The Hoff

David Hasselhoff is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. Though “The Hoff” spent a six-year stint on The Young and the Restless, he is best known for his roles in Knight Rider and Baywatch. During the late 1980s, he enjoyed significant musical success, particularly in Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. In 1994, Hasselhoff was scheduled to perform a pay-per-view concert that would hopefully reignite his US musical career. What major news event diverted his viewers? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Nicolas Cage Returns Stolen Dinosaur Skull (This Should Be His Next Movie)

Nicolas Cage has returned a stolen dinosaur skull, and no, this is not the plot of National Treasure 3. According to Reuters, the star bought a Tyrannosaurus bataar skull for $276K from a gallery, which is being returned to Mongolia. Cage agreed to … Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Edwin Hubble Announces Existence of Other Galaxies (1925)

Edwin Hubble worked as a basketball coach and teacher, served in World War I, and studied law before focusing his energies on astronomy. On January 1, 1925, he made a groundbreaking announcement, declaring that fuzzy “nebulae” seen earlier with less powerful telescopes were not part of our galaxy but were actually galaxies themselves. With the findings now known as Hubble’s law, he was also the first to provide evidence to support what theory about the universe? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Oshogatsu

This is the “festival of festivals” in Japan, and it is celebrated for several days. Government offices, banks, museums and most businesses are closed from New Year’s Day, a national holiday, through January 3. For weeks before New Year’s, people clean house and purchase new clothes for the children. On New Year’s Day, it’s customary to pray at the household altar and to eat special foods, such as small, round, gooey rice cakes called mochi. Herring roe is eaten for fertility, black beans for health, dried chestnuts for success, and porgy and prawns are omens of happiness. Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Betsy Ross (1752)

According to legend, Ross was visited in 1776 by George Washington, Robert Morris, and her husband’s uncle, George Ross, and asked to make a flag for the new nation based on a sketch by Washington. Although Ross made flags during the American Revolution and was the official flag maker for the Pennsylvania Navy, the long-accepted story that she designed and made the first US flag—the Stars and Stripes—is generally discredited. Who first publicized the story of Ross making the flag? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Water Witching

Dowsing, also known as divining or water witching, is the practice of ascertaining the presence of underground water or minerals using a forked twig or a pendulum. Dowsing has existed in various forms for thousands of years, and while it may have originally been rooted in divination of the will of the gods, the practice was later associated with Satan. Many skeptics believe that dowsing successes result mostly from chance. What did the 1987 Munich study of more than 500 dowsers conclude? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary

Central African Federation Collapses (1963)

The Central African Federation was a semi-independent state in southern Africa that existed from 1953 to 1963. Created by the British government to unite the self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia with the British protectorates of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, the federation ultimately crumbled when black African nationalists demanded a greater share of power than the dominant minority white population was willing to concede. What are Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland called today? Discuss

Source: The Free Dictionary