Little Person Eddie Gaedel Has Major League Debut (1951)

At 43 inches (1.1 m) tall, Gaedel became the shortest player in the history of Major League Baseball when he made a single plate appearance for the St. Louis Browns in 1951. He arrived on the field inside a replica cake honoring the American League’s 50th anniversary, amusing the crowd by popping out of it. No one suspected his true reason for being there. Browns owner Bill Veeck—a showman fond of publicity stunts—had put Gaedel on the roster. What happened when Gaedel stepped up to the plate? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Payson Rodeo “August Doin’s”

The Payson Rodeo is a rodeo, parade, and general Wild West three-day weekend in the cowboy-and-cattle country of Payson, Arizona. The first Payson rodeo was held in 1885, and it’s been held ever since with no interruptions, not even for war, making it the world’s oldest continuous Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeo. Events of the weekend include the parade with floats, dancers, and cowboys, country music, a chili cookout, and arts and crafts. Total attendance is usually about 30,000. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Roman Vishniac (1897)

A Russian-American biologist, photographer, linguist, art historian, philosopher, and professor, Vishniac is best remembered for producing a photographic record of Central and Eastern European Jewish communities in the years preceding the Holocaust. His efforts were not without risk; he was imprisoned 11 times and forced to do hard labor in two concentration camps. He escaped to the US in 1940 and returned to his scientific roots, contributing to the development of what photographic techniques? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

K2

Standing 28,251 ft (8,611 m) high on the border of China and Pakistan, K2 is the second highest mountain in the world. Although the summit of Mt. Everest is at a higher altitude, K2 is considered a more difficult climb, due in part to its severe weather. Part of the Karakorum segment of the Himalayas, the peak was first scaled in 1954, but only a few hundred climbers have ever reached the summit—compared to the thousands who have ascended Everest. Why is the mountain called “K2”? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Priest Urbain Grandier Burned at the Stake for Witchcraft (1634)

Grandier was a 17th-century French Catholic priest who was accused of bewitching the nuns of the Ursuline convent. Although he was acquitted by an ecclesiastical council, Grandier had published scathing criticisms of Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister and virtual ruler of France, who arranged to have him re-tried. Accused of having entered a pact with the devil, Grandier was tortured, found guilty, and burned at the stake. What was presented as evidence of the Grandier’s diabolical pact? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Mohegan Wigwam Festival

This Mohegan festival, which takes place in Uncasville, Connecticut, has evolved from the pre-Columbian thanksgiving ceremony held by the Indians to thank their creator for the corn harvest. The Wigwam Festival, now billed as a “homecoming”—a time for Mohegan Indians living in all parts of the world to come home and renew their roots—is an opportunity to conduct tribal business, such as the installation of new chieftains and medicine women, and to update one another on tribal matters. Other events include traditional dancing, storytelling, and arts and crafts displays. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Liviu Librescu (1930)

A Holocaust survivor, Professor Liviu Librescu had seen more than his fair share of death before April 16, 2007—Holocaust Remembrance Day—when a gunman tried to enter his classroom at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech. Librescu jumped into action, blocking the door to give his students time to escape through the windows. His heroic actions cost him his life; he was shot five times by the gunman. How many of his students did he manage to save? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Offender Profiling

Featured in many popular films and TV shows, offender profiling is a method of identifying the perpetrator of a crime by analyzing the circumstances of an offense and then forming a description of the offender based on personality traits linked with the commission of such a crime. Though many criminals have been captured with the help of profiling, critics argue that it can distract from potential suspects who do not “fit the profile.” What murderers have been caught with the aid of profiling? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary