A web-footed bird widely distributed over tropical latitudes and deriving its name from its great expanse of wing and forked tail, which seem to suggest the shape of a swift vessel. It feeds on flying fish mostly, being unable to dive.

The founder of the Epicurean philosophy, which taught that Virtue should be followed because it leads to happiness.

The Vice-President is usually chosen, like the President, in a nationwide election. However, With a few notable exceptions the Vice-Presidency has been occupied by relatively obscure politicians, particularly since the adoption of the 12th Amendment to the Constitution.

If the president dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the vice president succeeds him. The vice president may also serve temporarily as acting president if the president, for whatever reason, is unable to discharge his duties. Like the president, the vice president must be at least 35 years old.

A Vice-President's influence within the government is largely determined by the President.

Can there be only one? Or can both live in harmony? Which is better than the other? Which one best suits you? Find out here. We look at the differences, and what's the same. And who the eventual winner is.

Ancient inscriptions of Assyria, Persia and other surrounding people. Composed of wede-shaped or arrow-headed elements.

During contact sports such as boxing, football, hockey, basketball, etc., a mouthguard made by a dentist which fits closely and allows normal speech and breathing should always be worn both while playing and training. It is cheap insurance.

Greek thinker who developed the theory that the universe is made up of atoms.

The origin of the oblong pieces of paste-board used in card games is obscure, but they are certainly of very great antiquity, and probably came originally from Asia. They were known in Europe by the middle of the 14th Century, but their use did not become general for another 50 vears.

The earliest cards were probably painted by hand; and not made from wood-blocks before 1423. Tarots, probably the earliest type of card, which are still used in parts of Europe, had 78 cards to the pack, 4 suits of 14, with 4 court cards, and 22 emblematic cards, or trumps.

The earliest suits consisted of hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns; later swords, batons, cups, and money were used. French cards of the 15th Century, use modern suits, coeur, trefle (clubs), pique (spades), and carreau (diamonds).

The court cards in early packs were king, chevalier, and knave. Playing cards have been taxed in England since the reign of James I.

Bones of fossil tapirs have been found over Europe and Asia and also North and South America. The earliest of these are some 50 million years old, and many of them, while obviously of the same family, differed from the tapirs of today. Nevertheless, there were tapirs, very like those we know today, in existence about 20 million years ago.

From this widespread distribution they have dwindled until they are now found in two limited and widely separated areas. It is, perhaps, rather surprising that they should have been so widespread for so long, and it is no less surprising that any of them should have persisted until now, for of all the large animals of the world they are probably the most completely defenceless. They are normally slow and deliberate in their movements, habitually with their snouts near the ground and showing little sign of being on the alert for danger.

It is possible that the tapir's trunk-like proboscis has contributed as much as anything to its survival. It may, in fact, be a highly efficient sentinel, constantly sampling the air in all directions even while searching for food, as it twists and turns, with wide-open nostrils. When, therefore, we speak of the tapir as shy, we ought perhaps to say instead that it is highly sensitive to its environment and quick to make its escape.

This may be the main reason why tapirs, although of such long lineage and now so widely separated geographically, have undergone so little change: they are so well adapted to life that there is no need for change. So the secret of their survival may well lie in this short but extraordinary trunk.

Tapirs are unique, virtual living fossils. Let's hope they survive this century as well as they have the last twenty million years.

A small force of Spartans held up the superior numbers of Xerxes army at the coastal pass of Thermopylae. The Persians broke through and sacked Athinai. Meanwhile the main Greek forces benefited from the delay and won a great naval victory at Salamis (480) and a land battle at Plataea (479). Find out more about the battle and the Spartan King Leonidas who stood his ground knowing it would result in his defeat and the massacre of the brave 300 men he took on his suicide mission.

There are three types of louse or pediculus which may infest the human body, namely, the head, the body and the crab louse. The last is usually found in the pubic area, but may spread to other hairy parts of the body. Their presence cause itching and scratching with resulting sores which are apt to become pustular. Patches of eczema or dermatitis may also arise. Apart from this local skin disorder, the chief indictment against the louse is its danger as a disease carrier. Typhus, or "jail fever " as it was called for many years in this country, is definitely known to be transmitted by the louse, not only directly by its bite, but by its excrement also, if rubbed into an abrasion of the skin. Two other diseases can be transmitted by these insects—relapsing fever and trench fever. The latter caused an enormous amount of sickness amongst our armies during the first World War. The disease is intensely infective, it being possible for a person to become infected by receiving excremental dust on the eye membranes.

The germs of bubonic plague have been found in lice feeding on plague patients. Life History. The development of the louse is limited to two stages only (the egg and the adult) metamorphosis, then, being said to be incomplete. The egg, or nit, which is plainly visible, is attached by a cement-like substance, towards one end, to a hair of the head, body, or of the clothing. On the latter the most common sites are beneath the seams and at the neck and wrist-bands. Up to 260 eggs may be laid by one female at the rate of eight to twelve a day. With moderate warmth they hatch in from seven to ten days. The emerging adult is not full-grown for a further eleven days, during which it moults three times, and the female may commence to lay eggs the following day. The length of life is from three to five weeks— exceptionally it may attain to forty-five days—the insect feeding on blood, which it does twice daily.

The presence of lice can be easily detected, either by seeing the lice themselves or their nits affixed to hairs. The age of a nit on the head can be roughly estimated by its position on the hair if we remember that when laid it was affixed to the base of the hair. If then, the nit is some way along the hair, we can safely say that it is some days old and probably about to hatch if it has not already done so.

When a woman becomes pregnant, her body undergoes enormous changes to cope with the new life developing within her and its eventual entry into the world. Childbirth can be a very stressful and frightening experience if you don't know what's in store.

Combining the best of both worlds if you're familar with Digg and Squidoo. Bookmark your favorites, get traffic and a backlink to your own published works. It's fun and it's free.

The wild or semi-domesticated dog of Australia, probably introduced by the Aborigines from Asia about 8000 years ago. Dingos have short hair, bushy tails and pointed ears, and are about 60 cm high at the shoulders. European settlers almost exterminated the species because it preyed on sheep, but it multiplied rapidly when the introduction of rabbits provided it with a ready source of food. Dingoes also feed on kangaroos and other game. They hunt alone or in small packs.

Augustus was the name given Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus when he became the first Roman emperor in 27 BC. The period of the Roman Republic ended, and the era of the Roman Empire began under Augustus.

Which is it? Foul or Fowl? If you thought one or the other, you're about to be surprised.

Citrus trees are native to China and South-east Asia, but they are now cultivated throughout warm temperate countries. They are small evergreens with glossy, dark-green, oval leaves and fragrant white flowers. Citrus fruits have thick outer skins and juicy pulp arranged in sections. They include lemons, limes, oranges, grapefruits and tangerines.

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and scientist who lived four hundred years before the birth of Christ. His father was court physician to the king of Macedon. From his father, Aristotle received a good education in natural science.

When he was seventeen years old, Aristotle went to Athens, where he studied philosophy with Plato for twenty years. After Plato's death he returned to Macedon to become the tutor of Alexander the Great. Through Aristotle, Alexander learned to love and respect the Greek language and the Greek way of life.

When Alexander became king, in 336 BC, Aristotle returned to Athens as a teacher. Unlike his own teacher, Platom Aristotle did not believe that beyond the real world which man experiences with his senses there is an ideal world which man can experience only with his mind. He believed that man must learn from what he can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. He taught his students to examine the world around them in detail. Aristotle's thinking was far more systematic than Plato's.

Aristotle's writings span every area of human learning known at the time he lived. His ideas have been an important influence in the development of philosophy, natural science, and the criticism of drama.

Michelangelo's most enduring monument is the ceiling and part of the walls of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, an epic fresco account of biblical history painted between 1508 and 1512.

About 10 species are found along Australian coasts, including the world's largest, weighing about 7 pounds. The only one of market vaule, however, is the rock oyster, which is cultivated on a large scale, especially in New South Wales. It has no equal for delicacy of flavor, and is renowned for its good keeping qualities, even during summer months.

Millions of years ago, the Dinosaurs ruled the earth. And now they have come back... as terrific educational toys for kids of all ages!

I will tell you the best dinosaurs toys for kids this year...

Zecharia Sitchin is a jewish Scholar who has devoted much of his life to translating the ancient texts from Sumeria, and he has some amazing theories about man's ancient past.

The story of Ancient China is a fascinating one, with many Emperors leaving their mark on this ancient land... but one Emperor, China's self-proclaimed First Emperor was arguably the most influential of them all. His rule united the states and began structures such as the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army...

Cleopatra has profoundly stirred the imaginations of writers and scholars. This queen- vital, tireless, subtly intelligent, ruthlessly ambitious, ensnarer of two great Roman generals-attracts hyperbole. In Rome the stories about her exploits excited loathing and terror. She formed a subject for the contemporary poets Horace (Odes; Epodes) and Virgil (Eclogues'). Unfortunately, the earliest historical accounts that have been preserved are those of Appian (Bella, civilia) and Plutarch (Lives, chiefly Antony), written about a century after her death. She is mentioned by Ovid, Lucian, and Pliny. Strabo, Josephus, and Dio Cassius provide some of the elements of her legend.

The early historical sources are in the main unsympathetic to Cleopatra, for they are based on Roman presentations of the case, and Rome had nearly been defeated by this woman. Plutarch's account is the most complete, and it served as the basis for Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. (In Notes to Caesar and Cleopatra, George Bernard Shaw excused his play Caesar and Cleopatra from any attempt at delineating historically true personalities.) With fresh evaluation of old sources and the use of evidence hitherto unrecognized, the historian W. W. Tarn has written eloquently in Cleopatra's defense (The Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 10, chapters 2 and 3).

The popular 20th century image of Cleopatra as a sex-mad siren is due to ignorance. The stories of her sexual exploits, aside from the liaisons with Caesar and Antony, were almost certainly fabricated as part of the propaganda campaign to discredit Antony. (Tarn has called attention to the fact that the outrageously exaggerated charges and countercharges in this propaganda campaign were accepted as fact by the Classical historians and have distorted our picture of Roman history every since.) In her relationships with the two great generals, Cleopatra used her body as well as her mind to achieve political ends. Her standards of conduct differed widely from Roman custom and law and are generally repugnant to present-day Europeans and Americans, so largely the heirs of Rome. But it was for her determination and intelligence that she was feared at Rome, and Cleopatra deserves to be remembered as a nearly successful contender for control of the Hellenistic world.

Lao Tse was a Chinese philosopher and author of the Tao Te Ching. Despite controversy over whether he ever actually existed, most people believe that he was an archivist for the royal court and a contemporary of Confucious during the 5th century BC.