Month: December 2023

The New York Air Disaster (1960)

On a snowy day in 1960, two airliners destined for different airports collided over Staten Island, New York. Trans World Airlines Flight 266 crashed into Staten Island and United Airlines Flight 826 crashed into a Brooklyn neighborhood. The crash killed all 128 passengers aboard both planes, as well as six people on the ground in Brooklyn. An 11-year-old United passenger named Stephen Baltz initially survived the crash, but he later died from his injuries. How did he survive the landing? Discuss

Wassily Kandinsky (1866)

Kandinsky, a Russian-born painter and art theorist, was one of the 20th century’s most important artists, credited with painting the first abstract works in the history of modern art. He was a founder of the German expressionist group The Blue Rider, and he wrote Concerning the Spiritual in Art to champion ideas about color and nonrepresentational painting that he had developed after coming in contact with Neo-Impressionism and Fauvism. At what age did Kandinsky enroll in art school? Discuss

War Elephants

Elephants were first used in military campaigns in India around 1100 BCE. At the 331 BCE Battle of Gaugamela, Alexander the Great’s forces faced 15 war elephants. Recognizing the large pachyderms’ military value, Alexander began employing them in his own campaigns. The elephants’ thick hides made them extremely difficult to kill or neutralize, and they easily trampled opposing forces as they charged through enemy lines. How did the Megarians use pigs to combat war elephants? Discuss

Plane Carrying Jazz Musician Glenn Miller Disappears (1944)

Miller was an American swing-era jazz musician and bandleader and one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1942. A freelance musician in New York City, Miller formed his own big band in 1938, earning fame for songs like “Moonlight Serenade.” During WWII, he joined the military and entertained the troops as leader of the US Air Force band. While flying from England to Paris, his plane disappeared over the English Channel. Miller was never found. What may have happened to the plane? Discuss

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (1832)

Eiffel was a French engineer who designed the Eiffel Tower as the entrance arch for the for the 1889 Paris Exhibition. Though it was supposed to be dismantled after the fair, the tower became a landmark and is today the world’s most visited paid monument. Prior to this massive undertaking, Eiffel established his reputation by constructing a series of ambitious railway bridges, including the span across the Douro at Oporto, Portugal. In 1881, he designed the internal framework for what structure? Discuss

KÀ and the Circus of the Sun

When two former street performers founded Cirque du Soleil in 1984, they began a movement that would revolutionize the concept of the modern circus. KÀ, Cirque’s fourth resident show in Las Vegas, premiered in 2004 at the MGM Grand. The unique, Vegas style production is a multimedia, acrobatic, orchestral undertaking about conflict, love, and self discovery. KÀ lacks a traditional stage and is instead performed on floating platforms that rotate and move. What is the KÀ encountered in this show? Discuss