Dragonfly

A dragonfly is an insect belonging to the order Odonata, suborder Anisoptera (from Greek ανισος anisos "uneven" + πτερος pteros, "wings", because the hindwing is broader than the forewing). Adult dragonflies are characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong transparent wings, sometimes with coloured patches and an elongated body. Dragonflies can be mistaken for the related group, damselflies (Zygoptera), which are similar in structure, though usually lighter in build; however, the wings of most dragonflies are held flat and away from the body, while damselflies hold the wings folded at rest, along or above the abdomen. Dragonflies are agile fliers, while damselflies have a weaker, fluttery flight. Many dragonflies have brilliant iridescent or metallic colours produced by structural coloration, making them conspicuous in flight. An adult dragonfly eye has nearly 24,000 ommatidia.

Fossils of very large dragonfly ancestors in the Protodonata are found from 325 million years ago (Mya) in Upper Carboniferous rocks; these had wingspans up to about 750 mm (30 in). About 3000 species of Anisoptera are in the world today. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions.

Dragonfly (Koontz novel)

Dragonfly is a novel written by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released under the pseudonym K. R. Dwyer in 1975. The book has not been re-issued since.

Plot summary

An innocent man has been turned into a walking time bomb. In 4 days, he will kill 100,000 people.

References

Dragonfly (Durbin novel)

Dragonfly is a fantasy, horror novel by author Frederic S. Durbin. It was released in 1999 by Arkham House in an edition of 4,000 copies. It was the author's first novel.

Plot summary

Ten-year-old Bridget Ann (nicknamed "Dragonfly") lives in her Uncle Henry's funeral parlor. Uncle Henry summons Mothkin, a hunter, to investigate strange things happening in the basement as Hallowe'en approaches. In the basement, Dragonfly and Mothkin discover a doorway to a spooky underground world, known as Harvest Moon, which is ruled by an evil despot, Samuel Hain. Dragonfly is separated from Mothkin and meets up with a werewolf named Sylva who protects her from Hain. Eventually, she reunites with Mothkin for a final battle with Hain.

Reprints

References

Sera (company)

sera is a company that was founded in 1970 by Josef Ravnak, a seller of live pet food. Headquarters of the company are in Heinsberg (North-Rhine Westfalia), Germany. At this time, a new process called lyophilization was being introduced and was already highly acclaimed for preserving food animals with optimal retention of their nutrients and vitamins.

Ravnak capitalized on this innovation, and over the years has continually improved sera's product quality. The name sera is a combination of Ravnak's first name, SEpp (nickname of Josef), and his family name, RAvnak.

The early years

During the company's first years the product line was continuously expanded and optimized, and sera vipan flakes, the company's flagship food, was introduced in 1972. The company focus broadened to include the aquarium hobby as a whole and throughout the decade they developed water conditioners, such as sera aqutan and sera morena – aquatic plant fertilizers, such as sera florena – and aquarium fish medications, such as sera costapur and sera baktopur. The first series of water testing kits were also developed.

Sway

Sway may refer to:

Music

Dance

Album

Songs

Other Songs

People

Sway (dance)

The term sway has a specific meaning in the technique of ballroom dances. Sway describes a dancer's body position in which the entire body gracefully deflects from the vertical. Entrance to and exit from this position are matters of fine technical detail and differ in various dance figures.

Sway may be an element of both stationary and moving dance figures. In moving figures, sway is commonly achieved as a natural result of body swing, but small amounts from other sources may be useful as an inflection. Sway comes primarily from an incline of the entire body, but a portion may also come from gradual bending of the trunk. It is customary to consider any bending of the trunk to occur more as a stretching of one side of the rib cage more than as a compression of the other side. This description helps to produce sway without the body line breaking awkwardly at the waist. Substantial abdominal strength may be needed to fully utilize this technique.

Possible angles of sway range from having the upper body substantially trailing the lower through a movement, to having the upper body a very small amount in advance. The purposes of sway are both better control of dance motion and aesthetics.

Sway (Bic Runga song)

"Sway" is a 1997 New Zealand music single by Bic Runga. It appeared on her first album, Drive, and it was featured in the 1999 film American Pie as well as the 2012 American Reunion. It was released in 1998 in Germany, Australia, and twice in the United Kingdom. It was also released in the United States. In 2001 it was voted 6th best New Zealand song of all time by members of APRA. An acoustic version of the song can be found on the charity album Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 2.

Track listings

New Zealand / Germany / first United Kingdom CD single

Second United Kingdom CD single

Australian CD single

Other versions

External links