AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
"T2" was a good movie as audience and critics say. It had an impact on people, and is known by many to have had power in the genres of action and science fiction. The movie's visual effects include many discoveries in computer made special effects, marking the first use of natural human movement for a CG character and the first computer made main character.
In 1995, eleven years after Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) killed the original Terminator that was sent to kill her with the help of kyle reese, two men arrive in Los Angeles from the year 2029. The first is a Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) identical to the one that Sarah first met, while the second is an unknown man (Robert Patrick).
John Connor (Edward Furlong) is now living with foster parents. He has grown up being told by his mother that he would someday lead the human race to beat the machines. Sarah has changed a lot because since the first movie - being stronger in mind and body - making people think she is crazy, and so she is sent to a mental hospital - Pescadero State Hospital.
Meanwhile, the Terminator and the unknown man both find John Connor in a shopping mall. Then, there is a twist: the unknown man is not the one who is ment to stop John getting killed, as the people watching thought so based on the first movie. The killing machine from the first movie is now the one ment to stop John getting killed, and the other man is another Terminator trying to kill John. When the good Terminator rescues John, he tells him what is happening. He is a Model 101, made by the future John Connor to act as the one to keep him from harm. The other Terminator is a T-1000, sent to kill him. It is made of mimetic polyalloy, or liquid metal, making it able to morph anyone or anything of equal size, except "complex machines" like "guns and explosives" because they "have chemicals, moving parts." It can however form "knives and stabbing weapons."
When John learns that the T-1000 will copy Sarah and then kill her, he and the Terminator go to rescue her. Sarah is very afraid by it, but after seeing it fight off the T-1000, she accepts that they need its help. As they escape the city, the Terminator tells her about the future of Skynet, the supercomputer that will get rid of humans. He tells her about its maker, Miles Bennet Dyson (Joe Morton), who makes a learning computer that suddenly becomes self-aware on August 4, 1997. It begins learning very quickly, and on August 29, 1997, it launches nuclear missiles that kills most humans.
Sarah, John, and the Terminator arrive in the desert at her friend Enrique Salceda’s camp, who has kept an underground weapons stash in the event that the war does happen. Sarah plans to take John and flee over the line that is between the US and Mexico. While at the camp, she finds out that by killing Dyson, she can stop Skynet from being made, stopping the war with the machines. After she leaves, John and the Terminator figure out what she is going to do and take off after her. At Dyson's home, Sarah tries to shoot him with sniper rifle, but when she misses, she finds that she can not kill him up close in front of his family. When John and the Terminator arrive, they tell Dyson of the bad things that will happen of his research. They make sure he knows why they must break all the things to do with his chip idea, including the CPU and arm from the first Terminator.
Sarah, John, the Terminator, and Dyson break into the Cyberdyne building and find the parts from the first Terminator. While make bombs to blow up the rest, security tells the police who show up in force. When the SWAT team enters the building, they shoot Dyson quite a few times which really hurts him, he stays behind to press the button to blow the place up.
They leave in a SWAT van, with the T-1000 chasing them, first in a helicopter, then a liquid nitrogen truck. The truck crashes into a steel mill, this makes the tank to open and liquid nitrogen to spill all over the place, freezing the T-1000. Even though the Terminator breaks him into many small pieces by shooting him, they thaw and come back together. The T-1000 and Model 101 begin to fight hand to hand, with the T-1000 stabbing him through the power cell with a metal pole, switching him off. The T-1000 then goes to hunt John, he turns himself into a Sarah copy. As John finds the two Sarah's, the Terminator, who had turned itself back on using a different power source, shoots the T-1000 with a grenade launcher, throwing it back into a pit of molten metal, melting it.
After John throws the parts from the first Terminator into the molten metal, the Terminator tells him that he too must die to stop his technology from being used to create Skynet. He tells Sarah that he cannot kill himself, and she must lower him into the steel. As he goes down, he reaches up with a thumbs up, the last thing to go under. The movie ends with a dark highway at night, and Sarah's repetition of the phrase that Reese told her in the first movie. "The future is not set."
Christy Turlington
Christy Nicole Turlington (born January 2, 1969) is an American supermodel. She grew up in Danville, California. Her father was British commercial pilot. Her mother was a Salvadoran flight attendant.
Turlington is best known for representing Calvin Klein perfumes. She has done this since 1987. She has also worked on various campaigns for Maybelline and Giorgio Armani. She has appeared in several movies about the fashion industry.
Premier is sometimes used instead of Prime Minister. But it is also the title of the leader of the government in some territories.
When a colony is first allowed to elect its own government the head of the government is called the "Chief Minister". As the colony gets more able to rule itself it is given more powers and the title of the Chief Minister is changed to "Premier". When the colony becomes independent the Premier becomes a Prime Minister, and British government ministers lose any authority to rule the new country.
The leader of the federal governments in Australia and Canada is called the prime minister, but the leader of the governments in Australian States and Canadian Provinces is called the Premier. This is because the states and provinces are not independent.
Hispanidad
Hispanidad (literally Hispanicness) is the community formed by all the people and nations that share Spanish language and culture. The 23 nations included are all Spanish-speaking except the Philippines, and can be classified in four geographic areas: Spain, Hispanoamerica, Hispanoafrica and the Hispanopacific. Every October 12 Hispanic Day is celebrated. Hispanidad or Spanish linguistic and cultural diffusion began when the 12 October 1492 Christopher Columbus sighted America and initiated the European colonization in the name of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. The kingdom of Castile (Castilla) built a global empire, spreading their culture and language in the Americas and biologically and culturally mixing with the indigenous peoples, altering the composition of the hemisphere. The penetration and reach of Spain at this time also extended into other European nations.
The Spanish is the mother tongue that spoken by more than 333 million people (in second place after Chinese). The total number of Spanish-speakers is more than 395 million people.
In Europe, Hispanics are mainly confined to Spain. There are more than 30 million of them.
Most Hispanics are in Hispanic America . There are more than 300 million. Countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela .
Hispanics in the African continent are mostly in overseas territories of Spain (Canary Islands, Ceuta, Melilla and Plazas de Soberanía) and in the nation of Equatorial Guinea. In Morocco and Western Sahara some people maintain Hispanic characteristics. Altogether in Africa two million speak Spanish.
The Philippines is the only Asian country that conserves some identifiably Hispanic influences in its culture and Spanish loanwords in the native languages.
Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region that maintain a similar degree of Hispanic influence as the Philippines are:
Aviation refers to flying using an aircraft, like an aeroplane. It also includes the activities and industries related to flight, such as air traffic control. The biggest of the many uses of aviation are in air travel and military aircraft.
Humans first built devices to fly in the air a long time ago. In the sixth century, Yuan Huangtou from China created a kite. Some primitive types of parachutes and gliders were also created in North Africa.
The modern age of aviation started on November 21, 1783, when the Montgolfier brothers flew in their hot air balloon. Airships followed. On December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers flew the first flight in an aeroplane which was heavier than air; their invention is known as the first aeroplane.
Cyberpunk is a kind of Science Fiction. The Cyberpunk genre began in the early 1980s. Bruce Bethke made this word for his 1980 short story "Cyberpunk" by putting together two words: "cybernetics" and "punk rock".
Soon, people used this word to describe William Gibson's book, "Neuromancer".
Cyberpunk authors put their stories in different settings. The time is usually set in the near-future and the settings are often dystopian (characterized by misery). These are often societies with very advanced technology. Often, only a few huge corporations control the society. These corporations control the technology. Instead of being beneficial to all, technology is used by the few corporations for their own interests only. Many cyberpunk novels are about individual computer users. One hero fights a computer/Internet controlled society. These stories are often in the near future.
Common themes in cyberpunk include advances in information technology and especially the Internet, artificial intelligence and prosthetics and post-democratic societal control where corporations have more influence than governments. Nihilism, post-modernism, and film noir techniques are common elements, and the protagonists may be disaffected or reluctant anti-heroes.
Igbo language
Wind shear
Wind shear is a difference in either wind speed or direction over a fairly short distance in the atmosphere. Wind shear can be divided into two different types: "horizontal" and "vertical wind shear".
Weather situations when the Wind shear is observed happen:
Polar cyclone
Polar cyclones (also known as Arctic Cyclones) are large areas of low pressure. They should not be confused with polar lows since people happen to use the same term for polar cyclones. Polar cyclones are usually 1,000 to 2,000 kilometers wide in which the air is moving in a spiral counterclockwise fashion in the northern hemisphere. The reason for the rotation is the same as tropical cyclones, the Coriolis effect. They also exist in places such as Greenland, the Eurasian Arctic area, and northern Canada, with about 15 cyclones per winter. Polar cyclones can form in any time of the year, although summer polar cyclones are usually weaker than the ones that form in the winter. Also, they are not closely studied and are rarely destructive since they happen in areas with little or no population.
One center is near Baffin Island and the other over northeast Siberia. In the southern hemisphere, it is usually near the edge of the Ross ice shelf near 160 west longitude.
The Antarctic vortex of the Southern Hemisphere is a single low-pressure zone that is found near the edge of the Ross ice shelf, near 160 west longitude. When the polar vortex is strong, the mid-latitude Westerlies (winds at the surface level between 30° and 60° latitude from the west) increase in strength and are persistent. When the polar vortex is weak, high-pressure zones of the mid-latitudes may push poleward, moving the polar vortex, jet stream, and polar front equatorward. The jet stream is seen to "buckle" and deviate south. This rapidly brings cold dry air into contact with the warm, moist air of the mid-latitudes, resulting in a rapid and dramatic change of weather known as a "cold snap".
Ozone depletion occurs within the polar vortices – particularly over the Southern Hemisphere – reaching a maximum depletion in the spring.
The polar vortex was first described as early as 1853. The phenomenon's sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) develops during the winter in the Northern Hemisphere and was discovered in 1952 with radiosonde observations at altitudes higher than 20 km.
The phenomenon was mentioned frequently in the news and weather media in the cold North American winter of 2013–2014, popularizing the term as an explanation of very cold temperatures.
A deep freeze that gripped much of the United States and Canada in late January 2019 has been blamed on a polar vortex. The US National Weather Service warned that frostbite is possible within just 10 minutes of being outside in such extreme temperatures, and hundreds of schools, colleges and universities in the affected areas were closed. Around 21 people died in US due to severe frostbite. States within the midwest region of the United States had windchills just above -50°F (-45°C), which is colder than the frozen tundra and Antarctica.
The Polar vortex has also thought to have had effects in Europe. For example, the 2013–14 United Kingdom winter floods were blamed on the Polar vortex bringing severe cold in the United States and Canada. Similarly, the severe, brutal cold in the United Kingdom in the winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11 were also blamed on the Polar vortex.
Polar cyclones are low-pressure zones embedded within the polar air masses, and exist year-round. The stratospheric polar vortex develops at latitudes above the subtropical jet stream. Horizontally, most polar vortices have a radius of less than . Since polar vortices exist from the stratosphere downward into the mid-troposphere, a variety of heights/pressure levels are used to mark its position. The 50 mb pressure surface is most often used to identify its stratospheric location. At the level of the tropopause, the extent of closed contours of potential temperature can be used to determine its strength. Others have used levels down to the 500 hPa pressure level (about above sea level during the winter) to identify the polar vortex.
Polar vortices are weakest during summer and strongest during winter. Extratropical cyclones that migrate into higher latitudes when the polar vortex is weak can disrupt the single vortex creating smaller vortices (cold-core lows) within the polar air mass. Those individual vortices can persist for more than a month.
Volcanic eruptions in the tropics can lead to a stronger polar vortex during winter for as long as two years afterwards. The strength and position of the polar vortex shapes the flow pattern in a broad area about it. An index which is used in the northern hemisphere to gauge its magnitude is the Arctic oscillation.
The term 'geisha' is made of two Japanese words, () meaning 'art' and () meaning 'person who does' or 'to be employed in'. The most literal translation of geisha to English is 'artist'. Geisha are respected as artists and performers: it is difficult to become one.
Kyoto is the city with the most strict geisha traditions. Geisha have worked there for the longest time. Becoming a professional geisha can take up to five years of training in Kyoto.
Apprentice geisha are called . This name is made of the Japanese words () meaning 'dancing' and () meaning 'child'. wear white make-up called and long-sleeved kimono of many bright colours. in some places wear a belt, called an , that is up to long. Many wear fancy hairstyles made with their own hair, though in some places wear wigs. Full geisha wear simpler kimono, and only use white make-up at special times. Geisha also wear wigs, and their kimono belt is much shorter.
There are also geisha in other cities, though there are differences. In Tokyo, becoming a full geisha takes from six months to a year. Geisha apprentices in Tokyo are called , which means 'half jewel' or 'half pay'. Apprentice geisha in Tokyo are also called , which means 'one who serves (alcohol)'. Geisha in Tokyo are normally older than geisha in Kyoto.
Many geisha still live in traditional geisha houses called in neighborhoods called which means 'flower town'. Older geisha who are successful may have their own home. A geisha always needs to be registered to a geisha house in order to work.
The world that geisha are a part of is called , which means 'the flower and willow world'. One very famous geisha, , said this is because "[a] geisha like a flower, beautiful in her own way, and like a willow tree, gracious, flexible, and strong".
Geisha are considered to be cultural icons of Japan.
Before the geisha appeared there were some women who worked as artists and entertainers. In the Heian Period (794-1185), some women entertained people at the Imperial Court through singing and dancing, and these women were known as .
Later on, women who worked as prostitutes and courtesans entertained men in the red-light districts of Japan. In 1589, authorized the building of a neighborhood in Kyoto, closed from the outside with walls. It was called , and it was dedicated to pleasure. was established as a red-light district officially in 1640, and became one of three areas in Japan where people could legally practice prostitution; the other two areas were in Tokyo, which had been established in 1617, and in Osaka.
These areas were known as , and they were the only places where women were allowed to be prostitutes. Courtesans were collectively called , and they were very expensive. entertained men with singing, dancing, poetry, music and conversation as well. The highest ranking were called , and these women did not engage in prostitution like other . Instead, they would have one or two rich clients act as their patron, and these men would pay a lot of money to be entertained by the they were a patron of.
Geisha only appeared much later, in the Tokugawa period. Originally, geisha were men, who travelled throughout the red-light districts, entertaining clients with music, dancing and poetry. These men were known as geisha, but were also called , and because they played the , a Japanese drum.
Male geisha were very low-class entertainers, but were thought to be upper class. Every man who wished to be with an had to follow difficult rituals and etiquette, as well as having enough money to pay for her time. Because of this, only the richest nobility got to be entertained by . Because of this, many tea houses () appeared outside , offering entertainment that was not offered inside . At some of the tea houses, some women practiced cheaper prostitution; these women were called . However other women, who were called ('dancing girls'), acted as dancers and musicians. These women soon became very popular. They started calling themselves 'geisha', like the male artists who worked in .
By about the year 1700, female geisha had become much more popular than male geisha. A few years later, almost all geisha were women.
The government made laws that prohibited geisha from working as prostitutes, and only gave them permission to act as entertainers. One of these laws said that they had to tie their (sash) in the back, as wore theirs at the front as a sign that they were available for sex. Geisha had to wear simpler hairstyles, less hair accessories, less make-up and simpler kimono. If an accused a geisha of stealing her customers, the geisha would be investigated.
Soon, the geisha became so much more popular than the , that in 1761, the last of retired. Though continued to work in Kyoto and Osaka, as a whole were seen as outdated, too traditional and too expensive. could not leave the red-light districts because they had a lot of debt to the owner of the brothel they worked in, and were not thought of as celebrities or fashionable any more. Most people could not afford to hire them. In contrast, geisha were cheaper, more fashionable, and could leave the red-light districts whenever they wanted. They sang popular songs and did not need several expensive meetings before they would entertain a client. New geisha neighborhoods () were created in Kyoto and other cities.
In the 19th century, geisha were in better position than common women, but they also had problems in Japanese society. Sometimes, poor people sold their daughters to a geisha house, though this was not as common as some people think, with many geisha coming from families where their mother or another female relative had once been a geisha. Geisha could not marry, but they could have a patron to pay for their expenses, and some retired when they gained a rich patron. Other men paid a lot of money to take the new girls' virginity (), and if the owner of a geisha house was dishonest and greedy, a young geisha could have her virginity sold a number of times to different men.
However, the reputation and respect for the geisha grew in the Meiji Restoration, and even more after World War II. Important laws that protected them were created. Young girls could not be sold to the geisha houses anymore, and the virginity of young geisha could not be bought. Since then, women only become geisha by their free will.
Though people often talk about how there are not many geisha left in Japan, and that geisha might be about to die out, the geisha profession is very resilient. In history, sometimes the numbers of geisha fell, because of changes in the economy or because of war. However, the number of working geisha usually rose again not long after.
In the 1920s there were over 80,000 geisha in Japan. In 1944, all geisha districts were shut because of World War Two, and geisha, like everyone else, had to help out with the war; in Tokyo alone, close to 9,000 geisha were still entertaining guests before they were told they could not work as geisha anymore. After the war, geisha districts opened up again on 25 October 1945. By 1967, there were nearly 5,000 geisha in Tokyo again.
Today, there are far fewer geisha. The exact number of geisha working today is not known, but it is estimated to be around 1,000 to 2,000.
Geisha today live and work throughout Japan, in different geisha districts () that have their own traditions of arts, training and clothing. The most well known geisha live in Kyoto, where there are five geisha districts, and the most famous geisha district in Kyoto is , which is sometimes just called . There are also lots of geisha in Tokyo, and in towns with hot springs in them, like the town of . In some places in Japan, people have decided to bring back the geisha districts that had no geisha in them for decades.
Many geisha houses and districts now use social media to advertise their work, and geisha do not need to be born into a geisha district to work there. Some geisha districts put on events to attract tourists; in Kyoto, places like Corner put on dances performed by that anyone can go and watch.
People can also pay to dress up like geisha or for the day. Being dressed up as a geisha or is known as . Some dress-up services, like those in Kyoto, allow you to walk around the city for the day in dress-up. However, they will not dress someone completely accurately, so that real geisha and cannot be confused with people in costumes. If someone wearing wants to be dressed the exact same as a geisha or , they cannot walk around outside. Most, if not all, services will take photographs of someone in dress-up for them to keep. Real geisha do not have the time to take pictures with tourists, so most women dressed as geisha or who appear on the photos of tourists are in fact people in .
Young women who wish to become geisha now usually begin their training after finishing junior high school, or even high school or college. Many women begin their careers as adults. Geisha still study traditional musical instruments like the , the (bamboo flute), and drums, as well as traditional songs, Japanese traditional dance, tea ceremony, literature and poetry. By watching other geisha, apprentices also become skilled in the difficult traditions of dressing, make-up, and in dealing with clients.
Geisha are often hired to go to parties and gatherings, at tea houses or at traditional Japanese restaurants (). Their time is measured by the time it takes an incense stick to burn, and is called ('incense stick fee') or ('jewel fee'). In Kyoto the terms and , meaning 'flower fees', are used instead. The clients hire the service of geisha through the geisha district's union or registery office, known as the , which takes care of the geisha's schedule, and will make appointments for her to entertain customers and train in the traditional arts.
Traditionally, geisha began their training at a very young age. Although some girls were sold to become geisha as children, this was not normal practice in hanamachi with good reputation. Daughters of geisha were often educated as geisha themselves.
The first part of training is called ""shikomi"". In the past, when girls first arrived at the okiya, they were put to work as maids, or do everything they were told. The work was difficult, to "make" and "break" the new girls. The most junior shikomi of the house had to wait late into the night for the senior geisha to return from work, sometimes as late as two or three in the morning. During this stage of training, the shikomi went to classes at the hanamachi's geisha school. In modern times, this stage still exists, but it is not as hard as it was in the past. Now, shikomi become used to the traditions and dress of the ""karyūkai"" (""flower and willow world"").
When the apprentice became skilled in the geisha arts, and passed a final and difficult dance test, she was promoted to the second stage of training: ""minarai"". Minarai did not do the housework anymore. This stage also exists today, but is much shorter than in the past (only a month). The minarai learn in the field. They go to banquets and dance with the geisha, but they do not participate: they just sit, watch and learn from their "onee-san" ("older sisters"). Their kimono are more elaborate than even a maiko's, to do the talking for them.
After a short time, the third (and most famous) stage of training begins, called ""maiko"". Maiko are apprentice geisha, and this stage can last for years. Maiko learn from their senior geisha and follow them around to every presentation she does. The ""onee-san/imoto-san"" (""older sister/younger sister"") relationship is very important. The onee-san teaches her maiko everything about working in the hanamachi. She will teach her the right ways of serving tea, playing the shamisen, and dancing, and everything about the art of "Iki" (see below). Maiko have to wear heavy white make-up, elaborate hairstyle, and have her lips painted almost all the time. Their kimono and obi have more vibrant colors and richer embroidery than those of full geisha. Like the minarai, maiko do not charge as much money to go to parties or gatherings as a full geisha.
After a period of only six months (in Tokyo) or five years (in Kyoto), the maiko is promoted to a full geisha and charges full price for her time. Geisha use kimono of fewer colors and only use make-up for work or dance, because she is more mature than a maiko, and the simpler style shows her own natural beauty. Geisha remain as such until they retire.
Geisha must be very skilled at traditional Japanese music, dance, and poetry, because they use all these arts when they work. The art of make-up, hairstyles, and clothing are very important too.
The most important principle of a geisha is called iki. Iki started in the 18th century as a reply to the extravagant ways of the courtesans ("oiran") and those who liked their style. Oiran wore very elaborate clothes, make-up, and jewelry. Geisha preferred to be discreet, and more intelligent. They created iki as a style that gave more importance to conversation and wit. Instead of working with sex, like oiran did and simple prostitutes do today, geisha try to be sexy. A geisha will flirt, tease, and joke with men, but always with art and elegance. Japanese clients know that nothing more can be expected. Men enjoy the illusion of that which is never to be. Geisha do not have sex with clients for money.
Geisha give more importance to their reputation than prostitutes do, and they almost never enter a relationship with a client. Those that do generally act with care usually get married. Normally, when a geisha marries, she retires from the profession. The most important quality of a geisha is her trustworthiness, especially to Japanese clients. Anything that her clients do, or tell her, must remain a secret. Anything said or done at a tea house will remain anonymous.
Becoming a geisha needs much discipline. A geisha believes she must be a work of art in herself. They work every day to improve, in everything they do. A geisha's movements, her way of walking, sitting and talking are very important. Geisha are geisha all the time, even when they are at home or not working. An example of this dedication is the old custom of "kangeiko" (""lessons in the cold""). Until the early 1920s, apprentice geisha used to put their hands in icy water, and then go outside in cold weather to practice playing the shamisen until their fingers bled.
Humanity could mean:
Thomas Midgley
Thomas Midgley (18 May 1889 – 2 November 1944), was an American inventor. His two most famous inventions are both now banned because they are dangerous for the world environment: the use of lead in petrol (gasoline) and the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in refrigerators. Midgley was accidentally killed by something he was inventing.
Midgley was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. His father was also an inventor. He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Cornell University in 1911 with a degree in mechanical engineering. His name was Thomas Midgley Jr because his father's name was also Thomas Midgley.
Midgley began working at General Motors in 1916. In December 1921 Midgley discovered that the addition of Tetraethyllead to gasoline prevented "knocking" in internal combustion engines.
In the 1930s Midgley developed a non-poisonous substance called CFC (chlorinated fluorocarbon) for use in refrigerators, inhalers and aerosol spray cans. He was given many high awards for his work and in 1944 he became president and chairman of the American Chemical Society.
In 1940, at the age of 51, Midgley became ill with polio which left him disabled. It was to the point where it was hard to do every day tasks; like getting out of bed. He decided to invent a complicated system of strings and pulleys to lift him from his bed. However, this plan backfired, and he got caught up in the ropes and died of strangulation.
Midgley died before the days when people realized that CFCs were destroying the ozone layer which prevents harmful rays from the sun reaching the earth. They are now banned in refrigerators, but are still used in some countries.
In the United States it was not until 1973 that people started to produce gasoline without lead and, in 1996, the Clean Air Act banned the sale of leaded fuel for use in on-road vehicles. However it was still legal in the U.S. for aircraft, racing cars, farm equipment, and marine engines until 2008. Leaded gasoline is still common in South America, Africa, and some parts of Asia and the Middle East.
Hovhannes Shiraz
Hovhannes Shiraz (Armenian: Հովհաննես Շիրազ) (April 27, 1915 - April 14, 1984) was a notable Armenian poet.
He was born Hovhannes (Onig) Garabedyan in the city of Alexandropol, then part of the Russian Empire (now Gyumri, Armenia). His first work called Beginning of Spring was published in 1935. Novelist Atrpet gave the talented poet the epithet "Shiraz", because "this youth's poems have the fragrance of roses, fresh and covered with dew, like the roses of Shiraz." Shiraz being one of Iran's major cities, famous for its roses and poets. Most of Shiraz's publications were poetry.
He married famous Armenian poetess Silva Kaputikyan. His son with Kaputikyan, Ara Shiraz, is a sculptor. A street in Julfa of Isfahan is named after him. In 2005 Levon Mkrtchyan released a documentary film titled "Hovhannes Shiraz". Hayk Studio 43min.
http://armshop.in.ua/product/hovhannes-shiraz/
Polar low
A polar low is a small sized and short-lived atmospheric low pressure system that is found over the ocean areas pole ward of the main polar front in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The systems usually have a horizontal length scale of less than 1,000 km and live for less than a couple of days. They are part of the larger class of mesoscale weather systems. Polar lows can be difficult to detect using standard weather reports and are a problem to high-latitude operations, such as shipping and gas and oil platforms.
Polar lows have been also known as by using many other terms, such as "comma cloud", "mesocyclone", "polar mesoscale vortex", "Arctic hurricane", "Arctic low", and "cold air depression". Today the term is usually set aside for the more-energetic systems that have near-surface winds of at least gale force (17 m/s).
Rasmussen,E.A. and Turner,J.(2003). Polar Lows: Mesoscale Weather Systems in the Polar Regions, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 612.
Pericles
Pericles or Perikles (ca. 495–429 BC, , meaning ""surrounded by glory"") was a prominent and influential statesman. He also was an orator, and general of Athens. He lived between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. He was descended, through his mother, from the Alcmaeonid family.
Pericles had great influence on Athenian society. Thucydides, a contemporary historian, described him as "the first citizen of Athens". Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. The period during which he led Athens, roughly from 461 to 429 BC, is sometimes known as the "Age of Pericles,". This period though can include times as early as the Persian Wars, or as late as the next century.
In Pericles late 20’s he sponsored a major dramatic production for the festival of Dionysus, and he also entertained the whole city. Pericles also got married and had 2 sons. His wife's name is unknown. He associated with a courtesan named Aspasia. A decade later the people started to like him more and more. He got involved with the politics called Ephialtes. Pericles and Ephialtes took away the noble's powers. Ephialtes was later assassinated.
Pericles promoted the arts and literature. This was a chief reason Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural centre of the ancient Greek world. He started an ambitious project that built most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the Parthenon). This project made the city more beautiful., It also showed its glory, and gave work to the people. Furthermore, Pericles fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist.
Wind speed is the speed of the weather related air movement from one place to the next.
Wind speeds usually mean the movement of air in an outside environment, but the speed of movement of air inside is also important in many cases, including weather forecasting, aircraft and maritime operations, construction and civil engineering. High wind speeds can cause unpleasant side effects, and strong winds often have special names, including gales, hurricanes, and typhoons. The highest wind speed ever measured on earth, 253 miles per hour, was recorded on Barrow Island, Australia.
The most simple method of measuring wind speed is to estimate the speed from the observed event against the Beaufort Scale. Obviously, this method is not the most accurate available, so each value on the scale represents a range of values, three on the scale, for example, covers the wind speeds between seven and ten knots.
Thebes, Greece
Thebes sided with Persians the Persian wars. It’s refrnced in multiple myths and in the setting off Antigone and OedipusMinoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a civilization on Crete called after Minos. It began in the Bronze Age between 3000 and 2700 BC. It lasted until about 1450 BC. The Minoan civilization is famous for its sea trading and well-planned cities. The Minoans had an agricultural system which relied mainly on olives and grapes. Their religion worshipped mostly goddesses. The Minoan civilization was later replaced by the Mycenaean culture.
Cretans built palaces during their architecture era. In a non-royal palace there were many small rooms with cooler places to sit, because Crete got very hot in the summer. Palaces were used for many things. They were used as government centers, storerooms, stores, and administrative offices. Most palaces were very big. The Cretans might have gotten the money to create these palaces from working for the Egyptians. The royal palace was very different. Everyone had toilets, baths, and running water. The ones for the king and queen were very fancy. Their palace was fancy also. The architecture era was ended by a great fire. This era went from 2000 B.C. to 1450 B.C.
An alliance is an agreement made between two or more parties to benefit them.
The word is used mainly in war. Two or more countries that make an alliance promise to help one other during war. Such countries are called "allies". Those countries are said to be "allied".
An example of an alliance with more than two countries is the Central Powers during World War I. That alliance was made up of Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria.
Persia (disambiguation)
Persia is another name for Iran, a country in Western Asia.
The Persian Empire ( - "") is the name for a few empires, that ruled over modern-day Iran.
Persia may also refer to:
Epic poetry tells a dramatic story in a poem. There are characters in the story. It is usually long, and takes place in different settings. Epic poems started in prehistoric times as part of oral tradition. The Kyrgyz Epic of Manas is one of the longest written epics in history.
"Beowulf" is a typical example, written in Old English. Well-known people who wrote epics were Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Dante, Edmund Spenser and Milton. William Wordsworth's Prelude plays with epic ideas though the poem is autobiography.
Epics have seven main characteristics:
Conventions of epics:
Omeros (1990), Derek Walcott
Empire of Dreams (1988), Giannina Braschi
Water lillies
Water lilies could mean:
Kousuke Atari
Kousuke Atari (, "Atari Kōsuke"; born July 13, 1980 in Amami island, Kagoshima) is a Japanese singer and Shimauta utasha.
The Apostles (Elgar)
The Apostles, op. 49, is an oratorio for soloists, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar. It was first performed on October 14, 1903.
Elgar had been thinking for many years about writing a musical work about Jesus's Twelve Apostles. He was already 42 when his orchestral work "Enigma Variations" was first performed in 1899. He was then asked by the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival to compose a big work for the following year. At first he thought of writing "The Apostles", but then he realized he would need more than a year to write it, so he composed an oratorio called "The Dream of Gerontius". When it was first performed it was not a success. This was because the orchestra and choir had only had two weeks to learn it and also because the conductor did not like Elgar's music anyway. Then it was performed in Düsseldorf in Germany and shortly afterwards in Westminster Cathedral, London. Both these performances were greeted with lots of applause. Elgar was given a doctorate (title of Dr) by the University of Cambridge and he was becoming famous. He started to work on "The Apostles", and it was performed in Birmingham in 1903.
Originally Elgar wanted to write three oratorios which would belong together. "The Apostles" is the first one, the second one became "The Kingdom" but the third one, which would have been about the Last Judgement, was never written.
The oratorio is about the disciples of Jesus and the way they react to the amazing things that Jesus does. There are six soloists: the narrator (who tells the story)- he has a tenor voice and also does the part of St John, St Peter (bass), Jesus (bass) and Judas (bass) and the two female singers: the soprano who is both the Blessed Virgin and the angel Gabriel, and the mezzo-soprano who is Mary Magdalene.
Sometimes "The Apostles" is criticized for not being a carefully thought out dramatic story. Elgar was more interested in what makes people behave in the way they do. He was particularly interested in the two sinners Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot.
The orchestra is very big. The music includes the call of the shofar. Often this is played on a brass instrument. There is a double choir and a small choir (semichorus).
The work is in two parts and seven sections, each played without a break. Elgar chose the words himself. He spent a lot of time looking at different translations of the Bible and combining sentences from several of the versions.
Unlike "The Dream of Gerontius" which people did not like the first time they heard it, "The Apostles" was an immediate success with audience and critics. People were getting used to the kind of big oratorio that Elgar was writing. However, today "The Dream of Gerontius" is the most popular of Elgar's oratorios. "The Apostles" is a strange mixture of words from different parts of the bible, but it has some very beautiful music. Elgar often wrote the music first and then added the words afterwards.
Elgar uses leitmotifs in this work: melodies that are associated with particular people or ideas. He got this idea from Wagner. Some of the leitmotifs heard in "The Apostles" can also be heard in "The Kingdom".
Knot (speed)
A knot is a unit of speed. It is abbreviated kt or kn. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with the SI. It is used around the world in meteorology and for maritime and aviation purposes.
1 international knot = 1 nautical mile per hour = 1.852 kilometres per hour exactly. This is based on the internationally agreed length of the nautical mile, as adopted by the US in 1954 (which previously used the US nautical mile of 1853.248 m), the UK in 1970 (which previously used the UK or Admiralty nautical mile of 1853.184 m) and other countries. This is the definition used in most, if not all, modern circumstances. Knot is sometimes used for the nautical mile itself, but this is incorrect.
The speed of a vessel relative to the fluid in which it travels is usually measured in knots. This may be referred to as 'boat speed', 'vessel speed' and, for aircraft, 'air speed'. The speeds of relevant fluids, such as tidal streams, river currents and wind speeds, are also usually specified in knots. Knots are then also used to describe the actual speed of a vessel over the ground (SOG) and for its rate of progress toward a distant point ('velocity made good' or VMG).
One (international) knot is the same as 1.852 kilometres per hour (km·h), and is approximately equal to the following:
Although knots do not fit within the primary SI system, they are used for nautical and aviation use for navigational reasons, because the length of a nautical mile is almost identical to a minute of latitude. As a result, distance in nautical miles on a navigational chart can easily be measured by using dividers and the latitude indicators on the side of the chart.
Knot (disambiguation)
Knot could mean:
Knot could also mean:
Knots could mean:
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British orchestra based in London. It travels around to give concerts in many places.
The RPO was started just after World War II, in 1946, by the conductor Sir Thomas Beecham. Beecham did not start to get his players together until three weeks before the first concert which took place in Croydon on September 15, 1946. Beecham was principal conductor until his death in 1961.
When the orchestra toured the United States in 1950 they were the first British orchestra to visit America since the London Symphony Orchestra in 1912.
Beecham controlled all the organization of the orchestra. After Beecham’s death, the orchestra was made into a self-governing group, like the other London orchestras. They went through some difficult years. In 1963 the Royal Philharmonic Society decided they would stop asking the RPO to play for their concerts, and in Glyndebourne, where the RPO had played for the opera since 1948, the London Philharmonic Orchestra became the resident orchestra instead. Sir Malcolm Sargent helped the orchestra to put on its own concerts at a cinema in north London.
The orchestra had made an agreement with the Royal Philharmonic Society about the concerts it would play. This meant it could call itself “Royal”. In the 1960s the work they were doing no longer allowed them to call themselves “Royal”, so in 1966 the Queen officially gave them the title “Royal”.
In 1992 the orchestra appointed Peter Maxwell Davies as associate conductor and composer of the RPO.
On April 7, 1994, the Royal Philharmonic had the honour of performing at the Vatican in the historic "Papal Concert to Commemorate the Holocaust" with Sir Gilbert Levine.
The RPO give a series of concerts in the Cadogan Hall, London, and in the Royal Albert Hall. They tour all over Britain and also abroad. In the period 2002-2007 they played in 30 different countries.
The orchestra made many recordings with Sir Thomas Beecham. In 1964 Igor Stravinsky recorded his opera "The Rake's Progress" with the RPO. From 1964 to 1979 they recorded many Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company.
The Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra is part of the same organization. They spend their time playing lighter classical music. The RPO have also worked with pop music groups and has given its own series of children’s concerts. In 2007 they announced a series of free educational workshops for the local community.
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH (8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor.
Boult was born in Chester. He went to school in Westminster School and studied at Christ Church, Oxford. He then went to the Leipzig Conservatory where he learnt to conduct by watching the great Hungarian conductor Arthur Nikisch. He sang in choral festivals and at the Leeds Festival of 1913, where he went to watch Nikisch conduct.
During World War I he worked for the War Office, and while he was there in 1918 he planned a series of concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, which included several important new British works including Gustav Holst's "The Planets", "A London Symphony" by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Elgar's "Symphony No. 2". When Boult was a boy he had already met Elgar. Elgar now wrote to him and said he felt sure the future of his music was safe in Boult's hands. Boult was at the start of a great career in which he conducted a lot of 20th century British music.
In 1924 Boult became conductor of the City of Birmingham Orchestra—now the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra — and in 1930 he was made Director of Music at the BBC. When the BBC formed the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Boult also became its chief conductor, combining both jobs.
Boult became famous for conducting a wide repertoire, including the very modern-sounding music of Arnold Schoenberg. In 1933 he married Ann Wilson, the ex-wife of the singer and administrator Steuart Wilson. The marriage lasted until Boult's death. Boult was knighted in 1937.
During World War II the BBC Symphony Orchestra was evacuated to Bristol. Even there it was not safe from the bombing and they moved again to Bedford.
After the war the BBC started the BBC Third Programme and Boult was involved in many new plans for concerts and recordings.
In 1948, Steuart Wilson became Director of Music at the BBC. Some people were saying that the music on the BBC was not so good and that Boult ought to retire when he became 60 in 1949. He then became conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra with whom he made many recordings.
Boult continued to conduct until he was very old. His many recordings, including music he had heard Nikisch conduct many years before. His last public performance was conducting Elgar's ballet "The Sanguine Fan" for London Festival Ballet at the Coliseum, in London on 24 June 1978.
Boult was made a Companion of Honour in 1969.