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A Short History of Iran (09/07)
If your recollection of the recent history of Iran is a little rusty, this brief background should refresh your memory of the events that form the backdrop to Maryam's childhood:
Iran's 4,000 year history is summed up by Dr Saeed in
The Saffron Kitchen. Referring to Iran before and after the 1979 revolution he says, 'We were welcomed ...
George P. Pelecanos (08/07)
George P. Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C. in 1957. He worked as a line
cook, dishwasher, bartender, shoe salesman, electronics salesman, and
construction worker before publishing his first novel in 1992. He is the
author of fourteen crime/noir novels to date, all set in and around Washington,
D.C. In addition to his books ...
The Trail of Tears (08/07)
In the early 1800s, the US felt threatened by England and Spain, who held land in the western part of the North American continent (See
map: Oregon Country was British owned, while Mexico was obviously Spanish). Meanwhile, American settlers on the East Coast clamored for more land. So Jefferson proposed the creation of a buffer zone ...
Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS - MI6) (08/07)
According to
SIS's informative website, a formal and permanent British intelligence service was first established in 1909; but the history of British intelligence organizations engaged in foreign intelligence goes back at least to the 15th century (Thomas Cromwell ran secret agents in Europe on behalf of Henry VIII and Sir Francis ...
The Better Farming Train and the Mallee (07/07)
The Better Farming Train did exist just as described in
Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living; it steamed out of Melbourne for the first time in October 1924 and returned for the last time in 1935, making about 38 tours in total. At each of its 10 stops between 500 to 2000 farmers and townspeople would attend the exhibits. You can ...
Edgar Allan Poe (07/07)
Edgar Allan Poe was born Edgar Poe in 1809 to Elizabeth and David Poe, both
actors. They died when he was three and he was taken in by John Allan, a tobacco
merchant living in Virginia. He became estranged from his foster father in the mid to late 1820s and joined the US Army under the name Edgar Perry - he served for two years before...
Household servants in Victorian Times (07/07)
According to
The Victorian Web if a
Victorian household could afford only one servant it would likely be a 'general' maid-of-all-work (usually a girl of 13 or 14) similar to the role Bessy takes on. Next would come a house-maid or nurse-maid, followed by a cook. Only once this female trio was in place would the first manservant be ...
Cuba and Guantánamo Bay (07/07)
Cuba is the largest country in the Caribbean (780 miles long, 140 miles at its widest point) with a population of about 11 million; and infant mortality, life expectancy and literacy rates on a par with the USA (6.45 deaths per 1,000 live births, 77 years life expectancy, 97% literacy). It suffered a severe economic recession in the 1990s...
William Henry Ireland Forger of Shakespeare (07/07)
William Henry Ireland was born in London in 1777. His father, Samuel Ireland, was a successful publisher of travelogues and collector of antiquities. At an early age William became a collector of books and while apprenticed to a mortgage lawyer he started to experiment with forgery - forging signatures on genuinely old paper.
In 1794 he...
Background (06/07)
Meg Mullins was born and raised
in New Mexico, where she now lives with
her husband and their two children. The
story that formed the basis of The
Rug Merchant appeared in The Best
American Short Stories 2002.
About Tabriz
Ushman is from
...
Animals on Trial (06/07)
The idea of canine testimony being accepted in court is not without precedent
(e.g. drug smugglers who are convicted on the evidence of sniffer dogs), but
what about the idea of putting an animal itself on trial?
These days, animals are not tried on the basis that they lack the ability to make moral judgments and therefore cannot be...
Identity theft (06/07)
According to the
Javelin/Better Business Bureau Survey
of February 2007, 8.4 million USA adults
were victims of identity theft fell in
2007, although this is down about 2
million since 2003 it is still an awful
lot of people! The total fraud
...
Background (06/07)
The Interpretation of Murder is
inspired by the real-life mystery
surrounding Freud's one and only
visit to America in 1909 when he came to
deliver lectures at Clark University.
The trip appeared to be a tremendous
success and Freud was portrayed
glowingly...
Background (06/07)
Tom Zoellner has worked as a
contributing editor for
Men's Health
magazine and as a reporter for the
San Francisco Chronicle. He is also
the co-author of
An Ordinary Man, the
autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina,
whose actions during the 1994 ...
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 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 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...
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 ...
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 ...
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...
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 ...
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 ...
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...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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
...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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)
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 ...
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 ...
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, &...
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,...
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 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 ...
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 ...
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
...
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