Month: May 2023

The Puerto Rican Parrot

The Puerto Rican Parrot is the only remaining native parrot in US territory and one of the 10 most endangered bird species in the world. It has green feathers with black edges, a red forehead, and white ovals around the eyes. It was abundant at the time of Columbus’ arrival, but its numbers declined with the clearing of Puerto Rico’s virgin forests to make way for agricultural, mainly sugar cane, production. In 1975, the population reached an absolute low of how many individuals? Discuss

The Sport of Geocaching Begins (2000)

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) to hide and seek watertight containers filled with trinkets, hoards known as “geocaches” or simply “caches.” The improved accuracy of GPS devices allowed the pastime to develop, since the specific locations of the small containers could finally be logged and shared. Geocaches are now hidden in more than 100 countries and on all seven continents. What did the world’s first geocache contain? Discuss

Día de la Santa Cruz

The Day of the Holy Cross, known elsewhere as the Exaltation of the Cross, is an important one throughout Latin America. Crosses that are normally found in the churches are repaired and repainted, or carried in procession through the streets. In Venezuela, the celebration is known as Velorio de Cruz. People set up special altars in their homes that include crosses, lighted candles, and images of the saints. Musicians and poets from all over the country come to perform in front of these altars. While playing their instruments, they improvise rhymed couplets and other poetic forms. Discuss

Golda Meir (1898)

Meir was Israel’s first female prime minister and the third woman in the world to hold such an office, after Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka and Indira Gandhi of India. A signer of Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948, she served in the fledgling nation’s parliament and held posts as minister of labor and foreign minister before becoming Israel’s fourth prime minister in 1969. During her tenure, she sought to ease tensions in the region through diplomacy. Why did she resign in 1974? Discuss

The History of Auto Racing

Automobile racing originated in France in 1894, almost immediately after the construction of the first successful petrol-fueled autos, and it appeared in the US the following year. Open-road races were banned in France in 1903, however, after they led to 8 fatalities. Today, there are several different categories of racing. In open-wheel, stock-car, and other types of circuit auto races, flags are displayed to communicate instructions to competitors. What does a black flag signify? Discuss

First Ascent of Shishapangma (1964)

Located in south-central Tibet near the border of Nepal, Shishapangma is the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the eight-thousanders—peaks in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges that exceed a height of 8,000 m (26,247 ft). Scaled in 1964, it was the last eight-thousander to be climbed because China imposed severe travel restrictions on foreigners at the time. It is considered one of the easiest eight-thousanders to summit; nevertheless, how many have died trying? Discuss

Athanasius Kircher (1601?)

One of history’s great polymaths, Kircher was a German archeologist, mathematician, biologist, astronomer, musicologist, and physicist who knew Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, Persian, Latin, Greek, and various modern languages. He tried to decipher one of the most ancient writing systems—Egyptian hieroglyphics—but most of his thoughts on the subject proved incorrect. An avid inventor, he built playful devices including a talking and eavesdropping statue that used a primitive intercom, and what else? Discuss