Month: February 2020

Li Ch’un

Li Ch’un is Chinese for “spring is here.” This is one of 24 days in the Chinese calendar marking a change of season. The celebration of spring in some places has involved a procession of local dignitaries, dancers, singers, and musicians. Some of these carried a platform holding an ox and his driver made of paper. Each year the Chinese almanac, the T’ung Shu, gives specific instructions about the most auspicious colors to use in creating the ox and driver. People also traditionally mount a post with feathers outside their homes, which means that spring has officially arrived. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Poison Affair

During the trial of Marie Madeleine d’Aubray, marquise de Brinvilliers, who stood accused of conspiring to poison her relatives to secure the family fortune, it was revealed that such poisons, or “inheritance powders,” could be readily bought from Parisian fortune-tellers and alchemists. The news terrified high society, especially the king’s court. An investigation was launched, and a hysterical period ensued during which how many people were executed for poison conspiracies? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Cavalese Cable Car Disaster (1998)

Relations between Italy and the US were strained in 1998 when a US military plane, flying too low and too fast through a valley near the Italian town of Cavalese, clipped an aerial tramway cable. The cable car fell, killing all 20 people on board. The pilot and navigator were acquitted of homicide in a US military court, sparking outrage in Italy, but were later convicted of obstruction of justice for destroying a video of the incident. How did the US attempt to repair relations with Italy? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Tillia Tepe

Tillia Tepe, which literally means “Golden Hill” in Persian, is an ancient necropolis in northern Afghanistan that dates to the 1st century BCE. In 1979, a year before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a Soviet-Afghan team of archaeologists discovered some 20,000 gold ornaments in six graves at the site. The treasure went missing in subsequent wars and was thought to have been destroyed by the Taliban, but it has since been rediscovered and widely exhibited. To whom did the gold first belong? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Edison Festival of Light

The Edison Festival of Light is held annually in Fort Myers, Florida, for more than three weeks, encompassing Thomas Edison‘s birthday. Highlights of the festival include concerts, the coronation of the King and Queen of Edisonia, a children’s parade, fireworks, exhibits of Edison’s various inventions, and exhibits of regional inventors. The Grand Parade of Light—a nighttime procession of more than 100 bands, floats, and marching units—is the festival’s grand finale. Edison’s winter home and his Florida laboratory are open to the public year-round. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Hortensia

The daughter of Roman orator Quintus Hortensius, Hortensia earned fame of her own by giving a speech before the members of the Second Triumvirate in 42 BCE on behalf of the women of Rome. That year, Rome’s state-sponsored military legions were at war with the assassins of Julius Caesar. To fund the war, lawmakers imposed a tax on Rome’s 1,400 wealthiest women, who were outraged at the prospect of being taxed for a war over which they had no control. How did the lawmakers respond to her speech? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary