Month: May 2023

Battle of Palmito Ranch Ends (1865)

More than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, ending the American Civil War, fighting continued in other regions. The Battle of Palmito Ranch was fought in Texas on May 12-13, 1865, and was the last major clash of arms in the war. It ended with a Confederate victory, with 118 Union soldiers killed and a few dozen rebels wounded. Who was the last casualty of the battle—and likely the last of the war? Discuss

Sir Ronald Ross (1857)

Born and raised in India, English physician Ronald Ross joined the Indian Medical Service after completing medical school and undertook the study of malaria, then a disease that was not well understood. After years of research, he demonstrated the malarial parasite, Plasmodium, in the stomach of the Anopheles mosquito, identifying the disease’s mechanism of transmission. His discoveries earned him a Nobel Prize in 1902. When is World Mosquito Day, instituted by Ross, observed? Discuss

The Burqa

The burqa is a loose, opaque, and all-enveloping outer garment worn by women in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India. Similar garments in the Middle East are known as the hijab or chador. The burqa covers the wearer’s entire face except for a small region around the eyes. Because a full burqa conceals the entire body and includes a net panel that hides the wearer’s eyes, some governments have passed legislation prohibiting it. In 2010, how much was a woman fined for wearing a burqa? Discuss

pyrosis

Definition: (noun) A painful burning sensation in the chest caused by gastroesophageal reflux (backflow from the stomach irritating the esophagus); symptomatic of an ulcer or a diaphragmatic hernia or other disorder.

Synonyms: heartburn.

Usage: Even after he swore off spicy foods, his pyrosis kept him up at night.
Discuss

Soviet Union Lifts Blockade of Berlin (1949)

One of the first major crises of the Cold War, the Berlin blockade began in June 1948 during the multinational occupation of post-WWII Germany. In an attempt to force its former wartime allies—the US, the UK, and France—out of Berlin, the USSR began a blockade of all rail, road, and water traffic through East Germany to West Berlin. Rather than withdraw, the Western powers bypassed the blockade by airlifting thousands of tons of supplies into the city each day. What was Operation Little Vittles? Discuss

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828)

Rossetti was a British painter, poet, and founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, an association of painters who aimed to combat the shallow conventionalism of academic painting and revive the fidelity to nature and the vivid realistic color that they considered typical of Italian painting before Raphael. Although Rossetti found some financial success as a painter, his lasting reputation rests upon his poetry. What did he have buried with his wife—and later exhumed? Discuss

The Zimmermann Telegram

This secret note, sent by German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmermann to the German ambassador to the US, said that in the event of war, Mexico should be asked to join as a German ally in return for Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. British intelligence intercepted and deciphered the note and sent it to President Wilson. This helped turn US public opinion against Germany during WWI and strengthened advocates of US entry into the war. What was the British dilemma in disclosing the note to the US? Discuss