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The Ad (06/07)
The Ad are believed to be an ancient Arabian people who became rich through the production of frankincense and as a trading point for spices from India. The Qur'an says that the prophet Hud was sent by Allah to the city of Ubar/Iram (famed for its tall towers) to warn them that the city would be destroyed if they continued to worship ...
A Brief History of the Amish (06/07)
The Amish are direct descendants of the Anabaptists of 16th century Europe who rejected infant baptism and believed in the separation of church and state (which were entirely conjoined at the time). They became known as Mennonites after the Dutch Anabaptist leader Menno Simons (1496-1561). In the late 17th century there was a schism over ...
The Republic of Bolivia (06/07)
The Republic of Bolivia is a mountainous landlocked country that boasts the highest capital city in the world at 4km above sea level. It is bordered by Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Paraguay. It's population of about 9 million people enjoy three official languages - Spanish, Quechua and Aymara. It's per capita GDP ...
A Short History of Iraq (06/07)
map showing Kurdish and Shia areas or Iraq
The Republic of Iraq (about the size of California) spans the lands of ancient Mesopotamia, (between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range and parts of the Syrian Desert. Mesopotamia was home to the world's first known civilization, the Sumerians...
Twins (04/07)
Conjoined twins
occur in about
40,000 births
but only about
once in every
200,000 live
births. Craniopagus-twins
occur in only
about one in
every 10 million
...
Coal (04/07)
Facts & Stats according to Big Coal
- More than 1/2 of the USA's electricity comes from coal.
- The USA burns more than a billion tons a year - an average of 20 lbs per
person per day.
- Coal plants account for 40% of carbon dioxide emissions in the USA.
- According to alternate energy guru Amory Lovins of
The Rocky Mountain ...
Parsis (03/07)
Parsis are Zoroastrians, most likely descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to Indian from the Middle-East to escape Muslim persecution. Zoroastrianism is both a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster (c.1200 BCE) who proclaimed Ahura Mazda to be the one divine authority and ...
The Siege of Leningrad (03/07)
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the 900-day siege, lasted from
September 1941 until January 1944 (a total of 872 days). In 1942 alone 650,000 died in Leningrad, some from German shelling, but mostly from starvation, exposure and disease. Although some supplies did get through across Lake Ladoga - by barge in the summer and by ...
All About Water (03/07)
Did you know?
- The earth contains about 1.1 quadrillion acre-feet of water, but 97% is
seawater.
- Of the remaining 28 trillion acre-feet of freshwater on or near the
surface, two-thirds is locked up as ice.
- Only the remaining 9.7 trillion acre-feet is in liquid form, mostly in
underground aquifers.
- However, what is ...
The Republic of Rwanda (03/07)
The Republic of Rwandais a landlocked country in East Central Africa bordering on Congo, Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa; about 80% of its 8.5 million people are Hutu, most of the remainder are Tutsi, with a few Twa (pygmies). The majority religion is Christianity (75%), and French...
John Wilkes Booth (02/07)
Booth's father, Junius Brutus Booth, emigrated from England in 1821 and
quickly established himself as one of the great actors of the day. Most of
his children were born out of wedlock, and most followed him onto the stage.
John Wilkes Booth started his career in 1855 in Baltimore, and then in
Philadelphia. Initially, he didn't ...
A Brief History of The Renaissance (02/07)
The Renaissance period (from the French word 'rebirth', Il Rinascimento in Italian) was a period of scientific and cultural changes. The Renaissance was triggered by a new interest in the ancient classical texts and a desire to learn how they could be applied to the arts and sciences - the result was a rebirth of European culture as a ...
Greenland and ther Vikings (02/07)
Greenland Then: There is evidence of habitation in Greenland up until about 200 AD, but then the islands appear to have been uninhabited until the Norse settlers from Iceland arrived led by Eric The Red. Around 1200 Inuit from North America migrated southwards and appear to have coexisted peacefully with the Norse. However, by the mid ...
The English Grammar School System (02/07)
Established in medieval times, the original purpose of grammar schools was
to educate select members of the young in the grammar of Latin and other useful
topics.
In 1944 England established a tripartite education system
which placed grammar schools at the top of the heap. Less gifted children
(as defined by those who failed an ...
Multiple Personality Disorder (02/07)
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th
Edition, the primary characteristic of
Disassociate Identity Disorder (DID), formerly known as
Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) is the existence of more than one distinct
identity or personality within the same individual. The identities will ‘take...
Ayelet Waldman (01/07)
Once a year for the last five years, former public defender Ayelet Waldman has
turned out a volume in her Mommy Track mystery series, starring Juliet
Applebaum, ex-public defender and 'self-employed mother'. In mystery
genre terms the Mommy Track books are best described as 'cozies'
(mysteries with low body counts, with the ...
A Short History of Albania (01/07)
Today, Albania is a country slightly smaller than the USA State of Maryland
with a population of about 3.5 million. It is bordered by Montenegro,
Serbia, Macedonia, Greece and the Adriatic Sea. Albanian is spoken by about 6
million people living in Albania, Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia.
It is believed by most that ...
The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) (01/07)
Dr. Nathaniel (Nate) McCormick, the hero of
Isolation Ward , describes himself as 'an officer in the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...part of the Special Pathogens Branch, which is in the Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases'.
Does such an organization exist? Absolutely!
The ...
Medical Prescriptions in USA (01/07)
- The average number of prescriptions per person per year soared from 7 in 1993, to 12 in 2004.
- According to the American Society of Clinical Pharmacologists, in 2000 27% of elderly patients received 9+ medications (compared to 17% in 1997).
- The amount spent to advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers in 2004 was $4.45 billion (up ...
Ways to Reduce Global Warming (12/06)
- Change to accredited Green Power option = Eliminate household emissions
from electricity.
- Install energy-efficient hot water system = Up to 30% reductions in
household emissions.
- Install solar panels = Eliminate household emissions from electricity.
- Use energy-efficient white goods = Up to 50% reduction in household
...
High John The Conqueror (12/06)
According to
Mosley, '
Tall John himself is a reflection of an old slave myth about a spirit named High John the Conqueror. High John, the myth goes, came from Africa to confound the white masters and to ultimately free the slaves.'
Zora Neale Hurston writes of High John de Conquer (pronounced conker) in
The Sanctified Church, a ...
Jews in Poland (12/06)
Jews became a significant part of the Polish population in the 14th century
when they were offered a safe haven by King Casimir the Great after being
expelled en masse from much of Western Europe (including England, Spain, France
and Germany). By the 18th century about 750,000 Jews lived in Poland,
representing about 7% of ...
A Short History of The Hudson Bay Company (12/06)
The Hudson's Bay Company is still very much in existence, but with 500 retail outlets spread across Canada this department store retailer has come a long way from its beginnings in 1670 when King Charles II of Britain granted the lands of the Hudson Bay watershed to 'the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson ...
Jung Chang (12/06)
Jung Chang
was born in Yibin, Sichuan
Province, China, in 1952. She
was a Red Guard briefly at the
age of fourteen and then worked
as a peasant, a 'barefoot
doctor,' (A lay health care
worker who received 3-6 months
training in ...
The Satanic Verses (11/06)
Did you know?
The 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie proclaimed by Ayatollah Khomeini (then
leader of Iran) triggered by the publication of The Satantic Verses in
1988/ It was reaffirmed in 2005 by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's current spiritual leader, and again in February 2006 when the government-run Matyrs Foundation announced, &...
Victoria London (11/06)
If you had a choice between being a tosher, mudlark, rag-and-bone man, scavenger or riverman in Victorian London, which would you choose?
London was a dangerous place with an unnerving number of bodies ending up in the river - cutpurses would murder their victims and throw the bodies in the river,
drunken sailors fell overboard, dock ...
Myla Goldberg (11/06)
Myla Goldberg is the author of the bestselling
Bee
Season; an essay collection,
Time’s Magpie, which explores all
her favorite places in Prague, where she lived for a year in the early nineties;
and
Wickett’s Remedy which grew out of her fascination with the 1918
influenza epidemic. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband,...
A Short History of Venice (11/06)
Venice was founded in the River Po estuary by refugees escaping Attila the Hun in the 5th century. The city is built on more than 100 islands forming the archipelago of the Venetian Lagoon. All transport within the city of Venice is either on foot or by water. Around the 8th century Venice became a city state, like Genoa and Pisa; and ...
Background (11/06)
Carolyn Turgeon was born in Michigan grew up in Illinois, Texas, Michigan and
Pennsylvania. She studied English and Italian literature at Penn State and
received a Master's in Comparative Literature from UCLA.
Rain Village is
her first novel. She works for a non-profit in New York and lives in Queens.
Carolyn Turgeon ...
Background (11/06)
Bangladesh: In 1947 the Partition of India caused the formation of East
and West Pakistan (separated by a distance of about 1,000 miles). Although
the two regions shared a common religion (Islam) large ethnic and linguistic
differences existed which in 1971, following the Bangladesh Liberation War, led
to the formation of ...
Darjeeling, and the 1980s conflicts. (10/06)
The area around Darjeeling in North East India (
map) is populated primarily by Gorkhas (also known as Gurkhas) whose ancestors founded the Kingdom of Nepal; they have long wanted an independent state. Massive violence broke out between 1986 and 1988 but was resolved with the establishment of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council within...
Anansi (10/06)
Anansi is one of the gods in West African mythology, sometimes depicted in human form, sometimes as a spider, sometimes as a hybrid. He's tricky, greedy and lustful, but he's also good-hearted, lucky, and although often bad, never evil. The legends are believed to have originated with the Ashanti tribe (from Ghana) but spread ...
The Savannah Campaign (10/06)
The Savannah Campaign, more commonly known as The March to the Sea, took place between November 15th 1864, when Sherman's 62,000 troops left the captured city of Atlanta, and ended on December 22nd with the capture of Savannah. Sherman and Grant were in agreement that the way to end the war was to inflict a devastating defeat ...
The Equal Rights Amendment (10/06)
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that was intended to guarantee equal rights under the law for Americans regardless of sex. Although the 1920 ratification of the 19th Amendment guaranteed American women's right to vote, suffragette leader Alice Paul argued that vestiges of ...
Julie Powell (09/06)
Julie Powell
says... 'My answer to 'what's
your favorite read' changes
every time I'm asked it, but I
can say that as far as cookbook
authors, Paul Prudhomme*, Andries
de Groot and, yes, Nigella
Lawson are folks I enormously
...
The ETA and Basque separatists (09/06)
Euskadi Ta Azkatasuna (ETA) stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom. The group seeks independence for seven regions in northern Spain and South-West France that they claim as their own. The ETA first appeared in the 1960s as a student resistance movement opposed to General Franco's military dictatorship (Franco banned the ...
Recycling tips (09/06)
Here are a few suggestions, edited from Royte's site, on how each of us can make a
difference:
- Support recycling industries by buying goods made or packaged in
recycled content.
- Don't buy individually wrapped single servings; buy in bulk whenever possible.
- When possible, compost food and yard waste.*
- Visit
Ecocycle for...
A modern history of Trieste (08/06)
Today, Trieste is a charming Italian city bordering Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia) on the Adriatic Sea, home to a wide mix of cultures (
map of Trieste), but in 1954 it was at the center of a Cold War quandary - what to do with this little city-state caught in the power struggle between East and West?
Over the centuries Trieste ...
Q & A (08/06)
Where is
Ulieta? The island of Ulieta,
or Ulietea, is too small to
appear in our atlas but if you
were to travel roughly
North-West of Tahiti you'd
likely come across it. We
'Google Earthed' it (16° 49' 60, 151° 25' 0 W) and
...
Warfare and Rape (08/06)
In ancient times rape was seen as a reward to the victors; for example, there are a number of references in the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures to acts of mass rape by conquerors, and plenty in Roman and Greek history.
In modern times mass rape has been increasingly used as a premeditated terror tactic by invading armies. According to
...
Tibet (07/06)
With an average elevation of 14-16,000 feet (sources differ), it's the highest nation on earth (by comparison, the highest mountain in the 48 contiguous states is Mt. Whitney at 14,494 feet)
Five of Asia's great rivers including the Indus, Mekong and Brahmaputra have their headwaters in Tibet.
Nearly half the world's population lives ...
Honor Killings (06/06)
Map For Lost Lovers explores many issues within the Muslim community, including the central theme of honor killings. According to Amnesty International, an average of 2 women are killed each day in Pakistan for 'betraying the honor of the family' (the reasons for this loss of honor could range from infidelity, including being the victim ...
MI5 (06/06)
According to a
BBC
Interview with Rimington, there is no exact equivalent to MI5 in
the USA - the nearest equivalent is what used to be called the Foreign
Counter Intelligence arm of the FBI. She goes on to say that 'MI5 is a civilian
intelligence service with no powers of arrest or any other police ...
The Armonica (05/06)
The armonica is a musical instrument constructed of graduated glass bowls with holes and corks in the center. It was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761. He was inspired to create it having heard a concert played on wine glasses! For a time armonicas were all the rage, Marie Antoinette (who, incidentally, historians say never did utter ...
Peoples of Finland (02/06)
To research this series, Paver spent time with a guide in the forests of Finland (some Finnish forests are still much as they would have been 6,000 years ago). She learned how the people lived by
studying archaeology; and to understand what they might have thought she
studied many groups including:
Background (02/06)
The Kurt Wallender series is set primarily in
Mankell's native Sweden. You'll find Sweden in the
north of Europe between Finland and Norway. With a population of about 9
million, a landmass about the same size as California and a stable
population, most people enjoy a good quality of life (albeit cold...
Origin of Las Vegas (02/06)
The first person of European descent to discover the location that is now Las
Vegas was a young Spanish scout named Rafael Rivera in the early
1700s. Spanish traders en route from Santa Fe to Pueblo de Los Angelos, traveling along the
Spanish
Trail, sought a route through the valley in the hope of cutting a few days
off the journey, ...
The Kingdom of Wessex (01/06)
Wessex was one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in what is now England. With the reign of
Alfred (871-99) and the halting of the Danes, the King of Wessex became
the King of England. In the 10th century Alfred's descendents gradually acquired firm control over all England,
including the Danelaw (parts of north ...
Liberia (10/05)
Liberia is a tiny country on the west coast of Africa which was claimed by the USA in the early 19th century for the purposes of repatriating free blacks back to Africa. The 'American Colonization Society' was supported by two very different groups: abolitionists who wanted to free African slaves and their descendants and &#...
