament, to whom he addresses his speech outlining the government’s intended majority program for the coming year. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Titus Oates (1649)

Oates was an Anglican priest whose whole career was marked with intrigue and scandal. In 1678, he invented the story of the Popish Plot, a fictitious Jesuit conspiracy to kill Charles II and place his Catholic brother James—later James II—on the throne. Oates’s testimony resulted in a frenzy of anti-Catholic hatred throughout England, and caused more than 30 people to be executed. He was finally convicted of perjury and imprisoned in 1685. Who conspired with Oates to invent the plot? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Genocide in Darfur

In 2003, political conflict between Darfur’s government and rebel groups erupted when rebels killed 75 military personnel in a surprise raid. The government-backed Janjaweed have since destroyed countless villages and murdered their civilian inhabitants. One UN observer team reported that non-Arab villages were attacked, while Arab villages were unharmed. The mass media has termed the events in Darfur “genocide.” Most NGOs report 400,000 deaths in the region; how many people have been displaced? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary