May 12, 2007
airscrew
DEFINITION: (noun) A propeller that rotates to push against air.
SYNONYMS: prop, airplane propeller.
USAGE: The model airplane had an airscrew powered by a rubber band.
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale was the founder of modern nursing. She organized a unit of 38 women nurses in 1854 for service in the Crimean War, and, by the end of the war, she had become a legend. With the testimonial fund collected for her war services, she established the Nightingale School and Home for training nurses at St. Thomas's Hospital in London. Why was Nightingale called "The Lady with the Lamp?"Crashes on the Moon
Luna 5 was an unmanned Soviet spacecraft designed to continue investigations of a lunar soft landing. On May 10, the spacecraft began spinning around its main axis due to a problem in a flotation gyroscope in the I-100 guidance system unit. An attempt to fire the main engine failed because of a ground control error, causing Luna 5 to crash into the moon. It was the second investigatory Soviet spacecraft to "land" on the Moon. What was the first?Irrawaddy River
The Irrawaddy, or Ayeyarwady, is Myanmar's longest river and its most important commercial waterway. This 1000 mile (1600 km) river bisects the country from north to south and is the habitat of the Irrawaddy Dolphin. The river empties into the Indian Ocean through a vast nine-armed delta, which is one of the world's great rice-producing regions. "Ayeyarwady" is believed to be related to the Sanskrit term meaning what?






