The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was formed in 1927 by Louis B. Mayer and others to raise the standards of film production, and its first Academy Awards were presented not long after. Hosted by actor Douglas Fairbanks and director William C. DeMille, the first Academy Awards ceremony recognized individuals who had made outstanding film achievements in 1927 and 1928. The gold-plated statuettes given to awardees are popularly known as “Oscars.” How did they get this nickname? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Inspired by the eagles he saw while out in the fields, Spanish inventor and aviation pioneer Diego Marín Aguilera built a flying machine from wood, iron, cloth, and feathers whose design was based on his observations of birds of prey. His attempt to fly the vehicle was somewhat successful—he reportedly reached a height of about 20 ft (6 m) and glided some distance—but he crash-landed when the device suffered a structural failure. What did the locals do when they learned of his invention? 
Launched into orbit in 1973, Skylab was the first US space station. It carried a laboratory for studying the human body’s adaptation to weightlessness and a powerful solar telescope. Three successive astronaut crews conducted research aboard Skylab for a total of 171 days in 1973–74. Though Skylab was intended to be reused, increased solar activity caused its orbit to degrade faster than expected. In 1979, the 75-tonne station reentered Earth’s atmosphere and broke up. Where did the debris land? 
More than a month after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, ending the American Civil War, fighting continued in other regions. The Battle of Palmito Ranch was fought in Texas on May 12-13, 1865, and was the last major clash of arms in the war. It ended with a Confederate victory, with 118 Union soldiers killed and a few dozen rebels wounded. Who was the last casualty of the battle—and likely the last of the war? 
One of the first major crises of the Cold War, the Berlin blockade began in June 1948 during the multinational occupation of post-WWII Germany. In an attempt to force its former wartime allies—the US, the UK, and France—out of Berlin, the USSR began a blockade of all rail, road, and water traffic through East Germany to West Berlin. Rather than withdraw, the Western powers bypassed the blockade by airlifting thousands of tons of supplies into the city each day. What was Operation Little Vittles? 
In the 1930s, severe drought conditions in the Great Plains region of the US and decades of farming without crop rotation led to a series of devastating dust storms. The storms, called “dusters” or “black blizzards,” caused widespread ecological and agricultural damage. In May 1934, one of the worst storms to hit the Dust Bowl blew massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil all the way to the East Coast and dumped the equivalent of how many pounds of debris on Chicago, Illinois? 
In 1836, US President Andrew Jackson issued the Specie Circular, an executive order requiring purchases of government land to be made only with gold and silver currency, or specie. A shortage of specie soon made loans harder to acquire, and the US economy suffered. When the speculative bubble burst in 1837, every bank in New York City stopped payment in specie. The Panic was followed by a nationwide depression involving record bank failures and unemployment levels. Who was blamed for the Panic? 
Still celebrated in most of the Soviet successor states, Victory Day marks Nazi Germany’s capitulation to the USSR in WWII. Signed on the evening of May 8, 1945—May 9 in Moscow’s time zone—the surrender followed Germany’s initial capitulation to the Allies. When the first surrender document was being signed, only one Soviet representative was present, and he had no instructions from Moscow nor any means of immediate contact with Soviet leaders. Was he punished or lauded for deciding to sign it? 
Four days after four students were shot and killed while protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Ohio, several hundred anti-war protesters gathered near New York City Hall to hold a memorial for the shooting victims and protest the war. At around noon, 200 construction workers attacked the approximately 1,000 protesters—most of whom were high school and college students—resulting in dozens of injuries and six arrests. Who organized the construction workers in the counter-protest? 
The Symphony No. 9 in D Minor is the last complete symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven. One of the best known works of the Western repertoire, it is considered one of Beethoven’s greatest masterpieces. Incorporating part of Johann Schiller’s “Ode to Joy,” sung by soloists and a chorus, it is the first symphony in which a major composer utilizes human voices on the same level as instruments. How many standing ovations reportedly followed its premiere performance in 1824?