SuddenFinger: June 2004

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Franceville

Franceville is now an active trading centre in a mining region. The exploitation of manganese at Mouanda and uranium at Mounana, both to the northwest,

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Respiration

The process by which animal organisms take up oxygen and discharge carbon dioxide in order to satisfy their energy requirements. In the living organism, energy is liberated, along with carbon dioxide, through the oxidation of molecules containing carbon. The term respiration also denotes the exchange of the respiratory gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) between

Monday, June 28, 2004

Pavia

Pavia originated as Ticinum, a settlement of the Papiria tribe, which was conquered by Rome c. 220 BC and later became a key point in the Roman defense

Sunday, June 27, 2004

Tapestry, Ancient Western world

Examples of tapestry weaving from the ancient world are so isolated and fragmentary as to make it uncertain either when or where the art originated. The earliest known tapestry weaving was done in linen by the ancient Egyptians between 1483 and 1411 BC. Preserved by the dry desert climate of Egypt, three tapestry fragments were found in the tomb of Thutmose IV. Two of the fragments

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Iron Crown Of Lombardy

The Iron Crown of Lombardy is composed of a broad circle of six plates of gold joined to each other by hinges and

Friday, June 25, 2004

Baseball

The Braves led baseball with a

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Creativity

Psychological experiments in the fields of motivation and learning have disclosed the power of novelty as an inducement to action. There appears to be an essential and continuing tension in higher organisms

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

Fruitworm Beetle

Any of a few genera of insects in the family Byfuridae (order Coleoptera) whose larvae feed on fruit. A common example of this family of small, hairy, oval beetles is the raspberry fruitworm (Byturus rubi). The small, pale larva, which is covered with short fine hairs, attacks the raspberry fruit. The adult, which ranges in colour from reddish yellow to black, is about 4 mm (0.16 inch)

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Sakha

Also called �Yakutia �or �Yakut-Sakha � republic in far northeastern Russia, in northeastern Siberia. The republic occupies the basins of the great rivers flowing to the Arctic Ocean - the Lena, Yana, Indigirka, and Kolyma - and includes the New Siberian Islands between the Laptev and East Siberian seas. Sakha was created an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union in 1922; it is now the second largest republic in

Monday, June 21, 2004

Chatsworth

Estate near Rowsley, Derbyshire Dales district, administrative and historic county of Derbyshire, England, containing the principal seat of the English dukes of Devonshire. Chatsworth House itself stands near the left bank of the River Derwent. Construction of the original building began in 1553, but, after suffering occupation by both parties to the English Civil

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Vienna Porcelain

Ceramic ware made at the Vienna factory in Austria between 1719 and 1864. Claudius Innocentius du Paquier (d. 1751), a Dutchman, began making porcelain there with the help of two workmen from Meissen in Germany. In 1744 he sold the enterprise to the Austrian state. After a succession of different directors, Konrad von Sorgenthal took over the direction in 1784. After Sorgenthal's

Saturday, June 19, 2004

Lake, Basins formed by glaciation

The basin-forming mechanism responsible for the most abundant production of lakes, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere, is glaciation. The Pleistocene glaciers, which seem to have affected every continent, were especially effective in North America, Europe, and Asia. The retreat of ice sheets produced basins through mechanical action and through the damming

Friday, June 18, 2004

Anise

(Pimpinella anisum), annual herb of the parsley family (Apiaceae, or Umbelliferae), cultivated chiefly for its fruits, called aniseed, the flavour of which resembles that of licorice. The plant, up to 0.75 m (2.5 feet) tall, has long-stalked basal leaves and shorter, stalked stem leaves. Its small, yellowish white flowers form loose umbels. The fruit, or seed, is nearly

Thursday, June 17, 2004

United States, The coming of the war

Faced with a fait accompli, Lincoln when inaugurated was prepared to conciliate the South in every way but one: he would not recognize that the Union could be divided. The test of his determination came early in his administration, when he learned that the Federal troops under Major Robert Anderson in Fort Sumter, South Carolina - then one of the few military installations in the South still in Federal hands - had to be promptly supplied or withdrawn. After agonized consultation with his cabinet, Lincoln determined that supplies must be sent even if doing so provoked the Confederates into firing the first shot. On April 12, 1861, just before Federal supply ships could reach the beleaguered Anderson, Confederate guns in Charleston opened fire upon Fort Sumter, and the war began.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Globe Amaranth

(Gomphrena globosa), ornamental garden plant of the family Amaranthaceae, native to the Old World tropics. Globe amaranth is a short annual with dense, cloverlike flower clusters that often are dried and preserved. The flowers lack petals but exhibit red, pink, orange, or white bracts on long stalks.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Pavese, Cesare

Born in a small town in which his father, an official, owned property, he moved with his family to Turin, where he attended high school and the university. Denied an outlet for his creative powers by Fascist control of literature,

Monday, June 14, 2004

Biblical Literature, Greek additions to Esther

The Hebrew Book of Esther had a religious and social value to the Jews during the time of Greek and Roman anti-Semitism, though the Hebrew short story did not directly mention God's intervention in history - and even God himself is not named. To bring the canonical book up-to-date in connection with contemporary anti-Semitism and to stress the religious meaning of the

Sunday, June 13, 2004

Janub Sina'

The topography of the

Saturday, June 12, 2004

Ashide-e

(Japanese: �reed-script picture�), decorative, cursive style of Japanese calligraphy, the characters of which resemble natural objects, that is used to decorate scrolls, stationery, and lacquerware. The typical ashide-e is a decorative representation of a poem, in which stylized characters serve as both

Friday, June 11, 2004

Afghanistan

Landlocked, multiethnic country located in the heart of south-central Asia. Lying along important trade routes connecting southern and eastern Asia to Europe and the Middle East, Afghanistan has long been a prize sought by empire builders, and for millennia great armies have attempted to subdue it, leaving traces of their efforts in great monuments now fallen

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Bendix, Vincent

At the age of 16, Bendix ran away from home to New York City, where he studied engineering at night school. In 1907 he organized the Bendix Company of Chicago and produced more than 7,000 automobiles before the company failed in 1909. He developed the

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Lopes, Lisa Nicole

American rap singer and songwriter (b. May 27, 1971, Philadelphia, Pa. - d. April 25, 2002, near La Ceiba, Honduras), was a member of the ultrasuccessful female rhythm-and-blues group TLC, which had sales in the multimillions and whose albums CrazySexyCool (1994) and Fanmail (1999) each won two Grammy Awards. Also well known for her volatile offstage behaviour, she once set fire to her boyfriend's mansion

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

Blood Analysis

Laboratory examination of a sample of blood to obtain information on its physical and chemical properties and on its components. Hundreds of hematological tests and procedures have been developed, and many can be carried out simultaneously on one sample of blood with such instruments as autoanalyzers. Blood analysis includes the following areas of study: (1) determination

Monday, June 07, 2004

Malan, Fran�ois Stephanus

Malan was a leader of the Afrikaner Bond (a political party of Dutch South Africans) and editor (1895) of its newspaper. He was originally antagonistic to

Sunday, June 06, 2004

Luangwa River

Portuguese �Rio Aru�ngua, � river rising on the Malawi - Zambia border, southern Africa. From its source near Isoka, Zambia, it flows 500 miles (800 km) south-southwest, skirting the Muchinga Mountains to join the Zambezi River between Luangwa (formerly Feira), Zambia, and Zumbo, Mozambique. The river valley is the site of several game parks. Along its lower course the Luangwa forms part of the Zambia - Mozambique

Saturday, June 05, 2004

San Bernardino Pass

German �Sankt Bernhardinpass, �Italian �Passo Di San Bernardino, � mountain pass (6,775 ft [2,065 m]), in the Lepontine Alps of Graub�nden canton, southeastern Switzerland. Although the pass was not mentioned until 941, it is believed to have been in use since prehistoric times. The road over the pass connects the villages of Spl�gen and Hinterrhein in the Hinterrhein River Valley to the north with the towns of Mesocco and Bellinzona in the Moesa River

Friday, June 04, 2004

Aerial Photography

For the mapping of terrestrial features, aerial photographs usually are taken in overlapping series from an aircraft following a systematic flight pattern at a fixed altitude.

Thursday, June 03, 2004

China, Coinage

Copper coins were used throughout the Ming dynasty. Paper money was used for various kinds of payments and grants by the government, but it was always nonconvertible and, consequently, lost value disastrously. It would, in fact, have been utterly valueless except that it was prescribed for the payment of certain types of taxes. The exchange of precious metals was forbidden

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Hanau

In full� Hanau Am Main, � city, Hesse Land (state), central Germany, a port on the right bank of the canalized Main at the mouth of the Kinzig, east of Frankfurt am Main. The old town grew up around the castle of the lords of Hanau (counts from 1429) and was chartered in 1303; the new town was founded in 1597 for Protestant Dutch and Walloon refugees. Hanau passed to Hesse-Kassel in 1736. In 1813 it was the scene of a battle between

Tuesday, June 01, 2004

Stagnelius, Erik Johan

Both his works

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