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Kolmanskop
Kolmanskop (Afrikaans for “Coleman's head”, german: Kolmannskuppe) is a ghost town in the Namib in southern Namibia, ten kilometres inland from the port town of Lüderitz. It was named after a transport driver named Johnny Coleman who, during a sand storm, abandoned his ox wagon on a small incline opposite the settlement. Once a small but very rich mining village, it is now a tourist destination run by the joint firm Namibia-De Beers. History Foundation and peak In 1908, in what was then German South-West Africa, the worker Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while working in this area and showed it to his supervisor, the German railway inspector August Stauch. Realizing the area was rich in diamonds, German miners began settlement, and soon after the German Empire declared a large area as a "'' Sperrgebiet''", starting to exploit the diamond field. Driven by the enormous wealth of the first diamond miners, the residents built the village in the architectural style of a German t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an origin with the German language, German word , the Dutch language, Dutch word , and the Old Norse . The original Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic word, *''tūnan'', is thought to be an early borrowing from Proto-Celtic language, Proto-Celtic *''dūnom'' (cf. Old Irish , Welsh language, Welsh ). The original sense of the word in both Germanic and Celtic was that of a fortress or an enclosure. Cognates of ''town'' in many modern Germanic languages designate a fence or a hedge. In English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed, and through which a track must run. In England, a town was a small community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ballroom
A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building, the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces, especially historic mansions and palaces, contain one or more ballrooms. In other large houses, a large room such as the main drawing room, long gallery, or hall may double as a ballroom, but a good ballroom should have the right type of flooring, such as hardwood flooring or stone flooring (usually marble or stone). In later times the term ballroom has been used to describe nightclubs where customers dance, the Top Rank Suites in the United Kingdom for example were also often referred to as ballrooms. The phrase "having a ball" has grown to encompass many events where person(s) are having fun, not just dancing. Ballrooms are generally quite large, and may have ceilings higher than other rooms in the same building. The large amount of space for dancing, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marius Weyers
Marius Weyers (born 3 February 1945, in Johannesburg) is a South African actor. He lives with his wife Yvette, an artist in her own right, in Rooi-Els in the Western Cape. He received international attention playing Andrew Steyn, a bumbling scientist in the movie ''The Gods Must Be Crazy'' (1980). He appeared in ''Blood Diamond'' (2006). Selected filmography * 1967 ''Love Nights in the Taiga'' as Markjoff * 1974 ''No Gold for a Dead Diver'' as Rene Chagrin * 1977 '' Target of an Assassin'' as Colonel Pahler * 1980 ''The Gods Must Be Crazy'' as Andrew Steyn * 1982 ''Gandhi'' as Train Conductor * 1988 ''Thieves of Fortune'' as Unknown * 1989 ''DeepStar Six'' as Dr. John Van Gelder * 1989 '' Farewell to the King'' as Sergeant Conklin * 1989 ''Happy Together'' as Denny Dollenbacher * 1989 ''Jewel of the Gods'' as Snowy Grinder * 1992 '' The Power of One'' as Professor Daniel Marais * 1992 Golden Girls as Derek * 1993 '' Bopha!'' as Van Tonder * 1997 ''Paljas'' as Hendrik MacDonald ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Cundill
John Cundill (1936–2016) was a South African born television scriptwriter, playwright, journalist and actor. He is best known in South Africa as the television scriptwriter for ''The Villagers'' and ''Westgate'' series. He would later write several screenplays for Australian films and television shows. Early life Cundill was born on 30 May 1936 in Germiston, South Africa. His father, Algy Cundill was a mine manager at a large mine owned by Gold Fields. He would be educated at St John's College in Houghton, Johannesburg. After high school, he attended the University of Cape Town where he wanted to study drama, but on his father's insistence, obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree. Career Before becoming a journalist, he appeared on stage in Cape Town in ''Doctor in the House'' with Nigel Hawthorne in 1958. By 1963, he had joined the Johannesburg-based newspaper, ''The Star'', and would also serve as their foreign correspondent in London and New York. Leaving the newspaper, he woul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mantis Project
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the land surface of the Earth is arid or semi-arid. This includes much of the polar regions, where little precipitation occurs, and which are sometimes called polar deserts or "cold deserts". Deserts can be classified by the amount of precipitation that falls, by the temperature that prevails, by the causes of desertification or by their geographical location. Deserts are formed by weathering processes as large variations in temperature between day and night put strains on the rocks, which consequently break in pieces. Although rain seldom occurs in deserts, there are occasional downpours that can result in flash floods. Rain falling on hot rocks can cause them to shatter, and the resulting fragments and rubble strewn over ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific Ocean, Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in Genocides in history (World War I through World War II), genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the Spanish flu, 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising French Third Republic, France, Russia, and British Empire, Britain) and the Triple A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Line
Rail terminology is a form of technical terminology. The difference between the American term ''railroad'' and the international term ''railway'' (used by the International Union of Railways and English-speaking countries outside the United States) is the most significant difference in rail terminology. These and other terms have often originated from the parallel development of rail transport systems in different parts of the world. In English-speaking countries outside the United Kingdom, a mixture of US and UK terms may exist. Various global terms are presented here. Where a term has multiple names, this is indicated. The abbreviation "UIC" refers to standard terms adopted by the International Union of Railways in its official publications and thesaurus. 0–9 A B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Many recently built tramways use the contemporary term light rail. The vehicles are called streetcars or trolleys (not to be confused with trolleybus) in North America and trams or tramcars elsewhere. The first two terms are often used interchangeably in the United States, with ''trolley'' being the preferred term in the eastern US and ''streetcar'' in the western US. ''Streetcar'' or ''tramway'' are preferred in Canada. In parts of the United States, internally powered buses made to resemble a streetcar are often referred to as "trolleys". To avoid further confusion with trolley buses, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) refers to them as " trolley-replica buses". In the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
X-ray
X-rays (or rarely, ''X-radiation'') are a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. In many languages, it is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it in 1895 and named it ''X-radiation'' to signify an unknown type of radiation.Novelline, Robert (1997). ''Squire's Fundamentals of Radiology''. Harvard University Press. 5th edition. . X-ray wavelengths are shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. There is no universally accepted, strict definition of the bounds of the X-ray band. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 nanometers to 10 picometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range of 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz ( to ) and photon energies in the range of 100 eV to 100 keV, respectively. X-rays can penetrate many solid substances such as construction materials and living tissue, so X-ray radiography is widely used in medi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sports. and usage ''Casino'' is of Italian origin; the root means a house. The term ''casino'' may mean a small country villa, summerhouse, or social club. During the 19th century, ''casino'' came to include other public buildings where pleasurable activities took place; such edifices were usually built on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or palazzo, and were used to host civic town functions, including dancing, gambling, music listening, and sports. Examples in Italy include Villa Farnese and Villa Giulia, and in the US the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island. In modern-day Italian, a is a brothel (also called , literally "closed house"), a mess (confusing situation), or a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music, and dance. Elements of art, such as painted scenery and stagecraft such as lighting are used to enhance the physicality, presence and immediacy of the experience. The specific place of the performance is also named by the word "theatre" as derived from the Ancient Greek θέατρον (théatron, "a place for viewing"), itself from θεάομαι (theáomai, "to see", "to watch", "to observe"). Modern Western theatre comes, in large measure, from the theatre of ancient Greece, from which it borrows technical terminology, classification into genres, and many of its theme (arts), themes, stock characters, and plot elements. Theatre art ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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