A robot is a machine that sometimes resembles humans and carries out routine mechanical tasks on command with human-like skill. The word robot has its origins in the Czech word robotnik, which means a serf or a slave. Robots are used mainly in factories and in those activities which a human might find difficult to…
The Zone Improvement Plan code, abbreviated as the ZIP code, is a system of postal codes that was introduced in the USA in 1963 to improve the efficiency of postal services, such as sorting and delivery. It comprises nine digits: the first three digits are assigned to a specific part of the USA, the next…
The owl is believed to possess a wise disposition. Therefore, a group of owls is called a ‘parliament’. The word parliament is used as a collective noun in this case. Another collective noun for a group of owls is ‘wisdom’ – a wisdom of owls.
Derived from the Latin word titulus, meaning inscription or heading, the ‘tittle’ is a dot or diacritic that is used to mark a lowercase ‘i’ or ‘j’. It was initially used to distinguish ‘I’ and ‘J’ from the neighbouring letters. The ‘tittle’ appeared in the Latin alphabets in the 11th century. Originally a larger mark,…
The goldfish (Carassius auratus) belongs to the carp family to which the common carp or Koi fish belongs. It was originally domesticated as normal grey or silver fish by the ancient Chinese. In several cases, the grey fish produced mutated fish that was yellow, orange or red. The yellowish orange (golden) fish were chosen to be…
The red dirt in Central Australia closely resembles the red surface of Mars, which also explains the abundant formation of gem-quality opal in the red dirt of the Great Artesian Basin in Central Australia. It is referred to as ‘Mars on Earth’.
