Where is the Lost Continent?

The Lost continent is a legendary island called Atlantis. It was described by Plato, a philosopher who lived in ancient Greece, as being in the Atlantic and also as being larger than Asia Minor and Libya put together! The Greek legends claimed that Atlantis had been inhabited by a powerful nation who had offended the gods by their independence and disrespect. The gods took their revenge. Some versions of the story say it was submerged and others that it was destroyed by an earthquake about 9,000 B.C.

Some people have tried to identify Atlantis with America, some with Scandinavia, the Canaries and even the Palestine region. Many naturalists and philosophers, including Buffon, Montaigne and Voltaire, have theorized about Atlantis. Attempts have been made to prove that the Basques of Spain and France, the original inhabitants of Italy and the Indians of South America were descended from the Atlanteans, who were said to have overrun the entire Mediterranean.

One theory is that the Minoan civilization was destroyed by the eruption of a volcano on Thera (Santorin) - or "lost Atlantis".

When was Big Ben built?

Big Ben was built in 1858. It is the bell that chimes the hours in the Clock Tower of the British Houses of Parliament, London, and is so called because Sir Benjamin Hall, as the Chief Commissioner of Works, was the minister responsible for its installation.

The famous deep, resonant boom of the bell is regularly broadcast by the BBC all over the world.

The way to Big Ben is up a spiral staircase of 374 steps. The Roman numerals on the clock face are two feet high and the pendulum is 13 feet long. Big Ben itself weighs 3 1/2 tons. When the clock was installed, two men used to wind it every week. Now it is wound by electricity.

When did Mark Twain live?

Mark Twain was the pen-name of the American writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens who was born on November 30, 1835 in the village of Florida, Missouri. He was first apprenticed to a printer and worked on newspapers in New York and Philadelphia. He became apprenticed as a steamboat pilot in 1856 and stayed with the boats until 1861 when he went to Nevada to seek a fortune in mining. In this he was successful, but he soon obtained a job as a newspaper reporter signing his articles Mark Twain. He took the name from a phrase meaning, "two fathoms deep", which he had used to report river soundings during his steamboat career.

The rest of his working life was devoted to writing. He produced books about travel, such as A Tramp Abroad and Roughing It, but he is best remembered for Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) which tell of amusing and hair-raising adventures of young boys in 1830s. The blend of romance, horror and humor in books has made them favorites with children and adults ever since. Mark Twain was still writing his autobiography when he died on April 21, 1910.

What is a Mandarin?

The word "mandarin" has several meanings which are all interconnected. Perhaps the most common use of it is as the name for the nine grades of Chinese administrations who were selected by a series of very difficult examinations.

In the T'ang dynasty (A.D. 618-906), this system of scholar officials was operating extremely effectively. This administration proved to be the backbone of the great Chinese Empire that persisted through about 20 successive dynasties.

The name mandarin is also given to the language spoken in China by officials and educated people and to a grotesque toy figure in Chinese costume which goes on nodding after it is shaken. The mandarin scholar-official wore yellow silk robes and so a dye obtained from a coal tar, a sweet, flattened, easily-skinned orange and a yellow liquor also have the name mandarin.

When did a nuclear submarine make its first passage under the North Pole?

The first voyage under the North Pole was made from August 1 to August 5, 1958, by the United States submarine Nautilus. She crossed from Point Barrow, Alaska to the Greenland Sea, traveling 1,830 miles under the Polar ice cap and passing the geographic North Pole on August 3.

The Nautilus could maintain submerged speeds of over 20 knots almost indefinitely.

She was designed to run on direct water heat from an atomic pile. The crew were shielded so well from the pile that in a year's cruise they received less radiation than that set by the American Bureau of Standards as permissible for a single week.

Nuclear submarines are equipped with alternative electrical power for use should the reactor fail.

Why is Leonardo da Vinci so famous?

Leonardo da Vinci is the perfect example of the all-round educated man of the Renaissance. Born in Florence in 1452, he soon became famous for his remarkable paintings. His painting the "Mona Lisa", is possibly the best known painting in the world.

His enormous talents encompassed a wide variety of subjects ranging from sculpture to military engineering. He devoted much time to the concept of flying machines and carried out experiments without success in this field.

From his work as an artist, he developed a knowledge both of anatomy and of the science of light. His anatomical drawings are of a rare beauty and of great precision.

Leonardo was also knowledgeable on such varied subjects as astronomy, geology, botany and geography. In architecture his studies produced both beautiful designs and practical scientific information.

The great man's interests were so diverse that he even gave specific and most serious instructions on how to make and launch stink bombs.

What is the Pony Express?

The pony express provided a fast postal service between two cities in America - St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California - from April 1860 to October 1861. It was established by a freighting and stagecoach firm called Russell, Majors and Waddell, and was used only for letters. The charge was five dollars for half an ounce.

Expert riders, either small men or boys, were chosen to ride fast horses which were changed six to eight times on the scheduled ride. A specially designed square of leather, called a mochila, was thrown over the saddle and the letters were carried in four leather boxes attached to its corners.

The route covered 1,838 miles and included 157 stations, which lay from 7 to 20 miles apart. Home Stations, providing food and a little rest for riders, were placed at distances of 75 to 100 miles. The time scheduled for the run was 10 days, but this was only occasionally achieved.

The pony express followed the Oregon-California trail and passed through Ft. Kearney, Julesburg, Ft. Laramie, South Pass, Ft. Bridger, Salt Lake City and Carson City. During the Pauite War of 1860, Indians burned stations and killed employees.

Among the best known riders were William (Buffalo Bill) Cody (1846-1917) and Pony Bob Haslam. Russell, Majors and Waddell introduced the pony express in the hope it would save them from bankruptcy. But the completion of the transcontinental telegraph line in October 1861 ended its usefulness and another romantic chapter in American history was over.

When was the first Pope?

Between the third and fourth Centuries, the title of Pope was bestowed on bishops other than the head of the Church and sometimes on ordinary priests. The word comes from Latin papa (from the Gree pappas) meaning father.

The title has been exclusively reserved since the 9th Century for the Bishop of Rome. From the earliest times the Bishop of Rome's claim to the supreme headship of the Roman Catholic Church has been acknowledged by all within the fold. Among his other titles are Holy Father, Vicar of Christ and Pontifex Maximus, meaning chief bridge-builder.

Roman Catholics believe that the Pope is elected as the direct successor of the St. Peter to be the visible head of the Church on earth. By virtue of his position, he is the Church's supreme governor, judge and teacher.

What is a Dutch Barn?

A Dutch barn is a roof supported on pillars with no walls. It is used for hay or straw storage only, since animals or grain need better protection. The name comes from the shape of the roof, which is similar to that of Dutch houses.

The word barn covers a large number of different structures, fulfilling several different functions - strong grain, fodder, machinery and animals. Older barns also combined a threshing floor where the ears of grain were beaten out by flails.

Barns are built big, with as few internal pillars as possible, so that full use can be made of the space, and carts, trailers and machinery can pass in and out. Often they have lofts where hay is stored.

Where does the blue in Blue Cheese come from?

Blue cheeses are all made from cow’s milk except for the famous French Roquefort cheese, which comes from ewes’ milk.

The blue in Blue Cheeses is essentially blue mould. But it is extremely good for you. What happens is that an organism similar to penicillin is added to the milk or curd used to make ordinary white cheese. The mould, during three to six months of ripening, grows either in small, irregular, natural openings in the cheese or in machine-made perforations, depending on the type of cheese.

The small amounts of mould reproduce or spread to give the typical blue streaks in the white cheese and once ripened, the distinctive flavor. Blue cheeses are usually heavily salted to add to the flavor.

What is a Red Letter Day?

A red letter day has come to mean an important day when some noteworthy event or celebration is taking place. Originally the phrase came from the habit of ecclesiastics of making special saints' day in red ink in their calendars. This custom started very early on in the days of hand-written manuscripts.

There are 29 red letter days in the Anglican book of Common Prayer. There are also "black letter days" in the ecclesiastical calendar, but these are not days of sadness and repentance as one might imagine from their name. They signify days of lesser feasts and obligations.

It is a little known fact that a devout Anglican could ask for his children to be excused from school on red letter days to attend religious services.

When is Food Kosher?

Food is kosher when it has been made fit and clean to eat according to Jewish religious practices. The food must not come from animals, birds or fish prohibited in the Biblical books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

The meat must be salted to remove the blood after the carcass has been examined for physical defects, and the ischiatic nerve must be removed from the hindquarters, as stated in Genesis.

Meat and milk must not be cooked together and separate utensils must be used.

The sheshita method of slaughtering is carried out by a specially trained person using a special knife with a smooth, sharp edge. An incision is made across the animal's neck and the knife moved in a fast, uninterrupted sweep without stabbing or pressing. The sweep cuts the main arteries, rendering the animal unconscious and allowing the blood to drip from the body.