Brain Teaser – General Knowledge

This week’s brainteaser will test your general knowledge. Need help? Use Credo Reference Online.

1. In the nursery rhyme, what had Little Bo-peep lost?

2. Is the colour vermilion blue, green or red?

3. Name the place in the Ukraine where there was a nuclear disaster on 26 April, 1986, releasing radioactive material into the atmosphere.

4. “Oxbridge” is a word that refers to what?

5. Which US actor starred in the films “The Magnificent Seven”, “The Great Escape” and “Bullitt”?

6. Who has been president of France since 2007? – try to give both his names.

7. Who wrote the novels “Jamaica Inn”, “Rebecca” and “Frenchman’s Creek”?

8. Which part of the human body includes the hammer, the anvil and the stirrup?

9. In which two countries would you be most likely to find Walloons?

10. Can you name four of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World?

How did you do?

0 – 1 Mmmm, not exactly brilliant.
2 – 5 A reasonable stab.
6 – 8 A good showing. But there’s still room for improvement!
9 – 10 You really know your stuff. Well done!

Questions set by Tony Augarde (www.augardebooks.co.uk)

Finding Las Vegas Newspaper Articles

Interested in Las Vegas history?

Reading old newspapers is one way to do it.  The Virtual Library has the Las Vegas Review Journal  and the Las Vegas Age available online.  The Las Vegas Library also has the Las Vegas Review Journal and The Sun available on microfiche. Watch Tom Hawley’s Video Vault – Library Research for more information about these great library resources.

Have you ever used a bad product?

Have you ever used a bad product? Not just a cheap or cheesy item, but one that’s actually dangerous?

If so, THIS is where you can go to let everyone know there’s a problem! SAFERPRODUCTS.GOV will take your information, and actually check it out!

They’ll put your report up, so other people can read about it!

 

 

Here’s what you’ll need you submit a report:

1. What is it?
2. Who made it?
3. What happened? (What went wrong?)
4. When did it happen?
5. Who are you? (for example, are you a nurse and know this is a bad thing?)
6. How can we contact you?
7. Can we put your report up?
8. And, do you promise all this is really true?

Looking for Something Good to Read?

As you settle into the New Year, you might be thinking about all of the wonderful things that 2011 brought. Among them were some great debut novels from authors you’re sure to hear about again in the future. You can mine reviews in NoveList to create a list of debut titles published in 2011. To get started go to NoveList then:

1. Click on the Advanced Search link under the Search For box on the homepage.
2. Type the word debut in the top box, and select RV Review from the drop-down on the same line.
3. Leave AND selected in the second line.
4. Type 2011 in the box on the second line and select PY Publication Year from the drop-down menu on the same line.
5. Click Search.

This will give you a list of hundreds of debut novels published in 2011. You can then use the options in the “Narrow Results by” section to the left to narrow by genre or the boxes in the “Limit Your Results” on the right to limit by audience. This way, you can, for example, create a list of debut Mystery titles for teens:

1. Select Mystery Stories under Genre in the “Narrow Results by” section to the left of your Result List.
2. Select the Teens box in the “Limit Your Results” section on the right.
3. Click Update.

You will be left with over 15 Mystery debuts for teens.

A word of warning: you may find that some of the books in the result list are sequels to debut novels. The debut may be mentioned in the review for the sequel.

Voting Rights Lesson Plan

Students will learn about the history of voting rights in the United States and create a timeline detailing significant events, write a persuasive essay on a variety of voting topics and collect information about voting rights and laws from different regions of the world.

View the video New Voting ID Laws by MSNBC.

Discussion Guide

Lesson Plan 1- History of Voting Rights in the U.S.

Objective:  Students will learn about the history of voting rights in the United States and create a timeline of the most significant events

Handout Lesson Plan 1- Significant Events Impacting Voting Rights

Lesson Plan 2- Persuasive Writing

Objective:  Students will choose from several topics and write a persuasive essay

Lesson Plan 3-Voting around the World

Objective:  Groups will compete to collect the most information about the voting rights in an assigned region of the world

21^st Century Core Content
History
Government and Civics

21^st Century Themes
Global Awareness
Civic Literacy

21^st Century Skills
Work Creatively With Others
Reason Effectively
Communicate Clearly
Collaborate with Others
Work Independently
Be Self-directed Learners
Interact Effectively with Others
Work Effectively in Diverse Teams
Produce Results
Guide and Lead Others
Be Responsible to Others

 Additional Resources:
State Felon Voting Laws; ProCon.org
State Voting Requirements by Declare Yourself.com
U.S. Electoral College by Archives.gov
U.S. Department of Justice; Voting Rights Act of 1965
U.S. Constitution.net

Additional Resources from U.S. History in Context:
Florida Law Tightens Voting Rules
Voting Rights Act of 1965; Primary Source
Suffrage Topic Overview
Democracy Movements
Election Day! Primary Source

Lesson plan provided by Gale