Mount Ceahlau Feast

A folk event that has ancient roots, the Mount Ceahlau Feast is held at Durau, Romania, at the foot of Mount Ceahlau. The mountain was considered sacred to the Dacians, the ancestors of the present Romanians, and was the scene of their annual celebrations. In those days, people climbed to the summit to greet the sun with religious ceremonies and feasts. Today there are demonstrations of such sports as wrestling and foot racing, and exhibits and sales of folk art. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

John Henry “Doc” Holliday (1851)

Holliday was an American dentist, gambler, and gunfighter. After graduating from dental school in 1872, he moved to the drier climate of the West to help treat his tuberculosis. He briefly practiced dentistry in Texas, then took up gambling and began drifting. Settling in Tombstone, Arizona, he joined Wyatt Earp and his brothers in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Having earned a reputation as a gunman, he resumed drifting and died of tuberculosis at the age of 36. What were his last words? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Energy Vampires

In New Age terminology, an energy vampire is a being said to have the ability to feed off the “life force” of other creatures. Such entities include the tiger-women of Asia and the incubi and succubi of Judeo-Christian mythology. Though not as popular as their blood-sucking counterparts, energy vampires have nonetheless made appearances in a number of works of popular fiction. Who popularized the term “psychic vampire” in the 1960s? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Opha Mae Johnson Becomes First Woman to Enlist in the US Marine Corps (1918)

During World War I, the US Secretary of the Navy decided to allow women to join the Marine Corps Reserve so that they could take over clerical duties being performed at the time by battle-ready Marines who were needed overseas. Johnson, who was 18 at the time, was the first woman to enlist. It would be another 25 years before the Marines began letting women fill non-clerical positions like parachute rigger, mechanic, and cryptographer. What was Johnson’s rank? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Bud Billiken Day

Bud Billiken is the “patron saint” of Chicago’s African-American children. Created in 1923 by Robert S. Abbott, Bud Billiken is a symbol of things as they should be, and his day is primarily a children’s event. There is a parade held on the second Saturday in August each year, complete with marching bands, baton twirlers, floats, and units from the Navy, Air Force, and National Guard. The formalities end when the parade reaches Washington Park in the Grand Boulevard area of Chicago, where families have picnics and cookouts. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Alfred Hitchcock (1899)

Hitchcock was a six-time Academy Award-nominated English-American filmmaker who directed more than 50 feature films in a career spanning six decades. A master of the suspense thriller, he developed a style that is so distinctive that any filmmaker working in the suspense genre invariably risks comparison to him. He was one of the best known directors of his time, often making humorous cameo appearances in his own films. Hitchcock was also known for his use of MacGuffins, which are what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Fusor: DIY Nuclear Fusion

Originally designed by TV developer Philo T. Farnsworth as a device to create nuclear fusion, the fusor is unique in its simplicity. Instead of slowly heating plasma, the fusor simply injects “high temperature” ions directly into a reaction chamber. Still, engineers have been unable to develop a practical power source using the technology. Hobbyists and even high school students have built small fusors over the years. The youngest person ever to build a working fusor was how old? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary