Samoa skips a day

The tiny island nation of Samoa(which used to be called Western Samoa) sits very close to the International Date Line, the imaginary line that divides Monday on the western side from Sunday on the east. Samoa currently sits on the eastern side of the line. Now the government has decided that Samoa will move to the western side of the line. This is because Samoa mostly does business with Australia and New Zealand to the west, and not so much with the countries to the east. The islands, of course, will not move, just the imaginary line on the map.

It's Star Wars Day!

May the Fourth be with you!

(It's a very bad pun, I know.)

Dara O'Briain on Anglo-Irish relations

Irish comedian Dara O'Briain is an Irishman living in London. Here he talks about the relationship between Ireland and Great Britain. He has a very very Irish accent!

School lunches a good idea?

Well, maybe not... (Click on the picture to make it bigger.)

More Kipling

Music/Art Class: What did you think of Kipling? Had you read "The Jungle Book" before, or played Kim's Game? If you were a Scout, you probably have.

Kipling also wrote novels and poems for adults. One of his most famous poems is called "If --", and gives advice about mastering the world. You may have seen one of the many parodies of it.

Good luck on Friday's test!

When did the first Americans arrive?

When I introduce Native Americans, I say that their history begins with at least one group (and probably at least three), crossing from Asia to North America at least twelve thousand years ago. There is a reason I say "at least"! That is particularly important for the date. Some archaeologists (people who study ancient peoples and places) and many Native Americans believe the first groups arrived much earlier.
A dig in northern Texas turned up some stone tools that appear to be much older than 12,000 years old. The tools are also simpler than the ones found at Clovis, New Mexico, that gave their name to the "Clovis culture", long assumed to be among the first Native Americans.
Maybe soon the date for the arrival of the first people in the Americas will be re-set to an earlier time?

For certain members of my Tuesday morning class:

As promised, the Death Metal Mix of "Friday". In return, you will never play that song in my class again. Do we have a deal?