Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for such activities as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aquaculture, and navigability. Hydropower is often used in conjunction with dams to generate electricity. A dam can also be used to collect water or for storage of water which can be evenly distributed between locations. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees (also known as dikes) are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions.

The word dam can be traced back to Middle English, and before that, from Middle Dutch, as seen in the names of many old cities.

History

Ancient dams

Early dam building took place in Mesopotamia and the Middle East. Dams were used to control the water level, for Mesopotamia's weather affected the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and could be quite unpredictable.

The earliest known dam is the Jawa Dam in Jordan, 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of the capital Amman. This gravity dam featured an originally 9-metre-high (30 ft) and 1 m-wide (3.3 ft) stone wall, supported by a 50 m-wide (160 ft) earth rampart. The structure is dated to 3000 BC.

Damè

Damè is a town and arrondissement in the Atlantique Department of southern Benin. It is an administrative division under the jurisdiction of the commune of Toffo. According to the population census conducted by the Institut National de la Statistique Benin on February 15, 2002, the arrondissement had a total population of 11,034.

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Coordinates: 6°51′00″N 2°05′00″E / 6.8500°N 2.0833°E / 6.8500; 2.0833

Damé

Damé is a town in eastern Ivory Coast. It is a sub-prefecture of Agnibilékrou Department in Indénié-Djuablin Region, Comoé District. Seven kilometres east of the town is a border crossing with Ghana.

Damé was a commune until March 2012, when it became one of 1126 communes nationwide that were abolished.

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Dix (steamboat)

The steamboat Dix operated from 1904 to 1906 as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. She was sunk in a collision which remains one of the most serious transportation accidents in the state of Washington to this day.

In May 2011, it was reported that wreckage likely to be that of the Dix had been confirmed off Seattle's Alki Point.

Construction

Dix was built in 1904 at the Tacoma yard of Crawford and Reid.. Dix was 102.5 ft (31.2 m) long, 20.5 ft (6.2 m) on the beam, 7.5 ft (2.3 m) depth of hold, and rated at 130 tons. Later, given her tragic end, it was recalled, perhaps superstitiously, that the launching of Dix was a failure. The vessel had simply refused to move down the ways at Crawford and Reid, and had to be hauled into the water the next day by Captain Sutter in command of Tacoma Tug and Barge’s Fairfield.

Dix was purpose-built for one route only, the run across Elliott Bay from Seattle to Alki Point, then the main recreation area for Seattle. Her owners were A.B.C. Dennison and W.L. Dudley, doing business as the Seattle and Alki Point Transportation Company. She was lightly built, and apparently top-heavy, as the steamboat inspectors twice refused to issue her a seaworthiness certificate, only relenting when her builders installed 7 tons of gravel ballast in her hull and 5 tons of iron weights bolted to her keel. Even so, she was said to be difficult to handle.

List of minor planets: 6001–7000

D-IX

D-IX was a Methamphetamine-based experimental drug cocktail developed by the Nazis in 1944 for military application. Nazi doctors found that equipment-laden test subjects who had taken the drug could march 88.5 kilometers (55 miles) without resting before they collapsed. Each tablet contained 5 mg of oxycodone (brand name Eukodal), 5 mg of cocaine and 3 mg of methamphetamine (then called Pervitin, now available under the brand name Desoxyn). The researcher who uncovered the project, Wolf Kemper, said: "The aim was to use D-IX to redefine the limits of human endurance." Test subjects could march in a circle for up to 90 kilometers per day without rest while carrying a 20 kilogram backpack. Nazi doctors were enthusiastic about the results, and planned to supply all German troops with the pills, but the war ended before D-IX could be put into mass production, though it did see limited use among a handful of Neger and Biber pilots.

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