Category: +Did You Know?

Did You Know? The first meeting of the Bilderberg Group occurred on May 29, 1954, at the Hotel de Bilderberg in the Netherlands–an event that both gave the movement its name and led to years of conspiracy speculation. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The pre-Socratic philosopher Thales (TAY-lees), who lived c. 624-546 B.C., predicted an eclipse that by modern methods we know to have taken place on May 28, 585 B.C. This use of natural reason is sometimes employed to mark the beginning of philosophy as it is (sort of) understood today. At least, I used this date to mark its birthday for my pupils when I was a grad student in the subject back in college. 🙂 LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance [Acts 2:1-4]. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The novel Dracula was published on May 26, 1897. It’s author–Bram Stoker–was Irish, but not Irish Catholic, and it contained a number of inaccuracies regarding the Catholic faith, though it treats it reverently, recognizing that if you’re faced with fearsome vampires, you want kick-butt Catholics like Prof. van Helsing on your side. (As well as Texas cowboys, like Quincey Morris, who gives Dracula a Bowie knife through the heart in the end! Yee-haw!) LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The Diet of Worms ended May 25, 1521 when Emperor Charles V issued the Edict of Worms, condeming Martin Luther from a civil law perspective. (A “diet,” in this usage, was a governmental deliberative assembly, such as the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, which assembled its imperial estates for formal deliberation. Also, “Worms”–pronounced “Verms”–is a place in Germany. So there.) LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The “Act of Toleration,” which was enacted by the British Parliament May 24, 1689, gave people in England with nonconformist religions the freedom to worship–but not non-Trinitarians and Catholics. The act specifically excluded those hwo believed in transubstantiation, signalling that Catholics weren’t included. Catholics thus continued to suffer under English law. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? There is a real psychological malady, known as Capgras syndrome (or Capgras delusion, after the man who classified it) in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent, or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor. The Capgras delusion is classified as a delusional misidentification syndrome, a class of delusional beliefs that involves the misidentification of people, places, or objects. It can occur in acute, transient, or chronic forms. Cases in which patients hold the belief that time has been “warped” or “substituted” have also been reported. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? Great Chilean Earthquake occurred Sunday, May 22, 1960. It is the most powerful earthquake ever recorded on Earth, rating 9.5 on the moment magnitude scale. It s resulting tsunami affected southern Chile, Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, eastern New Zealand, southeast Australia, and the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? Fulgurites (from the Latin fulgur meaning thunderbolt) are natural hollow glass tubes formed in quartzose sand, silica, or soil by lightning strikes. They are formed when lightning with a temperature of at least 3,270 °F instantaneously melts silica on a conductive surface and fuses grains together; the fulgurite tube is the cooled product. This process occurs over a period of around one second. LEARN MORE.

Did You Know? The First Council of Nicaea was convenend on May 20, A.D. 325 in Nicaea (modern Iznik, Turkey). Among other things, it defined the deity of Jesus Christ, composed the original version of the Nicene Creed (which was later supplemented to define the deity of the Holy Spirit as well), and helped settle the date of Easter. It was the first ecumenical council (not counting the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 and Galatians 2). LEARN MORE.