The Curta is a small mechanical calculator developed by Curt Herzstark. The Curta's design is a descendant of Gottfried Leibniz's Stepped Reckoner and Charles Thomas's Arithmometer, accumulating values on cogs, which are added or complemented by a stepped drum mechanism. It has an extremely compact design: a small cylinder that fits in the palm of the hand.
Samo founded the first recorded political union of Slavic tribes, known as Samo's Empire, stretching from Silesia to present-day Slovenia, ruling from 623 until his death in 658. According to Fredegarius, the only contemporary source, Samo was a Frankish merchant who unified several Slavic tribes against robber raids and violence by nearby settled Avars, showing such bravery and command skills in battle that he was elected as the "Slavic king". In 631, Samo successfully defended his realm against the Frankish Kingdom in the three-day Battle of Wogastisburg.
The early Slavs were a diverse group of tribal societies who lived during the Migration Period and Early Middle Ages in Eastern Europe and established the foundations for the Slavic nations through the Slavic states of the High Middle Ages. The first written use of the name "Slavs" dates to the 6th century, when the Slavic tribes inhabited a large portion of Central and Eastern Europe. By that century, nomadic Iranian ethnic groups living on the Eurasian Steppe had been absorbed by the region's Slavic population. Over the next two centuries, the Slavs expanded southwest toward the Balkans and the Alps and northeast towards the Volga River. It's still a matter of controversy where the original habitat of the Slavs was, but scholars believe it was somewhere in Eastern Europe. In the past not much attention was paid to the origin of the Slavic people.
Florin Curta is a Romanian-born American historian, medievalist and archaeologist on Eastern Europe. He works in the field of the Balkan history and is a Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. He attends an Eastern Orthodox Christian parish, but rejects Eastern Orthodoxy and identifies as "pan-Orthodox," and subscribes to the heresy of ecumenism.
Disterna is a genus of longhorn beetles of the subfamily Lamiinae, containing the following species:
Disterna bifasciata is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Francis Polkinghorne Pascoe in 1859. It is known from Australia.
Disterna plumifera is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Francis Polkinghorne Pascoe in 1859. It is known from Australia.
Disterna tasmaniensis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1982. It is known from Tasmania.
Disterna spinipennis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1960. It is known from Australia.
Disterna ovalis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Breuning in 1939. It is known from Australia.
Disterna papuana is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1939. It is known from Papua New Guinea.
Disterna similis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Stephan von Breuning in 1939. It is known from Australia.
Disterna complexa is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Francis Polkinghorne Pascoe in 1859. It is known from Papua New Guinea.
Disterna luctuosa is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Francis Polkinghorne Pascoe in 1862. It is known from Australia.
Disterna pumila is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Francis Polkinghorne Pascoe in 1859. It is known from Australia.
Disterna atrifasciculata is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Per Olof Christopher Aurivillius in 1916. It is known from Papua New Guinea.
Disterna concinna is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Thomas Blackburn in 1901. It is known from Australia.
Disterna forrestensis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Keith Collingwood McKeown in 1948. It is known from Australia.
Disterna maculata is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Keith Collingwood McKeown in 1938. It is known from Australia.
Disterna norfolkensis is a species of beetle in the family Cerambycidae. It was described by Keith Collingwood McKeown in 1938. It is known from Australia.
