Dick Tracy is a cartoon that was created in 1931 by Chester Gould, who continued to produce it until 1977. The strip reflects the dark mood of film noir and is filled with treachery. Its title character is a hard-hitting, fast-shooting, and supremely intelligent police detective who matches wits with a variety of colorful villains. Who is Tracy’s infamous large-headed enemy? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (adjective) Of, relating to, or dealing with supernatural influences, agencies, or phenomena.
Synonyms: supernatural.
Usage: His superstitions led him to the study of occult subjects, much to the dismay of his highly rational parents.
Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
While on its way from Athens to Rome in 1985, Trans World Airlines Flight 847 was hijacked by members of the Amal Movement terrorist group. The aircraft’s 153 passengers and crew endured a three-day intercontinental ordeal during which one passenger, a US Navy diver, was murdered. Though most of the passengers were released during this time, dozens were held hostage for more than two weeks. Flight attendant Uli Derickson is widely credited with saving the lives of many passengers by doing what? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
There are many rituals associated with the growing of rice in Japanese farming communities. In many rural celebrations, young women in costume perform rituals including planting seedlings while singing rice-planting songs to the accompaniment of pipes and drums. On June 14 in Osaka, thousands congregate to observe a group of young kimono-clad women plant rice and sing in the sacred fields near the Sumiyoshi Shrine. Working rhythmically to the music, the young women appear to be participating in a dance rather than the hard work of planting. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
A prolific writer whose works fill more than a dozen volumes, Stowe was an American novelist and humanitarian. Spurred to action by the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act, she began writing an antislavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which became an instant and controversial best-seller. Its impact on Northerners’ attitudes toward slavery was significant, swaying much of the public to support, or at least sympathize with, the abolitionist cause. What else did Stowe write? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Also known as the “The Main Street of America,” Route 66 was established in 1926 and ran from Chicago, Illinois, in a south-westerly direction to Los Angeles, California, for a total of 2,448 miles (3,939 km). It was a major path of the migrants who went west, especially during the 1930s, and it supported the economies of the communities through which it passed. More direct routes and increasingly sophisticated engineering techniques led to its being decommissioned in what year? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Definition: (adjective) Lacking resources or the means of subsistence; completely impoverished.
Synonyms: impoverished, indigent, necessitous, needy, poverty-stricken.
Usage: Though they were poor and destitute, they refused to ask others for help or charity.
Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Eight years after he issued his 95 Theses and sparked the Protestant Reformation, Luther married former Catholic nun Katherina von Bora, with whom he raised six children. Though little is known about her, she is considered an important figure of the Reformation due to her role in helping to define Protestant family life and setting the precedent for clergy marriages. Von Bora was one of 12 nuns Luther helped escape from a convent in 1523. How was he said to have smuggled them out? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195, and is the patron saint of Portugal. The festivities held here in his honor begin on the evening of June 12 with an impressive display of marchas, walking groups of singers and musicians, who parade along the Avenida da Liberdade. The celebration continues the next day with more processions and traditional folk dancing. Another custom of the day is for a young man to present the girl he hopes to marry with a pot of basil concealing a verse or love letter. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Sayers, an English writer, is considered one of the masters of the detective story. In 1915, she became one of the first women to graduate from Oxford University. In her first major work, Whose Body?, she created the witty and dashing detective Lord Peter Wimsey, who would be featured in several later novels and short story collections. She later concentrated on theological works and scholarly translations. Which of Sayers’s previous jobs provided a setting for one of her novels? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary