AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Norway's authorities made "a language directive (or rule) in 1880, which" was "made more forceful in 1898. It" said "that 'Teachers in those districts where the Lappish ... and Finnish ("kvænsk") languages are permitted for the sake of facilitating instruction in the public schools shall do their utmost to spread knowledge of the Norwegian language and seek to promote its use in the circles where they work'". Furthermore, the "government had a major objective for the schools: Not a single Sami word was to be heard on the school grounds" or in school buildings.
"The authorities also" used "economic measures to carry out the work of Norwegianization, including the Land Act. A regulation [or part of the law] from 1902" says that "Sale [of land] may only be made to Norwegian citizens ... who can speak, read, and write the Norwegian language and use it on a day-to-day basis".
A report by the "Parliamentary School Commission, appointed in 1922" said, without being able to show [ evidence], "that that the Sami are less educable [or able to learn] than others"; the report also said that the Sami population is less gifted and the "Sami culture does not lend itself to development".
From around 1850, a government policy of "Fornorskning" [tried to remove Sami culture]. An article in Klassekampen said that the policy was very rough [to Sami persons]. Into the 1980s, the policy of "Fornorskning" lasted in some places.
[Possibly the first] Sami association (in Norway) was started during the New Year's weekend in 1911: "Buolbmag Same Særvve", in Polmak municipality. (Polmak is now part of Tana (municipality).)
The first Sami association in Sweden, seems to have been started in 1903: "Tärnaby lappeforening".
In 1826, Russia has not allowed reindeer herds and their Sami owners, to travel from Norway to Russia.
Since 1852, Russia has not allowed reindeer herds and their Sami owners, to travel from Norway to Russia.
Reindeer farming, which is a type of animal husbandry, is done by Sami, between the White Sea and towards the west and the south, across Russia's Kola peninsula, Finland, Sweden and Norway, into Norway's county of Hedmark.
In reindeer farming, "the Sami travel with their flocks (of reindeer) according to an established cycle"; the cycle makes sure "that the" [reindeer] can eat properly during the various [or different] seasons of the year. For example, the spring migration to summer pastures, which have a rich variety of grasses and herbs, takes place just before new calves are born in May. Summer is a time when the calves grow and the adult animals regain their strength following a long, hard winter".
Among the Sami people are nomads that do reindeer farming. They lived in their cold environment by domesticating the reindeer. They were able to get everything they needed from the deer. They ate mostly meat, milk, and cheese. Their clothing was made from reindeer skins and wool. Their tents were also made from raindeer skins. The wool clothes were beautifully decorated.
The Sami protected the herds, moving with them as they migrated from summer to winter pastures. They used reindeer to pull sleds carrying their supplies. During the winter, the herds moved south of where the trees grew. The Sami lived nearby in homes made of logs or sod.
Winter clothing was made from layers of reindeer skin. The inside layer would be worn with the fur facing in toward the person's skin. The second layer was worn with the fur facing out. Boots were also made of fur and lined with grass that had been gathered during the short summer. Every evening the grass would be taken out and dried by the fire, so it would be ready to use again the next day. This way, a Sami could be warm and comfortable in even the coldest weather.
Today only a few of the Sami people still follow the herds. Those few use modern tools on their ancient migration. They use snowmobiles to herd the reindeer and rifles to kill the wolves that chase them. Even helicopters and radios are used to locate and move the reindeer. Most of the Sami now live on small farms in one of the four nations of Lapland. They raise crops and animals, including a few reindeer, to meet their needs. The sale of reindeer meat is an important source of income for the Sami people.
The Sami did not waste anything they got from the reindeer. The milk was used to drink or make cheese. Meat was taken for food. The blood was frozen and later used for soup and pancakes. Knives and belt buckles were carved from the bones and antlers. The sinews (tendons) were used as sewing thread. Cleaned-out stomachs were used to carry milk or cheese. Every part of a dead reindeer was used.
Sami crafts are called "duodji" . The men make knives, drums and 'guksi' (burl cups) from wood, bone, and antlers. The women use leather and roots to make 'gakti' (clothing). Women also use birch and spruce to weave baskets.
Sami clothing is called 'gakti' and was originally made from reindeer leather, but now it is usually made from wool, cotton, or silk. Usually, there are different types of clothing for men and women.
Sami shamanism is the main religion of the Sami people. These beliefs are connected to the land, animism, and the supernatural. There is some practice of bear worship. It is a polytheistic religion with many gods. The Sami shaman are called the 'Noadi'. There are some 'wise men' and 'wise women' who try to heal people who are sick. They use rituals and herbal medicine. Some Sami people have changed their beliefs to Christianity and joined either the Russian Orthodox Church or the Lutheran.
Publications by Snorri Sturluson(1178-1241) say that a Sami woman, Snøfrid, married Harald Fairhair; furthermore, none of her children or grandchildren became kings; first when Harald Hardrada became a king, then her blood became part of the blood of the royal family.
The character Kristoff in the 2013 Disney film "Frozen" is Sami. The song that plays in the movie's first scene, "Frozen Heart", was written by the South Sami composer Frode Fjellheim and is in a traditional Sami style called Vuelie. Some viewers complained that Kristoff was not a good way to show Sami because he is light-skinned and blond. This is called whitewashing. Although some Sami look like Kristoff, most have darker skin and hair. When making the 2019 sequel, "Frozen II", Disney signed a contract with Sami leaders and hired Sami experts to make sure the culture would be shown respectfully.
Sápmi (as its name is in Northern Sami languge), in English commonly known as Lapland (), is the most northern part of Fennoscandia. Fennoscandia is a peninsula in northern Europe.
The area of Lapland is shared between four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. In Norway, as far south ased Hedmark county, there are areas with many Sami people.<ref name=</ref>
The original people of Lapland are the Sami people. The Sami people are also called Lapps. They are now a minority there.
The weather of Lapland is cold. Summer is short. There are big hills with no trees on top of them. Reindeer live in Lapland. You can see northern lights in the sky.
Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was an ancient Jewish kingdom that existed in the southern part of the Levant. It was on the western shore of the Dead Sea. Its main cities were Jerusalem and Hebron. It existed from the 9th or 8th century BC, up until 586 BC.
After the death of Saul, Israel picked David to rule them. (1 Chronicles 11:1) After the death of King Solomon, son of David, ten of the twelve of the tribes of Israel did not want Solomon's son, Rehoboam to lead them. This caused the kingdom to split the Northern Kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem was the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.
In 586 BC, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II, took over Jerusalem and destroyed Judah.
A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart. It is a tool of project management invented by the engineer Henry L. Gantt in the 1910s. The chart illustrates a project schedule.
Gantt charts show the start and finish dates of the elements of a project. Gantt charts show the "dependency" between activities. What this means is that some activities can only begin after other activities are finished. Other activities can go on in parallel. Gantt charts can be used to show current schedule status using percent-complete shadings and a vertical "TODAY" line as shown here.
They are now a common charting technique, but Gantt charts were thought revolutionary when first introduced. The charts are also used in information technology to represent data that has been collected.
Dia is open source software that is used to make diagrams. It lets people draw many different types of technical drawings, for example flow charts and circuit diagrams. Technical diagrams are needed when doing work in subjects such as electronics and resistant materials. A flow chart can also be used to show how to plan out how to solve a problem, for example, how to bake a cake.
A talent (or "gift", or "aptitude") is the skill that someone has to do something very well that people usually like and that is difficult. Someone who has talent is called "talented". Talented people may have more than one talent. Talent is sometimes learned, but in some cases is natural born. People often value talents that are entertaining, beautiful, or impressive for a different reason like Music, dancing, acting or sports.
Even if someone has talent they may still have to work very hard if they want to perform well. Some people become quite good at something even if they do not have much talent, but if they are willing to work very hard at the skill for a period of time.
The word "talent" used to mean a weight and a piece of money in Assyria, Greece and Rome. This is the sense in which it is used in the Bible in the parable of the five talents (Matthew, xxv, 14-30).
Gift (disambiguation)
The word gift can mean:
Cathay Pacific Limited is an airline based in Hong Kong. It transports passengers and cargo to over 120 cities world-wide. Its main base and hub is at Hong Kong International Airport. It is one of the six airlines in the world to get a five star rating from Skytrax. It won "Airline of the Year" award from Skytrax in 2003, 2005 and 2009. Its sister airline is Dragonair which serves destinations in mainland China and Asia.
Talent (measurement)
A talent (Latin: "talentum", from Ancient Greek: "scale, balance") is an ancient unit of mass. It corresponded generally to the mass of water in the volume of an amphora, i.e. a one-foot cube.
The Babylonians and Sumerians had a system in which there were 60 shekels in a mina and 60 minas in a talent (in Ancient Greece one talent was 26 kg of silver). The Roman talent consisted of 100 libra (pounds) which were smaller in magnitude than the mina.
When used as a measure of money, it refers to a talent-weight of gold or of silver. The gold talent is reported as weighing roughly the same as a person, and so perhaps 50 kg (>110 lb avoirdupois). Some authorities say that the talent typically weighed about 33 kg (>72 lb) varying from 20 to 40 kg. In June, 2018, the international price of gold was about US $41,155.69 per kilogram. One gram costs about $38. At this price, a talent (33 kg) would be worth about $1,400,116.57. Similarly, in February 2016, the price of silver was about $15 per troy ounce or about 50 cents per gram, so a 33 kg silver talent would be worth about $16,500. Thus when we read that King Auletes of Egypt paid Gaius Julius Caesar the sum of 6,000 talents of gold to grant him the status of a "Friend and Ally of the Roman People," this amount would be worth about $8,400,000,000 USD today! These estimates are only rough values, because they are based on modern estimates.The value of silver in comparison to gold drastically changed. This is because of the output of the Spanish silver mines in the New World. In ancient times the same amount of silver was often worth more than gold. The estimates do not account for the less technical mining ability of the time, nor that there were still native deposits available. Later in Roman history, during the medieval Byzantine period, the emperor Basil II was said to have stockpiled the legendary amount of 200,000 talents of gold which, in modern terms, would be worth approximately $280,023,314,760 USD. At any rate, he did save enough money that the Byzantine government was able to remit all taxes paid during the final two years of his reign.
Another way to calculate the modern equivalent to a talent is from its use in estimating military pay. During the Peloponnesian war in Ancient Greece, a talent was the amount of silver needed to pay the crew of a trireme for one month. Hellenistic mercenaries were commonly paid one drachma for every day of service, which was a good salary in the post-Alexander (III) days. 6,000 drachma made a talent.
The talent as a unit of coinage is mentioned in the New Testament in Jesus' . One talent was an incredible amount of money.
Bede
Bede (also Saint Bede, or the Venerable Bede) (673–735), was a monk and an early historian of the Church in England. He was a member of the sister Northumbrian monasteries of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow. He spent a great deal of time at Jarrow with its large library. Both were in the English county of Durham (now Tyne and Wear). He is well known as an author and scholar, whose best-known work, "Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum" ("The Ecclesiastical History of the English People") gained him the title "The father of English history".
Bede became respectfully known as "Venerable Bede" soon after his death, but this was not linked to consideration for sainthood by the Roman Catholic Church. Bede himself said he was born in 673 and on the lands of the monastery of Wearmouth. At age seven he was presented by his family to the Abbot of Wearmouth, Benedict Biscop, to be educated. Bede doesn't say if his family was noble or not. Bede was ordained a deacon when he was nineteen and at age thirty he was ordained a priest. While he was active in his community Bede found study, writing and teaching his favorite activities. He studied the Bible and Latin. He learnt Latin because that was the language of the Bible and other books in the monastery library. His teaching would have been very basic and his opinions were very conventional (not radical in any way).
At the end of his life, Bede became ill and had difficulty breathing. He went about the tasks of finishing some writings and giving away the few things that he owned. Bede died on Ascension Day, 26 May 735.
Bede wrote many scientific, historical and theological works in his time. Many were copied and used by other monasteries in England and Western Europe. He had one work in particular that he is famous for. One of the most valuable and important sources on Anglo-Saxon history is Bede's "Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation". Bede spent most of his life at Jarrow and this is where he wrote his history. The History is made up of five books and about 400 pages written in Latin. It contains 800 years of the history of England from the time of Caesar to the date of its completion (731). The last chapter is about Bede himself.
One man who made Bede's work possible was Benedict Biscop. He founded the Wearmouth and Jarrow monasteries. More importantly he created the library that Bede's got most of his information from. By the time of his death in 689 he had completed four trips to Rome and the south and brought back large collections of books each time. Bede's work would still not be possible if not for Ceolfrid, the fourth abbot. He doubled the size of the library left by Benedict Biscop. Bede himself traveled no farther than York and Lindisfarne. There is no record of his ever visiting libraries in distant places. Bede says the following about his sources:
Phototroph
Phototrophs ("photo" = light, "troph" = nutrition) or photoautotrophs are organisms which carry out photosynthesis.
With their plastids and the help of energy from sunlight, carbon dioxide and water are converted into sugar by photosynthesis. Sugar is then converted into other organic molecules which can be used in cellular functions. Such a function might be, for example, respiration.
NTFS is a file system developed by Microsoft. NTFS stands for New Technology File System. A file system is a way of storing computer files. Microsoft introduced it with the Windows NT operating system.
It was made to replace the old file-system used by earlier versions of Windows, like Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows 98SE. That file system was also used by MS-DOS and is called FAT.
A newer version of NTFS (v3.1) was used in Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, and the most recent version of operating system, Windows 10. NTFS can be accessed from non-Windows operating systems such as Linux using the NTFS-3G driver.
A File system (or filesystem) is a way of storing all data on a data storage device. The data is usually organized in computer files in directories. Below the file system there is usually a physical device where the files are stored. This might be a hard disk, USB flash drive, compact disc, or DVD. The file system might also talk to a remote server over a network where the file is stored. The file system might also only use RAM to store the files.
The underlying storage mechanism usually has no concept of a file. A hard disk knows of disk blocks, which are numbered in a certain way. These disk blocks contain binary data (usually: large numbers).
The file system does the "translation" between the large numbers, and the view the users see, that is that of files, organized in a certain way.
More recently, concepts from databases have been used to develop file systems. That way, there are two different kinds of data:
It then becomes possible to always keep the file system in a consistent state. With databases, this is known as ACID. That way, an operation on a file is either done, or it is not done. There are however, no states in between. The file being written to the filesystem is no longer visible. This is usually done using transactions. But with filesystems, it is called "journaling".
David II of Scotland
David II (5 March 1324 – 22 February 1371) King of Scots, son of King Robert the Bruce by his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh (d. 1327), was born at Dunfermline Palace, Fife.
He was married on 17 July 1328, aged only four, to Joan of the Tower (d. 1362), daughter of Edward II of England and Isabella of France.
At the age of five, David became King of Scotland after the death of his father on 7 June 1329. He was crowned at Scone in November 1331.
Edward Balliol, with support from Edward III of England fought against David, so that he could become king. He defeated David at the Battle of Dupplin on 12 August 1332. Balliol was crowned king, and in July 1333, the nine year old David and his queen were sent to France for their safety. In June 1341 he came back and began to rule. In 1346 he invaded England, but was defeated and taken prisoner at the Battle of Neville's Cross on 17 October 1346, and remained in England for eleven years, living mainly in London and at Odiham in Hampshire. In October 1357 he was allowed to go back to Scotland for a payment of 100,000 marks. The money was never paid completely.
In 1371 David died in Edinburgh Castle.
Lied (pronounced “leed”) is the German word for “song” (the plural is Lieder – pronounced “leader”).
The word Lied is used in music to describe the songs that were written by German-speaking composers of classical music. Songs composed by classical composers are sometimes called “art songs”.
Lieder are normally songs for a singer with piano accompaniment. They were mostly composed in the 19th century which was the period known as the Romantic period. The most famous composers of Lieder were Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, Hugo Wolf and Richard Strauss.
In German culture the Lied as an art song goes back to the Middle Ages. Walther von der Vogelweide was a 12th-13th century minnesinger who composed and sang songs for important people at the royal court. Like most minnesinger, he was a poet as well as a composer, writing words for his own songs.
The Lied in the Romantic period was usually written by two different people: the poet wrote the words and then the composer “set the words” to music. 19th century composers mostly took great care to choose good poetry for their songs. The poetry was often by famous poets such as Goethe and Schiller.
Although most Lieder were composed in the Romantic period, the beginnings were there in the Classical music period. Mozart wrote a song called "Das Veilchen" ("The Violet") and Beethoven wrote several songs.
It was Schubert who was to be the greatest of all Lieder composers. Schubert wrote over 600 songs. Very often he wrote in a form which had been used by Walther von der Vogelweide: three verses of which the first two have the same music (A-A-B, or as von der Vogelweide called them: “Stollen, Stollen, Abgesang”). Other songs of his are what is known as “durchkomponiert” (“through composed”). Here each verse is different, so that the composer can express the words of each verse with different music. The wonderful thing about Schubert’s songs is the way in which the piano accompaniments help the voice and show the meaning of the words. The piano was a fairly new instrument at the time and could do things that would have been impossible on the harpsichord. One of his earliest songs is the famous "Erlkönig" ("Erlking"). The piano accompaniment is very difficult to play because the right hand has continuous repeated octaves which describe the galloping of the horse in the wild, stormy night. "Grettchen am Spinnrade" is a song which sets a poem from "Goethe's Faust". The young girl is sitting at the spinning-wheel thinking of her lover. The piano has a rippling accompaniment which sounds like the gentle clatter of the spinning-wheel. At the moment when the girl imagines her lover's kiss the piano part comes to a stop, then gradually starts up again as the girl wakes up to the world around her.
Composers often composed groups of songs which belong together. These are called a “song cycle” (“Liederkreis” in German). Schubert wrote two long ones: "Die Winterreise" ("The Winter Journey") and "Die schöne Müllerin" ("The Miller’s beautiful daughter"). Both are about love affairs which end sadly.
Robert Schumann wrote many fine songs. He was a pianist before he became a composer, so it is not surprising that the piano parts of his songs are at least as important as the voice part. His song-cycle "Dichterliebe" ("Poet’s love") contains some of his best songs. They often have a dream-like atmosphere. He especially liked setting words by the poets Joseph von Eichendorff and Heinrich Heine.
Johannes Brahms always made the singer’s part more important than the piano part. He learned a lot by studying Schubert’s songs and wrote some very famous Lieder. One of his best is the humorous "Vergebliches Ständchen" ("Serenade in vain"). His "Four Serious Songs" are very powerful. His famous "Wiegenlied" ("Lullaby"), a tune which everybody knows, is one of his songs.
Hugo Wolf is known almost only for his songs. They are very dramatic and he used some unusual harmonies which he had learned by listening to Wagner’s music. Some of Wolf’s songs are very short, he says a lot in a short space of time. His "Italian song book" and "Spanish song book" have some of his best songs.
Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler both wrote wonderful Lieder, although they are mostly with orchestral accompaniment. Mahler’s songs are inspired by folksong. He even uses them in his symphonies. "Das Lied von der Erde" is a song cycle for two singers (mezzo soprano and tenor) and orchestra.
Richard Strauss is one of the last great Lieder composers. His "Four last songs" (with orchestra) seem to be saying “goodbye” to a great period of music history.
An aurora, also called polar light, northern light or southern light, is a natural light display in the sky. They are usually seen in the high latitudes (Arctic and Antarctic) regions. Auroras are produced when the Earth's magnetosphere is disturbed by the solar wind.
An aurora around the North Pole is called the "Aurora borealis" or 'northern lights'. Around the South Pole it is the "Aurora australis" or 'dawn of the south' or 'southern lights'. It can be seen from long distances, stretching in the sky many hundreds of miles far.
Auroras can happen at any time, however they can only be seen at night because their light is not as strong as the light of day. Faint stars can even be seen through the aurora.
Many legends are associated with the aurora in all countries where this phenomenon regularly occurs.
An aurora occurs when the Sun sends off small particles into space. These particles are mainly electrons, with charge and energy, which means they contribute to electricity. Earth has a protective shield of energy around it. This is called the "magnetic field" and forms an elongated sphere around the Earth called the "magnetosphere". The Earth’s magnetic field keeps off most of the solar wind.
At high-latitude areas (polar areas), the magnetic field is vertical. It does not keep off particles of the solar wind which can come from the magnetosphere and hit the particles of the air (Earth's atmosphere). When they hit, the atmosphere is heated and excited and the excess energy gets away, a phenomenon which we see as moving lights in the sky above 100 km altitude typically. An aurora can be especially bright following a solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME), when the charged particles rip through the electromagnetic field because of their power.
Auroral phenomena have been observed on other planets that have a magnetic field, such as Jupiter, Saturn and more recently Mars. It is believed to be a widespread phenomenon in the Solar System and beyond.
Nordic countries
Nordic countries are a group of countries in Northern Europe. These countries include Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, and the territories of the Aland Islands and the Faroe Islands. Though often confused as such, Scandinavia is not equivalent to the Nordic countries. Scandinavia is a peninsula while the Nordic countries are recognized states. Sweden and Norway (and a small part of Finland) rest on the Scandinavian peninsula. Scandinavia and Finland together belong to a larger peninsula, Fennoscandia. Finns speak a non-Germanic language.
Nordic countries have similar state, law and culture. Historically, Nordic countries have maintained close connections. Nordic countries are primarily socialist democracies. Nordic countries have some political co-operation, such as the Nordic council. Cooperation with a larger group, the European Union, makes the Nordic cooperation even smaller.
Nordic countries have long, cold winters with warm days in the summer, but only a small part of Northern Norway and approximately half of Iceland is arctic, although Iceland lies below the Arctic Circle except for one small island.
Paasselkä devil
Paasselkä devils (Finnish "Päässelän pirut") are stories about balls of light at lake Paasselkä, Finland. Local people say that bright balls sometimes move above lake Paasselkä or near the lake in the forest. This kinds of lights are said to appear around the world. They are sometimes called ghost lights or will o' the wisps. Scientists does not know what ghost lights or will o' wisps are.
People have told these stories for a long time, so it is a part of folklore there. People thought that balls of light are devils. Some still believe that balls are alive or have mind, because they seem to act like that. Ball can follow fishermans boat of go to hide if you use your torch.
Lake Paasselkä appeared when big stone dropped from the sky millions of years ago. Such lake is called crater-lake. Magnetism in the middle of the lake is not normal.
You can see the balls from this website
Aurora (mythology)
Aurora was the ancient Roman equivalent of Eos. Eos was the ancient Greek goddess of the dawn. "Aurora" is the Latin word for dawn.
Aurora renews herself every morning at dawn and flies across the sky. She announces the morning's arrival. She has a brother and a sister. Her brother is the sun, and her sister is the moon. She also has many husbands and four sons, one for each cardinal direction: North, East, South, and West.
Aurora is comparable to Eos in Greek mythology and to Ushas in Hindu mythology.
One of her lovers was Tithonus. Aurora asked Zeus to grant immortality to Tithonus. However, she failed to ask him for eternal youth. As a result, Tithonus ended up aging eternally.
In Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" (i.i) Montague says of his lovesick son Romeo
In the poem "Tithonus" by Lord Alfred Tennyson, Aurora is described as folllows:
The asteroid 94 Aurora was named after her.
Ukko
Ukko was the most important god in Finnish paganism, a religion that was in Finland before Christianity. Ukko was god of sky and thunder. Ukko was an old man and he lived on the sky. He had a weapon - hammer or axe called "Ukonvasara". Lightning is from this weapon.
Finnish pagans had an image of this weapon made from metal on their necks. They believed that lightning does not hit people who have this image.
At Midsummer Finns gathered together and drank beer to honour Ukko. That was called "toast of Ukko".
Ukko is similar to Thor that was a sky god of most Scandinavians and Perun that is a Baltic sky god.
Väinämöinen
Väinämöinen is an important person in Finnish mythology. He was a wise man and he knew magic. He was a hero and had many adventures.
Väinämöinen was also a god. As such, he was worshipped.
Magic of Väinämöinen was in his songs. When he sings hills shake and water moves. He sings his enemy, Joukahainen, to sink in swamp.
Väinämöinen was bornt before Earth. He was floating in the sea. He was born a grown man. Her mother, Ilmatar got pregnant by the water and wind and carried her son for 30 years. A bird (Sotka) made a nest on Ilmatar´s knee and when the bird hatched her eggs (six of them made of iron, one pure gold), it burned Ilmatar´s knee and finally Ilmatar moved her knee and all the eggs flew into the sky and on the earth and were broken. From those pieces the Earth and sky, the stars, The sun and the moon were born.
Ilmarinen
Ilmarinen is an important person in Finnish mythology. He is a very good smith who made the sky. He also made the Sampo, a magical machine that makes salt, gold and food. He tried to create a new moon and a sun, but failed. Ilmarinen married one of Louhi´s daughters.
Finnish paganism
Finnish paganism was a pagan religion in Finland and Karelia before the Finnish people were Christian. Finnish paganism is close to Scandinavian paganism and Baltic paganism. The Finns believed that there were many gods.
Finnish paganism was animistic. This means that people believed nature was full of small and big spirits. The biggest spirits were gods who had names, the god of the sky was Ukko, the god of the forest was Tapio and the god of water was Ahti. There were many other spirits known by specific names.
A Shaman was a wise person who could perform magic. With the help from spirits, he could heal ill people and curse enemies.
Humans had a soul that was divided. "Self" and "me" were two different parts of the soul. If one's "self"-soul left him, he was not dead, but very ill. A Shaman could go to the spirit world to bring the soul back.
The Bear was considered a holy animal. If a bear was hunted down, he or she was celebrated with a ritual called "Peijainen", usually a big celebration involving food and drink. The purpose of the ritual was to pacify the soul of the bear. A happy soul would then be reincarnated into another bear, so that people could eat bears in the future. The swan was a holy bird and people believed that killing a swan would cause the killer to die.
Some trees and stones were holy to Finns, along with some forests. These places were often used to offer gods or spirits a sacrifice sacrifice. The sacrifice was gift intended to make the spirit happy. This spirit would then help humans. For example, a happy spirit of the sea would guarantee a plentiful catch for a fisherman. At later times things that were given to spirits were small, such as: money, flowers, pieces of silver, alcohol or food.
The Finns believed that Earth was flat like a disc. Above Earth was sky-dome, a pot that was upside down. In the middle of the Earth was a pillar holding the sky, so that it did not drop. The North star was a nail in the top of this pillar. Land of the dead, Tuonela, was under Earth. The way to Tuonela was at the base of pillar that holds the sky. The rotational movement of the pillar caused a great whirl of water at the base of the pillar called Kinahmi and this could be used as access way to Tuonela.
People hoped that their dead relatives would go to Tuonela, because they did not like ghosts. However some times dead relatives were asked to help living people. Sometimes shamans went to Tuonela to ask souls for help.
Feedback is a connection, a loop, between the cause and effect of a process.
Sometimes, output from an electronic source affects future input. This can form what is called a "feedback loop". In some cases the output reinforces the input, making it stronger; this is called "self-reinforcing", "positive", "runaway" or "amplifying". In other cases, the output blocks or stops some of the input; this is called a negative feedback loop.
Think about a sound system with input from a microphone and output to a loudspeaker. If the sound coming out of the loudspeaker is heard by the microphone, a loop is created, from speaker, to the microphone, through the cord, and back into the speaker. The loop is made up of sound and the electrical energy that the microphone and loudspeaker use to create that sound. If nothing stops the sound and electricity in the loop, it will travel faster and faster, which is why feedback starts out as a low hum and turns into a high squeal very quickly
This is an example of a positive feedback loop: the output reinforces the input; it makes the input stronger.
Think about two mirrors that face each other. The mirrors reflect each other infinitely, or forever, but in each reflection, the image in the mirror is slightly smaller than the image it reflects. The images get smaller and smaller until they are no longer visible. This is an example of a negative feedback loop: the output (the reflection) reduces the input; it makes the input smaller.
Warm temperature caused a glacier to melt. As the glacier melts, areas that were at one time covered by snow and ice are now water or land. Because snow and ice reflect heat but water and land absorb heat, this causes the glacier to melt faster as more snow and ice is melted. This type of positive feedback is an example of thermal runaway.
American mathematician Norbert Wiener made feedback loops more well known in 1948 in his book "Cybernetics". Cybernetics is the study of feedback loops and their role in communication and control.
Phosphate
A phosphate is a salt of phosphoric acid. Phosphates are important in biochemistry.
Phosphates have the formula PO and a molar mass of 94.973 g/mol. An example of a phosphate is sodium phosphate. Three different types of phosphates are known. They are orthophosphate, PO; metaphosphate, PO; and pyrophosphate, PO. They have a combining power of 3.
Phosphates are made of one phosphorus atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms.
Many phosphates do not dissolve in water.
The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain. It is in the front part of the brain. It contains about 15 billion cells, and is the latest brain structure to have evolved.
The cerebrum takes in data from sight and other sense organs, and 'makes sense' of it (interprets it). It controls consciousness and action (voluntary muscular activity). It plans, thinks, judges, and organises speech and information. These are the so-called 'higher mental functions'.
The cerebrum is divided into two "cerebral hemispheres". These two cerebral hemispheres are connected by three bands of nerve fibres, or commissures, which connect the two halves. The outer layers of the cerebrum are made up of the grey matter, and is called the cerebral cortex. The inner layers are made up of the white matter (nerve fibres), and the basal ganglia.
In the cerebrum, there are specific regions for each kind of stimulus and its response. For example, occipital lobe is the region for visual reception, temporal lobe for auditory reception, and parietal lobe for touch, smell, temperature and conscious association. The frontal lobe takes action, based on sensory input and other factors.
Karelia
Karelia is an area in eastern Fennoscandia. It is to the east from where Finnish people live. There are many opinions about what places exactly belong to Karelia.
Most of Karelia belongs to Russia today. Small parts of Karelia belong to Finland. On the Russian side of Karelia is the Republic of Karelia. On the Finnish side are the provinces of North Karelia and South Karelia.
The original people of Karelia are Karelians. Karelian people speak Karelian, a Finnic language very close to Finnish. Karelians knew many old poems. Many poems of the Finnish book Kalevala are from the Karelians. Today in the Republic of Karelia, Karelians are a minority and Russians are a majority. Some people fear Karelian culture and language will die out.
Most of Karelia was part of Finland until the Soviet Union took it in the Winter War. East Karelia was not. To make peace after World War II, Finland had to give most of Karelia to the Soviet Union. After peace, many people from the Soviet Union went to live in Karelia.
Kalevala is the Finnish national epic. This means it is a book that is very important to Finnish people.
Kalevala has many stories and folklores in it. The stories of Kalevala are poems that are very old. Long ago, people sang these poems. The poems have a unique metre that is not known outside Finnic languages. There are many themes in these stories from different times in the past. The oldest themes are from the stone age. Many of the poems are collected from Karelia and areas nearby.
Heroes have adventures in these stories. The most important heroes are Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkäinen and Kullervo. The enemies of heroes are Louhi and Joukahainen. Many stories in Kalevala are about two countries fighting each other. These countries are the land of Kalevala and land of Pohjola. The Land of Kalevala is the land of Heroes. Pohjola is the land of enemies. Pohjola is an evil and cold place somewhere far north.
Elias Lönnrot was a man who collected these poems and made a book of them. Kalevala has been translated into many languages. There is also an English Kalevala.
Edred of England
King Edred or "Eadred" (c. 923 – November 23 955) was King of England from 946 until his death. He was a son of King Edward the Elder and Edgiva of Kent. He was king after his brother, King Edmund I. Like both his older brothers, Edred was successful against the Vikings. Edred was a very religious man, but had very poor health (he could barely eat his food). He died on November 23 955, in Frome, Somerset, and was buried in the Old Minster at Winchester. His nephew, King Edwy, became king after him.
Plant pathology
Plant pathology, or phytopathology, is the study of plant diseases. Like animals, plants can get infected and damaged by viruses, bacteria and fungi.
It includes not only the harm done by pathogens (infectious organisms), but also harm done by environmental conditions.
Organisms which cause infectious disease include fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, plant viruses, viroids, virus-like organisms, phytoplasmas, protozoa, nematodes and parasitic plants.
Not included are ectoparasites like insects, mites, vertebrate, or other pests that affect plant health by eating plant tissues. Plant pathology involves the study of pathogen identification, disease cycles, economic impact, plant disease epidemiology, plant disease resistance, how plant diseases affect humans and animals, and how to manage plant diseases.
Plant pathology is of fundamental importance to agriculture.
Chytridiomycota
Chytridiomycota is a phylum of the Fungi kingdom. The name comes from chytridium (from the Greek "chytridion", meaning "little pot"): the structure containing unreleased spores.
The chytrids are the most primitive of the fungi. Many chytrids are found in fresh water. There are approximately 1,000 chytrid species, in 127 genera, distributed among 5 orders.
Chytrids get their energy mostly from non-living organic matter.
Both zoospores and gametes of the chytrids are mobile by their flagella, one whiplash per individual.
Some chytrid species are known to kill amphibians in large numbers. The actual process, however, is unknown.
List of U.S. states by traditional abbreviation
This is a list of traditional abbreviations for U.S. states and territories. These abbreviations (short names) were used in mailing addresses before the introduction of two-letter U.S. postal abbreviations. The traditional abbreviations are still commonly used in other ways besides mailing addresses. For example, they can be used in writing after a city (like in "Miami, Fla."). In 1987, the Secretary of Commerce switched to the two-letter State Alpha Code for state abbreviations.
Saprophyte
A saprophyte or saprotroph is an organism which gets its energy from dead and decaying organic matter. This may be decaying pieces of plants or animals. This means that saprophytes are heterotrophs. They are consumers in the food chain.
This is the typical life-style of fungi. Some fungi are parasites on living organisms, but most are saprophytes. Many bacteria and protozoa are also saprophytes. Most dead organic matter is eventually broken down and used by bacteria and fungi. Slime moulds are also saprophytes, as well as consuming bacteria. Examples of saprophytes are cheese mold, and yeast. The term "saprophyte" refers specifically to fungal and bacterial saprotrophs; animal saprotrophs are known as saprozoites.
Other terms, such as 'saprotroph' or 'saprobe' may be used instead of saprophyte. Strictly speaking, -phyte means 'plant'. The problem is that no embryophytes (land plants) are true saprotrophs, and bacteria and fungi are no longer considered plants. Nevertheless, saprophyte is such a well-known term that most writers continue to use it.
A heterotroph is a general term for an organism that needs organic material to get its carbon for growth and development. Many plants which lack chlorophyll need fungi to break down organic material for them. Traditionally, they were called saprophytes. Now the process is given a new name: myco-heterotrophy.
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Puccini (23 December 1858 - 29 November 1924) was the most famous Italian opera composer after Verdi. He wrote 16 operas, most of which are performed very often today. Many of his operatic songs are known by many people, especially the aria "Nessun dorma" from "Turandot" which was sung by Luciano Pavarotti for the BBC’s television coverage of the Football World Cup which was held in Italy in 1990.
Puccini was born in Lucca, Tuscany into a musical family. He was expected to follow the family tradition and become a church organist. He started playing the organ in churches near Lucca. He liked to improvise on the organ, playing popular tunes from Verdi’s operas. He soon realized that he wanted to be an opera composer. Eventually he persuaded his family to let him study at the Milan Conservatory. His earliest compositions showed that he had a great talent for writing beautiful melodies and that he was good at writing for the orchestra. His first opera to be published, "Edgar", had a story similar to that of Bizet’s "Carmen", but it was not a suitable story for Puccini.
"Manon Lescaut" was the first opera for which Puccini chose the story himself. It is the same story as Massenet’s opera "Manon". This made Puccini internationally famous. His next opera, "La bohème", produced in 1896, is often thought to be his best opera. He worked with two poets on this opera and, although they quarrelled a lot, the result was a work in which the music flowed beautifully like a conversation.
His next opera was "Tosca". When it was first performed in Rome in 1900 there were rumours that a bomb would be thrown, but nothing happened. "Tosca" was a great success. However, "Madama Butterfly" was hissed and booed at its first performance in Milan’s famous opera house La Scala in 1904.
It was at this time that Puccini married. He already had a son by Elvira, his wife, who had been married to someone else. When her husband died, she was able to marry Puccini. The marriage was not without difficulties. Elvira accused Puccini of having an affair with their servant girl. This servant girl committed suicide and there was a court case which resulted (after an autopsy) in Elvira being found innocent. Puccini was very upset by all this and did not compose much for several years.
When he finally started writing again his new opera "La fanciulla del West" was set in the American West at the time of the Goldrush. The music has very Impressionistic harmonies like that of Debussy. The way he writes for the orchestra shows the influence of Richard Strauss. The opera was first performed in New York. The world-famous tenor Enrico Caruso sang the main hero part and Arturo Toscanini was the conductor. With such a star cast it had to be a great success.
Puccini followed this by writing an operetta and two one-act operas. The best of these is "Gianni Schicchi" His last opera is "Turandot", which has a fairy-tale like story. While he was working very hard at it he developed throat cancer. He died of complication of the disease in autumn 1924 in Brussels. The whole of Italy went into mourning and Mussolini spoke at the funeral. Puccini had not quite managed to finish "Turandot". A man called Franco Alfano finished it using the sketches that Puccini had left.
Pharaoh Hound
The Pharaoh Hound is a breed of dog. Pharaoh Hounds always have a bright orange colour coat. They may have a small white spot on the front of their body. They need lots of physical exercise, and they are fast runners and can jump high. They need little brushing because their fur is very short. In the past, people used them to hunt rabbits. Now people keep them as pets.
The mycelium is the part of a fungus that is usually underground (or inside some another substance). It is composed of hyphae, which look like threads, or rootlets. The mat of hyphae may be very thickly woven. The fungus uses it to extract nutritients. The hyphae are usually syncytic, that is, they do not have complete cell walls. Fungal colonies composed of mycelium are found in and on soil and many other natural materials.
A mycelium may be tiny, forming a colony that is too small to see, or it may be extremely large and cover the floors of a large forest.
The part of the fungus which is most visible is the reproductive body. This is often, but not always, the stem and hat of the mushroom.
Lviv () is the capital city of Lviv Oblast in Ukraine. 860,000 people live in Lviv. 88% of the people living there are Ukrainian, 8% are Russian, and 1% are Polish. An extra 200,000 people commute to Lviv every day for work.
During the city's history, it was ruled by many countries. When part of Poland it was called Lwów (pronounced and sometimes spelled "Lvov"). In German, it was known as Lemberg, that was part of the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empires and again under Nazi German occupation. From 1350 until 1772 it belonged to the Kingdom of Poland and from 1918 to 1939 to the Republic of Poland.
Orchestra pit
An orchestra pit is the space where an orchestra plays in a theatre or opera house. The actors or singers are on the stage, and the orchestra pit is normally lower than the stage so that the audience can watch the play or opera. Depending on where they sit, the audience may just be able to see the heads of the musicians in the orchestra pit. It is important that singers can see the conductor so that they can watch the beat out of the corner of their eye. Opera houses nowadays often have close-circuit television monitors at the sides so that singers can watch the conductor even when they are not facing him.
The orchestra pit in the Bayreuth Festspielhaus is unusual. This opera house was designed by the composer Richard Wagner for the performance of his own operas. He did not want the audience to be able to see the orchestra at all, so it is very low. The orchestra members do not have to dress up in ties and jackets because they cannot be seen anyway.
Will o' the wisp