It is not a question of whom the Incas WERE, but who IS, because Indian people by that name still exist throughout the 1,000-mile length of the Andes. They are the descendants of the once-mighty Incan empire, the most extensive in precolumbian America. The ancient Incas achieved a very learned and sophisticated culture -- which … Read more

Horses originated on the North American continent. But during the last ice age (!5,000-10,000 years ago), the species migrated back to Asia over the Bering Strait ice bridge, and they disappeared from the Western Hemisphere.  Not until the Spaniards arrived in the early 16th century did horses return to their ancestral grounds.  Precolumbian people, including the Incas, … Read more

In general, the term "German bread" means a dark rye. I use my bread machine to make a very dark rye that is well-received. My basic machine recipe is 1 tablespoon yeast, 1 1/2 cups liquid, 1/4 cup sugar, a teaspoon of salt, 2 tablespoons of oil, and 3 1/2 cups of combined flours. Fro … Read more

The vast majority of African lions are now within game refuges or national parks. Despite threats of poaching, disease, and inbreeding, in general, protected lions' numbers are holding steady, and prides habituated to vehicles and people are easily spotted. The Serengeti plains' annual wildebeest calving season in February and migration in June and July -- … Read more

Mark Twain may be the most-beloved of American humorists. His aphorisms have gone down in history as some of the cleverest things ever uttered. Here is a sampling: -- Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and … Read more

Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park's monolithic sandstone formations are a must-see for any visitor to the U.S. Southwest.  The entire valley was once a solid, 1,000-foot-deep basin of sandstone and limestone, laid down over the millennia by sediments eroded from the Rocky Mountains to the east.  A slow and gentle uplift elevated the horizontal strata … Read more

Populus tremuloides, or quaking or trembling aspen, is found in the mountains of northern and western North America. The unusual ability of aspen leaves to twist and bend in the wind is due to their flattened petioles, or leaf stems. When the leaves can twist, it helps protect the trees from severe winds, perhaps by … Read more

A wolf hybrid is the offspring of a wolf (Canis lupus) and a dog (Canis familiaris). Breeding is possible since wolves and dogs are closely related genetically. A wolf-dog is a cross between a pure wolf and a dog or another wolf dog hybrid, usually malamutes, huskies and German shepherds. Hybrids tend to be heavier … Read more

Oral yeast infection -- or thrush -- affects many newborns and younger children. It is caused by the Candida albicans yeast or fungus, which can also cause vaginal infections and diaper rashes. When it infects a child's mouth, it is called oropharyngeal Candidiasis, or thrush. Thrush is a temporary infection that looks and sounds much … Read more

First, the condition that caused the thrush must be brought under control. This might involve investing in new dentures or adjusting diabetes treatment. For AIDS patients, a course of oral treatment using antifungal drugs is in order. Thrush in infants is usually treated with a prescription medicine called Nystatin given four times a day. Treatment … Read more

Candida, or yeast infections, are most common in teenage girls and women up to age 35 (although they can occur in girls as young as 10 or 11). Other sufferers include older women, and, rarely, men and boys . You do not have to be sexually active to get a yeast infection. Nonprescription medicines can … Read more

Even though the premier image of the U.S. West is the cowboy, the profession was not homegrown.  Up until the Mexican War of 1846-48, Mexico governed what are now the western states of California, Nevada, and Utah, and parts of Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Arizona, and Colorado.  Before Mexico's independence, one of the chief exports … Read more

Common ants serve so many important functions it's hard to count them all -- just like the number of ants in a colony. Innumerable species rely on ants for food. Birds especially eat a lot of ants. But they are also a staple for lizards and snakes. There are even mammals that eat a lot … Read more

In this most-beloved of Christmas tales, a young married couple with little money independently ponders how to provide each other with a holiday gift. The husband goes out on the snowy December city streets, looking in windows for inspiration. Finally, he spots the perfect gift: tortoise-shell combs for his wife's long, lustrous hair. But in … Read more

Ticks are small insects that attach themselves to mammals' skin in order to suck blood. At first, the tick is tiny, but when it becomes full of blood and is ready to detach itself, you will notice it.  The most serious ailments caused by ticks in the U.S. Are tick-bite fever and Lyme disease.  To … Read more

Creole is the broad term given to languages of the colonial tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania.  Creole languages are a mixture of two cultural groups' languages, and are initially called "pidgin." But when it becomes the accepted language of a community, it is called creole.  Most creole tongues … Read more

Gaelic is the English name for the Celtic language of Ireland and Scotland. It is pronounced "Gay-lic" in Ireland and "Gall-ick" in Scotland.  In Ireland, Gaelic is generally known as Irish, and was once known is Scotland as Erse or Irish.  Gaelic was the principal language or Ireland during the Norse settlement in the late … Read more

Hernando (or Hernan) Cortes (1483-1547) is the best-known and most notorious of the conquistadores. Cortes was born in Estremadura, Spain. In 1504, he went to the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo, and took part in the conquest of Cuba for Spain in 1511. The governor of Cuba then sent Cortes to explore the mainland west … Read more

Francisco Pizzaro (1478?-1541) was born in Trujillo, Spain, and first came to the Americas in 1502, when he lived in Hispaniola Island. He joined noted explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa's colony of Darien, in what is now Panama. Pizarro became a cattle rancher, but was soon captivated by reports of the rich Incan empire in … Read more

Insomnia is often caused or exacerbated by an unhealthy sleep routine. Improve that routine, and you may sleep better.