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Student Bloopers
One of the fringe benefits of being an English or History teacher is receiving the occasional jewel of a student blooper in an essay. I have pasted together the following "history" of the world from certifiably genuine student bloopers collected by teachers throughout the United States, from eight grade through college level. Read carefully, and you will learn a lot.
Ancient History Blog
Long-time readers of The Ancient Standard may recall a post from 2007 that discussed the existence of giant penguins in Peru , but also lamented the unpublished data on even larger penguins that were thought to exist off the coast of New Zealand millions of years later. Well, good news! Scientists have finally published their report on these giant “thinguins” that lived 25 million years ago (during the Oligocene period), based on a full skeletal reconstruction of the creature. The penguins are thought to have reached about 4.3 feet in height, which is just slightly taller than today’s tallest living emperor penguins (4 feet).
Project Avalon - Klaus Dona: The Hidden History of the Human Race
**Ed note: Some transcripts contain words or phrases that are inaudible or difficult to hear and are, therefore, designated in square brackets.** BILL RYAN (BR): This is Bill Ryan here from Project Camelot and Project Avalon. It's the 20th of February, 2010, and it's my great privilege to be meeting again with Klaus Dona.
Clement Attlee, the Labour Prime Minister who replaced Winston Churchill in July 1945, soon realised that independence for India was inevitable, but disagreements among the Indian politicians made the negotiations very difficult. In the 3rd century BCE, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth with remarkable precision. In later centuries, other Greek geographers, including the most famous of them all Ptolemy, suggested a much lower figure for the circumference for our planet. The expedition led by Magellan was expected to sail as far as the Spice Islands to the west by sailing around the American continent. It was financed by Spain, which hoped to gain access to these islands and their spices without crossing the Indian Ocean, then dominated by the Portuguese.
Our animated maps in free access - The map as history
AncientWorlds
Play S.P.Q.R. Online Enter the Internet's oldest Virtual Rome and Explore the Roman Forum restored to its former glory as of 205 A.D. S.P.Q.R. Online is a educational graphic adventure that is easy and fun to play.
10 Curious Tales and Oddities From History
by Jamie Frater What could be better? The bizarre and history combined in one list! It is a well known fact that I love both subjects (and facts and factlets), so this list really has been a joy to put together. Once you are done reading be sure to mention any other oddities we may not know in the comments and perhaps they will appear on a forthcoming follow up list. In 1900, Maria Salome (20 years old) made her grand debut as the first female bullfighter.
From the death cults of Egypt to the fearsome yet sophisticated society of the Vikings, the ancient world was a surprising and challenging place.
BBC - History: Ancient History in-depth
By Rene Guenon Perspectives on Initiation presents initiation as essentially the transmission, by the appropriate rites of a given tradition, of a ‘spiritual influence’ which represents the ‘beginning’ (initium) of the spiritual journey. It is unique in giving a comprehensive account both of the conditions of initiation and of the characteristics of organizations qualified to transmit it. While [...] By David Bakan
Knowledge Files
When we think of Ancient civilizations we think of togas, chariots and gladiators. What we don’t think about is flame-throwers, eye surgery and other inventions we take for granted. This is a list of things that the ancients had that you think are modern inventions. Roman women would put metal compounds on their faces in order to enhance their color. Tin-Oxide or Lead-Oxide was used as a paling agent, Arsenic (Though they knew it was poisonous) as a rouge or blush, and charcoal was used as eyeliner.
Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know the Ancients Had
Laputan Logic - The Evolution of Numbers
Counting in groups of ten, a practice evidently suggested by the number of fingers on two hands has been practiced by many cultures for millennia . But the act of writing them down using a system of place notation system which can expand without limit is only comparatively recent innovation. Here then is the story of 1 to 9 and of 0 and 10. In the last few centuries before the Christian era, by our reckoning, India emerged from a dark age that had endured since the fall of the Indus valley civilization fifteen hundred years earlier.