How well do you know Africa? Test your knowledge with this Africa history and geography quiz. Africa is the world’s second largest continent, and it is home to a stunning diversity of cultures, languages, and landscapes. From the Sahara Desert to the rainforests of the Congo Basin, Africa boasts a huge variety of geography. And its history is just as rich, from ancient civilizations like Egypt and Ethiopia to European colonization and the struggle for independence. So whether you’re an Africa expert or just getting started, this quiz will help you test your knowledge of this amazing continent.
Africa is a vast and fascinating continent with a rich history and diverse culture. To test your knowledge of Africa, take this Africa History and Geography Quiz. See how much you know about the people, places, and events that have shaped Africa over the centuries.
1- Recent archeological studies suggest the theory that
Athe earliest humans evolved in the Rift Valley in Africa
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113- If we are to remain free, if we are to enjoy the full benefits of Africa’s enormous wealth, we must unite to plan for the full exploitation of our human and material resources in the interest of all our people
Avatar 3 and Avatar: The Way of Water are top trending searches related to Titanic, past week, US, as they were made by the same director, James Cameron.
James Cameron, a Canadian filmmaker who directed Titanic, reached a ten-year high in December 2022, worldwide.
If you are looking at how to apply for SRD grant, you have come to the right place. SASSA has opened up a number of options for South…Continue reading on Medium »
I'm reading the new Eragon book called Murtagh and just came across this beaut: "Murtagh rucked the blanket around his thighs and stepped into the creek. The water was liquid ice. He grimaced as he reached down and pulled his clothes from under the rock holding them in place." It was liquid ice!? Of course it was! No one in editing caught this, guys!? I'm a die-hard, original generation fan of the Inheritance books, so I don't really care, and the series was full of little off-the-cuff descriptions that were really just meant for a little atmosphere, not some sort of groundbreaking understanding of what things are. But this is a little far, even for them. Are there any obvious flubs - continuity fails, weird descriptions, grammar mistakes - that have given you a good laugh? submitted by /u/ebelnap [link] [comments]
How much of Barbara version of events do you trust? Obviously at the end Sheba discovers her manuscript and confronts her, with a ton of anger but also incredulity. She basically says Barbara is delusion, jealous and insane. And while I definitely think Barbara has hang ups and jealousies that would obviously colour her version of events, I’m still inclined to accept most of what she’s saying is accurate. Sheba is shown to be quite childish and delusional. Plus I feel like people like Barbara, who have very empty lives of their own, do actually tend to be quite shrewd and accurate observers of the goings on around them. But of course both of those impressions have been formed off the back of what Barbara has written. Oh the joys of the unreliable narrator! I’m curious to hear the opinions of others who have read the book. Is Barbara a weird bitter woman spinning a tale, is Sheba just in denial, or do you think the ‘truth’ lies somewhere in between? submitted by /u/Evening_Ad6820 [link] [comments]
I was reminded today that I’ve never actually read the ending to Atonement (I have since seen the film, but I know it’s not the same). I was reading it a few summers ago and about 3/4 of the way through. I put my book down on the arm of my chair while I went to the kitchen to get a drink. When I came back I found my parents puppy had eaten the back cover and the last 50 pages or so. He had perfectly ripped off and swallowed and shredded the last section of the book, but what I had already read was almost pristine. Never bought another copy because it felt like the dog had eaten my homework! Anyone else had a book destroyed in a memorable way? submitted by /u/AmyCClarke [link] [comments]
1) i read it in one day and it lives in my head rent free now 2) it had me hanging on the cliff more than once, with almost pulpable tension 3) i`ve seen parts of film in reels or on tiktok but although film adaptation is nice and have unique touches, the book is something else. it is totally more wicked and feels like large old building u wandering in 4) Clarice is one of the best female character to ever portrayed by a man. She extremely observant, smart, and is able to ground herself in situation most people would either cry or be angry. 5) There is also nice touches and symbolism u can find. but u can also read through it and be fine. submitted by /u/marIiiicha [link] [comments]
A member of the Filoviridae family, the Ebola virus has drawn interest from all around the world due to its catastrophic effects on human…Continue reading on Medium »
I guess this is more aptly described as a novella than a book, as I finished it in less than an hour. The premise is that a devout Mormon dies and goes to hell, where he is informed that Zoroastrianism is the one true religion, and that he is trapped in a labyrinth of randomly generated books (based on the Library of Babel by Borges) until he finds one that contains the story of his life. It's an interesting premise, but I found the book itself very dull. The writing style is overly simplistic. There's a lot of time spent establishing exact details of how Hell functions, like that if you die you come back to life the next day, you can order any food but nothing inedible, etc. I'm not against worldbuilding, but these details were boring and didn't serve thematic purpose. They also didn't tie into the book's stated inspirations for its setting- Zoroastrianism and the Library of Babel. It all had a modern, bureaucratic feel that clashed with it. Also, why even invoke Zoroastrianism if you're not going to engage with the actual religion? The book isn't actually set in "Zoroastrian hell", it really has nothing to do with Zoroastrianism except for the mention of Ahura Mazda and Ahriman (the central mythological figures) at the beginning. As someone who is a nerd about religious history and has a genuine interest in Zoroastrianism, I was very disappointed by this. However, I did think it genuinely engaged with the Library of Babel story, which I appreciated. Borges' stories are great but they lack plot and emotional depth, which opens up a lot of possibilities for writers to combine his interesting concepts with those elements. I just wish it was executed better. The story explored themes of eternity, love and loss; but it was hard to connect with these because the characters and relationships were flatter than cardboard. And the simplistic writing style didn't help either. It also wasn't saying anything that original or interesting. I found out about this book because it was recommended in a reddit thread for novels exploring religion. And it did a pretty poor job of genuinely engaging with religion and belief, except for creating an ironic scenario. submitted by /u/moss42069 [link] [comments]
The Dogon people are an indigenous ethnic group located in the central plateau region of Mali, West Africa, and in Burkina Faso. With a…Continue reading on Medium »
And our traditional truism of hope— when there is life, there is hope— more than ever proves to be inadequate or flatly inaccurate.Continue reading on Medium »
From its gorgeous beaches and teeming marine life to its unusual blend of cultures and captivating history, Zanzibar provides travelers…Continue reading on Medium »
Listen Buckaroos, sometimes it feels like the world is just gunna keep pounding you in the butt in a very not consentual way. I came out as a lesbian as a teen right on time to hit a particularly rocky period both politically and my personal life where my mental well being and physical safety was under threat. Years later now in my mid twenties I've transitioned into a man just in time to hit a particularly rocky period both politically and in my personal life where my mental well being and physical safety is under threat. And even with that said I am genuinely, painfully aware that my circumstances are not nearly as dire as some. I genuinely feel like if what's going on right now with trans rights happened when I was a teen, I wouldn't have survived it. The kids that are living through this right now, I'm worried a good portion of them aren't going to recover. Shit's fucked. I'm so so tired. Camp is the sort of thing I find it real hit or miss whether cis straight people get it. It's absurdism dialed up into an artform and style of expression. In some ways the spiritual successor to dadaism, in others the progenitor to the art of the shit post. What makes camp distinct from those two I feel is it's earnestness. The inherent, profound silliness of the human condition is perhaps most often used to lampshade pain into pure irony poison, but camp is often used to do the opposite--- which is why I think it throws a sizeable chunk of cisgender straight people off. Queer people are often times, by virtue of the systemic oppression we tend to encounter, often but not always have to stop taking ourselves seriously as an act of survival. The nuclear levels of shame you're handed due to a, let's be frank, ultimately trival circumstance of your birth--- you either have to learn how to stop worrying and love the bomb, or just, explode. Acknowledging how funny it all is is a legitimate form of coping, even when you're undercutting the real trauma of it all, but you need the room to acknowledge the saccharine, messy emotions of it all. If you're like me though, big feelings are too much straight up--- you need a mixer. Camp works for me. If you're at all farmiliar with Tingle's body of work outside of the insane book titles, then you may be aware that the thing that surprises people the most is that they're consistently more than just erotica. It's a pleasant surprise to pick up a book titled Pounded in the Butt by my Own Butt, Pounded in the Butt by my Book Pounded in the Butt by my Own Butt, My Pool Gets Me Wet in a Completely Plantonic Way and Now we're Close Friends, My Dungeon Master is a T-Rex Rules Lawyer but Fortunately I Rolled a Crit on the Pound my Butt Check, and Sentient Deep Dish Pizza Pounds me in the Butt in 15 Minutes or It's Free to find they're all surprisingly wholesome. Consistently promoting healthy boundaries, consent, good communication, and some genuinely pretty good bits of storytelling on love and relationships for bite sized reads. Like, totally both ironically and unironically, they're fun reads. It really shouldn't be any surprise that Dr. Tingle himself is the only soul on this god forsaken planet that has achieved the impossible and written an actually helpful self-help book--- basically. Dr. Chuck Tingle's Guide to the Void is essentially a collection of meditations presented as abstract, absurdist, hilarious, yet emotionally resonate representations of existential dread. The kind anyone can relate to, but particularly meaningful to the queer experience. Feelings that are so big and complex they're frankly hard to describe outside of metaphor. The one you might have seen memed the most is one of the particularly brilliant manifestations. A creature described as the most dangerous thing you could encounter, and something you must not think about at all cost less you summon it called "The Man With No Eyes and Wieners for Hair." A genius encapsulation of what it feels like to try and not dwell on your own mysery, your own intrusive thoughts, explained as a joke that makes you pop a blood vessel laughing about. And that's where I feel the real healing this book has to offer. A safe outlet to give you room to laugh, and then cry, and then laugh while crying about the forces in your life that have a devastating impact yet are totally out of your control. I've picked up this book any time the fact that we live in is nightmare of a timeline gets too overwhelming. Any time a stupid Twitter account gets schools and hospitals shut down due to bomb threats because us trans people dare to have jobs and get medical care. Any time another assault against a trans person happens in my city, and I'm left wondering if it's only a matter of time before it's my turn to get attacked (again.) Anytime the rich and powerful demonstrate just how much they're willing to cash at not leaving us alone to live in peace. Anytime another kid gets driven into taking their own life, or tries to. It consistently helps restore just a tiny bit of my will to go on. Chuck Tingle is one of the few people who pose genuinely convincing arguments that love is real. submitted by /u/ThisDudeisNotWell [link] [comments]
The Word for Human is Violence Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest (1972) examines whether violence is human nature or not. Humans and killing go together like Subarus and Colorado. We kill one another with such frequency that we’ve developed cute little names for all the different kinds—genocide, xenocide, fratricide, regicide, etc. And we can’t forget about the world’s favorite pasttime: war. War for resources, conquest, religion, independence, or glory is so synonymous with human history that it seems no fantasy or sci-fi story can exist without it. We simply can’t get enough of killing each other! “Killing is the sweetest thing there is” — Sandor Clegane in A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin But why do we kill? Is it hard-wired into our brain, as some research suggests? And why do some of us kill with propensity while most of us are sickened at the thought? Would those of us who find the act morally repugnant have a change of heart if we lived in the Middle Ages, or Ancient Hawaii, when war and killing ran rampant? Would we discover a deeply-repressed lust for killing if given the chance? I don’t have the answers to these questions, obviously, but I think about them often, as do many of my favorite stories. The Word for World is Forest (1972) was written at the height of American involvement in Vietnam, when Ursula K. Le Guin, living in London, had no outlet other than writing for her ethical and politcal opinions (in America, she would organize and participant in nonviolent protests). Le Guin wrote in her introduction, “1968 was a bitter year for those who opposed the war. The lies and hypocrisies redoubled: so did the killing. Moreover, it was becoming clear that the ethic which approved the defoliation of forests and grainlands and the murder of noncombatants in the name of “peace” was only a corollary of the ethic which permits the despoliation of natural resources for private profit or the GNP, and the murder of the creatures of the Earth in the name of ‘man’”. “I never wrote a story more easily, fluently, surely—and with less pleasure.” — Ursula K. Le Guin While the Vietnam War is important context, paralleled in the story by the use of “firejelly” (napalm), guerilla warfare, and deforestation, it would be a crime to reduce The Word for World is Forest to an anti-Vietnam protest. The novella draws on countless indigenous genocides and oppressed cultures and histories, such as Aboriginal Australian ‘dreamtime’, and further serves as a larger commentary on colonialism and the patterns of ecological destruction that have quickly become the greatest threat facing the modern human race. The Word for World is Forest asks a simple question which Le Guin unpacks with nuanced complexity over a snappy 170 pages: What happens when violent human colonizers clash with a pacifist, peaceful native people? Le Guin’s story takes place in a future universe in which humans have colonized a large number of planets, including Earth (known as Terra). Their latest colonization project takes place on what they call New Tahiti, though its native name is Athshe. Terra is described by Captain Davidson—a vile man who rapes and enslaves the natives, whom he calls “creechies”, and sees himself as the epitome of human progress—as a “tamed planet”, where “New Tahiti wasn’t". And that’s why Davidson is on New Tahiti: to tame it. Because Terra’s resources have been depleted by this taming, they have invaded Athshe, and are in the process of clearing vast swaths of forest for their lumber, which is sent back to Terra where it is more valuable than gold. Davidson, a representation of everything wrong with the colonial mindset, incites the story by raping and murdering the wife of Selver, the main native Ashthean protagonist. Selver aptly realizes that the ‘yumens’ won’t stop their conquest and violence, and decides to take a page out of their book, launching a full-scale guerilla attack campaign and killing thousands of humans in the process, including all their women. I’ll spare any further details for the sake of spoilers, but the important thing to note is that the Terrans have induced damage that cannot be undone. They introduced violence and killing to a people that did not know it. At the end of the book, we get a confrontation between Selver and Davidson that speaks to this. “We’re both gods, you and I. You’re an insane one, and I’m not sure whether I’m sane or not. But we are gods. There will never be another meeting in the forest like this meeting now between us. You gave me a gift, the killing of one’s kind, murder. Now, as well as I can, I give you my people’s gift, which is not killing. I think we find each other’s gift heavy to carry. However, we must carry it alone.” — Selver, to Davidson So, back to the question I posed at the start of this post: Are humans innately violent? The already complex question is driven to further complexity by the definition of a ‘human’. In The Word for World is Forest, the native Athsheans see the Terrans as the same species—human—but the Terrans do not see the Athsheans as human. They are lesser-than in every way: shorter, covered in fur, uncivilized, lazy, and with customs that appear innately unhuman. Of course, this rhetoric has been used for thousands of years to oppress indigenous and non-white humans, and likely, the “creechies” are a metaphor for this oppression. But I was also struck by another similar line of thinking that illustrates our incessant need for superiority over the ‘other’—Neanderthals. We discover from Mr. Or, an offworld visitor on a separate mission, that indeed, the Athsheans are human, much in the same way that Neanderthals are human—only a sub-species of Homo sapiens, adapted to their environment with stocky build and hairy skin. Many of us think of Neanderthals as less advanced, hunched, savage brutes who went extinct because of their inferiority to humans. But did you know that their brains were as large as ours? Did you know that they painted, made art, fashioned tools from wood and stone, and perhaps even had musical instruments and funeral rites (those last two points are under debate)? Did you know that they crossbred with Homo s. sapiens? Did you know that they stood as upright as us; the hunched posture is a common misconception drawn from Neanderthal remains that likely had osteoporosis. If we are to accept, then, that the native Athsheans are human, what does that tell us about violence? Will the Athsheans reclaim their peaceful ways now that humans have introduced murder, rape, and enslavement? This question is left ambiguous, but it would seem unlikely. “Sometimes a god (Davidson) comes. He brings a new way to do a thing, or a new thing to be done. A new kind of singing, or a new kind of death. He brings this across the bridge between the dream-time and the world-time. When he has done this, it is done. You cannot take things that exist in the world and try to drive them back into the dream, to hold them inside the dream with walls and pretenses. That is insanity. What is, is. There is no use pretending, now, that we do not know how to kill one another.” — Selver, to Lyubov I quite liked Sean Gyunes summation of Le Guin’s message in his Reactor Magazine article: “All of this is Le Guin’s way of saying, perhaps, that colonialism cannot be undone—its effects linger in the heart, in the culture, in the soil and forest, in the stories a people have to tell and the songs they sing. Lyubov puts it this way: colonization brought Death out of the dream-time and into the world-time, unleashing new possibilities for violence, retaliation, and meaning-making. What is real cannot become unreal; what walks the world cannot return to dreaming.” The United States has an illustrious history of oppression and war—whether direct, like our military involvment in Vietnam, or indirect, like our current military support of Israel. We are not the freedom-loving image that we portray. We are oppressors, we are violent, we are powerful, we are driven by greed and perceived supieriority. We are a land of immigrants that rejects and demeans them. “Some people say the military breeds killing machines. I say it is only the finishing training” — John Musgrave, US Marine in Vietnam War (paraphrased) Our culture of war and violence may or may not be avoidable. It’s hard to imagine isolated societies, such as those in pre-contact Polynesia, independently developing rich histories of warfare without some innate desire for violence. On the other hand, pacifist societies indeed exist, and we as humans have a responsiblity to strive towards this ideal and to right our wrongs—past, present, and future. submitted by /u/DJLusciousEagle [link] [comments]
About 10+ years ago, I had never heard of the book Winesburg, Ohio, but if you can't tell by my user name, it's now one of my absolute favorites. Here's where the weirdness comes in. I'm 99% sure that I only learned about it when casually scrolling through wikipedia's page on the Great American Novel about 10-15 years ago to see how many books were considered the GAN to some degree. It had a fairly memorable title, and a year or so later I was at a friend's housewarming party, and they had a huge set of book shelves built into the walls in the basement that were mostly filled with books left there by the sellers who were old, and I believe one of them had already died of some type of cancer (based on a whole section of books about this). I spent some time looking through those shelves, and my friend told me I could have whatever from the majority of them filled with came-with-the-house titles. There was an old copy of Winesburg, Ohio, and I remembered the title from that GAN list, so I took it and ended up falling in love with it. More recently I checked the wiki page for Great American Novel, and this book is nowhere to be seen on it. I don't want to go through the page's gargantuan revision history, but I feel like I'm in some sort of personal Mandela Effect about this book being on this list. Does anyone have any idea if this book was on this list at any point, or if there's some other easy-to-find list I may have been looking at to discover this title? submitted by /u/WinesburgOhio [link] [comments]
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