Month: October 2024

First Oktoberfest Held in Munich, Germany (1810)

The first Oktoberfest was held as a horse race celebrating the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria to Princess Therese von Saxony-Hildburghausen. In the years that followed, the race was combined with the state agricultural fair, and food and drink were offered. Since that time the 16-day festival has become, above all else, a celebration of German beer, drawing more than five million attendees annually. How many millions of liters of beer did Oktoberfest attendees consume in 2007? Discuss

Edith Stein (1891)

Born into an observant Jewish family, Stein converted to Christianity in 1922. After studying philosophy, she became a nun in 1934. She moved from Germany to the Netherlands to avoid Nazi persecution, but in 1942 she was arrested because of her Jewish heritage. She was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp and died in the gas chamber that year. She was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1998 and is also known as Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. With what miracles is Stein credited? Discuss

Offal

Considered either waste material or delicacy, depending on the cultural context, offal is the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. It is prepared and consumed in a myriad of ways throughout the world. In the Philippines, pig intestines are used to make a type of blood sausage called Dinuguan, and in Pakistan, livers, brains, and kidneys are components of Taka-Tak. Scotland’s haggis is a boiled mix of sheep’s liver, heart, and lungs stuffed in what other organ? Discuss

Launch of Apollo 7 (1968)

In 1961, US President John F. Kennedy committed the US to the goal of landing astronauts on the Moon and bringing them safely back to Earth by the end of the decade. The resulting Apollo program is said to have been the largest scientific and technological undertaking in history. The project’s first successful manned mission was Apollo 7, which paved the way for the Moon landing less than a year later. What caused tension between the flight crew and mission control during Apollo 7? Discuss

Samuel Clarke (1675)

Clarke was an English philosopher and clergyman who advocated the theories of Isaac Newton. Clarke maintained that ethical law is as constant as mathematical law. His published works include many translations, lectures, sermons, and commentaries. In 1717, his correspondence with German philosopher Gottfried Leibniz was published. In it, he argues with Leibniz in defense of the existence of absolute space—physical space independent of what occupies it. Why did their discussion abruptly end? Discuss

Ebola

Ebola, the virus group responsible for an often fatal hemorrhagic fever, emerged in Africa in the 1970s and was named for a river near the site of the first recognized outbreak. With mortality rates as high as 90%, Ebola hemorrhagic fever encompasses a range of symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes internal and external bleeding, and has no approved vaccine or treatment. Although the carrier is still unknown, what animal is thought to be the most likely reservoir of the disease? Discuss

United Air Lines Chesterton Crash (1933)

In 1933, a Boeing 247 operated by United Air Lines exploded mid-flight and crashed near Chesterton, Indiana. The crash killed all seven people aboard, including four passengers and three crew members. Investigators concluded that a bomb caused the explosion, making this the first proven act of air sabotage in the history of commercial aviation. No suspect has ever been identified or charged in the incident. How did investigators determine that a bomb caused the explosion? Discuss

Thelonious Monk (1917)

One of the key innovators of modern jazz, Monk worked as a pianist in the early 1940s at Minton’s Playhouse and other clubs where the rudiments of the new jazz style were being developed. Known for his highly idiosyncratic, percussive playing, he performed with many notable jazz musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, before recording under his own name beginning in 1947. Monk is one of only five jazz musicians to have been featured on the cover of Time magazine. Who are the other four? Discuss