AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Though this cannot be seen directly, different parts of the cortex have different functions (see diagram). It plays a key role in memory, attention, perceptual awareness, thought, language, and consciousness.
It is a sheet of neural tissue that is outermost to the cerebrum of the mammalian brain. It has up to six layers of nerve cells. The human cerebral cortex is 2–4 mm (0.08–0.16 inches) thick.
In preserved brains, it is grey, so it is often called 'grey matter'. In contrast to gray matter that is formed from neurons and their unmyelinated fibers, the white matter below them is formed predominantly by myelinated axons interconnecting neurons in different regions of the cerebral cortex with each other and neurons in other parts of the central nervous system.
The surface of the cerebral cortex is folded in large mammals, such that more than two-thirds of it in the human brain is buried in the grooves.
The phylogenetically most recent part of the cerebral cortex, the neocortex, has six horizontal layers; the more ancient part of the cerebral cortex, the hippocampus, has at most three cellular layers. Neurons in various layers connect vertically to form small microcircuits, called 'columns'.
The neocortex is the newest part of the cerebral cortex to evolve. The six-layer neocortex is a distinguishing feature of mammals; it has been found in the brains of all mammals, but not in any other animals. In humans, 90% of the cerebral cortex is neocortex.
Other parts of the cerebral cortex are:
The cellular organization of the old cortex is different from the six-layer structure mentioned above.
A Matter of Life and Death is an album by Iron Maiden. It is their fourteenth album and went on sale on 5 September 2006.
The album talks a lot about war and death, as well as other parts of life. It was produced by Kevin Shirley.
It is a popular album, and sold within the top ten most popular album in several countries when it was released. It was the first Iron Maiden album to do this in the United States.
Playful Kiss
Mischievous Kiss (also known as Playful Kiss / It Started with a Kiss) is a Korean television series based on the popular anime/manga called "Itazurana Kiss". It has 14 episodes with more than 8 subtitles.
It is about a clumsy student named Oh Ha Ni. She is a senior student from Section F who has a very low IQ. Oh Ha Ni fell in love with the perfectionist Baek Seuk Jo. Baek has an IQ of 200 and is from section A. When Oh Ha Ni decided to Baek Seung Jo she loved him, he rejected her in front of the entire school. This embarrassed her. When Oh Ha Ni’s house is destroyed, they moved to her father’s long-time friend who turns out to be Baek Seung Jo’s dad. Now that they lived in the same house.
One World Film Festival
People In Need
People in Need (PIN, "Člověk v tísni" in Czech) is a Czech organization that does relief work and creates development projects around the world. It works in regions that are in crisis. At the same time, it supports human rights and democratic freedom. PIN is a nonprofit and non-governmental organization.
PIN cooperates with many other organizations such as: Alliance 2015, the Czech Forum for Development Cooperation (FoRS), the European Union Monitoring Center (EUMC), UNHCR, UNICEF, and many others.
PIN had a budget of over 13 million of Euro in 2008 and about 500 staff all over the world.). It works or worked in more than 40 countries.
PIN organizes the One World Film Festival each year to show human rights documentaries.
The organization was founded in 1992 by Šimon Pánek and by Jaromír Štětina. Pánek had been a student activist during the Velvet Revolution. Štětina was journalist who wrote about wars.
The Relief and Development Department of PIN helps victims of natural disasters and wars, works against poverty worldwide, and supports universal education. In 2009, the Relief and Development Department was working in eighteen countries in Asia (for example Afghanistan , Cambodia , Sri Lanka ), Africa (e.g. Ethiopia , Angola , Namibia ) and Europe (e. g. Romania , Ukraine, Czech Republic ). Programs focus on education, health care, clean drinking water, hygiene, and support for jobs that can continue for a long time.
People in Need supports people who oppose the government and the develop civil society in countries where the government its power to control many parts of daily life. People in Need also gives the Homo Homini award to a person protected human rights and developed democracy without using violence.
PIN has had programs to fight against poverty and social exclusion in the Czech Republic since 1999. They helped people from poor areas with housing, unemployment, or debt problems. Social Integration Programmes (SIP) started in 2006 and now works in more than 50 cities and towns in the Czech Republic. PIN also offers informative and educational programs in schools to teach about poverty and migration.
People in Need has been active in Chechnya and Ingushetia since 2000. In 2005, the Russian weekly Argumenty i Fakty claimed the organization supports Chechen separatist and terrorists. PIN said it did not. Then, Russia made the organization leave, but PIN was allowed back in 2007.
Ha Jin
Jīn Xuěfēi (simplified Chinese: 金雪飞; traditional Chinese: 金雪飛; born February 15, 1956) is a living Chinese-American writer. He uses the pen name Ha Jin (哈金). "Ha" comes from his favorite city, Harbin. In 1984, he went to America and began to write about China only in English. His work increased international attention to Chinese culture and history.
Ha Jin was born in Liaoning, China. His father was a military officer. Jin joined the People's Liberation Army during the Cultural Revolution when he was 13 years old. He began to teach himself about Chinese literature and to learn the high school curriculum at sixteen. He left the army when he was nineteen, as he entered Heilongjiang University. He got his B. A. degree in English studies there. Next, he earned a M.A. degree in Anglo-American literature at Shandong University.
Jin grew up in the chaos of early communist China. He was at Brandeis University when the 1989 Tiananmen incident happened. The way the Chinese government stopped the protest by force was important to Jin. It helped him decide to emigrate to the United States. It also made him choose to write in English "to preserve the integrity of his work." He eventually earned a Ph.D..
Jin sets many of his stories and novels in China in an imaginary place called Muji City. He has won the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel, "Waiting" (1999). He has received three Pushcart Prizes for fiction and a Kenyon Review Prize. Many of his short stories have appeared in "The Best American Short Stories" anthologies. His collection "Under The Red Flag" (1997) won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. "Ocean of Words" (1996) has been awarded the PEN/Hemingway Award. The novel "War Trash" (2004), set during the Korean War, won the PEN/Faulkner Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Jin teaches at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. He used to teach at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Jin was at the American Academy in Berlin, Germany, in the fall of 2008. He was a Mary Ellen von der Heyden Fellow for Fiction.
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
This prize is given in the United States. There are several other Pulitzer Prizes. The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is for writing by an American author. Usually this writing is about American life. It started as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.
Entries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year.
Raymond Carver
Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. Carver is considered a major American writer of the late 20th century. He also helped improve short story writing in the 1980s.
Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, a mill town on the Columbia River, and grew up in Yakima, Washington. His father was a skilled sawmill worker from Arkansas. He was a fisherman and a heavy drinker. Carver's mother sometimes worked as a waitress and as a clerk in a shop. He had one brother, James Franklin Carver, was born in 1943.
Carver studied at local schools in Amery, Wisconsin. In his spare time he read mostly novels by Mickey Spillane or publications such as Sports Afield and Outdoor Life and hunted and fished with friends and family. After graduating from Yakima High School in 1956, Carver worked with his father at a sawmill in California. In June 1957, aged 19, he married 16-year-old Maryann Burk. She had just graduated from a private Episcopal school for girls. Their daughter, Christine La Rae, was born in December 1957. When their second child, a boy named Vance Lindsay, was born the next year, Carver was 20. Carver supported his family by working as a janitor, sawmill laborer, delivery man, and library assistant. During their marriage, Maryann worked as a waitress, salesperson, administrative assistant, and high school English teacher.
Carver became interested in writing in California. He had moved there with his family because his mother-in-law had a home in Paradise. Carver attended a creative-writing course taught by the novelist John Gardner. Gardner became his mentor and had a major influence on Carver's life and career. Carver continued his studies first at Chico State University and then at Humboldt State College in Arcata, California, where he studied with Richard Cortez Day. Carver received his B.A. in 1963. During this period he was first published and served as editor for the university literary magazine called Toyon. Carver included some of his own writing under pen names. He later attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, for one year. Maryann graduated from San Jose State College in 1970 and taught English at Los Altos High School until 1977.
In the mid-1960s Carver and his family lived in Sacramento. He worked as a night custodian at Mercy Hospital. He sat in on classes at what was then Sacramento State College including workshops with poet Dennis Schmitz. Carver and Schmitz soon became friends, and Carver's first book of poems, "Near Klamath", was later written and published with helpful advice from Schmitz.
With his appearance in the respected "Foley collection," the impending publication of "Near Klamath" by the English Club of Sacramento State College, and the death of his father, 1967 was a landmark year for Carver. That was also the year that he moved his family to Palo Alto, California, so that he could take a job as a textbook editor for Science Research Associates. He worked there until he was fired in 1970 for his inappropriate writing style. In the 1970s and 1980s as his writing career began to take off, Carver taught for several years at universities throughout the United States.
During his years of working different jobs, rearing children, and trying to write, Carver started to drink heavily. He said that he eventually more or less gave up writing and started drinking all of the time. In the fall semester of 1973, Carver was a teacher in the Iowa Writers' Workshop with John Cheever, but Carver said that they did less teaching than drinking and almost no writing. The next year, after leaving Iowa City, Cheever went to a treatment center to try to overcome his alcoholism, but Carver continued drinking for three years. After going in the hospital three times (between June 1976 and February or March 1977), Carver began his 'second life' and stopped drinking on June 2, 1977, with the help of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Carver met the poet Tess Gallagher at a writers' conference in Dallas, Texas in November, 1977. Beginning in January, 1979, Carver and Gallagher lived together in El Paso, Texas, in a borrowed cabin near Port Angeles, in western Washington state, and in Tucson, Arizona. In 1980, they moved to Syracuse. Gallagher was the coordinator of the creative writing program at Syracuse University. Carver was a professor in the English department. He and Gallagher bought a house in Syracuse, at 832 Maryland Avenue. Later, the house became so popular that the couple had to hang a sign outside that read "Writers At Work" so that people would leave them alone. In 1982, Carver and first wife, Maryann, were divorced. He married Gallagher in 1988 in Reno, Nevada. Six weeks later, on August 2, 1988, Carver died in Port Angeles, Washington, from lung cancer at the age of 50. In the same year, he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Raymond Carver is buried at Ocean View Cemetery in Port Angeles, WA. The words on his grave are:
"LATE FRAGMENT"
"And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?"
"I did."
"And what did you want?"
"To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth."
Carver's career was dedicated to short stories and poetry. He often wrote about blue-collar experiences. These were similar to his own life. In the same way, he often included themes of alcoholism and recovery from his life.
His first published story appeared in 1960, titled "The Furious Seasons." His first collection, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?", was published in 1976. The story with the same name had already appeared in the collection, "Best American Short Stories 1967".
Tess Gallagher published five Carver stories after he died in a book called "Call If You Need Me". One of the stories, "Kindling", won an O. Henry Award in 1999. Throughout his lifetime Carver won six O. Henry Awards: the winning stories were: "Are These Actual Miles" (originally titled "What is it?") (1972), "Put Yourself in My Shoes" (1974), "Are You A Doctor?" (1975), "A Small, Good Thing" (1983), and "Errand" (1988).
Carver believed he would have died of alcoholism at the age of 40 if he had not found a way to stop drinking. When he knew the cancer would kill him, he wrote a poem about that bonus of 10 years, called "Gravy."
Ayale Dahir (2009) - Skidz My Friend
Oscar Hijuelos
Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (August 24, 1951 – October 12, 2013) was an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan. His parents were Cuban immigrants. He studied at the Corpus Christi School in Morningside Heights. Later, he attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College. He studied writing at the City College of New York and earned two degrees in Creative Writing there: his B.A. in1975 and M.A. in 1976. He had several jobs before becoming a full-time writer.
His first novel, "Our House in the Last World", was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love", received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film "The Mambo Kings" in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005.
Hijuelos has taught at Hofstra University. He is a faculty member in the Department of English at Duke University.
Hijuelos collapsed due to a heart attack while playing tennis in Manhattan and never regained consciousness. He was 62 and is survived by his wife Lori Marie Carlson.
Roman consul
A Roman consul was the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.
Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month.
The consuls were usually patricians, though after 367 BC plebs (common people; plebeians) could stand for election as consul.
Consuls had extensive power in peacetime (administrative, legislative and judicial), and in wartime often held the highest military command. They conducted some religious rites which could only be done by the highest state officials. Consuls also read auguries, an essential step before leading armies into the field.
The consuls could convene the Senate, and presided over its meetings. Each consul served as president of the Senate for a month. They could also summon any of the Roman assemblies and preside over them. Thus, the consuls conducted the elections and put legislative measures to the vote. When neither consul was within the city, their civic duties were assumed by the "praetor urbanus" (city prefect).
Each consul was accompanied in every public appearance by twelve "lictors", who displayed the magnificence of the office and served as his bodyguards. Each lictor held a "fasces", a bundle of rods that contained an axe. The rods symbolized the power of scourging, and the axe the power of capital punishment. When inside the city, the lictors removed the axes from the fasces to show that a citizen could not be executed without a trial. Upon entering the democratic assembly, the lictors would lower the fasces to show that the powers of the consuls derive from the people (populus romanus).
Outside the walls of Rome, the powers of the consuls were far greater in their role as commanders-in-chief of all Roman legions. It was in this function that the consuls were vested with full imperium (power).
When legions were ordered by a decree of the Senate, the consuls conducted the conscription. Upon entering the army, all soldiers had to take their oath of allegiance to the consuls. The consuls also oversaw the gathering of troops provided by Rome’s allies.
Within the city a consul could punish and arrest a citizen, but had no power to inflict capital punishment. When on campaign, however, a consul could inflict any punishment he saw fit on any soldier, officer, citizen or ally.
Each consul commanded an army, usually two legions strong, with the help of military tribunes and a quaestor who had financial duties. In the rare case that both consuls marched together, each one held the command for a day in turn. A typical consular army was about 20,000 men strong and consisted of two citizen and two allied legions. In the early years of the republic, Rome's enemies were in central Italy, so campaigns lasted a few months.
As Rome's frontiers expanded, in the 2nd century BC, the campaigns became lengthier. Rome was a warlike society, and very seldom did not wage war. So the consul upon entering office was expected by the Senate and the people to march his army against Rome's enemies, and expand the Roman frontiers. His soldiers expected to return to their homes after the campaign with spoils. If the consul won an overwhelming victory, he was hailed as imperator by his troops, and could request to be granted a triumph.
The consul could conduct the campaign as he saw fit, and had unlimited powers. However, after the campaign, he could be prosecuted for his misdeeds.
In the Roman Empire, the consuls were merely a figurative representative of Rome’s republican heritage. The consulate then held much less power and authority, since the emperor was the supreme leader. However, consuls were often high-ranking and important in their own right. Some were designated successors of their emperor. Also, emperors frequently appointed themselves as consuls.
The office survived (much altered) until the early 9th century AD.
TESOL
TESOL has more than one meaning:
TESOL International Association
TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.) is a global education association for English language teachers who teach speakers of others languages.
TESOL has some special interest groups called "Interest Sections". They promote research and continuing education in areas that are important to TESOL members. Current Interest Sections include the following:
TESOL was founded in 1966 and has corporate headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. TESOL has more than 13,000 members in more than 120 different countries. TESOL is an NGO under the United Nations.
TESOL has relationships with 98 independent organizations worldwide: 41 in the United States and 57 in Asia, the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa.
TESOL convenes an annual conference with papers, symposia, key note speakers, workshops, and annual meetings for the Interest Sections. Presenters speak on topics ranging from practical advice for the classroom to new theories for explaining language learning. The event also has a large book fair where most major publishers have displays. Usually around 10,000 people attend the conference. It was first held in 1966.
Each year, TESOL gives four awards, each to one of its members.
O. Henry Award
The O. Henry Award is given for especially good short stories. The prize is given each year. The award is named after the American short story author, O. Henry.
The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories is a book that is published each year with that year's twenty best stories from magazines in U.S. and Canadian, written in English.
The award itself is called The O. Henry "Award", not the O. Henry "Prize", though until recently there were first, second and third prize winners.
The award was first given in 1919. Money to support the award comes from the Society of Arts and Sciences. As of 2003, the series editor chooses twenty short stories and each one is called an O. Henry Prize Story. All stories originally written in English and published in an American or Canadian magazine can possibly win. Three people become jurors each year. The jurors get the twenty prize stories in text form. The author or publication name are not listed. Each juror works alone and chooses one special short story and comments on it.
The goal of The O. Henry Prize Stories is to improve the art of the short story. Starting in 2003, "The O. Henry Prize Stories" is dedicated to a writer who has made a major contribution to the art of the short story. The O. Henry Prize Stories 2007 was dedicated to Sherwood Anderson, a U.S. short-story writer. Jurors for 2007 were Charles D'Ambrosio, Lily Tuck, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
Laura Furman is now the series editor for "The O. Henry Prize Stories".
In 2009 Anchor books announced a change in the series tittle. Anchor is the publisher of The O. Henry Prize Stories. They worked with the PEN American Center and renamed the series the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories collection. Profits from selling The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2009 books went to PEN's Readers & Writers Program. This program sends well-known authors to under served inner-city schools.
In an interview for the Vintage Books and Anchor Books blog, editor Laura Furman called working with PEN a "natural partnership."
For more information or complete lists of yearly winners, visit The O. Henry Prize Stories website.
SimCity DS
SimCity DS, or SimCity Creator, is a simulation video game made in 2007 by Electronic Arts. The player can build a city, while trying to keep it healthy.
The player will be known as the "Mayor" throughout the game. They will have to look at five sheets to run their city.
Zones are the places where buildings can develop. They are different, and the "heavier" the zone, the more buildings grow. However, land value has a greater effect.
Certain facilities are called "needs". Power and water are considered "needs" in the game, although one is not completely mandatory.
"Advisers" are people you choose to help you build a city.
Power lines are wires that conduct electricity through to another place. Many have transformers. The voltage of the power at the end is usually 100V (Japan), 120V (North and Central America, parts of South America and Africa, and Saudi Arabia), or 220-240V (most of the rest of the world), but is much higher while going through the electric power transmission lines. The power at the end is then safe enough to be used when "stepped-down" by a transformer.
The original power is made at a power plant. As the power is sent through the power lines, sometimes it encounters spots that it cannot go through. Then it will need to raise its voltage with a step-up transformer. The act is called "stepping up". Where the electric power distribution reaches buildings, this voltage is too dangerous to be used, so it goes through a step-down transformer. This is called "stepping down". Then the electricity can be distributed to buildings.
Dean of Invention
Greco–Persian wars
The Greco–Persian Wars were a series of wars fought between Classical Greece and Persia's Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BC. The struggle lasted 50 years, from 499–449. Herodotus wrote a history of the war. Fifty years before the war started, Cyrus the Great had conquered the Greek colonies on the western coast of Asia Minor, an area the Greeks called Ionia. The Persians put a tyrant in charge of each city or polis. About 530 BC Cyrus died in battle.
Aristagoras, the Tyrant of Miletus was on an expedition to conquer the island of Naxos with Persian support, but that was a failure. Before he could be dismissed, Arisagoras encouraged Ionia to rebel against the Persians. This led to the Ionian Revolt. Aristagoras got support from Athens and Eretria, and together they burnt the Persian regional capital city, Sardis. The Persian king, now Darius the Great, vowed revenge.
The first Persian invasion of Greece began in 492 BC, led by the Persian general Mardonius. They successfully beat Thrace and Macedon, but several mishaps forced an early end to the rest of the campaign.p135-138.
In 490 BC a second force was sent to Greece, this time across the Aegean Sea. This expedition captured the Cyclades, then destroyed Eretria. On the way to Athens, the Persian force was decisively defeated by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon, ending Persian efforts at that time.
Darius then began to plan to completely conquer Greece, but died in 486 BC. Command passed to his son Xerxes. In 480 BC, Xerxes personally led the second Persian invasion of Greece with one of the largest ancient armies ever assembled.
Victory over the allied Greek states at the famous Battle of Thermopylae allowed the Persians to burn Athens (which had been evacuated) and overrun most of Greece. However, against the combined Greek fleet, the Persians suffered a severe defeat at the Battle of Salamis. The following year, the confederated Greeks went on the offensive, decisively defeating the Persian army at the Battle of Plataea, and ending the invasion of Greece by the Achaemenid Empire.
Much of what is known of these wars comes from Herodotus.
Although 449 BC saw the end of the wars started by the Ionian revolt, the two civilisations continued for more than a hundred years. The wars between Athens and Sparta allowed Persia to take back all she had lost in the Greco–Persian wars, until finally Alexander the Great put an end to the Achaemenid Empire. This is a brief summary of these later conflicts:
Windows Live
Windows Live is an internet product of Microsoft. Until 2005 its many services were under MSN. They moved them to Windows Live to show people that these services are made to work with Windows operating system. They used the term less after 2012.
The Windows Live family features many different services. The most famous service being Windows Live Hotmail. However, there are also many more free services provided by Windows Live which only requires one account to access. Google and Yahoo! compete against Windows Live with similarly diverse services.
Battle of Corinth
Perm Krai
Perm Krai is a "krai" (federal territory) of Russia that came into existence on 1 December 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast (province) and Komi–Permyak self-governing district. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject.
Perm Krai is located in the east of the East European Plain and the western slope of the Middle Ural Mountains. The length from north to south is ; length from west to east is .
Rivers of Perm Krai belong to the Kama River Basin, the largest tributary of the Volga River. There are more than 29,000 rivers in Perm Krai. Together they are more than long, but only two rivers have lengths exceeding ; the Kama () and the Chusovaya ().
The landscape is mostly low rolling hills covered by forests and fields. The Ural Mountains are in the eastern part of Perm Krai. The highest mountain Tulysmsky Kamen () is in the north east of the territory.
Caro–Kann defence
The Caro–Kann defence is a chess opening. It is a defence for Black when White opens by moving his King's pawn two squares on the first move. It begins:
Usually, the next moves are:
It is then followed by 3. (the Modern Variation), 3. (the Classical Variation), 3. (the Exchange Variation), or 3. (the Advance Variation). The modern variation (3.Nc3) is most popular.
The Caro–Kann, like the Sicilian defence and French defence, is an asymmetrical defence to 1.e4. These are sometimes called 'semi-open games'. The Caro is thought to be more solid and less dynamic than the others, which means that play is likely to be more quiet and positional. It may lead to good endgames for Black, who has the better pawn structure.
The opening is named after the English player Horatio Caro and the Austrian Marcus Kann, who studied the opening in 1886.
The most common way of handling the Caro–Kann, the Classical variation (often called the Capablanca variation) happens after the moves
For a long time, this was thought to be the best play for both sides in the Caro–Kann. White usually continues
Although White's pawn on h5 looks ready to attack, it can prove to be a weakness in an endgame.
This variation is a big reason that people think the Caro-Kann is a solid defence. Black makes very few compromises in his pawn structure, and plays c5 in time to fight for the d4 square. Black can castle queenside, castle kingside, or even leave his king in the centre. Should the game go to an endgame, Black often has good chances because of his solid pawn structure and kingside pawn majority.
Another solid positional line is the Modern variation. It happens after the moves
Played by the first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, today the variation is called either the Smyslov variation or, most often, the Modern variation.
The short-term goal of 4...Nd7 is to make developing his pieces easier by trading a pair of knights without damaging his pawn structure by the direct 4...Nf6. Play is similar to the Classical variation except that Black is not forced to play his QB to the g6 square. However, this freedom comes at a cost as White is able to take up space in the center. White often plays the aggressive 5.Ng5!? pressuring key points such as the f7-square.
This variation can lead to a quick mating trap with 5.Qe2 Ngf6?? 6.Nd6#.
Two variations begin with:
The Bronstein–Larsen Variation is after:
Black has chosen a worse pawn structure, and often castles queenside. Black does have compensation, with the open g-file for the rook and unusually active play for the Caro-Kann. It is generally considered somewhat double-edged.
The Korchnoi Variation arises after:
Viktor Korchnoi has played 5...exf6 many times (including his first world championship match with Anatoly Karpov), and this line has also been employed by Ulf Andersson. Black's 5...exf6 is thought to be sounder than 5...gxf6!? of the previous and offers Black fast development, though also giving White the superior pawn structure and long-term prospects.
The Advance variation is 3.e5:
The main replies are:
3...Bf5
is most often played. Against it are aggressive lines such as the Bayonet Attack (4.Nc3 e6 5.g4), a popular line in the 1980s and later favoured by Latvian Grandmaster Alexei Shirov. A more natural development 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 c5 6.Be3 was popularised by English Grandmaster Nigel Short and often seen in the 1990s.
3...c5 is an important alternative which avoids the opening theory on 3...Bf5. It was used by Botvinnik in his 1961 match with Tal. In comparison to the French defense, Black gains the tempo normally spent on ...e6. However, White can counter this by opening the centre with 4. dxc5. This exposes the black pawn on d5.
3...e6 is natural and playable, but when Black plays ...c5 (as he soon will do) he is a tempo behind the advance line of the French defence (1e4 e6 2.d5 d5 3.e5 c5).
The Exchange Variation is
1.e4 c6
2.d4 d5
3.exd5 cxd5.
The Panov-Botvinnik Attack begins with the move
4.c4.
This system often leads to typical isolated queen's pawn (IQP) positions, with White gaining rapid development, a grip on e5, and kingside attacking chances to make up for the long-term structural weakness of the isolated d4 pawn. The major variation in this line 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Nf3, when Black's main alternatives are 6...Bb4 (a position which often transposes into lines of the Nimzo-Indian defence) and 6...Be7, once the most common line. 6...Nc6?! is inferior as it is favourably met by 7.c5!, after which White plans on seizing the e5-square through the advance of his b-pawn to b5 or by exchanging the Black's Knight on c6 after Bb5.
The "true" Exchange Variation begins with
4.Bd3 Nc6
5.c3 Nf6
6.Bf4 Bg4
7.Qb3
This line is thought to have equal chances for both sides, and was tried by Bobby Fischer. Some of the strategic ideas are analogous to the Queen's Gambit declined, Exchange variation, (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5) with colours reversed.
This is 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3, played by Bobby Fischer in his youth. White gets rapid development and has options with the d-pawn. Black's logical and probably best reply is 3...Bg4. After 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3, the positional continuation, Black has the option of 5...Nf6 or 5...e6. 4...Bh5 is a complicated line, in which White can trap the bishop, though Black has much compensation.
The variation sets a trap: if Black plays along the lines of the Classical Variation, he gets in trouble after 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 (4...Nd7 is playable) 5.Ng3 Bg6?! (5...Bg4) 6.h4 h6 7.Ne5 Bh7 (7...Qd6 may be best) 8.Qh5! g6 (forced) 9.Bc4! e6 (9...gxh5?? 10.Bxf7#) 10.Qe2 with a huge advantage for White. Now 10...Qe7! is best. Instead, Lasker–Radsheer, 1908 and Alekhine-Bruce, 1938 ended quickly after, respectively, 10...Bg7?? 11.Nxf7! and 10...Nf6?? 11.Nxf7!
White can play 2.c4. Then Black may play 2...d5 (see ). This can transpose to the Panov–Botvinnik line given above, with 3.exd5 cxd5 4.d4 or White can capture twice on d5. Alternatively, Black may play 2...e5.
Also, White can play 2.Nc3. Then Black may play 2...d5. If White replies 3.d4 then we get the main Capablanca line or the Two knights variation. Or Black may play 2...g6.
The Caro–Kann can also be reached through the English Opening: 1.c4 c6 2.e4 d5.
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has ten codes for the Caro–Kann Defence, B10 to B19.
Also, more advanced:
Bronze Age collapse
The Bronze Age collapse is so called by historians who study the end of the Bronze Age.
The palace economies of the Aegean and Anatolia of the late Bronze Age were replaced, eventually, by the village cultures of the 'Greek Dark Ages'.
Between 1200 and 1150 BC, the cultural collapse of the Mycenaean kingdoms, the Hittite Empire in Anatolia and Syria, and the Egyptian Empire in Syria and Canaan, interrupted trade routes and extinguished literacy.
In the first phase of this period, almost every city between Troy and Gaza was violently destroyed, and often left unoccupied: examples include Hattusa, Mycenae, Ugarit.
The gradual end of the Dark Age saw the rise of settled Neo-Hittite Aramaean kingdoms of the mid-10th century BC, and the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Every important Anatolian site during the preceding late Bronze Age shows a destruction layer. It appears that civilization did not recover to the same level as that of the Hittites for another thousand years. Hattusa, the Hittite capital, was burned and abandoned, and never reoccupied. Troy was destroyed at least twice, before being abandoned until Roman times.
The sacking and burning of the sites of Enkomi, Kition, and Sinda may have happened twice, before they were abandoned. Originally, two waves of destruction, ca. 1230 BC by the Sea Peoples and ca. 1190 BC by Aegean refugees have been proposed.
Syrian sites previously showed evidence of trade links with Egypt and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age. Evidence at Ugarit shows that the destruction there occurred after the reign of Merenptah.
The last Bronze Age king of Ugarit, Ammurapi, was a contemporary of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma II. The exact dates of his reign are unknown. A letter by the king is preserved on one of the clay tablets found baked in the conflagration of the destruction of the city. Ammurapi stresses the seriousness of the crisis faced by many Near Eastern states from invasion by the advancing Sea Peoples in a dramatic response to a plea for assistance from the king of Alasiya (Cyprus):
My father, behold, the enemy's ships came (here); my cities(?) were burned, and they did evil things in my country. Does not my father know that all my troops and chariots(?) are in the Land of Hatti, and all my ships are in the Land of Lukka?...Thus, the country is abandoned to itself. May my father know it: the seven ships of the enemy that came here inflicted much damage upon us.
Unfortunately for Ugarit, no help arrived and Ugarit was burned to the ground at the end of the Bronze Age. A cuneiform tablet found in 1986 shows that Ugarit was destroyed after the death of Merneptah, about 1178 BC.
All centres along a coastal route from Gaza northward were destroyed, and not reoccupied for up to thirty years.
None of the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age survived. Destruction was heaviest at palaces and fortified sites. Thebes was one of the earliest examples of this. Its palace was sacked repeatedly between 1300 and 1200 BC. Eventually it was destroyed by fire.
At many other sites it is entirely unclear what happened. It is clear that Athens saw a significant decline during the Bronze Age Collapse. There is no evidence of any significant destruction at this site. Fortification at this site suggests fear of the decline in Athens. It is possible that the abandonment of Athens was not a violent affair and other causes have been suggested.
The Peloponnese was the worst affected in Greece by far. Up to 90% of small sites in the region were abandoned, which suggests a major depopulation in the region. Again, as with many of the sites of destruction in Greece, it is unclear how this destruction came about. The city of Mycenae for example was initially destroyed in an earthquake in 1250 BC as evidenced by the presence of crushed bodies buried in collapsed buildings. However, the site was rebuilt only to face destruction in 1190 BC as the result of a series of major fires. There is a suggestion by Robert Drews that the fires could have been the result of an attack on the site and its palace. This is denied by Eric Cline who points out the lack of archaeological evidence for an attack.
We see a similar situation in Tiryns in 1200 BC when an earthquake destroyed much of the city including its palace. It is likely however that the city continued to be inhabited for some time following the earthquake. As a result there is a general agreement that earthquakes did not permanently destroy Mycenae or Tiryns because physical destruction cannot fully explain the collapse. The cause of the continued decline of these sites could be environmental. In particular There was a lack of homegrown food. Palaces were important in managing and storing food imports. Their destruction made worse the more crucial factor of food shortage. The importance of trade is further supported by the lack of any evidence for violent or sudden decline in Mycenae.
The destruction on Pylos by fire around 1180 suggests a violent destruction to the city. There is some evidence of Pylos expecting a seaborne attack with tablets at Pylos discussing "Watchers guarding the coast". The tablets do not give any context as to what is being watched for and why. Regardless of what the threat from the sea was, it likely played a role in the decline. It would have hindered trade and perhaps vital food imports.
The end Bronze Age collapse marked the start of a period that has been called the Greek Dark Ages, which lasted for more than 400 years. The occupation of some cities, like Athens, did continue however their existence was of a much different nature. They had a more local sphere of influence, limited trade and an impoverished culture. It took centuries for Greece to recover.
Several cities were destroyed, Assyria lost northwestern cities which were reconquered by Tiglath-Pileser I after his ascension to kingship. Control of the Babylonian and Assyrian regions extended barely beyond the city limits. Babylon was sacked by the Elamites.
After apparently surviving for a while, the Egyptian Empire collapsed in the mid twelfth century BC (during the reign of Ramesses VI). This led to the Third Intermediate Period, that is, non-dynasty.
Robert Drews describes the collapse as "the worst disaster in ancient history, even more calamitous than the collapse of the Western Roman Empire". A number of people have spoken of the cultural memories of the disaster as stories of a "lost golden age". Hesiod for example spoke of Ages of Gold, Silver and Bronze, separated from the modern harsh cruel world of the Age of Iron by the Age of Heroes.
It was a period associated with the collapse of central authority, a depopulation, particularly of urban areas, the loss of literacy in Anatolia and the Aegean, and its restriction elsewhere, the disappearance of established patterns of long-distance international trade, and increasingly vicious struggles for power.
There are various theories put forward to explain the situation of collapse, many of them compatible with each other.
The Hekla 3 eruption was about this time, and is dated at 1159 BC by Egyptologists and British archeologists.
Earthquakes tend to occur in sequences or 'storms', where a major earthquake above 6.5 on the Richter magnitude scale can set off later earthquakes along the weakened fault line. When a map of earthquake occurrence is superimposed on a map of the sites destroyed in the Late Bronze Age, there is a very close correspondence.
Evidence includes the widespread findings of "Naue II-type swords" (coming from South-Eastern Europe) throughout the region, and Egyptian records of invading "northerners from all the lands".
The Ugarit correspondence at the time mentions invasions by tribes of such as the mysterious Sea Peoples. Equally, the last Linear B documents in the Aegean (dating to just before the collapse) reported a large rise in piracy, slave raiding and other attacks, particularly around Anatolia. Later fortresses along the Libyan coast, constructed and maintained by the Egyptians after the reign of Ramesses II, were built to reduce raiding.
This theory is strengthened by the fact that the collapse coincides with the appearance in the region of many new ethnic groups. Indo-European tribes such as the Phrygians, Thracians, Macedonians and Dorian Greeks seem to have arrived at this time – possibly from the north. There also seems to have been widespread migration of the Aramaeans – possibly from the South-East.
Ultimate reasons for these migrations could include drought, developments in warfare/weaponry, earthquakes or other natural disasters. This means that the migrations theory is not incompatible with the other theories mentioned here.
The Bronze Age collapse may be seen in the context of a technological history that saw the slow, comparatively continuous spread of iron-working technology in the region, beginning with precocious iron-working in what is now Bulgaria and Romania in the 13th and 12th centuries BC.
Leonard R. Palmer suggested that iron, whilst inferior to bronze weapons, was in more plentiful supply and so allowed larger armies of iron users to overwhelm the smaller armies of bronze-using chariotry.
It now seems that the disruption of long distance trade cut easy supplies of tin, making bronze impossible to make. Older implements were recycled and then iron substitutes were used.
Drought could have easily precipitated or hastened socio-economic problems and led to wars. More recently Brian Fagan has shown how the diversion of mid-winter storms, from the Atlantic to north of the Pyrenees and the Alps, bringing wetter conditions to Central Europe but drought to the Eastern Mediterranean, was associated with the Late Bronze Age collapse.
Robert Drews argues that massed infantry used newly developed weapons and armor. Cast rather than forged spearheads and long swords, a revolutionizing cut-and-thrust weapon, and javelins were used. The appearance of bronze foundries suggest "that mass production of bronze artifacts was suddenly important in the Aegean". For example, Homer uses "spears" as a virtual synonym for "warrior", suggesting the continued importance of the spear in combat.
Such new weaponry, used by a proto-hoplite model of infantry able to withstand attacks of massed chariotry, would destabilize states that were based upon the use of chariots by the ruling class. This precipitated an abrupt social collapse as raiders and/or infantry mercenaries began to conquer, loot, and burn the cities.
A general systems collapse has been put forward as an explanation for the reversals in culture. This theory raises the question of whether this collapse was the cause of, or the effect of, the Bronze Age collapse being discussed.
In the Middle East, a variety of factors — including population growth, soil degradation, drought, cast bronze weapon and iron production technologies — could have combined to push the relative price of weaponry (compared to arable land) to a level unsustainable for traditional warrior aristocracies. In complex societies which were increasingly fragile, this combination of factors may have contributed to the collapse.
The critical flaws of the late Bronze Age are its centralization, specialization, complexity and top-heavy political structure. These flaws then revealed themselves through revolts, defections, demographic crises (overpopulation), and wars between states. Other factors which could have placed increasing pressure on the fragile kingdoms include the aggression of the ‘Sea Peoples’, the effect of pirates on maritime trade, drought, crop failures, and famine.
Washington University of St. Louis is a research university in St. Louis.
Lions Gate Bridge
Andray Blatche
Evgeni Malkin
Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin (born July 31, 1986) is a Russian professional ice hockey centre. He currently plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL) and serves as their alternative captain. He was selected 2nd overall by the Penguins in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
He plays on Team Russia in the Olympics.
Malkin won the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2009.
Drew Doughty (born December 8, 1989) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman. He plays for the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was selected 2nd overall by the Kings in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
He plays on Team Canada in the Olympics where he won a gold medal in the 2010 Winter Olympics. Doughty was named to the all-rookie team in the 2008-09 NHL season. He won the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012.
Adolf Borsdorf
Adolph Borsdorf (born Dittmansdorf, Saxony, 25 December 1854; died London, 15 April 1923), was a German player of the French horn.
Borsdorf was born in Saxony in 1854. He studied the French horn at the Conservatoire in Dresden and played in a military band. In 1879, he moved to England where he stayed for the rest of his life, becoming the most important horn player in England. The conductor Hans Richter offered him at job in the orchestra at Covent Garden. In 1904, he joined the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra. The four horn players in that orchestra were excellent players and were often called “God’s Own Quartet”.
Borsdorf and his colleague Franz Paersch had learned to play on horns that were made in Germany. These had a wide bore (the hole through the tube). However, both players changed to playing instruments made in France by a horn-maker called Raoux. These instruments had a narrower bore. They were not quite as powerful but gave a particularly clear sound.
Borsdorf became professor at the Royal College of Music when it was founded in 1882. He also taught at the Royal Academy of Music. He soon became the best horn player in London. He was playing principal horn in the orchestra which Henry Wood conducted at the very first Promenade Concert in the Queen’s Hall in 1895 (the fourth horn was A.E.Brain, grandfather of Dennis Brain). He was also in the orchestra when Richard Strauss’s "Till Eulenspiegel" was given its first performance in England in 1896 with the composer conducting.