Month: December 2022

Aston Martin

Aston Martin is a British luxury car manufacturer that is today owned by a consortium of investors. The company takes its name from Lionel Martin, one of the founders, and Aston Hill, the location where Martin enjoyed racing cars. Founded in 1913, the company produced its first car two years later. Its cars have become symbols of British glamour, though the company has been plagued with financial problems throughout its history. Aston Martins are featured in what popular series of films? Discuss

Charles Darwin Sets Sail on HMS Beagle (1831)

The theory of evolution, which Darwin first expressed in On the Origin of Species, was the result of his discoveries as a naturalist on board the HMS Beagle. His book explained evolution through the principles of natural selection and aroused widespread debate among scientists and religious leaders. Darwin spent the rest of his life studying the results of that expedition and developing his theory of evolution. What debilitating disease might he have contracted during the voyage?

St. John the Evangelist's Day

John the Evangelist was thought to be not only the youngest of the Apostles but the longest-lived, dying peacefully of natural causes at an advanced age. Although he escaped actual martyrdom, St. John endured considerable persecution and suffering for his beliefs. He is said to have drunk poison to prove his faith, been cast into a cauldron of boiling oil, and at one point banished to the Greek island of Patmos. He remained miraculously unharmed throughout these trials and returned to Ephesus, where it is believed he wrote the Gospel according to John. Discuss

Johannes Kepler (1571)

Described by famed astronomer Carl Sagan as “the first astrophysicist and the last scientific astrologer,” Johannes Kepler was a German astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer. A key figure in the scientific revolution, Kepler derived three famous laws of planetary motion, which, among other things, established that the planets travel around the Sun in elliptical rather than circular orbits. When Kepler was six, his mother, who was later tried for witchcraft, took him to see what phenomenon?

The Saguaro

The saguaro is a large, candelabra-shaped cactus that can grow up to 50 feet (15 m). Native to the deserts of Mexico and the southwestern US, it takes up to 75 years to develop but can live more than 200 years and can weigh up to 10 tons (9,000 kg). This mammoth typically dies by being uprooted by wind or washouts. It produces edible red fruits and white flowers that bloom at night but remain open into the next day. What are “saguaro boots,” and how have they been used by Native Americans?

Indian Ocean Tsunami Strikes (2004)

A tsunami is a series of massive waves generated when a body of water is rapidly displaced. The deadliest tsunami in recorded history, the Indian Ocean tsunami killed some 230,000 people in Indonesia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and other countries as far away as Somalia on the Horn of Africa. It was triggered by an undersea earthquake near Sumatra with a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3 and inundated coastal communities with waves up to 100 ft (30 m) high. How far away were the effects felt? Discuss

Fiesta Grande

Around Christmas time, thousands of Chilean pilgrims gather to honor the Virgen del Rosario (Virgin of the Rosary), patron saint of miners. The ceremonies take place in the copper-mining town of Andacollo, situated in the Andes mountains. The centerpiece of the festival is a famous three-foot wooden statue of the Virgin that is housed in Andacollo’s basilica. The festival’s main proceedings take place on December 26, during which a religious dance is performed in indigenous costume. Nearby, cockfighting and horseracing attract participants as alternative secular activities. Discuss