Dominica is largely covered by rainforest. It is home to the world's second-largest hot spring, Boiling Lake.
Morne Trois Pitons National Park is a tropical forest with scenic volcanic features. It was recognised as a World Heritage Site on 4 April 1995.
Dominica is divided into 10 parishes, given below with their 2011 Census populations:
Cricket is a popular sport on the island. Dominica competes in test cricket as part of the West Indies cricket team.
Netball, basketball, rugby, tennis and association football are gaining popularity as well.
1923
1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar. The Julian calendar was made obsolete starting that year, though Eastern Orthodox churches still use the Julian Calendar.
1926
1931
1931 (MCMXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar.
404
1438
1651
Playing card
Playing cards is the name for the 54 cards used in card games like poker, bridge, blackjack, solitaire, and Go Fish.
There are 52 basic cards in a deck (not including the jokers). These cards have a suit and a number (called the value or rank). There are 4 suits and 13 ranks in each suit. There are also two Jokers that do not have a suit or a rank.
Usual signs: spades (♠), hearts (♥), diamonds (♦), clubs (♣).
In some countries different suit signs may be used. In central Europe, there are cards with the suit signs of acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells. In Spain, Italy and Latin America, there are playing cards with the suits of clubs, swords, cups, and coins and Aces
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack or Knave (J), Queen (Q), King (K), Ace (A).
For many games, the Jokers are removed from the deck, making the total number of cards in the deck 52. Sometimes the deck is reduced to 40, 36, or 32 cards for playing certain games, like belote, sheepshead or euchre.
There are various types of tarot cards. Tarots are commonly used for fortune-telling, although they can also be used for playing games. Conversely, people have also used standard playing cards for fortune-telling.
Playing cards have been found in 9th century China, Tang dynasty.
Playing cards first entered Europe in the early 14th century, probably from Egypt. The suits were very similar to the tarot suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins. These designs are still used in traditional Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese card decks.
The first documentary evidence is from Vitoria-Gasteiz (now Spain) in 1334, in which the Knights of the Band are forbidden to play cards. The next record is from Catalonia in 1371.
Wide use of playing cards in Europe can be traced from 1377 onwards.
The method of making cards has stayed the same for over a century. Cards are two thin pieces of paper stuck together with black paste. Both outer sides are printed. Inside is the design of the card face, the outer is the design for the pack as a whole. The black paste is essential to prevent sight of the face coming through when light shines on the face side. The use of the paste is the reason cards are sometimes called "pasteboards".
One or two packs at a time are printed on large sheets of paper, already pasted. The individual cards are stamped out by a machine which acts like a cookie-cutter. It cuts 36,000 cards per hour. A tiny fraction of a second later the edges of the cards are squashed extra-thin. This is not obvious to the naked eye, but the effect is that the cards slide easily past each other during shuffling.
Printed paper cards hold about 97.5% of the world market. Plastic cards do exist: they were first invented in the 1930s. They last longer than papercards, but have only 2.5% of the market.
Emperor
An emperor is a male who rules an empire. The word is taken from the Latin language "imperator". Often it is capitalized.
A woman who comes to power in an empire is called an "empress". The wife of an emperor is also called empress. An emperor or empress is often a hereditary monarch and comes to power when one of his parents, or relatives, dies. In some countries, people elected a new emperor from candidates.
The only emperor in the world today is the Emperor of Japan ("tennō"), but he lacks political power. The true leaders of Japan are the Diet and Prime Minister because the country is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
The English word comes from Latin, the language of the old Roman Empire. At first, an "imperator" was a powerful general (army leader) but, after Augustus, it was only used by their most powerful rulers. There have been many countries in history whose leaders are called "emperor" in English. The leaders of the Byzantine Empire ("basileus", "autokrator") in Greece, the Holy Roman Empire ("imperator", "Kaiser") in Germany, Russian Empire ("tsar"), and the Ottoman Empire ("sultan", "padishah", "khagan", "kaysar") in Turkey all said they were just new parts of the old Roman Empire.
The leaders of other countries who said they ruled the whole world or called themselves "king of kings" are frequently also called emperors in English. For example, the old rulers of China ("huangdi"), and Ethiopia ("negusa negast") are all known as emperors in English. There have also been emperors of France, Germany, and Mexico and the rulers of the United Kingdom called themselves the emperors and empresses of India for a while.
Palmdale, California
Palmdale is the largest city in the desert area of California. It is a suburb of Los Angeles. It has a population of 147,897 and is the 6th largest city in Los Angeles County. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, currently the 25th fastest. It has a population of 589,043 if you include the suburbs around it.
Even though Palmdale is in Los Angeles County, it is not connected to the larger Los Angeles population area. It is separated from it by a mountain range called the San Gabriel Mountains that are over 40 miles wide and almost 2 miles high overall.
Palmdale is the home of several airplanes used by NASA and the Air Force, giving it the nickname of ""the aerospace capital of America.""
Palmdale is the largest city in the United States without a hospital.
Palmdale Airport will have one airline called United Airlines that flies to San Francisco, California everyday starting in June 2007.
The city's demographics is primarily Mexican and white.
In 1886, when land in the Antelope Valley sold for 50 cents an acre, a group of 50 Swiss and German families migrated from the Midwest and settled in what is now known as Palmdale. They named their new community “Palmenthal” because they had mistaken the native Joshua trees for palm trees.
The high desert community of Palmdale has rich agricultural roots and a unique aviation history.
The City of Palmdale celebrated its 50th anniversary of incorporation on Aug. 24, 2012. It has consistently been one of the fastest-growing cities in California and in the country. Since 1980, Palmdale’s population has soared from 12,277 to 158,605. Despite its growth, Palmdale continues to cherish the small-town values of a family-oriented community while enjoying all of the conveniences of its booming retail and commercial sectors.
In 1772 Captain Pedro Fages, a Spanish soldier in pursuit of deserting sailors, crossed the southern part of the Antelope Valley into Leona Valley.
After the Shoshone Indians left the valley, immigrants from Spain and Mexico established large cattle ranches there.
Fresno, California
Fresno is the largest inland city in U.S. state of California. It has a population of 451,455. If the surrounding suburbs are included, it has a population of 983,788. It is the county seat of Fresno County, in the Central Valley.
Fresno is the closest major city to Yosemite National Park. Fresno has a major airport called Fresno Yosemite International Airport that has many flights by many airlines everyday. It was the first airport to use the new security systems made after the September 11, 2001 attacks.