Great/ Infamous Moments in Olympic History

This moment is more infamous than great.

During the 1972 Olympics, held in Munich, Germany, the Israeli team was held hostage and eventually killed by a Palestinian group known as 'Black September.'

It was about mid way through the second week of the Olympics. The German organisers had tried to erase memories of the 1936 Olympics which had a large military presence, and image of warfare and the fact that Adolf Hitler had exploited the games for propaganda purposes. This time, there was a lack of security, to emphasise the goal of a "Carefree" games. In the lead up to the massacre, the Israeli delegation head, Shmuel Lalkin  was worried about the lack of security, but was reassured that everything was going to be fine. He also expressed concern over the team's lodgings. The team was in an isolated part of the Olympic Village where he feared that they would be vulnerable to outside attack.

During the early morning on the 5th of September, 8 members of Black September, wearing tracksuits carrying duffel bags with AK-47 assault rifles, pistols and hand grenades, they summoned the help of unsuspecting Canadian athletes to enter the Olympic Village. They used stolen keys to enter the rooms of the Israeli team.

They stormed into the rooms of the Israeli athletes and proceeded to take them hostage. They were taken to an an awaiting coach. They were then taken to a helicopter. From there, they were taken to an airport to a waiting plane. The reason for this hostage crisis was that the Palestinians wanted the release of numerous Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

By now, the authorities were acting, and they hurriedly hatched a plan to get the athletes back. Five snipers were to be placed around the aerodrome, where the terrorists were to land. Sniper 1 was positioned behind a low wall, sniper 2 behind a truck, and snipers 3,4 and 5 were placed on the control tower.

The plan went horribly wrong because of the following factors: it was intended that the terrorists would land side on to the tower giving the snipers a clear shot - but they landed head on - the helicopter obscuring the sniper's aim. Second, when the flood lights were mistakenly turned on, it dazzled all 5 snipers, preventing them from identifying their targets. Third, the snipers didn't have the right guns for the job; they used M16s, which were machine guns, instead of the better-suited rifles.

In the ensuing fire fight that followed, all 8 terrorists were shot. But, the helicopter with the athletes was blown up by hand grenades, killing the athletes, and in the second helicopter, 4 athletes were 'mown down' by a terrorist at the door. Also a senior member of the German armed police was shot dead.

As a result, on the 6th of September, a memorial was arranged with 80,000 in attendance; on the 8th, Israeli planes bombed 10 PLO  (Palestinian Liberation Organisation) camps, killing 200.

Ever since the 1972 Olympics, security has become much tighter, with the Olympic Village becoming one of the most heavily guarded places in the world, with armed guards being standard procedure.

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre

Collaborative Story Part 2

Read part 1 at georgiakellyac.

And shortly after that speech, Detective Jones was confronted with his first witness: Horace Bennett. He gave a vivid description of how an old French man driving a tractor, delivering some fruit to the market had gone to unload the fruit from his tractor, when the tractor began to move backwards without anybody in it. It proceeded roll and take out the old French man, then a queue of 7 people waiting to buy fruit were run over. Then the tractor reversed over the fruit stand to hit a building. The shock caused a person to fall out of a balcony.

Upon hearing this account, detective Jones ordered a thorough search of the tractor to identity the cause of it to reveres without human intervention. And soon enough, the investigation revealed that the old French man had left the parking brake off. So it seems that the old French man was to blame. But, upon further investigation, the hand brake was in fact on, just the lever to apply it had moved to the off position. But, how could this be? The tractor had moved backwards with it on!

Read Part 3 at  http://joelsblogggg.blogspot.co.nz/

Ancient Warfare 3 day Episode

In this 3 day ep, you will step back in time to experience how some of the greatest battles in ancient history were fought. Make your own swords, spears, bow and arrows and shields. Learn how to shoot a traditional bow and arrow and make it yourself while you're at it.

Day 1: Learn about some of the greatest ancient battles (eg Marathon) as well as plan your weapon and shield.

Day 2: Build your weapon using ancient tools techniques.

Day 3: Learn some of the old battle tactics and test your weapons out on the person next to you (NB no killing allowed. It's against the law).
 


 

Reflection on Term 1

Term 1 was mostly a big disappointment. Particularly on the grounds of learning. I've learnt virtually nothing over the past 10 weeks. I come to school to learn, not to waste my time! However, on the home work front, I enjoyed having almost no home work. And of that, it was all easy. Simply put: It was no skin of my nose. Not that I'm complaining though.

Novel Review

The novel I read was called "The Valley of Adventure" by Enid Blyton. It is an adventure book (as the title suggests).  The book doesn't say which time period it was written in. But, I guess it was either in the late 40s to the 50s. The entire series follows four adventurous tweens and teens. As where ever they go, they seem to have a massive adventure. Even when in one of the latter books of the series they promise their Mother that they'd wouldn't go for any more adventures.

This book is the four: Jack, Dinah, Philip and Lucy-Ann, going to visit their uncle Bill in Scotland. Uncle Bill wants to fly them to his bungalow in his new plane. But there is a mix up up at the aerodrome. Because Bill was a policeman, he'd been called to help catch a couple of crooks who robed a museum. There was a small shot-out. The four were frightened and got on to the wrong plane. It just so happened that the plane they got on to was that of the crooks! So they realised that pretty quickly. Over hearing the pilots, they crammed them selves into some crates at the back of the plane. Because the pilots were going to drop their crates into a valley. The survived the fall because the crates had parachutes. That's how they ended up having an adventure in a valley.

I'd rate this book 7/10 because the over all story line was good. The description of the environment was some-what realistic. The only down side to all of this is because of the language they use. Its not bad. But, is what I call "proper English." And I'm not use to it. Nor are a lot people. Most would be quite irritated. There were also some funny parts to it. Mainly when Philip tries to scare his sister Dinah with all sorts of bugs:)

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the dictator of the former U.S.S.R (Union of Soviet Socialist Republic) from 19 July 1941 – 25 February 1946. He was still in office until his death in March of 19 1953. He led the Soviet war against the Nazis in 1941-1945. He was one of the many Bolchevic revolutionaries that brought the end of the ruling of the Russian royal family in 1917.

Starlin was born on 18 December 1978 in Gori in the Russian Empire in what is now Georgia. He contracted smallpox at the age of 7 which left his face permanently scared. He attended Church school where he and the other Georgian children were forced to speak Russian. At the age of 12, two horsing accidents left his left arm damaged. When he was sixteen he got a scholarship into a Georgian Orthodox seminary; but was kicked out after rebelling against the imperial and religious orders.

When Stalin became the  dictator in 1941. He succeeded Vyacheslav Molotov, the man in which the Finish named their Molotov cocktail. After all, he was the one to blame or the Russo-Finish war of 1940.

Stalin formed a military alliance with Adolf Hitler. He and Stalin (was the premier, not quite leader of the U.S.S.R. yet) together invade Poland. But in the summer of 1941, Hitler breaks their alliance and invades the Soviet Union, on failing to invade Britain. After a bitter struggle, the Soviets push the Nazis back to Germany.

During his regime, Stalin has been suggested to have killed more people than Hitler. The exact figure is unknown. But it lies any ware between 10-60 million. The main cause of all these deaths is that Stalin had anybody who opposed or didn't support the communist party sent to the Siberian salt mines in the far east. Or if you were lucky, you'd be stood against a brick wall and shot by the K.G.B.(Soviet Secret Service).

The salt mines meant the same thing to the Soviets that Auschwitz meant to the Jews of the time. They were truly horrible places. It was cold. Temperatures rarely exceeding 10C. There were no toilets. If you had to use the "little opposer to the communist party's room", the only option is to dig a hole and dump. The food was much less than adequate. Sickness was common. The workers were over-worked. Added to that, the trip to the salt mines wasn't any better. They would be crumbed into boxcars for days at a time. There wars no food or water.

If the salt mines weren't bad enough, Stalin heavily persecuted the Soviets living in the South U.S.S.R. The countries of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kirghistan, were all looked down upon because they looked more Asian than European. Their protesting along with other Soviet states led Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin wall and let the Soviet Union fragment, in 1989.

Stalin's regime finally came to an end when he succumb to  atherosclerosis due to his heavy smoking. He suffered at least 10 heart attacks before finally having a stroke on March 5th 1953.

 

Bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin
                      Numerous documentaries over the years.

My Wordle

How to Make a Frappe

The easiest way to explain this culinary wonder is to say that it is a fancy slushy. For those of you who are lactose intolerant, this isn't the recipe for you.
Ingredients:
 Ice
 2.5 cups of milk
 3.5 T of milkshake powder (or Milo, or coffee, or a soft drink),
 a T of rum, brandy, kahlua or whiskey is optional (not all together)
 some spray-able cream  or mousse
 chocolate sauce 
 a mint leaf for a garnish.

Method:

1.Mix milk and milkshake powder (or coffee or a soft drink) together.

2.Put in blender with ice.

3.Blend until it retains a snow-like texture.

4.Pour into a glass (a sherry glass if you want to be fancy),

5.Top with cream in a swirl on top.

6.Garnish with chocolate sauce and/or a mint leaf for presentation.

This is a really refreshing drink that is best served on a hot day.

Serves 2-4

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Aliens and Weddings

The chances of there being life on other planets is virtually zero. But that does leave a tiny possibility that there is. Whatever the answer may be, this story suggests that there is.

On a distant planet in the Andromeda galaxy, a group of four aliens have a date with destiny. They (if their plan succeeds) will be the first of their kind to travel to another galaxy. Their names are A'lef: the leader, is a mild tempered averagely educated Orc from the planet Zzorc. Ma'kov, second in command, is an uneducated ex-convict that has a tendency of breaking things. D'rae, is what you'd call normal and last is Sebastian, the genius of the crew. The whole journey was made possible by Sebastian's latest invention: a warp projector. That allowed them to go from one side of the universe to another as quick as walking through a door.

All things were going according to plan until Ma'kov put the wrong directions in to the warp projector's navigation computer. The four ended up in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. After 5 adrenaline packed minutes of avoiding asteroids ranging from sand to planet size, they made it out in almost one piece.  The asteroids had taken out an engine. So the craft was hurtling out of control until it was caught by Earth's gravitational pull. The quartet crash landed in Yellowknife, Canada. All four Orcs survived the landing, thanks to D'rae's insisting on getting airbags fitted. The lot decided to go exploring, since there wasn't anything else to do.

About an hour later, they stumbled across a wedding. This was as exciting as it was nerve-wracking because the Orcs had never come across another species. They slowly advanced with plasma rifles at the ready, not knowing what to expect. They assumed these new life forms were friendly. While observing, they could sense a bit of anxiety in the crowd. The groom had forgotten the wedding, and was at work. The bride's cheeks were as pink as a pig's backside with humiliation. They decided to show themselves, thinking that they would lighten the mood. But it brought on a panic attack on the attendance. After convincing them that they were friendly, the four of them began to question the new life forms about everything. Ma'kov had discovered his latest most favourite food: wedding cake. Sebastian indulged in a new technology to him: the cell phone.

One of the other members of the audience called the groom and asked why he wasn't there at the wedding. The groom replied that he thought the wedding was next week. D'rae remembered that he'd brought along a teleporter. So he offered to teleport the groom to the wedding as a friendly gesture. It took about half an hour later (because the groom had to get showered and dressed). The two returned and the wedding commenced. Afterwards, it was time for the reception. The foods were all devine in every sort of way. Except though, A'lef was gluten intolerant; none of the foods there were gluten free. That meant that he was going to the bathroom once every 5 minutes. Now it is time for the cake. But, where could it have gone? Ma'kov had eaten the whole thing! No worries, there was plenty of ice cream to go around.

The four soon realised that they still had to get home. They thanked the new life forms for letting them stay and dashed back to the wreckage of their ship. A'lef found the warp projector. So now they could  get back to Zzorc in a flash. Everything was back to the way it should be. A'lef, Ma'kov, D'rae and Sebastian were now recognised as heroes - and back on Earth, the bride and groom are now happily married. And they all lived happily ever after. THE END

The Holidays

The recent lot of holidays haven't been the greatest holidays ever. The weather for the first three weeks especially was most atrocious. Constant torrential rain. Good thing that my brother and I bought a PlayStation 3 or otherwise those weeks would have been saturated with boredom as well as rain (not to mention that I wasn't all that well). At least I was away from school!

During the fifth week of the holidays, my family and I went off to a small settlement of beach houses thirty minutes north west of Whitianga in the Coromandel Peninsula called Opito Bay. It's about a three hour drive from Manurewa. Packing was a nightmare! We took two cars, my brother's quad-bike, and a third of our house contents with us.

We left on the Saturday at 11:00am. Our original goal was to leave at 10:00am but as per usual in our family, we are always 30 - 60 minutes late of our deadline. Any way, it was good to finally get down there to begin the daunting task of unpacking and putting things away. That was kind of difficult because the bach we were staying at was about the size of our lounge and kitchen (FYI, the bach is for sale).

The first night I had the best sleep in three years. Since the beach was about thirty yards from our bach, you can guess where we spent 50% of our time. As well as that, we did heaps of relaxing, and my brother did what he did best: terrorise the sea birds on his quad.

On our fourth day there, we went to the main town of Whitianga to do some shopping. The nice thing about Whitianga is that there are no traffic lights! And that 85% of the gift and nic-nac shops sold locally made stuff. Not all made in China as is often the case. For dinner, we were to indulge in some fish and chips on the beach. But it was most disappointing. For a start, the fish and chips were literally swimming in oil. Added to that, we had an onslaught of gnats and mosquitoes.

When the day came to go home, we were all sad. The thought of going back to the regular routines of our normal lives wasn't too promising. Once again, we had to pack which, just like last time, took ages. But we eventually got there. Three hours of negotiating  mountainous terrain and winding roads later, we were home. And you can guess what we did first. Unpack - which took forever. At least we could all sleep in our own beds!