AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Cyrus now claimed to be the legitimate successor of the ancient Babylonian kings and the avenger of their god Bel-Marduk. The invasion of Babylonia by Cyrus was doubtless helped by the presence of foreign forced exiles like the Jews, who had been planted in the midst of the country.
One of the first acts of Cyrus was to allow these exiles to return to their own homes, carrying with them the images of their god and their sacred vessels. The permission to do so was embodied in a proclamation, whereby the conqueror endeavored to justify his claim to the Babylonian throne. The feeling was still strong that none had a right to rule over western Asia until he had been consecrated to the office by Bel and his priests; and accordingly, Cyrus henceforth assumed the imperial title of "King of Babylon."
Like the Sumerians, the Babylonians ate vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish. They also ate bread and enjoyed toasting and eating the pesky but crunchy locusts which destroyed their precious crops.
The Babylonians loved art. Beautiful vessels ornamented with sparkling gold were buried with the kings. In those days books dealt with floods which were thought to be caused by sin, or about the journey of Abraham.
Science, too, improved well: they invented the first calendar, the 60-minute hour, and the advance multiplication table.
Life was rich, full, and usually peaceful. People rarely thought about war or how to protect the city. As a result, Babylon was conquered in 730 BC by the Assyrians and Kassites. This great civilization then ended.
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Ulrich Friedrich Wilhelm Joachim von Ribbentrop ("von" was added only later) (30 April 1893 in Wesel – 16 October 1946 in Nuremberg) was the foreign minister of Germany from 1938 to 1945. He was executed by hanging for war crimes after the Nuremberg trials.
Drom 1936 to 1938, before the Second World War, he had been the ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Noise is another word for sound. It usually means it is not wanted. Noise is perceived by our ears. They can be damaged by noise. Noise is created through any object, which produces vibration unnecessarily.
Noise can also mean data (information) that typically does not have a meaning, like "white noise". Loudspeaker measurements can use white noise for measuring loudspeakers frequency response.
Noise can also refer to some math that makes random numbers. Click here to learn about it.
In electronics, heat produces noise in resistors. Depending on the type of resistor, the amount of noise may differ. Most audio devices are designed not to produce noise.
Karma is a word meaning the result of a person's actions as well as the actions themselves. It is a term about the cycle of cause and effect. According to the theory of Karma, what happens to a person, happens because they caused it with their actions. It is an important part of many religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism. In Shinto (a religion often syncretised with Buddhism), Karma is interpreted as "Musubi" (むすび), a view of karma is recognized in Shinto as a means of enriching, empowering and life affirming.
In terms of spiritual development, Karma is about all that a person has done, is doing and will do. Karma is logically about punishment or reward. It makes a person responsible for their own life, and how they treat other people.
The "Theory of Karma" is a major belief in Hinduism, Ayyavazhi, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism. All living creatures are responsible for their karma - their actions and the effects of their actions.
Karma is often misconstrued as the universal principle of cause and effect. Our actions, both good and bad, come back to us in the future, helping us to learn from life’s lessons and become better people. In religions that include reincarnation, karma extends through one's present life and all past and future lives as well.
Karma is basically energy. One person throws out energy through thoughts, words and actions, and it comes back, in time, through other people. Karma is the best teacher, forcing people to face the consequences of their own actions and thus improve and refine their behavior, or suffer if they do not. Even harsh karma, when faced in wisdom, can be the greatest spark for spiritual growth. The conquest of karma lies in intelligent action and unemotional response.
Supporting any action, with the claim, "I am doing it," is karma. Claiming doership of any action, binds karma. To support the action with the belief 'I am the doer' is called binding the karma. It is this support of the belief of 'doership' that binds karma. If you know that you are not the doer and are aware of who the true doer is, 'I am not the doer' and 'who is the doer' then the action will not have any support and the karma will be shed.
The process of action and reaction on all levels—physical, mental and spiritual—is karma. One must pay attention to thoughts, because thought can make karmas—good, bad and mixed.
“I say kind words to you, and you feel peaceful and happy. I say harsh words to you, and you become ruffled and upset. The kindness and the harshness will return to me, through others, at a later time. Finally, what I give is what I get back.”
“An architect thinks creative, productive thoughts while drawing plans for a new building. But were he to think destructive, unproductive thoughts, he would soon not be able to accomplish any kind of positive task even if he desired to do so.”
Hindus look at time as a circle, as things cycle around again. Karma is a very just law which, like gravity, treats everyone the same. The law of karma puts man at the center of responsibility for everything he does and everything that is done to him. Understanding the way karma works, Hindus try to live a virtuous life. This is called dharma.
There are three types of karma in Hinduism:
Karma is considered one of the natural laws of the mind, just as gravity is a law of matter. Just as God created gravity to bring order to the physical world, He created karma as a divine system of justice that is self-governing and infinitely fair. It automatically creates the appropriate future experience in response to the current action.
Several different views exist in Hinduism regarding the role of divine beings. In Hinduism, many see the deities or devas as playing some kind of role. Other Hindus, such as the Mimamsakas, reject such notions and see karma as acting independently, considering the natural laws of causation sufficient to explain the effects of karma.
Some interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita suggest an intermediate view, that karma is a law of cause and effect yet God can mitigate karma for His devotees. It is said in Bhagavad Gita that only the karma that is done with a sense of doership and with attachment to the karma could cause good or bad reactions. Karma that is done with an attitude of duty and without attachment to the results will not create any effect and will move one closer to God.
Another view holds that a Satguru, acting on God's behalf, can mitigate or work out some of the karma of the disciple.
Western hemisphere
A Molotov cocktail, also known as a petrol bomb, fire bomb, or benzine torch, is a simple incendiary device. It is relatively easy to make and is used by irregular paramilitary forces and by rioters. It is also used for arson.
It was used for the first time in the Spanish Civil War between July 1936 and April 1939, but it became known as "Molotov cocktails" only during the Second World War.
A Molotov cocktail consists of a glass bottle partly filled with a flammable liquid. The liquid will typically be gasoline, alcohol, methanol or ethanol. The mouth of the bottle is closed with a cork or other type of tight sealing made of rubber, glass, or plastic, and a cloth rag is fixed securely around the mouth. The weapon is used by first soaking the rag in a flammable liquid immediately before using it, lighting the rag, and throwing the bottle at the target. The bottle breaks when it lands, spilling the flammable liquid over the target, which is then ignited by the burning rag.
Many substances may be added to the basic Molotov cocktail to enhance its use as a weapon. These include:
Molotov cocktails are similar to napalm bombs in principle. Napalm was originally made by combining flammable naphthalene and petrol with a thickening agent palmitic acid. The latter two are the main ingredients of Molotov cocktails. When gasoline is used as the main ingredient, motor oil is commonly added to help the gasoline cling to the target.
The name "Molotov cocktail" is derived from Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, a Soviet politician. He was the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, or the Foreign Minister, of the Soviet Union.
During the early part of World War II, when Finland refused to surrender some land to the Soviet Union, the Soviets invaded it. The poorly equipped and heavily-outnumbered Finnish Army faced Red Army tanks in what came to be known as the Winter War. The army borrowed an improvised incendiary device from the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War. In that conflict, the Spanish Nationalists under the orders of General Francisco Franco had used the weapon against Soviet T-26 tanks. Those tanks helped the Spanish Republicans in a failed 1936 Soviet assault near Toledo, 30 km from Madrid.
When Molotov claimed in radio broadcasts that the Soviet Union was not dropping bombs but rather delivering food to the starving Finns, the Finns started to call the air bombs satirically "Molotov bread baskets". Soon they responded by saluting the advancing tanks with "Molotov cocktails." At first the term was used to describe only the burning mixture itself, but the term was soon applied to the combination of both the bottle and its contents. This Finnish use of the hand- or sling-thrown explosive against Soviet tanks was repeated in the subsequent Continuation War. Molotov cocktails were eventually mass-produced by the Finnish military, bundled with matches to light them.
These weapons saw widespread use by all sides in World War II. They were very effective against light tanks, and very bad for enemy morale. The following is a first-hand description of their effects, written during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943:
During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, members of the Israeli Kibbutz Degania managed to stop a Syrian tank assault by using Molotov cocktails. They were frequently used against Soviet tanks with great efficiency in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
The weapon has been used against tanks effectively because of the conformation of parts of tanks, particularly around the undersides and fuel tank "entrances". A Molotov cocktail could blow up the fuel tank, destroying the machine, particularly for older (before 1940) tank models. Molotov cocktails are much more effective against gasoline engines than diesel engines' tanks. This is because diesel has a high flashpoint of 64 °C – making it more difficult to ignite compared to petrol. Some Soviet tanks actually had an entry to the gas tank on the side of the vehicle, which could be opened by combatants in close quarters, letting out the highly flammable liquid and making destruction of the tank even easier. Note that these tactics were only effective due to the advantage guerrillas had in close quarters; tanks can barely maneuver in such conditions and are not able to counter quick-moving enemies armed with incendiary bombs.
Petrol bombs were widely used throughout the Troubles in Northern Ireland in riot situations, directed towards the RUC or the British Army. As well as occasional situations where they continue to be used against the PSNI and army, they are frequently used in sectarian attacks on homes and businesses by both communities. Fireworks and homemade grenades, known as blast bombs now commonly accompany petrol bomb attacks on the security forces.
As such things can cause a lot of damage, and actually kill people, it is illegal in most countries to make or possess them. When they are used against property, this usually counts as "arson". When they are used against people, the charges range from manslaughter to murder.
Given the recent terrorism laws, such things could also fall under anti-terror legislation.
Molotov cocktails were put to use recently during the riotous 2005 civil unrest in France. Another situation with popularity for them is the Palestinian Intifada.
In Sydney, during the Cronulla Riots, rioters carrying Molotov cocktails were apprehended when they carried open bottles in a bus. The resulting smell of petrol alerted the driver, who in turn alerted the police.
During the Columbine High School massacre, the two gunmen built and threw several Molotov cocktails; however, none of them exploded. It is presumed that this was due to bottles being overfilled.
Flammability
Flammability or inflammability means that something can be set on fire easily. It will burn easily. The words come from Latin. The word at the base is "in-flammare" (late Latin). It means something like "to put fire to a thing".
"Inflammable" and "flammable" are used to mean the same thing. People sometimes get confused and think that "inflammable" means "not flammable" because the prefix "in" is often used to mean "not". For example, something that is inhuman is not human. Since many people do not know that "inflammable" means "burns easily", "flammable" is used more often in public places as a warning.
Flammability can be tested. Paper, for example, is more flammable than wood, and less flammable than natural gas.
Arson is a crime. When someone deliberately sets fire to a building, vehicle, etc. they do not own and they want to cause damage, it is called arson. A person who commits arson is an arsonist. Arsonists usually use gasoline or kerosene to start a fire.
A cocktail is a kind of mixed drink. Usually, it is made with alcoholic drinks such as vodka, gin or rum. Since such spirits do not have much taste of their own (at around 40% alcohol), other ingredients are added. Common ingredients are fruits, fruit juice, sugar, crushed ice, and ice cubes. If the cocktail is served in a bar or nightclub, it often comes with a piece of fruit on top. For example, a gin and tonic could have a lemon, a Piña Colada could have a pineapple and a cherry. A popular cocktail in Cornwall UK is the McVey, 440ml of strongbow and 125ml of Malibu.
Most cocktails were invented in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. People began drinking a lot of cocktails in the United States in the 1920s due to Prohibition. Around that time, cocktails from Cuba, such as the mojito, became popular around the world.
Cocktails made without alcohol are also made.
Because all the ingredients give their flavor to the finished drink, a cocktail is only as good as the worst ingredient.
There are many kinds of cocktails. They include:
A sneeze is a reaction in the body that suddenly presses air out of lungs so it flows quickly out through the mouth and nose. Air and mucus (the liquid found in the nose) are forced out quickly. Sneezing often happens after breathing dust or other small things that irritate the membranes in the nose. The function of sneezing is to clean the space in the nose by removing the mucus and irritating things. Sneezing is mostly involuntary, which means that it happens without trying.
A sneeze consists of a deep inward breath that fills the lungs, a closing or partial closing of the throat, and a sudden increase in pressure in the lungs that forces air out. This increase in pressure is a result of muscles near the lungs that contract (tighten and shorten). Sneezing never happens during sleep because reflex signals do not pass to the part of the brain that causes muscles to move. When people sneeze, their eyes close. The speed of the air from sneezing is about 150 kilometers per hour or more.
Many animals sneeze, including human beings, cats, dogs, chickens and iguanas.
When a person sneezes, many small drops of saliva and mucus blow out from the nose and mouth. These tiny drops often contain viruses and bacteria. Some of these are germs, which can make other people sick. To keep this from happening as much, is important to block the sneezed air with something like cloth or tissue to catch the drops. It also helps to move away from other people, go outside, or face away.
A common thing to say to people when they sneeze is "Bless you!", or sometimes in the United States sometimes "Gesundheit!" (from German, meaning "Good health"). There is a story that the blessing started with Pope Gregory VII (540–604 AD). He said a blessing might stop people from getting the bubonic plague which was killing people in Rome at the time. There is a myth that when you sneeze your heart and all internal organs stop functioning.
The sound of a sneeze is written "achoo!" in English. Other languages write it differently. For example, in Swedish it is "atjoo!", in French it is "atchoum!" and in German it is "Hatschi!".
Some involuntary ways that people move air in or out of the lungs are: to sneeze, laugh, cough, hiccups, or yawn.
Pumas ("Puma concolor"), also called cougars, mountain lions or brown panthers, are large wild cats that live in the western half of North America, along with Florida, and most of Central and South America. Pumas are mainly tan-color, and can be up to 9 feet long, although average length is 6 – 8 feet. They can weigh from 29 kilograms to 90 kilograms. (The males are larger.) Most pumas live up to 21 years. Although pumas are very large and some are larger than humans, the puma is classified as a small cat. That means that, in scientific terms, the puma is more closely related to the domestic cat than they are to lions. Unlike the big cats in the genus "Panthera", the puma cannot roar. Instead, it can growl, hiss, screech, and purr. Since pumas are, in the biological sense, small cats, they are capable of purring continuously. The big cats can only purr while breathing out.
Pumas are carnivores because they eat only meat. Pumas are apex predators. They hunt deer, raccoons, squirrels, foxes, rabbits and skunks. They can also eat mice, beavers, coyotes, bobcats, birds, porcupines, cattle, goats, fish and bear cubs. They hunt at night. Cougars can see better at night than people can. They can hear well too. Pumas stalk their prey, which means they walk slowly and quietly, they hide and then when close, they jump or run fast to catch their prey by surprise. They live and hunt alone. Female cougars take care of their babies until they are old enough to take care for themselves. Baby cougars are called cubs or kittens.
Pumas live in the mountains and forests far from people. However, encounters with humans happen sometimes. 26 people have been killed by cougars in North America in the last 30 years. However, many more cougars have been killed by humans. Cougars used to be found all in eastern North America, but they were hunted to extinction there by the beginning of the 1900s. Also, recent sightings of cougars have been reported from Michigan, New Brunswick, southern Indiana, Kentucky, and Vermont. For now, the only confirmed, population of cougars east of the Mississippi River is in Florida, where a subspecies of the cougar called the Florida Panther lives.
Schools that have a cougar as their mascot include:
Google Talk
Google Talk (also called Google Chat) was an instant messaging service that was offered by Google. It let users communicate by using texting and voice chatting. The service was sometimes called Gchat, Gtalk, or Gmessage by its users.
It is built on the XMPP platform. A web-based version was also available online.
Armour (or armor U.S.) is a protective covering or clothing to prevent injury from attack. Armour can be worn by a person, or it can be used to protect machines, animals, even buildings. Armour has always been made from the strongest materials available at the time, but weight has always been a problem. Early body armour was made from leather. Later, metals were used (e.g. mail or plate armour). Some modern armour, like bullet-proof vests, are made from plastics that do not stretch or break, such as Kevlar. These plastics may be woven into a cloth and used in layers, which makes them even stronger.
Plastic lamination (layers) is often used to protect windows against bullets. Many jewellery stores, embassies, and vehicles have bullet-proof glass with this feature.
Armour put on vehicles is usually made of metal and can include one layer over another with open spaces in between (spaced armour) or multiple layers of metal; ceramics (baked clay), and other materials. Another type of armour uses blocks of explosive that explode when another explosion goes off near it. This explosive armour protects by pushing against the other explosion. Vehicle armor is often angled to increase the amount of armour that must be shot through to get inside and to make the shot bounce off rather than piercing the armour.
Tanks have the heaviest armour of all land vehicles. Other military vehicles have armour, but not as much as a tank.
Sometimes armour is put in non-military vehicles, such as limousines used by leaders of a country or by anyone who thinks they might be attacked, e.g. film stars or presidents of major companies.
In the past, armour has also been used in wars to protect animals such as dogs, elephants, and horses. Today, police dogs and horses sometimes wear woven plastic bullet-proof vests.
Many sports involve violent physical contact and may be highly dangerous if the players are unprotected. Such sports include ice hockey, American football and kendo. Sports armour is usually made from hard plastic.
North Star Computers
North Star Computers was one of the earliest manufacturers of microcomputers. Before they started making their first computer, the "North Star Horizon", they made floppy disk drives for S-100 bus computers. They included a disk operating system called "North Star DOS" (or "N*DOS"). The Horizon used the North Star disk controller and operating system. It was one of the first microcomputers that had multi-user features.
Their second computer, called the "North Star Advantage", ran CP/M, and had the keyboard and monitor built-in. The graphics were very powerful for their time. When the IBM PC came out, North Star made an MS-DOS compatible processor card that could be added to the "Advantage".
Their third computer, the "North Star Dimension", was multi-user like the "Horizon", but MS-DOS based.
Because their products in the early 1980s were only MS-DOS compatible, not fully PC compatible, they never sold very many, and the company went out of business.
Mario Bros. is a video game made in 1983. In the game, Mario and/or Luigi must defeat enemies by jumping on them from below and then kicking them, when they are knocked down. It is the first game to feature Luigi as a playable character as well as the first game in which Mario is named Mario. In "Donkey Kong", Mario was called Jumpman. It was later remade for other game consoles at the time. "Mario Bros." was also included with the four "Super Mario Advance" games.
An oval is a shape. It is round but a bit longer in one direction.
Focus is a Latin word for hearth. In English it means many things.
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a keyboard instrument in which the sound is made by air blowing through pipes. A person who plays the organ is called an organist. The organist plays the instrument using both the hands and the feet. The hands play the keyboards (called manuals), while the feet play pedals which also make notes.
Organs have been made for many centuries. They are usually found in places for Christian worship such as churches and cathedrals, although they may also be found in places like town halls and concert halls or even large private houses. Very small organs can be called “chamber organs”. Organs in large churches, cathedrals or halls are very large instruments indeed, and are built especially for the building they are in. They are called “pipe organs” to distinguish them from modern “electronic organs”.
No two organs are ever quite the same, and they vary greatly from one country to another and one historical period to another. The information here is about organs from Europe, Great Britain and America.
In a pipe organ, the musical notes are made by blowing air through pipes. Every organ must have pipes, something to blow the air and a way of controlling which pipes are played.
The pipes are made of metal or wood. They are lined up in rows in the "organ case" which can be as big as a room. The metal pipes are round tubes. They can be made of different types of metal, but the most common type is an alloy (or mixture of metals) of tin and lead called "spotted metal" because it has round shiny spots on it. This alloy makes pipes sound good as the harder tin provides clarity and definition while the softer lead produces tonal warmth. Very small pipes can sometimes be made of silver, like flutes. Some organs also have some pipes made of brass that sound like trumpets. Most organs have a lot of wooden pipes. The wooden pipes have four flat sides and make a sound different from that of the "spotted metal" pipes. They are not usually seen; they are neatly lined up behind the large metal pipes at the front of the organ which are sometimes painted with colours and patterns. All the pipes have to be made with an end that tapers at the bottom where the air blows in.
Each pipe can play only one note which depends on its size. The small pipes play high notes and the large pipes play low notes. Each pipe has its own special sound which depends on the material it is made from (whether it is wood or brass or spotted metal) and on the shape of the pipe. The pipes are arranged in "ranks" so that all the pipes of the same shape and material can be controlled to play a tune together, without all the others.
To blow air through the organ, there are boxes called "wind chests". When the organist is playing, he/she can see a little gauge that tells whether there is enough air. The wind chests can be kept full in two ways. The old-fashioned way is to have an enormous set of "bellows" which are pumped up and down by a person using a large handle. This sucks in air and fills the wind chest. Pumping the bellows of a large pipe organ is heavy work. For this reason, most organs nowadays have an electric motor and a large fan which fills the wind chest.
The organist uses keyboards like those on a piano to play the organ. A small organ may have just one keyboard, but many organs have two keyboards and a very big one may even have five. Organists do not call them keyboards; they call them "manuals". An organist will talk about "a four-manual organ" (which means it is a large one). The manuals are arranged on the organ "console", and the organist sits on a bench in front of the console to play. Apart from the manuals there are two other important parts of the console. There are a set of long wooden pedals which the organist can play with his/her feet. Each pedal plays a different note.
On either side of the manuals there are rows of "stops" which look like knobs. The stops can be pulled out or pushed in. When a stop is pulled out, it turns on some sets of pipes. The organist can choose whether to play loud pipes or soft pipes, flute-sounding pipes or brassy pipes, sweet pipes or harsh-sounding pipes. As the organist plays, he/she does not just have to think about the right notes. He/she also has to think about the sort of "voice" that the organ should play in. He/she can play different ranks of pipes together by pulling out several stops. Some pipes, usually the biggest decorated pipes at the very front of the organ, are used only for the grandest music. By tradition, these pipes are the symbol of the "Voice of God".
When the organist presses the keys of the organ, the sound comes from the air blowing through the pipes. This is because a valve (an opening with a one-way door) opens up to let the air into the pipe, and closes again when the organist stops pressing that key. This can happen in several ways. Traditional organs have what is called a "tracker action". The trackers are thin wooden rods and wires which move backwards and forwards, opening and shutting all the valves. They are worked by levers under the keyboard. A tracker action organ has to have the console right near the organ, usually under the big front pipes.
A more modern development was to have a "tubular pneumatic" action, in which the console could be away from the organ, but connected to it by tubes through which air could be pushed to open the valves. In the most modern pipe organs, the manual is connected to the organ pipes by electric wires. The power to open and shut the valves is controlled by electro-magnetic switches. The console does not have to be close to the organ. This makes it possible for the organist to sit in a position where he/she has good contact with the people in the church, or with other musicians.
A very small organ may only have one manual (keyboard). Most organs have at least two. In English and American Organs the lower manual is the main one and is called the "Great". The upper manual is called the "Swell" because it operates pipes which are inside a “swell box” which has that can be opened or closed. This makes the music get louder or quieter (crescendo or diminuendo). The organist operates the swell box with a pedal which (rocks to and fro). It is in the centre just above the pedal board. On old English organs the swell box is operated by a lever at the side. This is quite difficult to use. Most of these have now been replaced by central swell boxes.
If there is a third manual, it is called the "Choir" in English-speaking countries. Originally the English called them “chair organs” because they were a separate instrument. The organist had to turn round and face the other way to play it. It is thought that the word "chair" gradually changed to "choir" because it was often used to accompany the choir. In German organs the third manual was called the “Positiv”. The name “Rückpositiv” (“back positive”) was used because the pipes were behind the organist’s back as he/she sat facing the main organ. These started to become popular again with organ builders in the 1950s when it was felt that the Romantic organ was not suitable for old music, and some organ builders started using Baroque principles again so that the music of composers such as Bach could sound like it used to. The Choir manual is nearest to the player, the Great is in the middle and the Swell is farthest away. The Choir or Positiv often contains soft stops which are suitable for accompanying the choir. On French organs from the late 19th century onwards, the three manuals are arranged differently: the Great (“Grande Orgue”) is nearest to the player, the “Positif” is the middle manual and is like a smaller version of the Great, and the Swell (“Recit”) is the top manual. This makes it easy for the organist to build up the music, getting louder gradually, by starting at the top and gradually coming down.
The fourth manual is called the "Solo" because the stops on this manual are used to play out the tune as a solo. This manual is even farther away from the player than the Swell. Large cathedral organs usually have four manuals. The Solo will probably have a very loud stop indeed called the “Tuba” or “Tuba Mirabilis”.
If there is a fifth manual it may be called the "Echo" because it has very quiet stops that echo. Alternatively, especially on American organs, it might be a "Bombarde". The Bombarde usually contains loud, bold reed stops, including stops called 'Bombarde'. For instance: a State Trumpet or Pontifical Trumpet might be placed on this manual which can be heard above all the other stops playing. The Bombarde is borrowed from French Organs where it is a standard stop on nearly all the manuals and pedals. Having a Bombarde Manual is something of a luxury for an organist. It can be found, for example, on the organ of Westminster Abbey.
It is extremely unusual to have more than five manuals, but in America there are a few very large organs. The Wanamaker organ at Macy's store in Philadelphia has six manuals. The world’s largest organ is in the Atlantic City Convention Hall. It has seven manuals and over 33,000 pipes. However, the largest organ in the world does not work since it would be too expensive to run it.
Having two or three manuals makes it possible to have quick changes of sound during a piece. The player can also play on two manuals at once: one with the left hand and one with the right. This is particularly useful to make a tune louder than the accompaniment (on a piano this can be done by pressing harder). The manuals can also be coupled together, for example, pulling out the “Swell to Great” stop will make all the sounds from the Swell come out on the Great as well. On an organ with mechanical action the keys of the Swell will be seen “playing by themselves” like a pianola, but on some older organs it can be hard work for the organist’s fingers when the manuals are coupled as it makes the action very heavy.
The notes on the pedals are arranged like the notes on a keyboard, but are obviously much bigger. The player needs to learn to play by 'feel', otherwise he will have to spend all his time looking at his feet. He plays each note, either with the toe or the heel and either on the inside of the foot or the outside. The American and British Standard organ contains 30 notes giving a range of nearly 2 ½ octaves (C to F, or sometimes C to G: 32 notes). They are not quite in a straight line but fan out a little to make it easier to play (it is called a ", pedalboard"). In German and French organs and organs built before 1920, the pedalboard will be straight without any fan curvature to it. Many organists find that this makes it more difficult to play. Organists need a good pair of shoes: ones which have good narrow heels and preferably pointed toes. The soles need to be fairly slippery, but not too much, so that the player can slide the foot from one pedal to another. Organists usually like to keep a pair of shoes which are worn only for playing the organ so that the soles do not have grit or dirt from the street.
The stops on an organ console give different sounds, like the instruments of an orchestra, and have names which tell the organist what kind of sound they will produce. The stops are usually to the left and right of the organist and they are pulled out (“drawstops” or “pulls” because they are “drawn” i.e. pulled). Some organs have “tab stops” or “rocker stops” which are in front of the player and can be rocked forwards and backwards for on/off.
The stops of an organ can be divided into families.
The "chorus" stops are the foundation stops, the basic ones which are good for building up the big, solid sound. A "diapason" or "principal" is a chorus stop.
The "flute" stops sound like flutes in an orchestra. They are gentler than the diapasons and sound good for very quick and light music.
The "reeds" are stops like the "oboe", "clarinet", "trumpet", "fagotto", "trombone". Each pipe has a reed inside. Their sound is very strong and nasal (like speaking through the nose).
The "strings" are quiet stops which sound like string instruments. These are stops like the "violone" and "gamba".
There is another way of grouping the stops. Each stop will have a number underneath the name. The number may be 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 or even 2 2/3 or 1 3/5. If the number is 8 this is called an “eight foot stop”. This is the normal pitch: the note will sound as it is written, e.g. when playing Middle C the sound will be Middle C. A 4 foot stop will sound an octave higher than written, a 2 foot stop will be two octaves higher. A 16 foot stop will sound an octave lower than an 8 foot stop. 8 foot is therefore the normal pitch, and the others are added to it to make a larger, brighter sound. 16 foot stops are normal in pedal parts.
Mutation stops are stops in which a note does not sound a whole number of octaves above the normal pitch. Examples are the Tierce 1 3/5 (which sounds 2 octaves and a third above) and the Nazard or Twelfth 2 2/3 (one octave and a fifth).
An organist needs to learn which combinations of stops sound good together and how to balance them well. Each organ is different and has its own character.
The combination of stops that an organist chooses for a particular piece of music is called the “registration”. The list of all the stops that a particular organ has is called the “specification”. The specification of an organ shows the names of the stops for each of the manuals and for the pedals, as well as the list of couplers.
Organs also have buttons called “pistons” which help to change the registration in the middle of a piece. There are “toe pistons” operated by the feet, and “thumb pistons” which are placed just below each manual so that they can be pushed by the thumb while the fingers keep playing. Large organs often have “general pistons” which change any combination of stops across the organ. These are often be computerised so that players can set them up differently depending on the music they are going to play. If several players regularly use the instrument they can each have their own personal settings for the pistons which they can lock so that no one else can change them.
Each stop controls a row of pipes, called a “rank”. Each rank makes a different sound (one row for the “diapason” sound, another row for the “flute”, another for the “trumpet” and so on). The stops control the air flow through the ranks. Some stops may control more than one rank. For instance, a Mixture stop of three ranks will have 182 pipes (3 ranks of 61 pipes each) and in some organs the Celeste is a 2 rank stop. The celeste pipes are tuned slightly sharper than the rest of the organ so that, when played together with another quiet stop such as the Salicional, there will be a pleasant throbbing beat because two pipes are slightly out of tune with one another. Organ Pipes are normally made of metal or wood. High quality metal organ pipes usually contain 75 percent tin or more, and the rest is lead. The Pipes are placed on windchests inside an "organ case" in a special room called an Organ chamber. A windchest is a box-like device which contains pallets that are opened and closed to admit air to a pipe so that it sounds. The pallets are operated by pull wires and rollers in the case of a tracker instrument but may also be operated by pneumatics or direct electric action using magnets.
There is always air being pumped into the windchest when the organ is switched on. In the days before electricity someone (an organ blower) had to pump the air into the windchest using bellows. This was hard work. Large organs would have needed more than one organ blower to do this job.
No other instrument has developed in such a wide variety of ways as the organ. If Bach, who lived in the early 18th century, had gone from his home in Germany to France, he would have found it impossible to play his music properly on French organs. If Couperin, who lived at the same time, had gone from his home in France to Germany, he would not have been able to play his music on the organs that Bach was using. Neither of them could possibly have played on an organ in England at the time. For one thing, English organs in the 18th century still had no pedals. This means that organists need to know a lot about what organs were like in other countries in other centuries in order to know what registrations to use when playing music by composers of the past.
The earliest organs were water organs invented in Ancient Greece. The Romans used them in circuses and gladiator combats because they were loud. They were still popular in some countries a few hundred years ago, for example, in pleasure gardens.
In the Middle Ages large organs were built in the huge Gothic cathedrals in Britain. These instruments did not have different stops: all the ranks sounded at once. They were played by a slider mechanism. Only in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries did they start to use a keyboard. The so-called "Mixture Organ" (or "Blockwerk") still sounded several pitches at once. Very small organs called "portatives" (because they could be carried) were used in . "Positives" were a bit bigger and were used to accompany singing in the church. The "Regal" was like a portative but it had reeds and no pipes. It could be put on a table. The world's oldest organ is generally agreed to be the one built at Sion, Switzerland in the 15th century. the organ.
By about 1450, the organs that were being built in Germany and the Netherlands had two or three manuals and pedals. There were stops so that the player could choose which ranks he wanted to sound. The collection of pieces called the "Buxheimer Orgelbuch" (about 1470), is one of the first collections we have of organ music. French organs, too, were developing. In England, organs were quite small. Composers like John Bull, William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons wrote music for chamber organs. In the Netherlands Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck was a very famous organist and teacher.
The Baroque period was a great period for organ music in Germany. Organs there were built on the "Werkprinzip" (literally: "work principle") which meant that each keyboard with its pipes was built separately, like two or three different organs, although they were played from the same console. Organs like these were built by the famous Arp Schnitger (1648-1719). Many famous German composers wrote organ music, especially Johann Pachelbel (1653-1709) in South Germany and (Dietrich Buxtehude) (1637-1707) in North Germany. The great composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) learnt from these composers and wrote some of the most famous organ music of all times. The great organ builder Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753) lived during this time and built organs with a very beautiful tone. Instead of a keyboard called a Choir (or Chair Organ) he built an "Oberwerk" which was above the "Hauptwerk" (Great).
French organ builders at this time were very interested in colour (meaning: different sounds). Many stops had names like Cornet, Tierce and Prestant. When all the stops of the Principal chorus played together it was called the "Plein jeux". This was like the medieval Blockwerk. All the reed chorus together was called "Grand jeux". This would have sounded very loud and was used for dialogues and fugues. Composers included Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703), Louis Marchand (1669-1732), Louis Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749), Louis Claude Daquin (1694-1772) and François Couperin (1683-1733).
In England there was not much interest in developing the organ. It was used for accompanying the choir. There were no pedals. Pieces for organ were called voluntaries. Henry Purcell wrote a few organ pieces.
Organ composition reached a great peak in the work of J.S.Bach, but then people started to lose interest. Not many developments took place in organ-building during the Classical music period. Although Mozart played the organ and called it the “King of Instruments” he did not often write music for it. Among the organ builders at this time were Joseph and Claude-Ignace Callinet who built the organ at Notre-Dame's (St. Etienne, Loire) in 1837.
The organ in 19th century Germany started to be used for imitating the sound of an orchestra. People also started to be interested in playing the music of J.S. Bach. Many Classical organs were re-built and sometimes they lost their original character. Organs in different countries started to sound the same.
Gradually, composers started writing for the organ again. Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) wrote some excellent sonatas and preludes and fugues which were inspired by Bach’s music and made other composers want to write organ music. Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and Franz Liszt (1811-1886) wrote for the organ and later in the century Max Reger (1873-1916) and Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933).
In France, the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899) was a real genius. His organs had lots of new ideas including the Barker lever (which made it easier to play on coupled manuals) and placing families of stops on to separate chests. Organists could change their registrations quickly, pushing in or pulling out the stops that they needed. Composers included César Franck (1822-1890), Charles-Marie Widor (1845-1937) and Louis Vierne (1870-1937). The last two wrote long works in several movements which they called Symphonies because they were full of colourful sounds like those in a symphony orchestra. There were usually three manuals called "Grand", "Positif" and "Récit" placed in that order (with Grand nearest to the player). The Grand had warm foundation stops and big reeds (it was like combining the classical plein jeux and grand jeux). The Positif had string stops as well as a solo reed, and the Récit had lighter reeds.
In England, Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) wrote some important organ music inspired by J.S. Bach, and his son Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) was influenced by Continental Romantic composers such as Mendelssohn. In 1851, the organ builder Henry Willis built a large organ for Crystal Palace Exhibition. It had three manuals and a pedal board. This set the standard in English organ building for the future.
During the 20th century organ builders became more and more interested in returning to some of the ideas of the Baroque and Classical periods. Many organs now have electric action, but a good mechanical action has the advantage that the player feels more close to the instrument that he is playing. Some large 20th century organs are able to play many kinds of organ music. Other 20th century organs were built as copies of Baroque or Classical instruments, but this means these instruments are mainly suitable for Baroque or Classical music, and are not well suited for music of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In the 19th century, many organs in England and America were placed in corners of churches where they could not be heard very well. In the 20th century, organ builders thought more about the best position for the organ, so that the sound would fill the main part of the church, the nave.
Among the most famous 20th century organ composers are Marcel Dupré (1886-1971), Jehan Alain (1911-1940) and Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) in France, Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) in Germany, and Edward Elgar (1857-1934) and Herbert Howells (1892-1983) in England. The Czech composer Petr Eben (1929-2007) was one of the most important organ composers at the end of the 20th century, writing in an individual style.
As well as the obvious use of the organ for accompanying church choirs and singing the organ has often been used to accompany instruments. In the Baroque period small organs were used to accompany solo instruments or small groups of instruments or orchestras. This kind of accompaniment was called continuo. Occasionally composers have written organ concertos in which the organ is the solo instrument and the orchestra accompanies. Handel wrote several of these. In modern times Francis Poulenc wrote an organ concerto. There is an important organ solo in Symphony no 3 by Saint-Saëns. Other orchestral works sometimes have organ parts. Organists have often made organ “transcriptions”, i.e. arranged music written for other instruments so that it can be played on the organ.
The words Celt and Celtic can have many meanings.
Pronounced /kel-(tik)/:
The following should only be pronounced /selt(ik)/:
Manx language
Manx, or Manx Gaelic, (known in Manx as "Gaelg" or "Gailck"), is a language spoken in the Isle of Man.
It is a Celtic language of the Goidelic language family. It is in the same family as Scottish and Irish.
Manx is spoken mainly by people who learn it through interest. It died out as a natural community language in the 20th century. The last of the old native speakers died in 1974.
Manx is protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
Manx was beginning to differ from Middle Irish in about 900–1600 AD, and it is called Yn Ghaelg / Yn Ghailck by Manx speakers. There became fewer and fewer Manx speakers during the 19th century and the language was replaced by English. In 1901, 9% of the people in the Isle of Man were said to speak Manx but in 1921 the number dropped to only 1%.
Today, Manx is used as the only language taught at five of the Isle of Man’s pre-schools. Manx is taught as a 2nd language at all of the Island's primary and secondary schools.
There is now a school that teaches all of its lessons in Manx. The census of 2001 said that 2.2% of the population of the island could speak the language. There are currently 54,000 second language Manx speakers, mainly in the Isle of Man.
Goidelic languages