The Sport of Geocaching Begins (2000)

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) to hide and seek watertight containers filled with trinkets, hoards known as “geocaches” or simply “caches.” The improved accuracy of GPS devices allowed the pastime to develop, since the specific locations of the small containers could finally be logged and shared. Geocaches are now hidden in more than 100 countries and on all seven continents. What did the world’s first geocache contain? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

First Ascent of Shishapangma (1964)

Located in south-central Tibet near the border of Nepal, Shishapangma is the fourteenth highest mountain in the world and the lowest of the eight-thousanders—peaks in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges that exceed a height of 8,000 m (26,247 ft). Scaled in 1964, it was the last eight-thousander to be climbed because China imposed severe travel restrictions on foreigners at the time. It is considered one of the easiest eight-thousanders to summit; nevertheless, how many have died trying? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Penny Black Is Issued in the UK (1840)

Before the issuance of the Penny Black—the first adhesive stamp to indicate prepayment of postage—letters were commonly paid for by their recipients. Part of an effort to reform the antiquated British postal system, the stamp featured a profile of Queen Victoria. Because its dark background made cancellation marks hard to see and made reusing stamps quite easy, it was soon redesigned. To this day, all British stamps bear a profile of the reigning monarch and are the only stamps not to list what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Hitler Commits Suicide (1945)

In the final days of World War II, as the Red Army of the Soviet Union was closing in on his underground bunker in Berlin, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide by shooting himself while simultaneously biting into a cyanide capsule. Hitler’s body and that of Eva Braun—his mistress whom he had wed the day before—were then placed in a bomb crater, doused with gasoline, and set on fire by German officials. How did Soviet soldiers identify Hitler’s remains? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

The Elektromote Is Tested (1882)

Ernst Werner von Siemens demonstrated his Elektromote, the world’s first trolleybus, on a 591-yard (540-m) test track in a suburb of Berlin, Germany. The trolleybus was a converted four-wheel coach equipped with two electric motors. Electric power was transmitted to the coach via a flexible cable from a small, eight-wheeled “contact car” running on the power lines above. How long was the Elektromote in operation? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Expo 67 Opens to Public in Montreal, Canada (1967)

Commonly known as Expo 67, the 1967 International and Universal Exposition drew more than 50 million visitors. Part of Canada’s centennial year celebration, Expo 67 featured 90 pavilions representing the “Man and His World” theme, including a geodesic dome designed by architect Buckminster Fuller and the Habitat 67 housing complex designed by architect Moshe Safdie, which is still occupied. Though considered the 20th century’s most successful World’s Fair, Expo 67 had a deficit of how much? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Steamboat Sultana Sinks (1865)

The steamboat Sultana was a Mississippi River paddle-wheeler destroyed when one of its boilers exploded near Memphis, Tennessee. The greatest maritime disaster in US history, an estimated 1,800 of its 2,400 passengers, many of whom were Union soldiers who had just been released from Confederate prison camps, were killed when it sank. Bodies of the victims continued to be found downriver for months, yet the disaster received somewhat diminished attention since it occurred soon after what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Nazi Gestapo Is Established (1933)

Taking its name from the contraction of Geheime Staatspolizei—German for “Secret State Police”—the Gestapo was the secret police force of Nazi Germany. Created in 1933 by Hermann Goring, the Gestapo operated without civil restraints or judicial oversight, brutally suppressing partisan activities in occupied territories and arresting thousands of Jews, leftists, and other Nazi “enemies,” many of whom were sent to concentration camps. How many Gestapo members were there during World War II? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Spanish-American War Begins (1898)

Demands by Cuban patriots for independence from Spanish rule made US intervention in Cuba a paramount issue in the relations between the US and Spain from the 1870s to 1898, when the Spanish-American War began. The conflict ended after just 109 days with the Treaty of Paris, which gave the US ownership of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam, all formerly Spanish colonies. One factor that increased American public support for such a war was the practice of “yellow journalism,” which is what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Armenian Genocide Begins (1915)

Known by Armenians as the Great Calamity, the Armenian Genocide refers to the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Ottoman Empire’s Armenian population during and after World War I. Characterized by the use of massacres and forced marches designed to lead to the death of deportees, the genocide is estimated to have claimed up to 1 million Armenian lives. The onset of the genocide is generally accepted to be April 24, 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities did what? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary