Ernie Kovacs (1919)

Kovacs was an American comedian. He turned to television after studying acting and writing, and he did much of the performing, writing, and producing for his three series—Time for Ernie, The Ernie Kovacs Show, and Kovacs Unlimited. He utilized the television format imaginatively, employing sight gags and zany improvisations, and showed off his wacky personality in 10 movies before dying prematurely in a car crash. Why did he once give a taxi driver the key to his apartment? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Reverse Engineering

Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of a device through analysis of its structure, function, and operation. It often involves taking apart an electronic component, software program, or other device in order to redesign the system for better maintainability or produce a copy of a system without access to the original design. Militaries often use reverse engineering to copy other nations’ technology. What are some well-known examples from WWII? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The January Uprising Begins (1863)

The January Uprising began as a spontaneous rebellion of young Poles in Russian Poland against conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. They were soon joined by Lithuanians living in the territory, but they were severely outnumbered and isolated, and they failed to win any major victories or capture any major cities. The Russians crushed the uprising and began an intensive program of Russification. During the uprising, Russian soldiers are said to have defenestrated what composer’s piano? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Dinagyang

The Dinagyang is a dancing-in-the-streets carnival on the island of Panay in Iloilo City, Philippines, held a week after the Ati-Atihan in Kalibo and the Sinulog in Cebu. Like these festivals, Dinagyang venerates the Santo Niño, or Holy Infant. In Iloilo (pronounced EE-lo-EE-lo) the participation of tribal groups adds to the festival’s color, but, unlike the exuberant Kalibo crowds, the spectators in Iloilo are quiet. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Johan August Strindberg (1849)

Strindberg was a master of the Swedish language and an innovator of dramatic and literary styles. He achieved renown with the novel The Red Room, in which he satirized hypocrisy in Swedish life. It helped initiate Swedish realism and revealed his remarkable style, which he developed in an impressive assortment of novels, plays, stories, histories, and poems. Which of Strindberg’s plays, now considered the first modern Swedish drama, was originally rejected by the national theater? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Microcredit

Microcredit is the extension of small loans—which are not secured by collateral and often require repayment in weekly installments—to poor individuals for use in income-generating activities that will improve the borrowers’ living standards. The concept of microcredit was developed in 1976 by Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist, as a means of alleviating poverty and improving the lives of Bangladesh’s poorest inhabitants. What group comprises the majority of microcredit borrowers? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary