Virgen de Los Angeles Day

Costa Rica honors its patron saint, La Virgen de los Angeles (also known as La Negrita), on this day. La Negrita is a statue of the Virgin Mary carved in dark wood, which is how La Negrita (“little dark one”) earned its name. It is housed in the Basilica Virgen de Los Angeles in Cartago, next to a small stream. People from all over the country come to Cartago on August 2 to celebrate the mass at the Basilica, pray to Little Negrita, and collect water from the stream. Celebrations include street fairs, live music, and feasts throughout Costa Rica. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Carroll O’Connor (1924)

O’Connor was an American actor who started out on the stage and appeared in a number of movies in the 1950s and 60s. He gained fame in the 70s and early 80s playing Archie Bunker in All in the Family and Archie Bunker’s Place, winning numerous Emmy awards for his portrayal of the bigoted yet loveable blue-collar family man. He later starred as a progressive Southern sheriff on the TV show In the Heat of the Night. Which of O’Connor’s relatives also had a role on that show? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Krypteia

In the Spartan tradition of Krypteia, young men who successfully completed their rigorous training regime were sent into the countryside unarmed and told to kill any members of Sparta’s serf population, or “Helots,” that they encountered at night and to take any food they needed. The tradition derives it name from a Greek word meaning “hidden, secret things,” and its goal and nature are still a matter of debate among historians. What purposes do scholars believe Krypteia served? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Stranger than Fiction: Ants that Look like the Dragons in ‘Game of Thrones’

Sometimes reality is more imaginative than fiction. Itty-bitty versions of two of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragons actually exist outside of the “Game of Thrones” TV series in a more mundane form: They’re ants. With spikes poking up from their backs, the scientists … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

MTV Is Launched (1981)

MTV is an American cable television network that was originally created to broadcast videos of pop and rock musicians. It quickly gained a wide following, and soon virtually all major pop and rock performers were making videos to be aired on MTV. In the 1990s, MTV diversified its programming, airing game shows, cartoons, sitcoms, documentaries, and reality shows. The network has had a profound impact on both the music industry and popular culture. What was the first music video aired on MTV? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Swiss National Day

This nationwide celebration of the Swiss Confederation is observed with torchlight processions, fireworks, shooting contests, and folkloric events. The day commemorates the occasion in 1291 when representatives of the three original cantons of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden met on the Rutli meadow and swore an oath of alliance and mutual defense to lay the foundations of the Confederation. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Herman Melville (1819)

Neglected for much of his career but now considered one of the greatest American writers, Melville was born into an impoverished family and had little formal schooling. He sailed for the South Seas on a whaler in 1841, jumped ship after 18 months, and spent the next 2 years on various Pacific islands. His popular first novels were based on these adventures. His masterpiece, Moby-Dick, is both an intense whaling narrative and a symbolic examination of US democracy. To whom is it dedicated? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Struthiomimus: An “Ostrichosaurus”?

Struthiomimus was a long-legged, possibly feathered, ostrich-like dinosaur that lived in the area that is now Alberta, Canada, during the late Cretaceous Period, approximately 75 million years ago. With a slender neck and a toothless beak, it is believed that the bipedal dinosaur’s only defenses against predators were its powerful legs, which gave Struthiomimus the ability to run rapidly, much like an ostrich. How fast was it? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary