Facts and notes

On the Tuareg:

"The Deserts of Africa" by Michael Martin was an invaluable reference guide on Saharan toplogy and information about the Tuareg: their social structure, the social significance of the color of their head and face coverings, their migration patterns. The childhood song sung to Ardeth is one the Tuareg women sing to their infants and I am indebted to Michael Martin for including the lullaby in "The Deserts of Africa." 

Did you know: in 1983, a tribe of the drought-stricken Tuareg delayed their annual migration to fresh pastures in order to catch the last episode of "Dallas" --from "The Story of English" by R. McCrum, W. Cran and R. Macneil

"Cultures of the World: Niger" was also an invaluable reference source on the Tuareg, especially the pronunciation of Tuareg words: 

Tifinagh ('tee-FEE-nahr') is the Tuareg script. Tamasheqt is the Tuareg language belonging to the Berber languages which, in turn, belong to the Afro-Asiatic family of languages.

Examples of Tifanagh script 

Tenere means 'desert' in Tamasheqt.

The headdress and face veil worn by Tuareg men is called a 'tagelmust' (tag ERL moost). The lower the veil is worn on the face, the higher the social status of the wearer. 

The reference to Kel Ewey Confederation is from Michael Martin's book. "Owey" is another spelling and was found in "Cultures of the World--Niger". When several clans of Tuareg wish to form an alliance, the word Kel is placed in front of the name of the alliance. 

Tuareg artisans (inadan--'EEN-ah-dan') prefer to use silver and are particularly adept at making the Agadez silver cross. The inadan are excellent leather workers. 

Locality of Tuareg: A good percentage of Tuaregs live in Niger, but Tuaregs inhabit Algeria, Libya, Mali and Burkina Faso. Singular form: Targi for men; Targia for women. 

Tuareg women, when they marry, are given a tent as their dowry by their female elderly relatives. The husband risks eviction from the tent should disagreements occur. Tuaregs, unlike most Muslim societies, and unlike the rest of patrilineal Niger, are a matrilineal society and women rule camp life. 
 

Namibian Desert notes:
Humming sand dunes exist in the Namib Desert, Namibia (southwestern Africa). The elephants mentioned in the story are the desert elephants of the Namib Desert. A small group of elephants lives in the narrow coastal desert (Namib Desert is 1,200 miles long and, depending on location, 30-90 miles wide). The elephants will travel from permanent watering hole to watering hole. 

The dunes of the Namib contain the largest and purest diamonds on earth.

Egypt
On Egyptian emeralds: before the discovery of the New World, the Classical World in the time of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans knew about, and wore, the emeralds which were mined in the Eastern Sahara: Wadi Gimal, Wadi Nugrus, Wadi Gebel Zubara & Gebel Umm Kabu are the emerald mines. The emerald mines are sometimes referred to as Cleopatra's Mines.

Wadis (wadi--singular) are dry riverbeds that fill when the rainy season occurs. 

British Air Raids
On August 24, 1940, the Luftwaffe increased their activity: Ramsgate, Dover, Portsmouth, S. Wales, a Birmingham aircraft factory, the north-east coast and several airfields were targeted. Totally that day, thirty eight planes were downed by the RAF. 

That night, the Germans inadvertantly bombed central London--London hadn't been bombed since 1918. The Brits retaliated and the September 7th bombing was Germany's reaction to the English reaction. Schlotter's remarks that the Thames can be found even at night is true: its distinctive shape from the air points to the heart of London and makes the London a no-miss target. 

The Air Battle of Britain began in earnest on July 10, 1940. 

For some reason, the Brits liked to make reference to the weather in their accounts of the British Air Raids. 

Gun cameras were used to record the dogfights. 

September 7, 1940: the intensive blitz of London (the industrial dockyards were heavily targeted) began just after 5 pm and lasted until around 8 pm. There was a second overnight onslaught of bombings by the Luftwaffe which ended around 4:30 am.  November 11 was the last day of the daily bombardment of London, although the bombings continued until May 11, 1940
 

On eye color inheritance:
a good site for eye color inheritance and another site on eye color inheritance & a third site which tells us that brown eyed twins resulted from two blue eyed parents.

It is possible for brown and blue eyed parents to have a blue eyed child but the brown eyed parent's alleles must be:

Eye Color: Brown
Genes: Set (1) brown-blue AND
Genes: Set (2) blue-blue OR (2a) green-blue

If the brown eyed parent has the gene set (1) for brown-brown, then even if the other allele (gene set 2) is green-blue or blue-blue, the resultant child will most likely be brown eyed. But then again, genetics can be like a dice game, for the referenced site doesn't take into account grey eyes, or violet eyes, or mixed eye color. 

Green eyes are often the result of racial mixing. 

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