Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company Is Founded (1847)

Siemens AG is Europe’s largest engineering conglomerate. It was originally founded to build telegraph installations, but under Werner Siemens and his three brothers, it expanded to produce cables, telephones, electric power, and electric lighting. The company built the first long-distance telegraph line in Europe, followed by the monumental Indo-European telegraph line that stretched from Calcutta, India, to London, England. What scandal tainted the company’s reputation in the 1940s? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

International Day of Older Persons

The United Nations General Assembly decided to set aside October 1 as International Day for the Elderly in 1990 (later designated as the International Day of Older Persons). By designating a day when governments are supposed to focus on what they can do to provide for the elderly, the U.N. hopes not only to forestall problems related to the aging of the population but to focus attention on the promise that a maturing population holds for social undertakings. The United Nations also set aside the year 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Bonnie Parker (1910)

Bonnie Parker was the female half of the notorious Depression-era criminal duo “Bonnie and Clyde.” She met Clyde Barrow in 1930 and soon became his lover as well as his partner in crime. In 1932, the pair began a 21-month crime spree—which ended when they were killed in a police ambush—that involved robberies, shootouts, and murders. Their activities were widely publicized, and they soon became America’s most famous and romanticized outlaws. How did Bonnie and Clyde allegedly meet? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Oil Reserves

A measure of the wealth available to owners and operators of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs, oil reserves are the estimated amounts of oil or gas that can be economically recovered from reservoirs. In the 1970s, an energy crisis precipitated by a spike in oil prices prompted the development of new oil fields in Alaska and the North Sea, boosting the world’s reserves from 645.8 billion barrels in 1978 to 1,052.9 billion in 1998. Today, many nations do not reveal data about their reservoirs. Why? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary