Month: April 2024

Facial Hair

Over the centuries, as styles of clothing change and evolve, so too do the ways in which men wear their facial hair. In 18th-century Europe, the chinstrap, a narrow line of beard that grows along the chin and jaw, gained popularity, while the handlebar moustache, with its characteristically lengthy ends, is considered stereotypical of the 19th-century American Wild West. What are “friendly mutton chops”? Discuss

Brazilian Patriot Tiradentes Hanged, Drawn, and Quartered (1792)

Born José Joaquim da Silva Xavier, Tiradentes gained his nickname, which means “tooth-puller,” working as a healer in his youth. In the late 1780s, he joined and soon became the leader of a revolutionary movement against Portuguese rule in Brazil that was inspired by the American Revolution. In 1789, the movement was betrayed and its leaders were imprisoned. They were freed and exiled in 1792 with the exception of Tiradentes, who was executed in Rio de Janeiro. What was done with his remains? Discuss

Fiesta San Antonio

The Fiesta San Antonio is a 10-day extravaganza of events held since 1901 in San Antonio, Texas, including San Jacinto Day, April 21. The highlight of the fiesta is the Battle of Flowers Parade alongside the Alamo. Merrymakers originally pelted each other with flowers, but now people crush cascarones, decorated eggshells filled with confetti, on each others’ heads. Some 150 other events include concerts, fashion shows, art fairs, a charreada (Mexican rodeo), torchlit floats in the Fiesta Flambeau Parade, and decorated barges in the San Antonio River Parade. Discuss

Max Weber (1864)

Weber was a German sociologist and political economist whose most famous and controversial work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, examines the relationship between Calvinist—or Puritan—morality, compulsive labor, bureaucracy, and economic success under capitalism. Weber also wrote about social phenomena such as charisma and mysticism, which he saw as antithetical to the modern world and its underlying process of rationalization. What other important works did he write? Discuss

Calorie Restriction and Life Extension

Calorie restriction (CR), a diet known by many names, is the practice of limiting dietary energy intake with the intention of improving overall health and slowing the aging process. While caloric intake among practitioners is limited, care is taken to ensure that dieters receive adequate vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. CR has been shown to lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and fasting glucose in human subjects. What are some of the criticisms of this diet? Discuss

The Columbine High School Massacre (1999)

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were seniors at Colorado’s Columbine High School when they carried out one of the deadliest school shootings in US history, killing 12 students and one teacher and injuring 21 others before taking their own lives. The incident, widely covered by the media, stirred debate about the pair’s motivation for the killings, the availability of firearms, and the role of bullying, video games, and music in acts of violence. For what crime had the two been previously arrested? Discuss

Philippe Pinel (1745)

After moving to Paris in 1778, Pinel, a French physician, was appointed director of the Bicêtre and Salpêtrière hospitals. His experiences there prompted him to advocate for the humane treatment of mentally ill persons—then called the insane—and for the empirical study of mental disease. He further contributed to the development of psychiatry by establishing the practice of thoroughly documenting psychiatric case histories for research. What initially inspired Pinel’s interest in mental illness? Discuss