Month: July 2022

Cuju

The earliest known precursor to football—or soccer, as it is known in some parts of the world—cuju is an ancient Chinese game that involves passing a ball through an opening into a net using only one’s feet. Originally part of the military’s fitness training regimen, the sport gained traction in the royal courts and among the upper classes in around 200 BCE. Cuju games were then standardized, and rules were laid out. With what were cuju balls initially filled? Discuss

West Point Opens (1802)

Before it was home to young men and women training to be US Army officers, West Point, New York, was the site of a military post. Congress signed legislation establishing the United States Military Academy there in 1802, though it was initially an apprentice school for military engineers. Its curriculum broadened in 1866, and, after World War I, Superintendent Douglas MacArthur pushed for major changes in the physical fitness and athletic programs. What collegiate tradition began at West Point? Discuss

Turtle Independence Day

Since 1989, the Mauna Lani Resort in Hawaii has taken in baby Hawaiian green sea turtles from the Sea Life Park in Oahu, Hawaii. Staffers raise the turtles in salt water ponds located on the resort hotel’s grounds until they reach maturity and can be released into the wild. Every Fourth of July, a Turtle Independence Day is held in which turtles are brought down to the hotel’s beach and let go. In addition to the release of the mature turtles, which is open to the public, the hotel also has entertainment, games, canoe rides, and educational displays for children. Discuss

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804)

Hawthorne was one of the great masters of American fiction. His novels and tales are penetrating explorations of moral and spiritual conflicts, and his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, is often considered the first American psychological novel. Hawthorne also helped to establish the American short story as a significant art form with his haunting tales of human loneliness, frustration, hypocrisy, eccentricity, and frailty. What future US president did Hawthorne befriend in college? Discuss

The Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness

The Mohs scale of mineral hardness characterizes the scratch resistance of various minerals, through the ability of a harder material to scratch a softer one and not be scratched by it. While the varying hardness of stones was likely first explored around 300 BCE, German mineralogist Friedrich Mohs devised his scale in 1812. It uses 10 standards ranging from talc, the softest, with a value of 1, to diamond, the hardest, with a value of 10. Where does a fingernail fall on the Mohs scale? Discuss

Hugh Capet Crowned King of France (987)

Capet was the son of Hugh the Great, to whose vast territories he succeeded in 956. After the death of Louis V, the last Carolingian king of France, the nobles and prelates elected Capet king—setting aside the last Carolingian claimant, Charles I, who proceeded to fight Capet through most of his reign. Capet ruled France from 987 to 996 and was succeeded by his son, whom he had crowned in 987 to secure the succession. Today, members of the Capetian dynasty are heads of state in what countries? Discuss

Franz Kafka (1883)

Despite the fact that he published only a few short works during his lifetime, Kafka is regarded as one of the most influential 20th-century writers. In prose remarkable for its clarity and precision, Kafka presents a world that is at once real and dreamlike and in which individuals burdened with guilt, isolation, and anxiety make a futile search for personal salvation. What virtually insurmountable difficulties do translators face when converting Kafka’s works from German into English? Discuss