AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
In "palaeozoology", the evolution of those phyla with fossil records are studied: see List of animal phyla. In "palaeobotany", fossil plants are studied. In historical geology the formation, sequence and dating of rock strata give information about past environments.
A fossil is any kind of life that is more than ten thousand years old and preserved in any form that we can study today. The fossil record is always incomplete, and later discoveries may extend the known survival of a group. See Lazarus taxon.
Some palaeontologists study fossils of microorganisms, living things that are too small to see without a microscope, while other palaeontologists study fossils of giant dinosaurs.
Cotswolds
The Cotswolds is a range of hills in central England, sometimes called the "Heart of England", a hilly area reaching over 300 m. The area has been designated as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The highest point in the Cotswolds is Cleeve Hill at 330 m (1083 ft).
The Cotswolds lie within the current ceremonial counties of Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire. The county of Gloucestershire forms the largest area of the Cotswolds.
The spine of the Cotswolds runs southwest to northeast through six counties, particularly Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, and southern Warwickshire. The northern and western edges of the Cotswolds are marked by steep slopes down to the Severn valley and the Avon. These are a result of the broken edge of the limestone layer. On the eastern boundary is the city of Oxford and on the west is Stroud. To the south towns as Cirencester, Lechlade, Tetbury, Beverston and Fairford mark the southern limit of this region.
The area is characterised by attractive small towns and villages built of "Cotswold stone" (a yellow limestone). This limestone is rich in fossils. In the Middle Ages, the wool trade made the Cotswolds prosperous. Some of this money was put into the building of churches so the area has a number of large, handsome Cotswold stone "wool churches". The area remains rich and has attracted rich people who own second homes in the area or have chosen to retire to the Cotswolds.
Typical Cotswold towns are Bourton-on-the-Water, Broadway, Burford, Chipping Norton, Cirencester, Moreton-in-Marsh, Stow-on-the-Wold and Winchcombe. The town of Chipping Campden is famous as the home of the Arts and Crafts movement, that was founded by William Morris at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
The Cotswold Way is a long-distance footpath (approx 103 miles (166 km)) running the length of the AONB, mainly on the edge of the Cotswold escarpement with good views over the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham.
Piauí is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northeastern part of the country. The capital of Piauí is Teresina.
Piauí shares borders with the states of Maranhão (west), Ceará (east), Pernambuco (east) and Bahia (east and south). It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north.
Piauí has the shortest coastline of any of the Brazilian states that borders the Atlantic Ocean. Its coastline is only 66 km long. The capital, Teresina, is the only state capital in the northeast that is not on the coast. The reason for this is because, unlike the rest of the area, Piauí state was first colonised away from the coast and slowly expanded towards the ocean. The other states in the area started on the coast and grew inland.
The flag of Piaui was created on 24 July 1922. The blue canton and a star is for the state itself. The green and yellow stripes are for Brazil.
Cities in Piaui include:
Rio Grande do Norte is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northeastern part of the country. It is on the edge of the South American continent.
Rio Grande do Norte has a large coastline. The state is well known for its beaches and sand dunes. The air is the cleanest in South America.
Because of a large mountain chain called Serra da Borborema, Rio Grande do Norte has two main climates. The area along most of the coastline is very tropical. Inland, much of the state is very dry.
The dry climate is not only because by the low amount of rainfall but also because of the fact that it rarely rains at all. Often years go by with no or very little rain. Most of the interior of the state is part of the "Polygon of Droughts". This is an area which gets special attention from the federal government.
Rocas Atoll belongs to the state of Rio Grande do Norte. It is in the Atlantic Ocean, 260 km Northeast of Natal.
The first European to come to the region may have been the Spaniard Alonso de Ojeda in 1499. The northeastern tip of South America, cape São Roque, was first seen by European navigators in 1501. This was during a 1501-1502 Portuguese expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci. He named the spot after the saint of the day. The Vespucci expedition also named the Potengi river, "Rio Grande". The name is Portuguese for "Great River". The area and state were named after the river. For decades, no permanent European settlement was made in the area.
In the 16th century (between 1535 and 1598), the area was explored by French pirates. In 1598, the Portuguese built the "Forte dos Reis Magos". The next year, they created the city of Natal.
In 1633, the area was fought over between the Portuguese and the Dutch. In 1654, the Dutch were finally cast out.
During World War II, Rio Grande do Norte was used as an Allied airbase. The base was used to German-occupied North Africa.
In 1964, Latin America's first space launch site was built in Rio Grande do Norte; "Barreira do Inferno" (Hell's Barrier). It is often called the "Brazilian NASA".
Historically, the economy of Rio Grande do Norte has been based on sugar and cattle. In the 1980s, the state government has realised that tourism is a very good industry. Since then, more money is being used to build placed for tourists and repairing colonial buildings in major cities.
Fruit is also grown in Rio Grande do Norte. The state grows 70% of Brazil's melons. The state is famous for its mango and cashew fields. The world's largest cashew tree is there. It has a circumference of 500 metres and an area of 7,300m². It is 70 times the size of average cashew trees.
Natal is the capital and largest city in the state. Other cities include:
The flag was adopted on December 3 1957. It is based on a design by Luis de Camara Cascudo. In the middle of the flag is the coat of arms of the state. The coat of arms was adopted on July 1 1909. It shows a sailing boat at the coast in the middle. This is for the fishing and salt industries. Above this is a bar which shows two flowers on the sides and two cotton bolls in the center. To the sides of the shield are a coconut palm to the right and a carnauba palm to the left. The two palms are connected by two branches of sugar cane. The star above represents the state as part of Brazil.
Brazilian Federal District
The Brazilian Federal District or Distrito Federal is a part of Brazil, which is used to shelter Brasília, the federal capital. It is in the centre of the country.
The government of Brazil was moved to Distrito Federal on April 21, 1960. Before this, the Brazilian Federal District used to be the municipality of Rio de Janeiro. Afterwards, the municipality of Rio de Janeiro became the Estado da Guanabara (State of Guanabara), from 1960 until 1975. In 1975, the State of Guanabara and the State of Rio de Janeiro merged, to be named the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Originally, most of the people were local workers (called "Candangos"), who built the capital, and federal government workers who were sent to the new capital, Brasília. The capital is a planned city. It had areas built for homes, business, schools and other uses. Originally built for up to one million people, the city now has many more than one million people. Because of how the city was built, it has been hard for the city to grow. This has caused many people to live in cities around Brasília. A large percentage of the people of the Distrito Federal live outside the city now.
The white color is for peace. The green and yellow colors in the middle refer to the national colors of Brazil. The four yellow arrows are for the native people of Brazil. The arrows pointing into the four cardinal directions of the compass stands for the power moving out from the center. The yellow arrows also form a cross. This is a symbol of the Southern Cross carried by the explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral.
The flag was created by the poet Guilherme de Almeida, and was adopted by decree no. 1090 on August 25, 1969.
Hiromu Shinozuka
Zvečan
Zvečan is a town in north Kosovo, Serbia, near Kosovska Mitrovica. , about 16,600 people lived there. The town was first mentioned at the time of border disputes between Serbia and the Byzantine Empire between 1091 and 1094.
Rosario is a city in the center-east of Argentina, about NW from Buenos Aires. It is the main city of Santa Fe Province. As of 2008 Rosario metropolitan area has a population of around 1,300,000 inhabitants, making it Argentina's 3rd largest city. The city is on the well-known Argentine river of the Parana.
It's called Rosario because of 'Virgen del Rosario', which image remains at the cathedral, at the same place where the original chapel was.
Rosario is famous because of his nightlife, there are many discos that are open to very late, and the people are very friendly and kind. you can always find new friends
Gymnastics is a sport which involves doing exercises which need strength, flexibility, balance and control. This may include running, jumping, tumbling, somersaulting, flipping and balancing.
In women's gymnastics, there are four activities: floor, uneven bars, balance beam, and vault. In men's gymnastics, there are six activities: floor exercise, parallel bars, high bar, pommel horse, vault, and rings.
Gymnastics is a Summer Olympic sport.
Gymnastics is not just for girls, it can also be for boys as well.
Gymnastics began as a form of exercise in ancient Greece. It was one of the first sports in the Olympics.
There are several forms of gymnastics, including rhythmic gymnastics, artistic gymnastics, acrobatics, trampolining, and wheel gymnastics and no handed gymnastics. In "artistic gymnastics", gymnasts perform short routines using different pieces of equipment. "Acrobatics" involves showing balance and performing flips on the floor or in the air. In "trampolining", gymnasts do routines using only the trampoline. "Wheel gymnasts" exercise in a large wheel called a German wheel.
In "rhythmic gymnastics", gymnasts perform with ribbons, rope, ball, hoop and clubs. Usually, only females do rhythmic gymnastics because they are more flexible than males.
Federation Internationale de Gymnastique
Atahuallpa or Atawallpa (c. 1502 – 1533) was the 13th and last sovereign emperor of the Tahuantinsuyo, or Inca empire. He became emperor after defeating his younger half-brother Huáscar in a civil war that followed the death of their father, Inca Huayna Capac, from an infectious disease (maybe malaria or smallpox). During the civil war, the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro arrived and captured Atahuallpa, and used him to control the Inca empire. Eventually, the Spanish executed Atahuallpa. So ended the Inca Empire (although several weak puppet successors followed him.)
On the death of their father, the Emperor Huayna Capac, and their older brother, Ninan Cuyochi, who had been the heir, the empire was divided between the two surviving brothers, Huáscar and Atahualpa. Huascar got the major part of it with the capital Cusco, and Atahualpa the northern parts, including Quito (now the capital of Ecuador). For a couple of years, the two brothers reigned without problems. But Huascar demanded that Atahuallpa swear an oath to him. Atahuallpa refused, and the civil war began.
The final battle took place at Quipaipan, where Huascar was captured. Atahuallpa was resting in the city of Cajamarca in the Andes with his army of 80,000 troops on his way to the south and Cusco to claim his throne.
By this time the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro had established the city of Piura, the first Spanish settlement in Peru on July of 1532. After two months on the march, Pizarro had arrived at Cajamarca with just 168 men under his command and sent Hernando de Soto, friar Vicente de Valverde and native interpreter Felipillo to speak with Atahuallpa about the Spanish presence.
The Spanish envoys returned to Pizarro, who prepared a surprise attack against Atahuallpa's army in what became the Battle of Cajamarca on November 16, 1532.
According to Spanish law the Spanish officially declared war on the Inca people. When Atahuallpa coldly asked the priest Valverde by what authority he and his people could say such things, Valverde offered him a Bible, saying that the authority came from the words in it. He examined it and then asked why did it not speak to him. He then threw it to the ground. That gave the Spaniards the excuse they needed to wage war on the Incas. They opened fire, and over the course of 2 hours more than two thousand Inca soldiers were killed. The Spanish then imprisoned Atahuallpa in the Temple of the Sun.
Atahuallpa still could not believe the Spanish intended to take control of his kingdom. He thought that if he gave them the gold and silver they sought they would leave. In exchange for his release, he agreed to fill a large room with gold and promised the Spanish twice that amount in silver. Although he was stunned by the offer, Pizarro had no intention of releasing the Inca because he needed the ruler's influence over the native people to maintain order in the surrounding country.
But then Pizarro decided to have him executed because he feared he could be freed by an Inca General. Pizarro staged a mock trial and found Atahuallpa guilty of revolting against the Spanish and murdering Huáscar, his own brother. Atahuallpa was sentenced to execution by burning. He was horrified, since the Inca believed that the soul would not be able to go on to the afterlife if the body were burned. Friar Vicente de Valverde, who had earlier offered the Bible to Atahuallpa, intervened again, telling Atahuallpa that if he agreed to convert to Christianity he would convince the rest to commute the sentence. Atahualpa agreed to be baptized into the Christian faith. He was given the name Juan Santos Atahualpa and then was strangled with a garrote instead of being burned. Atahuallpa died on August 29, 1533.
Atahuallpa was succeeded by his brother, the puppet Inca Tupac Huallpa, and later by another brother Manco Inca Yupanqui.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg) is an opera by Richard Wagner. It is the only comic opera that Wagner wrote. Wagner wrote the words (the libretto) in 1862 and composed the music in 1867. It was first performed in Munich in 1868.
The story is set in the town of Nuremberg (German: Nürnberg) in 16th century Germany. It is about a group of Mastersingers. The Mastersingers (German: Meistersinger) were a guild of singers in Germany many centuries ago. The most famous of them was a man called Hans Sachs, who lived in the 16th century. Although Hans Sachs was a real person, the story of the opera was made up by Wagner. It is a story about a song contest.
The prelude (orchestral introduction) to the opera is very famous and is often played by itself at concerts. It has several tunes which are sometimes cleverly played at the same time (counterpoint). These tunes are used during the opera and are associated with particular people or ideas (such tunes are called leitmotifs).
The young knight Walther is in church and sees a beautiful young girl, Eva. He wants to know whether she is married. She tells him that she will be married to the person who wins the singing contest the next day. Walther tries to learn the art of the Mastersingers from David, who works for Hans Sachs, the cobbler. David himself is in love with Magdalene. The apprentices start to prepare the stage for the contest.
If Walther is to win the contest he will have to compose his own mastersong and sing it. He will have to compose it according to a lot of strict rules (the number of lines, the rhyming patterns etc.). When he meets the other Mastersingers he introduces himself, saying that he learned the art of singing from the ancient poet Walther von der Vogelweide and from nature itself. He sings this in a song which is very beautiful, but it does not obey the rules of the Mastersingers. The Mastersingers are not able to understand the beauty of his song.
One of the Mastersingers is the town clerk. His name is Beckmesser. He is a comic figure and Wagner makes him look very silly. Beckmesser is the “marker”. This means something like: an “adjudicator”. When a singer makes a “mistake” (disobeys the rules) the marker puts a chalkmark on the board. When Walther sings his song Beckmesser makes lots of chalkmarks. Hans Sachs is the only person who realizes the beauty of his song. There is a lot of shouting and Walther has to stand on a chair to finish his song.
A street in Nuremberg at night. Eva’s grand house is opposite Hans Sachs’ simple house. Eva’s father realizes she is in love with Walther. Hans is thinking about the young knight and how well he sings. Eva asks Hans who he thinks will be likely to win the song contest. Then she is called back by her father. Beckmesser has come and would like to serenade her (sing her a love song). Walther meets up with Eva and they wonder whether they should elope (run away together). Eva changes clothes with her maid. Hans Sachs stops them as they are about to elope. Beckmesser is tuning his lute ready to sing. Walther would like to argue with him but Eva gets him to sit quietly while Beckmesser sings. Hans Sachs, who is mending Beckmesser’s shoe, has other ideas: he sings a song himself, and this annoys Beckmesser who is trying to sing to the girl he thinks is Eva (but it is Eva’s maid in disguise). He tells Hans to stop singing. Hans says that he will stop, but he will hammer on his shoe every time he hears Beckmesser make a mistake. Beckmesser starts singing again, and Hans hammers lots of times. All the neighbours wake up and come into the street and argue and fight. In the end the night watchman comes and everybody goes back into their houses.
David is preparing a song for the midsummer festival. Then Walther arrives and tells Hans that a song came to him in a dream. Hans helps him to prepare the song for the contest. When they have left the workshop Beckmesser comes in and sees the piece of paper with the song. He picks it up when Hans returns and says that it is obvious that he, Hans, wants to enter the contest. Hans tells Beckmesser that he can have the song. Beckmesser is delighted and thinks he can now win Eva in marriage.
At the song contest Beckmesser tries to sing the song, but he sings it to his own tune which does not fit the words, and he gets the words all muddled up. Everyone laughs and he leaves the stage angrily, saying that Sachs wrote the song. Walther now sings his prize song. This time people realize how beautiful it is although it does not obey the usual rules. Walther can marry Eva.
Wagner’s operas have continuous music which develops is very logical ways using leitmotifs. In the prelude we hear several tunes which are leitmotifs that are to be important during the opera: a theme that represents the dignity of the mastersingers, a theme for passion which later becomes Walther’s prize song, the chattering of the apprentices etc. The music at the beginning of Act Three is also often played separately in the concert hall.
There are many beautiful moments in the opera. Wagner cleverly changes the style to suit the action, for example when Eva’s father is talking about the Mastersingers’ reputation in Germany we hear an old-fashioned recitative. Beckmesser is made to look stupid through his music which contrasts with Walther’s romantic music.
People have explained the meanings behind this opera in several ways. The basic story is
about the wonderful German art of singing. It is also about the fact that composers should be able to write music which is beautiful without having to obey rules that were made up long ago and have become old-fashioned. Wagner was trying to bring lots of changes to opera, making the drama the most important thing. Some people found his new ideas quite difficult to follow, and this may be why he chose, for once, to write a comic opera instead of a serious one based on mythology. The character of Beckmesser is a caricature of Eduard Hanslick, a famous music critic who did not like the music of Wagner and Bruckner but preferred the more traditional music of Brahms and Antonín Dvořák.
The opera has been criticized because Wagner may have meant the story to have an anti-Semitic (anti-Jewish) meaning. This is certainly the way that Hitler understood it. It was his favourite opera, and the idea of praising German art and song fitted in nicely with his racist views. The character of Beckmesser is also a caricature of a stereotype Jew.
Allahu Akbar is a Muslim saying. The exact words in Arabic mean "God is greater", but people know that saying "God is great" in the right time and place means the same as "God is Greater." "Allahu Akbar" is the first part of the Adhan, which people hear 5 times a day where Muslim people live together. Saying "God is Great" tells people in a few words what Islam believes and teaches.
This Arabic phrase was added to the Iraqi flag, in Saddam Hussein's handwriting, in 2001. Muslims say it before changing positions during their prayers. Allahu Akbar was the anthem of Libya during the rule of Muammar Gaddafi.
A shire is an administrative area of Great Britain (also county) and Australia. It is a kind of local government.
The first shires were created by the Anglo-Saxons in central and southern England. Shires were controlled by a royal official known as a "shire reeve" or sheriff. In modern English usage shires are sub-divided into districts.
Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland, the word is pronounced (to rhyme with "fire"). As a suffix in an English or Welsh place name it is pronounced (rhymes with "fir").
In England and Wales, the term "shire county" is used to refer to counties which are not metropolitan counties.
It can also be used in a narrower sense, referring only to traditional counties ending in "shire". These counties are typically (though not always) named after their county town.
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire, Yorkshire.
Of these, all but Huntingdonshire and Yorkshire are also administrative counties (but with different boundaries). Huntingdonshire is now administered as a district of Cambridgeshire, and Yorkshire is split between East, North, South and West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cumbria and County Durham.
Brecknockshire, Caernarvonshire, Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire
In Wales, the counties of Merioneth and Glamorgan are occasionally referred to with the "shire" suffix. The only traditional Welsh county that never takes "shire" is Anglesey.
Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire, Banffshire, Berwickshire, Clackmannanshire, Cromartyshire, Dumfriesshire, Dunbartonshire, Fifeshire, Inverness-shire, Kincardineshire, Kinross-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Lanarkshire, Morayshire, Nairnshire, Peeblesshire, Perthshire, Renfrewshire, Ross-shire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Stirlingshire, Wigtownshire
Shire is the most common word in Australia for the smallest local government areas by population. The states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia use shire for this unit. South Australia and Tasmania use district. A shire has the same powers as the next largest units, the town and city. In NSW, the expression 'The Shire' commonly refers to the Sutherland shire.
Fairy Tail is a shonen manga published in the "Weekly Shônen Magazine" from August 2, 2006 to July 26, 2017. It was created by Hiro Mashima. It has 545 chapters and 63 tankōbon volumes. The series is also aired. Some video games are released by Konami. In August 2012 The Phoenix Priestess, a Fairy Tail movie, was released.
The story of Fairy Tail focuses around the adventures of main characters Natsu and Lucy, who are sometimes with the members of the Fairy Tail Guild.
In the beginning, Lucy is a young sorceress (a "mage"), who wants to join Fairy Tail Guild. On her trip, she meets Natsu, a young boy, who is looking for Igneel the Salamander. She offers Natsu and Happy (his partner) a lunch and Natsu explains that Igneel is a dragon. Lucy talks about her dream to join a famous guild, which she later told him was the Fairy Tail Guild. Later, she is tricked and taken by Bora of Prominence to be sold as a slave. She is rescued by Natsu, who is the real Salamander, and a true member of Fairy Tail Guild. He offers her to be a member of Fairy Tail. Lucy says yes and joins the guild. Since then, Natsu and Lucy formed a team. This is the beginning of the adventures that the two have while carrying out missions from the guild.
According to Oricon, "Fairy Tail" was the eighth best-selling manga series in Japan for 2009. It became the fourth best in 2010 and 2011 and the fifth best of 2012. It also won the 2009 Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga.
In 2012, the anime series won the "Meilleur Anime Japonais" (best Japanese anime) award and the best French dubbing award at the 19th Anime & Manga Grand Prix in Paris, France.
Viol
The viol (rhymes with "mile") is a string instrument that is played with a bow. The viol was a popular instrument from the 15th to the 18th century. Small viols are held on the lap, and the larger ones are held between the knees, which gave them the name of "viol da gamba", meaning a leg viol. The bow is held with the palm of the hand facing upwards: the other way round from today's bowhold for violins, violas or cellos. The viol is a gentle-sounding instrument. When the violin family became popular in the 17th century and people started to go to concerts in large concert halls, and to operas, the viols became less important. They were never used in orchestras.
Viols are made of wood, and are similar to the violin family. Most viols have six strings, although this number did vary during the centuries. The strings were made of gut, and are not as tight as on a violin. The fingerboard has frets like a guitar, except that they were also made of gut. They were tied around the fingerboard, and could be moved for tuning. These frets help the player to find the exact place to put their fingers. Sometimes the top of the scrolls on the fingerboard were beautifully decorated. The instruments have sloped shoulders and a flat back. The viol, like the vihuela, from which it developed, has a bridge that is flatter than the bridge of a modern violin. This makes it easier to play chords. The bow was convex in shape, where a violin bow is concave.
Viols were made in different sizes. A set of viols of different sizes - perhaps four or five instruments - were sometimes kept together in a chest (large box) which is why they were called a "chest of viols". When they were played together people talked of a "consort of viols". A consort would normally have at least one treble, tenor and bass instrument. A "broken consort" meant a mixture of different instruments: viols, recorders etc. Lute and bass viol were often played together. They were tuned in fourths, with a major third in the middle.
The strings of a bass viol (equivalent to the cello in the modern violin family) are tuned (from the lowest note, nearly two octaves below middle C, upwards) to D - G - C - E - A -D. The tenor viol was often called a viola da gamba (literally: "viol of the leg"). It was the most popular size for solo music and many composers wrote sonatas for the viola da gamba. The biggest viol is called the violone. It developed into the modern double bass. This is why the double bass is a little different in shape from the violin, viola and cello. Some double bass players today hold the bow with the palm (inside) of the hand facing upwards, like viol players.
The viol was popular in the houses of rich people, and in the royal court. During the reign of Elizabeth I and, later, King Charles I composers such as William Byrd, John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons, John Jenkins and William Lawes wrote viol music. Solo sonatas were written by many composers including Marin Marais, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Karl Friedrich Abel. Some of the last and greatest fantasies for viol consort were written by Henry Purcell.
After the mid-18th century people forgot about the viol until the 20th century when there was a new interest in early music and people like Arnold Dolmetsch started making them again so that Renaissance and Baroque viol music could be played. Today there are many societies for people who are interested in playing the viol.
There are now many societies for people with an interest in the viol. One of these, The Viola da Gamba Society has a worldwide membership. Some modern composers have also written for the viol e.g. John Tavener, Sally Beamish, Thea Musgrave, Tan Dun and Poul Ruders. There is a group called Fretwork which perform viol music.
Regnitz
The Regnitz is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Main and is 58 km in length.
The river is formed by the confluence of the rivers Rednitz and Pegnitz, which meet in the city of Fürth. From there the Regnitz runs northwards through the cities of Erlangen and Forchheim. It finally meets the Main in the city of Bamberg.
Geir Ivarsøy
Geir Ivarsøy (June 27, 1957 – March 9, 2006) was the main programmer at Opera Software. He and Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner were part of a research group at the Norwegian state telephone company (now known as Telenor). They made browsing software called "MultiTorg Opera". Telenor stopped them from working on the program, but in 1995 Ivarsøy and Stephenson von Tetzchner got the rights to the software. They created a company of their own, and continued working on it.
Now known as Opera, the Internet browser has become very popular. Opera Software has grown to more than 380 employees since it first moved to its present offices in Oslo.
In January of 2004, Geir Ivarsøy said he wanted to resign as a board member in Opera Software, though he kept working in the company after that. In June of 2005 he was elected as a member of the nomination committee of the company.
Geir died in March 2006 after a long battle with cancer.
A color wheel is a circular chart that shows primary and secondary colors.
The color wheel most commonly used today is called the "HSV color wheel" which means "hue, saturation, value". The digital form of the HSV color wheel is called the RGB color wheel (shown below). The HSV/RGB color wheel is described below. There are two versions: one in which red, green and blue are regarded as the primary colors (called the "electronic" or "computer" color wheel); and one in which magenta, yellow, and cyan are regarded as the primary colors (called the "printer's color wheel").the primary colours are on the top.
"(* Primary means first)"
In the electronic color wheel used for electronic devices such as televisions and computers, red, green, and blue are regarded as the "primary colors" and magenta, yellow, and cyan are regarded as the "secondary colors".
The primary colors always appear on the color wheel. There are the three primary colors of light. These are called the three "additive colors". They are red (made in pigment by mixing yellow and magenta), green (made in pigment by mixing cyan and yellow), and blue (made in pigment by mixing magenta and cyan). The three primary colors of light are the secondary colors on the "printer's color wheel".
The primary colors of light can be mixed together to make secondary colors. A long time ago, people used to think that the primary colors were red, yellow and blue. Now we know they were wrong.
"(* Secondary means second)"
The secondary colors are on all color wheels. Secondary colors are made by mixing the primary colors of light together. The secondary colors of light are the primary colors of pigment on the printer's color wheel--the color wheel used for color printing. These three colors are called the "subtractive colors". They are magenta (a bright pink), yellow and cyan (a light greenish blue). The primary colors of light are the secondary colors on the "printer's color wheel". The three primary colors of pigment can be mixed to make red (magenta and yellow), green (yellow and cyan), and blue (cyan and magenta), but they do not appear as bright when they are made with pigment instead of light. The secondary colors can be mixed with the primary colors to make tertiary colors.
"(* Tertiary means third)" The tertiary colors are made by mixing a secondary and primary color together. The tertiary colors are orange, made by mixing red and yellow; chartreuse green ("yellow-green"), made by mixing green and yellow; spring green, made by mixing green and cyan; azure, made by mixing blue and cyan; violet, made by mixing blue and magenta; and rose, made by mixing red and magenta.
The tertiary colors are the same for both the "printer's color wheel" and the "electronic color wheel".
The 12 major colors of the color wheel, at 30 degree intervals on the "HSV color wheel" (shown above), are the following: red (0 degrees or 360 degrees), orange (30 degrees), yellow (60 degrees), chartreuse green (90 degrees), green (120 degrees), spring green (150 degrees), cyan (180 degrees), azure (210 degrees), blue (240 degrees), violet (270 degrees), magenta (300 degrees), and rose (330 degrees). This constitutes the complete set of primary, secondary, and tertiary color names.
Note: Red is shown twice so it can be compared to both orange and rose.
On the traditional red-yellow-blue pigment color wheel (in which red, yellow, and blue were regarded as the primary colors and orange, green, and violet were regarded as the secondary colors), the tertiary colors on a red-yellow-blue (RYB) color wheel were called red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, and red-orange.
Cherie Blair (born 23 September 1954) is a British barrister, sometimes known as Cherie Booth. She is the wife of former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair. She was born at Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Lancashire, and grew up in Waterloo, Lancashire. She is a daughter of actor Antony Booth.
She gained a first class degree from the London School of Economics.
She qualified as a barrister in 1976, and took silk in 1995. In 1999 she became a Recorder in the County Court and Crown Court.
Blair specialises in Human Rights law. She is a Catholic.
Regions of Slovakia
Since 1949 (except 1990-1996), Slovakia has been divided into a number of "kraje" (singular "kraj", usually translated as Regions, but mean rather county). Slovakia is currently divided into 8 regions. Each kraj is then divided into many "okresy" (singular "okres", usually translated as districts). Slovakia currently has 79 districts.
Each region is named after its capital.
The following list shows: name of the region, its capital, number of districts, population (as of 2001) and area.
Districts of Slovakia
An okres (in English district) is an administrative unit of Slovakia.
Several districts form one region. On the other hand, one district is made of several municipalities, which are further divided into cadastral areas. The current districts exist since 1996, which at first had their own offices, but in 2004, they were abolished and replaced by the Circuit Offices, which are usually responsible for several districts (except for the Nové Zámky District, which has two Circuit Offices), reducing districts to a little more than statistical units.
Slovakia currently has 79 districts, with the city of Bratislava divided into 5 districts and the city of Košice divided into 4 districts.
Žilina (German: "Sillein", Hungarian: "Zsolna") is a city in northwestern Slovakia.
The city is located in the northwestern Slovakia, at the confluence of Váh, Kysuca and Rajčanka rivers. It is surrounded by numerous mountains ranges, for example Lesser Fatra, Strážov Mountains and many others.
People have lived here since the Neolithic age. The Slavs started to move here in the 5th century. German colonists started to live here since the 13th century. When the Hussites burned the city down, it declined it for some time. It regained its position in the 19th century, when it became an important railway junction. Today, it is the fifth largest town in Slovakia and the third most important industrial centre in Slovakia.
The centre of the city is the "Mariánske námestie", with the city hall, baroque statue of the Virgin Mary and so on. Other sights include:
Žilina is the main industrial and business centre of the Váh river. The biggest employer is the Kia Motors company, which invested here 1 billion dollars and created 3000 work positions.
Renting
Renting (also called leasing) is where someone pays money to use something for a definite amount of time. This can be anything from a car or house to a DVD. The document that has all the details written on it is called the "lease". The person who owns the item that will be leased or rented is called the "lessor". The person who is paying the money to use the item is called the "lessee". If it is a house, building, or land that is being leased, the person who pays the money is called the "tenant". For example, a tenant farmer is a person who rents a farm from its owner.
In a closed-end lease (like a car), it is best to drive a vehicle with a residual value of at least 55%.
Prešov (; ) is a city in eastern Slovakia. With a population of approximately 91,000 it is the third-largest city in the country.
Prešov is a city lying in the Torysa river valley, in the historical Šariš region. It is located 33 km north of Košice, connected by the motorway D1.
People have lived in the area since the Paleolithic period. Prešov is first mentioned in 1247. It became a free royal town in 1374. Salt mining started here in the 16th century, in the nearby town of Solivar (which is now part of Prešov).
Trnava (German: "Tyrnau", Hungarian: "Nagyszombat") is a city in western Slovakia, around 50 km from the capital Bratislava. Because it has so many churches with its town walls, it is commonly called Little Rome or Slovak Rome.
The town was first mentioned in 1211. It received royal free town privileges as the first town in Slovakia in 1238. The town had its height as a cultural and religious centre, as it was seat of archbishopric from 1541 to 1820. The first horse-drawn railway in the Kingdom of Hungary was built to Trnava from Bratislava in 1846. It is again an seat of archbishopric since 1978. In 2003, French car manufacturer PSA started construction of automobile plant. It was finished in 2006
Nitra (Hungarian: "Nyitra" / "Nyitria" [archaic]; German: "Neutra" ()) is a city in western Slovakia (and the fifth largest urban settlement in Slovakia) situated at the foot of Zobor Mountain in the Nitra River valley.
Nitra is one of the oldest cities in Slovakia. It existed as a town since at least the early 9th century.
Nitra is a city with special history. People have lived there for at least 6000 years. It was an important center of the Celts (in the last few hundred years BC), and later the seat of the first known rulers of what is today Slovak territory, i.e. of :
Nitra is also site of the first known Church in Central and Eastern Europe, built in 828.
Trenčín (German: "Trentschin"; Hungarian: "Trencsén"; Latin: "Laugaritio") is a town in western Slovakia (close to the Czech border) on the Váh river.
The site is inhabited since time immemorial. Trenčín is best known for Roman writing below the Trenčín castle. In the 13th century, the castle was home to the legendary Matthew Csák, "Lord of the river Váh and the Tatra mountains".
Banská Bystrica (German: "Neusohl", Hungarian: "Besztercebánya", Latin: "Villa Nova"), is a large town in central Slovakia, on the Hron river.
It was first mentioned in 1255 as a royal free mining town. The town had rich ore deposits, mainly copper, and to a lesser extent silver, gold and iron. As the deposits were depleted, the town has reoriented to the industry. During the World War II, the Slovak National Uprising broke out in the town.
Social realism
Social realism is a style of art, fiction, movies and plays. It describes the daily life of workers and poor people. Social realist artists try to show people and their lives in a realistic way. This means that they often show things which are not beautiful or attractive. They may show people who are elderly, sick, sad, insane or have a disability. This does not mean that a Realist work of art or literature is ugly. It can be made beautiful by the way that the artist or writer creates it.
Social realism art does not belong to one period of history, but has been the style of some artists in different centuries and different countries. Caravaggio, who was a late Renaissance artist, painted "Realist" pictures. Several Spanish painters were "Realists": Velazquez, Esteban Murillo and Francisco de Goya. There were many realist painters in the 19th century, including Gustave Courbet in France and Luke Fildes in England.
Social Realism was popular in Russian art and literature. In the 20th century it became the main type of literature in the Soviet Union. It was also used by David Siqueiros to depict daily struggles of the people in his country, Mexico.
Scottish Premier League
The SPL is in a league format – a team gains points by playing another team in the league. Three points are awarded for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Once all the games have been played, the team at the top of the league wins the SPL trophy. If two or more teams are equal on points, then the difference between of goals scored and goals against is considered. The season runs from August until May each year. Each club will play each other at least three times before the table splits in half for the last part of the competition. Each club will then play five more games against clubs in their half of the table. Each team plays a total of 38 games.
Once every team has played each other three times the league splits into two halves for another five games. This means that the top six teams play each other once, and the bottom six teams play each other once. Many people do not like the SPL splitting. Many managers such as Jim Jeffries, the manager of Hearts at the time, has publicly asked for the split to be removed. The man in charge of the SPL, the Chief Executive, said that 11 out of the 12 SPL teams would need to agree and out of eight teams asked, five said that they wanted the split kept.
Teams cannot move between the two splits, meaning that even if a team in seventh place has more points than the team in sixth they will not move above them in the league. This happens often, for example in the 2005–06 season, the seventh placed club, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, gained more points than the fourth placed club, Hibernian but finished the league in seventh.
In the 2000–01 season, the SPL decided to stop the "winter break", forcing teams to play through January. This means that many games are stopped because of the damage to the pitch and very bad weather. Former Celtic manager Martin O'Neill, former Dundee manager Jim Duffy, and former Rangers manager Walter Smith are among those who have asked to start the winter break again. Former Rangers manager Alex McLeish accused the SPL of taking Scottish football "back to the Dark Ages" after its decision to stop the winter break, meaning that they were going back to an old, outdated system.
A total of four clubs can qualify for European competitions. The teams who finish first in the SPL qualify for the UEFA Champions League. The second and third-placed team, and the winner of the Scottish Cup, qualify for the UEFA Europa League.
Rangers and Celtic have recently played in the final of the UEFA Cup, with neither club winning in the final match. In 2003 Celtic played FC Porto in Seville, Spain but Porto won 3– 2. More recently, in 2008 Rangers played FC Zenit St. Petersburg in Manchester, England, but lost 2– 0. More than 200,000 Rangers fans went to Manchester to watch the game on several large televisions.
Normally, the team who finishes last in the SPL is relegated to the Scottish First Division and the team who finishes first in the First Division is promoted to the SPL. However, there are some criteria that the team must meet in order to be promoted. In 2003, Falkirk finished first in the Scottish First Division but their stadium did not meet the agreed criteria. Instead, they asked if they could share a stadium with Airdrie United while their own stadium was expanded. This caused arguments as the chairmen of the SPL clubs voted against this idea. Because Falkirk's stadium was too small, they were not promoted into the SPL, and the team who finished last in the SPL (Motherwell) was not relegated.
This situation almost happened again in 2004. There were many votes and threats of legal action from Partick Thistle, the team who finished last in the SPL. The situation was solved and Inverness Caledonian Thistle were allowed promotion, as long as they shared a stadium with their rivals Aberdeen at Pittodrie, a stadium over 100 miles (160 km) away.
In 2005, the stadium size criteria was reduced. A team playing in the SPL must now have at least 6,000 seats (down from 10,000). Standing room is not allowed in SPL grounds for safety reasons. This then allowed Inverness Caledonian Thistle to return to their home stadium during the 2005–06 season.
In the SPL, there are no restrictions on clubs signing players. The only rule on signing players is with general Scottish employment law. There are no salary caps or age restrictions. There are no restrictions on the size of the playing squad or restrictions on the number of players from other countries.
The only rule is the "Under-21" rule. This means that every club must name at least three players under the age of 21 in their match day squad. They do not need to play. There has been some criticism over this rule. Walter Smith, Gus MacPherson and Jim Jeffries all showed their disapproval.
Between the 1998–99 season and the 2001–02 season, the right to show SPL matches on television was held by Sky Sports, with highlights being shown by STV's Scotsport. Sky Sports withdrew from the SPL when their offer for £45 million, to continue showing live games on TV, was declined by the SPL. The SPL asked for more money. Discussions began in 2002 for a new pay-per-view satellite television channel, called "SPL TV". However Rangers and Celtic did not like the idea, and rejected it. Because of this, the remaining 10 SPL clubs announced their intention to resign from the league.
Even though a two-year television deal had been agreed with BBC Scotland in July 2002 (for less than the money previously offered by Sky Sports), the 10 non-Old Firm clubs confirmed their resignation from the SPL in August 2002, because they were unhappy with how the league voted which allowed the Old Firm clubs to stop any attempts to change SPL rules. The ten clubs withdrew their resignations in January 2003 after an agreement was reached to change the voting rules and to change the way the money from TV was given out to the SPL teams.
With BBC Scotland's television contract due to expire after the 2003–04 season, the SPL agreed a new television deal with Irish company Setanta Sports in February 2004 in a four-year deal worth £54 million. In June 2008, it was announced that a further four-year deal would start for the 2010–11 season, with the deal worth £125 million. However, Setanta went bankrupt in June 2009. In July, Sky Sports and ESPN agreed a £65 million five-year deal with the SPL.
The right to broadcast SPL games on radio is currently held by BBC Radio Scotland, who have held the rights since the SPL started in the 1998–99 season. BBC Radio Scotland also provide internet webcasts to all Scottish Premier League matches, having became the first broadcaster to introduce such a service in June 2000.