Geo Quiz #22: Eastern Africa

Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda.

Geo Quiz #21: Southern Africa

Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe.

Newbery and Other Predictions

Betsey Bird, who writes the authoritative blog Fuse #8, makes predictions for the Newbery Award, as well as the Caldecott and other awards. Check out these titles if you're looking for new books to read. Read the post here.

Elements of Realistic Fiction in The Golden Compass

Instructions for the assignment can be found here.

The new banner for Gacekblog incorporates motifs from The Golden Compass. Thank you, Juyoun, for creating this beautiful artwork.

Geo Quiz #20: Central Africa

Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome & Principe, Zambia.

Geo Quiz #19: West Africa

Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo.

Here is a map of West Africa.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Geo Quiz #18: North Africa

Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Here is a blank map of Africa.

Kentucky Defeats Washington

Washington played a brilliant game Monday vs. Virginia, and it was unrealistic to think they could sustain that level of play Tuesday vs. Kentucky. They couldn't. They got off to a fast start, scoring the first 4 points. The Kentucky coach called a quick timeout. UK then proceded to score the next 18 points. This placed the Huskies in a deep early hole. Due to some cold shooting from Kentucky, however, the Huskies crawled back. They actually led by one at halftime.

Kentucky played just a little bit better than the Huskies in the second half and ended up winning 74-67. Washington looked good at times but overall they weren't as crisp or effective as they were the previous night. Some of the things contributing to the UW loss:

• Their 3-point shooting was way off. A day after sinking a school-record 17 three's vs. Virginia, UW made just 3 of 13 vs. Kentucky. The Kentucky defense completely neutralized this threat.


• Poor rebounding. UW was outrebounded 45-32. Kentucky's Josh Harrelson picked up 7 offensive rebounds altogether and his final two sealed the win for UK.


• Isaiah Thomas had a bad game. 4-14 shooting, 0-4 on 3-pointers, 5-10 from the line. Their top scoring threat was completely shut down.


• Darnell Gant disappeared in the second half. Gant made 2 huge three's in the first half but then had to sit on the bench with three fouls. He hardly played at all in the second half. His presence was missed.
  

Aziz N'Diaye was the surprise for the Huskies with 5 blocked shots. He's not a complete player yet, but his shot-blocking ability is a nice new addition for the team.

Terrence Jones was again a star for Kentucky: 16 points and 17 rebounds. Husky fans are still bitter.

Washington plays Michigan State this afternoon at 2:00. The Spartans are currently #2 in the country. We'll see if Washington can bounce back against another very talented team. Go Dawgs.!

Photo of Terrence Jones: David Parry/McClatchy Newspapers.

Snow Day

Today was a snow day for kids all across Western Washington. While it was cold and the roads were treacherous, it was a beautiful, sunny day.

Today's school day would have been the last day of the trimester. Because it didn't happen, Monday and Tuesday of next week will be make-up days. On Monday, Golden Compass Part III questions will be due. On Tuesday, the Geo Final will take place. Both will count as Trimester 1 scores. Next Tuesday will be the absolute last day to turn in missing work from Trimester 1

Make sure you do some reading over the break. Read and enjoy The Subtle Knife if you picked up a copy. If not, make sure you have a good book to read as an alternate. Stay warm, kids!

Photo: The view from my front porch this morning.

Washington Defeats Virginia

The Washington Huskies are an incredibly fun team to watch. They play a smothering defense and on offense they run and shoot at full tempo. Last night in Maui they played as well as they can play against Virginia. Virginia is not a great team, but the Huskies' win was still very impressive. They shot 58% from the field. They shot 65% from 3-point land. They scrapped for loose balls and rebounds. They were just on.

The Huskies individually looked dramatically improved from last year. Isaiah Thomas, Justin Holliday, and Abdul Gaddy were tremendous. The freshman C.J. Wilcox couldn't miss. Transfer center Aziz N'Diaye from Senegal gives the team a long-needed big man. Everyone that entered the game played well.

Tonight at 6:30 the Huskies take on the Kentucky Wildcats. It will be a chance for the Huskies to show they're a contender against a marquee team. Plus, there's some added drama. Last year Portland high school senior Terrence Jones announced at a press conference amidst much fanfare that he would be attending the University of Washington. Immediately after making the announcement, however, Jones had second thoughts. He didn't sign the letter of intent to make his commitment official. A month or so later, Jones reneged on his commitment and announced he would attend Kentucky.

Terrence Jones is now arguably Kentucky's best player. Without Jones, the Huskies are still a darn good team, and an exciting one at that. With Jones, however, they would be that much better.

It's gonna be a barn-burner of a game tonight. Go Dawgs!

Isaiah Thomas photo: AP/Eugene Tanner

Europe Maps

Each country should be labelled and colored. Adjacent countries should be colored different colors.

Bodies of water should be labelled and colored blue.

The following capitals should be labelled: Reykjavik, London, Dublin, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Berlin, Oslo, Stockholm, Warsaw, Moscow, Kiev, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Rome, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Athens.

Labels should be inked. Coloring should be done with colored pencil.

Include a compass rose and a title. Name should be inked in lower right-hand corner.

Outer border should be colored and decorated.

Spelling Quiz #2

This quiz will be cumulative, in that words from Quiz #1 will be repeated for this quiz.

You will need to know the spelling, part of speech, and definition for all of the words. Here is the Quiz #2 List:

mischievous, assimilate, restaurant, literature, opportunity, knowledge, enthusiastic, Wednesday, extraordinary, exaggerate, clothes, exception, embarrass, melancholy, description.

The Golden Compass, Part II: Bolvangar

Read all of Part II: Bolvangar by Tuesday, November 16.

1. Vocabulary: Record at least 2 unfamiliar (or interesting) vocabulary words with their definitions and parts of speech. Use each word in a new sentence of your own design.

2. Short Answer Questions:

1. What is intercision? What is the General Oblation Board trying to accomplish by these experiments?

2. What did you like or dislike about Part II? Support your answer with specific examples from the book. How did Part II compare with Part I?

Dave Niehaus

I don't really know what cosmic forces conspired to make me a baseball fan, but I do know that it happened sometime early in my childhood. My introduction to baseball was through the radio and through baseball cards. I spent countless hours, in fact, listening to the Mariners and sorting my baseball card collection. Dave Niehaus was the play-by-play announcer, a job he held from the team's inception in 1977 until today, when he passed away at age 75. Niehaus was a story-teller above all else, and he loved baseball. I grew up in the '80's and the Mariners played some bad baseball during that decade. Still I had my heroes on those Mariner teams. The first was Julio Cruz, a slick fielding second baseman and stolen base threat. The next was Alvin Davis, the American League Rookie of the Year in 1984. But by and large, these were bad baseball teams. Still, I loved listening to the games on the radio and following the team's ups and downs. Dave Niehaus was that good. He made a bad baseball team worth caring about.

Dave is probably best known for his exuberant calls of exciting events. Back in the day, these were few and far between. Dave would not disappoint, however, when Mickey Brantley or whoever would hit a game-winning home run. Things changed of course in 1989 with the arrival on the scene of Ken Griffey, Jr. It did still take a while for Mariner teams to actually become good. We Mariner fans were elated in 1991 when we experienced our first winning season. Then 1995 came along. No one enjoyed the moment more than Dave Niehaus. The Mariners beat the New York Yankees in their first playoff series on an Edgar Martinez double to score Griffey. It was a great time to be a Mariner fan.

2001 and the arrival of Ichiro was another great year. It's been a bit of a dry spell since then. I heard a lot of frustration in Dave's voice of late. Still, I got the sense there was no place Dave would rather be than broadcasting a game from beautiful Safeco Field.

"My oh My!"

"It will Fly Away!"

"The Mariners are going to play for the American League Championship!"

So many great memories. We've been lucky as Mariner fans that we've had Dave Niehaus all these years to narrate the games we've so enjoyed. Thank you, Dave.

Photo: Betty Udesen, Seattle Times.

Geo Quiz #17: Middle East II

Countries: Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen.
Capitals: Tehran, Baghdad, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi.

A blank map of the Middle East can be found here.

Geo Quiz #16: Eastern U.S. Physical Features

Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario.
Rivers: Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Red, Rio Grande.
Mountain Ranges: Appalachian.

A blank map of the United States can be found here.

Appalachian Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Geo Quiz #15: Middle East I

Countries: Cyprus, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey.
Capitals: Nicosia, Jerusalem, Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Ankara.

Map of Middle East is here.

Geo Quiz #14: Eastern U.S. Cities

Boston, Providence, New York City, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Richmond, Charlotte, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Nashville, Louisville.

Map of Eastern United States is here.

The Golden Compass: Part I

Read all of Part I: Oxford by Tuesday, November 9.

1. Vocabulary: Record at least 4 unfamiliar (or interesting) vocabulary words with their definitions and parts of speech. Use each word in a new sentence of your own design.

2. People, Places, Institutions: Record at least 3 interesting names of people, places, or institutions which are alluded to but not really described in depth. Record what little you know about 3 different proper nouns of this type.

3. Short Answer Questions:

1. Do you like Lyra as a character thus far? Why or why not? Refer to specific things Lyra did or thought in explaining your answer.

2. Do you like or dislike the book thus far? Give specific reasons for your opinion and back them up with examples from the book.

Picture of Oxford High Street from The Daily Mail (UK).

Geo Quiz #13: Europe Physical Features

Rivers: Danube, Rhine, Seine, Thames, Volga.
Mountain Ranges: Alps, Apennines, Carpathians, Caucasus, Pyrenees, Urals.
Mountains: Mt. Etna, Mt. Blanc, Mt. Elbrus.
Bodies of Water: Adriatic Sea, Mediterranean Sea.

Picture of Pic du Midi d'Ossau in the French Pyrenees from Wikimedia Commons.