Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866)

Landis was a US federal judge and the first commissioner of professional baseball. Named for a Georgia mountain where his father had been wounded during the Civil War, he practiced law in Illinois before serving as a US district judge. In 1907, he presided over a famous case in which the Standard Oil Company was found guilty of granting unlawful freight rebates and fined $29 million, but his decision was later reversed. He was named baseball commissioner in 1920 in the aftermath of what scandal? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Cytokine Storms

A cytokine storm is a potentially fatal immune reaction that results from an uncontrolled positive feedback loop between immune cells and cytokines, proteins that facilitate intercellular communication. During an immune response, cytokines prompt immune cells to travel to the site of infection as well as stimulate the production of more cytokines. The body regulates this process, but in some cases it becomes inappropriately elevated. What are the primary symptoms of a cytokine storm? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Apollo 12 Lands on the Moon (1969)

In 1969, four months after the Apollo 11 mission culminated with the first moonwalk, Apollo 12 returned to the Moon with astronauts Pete Conrad, Alan Bean, and Richard Gordon. The craft touched down on the Ocean of Storms near the Surveyor 3 probe, which had landed there in 1967, and Conrad and Bean walked to the probe to remove some of its instruments to take back to Earth for study. What were Conrad’s first words when he set foot on the lunar surface? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Equal Opportunity Day

At the dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery in southern Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. This 270-word speech is considered one of the greatest in American history. Equal Opportunity Day is observed at Gettysburg National Cemetery each year, where ceremonies commemorating Lincoln’s address are held under the sponsorship of the Sons of Union Veterans and the Lincoln Fellowship of Pennsylvania. Sometimes, this day is referred to as “Gettysburg Address Day.” Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Anna Seghers (1900)

Born Netty Reiling, Seghers was a German novelist. She won fame with her first novel of social protest, The Revolt of the Fishermen, but in 1933 she was forced to leave Germany. In Mexico, she wrote The Seventh Cross, a poignant story of escape from a concentration camp. Other works include Transit and a study of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. After World War II she settled in East Berlin. Who starred in the film version of The Seventh Cross in 1944? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Howard Baskerville

Baskerville was an American teacher and Presbyterian missionary who led a group of student soldiers against Mohammad Ali Shah during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution in the early 20th century. He is thus often referred to as the “American Lafayette in Iran”—a reference to the French military officer who participated in the American Revolution. He was shot and killed 9 days after his 24th birthday in 1909. What did Persian artisans create in recognition of his courage and sacrifice? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Life Brewing in Martian ‘Ice Cauldrons’? Maybe, Say Scientists.

Double, double, toil and trouble… In the search for signs of Martian life, researchers have turned their attention to odd, funnel-shaped depressions on the Red Planet’s surface. The geological formations closely resemble the so-called “ice cauldrons” found … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary