The first streetcars, which were drawn by horses, were introduced in New York City. The first electric streetcar system for urban passenger service in the US was introduced about 50 years later in Cleveland. The use of streetcars expanded in the US until World War I. Since then, most have been replaced by buses, although many still remain in use, and new streetcar systems have been introduced in some cities. What is the difference between a streetcar and a trolley? Discuss
Month: November 2023
Charles M. Schulz (1922)
Schulz was the creator of the enormously popular syndicated comic strip Peanuts, which ran continuously from 1950 until 2000, when Schulz announced its end shortly before his death. The strip’s principal characters are Charlie Brown, a gentle, puzzled boy, usually failing, yet always persevering; Lucy, his bossy, know-it-all friend; Linus, a philosophical tyke with a security blanket; and Snoopy, a romantic, self-deluded beagle. Before Peanuts, Schulz worked for what magazine? Discuss
have a part in (something)
To be involved in some capacity with establishing, maintaining, or running something. Watch the video
The Deepest Ocean
In 1951, the British Royal Navy ship HMS Challenger II surveyed the Challenger Deep trench of the Pacific Ocean, located between Indonesia and Japan, establishing it as the deepest known point of any ocean on Earth. Less than a decade later, a US Navy deep-sea diving submersible descended to the trench floor. There, the crew observed small sole and flounder and noted that the floor consisted of diatomaceous ooze. What is the maximum depth surveyed at the Challenger Deep? Discuss
camion
Anti-Comintern Pact Signed by Germany and Japan (1936)
The German-Japanese Anti-Comintern Pact was one of a series of agreements leading to the formation of the Axis Powers. Ostensibly directed against the Comintern, an association of national communist parties that degenerated under Stalin into an instrument of Soviet politics, the pact contained a secret agreement stating that if either signatory power went to war with the USSR, the other would maintain a benevolent neutrality. What other countries eventually signed the treaty? Discuss
Bosnia and Herzegovina Statehood Day
Bosnia and Herzegovina are two adjoining regions in the Balkans that were ruled by Croatian kings in medieval times. They were united into a province under the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Statehood Day commemorates the November 25, 1943, assembly of the first joint Bosnian and Herzegovinan parliament. In 1946, Bosnia and Herzegovina became part of the newly-formed Yugoslav federation. Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia on March 1, 1992. Discuss
Karl Benz (1844)
Benz was a German engineer credited with building the first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine. His Motorwagen, the first commercial automobile, was first driven in 1885 and patented the next year. It had three wheels, an electric ignition, differential gears, and was water-cooled. Benz’s familiarity with and fondness for bicycles inspired the design of his “horseless carriage.” According to legend, who took one of Benz’s early models on the first long-distance road trip? Discuss
have (one's) fill (of something)
To have, consume, or experience as much (of something) as one desires or is able to. Often used in the present perfect tense (“have had one’s fill”). Watch the video
The Han Dynasty
The Han dynasty ruled China from 202 BCE to 220 CE. During the period of civil strife that followed the fall of the Ch’in dynasty, Liu Pang, a farmer and guerilla fighter, defeated his rivals for the throne and established himself as the first Han emperor. Under Han rule, the harsh laws of the Ch’in were repealed, taxes were lightened, and the absolute autocracy of the emperor was lessened. Which emperor is credited with China’s shift from the Taoist system to the Confucian ideal? Discuss