Month: July 2023

M. Night Shyamalan

Shyamalan is an Academy Award-nominated Indian-American film writer, director, and producer. The Sixth Sense, a film starring Bruce Willis, grossed over $600 million worldwide and is Shyamalan’s greatest commercial success. His filmmaking ambitions were encouraged when, at a young age, he received a Super-8 camera. He made his first film, Praying with Anger, while still an NYU student, using money borrowed from family and friends. What is Shyamalan’s first name? Discuss

Nixon and Khrushchev Engage in "Kitchen Debate" (1959)

The Kitchen Debate was an impromptu debate—conducted through interpreters—between US Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959. Centering on a discussion of the merits of capitalism versus communism, it took place in the kitchen of a model suburban American house designed to showcase American household appliances, which Nixon touted as examples of American innovation. How did the debate end? Discuss

Calogero Vizzini (1877)

Vizzini, don of the village of Villalba, was one of the most influential Mafia bosses of Sicily following WWII. After the war, the staunch anti-communist was made mayor of Villalba by the Allied occupiers, a move that some might say adds credence to claims that Allied Forces enlisted direct Mafia support during their invasion of Sicily in 1943. Between 1949 and 1954, Vizzini reportedly ruled a lucrative black market operation, allegedly using what business as a front for trafficking heroin? Discuss

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI), the use of computers to model the behavioral aspects of human reasoning and learning, has captured global interest for years. Cybernetics, one area of AI study, is the analysis of the communication and control processes of biological organisms and their relationship to mechanical and electrical systems; advances in this area could lead to “thinking” robots. In science fiction, AI is often portrayed attempting to overthrow human authority. What is “the Singularity”? Discuss

12th Street Riot Begins (1967)

In 1967, racial tensions spurred by high unemployment rates and poor housing conditions in Detroit exploded when police officers raided a speakeasy on the corner of 12th Street and Clairmount. The confrontation with the patrons developed into one of the deadliest and most destructive riots in modern US history, lasting five days and resulting in 43 deaths, 467 injuries, more than 7,200 arrests, and the destruction of more than 2,000 buildings. How was the rioting finally brought under control? Discuss

Bal Gangadhar Tilak (1856)

Known as the “Father of the Indian Unrest,” Tilak was an Indian nationalist, social reformer, and the first popular leader of the Indian independence movement. As a journalist, Tilak voiced his criticisms of British rule in India through two weekly newspapers. In response to the Partition of Bengal in 1905, he initiated a boycott of British goods and passive resistance—two forms of protest later adopted by Gandhi. He was one of the first and strongest proponents of swaraj, which is what? Discuss