Month: December 2018

USSR Expelled from the League of Nations (1939)

The League of Nations was an international confederation of countries created after World War I and disbanded following World War II when many of its functions were transferred to the United Nations. The League collapsed when faced with threats to international peace from all sides in the 1930s, including the Spanish civil war, Japan’s resumption of war against China, and the appeasement of Adolf Hitler at Munich. Its last important act was to expel the Soviet Union in 1939 for doing what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

George VI, King of Great Britain and Ireland (1895)

The subject of the Academy Award-winning 2010 film The King’s Speech, George VI became king of the United Kingdom following the abdication of his brother, Edward VIII. George was an important symbolic leader of the British people during World War II, supporting the wartime leadership of Winston Churchill and visiting armies on the battlefield. He earned the respect of his people by scrupulously observing the responsibilities of a constitutional monarch and by overcoming what disability? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Phineas Gage

Gage was a railroad worker whose incredible survival of a traumatic brain injury played a seminal role in the study of localization of brain function. In 1848, Gage was blasting rock to clear the way for a new rail line when an explosives accident caused a large metal rod to shoot through his face, brain, and skull. Remarkably, Gage was conscious, walking, and talking within minutes. However, his personality allegedly underwent a radical transformation. What were some of the reported changes? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Council of Trent Convened (1545)

The Council of Trent made sweeping reforms to the Catholic Church over 18 years, eliminating many abuses criticized in the Protestant Reformation. Convened by Pope Paul III at Trento, Italy—28 years after Martin Luther issued his 95 Theses—the council fixed the canon of the Old and New Testaments, set the number of sacraments at seven, defined the nature of original sin, and confirmed the doctrine of transubstantiation. How many years was it until the next ecumenical council? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Susuharai

In Japan, many people choose to give their houses a thorough cleaning at year’s end. Worn or broken furniture and utensils and items that have been lost are replaced. New tatami mats, the thick straw mats on which people sit and sleep, are brought in, and damage to the paper sliding doors in traditional Japanese houses is repaired. In some areas, it is customary to tie pounded rice cakes (mochi-bana, “rice-cake flowers”) to the branches of willow trees as an offering to the gods. Friends and co-workers may also throw “year-end forgetting parties” known as bonen-kai. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Emily Carr (1871)

Now considered an icon of Canadian art, Carr did not receive widespread recognition for her work until later in life. She primarily painted indigenous-themed or landscape scenes, and she was relatively unknown until her work was featured in a 1927 exhibition at the National Gallery, when she was in her 50s. Carr continued to paint thereafter but had to reduce her artistic output in her 70s due to health concerns. Instead, Carr began to pursue what other talent for which she is also remembered? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Emo

The term “emo,” short for “emotional hardcore,” describes a subgenre of punk rock music combining traditional hard rock with personal, emotional lyrics that emerged in Washington, DC, in the 1980s. In the 1990s, the genre gained a wider following that eventually helped it break into the mainstream music scene. The term evolved to describe not only music but also the fashion and subculture that developed around it. Why did the Russian government propose a law to regulate emo? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary