Anna Anderson was the best known of several women claiming to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, believed to have been executed with her family after the Russian Revolution. Anderson first claimed to be Anastasia after a failed suicide attempt in 1920, which led to a protracted court case involving a long line of people who had known the real Anastasia. DNA tests in the 1990s revealed what about the claim’s legitimacy? Discuss
Month: March 2023
coeval
Definition: (adjective) Originating or existing during the same period; lasting through the same era.
Synonyms: coetaneous, contemporaneous.
Usage: The range was composed of grand, solid, abrupt masses of granite, which appeared as if they had been coeval with the beginning of the world.
Discuss
Operation Northwoods Proposed (1962)
Operation Northwoods was a plan proposed by the US Department of Defense to generate public support for military action against the Cuban government of Fidel Castro. To this end, it recommended staging acts of simulated or real terrorism and violence on US soil or against US interests and then placing the blame on Cuba. The plan, which was not implemented, was drafted by senior US defense leaders and signed by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Who made the secret document public? Discuss
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey (1764)
Charles Grey was a British statesman elected to Parliament in 1786 at the age of 22. He went on to become one of the leaders of the Whig party and eventually served as prime minister from 1830–34. His tenure saw the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832, which reshaped the parliamentary representative system, and the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire. He is perhaps best remembered as the namesake of the Earl Grey blend of tea. What once knocked the head off a statue of him? Discuss
control freak
Someone who has an obsessive or compulsive need to control every aspect of a situation and/or the ways in which others act. Watch the video
Mykonos
Mykonos is a mountainous island of Greece in the Aegean Sea. Made mostly of granite, this 35 sq mi (90 sq km) island of about 6,200 people is a popular European tourist destination and has many fisheries. Mykonos is known for its nightlife and is considered one of the top clubbing destinations in the Mediterranean. In Greek mythology, Mykonos was the site of the battle between Zeus and what race of giants? Discuss
sanies
The Truman Doctrine (1947)
In the early stages of the Cold War, US President Harry Truman sought to protect Turkey and Greece from falling under Soviet influence when the UK announced that it could no longer provide them with aid. The Truman Doctrine, which called for the US to “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures,” shifted US foreign policy to a strategy of Soviet containment. How much money did Congress appropriate in response to Truman’s message? Discuss
Mauritius Independence Day
This national holiday commemorates the day in 1968 when Mauritius gained independence from Britain, after being under its rule since the early 19th century. Discuss
Jack Kerouac (1922)
Considered the father of the Beat movement, Jack Kerouac was an American novelist whose semiautobiographical, “spontaneous prose” reflects a frenetic, restless pursuit of new sensation and experience and a disdain for the conventional measures of economic and social success. His best known works are The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums, and On the Road, which is widely considered the testament of the Beat Generation. Why was Kerouac arrested in connection with a 1944 murder? Discuss