Almanacs-International
(1) An annual publication containing a calendar for the coming year,
the times of such events and phenomena as anniversaries,
sunrises and sunsets, phases of the moon, tides, etc.,
and other statistical information and related topics.
The almanac is frequently referred to as:
farmer's calendar, annual, yearbook.
(2) An annual reference book of useful and interesting facts relating to countries
of the world, sports, entertainment, etc.
Click on above link to search the almanac globe.
ATLAS - WORLD
Cick on link above to view world atlas.
Antarctic Circle
A line of latitude located at 66°30' south, delineating the Southern Frigid Zone of the Earth.
Click on above link for more information on the Antarctic Circle.
Arctic Circle
A line of latitude located at 66°30' north, delineating the Northern Frigid Zone of the Earth.
Click on above link for more information on the Arctic Circle.
Canada
Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)
Governor-General: Adrienne Clarkson (1999)
Prime Minister: Paul Martin (2003)
Area: 3,855,081 sq mi (9,984,670 sq km)
Population (2004 est.): 32,507,874 (growth rate: 0.9%); birth rate: 10.9/1000;
infant mortality rate: 4.8/1000; life expectancy: 80.0; density per sq mi: 8
Capital (2003 est.): Ottawa, Ontario, 1,089,100 (metro. area), 852,100 (city proper)
Click on link above for more information on Canada.
Canadian Prime Ministers
Did you know....
The Right Hon. John George Diefenbaker ran three times before being elected to federal office?
The Right Hon. Charles Joseph (Joe) Clark was only 39 years old when he assumed the top job?
The Right Hon. Sir Charles Tupper also served in the Nova Scotia provincial cabinet.
Click on link above for more information on Canadian Prime Ministers.
Classical Music
This web site provides you almost everything you need concerning classical music -
its history, biographical information about composers (with portraits and short sound examples),
explanations of the various musical forms and a dictionary of musical terminologies.
It is designed to be of use for everyone from "beginners" to the music professional -
decide for yourself how deeply you follow the links.
Continents
A continent is defined as a large unbroken land mass completely surrounded by water,
although in some cases continents are (or were in part) connected by land bridges.
The seven continents are:
North America,
South America,
Europe,
Asia,
Africa,
Australia, and
Antarctica.
The island groups in the Pacific are often called Oceania but this name does not imply that scientists
consider them the remains of a continent.
Click on link above for more information on Continents.
Daylight Saving Time
Daylight Saving Time is a change in the standard time of each time zone.
Time zones were first used by the railroads in 1883 to standardize their schedules.
According to the The Canadian Encyclopedia Plus by McClelland & Stewart Inc.,
Canada's "[Sir Sandford] Fleming also played a key role in the development
of a worldwide system of keeping time. Trains had made obsolete the
old system where major cities and regions set clocks according to local
astronomical conditions. Fleming advocated the adoption of a standard or
mean time and hourly variations from that according to established time zones.
He was instrumental in convening an International Prime Meridian Conference
in Washington in 1884 at which the system of international standard time
-- still in use today -- was adopted."
Click on link above for more information on Daylight Saving Time.
DNA
Genetics.
deoxyribonucleic acid: an extremely long macromolecule that is the main
component of chromosomes and is the material that transfers genetic
characteristics in all life forms, constructed of two nucleotide strands
coiled around each other in a ladderlike arrangement with the sidepieces
composed of alternating phosphate and deoxyribose units and the rungs
composed of the purine and pyrimidine bases adenine, guanine, cytosine,
and thymine: the genetic information of DNA is encoded in the sequence
of the bases and is transcribed as the strands unwind and replicate.
Cf. base pair, gene, genetic code, RNA.
DNA can be found in just about any part of the body,
from a strand of hair down to the toe nail.
Click on link above for more information on DNA.
Dow Jones:
Dow-Jones Industrial Average -- (an indicator of stock market prices;
based on the share values of 30 leading companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange)
(source WordNet)
Equator
Zero degrees latitude. The Sun is directly overhead the equator at noon on the two equinoxes
(March and Sept. 20 or 21). The equator divides the globe into the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
The equator appears halfway between the North and South poles, at the widest circumference of the globe.
It is 24,901.55 miles (40,075.16 km) long.
Click on links above for more information.
The European Union
(EU) is
a union of twenty-five independent states based on the European Communities and
founded to enhance political, economic and social co-operation.
Formerly known as
European Community (EC) or European Economic
Community (EEC).
Date of foundation: 1st November, 1993. New members since 1st January, 1995: Austria, Finland, Sweden. For the ten new members as of 1st May, 2004, see below.
Member states (EUR: Euro currency):
- Austria (EUR)
- Belgium (EUR)
- Denmark
- Finland (EUR)
- France (EUR)
- Germany (EUR)
- Greece (EUR)
- Ireland (EUR)
- Italy (EUR)
- Luxembourg (EUR)
- Netherlands (EUR)
- Portugal (EUR)
- Spain (EUR)
- Sweden
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Ten countries joined the EU on 2004-05-01:
Cyprus (Greek part), the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
Full Moon Dates
Click on link for more information.
Geneva Agreement Click on link for more information.
Geographic Coordinates:
Latitude and longitude lines form an imaginary grid over the Earth's surface.
By combining longitude and latitude measurements,
any location on earth can be determined.
The units of measurement for geographic coordinates are degrees (°),
minutes ('), and seconds ("). Like a circle, the Earth has 360 degrees.
Each degree is divided into 60 minutes, which in turn is divided into 60 seconds.
Latitude and longitude coordinates also include cardinal directions:
north or south of the equator for latitude, and east or west of the prime meridian for longitude.
The geographic coordinates of New York City, for example, are 40° N, 74° W,
meaning that it is located 40 degrees north latitude and 74 degrees west longitude.
Using minutes and seconds as well as degrees, the coordinates for New York would be
40°42'51" N, 74°0'23" W. (Latitude is always listed first.)
A less common format for listing coordinates is in decimal degrees.
The Tropic of Cancer, for example, can be expressed in degrees and minutes (23°30' N)
or in decimal degrees (23.5° N).
Globe
The most accurate map of the Earth, duplicating its spherical shape and relative size.
Click on above link for more information on
The Globe.
GMT
The Greenwich Meridian (Prime Meridian or Longitude Zero degrees)
marks the starting point of every time zone in the World.
GMT is Greenwich Mean (or Meridian) Time is the mean (average)
time that the earth takes to rotate from noon-to-noon.
Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is also known as Zulu Time.
Greenwich, England has been the home of Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT) since 1884.
Click on above link for more information on GMT.
Great Britain Prime Ministers
Who are the British? Do they really drink tea,
eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding and never leave home without an umbrella?
Find out more about true Brits; past and present, myth and legend, fact and fiction.
Click on above link for more information on Great Britain.
The Hague_1
The Hague_2
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Members of the Hague Conference include all European countries as well as Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Egypt, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Hungary, Israel,
Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Peru, Poland,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Suriname, Switzerland, Turkey,
the United States of America, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Click on links above for more information.
A hemisphere is half the Earth's surface. The four hemispheres are the Northern and Southern hemispheres, divided by the equator (0° latitude), and the Eastern and Western hemispheres, divided by the prime meridian (0° longitude) and the International Date Line (180°).
Holocaust
Name given to the period of persecution and extermination of European Jews by Nazi Germany.
Click on link above for more information.
International Date Line:
Located at 180° longitude (180° E and 180° W are the same meridian).
Regions to the east of the International Date Line are counted as being
one calendar day earlier than the regions to the west.
Although the International Date Line generally follows the 180° meridian
(most of which lies in the Pacific Ocean), it does diverge in places.
Since 180° runs through several countries, it would divide those countries
not simply into two different time zones, but into two different calendar days.
To avoid such unnecessary confusion, the date line dips and bends around countries
to permit them to share the same time.
Click on links above for more information on International Date Line.
IMF - International Monetary Fund:
The IMF is an organization of 184 countries, working to foster global
monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade,
promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty.
Click on links above for more information on The International Monetary Fund.
i.q. - intelligence quotient, IQ, I.Q. -- (a measure of a person's
intelligence as indicated by an intelligence test; the ratio of a
person's mental age to their chronological age (multiplied by 100)
(source WordNet)
Jamaican Governors and Prime Ministers
Encyclopedia: Prime Minister of Jamaica
Click on links above for more information on Jamaican History.
Jewish Calendar
The Jewish calendar is based on both solar and lunar years.
The average lunar year of 354 days is adjusted to the solar
year by the addition of a leap year and an intercalary month.
Nisan is considered the first month, although the new year begins
with Rosh Hashanah, on the first of Tishri, which is in fact the
seventh month—the calendar has different starting points for
different purposes. The year 2005 translates to the Jewish year 5765–5766.
The year 2006 translates to the Jewish year 5766–5767.
Click on link above for more information including the names of the months.
Latitude Lines
Imaginary lines running horizontally around the globe. Also called parallels,
latitude lines are equidistant from each other.
Each degree of latitude is about 69 miles (110 km) apart.
Zero degrees (0°) latitude is the equator,
the widest circumference of the globe.
Latitude is measured from 0° to 90° north and 0° to 90° south—90°
north is the North Pole and 90° south is the South Pole.
Click on above link for more information on latitude lines.
Longitude Lines
Imaginary lines, also called meridians, running vertically around the globe.
Unlike latitude lines, longitude lines are not parallel.
Meridians meet at the poles and are widest apart at the equator.
Zero degrees longitude (0°) is called the prime meridian.
The degrees of longitude run 180° east and 180° west from the prime meridian.
Click on above link for more information on longitude lines.
Map Projection
Two-dimensional representations of the three-dimensional Earth.
Because projections attempt to present the spherical Earth on a flat plane,
they inevitably produce distortions. Map projections are numerous and complex
(e.g., there are a variety of cylindrical, conic, or azimuthal projections).
Each projection has advantages and serves different purposes, and each produces
different types of distortions in direction, distance, shape, and relative size of areas.
One of the most famous projections is the Mercator, created by Geradus Mercator in 1569.
It is a rectangular-shaped map in which all longitude and latitude lines are parallel and
intersect at right angles (on a globe, meridians are not parallel, but grow narrower,
eventually converging at the poles). Near the equator, the scale of the Mercator is accurate,
but the farther one moves toward the poles, the greater the distortion—Antarctica in the far
south and Greenland in the far north, for example, appear gigantic. The Mercator projection was
used well into the 20th century, but has now been superseded by others,
including the widely used Robinson projection. The Robinson projection is an elliptical-shaped
map with a flat top and bottom. Developed in 1963 by Arthur H. Robinson, it is an orthophanic
(“right appearing”) projection, which attempts to reflect the spherical appearance of the Earth.
The meridians, for example, are curved arcs, which gives the flat map a three-dimensional appearance.
But to convey the likeness of a curved, three-dimensional globe, the Robinson projection must in fact
distort shape, area, scale, and distance. The Albers, Lambert, Mollweide, and Winkel Tripel are
some of the other commonly used map projections
Click on above link for more information on
Map Projection.
M.O.
Modus Operandi: An unvarying or habitual method of procedure. (Source WordNet)
Months of the year
January: named after Janus, the god of doors and
gates
February: named after Februalia, a time period when
sacrifices
were made to atone for sins
March: named after Mars, the god of war
April: from aperire, Latin for “to open” (buds)
May: named after Maia, the goddess of growth of
plants
June: from junius, Latin for the goddess Juno
July: named after Julius Caesar in 44 B.C.
August: named after Augustus Caesar in 8 B.C.
September: from septem, Latin for “seven”
October: from octo, Latin for “eight”
November: from novem, Latin for “nine”
December: from decem, Latin for “ten”
Click on link above for more information.
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The four Presidents carved on Mt. Rushmore are:
George Washington,
Abraham Lincoln,
Theodore Roosevelt and
Thomas Jefferson.
Click on above link for more information on Mount Rushmore.
Mountains
Highest Mountain Peaks of the World.
Click on link above to view list of Highest Mountain Peaks of the World listed by height.
NASDAQ
The NASDAQ Composite Index is a broad-based capitalization-weighted
index of all NASDAQ National Market & SmallCap stocks.
The index was developed with a base level of 100 as of February 5, 1971.
(Source Bloomberg.com)
NASDAQ:
A computerized data system to provide brokers with price quotations
for securities traded over the counter;
(National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations)
(source WordNet)
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
is an alliance of 26 Countries from
North America and Europe committed
to fulfilling the goals of
the North Atlantic Treaty signed on April 4, 1949.
NATO Member Countries:
Belgium,Bulgaria,Canada,Czech Rep,Denmark,Estonia,France,
Germany,Greece,Hungary,Iceland,Italy,Latvia,Lithuania,
Luxembourg,Netherlands,Norway,Poland,Portugal,Romania,
Slovakia,Slovenia,Spain,Turkey,United Kingdom and The United States.
Click on link above for more information on NATO.
NYSE
New York Stock Exchange, N. Y. Stock Exchange, NYSE, big board -- (a stock exchange in New York)
(source WordNet)
OPEC:
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Click on link above for more information on OPEC.
Prime Meridian
Zero degrees longitude (0°). The prime meridian runs through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich,
England (the location was established in 1884 by international agreement).
The prime meridian divides the globe into the Western and Eastern hemispheres.
The Earth's time zones are measured from the prime meridian.
The time at 0° is called Universal Time (UT) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
With the Greenwich meridian as the starting point, each 15° east and west marks a new time zone.
The 24 time zones extend east and west around the globe for 180° to the International Date Line.
When it is noon along the prime meridian, it is midnight along the International Date Line.
Click on the link above for more information on Prime Meridian.
Religions of the World
There are twelve classical world religions—
those religions most often included in history of world
religion surveys and studied in world religions classes:
Baha'i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hinduism,
Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism,
and Zoroastrianism.
Here are overviews of the nine largest of these classical religions:
Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Confucianism, Shinto, Taoism.
Click on link above for more information.
Rivers of the World
Principal Rivers of the World.
Click on link above for Principal Rivers of the World listed by length.
SCUBA - Self Contained Underwater Breathing Aparatus:
A device (trade name Aqua-Lung) that lets divers breathe under water;
SCUBA is an acronym.
(source WordNet)
Slavery
Institution based on a relationship of dominance and submission,
whereby one person owns another and can exact from that person labor or other services.
Slavery has been found among many groups of low material culture,
as in the Malay Peninsula and among some Native Americans;
it also has occurred in more highly developed societies,
such as the southern United States.
Click on link above for more information.
S&P-Standard and Poor:
Standard and Poor's 500 Index is a capitalization-weighted index of 500 stocks.
The index is designed to measure performance of the broad domestic
economy through changes in the aggregate market value of 500 stocks
representing all major industries.
The index was developed with a base level of 10 for the 1941- 43 base period.
(Source Bloomberg.com)
Tasmanian Devil
The Tasmanian devil cannot be mistaken for any other marsupial.
Its spine-chilling screeches, black colour, and reputed bad-temper,
led the early European settlers to call it The Devil.
Although only the size of a small dog, it can sound and look incredibly fierce.
Click on link above for more information.
Tropic of Cancer
A line of latitude located at 23°30' north of the equator.
The Sun is directly overhead the Tropic of Cancer on the summer
solstice in the Northern Hemisphere (June 20 or 21).
It marks the northernmost point of the tropics, which falls between
the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
Click on link above for more information on Tropic of Cancer.
Tropic of Capricorn
A line of latitude located at 23°30' south. The Sun is directly overhead the Tropic
of Capricorn on the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere (Dec. 20 or 21).
It marks the southernmost point of the tropics.
Click on link above for more information on Tropic of Capricorn.
Tsunami Photos
We should all count our blessings and be thankful for what we have,
do less complaining on what we don’t and love our friends and families while we can.
Click on link above to view the photos.
The United Nations
The name "United Nations",
coined by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
was first used in the "Declaration by United Nations" of 1 January 1942,
during the Second World War, when representatives of 26 nations
pledged their Governments to continue fighting together against the Axis Powers.
Click on link above to view Member States etc.
The United States of America
The Greatest Country on the Planet.
God Bless America.
Click on link above to view the States etc.
United States Presidents
The Greatest Country on the Planet.
God Bless America.
Click on link above to view The Presidents of the United States.
Wars.....
in the United States, in Europe, in Asia, in the Middle East, war and history etc.
Click on above link for indepth details.
Wonders of the World
The list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was originally
compiled around the second century BC.
Click on the link above for more information on the Ancient Wonders and other Wonders.
World Bank
The World Bank Group’s mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards
of people in the developing world. It is a development Bank which provides loans,
policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge sharing services to low and
middle income countries to reduce poverty. The Bank promotes growth to create
jobs and to empower poor people to take advantage of these opportunities …
Click on the link above for more information on The World Bank.
World Fact Book
Click on the link above to view statistics on any country in the world.