Agkistrodon piscivorus

Agkistrodon piscivorus is a venomous snake, a species of pit viper, found in the southeastern United States. Adults are large and capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite. When antagonized, they will stand their ground by coiling their bodies and displaying their fangs. Although their aggression has been exaggerated, individuals may bite when feeling threatened or being handled. This is the world's only semiaquatic viper, usually found in or near water, particularly in slow-moving and shallow lakes, streams, and marshes. The snake is a strong swimmer and will even enter the sea. It has successfully colonized islands off both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

The generic name is derived from the Greek words ancistro (hooked) and odon (tooth), and the specific name comes from the Latin piscis (fish) and voro (to eat); thus, the scientific name translates into “hooked-tooth fish-eater”. Common names include variants on water moccasin, swamp moccasin, black moccasin, cottonmouth, gapper, or simply viper. Many of the common names refer to the threat display, where this species will often stand its ground and gape at an intruder, exposing the white lining of its mouth. Three subspecies are currently recognized, including the nominate subspecies described here. Its diet consists mainly of fish and frogs but is otherwise highly varied and, uniquely, has even been reported to include carrion.

Regions of the African Union

The member states of the African Union are divided into five geographic regions of the African Union.

List

North

Southern

East

West

Central

Sixth Region

The AU considers the African diaspora as its sixth region.

References

Congo (pinball)

Congo is a Williams pinball machine released in November 1995. It is based on the motion picture of the same name.

External links

Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese

Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese is a travel book by English author Patrick Leigh Fermor, published in 1958. It covers his journey with wife Joan and friend Xan Fielding around the Mani peninsula in southern Greece.

Travel

The book chronicles Leigh Fermor's travels around the Mani peninsula in southern mainland Greece. The region is typically viewed as inhospitable and isolated from much of the remainder of Greece due its harsh geography. The Taygetus Mountains run down the middle of the peninsula, limiting most settlements to small villages on or near the coast. They begin near Kalamata, and then proceed south along the Mani coastline (mostly by boat or caique), ending the book in the town of Gytheon.

Leigh Fermor's book almost never mentions his traveling companions, and only rarely delves into first-person experiences. Much of the book concentrates on the history of the Maniots and of their larger place in Greek and European history; the middle portion of the book contains lengthy digressions on art history, icons, religion, and myth in Maniot society.

Máni

Máni (Old Norse/Icelandic "moon") is the personification of the moon in Norse mythology. Máni, personified, is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. Both sources state that he is the brother of the personified sun, Sól, and the son of Mundilfari, while the Prose Edda adds that he is followed by the children Hjúki and Bil through the heavens. As a proper noun, Máni appears throughout Old Norse literature. Scholarly theories have been proposed about Máni's potential connection to the Northern European notion of the Man in the Moon, and a potentially otherwise unattested story regarding Máni through skaldic kennings.

Attestations

Poetic Edda

In the poem Völuspá, a dead völva recounts the history of the universe and foretells the future to the disguised god Odin. In doing so, the völva recounts the early days of the universe:

In stanza 23 of the poem Vafþrúðnismál, the god Odin (disguised as "Gagnráðr") tasks the jötunn Vafþrúðnir with a question about the origins of the sun and the moon, whom he describes as journeying over mankind. Vafþrúðnir responds that Mundilfari is the father of both Sól and Máni, and that they must pass through the heavens every day to count the years for mankind:

Mani, Karnataka

Mani is a village in India, between Mangalooru and Bangalooru along the NH-48. The population is 38838 as of the national census of 2002. The terrain is hilly with paddy fields and arecanut plantations in between. Here, a road off shoots to Puttur.

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