If you like history
 

and learning new things, NYTimes has weekly history quiz. What's cool about them is they have you looking up and learning more about a variety of events, etc. after the quiz. This one was particularly interesting.

Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz

Can you place 8 notable events in chronological order?

Cool. On the one, I missed the one about Arabian Nights. I had no idea it was that old.

I missed the one about Maui. Got 26 out of 28 points.

Maui?

It's an island that's part of the state of Hawaii. :D

this one was pretty easy but interesting.

Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz
January 18, 2025
Can you place 8 notable events in chronological order?

These are fun and informative. Thanks for the link.

I failed on the zero. Sad trombone.

I have to go back and find the James Burke Connections episode where he said 0 was invented by Arabs in the Ottoman Empire, I think.

What I like about these is they promote curiosity, looking stuff up whether you got it right or wrong in the quiz. Curiosity is dying in this country and will ultimately be the death of it vis-à-vis see/hear something and just repeat it, don't learn or challenge it with research.

So now I'll be learning more about the Indian origin later today.

If I'm honest, I was lucky on the absolutism question. I guessed on one of two choices and hit the bonanza there. But I really did think I had the zero question placed correctly until I hit the button.

7 of 8.

They should quiz the times staff on all the things they’ve gotten wrong the past 20 years.

We didn’t all get the same quiz. I didn’t know when the waltz was invented.

And the concept of zero goes back to the Babylonians. So debatable.

The "fun" thing about history is how much "the answers" change.

Pop through text books over the decades and there will be different answers to the zero question.

this one was particularly easy but also very interesting requiring some post-quiz googling and learning

Flashback: Your Weekly History Quiz
By The New York Times · August 2, 2025
Can you place 8 notable events in chronological order?

One of my favorite parts of my local pper is the news from 100 years ago today

following the Spanish flu pandemic and Prohibition turmoil was very interesting

Years ago, I stumbled across a website called the "houstorian" (Houston Historian) and spent several weeks reading. It also had scans of old newspaper articles that was really fascinating. https://houstorian.org/

I recently stumbled across this guy's videos. He makes videos about the old, traditional ways of doing things which are also absolutely fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/@eugeniomonesma-documentales/videos

I've watched videos on ways that folks used mistletoe to catch birds for food in Spain, making huge batches of charcoal, make knives, etc...

This one was good, I missed 2

Play this week’s Flashback history quiz.

i didnt do great.

i got a prompt that said, "maybe crack open a book or two FOOL!"

that cant be a good sign. :D

6 of 8 here, but only because I didn't understand how to place the first one. Dummy me. I had it placed incorrectly but when I went to move it I clicked on the blue button to place it.

6 of 8 also.

I'm smarter than i thought, I got em all right on the third try!

yeah shaun. I love these things. been doing it seemingly for decades. good call. makes you question your breadth of knowledge. daily. good for all of us in the present days of constant dis information fed to us. great hear from you... Frank

Hey Frank, good to see you! Hope you are doing well. I think one of the best aspects of my life, and wish others were more inclined to be, is that of a lifelong learner with near insatiable curiosity. This quiz is perfect to help satisfy my appetite. There's so much to know and so little time. Hope you had a good season on the track.