KNOWLEDGE CORNER
Football
Football, commonly known as association football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players each with a spherical ball. It is the world's most popular sport. The Laws of the Game published in England by the Football Association in 1863 remain the basis for the way the sport is played today. Association football is governed internationally by FIFA, which organizes the World Cup every four years.
The Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and Shrewsbury schools. These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association (The FA) in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London.
A standard adult football match consists of two periods of 45 minutes each, known as halves. Each half runs continuously, meaning that the clock is not stopped when the ball is out of play. There is usually a 15-minute half-time break between halves. The end of the match is known as full-time. In league competitions, games may end in a draw, but in some knockout competitions if a game is tied at the end of regulation time it may go into extra time, which consists of two further 15-minute periods. If the score is still tied after extra time, some competitions allow the use of penalty shootouts to determine which team will progress to the next stage of the tournament.
The major international competition in football is the World Cup, organized by FIFA. More than 190 national teams compete in qualifying tournaments within the scope of continental confederations for a place in the finals. The finals tournament, which is held every four years, involves 32 national teams competing over a four-week period. After the World Cup, the most important international football competitions are the European Championship (sanctioned by UEFA), the Copa América (sanctioned by CONMEBOL), African Cup of Nations (sanctioned by CAF), the Asian Cup (sanctioned by AFC), the CONCACAF Gold Cup (sanctioned by CONCACAF) and the OFC Nations Cup (sanctioned by OFC).
Those who shaped our civilization (History)
Egypt is an ancient civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern nation of Egypt. The civilization began around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh that developed over the next three millennia until it was attacked by the Hyksos. Life in ancient Egypt revolved around the Nile and the fertile land along its banks. The yearly flooding of the Nile enriched the soil and brought good harvests and wealth to the land. The pharaoh was the head of land and the divine representative of the gods on earth. Next to the pharaoh, the most powerful officers were the viziers, the executive heads of the bureaucracy. At the early stage every Egyptian town had its own particular god represented in the shape of an animal. Re, the Sun God, was considered the central and original power of creation. Re is identified as a god with a human body and falcon head who wears a crown in the form of a sun disc surrounded by a cobra. Osiris is portrayed as a mummified man wearing a tall white crown adorned with two ostrich feathers. Osiris, father of Horus, husband of Isis and brother of Seth was the ruler of the underworld. He chose whether one had an afterlife, or should be eaten by Ammut (a god who ate the soul). When a pharaoh died, his actions were judged in the afterworld by Osiris. If they were considered just, the king was transformed into a form of the sun god. To ensure safety in the afterlife Egyptians buried their dead inside a pyramid in the form of a mummy. Though only rich persons could afford to build a pyramid, the mummification was a common practice. The step pyramid in 'Saqqara' built between the times 2667- 2648 BC is said to be the first complete pyramid which was made for Pharaoh Djoser. But the most famous pyramids were built at Giza. The three pyramids were built by three pharaohs - Cheops (also known as Khufu), Chephren (Khafre) and Mycerinus (Menkaure). This site is the only existing classic wonder of the ancient world and one of the oldest structures in existence, having been started 4,600 years ago. On the Giza plateau stands the Sphinx, a lion with a human head. The Sphinx differs from other deities in that it has an animal body and a human head, whereas most other deities have human bodies and animal heads. Egyptian people developed a sophisticated process of mummification. The term "mummification" comes from the Arabic word 'mummiya', which means Bitumen, a pitch substance that was first used in the preservation process during the late period. During the process of mummification, the internal organs (lungs, stomach, liver and intestines) were removed, washed with palm wine and spices, and stored in four separate canopic jars made of limestone. Finally they would wrap the body and preserve it in a coffin with magical writings on it. Egyptians developed a formal writing system called “Hieroglyphs”- the sacred carving. They had literally thousands of hieroglyphs. Hieroglyph was a mystery to modern people for many years until 1822 when a French Egyptologist, Jean François Champollion, deciphered the language. After that the history of Egypt has become more comprehensible. Now we know their thoughts, ideas and culture that showed the way of civilization.
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