At the Bonden (or Bonten) Festival at Yokote in the Akita Prefecture of Japan, each district of the city has a team of young men to carry its bonden in a race to the Asahiokayama-jinja shrine. The bonden is a 10-foot (3-m) bamboo pole, draped with heavy cloth and topped by a platform holding a figure of the Animal of the Year. Those carrying the bonden gradually increase their pace until they are running, often pushing members of competing teams to the ground to be the first to the top. The team that arrives first wins the privilege of offering its bonden to the kami, or god. Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary
Considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan ended his career with a regular-season scoring average of 30.1 points per game, the highest in NBA history. He won six NBA championships, was league MVP five times, and earned two Olympic gold medals. Jordan’s mid-air acrobatics and slam dunk skills are legendary and earned him the nickname “Air Jordan.” After retiring from basketball in 1993, Jordan surprised fans by beginning a career in what sport? 
The San are an indigenous people of Africa, mainly found in Botswana, Namibia, Angola, and South Africa. Once nomadic hunters and gatherers of wild food in desolate areas like the Kalahari Desert of southwest Africa, most of the San now live in settlements and work on cattle ranches or farms. The San have a rich folklore, are skilled in drawing, and have a remarkably complex language characterized by the use of clicks. What plant used by the San has been patented, and why? 
Fate alone saw the meaning of the web it wove, the might of it, and its place in the making of a world’s history. 
The 1992 Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, produced a treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in order to combat global warming. Representatives of 172 nations agreed to work toward the sustainable development of the planet, although most of the agreements were not legally binding. In 1997, an amendment was negotiated called the Kyoto Protocol, by which participating nations commit to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide. Which countries have not ratified the agreement? 
The passage in 1968 of Public Law 90-363, also known as the “
Despite rumors that he masterminded several terrorist bombings in the 1980s, Kim Jong-Il succeeded his late father as ruler of North Korea in 1994 and remained in power until his death in 2011. Although Kim took steps to improve international relations early in his rule, the country’s continued pursuit of nuclear weapons technology soured its dealings with the West. Kim had a reputation for personal extravagance. What are some examples that have been cited as evidence of his excesses? 
Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya, with a population of 900,000. Until the 16th century, Mombasa was a center of the Arab trade in ivory and slaves. The city was visited by Vasco da Gama on his first voyage to India, and it was burned three times by the Portuguese. Today, Mombasa serves as a chief port for Kenya, Uganda, and northeast Tanzania, and its beaches and resorts attract thousands of tourists annually. What tragic series of events happened here on November 28, 2002? 
In song and dance man expresses himself as a member of a higher community: he has forgotten how to walk and speak and is on the way toward flying up into the air, dancing.