Sunday, January 20, 2008

History of Boxing Quiz

1. Who wrote the rules on which Modern Boxing is based?
2. Which famous boxer’s real name was Walker Smith?
3. What was the nickname of Tommy Hearns?
4. His nickname was ‘Boom Boom’. Who was he?
5. Put the following boxers in chronological order (earliest to latest) taking into account the first time they won the World Heavyweight Crown: Joe Louis, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Floyd Patterson, and Ezzard Charles?
6. How many times did Mohammed Ali and Joe Frazier meet in the rink?
7. What does the IBFstand for?
8. Who did Cassius Clay/Muhammed Ali beat to win each of his three World Heavyweight Titles?
9. Who was South Africa’s only heavyweight boxing champion?
10. Put the folowing divisions in order from lightest to heaviest weight: Bantamweight, Featherweight and Flyweight.?
11. Which boxer ended Larry Holmes’ unbeaten run?
12. Who is considered as Boxing’s First Heavyweight Champion?
13. How did Rocky Marciano die?
14. This Panamanian fighter was probably Sugar Ray Leonard’s greatest rival. Who was he?
15. Who dethroned Mike Tyson as Heavyweight Champion in 1990?

Answers to Boxing History

1. Sir John Sholto Douglas, 8th Marquis of Queensberry.
2. Sugar Ray Robinson.
3. The Hitman or the Detroit Hitman.
4. Ray Mancini.
5. Jack Dempsey (1919), Gene Tunney (1926), Joe Louis (1937), Ezzard Charles (1949), and Floyd Patterson (1956).
6. Three times. Ali won two and lost one. The third fight was the renowned ‘Thriller in Manila’.
7. International Boxing Federation. One of several governing bodies. The other governing bodies of boxing are the World Boxing Council (WBC), World Boxing Association (WBA), and the World Boxing Organization (WBO).
8. Sonny Liston (1964), George Foreman (1974), and Leon Spinks (1978).
9. Gerrie Coetzee (1983 - WBA Champion).
10. Flyweight, Bantamweight, and Featherweight.
11. Michael Spinks.
12. John L Sullivan.
13. He was killed in a plane crash in 1969. Marciano fought 49 fights during his professional carreer, winning all of them (43 by knockout). He was nicknamed the ‘Rock from Brockton’.
14. Roberto Duran.
15. James ‘Buster’ Douglas.

Latin American Quiz

1. This Peruvian civilization was famous for its large designs in the sand using pebbles. The largest design is a bird that is 275m long. Who were these people?
2. This Inca ruler was kidnapped by the men of Francisco Pizarro. He was later garotted. His death would bring speed up the downfall of the Inca. Who was this man?
3. Many people believe that this civilization was behind the legends of Eldorado. Beginning with a letter 'C', these people lived in the Colombian Highlands until they were destroyed by the Spanish in the 16th Century. Who were these people?
4. The Tihuanaco civilization lasted between 800 BC and 1200 AD, its main city was situated near this famous South American Lake in Bolivia. Which Lake was this?
5. This vegetable had been cultivated by the Andean Indians since c. 200 AD. Which vegetable was this?
6. For which god did the Aztecs mistake Hernando Cortes for?
7. This civilizations' Golden Era lasted from AD 250 to AD 900. They lived in Southern Mexico, Guatemala and parts of Belize. Who were they?
8. Who was the Aztec Chief God and God of Matter?
9. Fifteen thousand men were sacrificed to this Aztec Sun God. Who was he?
10. What is the modern name of the City 'Tenochtitlan'?
11. This Ancient Middle American culture dominated the coastal plains between 1200 BC to 400 BC. Their name is the Nahuatl Indian word for ‘inhabitant of rubber country’. Who were they?
12. This warrior culture was based at the City of Tollan. They ruled Central Mexico between 900 to 1200 AD. Their civilization seems to have been created from several ethnic groups. Who were they?
13. What was Tlachtli?
14. This South American civilization called gold ‘the sweat of the sun’ and silver as the ‘tears of the moon’. Who were they?
15. This ‘last’outpost of the Mayan civilization was built in the Yucatan Peninsula. The city had two wells, also known as 'cenotes'. The citizens drank from one well and used the other for sacrifice. Name this city?

Answers to Latin American History I

1. The Nazca.
2. Atahualpa
3. The Chibcha.
4. Lake Titicaca.
5. The potato.
6. Quetzcoatl
7. The Mayans. They were also brilliant astronomers and Mathematicians.
8. Tezcatlipoca
9. Huitzilopochtli
10. Mexico City. It was founded by the Aztecs in AD 1200.
11. The Olmec.
12. The Toltec.
13. An Aztec game with similarities to volleyball and basketball.
14. The Incas.
15. Chichén Itzá.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Holocaust Education in Germany

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/943953.html

German schools are failing in educating students about the Holocaust, a new study by a political education center has found, as German youth, who one historian said use the word "Jew" as a common curse in daily discourse, are increasingly distant from the suffering of the victims of Nazism.

According to a study commissioned by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, a political education center known by its German acronym BPB, history courses no longer manage to teach Germany's younger generation of the horrors of the Nazis.

In the report, which appeared in the German educational magazine Focus-Shula, teachers are quoted as saying that they are having trouble impressing upon school children the horrors of the Holocaust, and have stated that their tools for teaching about the Shoah are not effective. "The entire time we stood before the crematoriums of Auschwitz, the students took more interest in the types of pipes used to pump in the lethal Zyklon B gas, and not the fate of the Nazis victims," a teacher was quoted as saying. In their words, this generation's students are less sensitive to the horrors of the Holocaust than any before.

The research also examines the role that immigrants have played in the changing attitudes towards the Shoah. Experts are quoted in the study as saying that there is a marked rise in the number of Muslims in Germany, many of whom see the teaching of the Holocaust as a veiled endorsement of the policies of the state of Israel. "Out of fear of the students' reactions, many of the teachers avoid teaching this chapter of history in order to not be viewed by some students as supporters of Israel."

"The word 'Jew' has turned into one of the most common curse words among students in both east and west Germany," said Gottfried Cosler, a Frankfurt-based Holocaust scholar.

Robert Sigel, a historian who contributed to the study, is of the opinion that students are taking a great interest in the Holocaust, but that the methods in which the subject is taught today are in need of improvement. "Often time the teachers, especially the more devoted ones, get carried away, and demand way too much of themselves," Sigel told Focus magazine. "They want to teach the facts and at the same time get across a moral message, call for education and tolerance, deal with the extreme right and prevent anti-Semitism. They put all this material into the subject, and it's too much."

Susan Orban, a historian at Yad Vashem, says that the Holocaust should be taught using methods that have proved successful in the past. "Today's kids live in different times than that of Anne Frank," Orban said. In order to bridge the generational gap, she submits a different approach, "for example, asking them to imagine that they have to abruptly leave their homes and start a new life elsewhere." Such a method, according to Orban, would speak more directly to the children's hearts and minds than descriptions of the horrors of the concentration camp.

Sigel expressed similar sentiments, adding that the children of immigrants have shown particular interest to the victims of Nazism given that many of them suffered from racial persecution, religious intolerance, and even genocide in their native lands.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

British Monarchy sites

For generalists like myself who have an interest in the British monarchy - the following are two excellent sites worth looking at for information.

http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_2.htm

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp

Abe Lincoln Quotes

The following is a list of quotes by the Great Ajmerican President Abraham Lincoln.
Source: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Abraham_Lincoln

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough.

Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived.

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.

I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts.

I will prepare and some day my chance will come.

If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?

If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.

If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend.

It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.

It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him.

Let me not be understood as saying that there are no bad laws, nor that grievances may not arise for the redress of which no legal provisions have been made. I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, for the sake of example they should be religiously observed.

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar.

No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent.

Tact is the ability to describe others as they see themselves.

That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

Whatever you are, be a good one.

When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim that 'a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really a good one.

When you have got an elephant by the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, it's best to let him run.

Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

You may deceive all the people part of the time, and part of the people all the time, but not all the people all the time.

'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad, and that is my religion.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Ancient Greece Quiz - Early Period

Ancient Greece - The Early Period

1. What island was the home of the Minoan civilization?
2. Give or take a century each side, between which centuries did the Minoan Civilization exist?
3. What was its most well-known city?
4. Which British archaeologist excavated this city?
5. Who was the Minoan’s most prominent king?
6. The eruption of which volcano destroyed much of the Minoan civilization?
7. What unusual (for its’ times) gender power structure was inherent in Minoan civilization?
8. On which island was the Arthritiki Civilization located?
9. Which civilization succeeded the Minoans as the dominant power in the Aegean?
10. Who was the most famous queen of this civilization mentioned in 8?
11. Which archaeologist excavated the ruins of the civilization mentioned in 8, in the Northern Pelopenese?
12. Who were the Bronze Age invaders who overran Greece from the North?
13. What handicap is the bard Homer alleged to have suffered from?
14. Who is considered the first writer of Ancient Greece?
15. In what Ancient kingdom was the City of Troy located?

Answers to Ancient Greece The Early Period

1. Crete – The Minoans were a proud seafaring race of possible Middle-East origin.
2. 1500-900 BC.
3. Knossus
4. Sir Arthur Evans.
5. King Minos - Father of the famed Minotaur.
6. Stromboli
7. The women were the individuals who controlled the land.
8. San Torini. I visited these ruins in 1991 and recommend those on a trip to San Torini do the same.
9. Mycenae
10. Clytamenstra – She has a beautiful beehive tomb located in the North-East Pelopenese.
11. Heinrich Schlieman – The same man who excavated Troy.
12. The Doric Greeks.
13. Blindness – Some people argue that Homer was not one person but several different authors.
14. Hesiod
15. Thrace – A nation renowned for its sword fighters.