AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Dryosaurus was a small plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur that lived in forests of western North America around 150 million years ago.
Its family, the Dryosauridae, were precursors (ancestors) of the Iguanodons, and lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Lower Cretaceous.
Iguanodon
Iguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous period in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. It lived 125/126 million years ago (mya).
Discovered in 1822 and described three years later by English geologist Gideon Mantell, "Iguanodon" was the second dinosaur formally named, after "Megalosaurus". Together with "Megalosaurus" and "Hylaeosaurus", it was one of the three genera originally used to define Dinosauria.
A large, bulky herbivore, "Iguanodon" is thought by some to be in the same family as the duck-billed hadrosaurs. The taxonomy of the genus continues to be a topic of study as new species are named or long-standing ones reassigned to other genera.
Scientific understanding of "Iguanodon" has evolved over time. New information is got from the fossils. Researchers have made informed hypotheses about the living animal, including feeding, movement, and social behaviour. As one of the first scientifically known dinosaurs, "Iguanodon" has a small but notable place in the public's perception of dinosaurs. Its artistic representation changed after new interpretations of its remains.
There are at least two species recognised:
Because its front limbs were shorter than the hindlimbs, Mantell guessed it could move on two legs, as opposed to Owen, who thought it was quadrupedal. As it happens, it probably used both modes. Slow walking would be done on all fours, and faster running on the hind legs. Either way, the position of the body would be more horizontal than upright, with the tail held above the ground by its ossified (bony) ligaments (they can be clearly seen on the skeleton). It would defend itself against predators on its hind legs, using its strong front arms and dagger-like thumbs as weapons.
The teeth were close-set grinding teeth suitable for a browser. it is believed that, as with most other ornithischians, "Iguanodon" had some sort of cheek-like structure, muscular or non-muscular, to keep food in the mouth.
Xylem
Xylem is a tissue in vascular plants. Its cells have thick, hard walls. Xylem tissue dies soon after it is formed and is the wood in the middle of a tree. The dead cells are like pipes, hollow and rigid.
Xylem is one of two tissues in the plant which transport substances that plants need to live. Substances that xylem transports include water and minerals obtained through the plant's roots, as xylem runs from the roots to the stems and leaves. The other transport tissue is the phloem, which transports energy in the form of sugar (as well as any other chemicals) from the leaves to the rest of the plant.
Xylem cells are present in all parts of a plant, in stems, roots, and leaves. Water is carried against gravity by the negative pressure that builds up through the process of transpiration, which is the evaporation of moisture in leaves.
Xylem consists of four types of cells:
Most of these cells are dead cells and have thick walls.
Allosaurus was a large theropod dinosaur from the Jurassic period, a predatory carnivore.
"Allosaurus" averaged 8.5 metres (28 ft) in length, though some remains suggest it could reach over 12 meters (39 ft). Its three-fingered forelimbs were smaller than its large hind legs, and the body was balanced by a long, heavy tail. It weighed 2/3 tons.
It is the most common large predator found in the Morrison Formation of North America. This formation was laid down 155 to 145 million years ago, in the Jurassic.
"Allosaurus" was at the top of the food chain. It probably preyed on large herbivorous dinosaurs and perhaps even other predators (e.g. "Ceratosaurus"). Potential prey included ornithopods, stegosaurs, and sauropods.
Some paleontologists think "Allosaurus" had cooperative behavior, and hunted in packs. Others believe they may have been aggressive toward each other.
Groups have been found together in the fossil record. This might be evidence of pack behavior, or just the result of lone individuals feeding on the same carcass.
Remains of many individuals have been found, including some which are almost complete. Over sixty-nine individuals from one species have been found.
Sauropods, live or dead, seem to be likely candidates as prey. Sauropod bones with holes fitting allosaur teeth, and the presence of shed allosaur teeth with sauropod bones have been found.
There is dramatic evidence for allosaur attacks on "Stegosaurus". An "Allosaurus" tail vertebra has been found with a partially healed puncture which fits a "Stegosaurus" tail spike. Also, there is a "Stegosaurus" neck plate with a U-shaped wound that correlates well with an "Allosaurus" snout.
"Allosaurus" was probably not a predator of fully grown sauropods, unless it hunted in packs. It had a modestly sized skull and relatively small teeth, and was greatly outweighed by adult sauropods. Another possibility is that it preferred to hunt juveniles instead of fully grown adults.
Researchers have made other suggestions. Robert T. Bakker compared the short teeth to serrations on a saw. This saw-like cutting edge runs the length of the upper jaw, and could have been driven into prey. This type of jaw would permit slashing attacks against much larger prey, with the goal of weakening the victim.
Another study showed the skull was very strong but had a relatively small bite force. The authors suggested that "Allosaurus" used its skull like a hatchet against prey, attacking open-mouthed, slashing flesh with its teeth, and tearing it away without splintering bones.
They suggested that different strategies could be used against different prey. The skull was light enough to allow attacks on smaller and more agile ornithopods, but strong enough for high-impact ambush attacks against larger prey like stegosaurs and sauropods.
Their ideas were challenged by other researchers, who found no modern examples of a hatchet attack. They thought it more likely that the skull was strong to absorb stresses from struggling prey.
The original authors noted that "Allosaurus" itself has no modern equivalent, so the absence of a modern 'hatchet attacker' was not significant. They thought the tooth row was well-suited to such an attack, and that articulations (joints) in the skull helped to lessen stress.
Another possibility for handling large prey is that theropods like "Allosaurus" were 'flesh grazers' which could take bites of flesh out of living sauropods, sufficient to sustain the predator so it did not need to kill the prey outright. This strategy might have allowed the prey to recover and be fed upon again later.
Another idea is that ornithopods, the most common available prey, could be subdued by "Allosaurus" grasping the prey with their forelimbs, and then making bites on the throat to crush the trachea. The forelimbs were strong and capable of restraining prey, and the articulation of the claws suggests that they could have been used to hook things.
The shape of the "Allosaurus" skull limited binocular vision to 20° of width, slightly less than that of modern crocodilians. As with crocodiles, this may have been enough to judge prey distance and time attacks. The similar width of their field of view suggests that allosaurs, like modern crocodiles, were ambush hunters.
Finally, the top speed of "Allosaurus" has been estimated at 30 to 55 kilometers per hour (19 to 34 miles per hour).
The fossil site known as the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Emery County, Utah was known in 1927, but major operations did not begin there until 1960. An effort from nearly 40 institutions got thousands of bones between 1960 and 1965. The quarry is notable for the many "Allosaurus" remains, the condition of the specimens, and our ignorance of its ancient origin. It is estimated that the remains of at least 46 "A. fragilis" have been found there, out of at least 73 dinosaurs. The fossils found there are disarticulated (separate) and well-mixed.
Suggestions as to how it arose include animals getting stuck in a bog, to becoming trapped in deep mud, to falling victim to drought-induced mortality around a waterhole, to getting trapped in a spring-fed pond or seep. Regardless of the cause, the great quantity of well-preserved "Allosaurus" remains means the animal is one of the best-known theropods. Individuals of almost all ages and sizes are found, from less than 1 meter (3.3 ft) to 12 meters (39 ft) long.
There are five recognised species of "Allosaurus":
"Allosaurus", like "Tyrannosaurus", has come to represent the quintessential large, carnivorous dinosaur in popular culture.
It is a common dinosaur in museums. A number of museums cooperated in excavations at the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. By 1976, museums in eight countries on three continents had Cleveland-Lloyd allosaur material or casts. "Allosaurus" is the official 'state fossil' of Utah.
"Allosaurus" is top predator in both Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel, "The Lost World", and its 1925 film adaptation, the first full-length motion picture to feature dinosaurs.
"Allosaurus" was used as the starring dinosaur of the 1956 film "The Beast of Hollow Mountain", and the 1969 film "The Valley of Gwangi". Gwangi is billed as an "Allosaurus", though Ray Harryhausen based his model for the creature on Charles R. Knight's depiction of a "Tyrannosaurus". "Allosaurus" appeared in the second episode of the 1999 BBC television series "Walking with Dinosaurs" and the follow-up special "The Ballad of Big Al", which speculated on the life of the 'Big Al' specimen, as revealed by the numerous injuries and pathologies in its skeleton.
Ceratosaurus
Ceratosaurus was a predatory dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic period, 156 to 145 million years ago. It had a large horn on its nose, and a pair of smaller horns in front of its eyes. Uniquely among theropods, "Ceratosaurus" had armor, in the form of small osteoderms running down the middle of its back.
Carnotaurus
Carnotaurus was a predatory dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago. It was a large theropod which lived in South America during the Upper Cretaceous between about 72 and 70 million years ago. Although there is only one well-preserved skeleton, it is one of the best-understood theropods from the southern hemisphere. The skeleton, found in 1984, was uncovered in the Chubut Province of Argentina.
"Carnotaurus" is a member of the Abelisauridae, a group of large theropods. The abelisaurids were a family of large theropods which lived only in the ancient southern supercontinent Gondwana. They were the dominant predators of the later Cretaceous of Gondwana. They occupied the ecological niche filled by the tyrannosaurids in the northern continents.
"Carnotaurus" was a lightly built, bipedal predator, in length and at least in weight. As a theropod, "Carnotaurus" was highly specialized and distinctive. It had thick horns above the eyes, a feature not seen in other carnivorous dinosaurs, and a very deep skull sitting on a muscular neck. Also, it had small, vestigial forelimbs, smaller even than those of "Tyrannosaurus".
The remains include skin impressions showing a mosaic of small, non-overlapping scales about 5 mm in diameter. The mosaic was interrupted by large bumps that lined the sides of the animal, and there are no hints of feathers.
The distinctive horns and muscular neck may have been used in fighting rivals of its own species. Rivals may have fought with quick head blows, by slow pushes with the upper sides of their skulls, or by ramming each other head-on, using their horns as shock absorbers. The feeding habits of "Carnotaurus" remain unclear: some studies suggest the animal was able to hunt down very large prey such as sauropods, while other studies find it preyed mainly on relatively small animals. "Carnotaurus" was well adapted for running and was possibly one of the fastest large theropods.
The animal lived in an environment of estuaries, tidal flats or coastal plains. The climate would have been seasonal with both dry and humid periods. The most common vertebrates collected include lungfish, turtles, crocodiles, plesiosaurs, dinosaurs, lizards, snakes and mammals. Turtles are represented by at least five taxa. In 2011, the discovery of a new enantiornithine bird from the La Colonia Formation was announced.
It appears in the movie "Dinosaur" (2000), when two "Carnotaurus" were fighting with "Iguanodon", "Pachyrhinosaurus" and other species. And in Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom (2018), when fighting a Sinoceratops and gets taken down by the iconic "Rexy" the T-Rex. Later on in the movie, when it escapes the "Lockwood Manor" and in Michael Crichton’s book "The Lost World" (1995)
Coelophysis
Coelophysis was a small fast running carnivorous dinosaur. It is one of the earliest known genera of dinosaur. "Coelophysis" was found in Upper Triassic strata dated to about 200 million years ago (mya). It lived in what is now the southwestern United States. Similar dinosaurs are found all over the world at that time.
"Coelophysis" walked on two legs (as did all theropods). It was no more than about three feet (1 meter) tall at the hips but because of a long tail could be almost 10 feet (3 meters) long. There is some evidence that these animals hunted in packs, from the large numbers found together at the Ghost Ranch fossil site in New Mexico.
Two different sizes of this species have been found in the fossil record. At first paleontologists thought that they were two different species, but most now think that this is because "Coelophysis" males were larger than the females. This trait, known as sexual dimorphism, is often seen today in many animal species.
"Coelophysis" had a long narrow head (approximately ), with large, forward-facing eyes that afforded it stereoscopic vision and as a result excellent depth perception. The eyes were supported by bony rings ("sclerotic" rings). The complete sclerotic ring of a juvenile "Coelophysis bauri" was compared to those of reptiles and birds. Evidently "Coelophysis" was a daytime predator which hunted by sight. The study found that its vision was superior to that of most lizards, and ranked with that of modern birds of prey.
For a while, it was thought that "Coelophysis" were cannibalistic, because what looked like "Coelophysis" babies were seen in the stomach of an adult "Coelophysis". However, these specimens were misinterpreted. Several specimens of "juvenile coelophysids" were actually small crurotarsan reptiles such as "Hesperosuchus". In some cases bigger individuals were crushed on top of smaller ones. There is no longer any evidence to support cannibalistic behavior in "Coelophysis".
Edward Drinker Cope first named "Coelophysis" in 1889. This was during the "Bone Wars" with Othniel Charles Marsh. An amateur fossil collector, David Baldwin, found the first remains of the dinosaur in 1881. The type species, "C. bauri" was named after him. These first finds were too poorly preserved to give a complete picture of the new dinosaur.
In 1947, a substantial 'graveyard' of "Coelophysis" fossils was found in New Mexico, at Ghost Ranch, close to the original find. So many fossils together were probably the result of a flash flood, which swept away a large number of "Coelophysis" and buried them quickly and simultaneously. It seems such flooding was commonplace at the time. The Petrified Forest of nearby Arizona was caused by a log jam of tree trunks caught in a flood.
The Ghost Ranch specimens were numerous, with many well-preserved specimens. Since the Ghost Ranch specimens were discovered, more skeletons have been found in Arizona, New Mexico and an as-yet unconfirmed specimen from Utah, including both adults and juveniles. The deposits where "Coelophysis" was discovered date from the late Triassic, bur similar specimens have been found in the Lower Jurassic elsewhere in the world.
"Coelophysis" is the state fossil of New Mexico.
Dilophosaurus
Dilophosaurus (meaning 'double-crested lizard') was a medium-large dinosaur from 190 million years ago.
"Dilophosaurus" has been examined several times over the years and has been put into no less than nine different theropod groups. It may be related to the smaller "Coelophysis". Specific details of its life-style are few. Some of its fossils were found in terrain which was a low-lying slow-moving river system at the time. The animal was obviously a carnivore.
"Dilophosaurus" was shown in the movie "When Dinosaurs Roamed America" scaring off a pack of "Megapnosaurus" and eating an "Anchisaurus".
SimCity 4 is the fourth sequel to the SimCity computer game. It was created by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts.
The main new feature in this game is the addition of 'God Mode'. This is one of the three elements of gameplay. Players can add mountains, lakes, rivers and canyons to their landscape.
Another feature is "MySims" mode, a mode that lets players import their Sims from the game The Sims and add them into their city. This lets players see what they are thinking.
Cities are grouped into regions, which allow different cities in the same region to be connected. They can be connected by road or train, and cities could share water. Some regions come with the game, but you can create your own.
RCI stands for residential (housing), commercial, and industry demand. The higher the demand, the faster the city grows. No demand or negative demand causes buildings to be empty and run down.
Big buildings show up when you have high density zones. The amount of people living in the city changes the amount of skyscrapers built in the city. Skyscrapers can be built when residential population reaches 30,000, and when commercial population reaches 45,000.
Elasmosaurus
Elasmosaurus was a 46 foot long swimming reptile that lived in the North American Inland Sea. It was a plesiosaur.
It was first discovered in 1868 by a scientist named Edward Drinker Cope who accidentally put the head on the tail. It had 71 cervical vertebrae.
It was suggested by D.M.S. Watson that their method was as surface swimmers, mostly eating with their head above water, darting down to snatch smaller fish which were feeding on plankton. It is hard to see the benefit of a long neck under water. Aquatic mammals operating under water all have a streamlined torpedo-shape, as did pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs. All the longer-necked families were, from the setting of the teeth and jaws, eaters of small fish. The large number of neck vertebrae is probably linked to the modest degree of flexibility between adjacent vertebrae.
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was part of the Schutzstaffel (SS). "Waffen-SS" means "armed SS" in German. The Waffen-SS was a paramilitary organization within the SS.
The divisions of the Waffen-SS were made of specially trained soldiers. Their original job was to protect higher-ranking people in the SS and the Nazi Party. Together with the "Sturmabteilung" ("Storm Battalion," or SA), they were used as a police force. The Waffen-SS was officially an extra police force on the streets.
In 1937, some soldiers were reorganized. Nazi leaders gave some SS members the job of guarding and running concentration camps (and, later, death camps). These soldiers were moved from the Waffen-SS to the "SS-Totenkopfverbände".
In some of the concentration camps, like Auschwitz and Buchenwald, doctors of the Waffen-SS did experiments on humans.
Heinrich Himmler led the SS from 1929 until Nazi Germany lost World War II in 1945. After World War II, the SS were found guilty of crimes against humanity, and the SS was made illegal.
The Waffen-SS was grouped into divisions, as follows:
The differences to the normal army units were as follows:
One of the strangest SS units was the British Free Corps. It was a unit of the Waffen SS during World War II. The unit was made of about 27 prisoners of war from the British Empire. One British soldier who helped recruit other soldiers to join the unit was John Amery. After the war, he was sentenced to death for high treason, he was then executed.
After the end of the war, all soldiers were dismissed from the SS.
In 1951, the "Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der ehemaligen Angehörigen der Waffen-SS" was founded in Germany. This translates to "Mutual support organisation of former members of the Waffen-SS'." In English, it is better known as "HIAG." The group wanted soldiers who were in the Waffen-SS to be treated the same as soldiers of the Wehrmacht (the regular German Army).
The group also publishes a magazine. The magazine tries to send the message that the Waffen-SS were just normal soldiers. Sometimes, there are also revisionist articles in it.
Pizzicato
Pizzicato means: playing a string instrument by plucking the strings (pulling a string with the finger and letting go quickly). Instruments such as the violin, viola, cello and double bass are normally played with a bow, but if the composer wants the player to pluck instead of bow, the word “pizzicato” or just “pizz” is written in the music. When the player has to play with the bow again the word “arco” is written in the music (“arco” is the Italian word for “bow”).
When instruments of the violin family are played pizzicato the player usually plucks the string with the index finger (pointing finger) of the right hand somewhere over the fingerboard. Bassists typically use the index and middle finger. Sometimes the player may rest the thumb on the edge of the fingerboard to keep the hand steady. Sometimes more fingers can be used for particularly fast pizzicato sections. Cellists and double bass players can use the thumb for plucking, especially for playing chords.
It is also possible to play pizzicato with the left hand (the hand which is normally doing the fingering). It is not difficult to pluck an open string with the left hand. Stopped strings are harder, and the brilliant violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini wrote some virtuoso pieces with extremely difficult left hand pizzicato.
Very occasionally violinists may be asked to pluck their instruments holding them down in their laps. This is normally when they are deliberately imitating a guitar.
Very often players have to change very quickly from bowing to plucking and back again. It is easy to play a bowed note and then immediately a plucked note if the bowed note finished near the heel of the bow (the end where the bow is held). If the bowed note finishes near the tip the player needs a moment to get the hand ready to pluck. It can take a little more time to go back to bowing again because the player has to get the bow back into playing position.
If there is a long pizzicato section then it is more comfortable to put the bow down instead of holding it in the right hand all the time. This is fine so long as the player has time to pick the bow up again when it goes back to arco.
Pizzicato notes sound short and detached (staccato). The player can get different sounds by plucking in different parts of the string. High notes sound very short and dry. Pizzicato notes on the double bass sound much more resonant (big and boomy). Double basses often play pizzicato to give extra rhythmic and harmonic support. For example: in a waltz the cellos and violas might be accompanying the tune with an “um-cha-cha, um-cha-cha” while the double basses just pluck on the “um” (the first beat of the bar). Double basses usually play pizzicato when playing with jazz groups.
One special effect can be made by pulling the string hard and letting it go so that it snaps against the fingerboard. Bartók used this effect several times. This is not the same as jazz bass players who slap the strings at the end of a note (“slap bass”).
In orchestras composers used pizzicato in the 17th century. Monteverdi used it in his opera "Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda". In the 19th century the Romantic composers often asked for pizzicato. Tchaikovsky’s "Symphony no 4" has a whole scherzo movement for pizzicato strings. Johann Strauss wrote a "Pizzicato Polka" and in the 20th century Britten wrote a whole movement for pizzicato strings in his "Simple Symphony".
Movement (music)
Long pieces of classical music are often divided into movements. They are like different sections of the piece. Movements can be quite short, or extremely long. If you listen to a symphony it may often be divided into four movements. In the time of Haydn and Mozart the four movements were normally: a fast movement, a slow movement, a dance-like movement (minuet) and a fast movement to end the work.
Concert programmes usually show how many movements there are in the work that is being performed. It may show this using Italian musical terms (e.g. "Allegro" meaning "fast", "Presto" meaning "very fast" or "Andante" meaning "a gentle walking pace"). Here is an example:
Robert Schumann: Symphony no 4 in D minor op.120
Sometimes an orchestra will take a minute or two to retune their instruments, especially in a symphony by Mahler or Shostakovich where one movement might be as long as 25 minutes. At other times the conductor or performer will want to go almost straight on with hardly any break. Sometimes the composer shows that there should be no break at all between movements.
Audiences in the olden days often used to clap between movements, but usually these days they wait until the end of the work to applaud.
The German word for “movement” (in this musical sense) is “Satz” which really means “sentence”. A movement is like a sentence: a collection of things that belong together to make sense. All the movements together are like several sentences: they tell the whole story.
Port Hedland, Western Australia
Port Hedland is a city on the north coast of Western Australia. It has 13,000 people living there. It is the largest city in the Pilbara Region. For its size, it has a very large mineral port, because of one of the worlds biggest iron deposits.
Worms, Germany
Worms (pronounced /voɐms/) is a city in southwestern Germany in the federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz). It lies on the River Rhine. Worms is famous for its local Liebfraumilch wine. It is an industrial center, producing chemicals and metal goods. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.
Along with Cologne and Trier, Worms is one the oldest cities in Germany. But, there is a disagreement which of the three is actually the oldest. The town is mentioned in the "Nibelungenlied", an old Germanic saga. The town was also very important because of Martin Luther who defended his case against the emperor Charles V in Worms.
The Cathedral of Saint Peter is a very large church in the town. It is one of only three Romanesque cathedrals in Germany. The other two are in Mainz and Speyer. The Worms cathedral is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Germany.
A transistor is an electronic component that can be used as part of an amplifier, or as a switch. It is made of a semiconductor material. Transistors are found in most electronic devices. The transistor was a major advancement after the triode tube, with using much less electricity, and lasting many years longer, to switch or amplify another electronic current.
The transistor can be used for a variety of different things including amplifiers and digital switches for computer microprocessors. Digital work mostly uses MOSFETs. Some transistors are individually packaged, mainly in order to handle high power. Most transistors are inside integrated circuits.
Transistors have three terminals: the gate, the drain, and the source (on a bipolar transistor, the wires can be called the emitter, the collector, and the base). When the source (or emitter) is connected to the negative terminal of the battery, and the drain (or collector) to the positive terminal, no electricity will flow in the circuit (if you have only a lamp in series with the transistor). But when power flows through the gate (or base), the transistor will allow electricity through. This is because when the gate is positively charged, the positive electrons will push other positive electrons in the transistor letting the negative electrons flow through. The transistor can also work when the gate is just positively charged, so it doesn't need to be touching the drain.
An easy way to think of how a transistor works is as a hose with a sharp bend that stops the water from going through. The water is the electrons, and when you positively charge the gate, it unbends the hose, letting water flow.
The basic Darlington transistor circuit is formed from two bipolar transistors wired emitter to base so they act as one transistor. One of the transistors is connected so that it controls the current to the base of the other transistor. This means that you can control the same amount of current with a very small amount of current going into the base.
When the gate of a P-channel MOSFET is positively charged, electricity will flow through, this is useful for electronics that require a switch to be turned on, making it an electronic switch. This rivals the mechanical switch, which requires a constant force pressing on it.
In a MOSFET used as an amplifier, transistors take the flow of the drain and source, and since the source current is so much larger than the drain's current, it is common for the drain's current to rise to the value of the sources, amplifying it.
Transistors are made of semiconductor chemical elements, usually silicon, which belongs to the modern Group 14 (formerly Group IV) in the periodic table of elements. Germanium, another group-14 element, is used together with silicon in specialized transistors. Researchers are also studying transistors made from special forms of carbon. Transistors can be also made from compounds like gallium arsenide.
The transistor was not the first three terminal device. The triode served the same purpose of the transistor 50 years earlier. Vacuum tubes were important in household technology before transistors. Unfortunately, tubes were big and fragile, used a lot of power, and didn't last very long. The transistor solved these problems.
Three physicists were credited with the invention of the transistor in 1947: Walter H. Brattain, John Bardeen, and William Shockley who contributed the most.
The transistor is a very important component today. If not for the transistor, devices such as cell phones and computers would be very different, or they might have not been invented at all. Transistors have been made very small (dozens of atoms wide) so that billions of them can be put into a small computer chip.
Sex toy
A sex toy is a device that helps humans get more pleasure when they have sex or when they masturbate. Sometimes these devices are also called Adult toy, or Marital aid. "Marital aid" can also apply to certain herbs or drugs that have such an effect. Herbs with such an effect are called aphrodisiac.
Types of sex toys include:
Compsognathus
Compsognathus was a small carnivorous theropod dinosaur, from the end of the Jurassic period, 144 million years ago. It was about a metre long, and ran on two legs, using its long tail to keep its balance.
"Compsognathus" is known from two nearly complete specimens, one from Germany (89 cm 35 in long), and another from France (125 cm 49 in long). The German specimen was found in the Solnhofen limestone in Bavaria, over 150 years ago.
The larger French specimen (MNHN CNJ 79) was discovered in 1972 in the Portland limestone, near Nice in southeastern France. Although originally described as a separate species called "Compsognathus corallestris", others have since renamed it as another example of "Compsognathus longipes".
It is one of the few dinosaurs whose diet is known with certainty: the remains of small, agile lizards are preserved in the bellies of both specimens. Also it was once the smallest dino on earth but now that belongs to the "Micropachycephalosaurus"
Thomas Henry Huxley ("Darwin's bulldog"), who was a comparative anatomist, made a study of it nearly 150 years ago. He compared the first fossil bird, "Archaeopteryx", with "Compsognathus". These two fossils were found in the same rocks: Solnhofen limestone in Bavaria, Germany. The strata come from the end of the Jurassic, about 144 million years ago. Huxley showed that the two were almost identical, except for the front limbs and feathers of "Archaeopteryx". He showed the basic affinity of birds and reptiles, which he united them under the title of "Sauropsida". Huxley concluded that birds evolved from small carnivorous dinosaurs.
The remains of a lizard in the German specimen's thoracic cavity show that "Compsognathus" preyed on small vertebrates. Marsh, who examined the specimen in 1881, thought that this small skeleton inside "Compsognathus" belly was an embryo, but in 1903, Franz Nopcsa concluded that it was a lizard. Ostrom identified the remains as belonging to a lizard of the genus "Bavarisaurus", which he concluded was a fast and agile runner owing to its long tail and limb proportions. This in turn led to the conclusion that its predators, "Compsognathus", must have had sharp vision and the ability to rapidly accelerate and outrun the lizard. The "Bavarisaurus" is in a single piece, indicating that the "Compsognathus" must have swallowed its prey whole. The French specimen's gastric contents consist of unidentified lizards or sphenodontids.
"Comsognathus" was once thought to be the smallest dinosaur. However, if we assume the smaller specimen was a juvenile, then there are other slightly smaller species. The smallest dinosaur is probably "Anchiornis"; other candidates are: "Micropachycephalosaurus"; "Caenagnathasia"; "Microraptor"; and "Parvicursor".
Micropachycephalosaurus
Micropachycephalosaurus, a tiny thick headed lizard, is a genus of ornithischian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous. It was a herbivore, and lived in what is now Shandong, China. It was one of the smallest dinosaur ever discovered, just over a meter long, but with the longest name. Before it was discovered "Compsognathus" was the smallest known dinosaur.
The lack of the skull roof means the fossil cannot be placed at family level. It might or might not be a pachycephalosaur. Butler and Zhao therefore classified it as an indeterminate member of the Cerapoda. In 2011, cladistic analysis showed that "Micropachycephalosaurus" is a basal member of the Ceratopsia. In this context, basal does not mean 'ancestral'; the fossil is far too late for that. It means simply 'unspecialized', or lacking derived traits.
Velociraptor was a small theropod dromaeosaur of the Upper Cretaceous, about 75–71 million years ago, and also a smaller relative of the famous "Deinonychus".
It was a slender, lightly built carnivore. It was about two meters long (nearly seven feet) and 0.62 meters tall at the hip.
"Velociraptor" had one sickle-shaped claw on its foot which measured 6.5 centimeters along its length, and a smaller one on each hand. "Velociraptor" was warm blooded and had feathers.
Fossils from China suggest that the whole clade had similar traits.
Fossils of "Velociraptor" were first found in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in 1922. In 1988, scientists from China found "Velociraptor" skeletons in northern China.
A famous "Velociraptor", discovered in 1971, was found attacking a "Protoceratops" in a fossil from Mongolia.
In September 2007 researchers found quill knobs on the forearm of a "Velociraptor" found in Mongolia. These bumps on bird wing bones show where feathers anchor, and their presence on "Velociraptor" indicate it too had feathers.
Turner and colleagues interpreted the presence of feathers on "Velociraptor" as evidence that the ancestors of dromaeosaurids could fly, making "Velociraptor" and "Deinonychus" secondarily flightless. This idea has since been discarded; the unmodified forearms count against it. Therefore, the feathers in the ancestors of "Velociraptor" had another function. The feathers of the flightless "Velociraptor" may have been used for display, for covering their nests while brooding.
The majority view is that dinosaur feathers were primarily adaptations for temperature regulation, and that other uses came later.
Specimens from two species have been found:
In both cases the ecology of the time was dry, with sand dunes with occasional streams.
Films such as "Jurassic Park" and some of "The Land Before Time" films helped make "Velociraptor" popular. However, the raptors in Jurassic Park were far larger than the real thing. They were the size of "Deinonychus", a larger member of the same clade. The films also exaggerated its probable intelligence.
Rhea (moon)
Rhea (; ), does known as Tomatoosaurus, a portmanteau of "tomato" + "Tyrannosaurus", is Saturn's second largest moon. It is made of ice and rock.
Rhea may have a thin ring system with three narrow bands in a disk of solid particles. These would be the first rings seen around a moon. The discovery was announced in the journal "Science" on March 6, 2008.
Mimas (moon)
Mimas (from the Greek "Μίμᾱς") is one of Saturn's largest moons. It is also called Saturn I. Mimas is best known for its large crater, Herschel. In the centre of the crater is a very high mountain. Mimas was discovered by the English astronomer William Herschel on September 17, 1789. The moon is believed to have created the Cassini Division. This is a 4,800 km gap between Saturn's A and B rings.
Mimas was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. He discovered it on September 17. Herschel discovered it along with another Saturnian moon, Enceladus
Mimas was named after one of the Titans in mythology. Mimas was the giant.
Mimas is full with craters like our Moon. But unlike the craters on the Moon, Mimas has icy craters like going through an icy object.
Mimas has craters, but the most famous is the Herschel crater. It is 130 km (80 mi) in diameter. The diameter of Herschel is about 1/3 of Mimas. If a comet or asteroid that hit Mimas were to hit Earth, the crater would be seen from space with all the Earth shown in view.
Mimas would evaporate away if it was too close to the Sun.
Mimas has been visited by 4 or 5 spacecrafts.
An aphrodisiac is a type of food or drink that gives one a higher libido. The name comes from the Greek goddess Aphrodite. A food or drink that makes a person less aroused is called an anaphrodisiac.
Some things thought by some to be aphrodisiacs are ginko, ashwaganda, oysters and chocolate.
Víðarr (Old Norse: "the wide ruling one") is the god of vengeance in Norse mythology. A member of the Æsir, he is the son of Odin and the giantess Gríðr. During Ragnarök, when the monstrous wolf Fenrir swallows Odin whole, Víðarr is told to avenge his father's death, as he takes Fenrir by the jaw and tears his head apart, killing Fenrir. He will ultimately survive Ragnarök, as he will then meet with his brother Váli in Iðavöllr, where Asgard once lay; there they are joined by their brothers, Höðr and Baldr, as well as Thor's sons, Magni and Móði.
Anchisaurus
Segisaurus
Segisaurus was a small dinosaur from the Triassic. It was a relative of "Coelophysis".
Psittacosaurus
Psittacosaurus was a small ceratopsian dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of what is now Asia, about 130 to 100 million years ago. It was more basal than other members of the Ceratopsia: it was bipedal, and had no horns or frill on its head. What made it a ceratopsian was its beak.
It is notable for being the most species-rich dinosaur genus, but there is no general agreement on these species. Nine to eleven species are named for fossils found in different regions of China, Mongolia and Russia, with a possible additional species from Thailand.
All species of "Psittacosaurus" were gazelle-sized bipedal herbivores with a high, powerful beak on the upper jaw. At least one species had long, quill-like structures on its tail and lower back, possibly with a display function. Psittacosaurs were early ceratopsians. They developed adaptations of their own, but they also shared features with later ceratopsians, such as "Protoceratops" and the elephant-sized "Triceratops".
Zuniceratops
Zuniceratops was a ceratopsian dinosaur. It grew up to 13 feet (or 4 meter long. His dinosaur family came from Asia.
His scientific name is "Zuniceratops christopheril", had 2 tons.
Quilmesaurus
Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia
Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov (12 August 1904 – 17 July 1918) was the heir apparent of Russia during the Russian Revolution. He would have become Tsar Alexei II. He was the youngest of five children and the only son of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Alexandra Fyodorovna. His sisters were Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia.
He had the disease hemophilia. He inherited the disease from his mother. The disease can be traced back to his great grandmother Queen Victoria. His father gave up the throne in 1917 and his family was exiled and then murdered in Ekaterinburg in 1918. When Alexei was struggling with hemophilia a Russian Orthodox monk named Grigori Rasputin, commonly known as Rasputin, healed Alexei better than any doctor could. This might have led to the family's murder, because they were so fond of Rasputin. Once Rasputin was murdered, Alexei and his family were murdered only two years later.
In 2000, Alexei and his family were made saints by the Russian Orthodox Church.
In 2008 his body was one of those found near the site where the family was murdered. DNA tests proved all 5 of the Tsar's children had been killed.
Zalmoxes
Zalmoxes is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous of Romania. It was a relative of Iguanodon and, like all its order, it was a herbivore.
Most of the skeleton is known with exception of the end of the tail, the hands and the feet.
Oviraptor
Oviraptor is a genus of dinosaurs from what is today Mongolia. "Oviraptor" was a relatively large-brained dinosaur which cared for its eggs. In 1924, an "Oviraptor" fossil was found on top of some eggs, and some thought that it had been eating the eggs. Others thought that the fossilized "Oviraptor" was probably a parent of the eggs in the nest, and not an egg stealer.
"Oviraptor" lived in the Upper Cretaceous period, about 75 million years ago. Only one definite specimen is known (with associated eggs), from Mongolia, though a possible second specimen (also with eggs) comes from the northeast region of Inner Mongolia, China.
"Oviraptor" is usually drawn with a distinctive crest, similar to that of the cassowary. However, re-examination of several oviraptorids show that this well-known, tall-crested species may actually belong to a relative of "Oviraptor", the genus "Citipati". It is likely that "Oviraptor" did have a crest, but its exact size and shape are unknown due to crushing in the skull of the only recognized specimen.
Judging by its relatives, "Oviraptor" probably had feathers. It had a toothless beak, but its feeding habits are unknown. The only "Oviraptor" fossil preserved the remains of a lizard in the region of its stomach cavity, implying that the species was at least partially carnivorous.
In 1976, Barsbold put six more brooding (nest sitting) specimens into the genus "Oviraptor", but these were later reclassified in the new genus "Conchoraptor". Another specimen, IGN 100/42, is perhaps the most famous, owing to its well-preserved complete skull and large size. This specimen was referred to the genus "Oviraptor" by Barsbold in 1981, and was presented as "Oviraptor" in popular magazines and scientific studies. However, this specimen, with its distinctive tall, cassowary-like crest, was re-examined by the scientists who described the nesting oviraptorids, and found to resemble them more closely than the original specimens of "Oviraptor". For this reason, they removed IGN 100/42 from the genus "Oviraptor", suggesting it was a species of "Citipati".
Oysters are a family of bivalves with rough, thick shells, the Ostreidae. Some other types of shellfish are also called 'oyster'. Many species are edible, and are usually served raw. They are also good when cooked.
In the past, they were an important food source, especially in France and Britain. They used to grow in huge oyster beds, but were "overfished" in the 19th century. Nowadays they are more expensive, so eaten less often.
Oysters are usually harvested before they are fully grown. Left to themselves, they do grow quite large. A recent example was an oyster which was 11 inches long (29cm) and 3.7 lbs in weight (1.7kg). The BBC report says "The family (firm) estimated it could be between '15 and 20 years old' due to its size. The world's largest oyster was 13.97 inches long (35.5cm) and 4.21 inches (10.7cm) in width. It was found in Denmark in December 2013, Guinness World Records said".
Oysters are picked up from their muddy beds by dredging. The oysters are "shucked" from their shells before sale. Shucking is done with a short knife inserted between the upper and lower shell. The adductor muscle, which holds it closed, is cut away, and that releases the oyster. The oyster is sold loose but within its shell. Shucking method:
The seawater the oysters were in does not stay in the oyster. Oysters (and shellfish generally) are purified while still alive before sale. That starts after they are harvested. The oysters are put into tanks pumped with clean water for 48 to 72 hours. That protects the consumer from any foul bacteria that the oyster might have picked up from the sea or river water.
Some of the unrelated 'oysters' are the pearl oyster, "Pinctada", which is a clam, and a few mussels which look a bit like oysters when they are taken out of their shells.
Tumour
A tumour (or tumor) is tissue that is growing where it should not be. Another name for a tumor is neoplasm. Tumours are either malignant (harmful) or benign (safe). Cancer, for example is malignant and sometimes spreads to other places on the body. Some tumours have a cause that makes them grow. For some tumours no cause is known. A tumour usually forms as a lump or mass.
The Tasmanian Devils in Tasmania, Australia are in danger of becoming extinct because of a malignant tumour that grows on their face.
Australian dollar
The Australian dollar (AUD) is the official currency of the Commonwealth of Australia. It has been in use since February 14, 1966. The Australian dollar is also used on Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island, and the independent Pacific Islands of Kiribati, Nauru and Tuvalu. In Australia the dollar symbol $ is usually used. The signs A$ or AU$ are often used to show that it is the Australian dollar. It is subdivided into 100 cents.
In 2011 the Australian dollar was the fifth-most-traded currency in world. The most traded currencies were the US dollar, the Euro, the yen, and the pound sterling.
The Australian dollar is liked by people who trade in currencies. This is because Australia has high interest rates and little government control on currency trading. Australia's economy and political systems are also seen to be stable.
The dollar was introduced on 14 February 1966, replacing the Australian pound.
From 1966, coins were made in amounts of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents. One-dollar coins were made from 1984. Two-dollar coins were made from 1988. The one- and two-cent coins were not made after 1991 and are no longer used. Cash sales are made to the nearest five cents. All coins have the image of the head of state, Queen Elizabeth II on the back. They are made by the Royal Australian Mint in Canberra.
Australia has often made special 50-cent coins. The first was in 1970, to honor Captain Cook's finding the east coast of Australia. In 1977 a coin was made for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. In 1981 a coin was made for the wedding of Charles and Diana. The Brisbane Commonwealth Games had a special coin in 1982. Another one was made for the Australian Bicentenary in 1988. There have been many more special coins made since the 1990s. They are popular with people who collect coins. Australia has also made special 20-cent and one-dollar coins.
Australia has made special five-dollar coins, of aluminium/bronze and bi-metal, and many silver and gold bullion coins in bigger values. These are not normally used, although they are legal tender.
Current Australian 5-, 10- and 20-cent coins are the same size as the old Australian, New Zealand and British sixpenny, shilling and two shilling (florin) coins. In 1990. the UK replaced these coins with smaller versions, as did New Zealand in 2006 - at the same time discontinuing the five-cent coin. The Australian 50-cent coin is a large coin. It weighs 15.55 grams and is 31.51 mm across.