AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
In Europe, the pairs of towns are called twin towns, but other languages say friendship towns or partner towns; in North America and Australasia, the towns are called sister cities. Brother cities was the name of twinned cities in the old Soviet bloc.
Twin towns often (but not always) have similar populations, industries and other characteristics. Sometimes, even larger areas enter into "twinning" agreements, such as that between the provinces of Hainan in China and Jeju in South Korea.
The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836, although this was not officially established as a modern town twinning arrangement until 1967.
Coventry, United Kingdom was the first ever city to "twin" with another city (Stalingrad, Soviet Union) and hence began the modern practice of twinning.
After the Second World War twinning was a way to bring European people into a closer understanding of each other and to promote cross-border projects and peace.
For example, Coventry twinned with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, both cities having been heavily bombed during the war. Each twin city country is represented in a specific ward of the city and in each ward has a peace garden dedicated to that twin city.
Another early example of town twinning dates back to 1947 when Bristol Corporation (later Bristol City Council) sent five 'leading citizens' on a goodwill mission to Hanover.
Twinning is more popular in Europe than anywhere else, but the idea has now spread to other continents.
Since 1989, the European Union has had a support scheme for town twinning. In 2003 an annual budget of about 12 million euros was given to about 1,300 projects.
The first city in North America to establish a sister city relationship was Toledo, Ohio, United States, with Toledo, Spain in 1931. In 1944, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada twinned with the Ukrainian city of Odessa, which at the time was part of the Soviet Union. This was to show support and to help the allied port city during World War II.
Buffyverse
The Buffyverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Joss Whedon. It is the setting used for the movie "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (BtVS), the "BtVS" television series and the "Angel" television series. Comic books and novels based on both the Buffy and Angel television series and the Fray comic book also take place in the Buffyverse. The term Buffyverse was created by the fans of the shows and later used by Whedon as the name for his world. The term has also been used in the titles of published works.
The Buffyverse is a world where Vampires and demons exist. Many different types of fictional creatures and monsters can be found in this world. These creatures include werewolves, ghosts, trolls, and witches. It is a world where magic is used often. Most of the people in the Buffyverse do not know that these creatures live in this world or that magic exists.
The Slayer or "Chosen One" is a young girl with super-human strength, agility and stamina. It is her destiny to fight evil. When one Slayer is killed, a new girl is "chosen" to become the new Slayer. The new slayer has all of the power of the last Slayer as soon as she is chosen. The new Slayer also begins to have dreams that tell her of her future and Slayers from the past.
The first Slayer was created long before written history by a group of men who looked like Aborigine. She was created by combine her with a demon. As each Slayer is killed, the demon moves to the next slayer. It gives her the powers of the Slayer as well as the dreams of its past with the other slayers.
In the Buffyverse there are many different "dimensions" or worlds. Some are full of evil. A place where the borders between the normal world and an evil dimension are weak is called a Hellmouth. Evil in the normal world will naturally move towards a hellmouth. The area closest to a hellmouth will be home to much evil and strange circumstances.
There are two well known hellmouths in the Buffyverse. The first is located in Sunnydale, California. This is the place where the stories in "Buffy" take place. It is the largest and most powerful hellmouth in the Buffyverse. The second hellmouth is in Cleveland, Ohio. Not much is known about this hellmouth.
Volume can mean loudness, for example, in the volume control on computers and televisions which lets you tell the unit how loud you want its sound to be. Loudness is measured in Decibels (Db) and can be measured using a "Decibel Meter" or "sound level meter".
The Atlas Mountains (Amazigh: Idurar n Watlas, ) are a mountain range in northwest Africa. They extend about 2,400 km (1,500 miles) through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. The highest peak is Tougkal, with an elevation of 4,167 metres (13,671 ft) in southwestern Morocco. The second highest mountain is the M'Goun of 4071 meters. The southwestern part is called "Anti-Atlas".
The Atlas ranges separate the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines from the Sahara Desert. Most of the people living in the Atlas Mountains are part of Berber tribes in Morocco and in Algeria.
The mountains are named after the ancient Greek Titan, Atlas.
Genetic drift
Genetic drift is a random effect on biological populations. Its effect is to remove genetic variation from a population of living organisms.
In natural populations there are a number of forces acting. There are forces which add heritable variation to the population, such as mutation and recombination. There are also factors which remove variation from the population, and drift is one of these.
In a species, or an interbreeding population, there is usually a great deal of genetic variation. This genetic variation is in the form of different alleles at many loci (gene positions) on the chromosomes.
Changes in allele frequency are mainly caused by natural selection, that is, by differential survival, and contribution to the next generation. But as populations get smaller, there is a tendency for each generation to become more homozygous, with less variety of alleles. This is an effect similar to inbreeding: it leads to genetic uniformity.
Genetic drift is the name given to this loss of variation. It can affect evolution in surprisingly big ways, but "only when populations are quite small". What 'small' means would depend on the organism. 50 individuals is small, 5000 is not, 500 is maybe. The basic mechanism of drift is that genetic variety is reduced by chance, making the individuals more similar to each other, and hence more vulnerable.
1956 Winter Olympics
The 1956 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VII Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1956 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. The USSR debuted in these Winter Olympics. They immediately showed their strength by winning more medals than any other nation.
A total of 32 nations sent athletes to Cortina d'Ampezzo. Bolivia, Iran, and the USSR competed at the Winter Games for the first time. Korea, Liechtenstein, and Turkey returned after having missed the 1952 Winter Olympics. Argentina, Denmark, New Zealand, and Portugal did not compete at these Games, after participating in 1952.
Athletes from West Germany (FRG) and East Germany (GDR) competed together as the United Team of Germany at these Games, an arrangement that would continue for the next two Olympiads.
A Duster can be:
Feather duster
A feather duster is a tool used for cleaning. It consists typically of a handle and a segment composed of natural or artificial feathers which form the cleaning-contact surface. It is particularly useful for removing dust from surfaces.
Feather dusters use the principles of static electricity to take up small debris such as dander.
Electrostatics (also known as "static electricity") is the branch of physics that deals with apparently stationary electric charges.
Electrostatics involves the buildup of charge on the surface of objects due to contact with other surfaces.
Although charge exchange happens whenever any two surfaces contact and separate, the effects of charge exchange are usually only noticed when at least one of the surfaces has a high resistance to electrical flow. This is because the charges that transfer to or from the highly resistive surface are more or less trapped there for a long enough time for their effects to be observed.
These charges then remain on the object until they either bleed off to the ground or are quickly neutralized by a discharge: e.g., the familiar phenomenon of a static 'shock' is caused by the neutralization of charge built up in the body from contact with non-conductive surfaces.
Coat of arms of Dominican Republic
The coat of arms of the Dominican Republic, as described by Article 96 of the Dominican Constitution, has a shield supported by an olive branch (left) and a palm leaf (right); above the shield, a blue ribbon displays the national motto: "Dios, Patria, Libertad" ("God, Fatherland, Freedom"). Below the shield, there is a red ribbon with the words "República Dominicana" ("Dominican Republic").
In the center of the shield there is an opened Bible with a small cross above it, and on each side flanked by three spears, two of them holding Dominican flags. The Constitution does not specify in what page should be opened the Bible; only that is the "Book of Gospels, opened". In fact, only the 1916 Constitution said "opened in John, Chapter XIII" but that constitution was not valid because of the occupation of the country by United States.
The National Flag of Dominican Republic has a small coat of arms in the center of the white cross.
The first Dominican coat of arms was created by the first Dominican Constitution of 6 November 1844 but it was frequently changed until 1913; sometimes, two different coats of arms were used at the same time.
The official Dominican coat of arms, or "Great Seal of the Nation", was established in 1913, when Adolfo Nouel was the President of the Dominican Republic.
Eustis, Florida
Eustis is a city in Lake County, Florida, United States. Its current population as of 2005 is 17,683.
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
Fort Walton Beach is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. As of 2005, the population is estimated to be 19,817.
Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (December 15, 1942 – August 18, 2019) was an American politician. She served as Governor of Louisiana from 2004 through 2008 until being replaced by Bobby Jindal. She was born in New Iberia, Louisiana. Blanco is a member of the Democratic Party.
In December 2017, Blanco was diagnosed with an incurable form of eye melanoma and liver cancer. On April 19, 2019, it was announced that she was in hospice care. Blanco died on August 18, 2019 under hospice care in Lafayette, Louisiana at the age of 76.
Armenian hypothesis
Wilsonian Armenia
Wilsonian Armenia is used for the borders that were drawn by Woodrow Wilson at the Treaty of Sèvres. The area was to the north and to the west side of Trabzon Province to provide the DRA an area to the Black Sea. The Armenian national fight for "Western Armenia" being somewhat part of the newly established Turkish republic dropped from the table.
Yasuo Fukuda
Mercenaries are soldiers who fight mainly for money, rather than for their country or for their political beliefs.
Mercenaries are a very old phenomenon. They are mentioned in the Old Testament, and King David had a bodyguard of Cretan and Philistine mercenaries. The Carthaginians often used mercenaries. The so-called Free Companies in the Middle Ages were mercenary companies of rogue knights and archers. The Japanese "ronin" were mercenary samurai.
For many years in the Middle Ages, soldiers from Switzerland fought battles for whoever paid them. The popes would hire soldiers from Switzerland to fight for them. The Swiss Guard is all that is left of Switzerland's mercenary tradition, but it is no longer a mercenary force because all its members are Catholic, and they are prepared to fight not for their country but for their beliefs.
Soldiers of professional volunteer armies, like the US Army, are not considered as mercenaries since they fight for their country and fatherland. Likewise, foreign volunteers in standing armies, such as French Foreign Legion, are not considered as mercenaries since they are loyal to the country that they serve. However, various private military contractors are considered as mercenaries.
Kere
Kere ( or Kerey) is a lake in Kazakhstan, in Akmola Province. Its area is 63.8 square kilometres. It is about 10 km south of Lake Tengiz
Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Jean-Pierre Jeunet (born 3 September 1953 in Roanne, Loire, France) is a French movie director.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short movies while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He made friends with Marc Caro. Caro was a designer and comic book artist. Caro worked on many of Jeunet's movies with him.
Together, Jeunet and Caro directed award-winning animations. Their first live-action movie was "The Bunker of the Last Gunshots" (1981). It was a short movie about soldiers in a futuristic world. Jeunet also directed numerous television advertisements and music videos.
Jeunet and Caro's first full length movie was "Delicatessen" (1991). It was a black comedy set in a famine-plagued future. Next came "The City of Lost Children" (1995). It was a dark fantasy movie with a story about a doctor who kidnaps children in order to steal their dreams.
Because "The City of Lost Children" was well liked, Jeunet was asked to direct the fourth movie in the Alien series - "" (1997). Though not well received by critics, "Alien: Resurrection" turned a profit at the box office.
Jeunet returned to France after making "Alien: Resurrection". The fact that he had made a Hollywood movie gave him freedom on his next movie, "Amélie". "Amélie" is lighter and more romantic than his earlier movies. This story was a huge success worldwide. It was nominated for several Academy Awards. For this movie he also got an European Film Award for Best Director.
In 2004, Jeunet released "A Very Long Engagement". It is based on the novel by Sebastien Japrisot. The movie is set after World War I. It is about a woman (played by Audrey Tautou) looking for her missing lover.
Graham Yost
Graham Yost is a Canadian movie and television screenwriter. His most famous works are the 1994 movie "Speed", "Broken Arrow", and "Hard Rain". Yost did not write the dialog for "Speed". The dialog was written by Joss Whedon.
He has also written for the television series "Herman's Head", "Band of Brothers", and "Boomtown". More recently, he is the creator of the NBC drama "Raines" starring Jeff Goldblum that premiered on March 15, 2007.
Yost won an Emmy award for his part in the mini-series "From the Earth to the Moon" and for his involvement in "The Pacific". Graham also won a Golden Globe for his work on HBO miniseries, "Band of Brothers". Graham was one of the writers for the show.
Longboat
A longboat was an open boat used on-board ships during the age of the sailing ships. The original name was 'Shallop' but was changed to longboat in the 18th century. A ship or vessel would carry several ship's boats for various uses. The most important would be a longboat, an open boat to be rowed by up to eight or ten . The longboat had rowing benches designed for up to two men to an oar. A longboat was designed for use in rough water and could be rigged for sails.
One of its main uses was as a pulling boat. Another was to . When a ship was at anchor, longboats carried people and supplies between ship and shore.
Jarrow is a town in England. It has 27,000 people.
Romans had set up a fort near Jarrow in the 1st century. Later in the 5th century, Anglo-Saxons occupied the location. It is not well known when Jarrow was first built. The name of "Jarrow" has been used from 750. The monastery of St Paul is the sister monastery of Monkwearmouth in Sunderland.
Jarrow is part of the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside.
1952 Winter Olympics
The 1952 Winter Olympics, officially known as the VI Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1952 in Oslo, Norway.
A total of 30 nations sent athletes to compete at these Games, which was the highest number to that date. This was the first time New Zealand and Portugal participated in the Winter Olympic Games. Australia, Germany, and Japan returned, after having missed the 1948 Winter Olympics. Korea, Liechtenstein, and Turkey did not participate in 1952, after having competed in 1948.
1940 Summer Olympics
The 1940 Summer Olympics, officially known as Games of the XII Olympiad, were not held.
The games were planned for Tokyo in Japan, but the Japanese organizers withdrew in 1938 because of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
In 1938, the International Olympic Committee decided to hold the games at Helsinki in Finland.
The games were cancelled because of World War II.
1936 Winter Olympics
The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1936 in the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. Germany also hosted the Summer Olympics the same year in Berlin.
28 nations sent athletes to compete in Germany, to date the largest number at a Winter Games. Australia, Bulgaria, Greece, Liechtenstein, Spain, and Turkey all made their Winter Olympic debut in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and Estonia, Latvia, the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia all returned to the Games after having missed the 1932 Winter Olympics.
Atlas (anatomy)
In anatomy, the atlas is the top "cervical vertebra" (neck bones) of the spine. In anatomy, the "atlas" is written (C1) for short.
It is named for the Atlas of mythology, because it supports the head in the same way as Atlas held the world on his shoulders.
The "atlas" connects to a vertebra called the . Together they form the joint connecting the skull to the rest of the spine. The "atlas" and "axis" are different in shape from all the other vertebrae. They have more movement. They allow the head to nod and to rotate (turn).
Vertebra
Vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the individual irregular bones that make up the spinal column ("aka" ischis) – a flexuous and flexible column.
There are normally thirty-three (33) vertebrae in humans, including the five that are fused to form the sacrum (the others are separated by intervertebral discs) and the four coccygeal bones which form the "tailbone".
The upper three regions comprise the remaining 24, and are grouped under the names "cervical" (7 vertebrae), "thoracic" (12 vertebrae) and "lumbar" (5 vertebrae), according to the regions they occupy. Each vertebra has a hole through which the spinal cord passes.
1928 Winter Olympics
The 1928 Winter Olympics, officially known as the II Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1928 in St. Moritz, Switzerland. The 1928 Games were the first true "Winter Olympics" held on its own and not as a part of a "Summer Olympics". The preceding 1924 Winter Olympics were later renamed as Winter Olympics. They were actually part of the 1924 Summer Olympics. All preceding Winter Events of the Olympic Games were the winter sports part of the schedule of the Summer Games, and not as a separate Winter Games.
Athletes from 25 nations competed at these Games, up from 16 in 1924. This was the first time many countries attended the Winter Olympic Games, including Argentina, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Romania.
Local government in England
For the purposes of local government, England is divided into as many as four levels of administrative divisions. At some levels, various legislation has created alternative types of administrative division.
At the top level, England is divided into nine regions. Each one containing one or more county-level areas. The regions were created in 1994 and since the 1999 Euro-elections have been used as England's European Parliament constituencies. All have the same status. However London is the only region with any devolved power in the form of an elected mayor and the Greater London Authority. The regions also vary greatly in their areas and their populations.
England is divided by the Lieutenancies Act 1997 into areas for the appointment of Lord Lieutenants, who are historically the Crown's representative in a county. Although not actually defined as such, these areas have become known as ceremonial counties. These counties are sometimes used by people when describing where they live in England. However, many are not used as local government areas themselves, as many are too large or include large urban areas. They are taken into consideration though when drawing up Parliamentary constituency boundaries for example.
For administrative purposes, England is divided into four types of county-level subnational entities used for local governance.
There are six metropolitan counties, divided into metropolitan boroughs, which cover large urban areas outside London. They were created in 1974. In 1986 their county councils were abolished.
The "shire counties" were also created in 1974 and are legally known as non-metropolitan counties. They are divided into non-metropolitan districts and cover much of the country, though mainly the rural areas.
Unitary authorities were created in the 1990s and are single-tier authorities which combine the functions of county and district councils. They are defined either as counties consisting of a single district or districts of a county such as Berkshire that has no county council. The Isle of Wight is the exception, being a county council with no districts.
Greater London was created in 1965 and is sometimes considered as a metropolitan county but it is not defined as such. It is divided into the City of London and London boroughs.
Districts in England may also have the status of borough, city or royal borough.
The metropolitan counties were divided into metropolitan districts which are usually called boroughs. When the county councils were abolished the metropolitan districts gained much of their powers and therefore function similar to other unitary authorities.
Shire counties are divided into non-metropolitan districts. Power is shared with the county council, but shared differently to the metropolitan counties when first created.
The civil parish is the most local unit of government in England. Under the legislation that created Greater London, they are not permitted within its boundary. Not all of the rest of England is parished, though the number of parishes and total area parished is growing.
The following are exceptions to the general arrangements for local government in England and as a consequence are separately listed in legislation from the above types of local authorities where functions are allocated to particular groups of local authorities.
In Greater London, the 32 London borough councils have a status close to that of unitary authorities, but there is also a higher strategic tier, the Greater London Authority, which oversees some of the functions performed elsewhere by Counties including transport, policing, the fire brigade and also economic development.
As well as the same general functions performed by the surrounding London boroughs, the City of London has others which make it distinct from most local authorities, including extraterritorial possessions (such as Hampstead Heath and Queens Park recreation ground in Kilburn) and services (including veterinary services at Heathrow Airport and domestic asbestos disposal) elsewhere in Greater London.
Inner Temple and Middle Temple are small liberties within the boundary of the City of London which function as their own local authorities.
The Isles of Scilly have a "sui generis" local authority, the Isles of Scilly Council, which is similar to a unitary authority found in the rest of England.
A referendum was held in North East England on November 4, 2004 to see whether people there wished to have an elected regional assembly. As part of the referendum, voters were to have been asked to choose which system of unitary authorities they would like to see in the existing county council areas if the regional assembly was approved. In the event, the vote in the North East was a decisive "no", making the proposed local government changes moot.
Similar referendums in North West England and Yorkshire and the Humber were postponed indefinitely: on 8 November 2004 the Deputy Prime Minister announced "I will not therefore be bringing forward orders for referendums in either the North West, or Yorkshire and the Humber". *Statement by Deputy Prime Minister
Most of the proposed changes would have required no change in the county level entites, as they could have been be implemented by merging districts and abolition of the county council. Where borders were crossed, however, changes would have been needed. This impacted Lancashire, where various parts were proposed for combination with Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen (both unitaries), Sefton (in Merseyside), Wigan (in Greater Manchester), and southern Cumbria; it also affects one proposal for North Yorkshire, which would have merged the district of Selby with the East Riding of Yorkshire. Few of the boundary changes would have involved creating new borders - only the proposals to combine Blackpool with parts of Wyre, and to split West Lancashire between Wigan and Sefton would do this.
On 27 March, 2007, Local Government Minister Phil Woolas announced that sixteen councils bidding for unitary status had been short listed to go forward for public consultation. On 26 July, 2007 Wollas' successor John Healey announced that nine proposals would proceed, subject to the approval of Parliament in the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill (LGPIH). The Government expects those approved for implementation to be fully operational by April 2009. The short-listed proposals were those made by:
[*] - the Boundary Committee is asked to advise whether an alternative unitary proposal for Norwich based on revised council boundaries could deliver the required improvements.
[**] - if Bedford Borough Council’s proposals are implemented other authorities in Bedfordshire including Bedfordshire County Council will be invited to propose a unitary solution for the remaining area of Bedfordshire.
1928 Summer Olympics
The 1928 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad, were held at Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
The games were thought to be a success. Half of the expense of the games was covered by the Dutch government.
A total of 46 nations were represented at the Amsterdam Games. Malta, Panama, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) competed at the Olympic Games for the first time. Germany returned after having been banned in 1920 and 1924.
1924 Winter Olympics
The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, were held in 1924 in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, Europe (FRANCE) between 30 January and 2 February 1922. At first, the games were called "Semaine Internationale des Sports d'Hiver" ("International Winter Sports Week") and were held as part of the 1924 Summer Olympics. It was later decided by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the Games would be called the I Olympic Winter Games. Russia won the four man bobsled.
Athletes from 16 nations competed in the first Winter Olympic Games.
Realism is a way of portraying or thinking about reality. The word "realism" is used in many liberal arts in many different ways (such as in music, painting, and philosophy). It usually means trying to be true to reality. This is where the word "realistic" comes from. Realism is usually seen as an opposite of romanticism and idealism. It is also sometimes seen as an opposite of liberalism and classicism. It is used mainly to describe the way that some artists treat making art. These artists try to focus on the world as it really is, without unrealistic or supernatural ideas.
Realism began as an art movement and in the 19th century. These realists wanted to give an accurate description of nature and of the way people lived. Realism can also apply to artists and artworks from before the 19th century though.
The word "realism" first appeared in 1794, as the opposite of idealism in art and philosophy. The French magazine () used the word in 1826. It said that realism was the art-style of being accurate to real life, rather than following art of the past. Around this same time, realism was thought to have been one of the styles of philosophy within scholasticism. Then in the 1840s, realism began as an art movement in France. It focused on realistic modern life without avoiding what was unpleasant. It also focused on the lower or middle classes.
In music there was a movement called Verismo which was the Italian word for "reality". Verismo was popular in Italian opera around the end of the 19th century and early 20th century. Puccini was an opera composer whose style is typical of Verismo.
In politics, realism focuses on conflict and the harsher parts of history.
Realism as a literary movement began in Germany. The poet and writer Heinrich Heine tried in his books to accept the world as it is instead of trying to escape from it. Realistic writers tried to find good things about society. The interest in realism led to a movement called naturalism. This meant describing scenes in nature accurately. The novelist Emile Zola was a naturalist.
In philosophy, realism is also a way of thinking about knowledge and reality. It is usually the view that a particular thing is real whether or not it is known about. In fact, one person can be a realist about some things and a non-realist about other things. For example, some realists say that the past really happened no matter what we think about it. Other realist philosophers say that there are morals that really exist as facts. This is different from philosophers who say that things only exist because of people who are aware of them. For example, a non-realist philosopher might say beauty only exists because someone sees something that they think is beautiful. A realist philosopher might instead say that beauty is there whether anyone sees it or not.
The term social realism describes an art form in America in the 1930s which expressed social protest in a naturalistic way. This is different from what is usually called socialist realism which was a term used by Soviet politicians from 1932 to the mid 1980s to describe art which showed the workers' struggle, glorifying the Soviet Union.
In the early 20th century Realism led to other movements such as Dadaism and Surrealism.
Ridge (meteorology)
Hurricane Hunters
St. Vincent Island, Florida
Phencyclidine
Phencyclidine (a shortened version of the chemical name "phenylcyclohexylpiperidine"), usually called PCP, is an illegal drug. PCP is called a hallucinogenic drug: it causes people to hallucinate, and see, hear, and sense things that are not real. PCP is neurotoxic. It causes changes to the brain that can leave permanent damage. Before people started using PCP as an illegal drug, it was used as an anesthetic.
PCP is a white powder, made of tiny crystals. It dissolves easily in water or alcohol. PCP has many slang or 'street names'; the most common is "angel dust". Other slang names for PCP are angel hair, angel mist, aurora borealis, black whack, crystal, cyclones, devil dust, dummy dust, embalming fluid, hallucinogen, horse tranquilizer, jet fuel, magic dust, rocket fuel, or star dust. PCP is sometimes mixed with marijuana and called love boat or killer weed. PCP can also be mixed with crack; this is called "space basing".
PCP was created after World War II as a surgical anesthetic. It worked well, but there were serious side effects: hallucinations, jumbled speech, and delirium. Around the mid-to-late 1960s, the drug sprang up on the streets of San Francisco as a "Peace Pill." People soon realized that it was a very dangerous drug. In the San Francisco area, the use of PCP died out before the 1970s. At the same time, the drug was becoming more common in New York, and it spread quickly there. However, its use in this area died out, like in San Francisco. The United States made it illegal to use PCP for any reason, or to make the drug, because of its serious effects.
People can have many different effects from using PCP. The drug can affect the central nervous system (the brain and major nerves). This can cause many changes in the brain and body.
PCP often causes major changes in what a person senses (what he feels, sees, hears, smells, or tastes). For example:
PCP can also cause people to have a lot of energy, feel and act stronger than usual, and not feel pain.
PCP can be eaten, snorted, injected (shot into the body using a needle), or smoked. A person can take a low, medium, or high dose of PCP, and he will have different effects depending on which dose he takes. Low doses can cause a person to feel euphoric (very happy), relaxed, numb, detached from his own body, anxious, or confused. At low doses, people can also have sensory distortions (changes in how they hear, see, taste, smell, or feel things); amnesia (where the person cannot remember things normally); speech which does not make sense; blurred vision; or a blank stare. Medium doses can cause confusion, agitation, analgesia (not feeling pain), fever, excessive salivation, and "schizophrenic-type" behavior. High doses can cause seizures, respiratory failure (where the breathing systems in the body stop working), coma, fever, stroke, or death.
People who use PCP can get physically or psychologically (mentally) addicted to the drug. If an addicted person suddenly stops taking PCP, he will get withdrawal symptoms, like diarrhea, chills, and tremors (uncontrollable shaking in part of the body). In the brain, PCP affects multiple neurotransmitter systems. (Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers in the brain.) For example, it keeps the brain from getting rid of extra dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. These are all very important neurotransmitters in the brain. PCP can also affect some types of opioid receptors in the brain. It also inhibits (or blocks) the action of glutamate by blocking NMDA (N-methyl d-aspartate) receptors. Prescription drugs like diazepam (Valium), haloperidol (Haldol), and phentolamine may be used to help manage some of PCP's effects.
Philodendron
Philodendron ("tree lover") is a large genus of the Arum family, Araceae. Currently, about 900 different species are known. The plants are evergreen flowering plants. Some of them are vines, some can grow as epiphytes. Most of them grow like bushes. They can reach a height of about 6 meters.
Very often, "Philodendron" are grown as houseplants. They grow quickly, and are easy to care for. Sometimes "Monstera" are still called "Philodendron". That plant is very similar.
"Philodendron" are sometime grown because they can neutralise some poisons commonly found indoors, most notably formaldehyde, carbon monoxide and benzene.
Sagittarius could mean:
Sagittarius (astrology)
Sagittarius is the astrological Zodiac sign that represents the constellation Sagittarius. Sagittarius is from November 22 to December 17. The opposite sign to Sagittarius is Gemini, which is from May 21 to June 20.
In mythology Sagittarius is related to Greek myth of a centaur.
myths also says that the constellation Sagittarius represents chiron because of his responsible actions unlike all the other sagittarians.
In astrology Sagittarius is ruled by the planet Jupiter.
Astrologers broadly agree that the following are the characteristics of Sagittarius:
The Sagittarius has some very good characteristics, but with some very bad ones too. This is because they have two personalities, because the Centaur (Sagittarius' symbol), is half horse half person.
The Sagittarius's two personalities:
are always fighting each other. This everyday fight inside a Sagittarius' personality is seen in Sagittarius' sign, as a bow notching a heavy cross.
Shell Oil Company
Shell Oil Company is the United States-based subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell. Its parent is a multinational oil company ("oil major") of Anglo Dutch origins. Royal Dutch Shell is one of the largest oil companies in the world. About 22,000 Shell employees are based in the United States The head office in the United States is in Houston, Texas. Shell Oil Company, including its related companies, is one of the US’s largest oil and natural gas producers, natural gas marketers, gasoline marketers and petrochemical manufacturers.
Shell has approximately 25,000 Shell-branded gas stations in the US. They are Shell's most visible public presence. Shell also owns the Jiffy Lube chain of auto oil change stores. Since 1998, Shell Oil Company is a 50/50 partner with the Saudi Arabian government-owned oil company Saudi Aramco in Motiva Enterprises. Motiva is refining and marketing joint venture which owns and operates three oil refineries on the Gulf Coast of the United States. Motiva also operates 8,000 Shell-branded gas stations in the eastern and southern United States. Shell also used to hold 80% of an exploration firm called Pecten that explores and drills in various offshore locations including the oil basin near Douala, Cameroon. It sold the 80% to Addax Petroleum on 31 October 2011.
Noble Energy
Noble Energy, Inc. () of Houston, Texas is the modern name of Noble Affiliates Inc., by which it was known through the 1990s, and it is now an oil and natural gas exploration and production company with almost US$3 billion in income at #660 on the 2007 Fortune 1000 list of the largest American companies.
In 1985, Noble Affiliates started its subsidiary Noble Drilling Corporation () to shareholders, and that company in turn went public by the early 1990s, and then became Noble Corporation, an S&P 500 company.
In South America, the company operates in Argentina and Ecuador. In Africa, Noble Energy operates in Equatorial Guinea. And in Eurasia, it operates in the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea and China.
PCP could mean:
Pakenham railway line, Melbourne
The Pakenham Railway Line is a Railway in Melbourne, Victoria. It has 25 stations. It was run by M-Train until April 17, 2004, where Connex took over all Melbourne rail services.
Bold stations are places where trains end their journeys, "italic" stations have staff there to help people.
Branches from Frankston line at Caulfield station.
The Traralgon regional line follows on from this line.
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was an empire that lasted in Europe from 1804 to 1867. The empire was centered on present-day Austria and was a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire which collapsed on 1806. The last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II, became Francis I of Austria. It was succeeded by Austria-Hungary.
Pilot fish
The pilot fish ("Naucrates ductor") is a fish that lives in many places of the world. They live in warm water. They eat parasites on larger fish.
Pilot fish usually gather around sharks (also rays and sea turtles). They eat parasites on their host, and small pieces of food that their host does not eat (leftovers). When pilot fish are young, they gather around jellyfish and drifting seaweeds.
Pilot fish follow sharks because other animals which might eat them will not come near a shark. In return, sharks do not eat pilot fish because pilot fish eat their parasites. This is called a "mutualist" relationship. Small pilot fish are often seen swimming into the mouth of a shark to eat small pieces of food from the shark's teeth. Sailors even said that sharks and pilot fish act like close friends. When a ship captured "their" shark, the pilot fish followed the ship. Some people reported that the pilot fish would follow the ship for up to six weeks. And they do show signs of distress in the absence of their shark.
They will follow ships in other circumstances, sometimes for very long distances. Many pilot fish have been seen on the shores of England, which is a long way from where they usually live.
The pilot fish has a dark blue to blackish-silver colour, and are slightly lighter in colour underneath. They have between five and seven dark stripes going from top to bottom. When the fish is excited, these stripes disappear, and three large blue patches appear on its back. The pilot fish is usually about 30 cm long, but sometimes they can be as big as 70cm.
The pilot fish will not hurt people, and they are said to be good to eat. They are difficult to catch, though.
Bălţi
Bălţi is the third-largest city in the country of Moldova. It is the major city in the northern part of the country. During the Russian Empire (1812-1917), and later the Soviet era (1940-1990) the name was also spelled Beltsy, from its form in Russian. The city is 135 km north of the capital Chişinău, on the small river Răut, a branch of the Dniester (Nistru). It is located on a hilly landscape that, in the Middle Ages, was covered with forest. This forest has since been almost entirely cut down.
Floyd Landis
Floyd Landis (born October 14, 1975) is an American road racing cyclist, now best remembered because of the Tour de France 2006 doping scandal. He is a time-trial specialist and a strong climber.
Landis turned professional in 1999 with the Mercury Cycling Team. He joined the US Postal Service team in 2002, and moved to the Phonak Hearing Systems team in 2005.
Landis was fired from the Phonak team on 5 August 2006. The doping test after stage 17 of the 2006 Tour de France showed he had a very high testosterone/epitestosterone "ratio". The rules say that for every one unit of one chemical he should have four unites of the other (a 4 to one (4:1) ratio). Landis's test showed a ratio of 11:1.
Landis appealed to the USA Cycling and saying the tests were not done properly. USA Cycling asked three people from the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to study Landis's claims. On 20 September 2007 that group voted 2 to 1 against him. Landis was stripped of his title as winner of the 2006 Tour de France by the UCI, and banned from professional racing for two years.
Under UCI rules, the cyclist's national federation, in this case USA Cycling decides if the rules have been broken, but because of the science involved they asked the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to help.
Floyd Landis was born in Farmersville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
Landis was brought up a Mennonite, and rode his first races wearing sweatpants because his religion forbade wearing shorts; he won anyway. Landis' father, is a devout Mennonite, and tried to stop him from racing his bike by giving him extra chores. He had no time to train during the day, so he would sneak out of the house at night to train, sometimes at 1 or 2 a.m. and often in the freezing cold. His father, found that Floyd had been going out at night and often followed him at a distance to make sure he was not getting into trouble. Today, Floyd Landis's father is a supporter of his son and says he is one of Floyd's biggest fans.
Before the 2006 Tour de Francemost people thought the winner would be either Ivan Basso or Jan Ullrich, who finished second and third respectively in the 2005 tour. Days before the race, the Operación Puerto doping case forced Basso and Ullrich to withdraw, and Landis became one of the favourites to win
Landis performance up to Stage 16 of the Tour de France and his comeback in Stage 17 is surprising because of his hip ailment, called osteonecrosis, which was revealed in an article in "The New York Times" during the 2006 Tour de France. This means he was in constant pain.
On July 27, 2006 the Phonak Cycling Team said Floyd Landis had a urine test come back positive, having an unusually high ratio of the hormone testosterone to the hormone epitestosterone (T/E ratio) after Stage 17. Landis denied having doped. Phonak stated that he would be dismissed should the backup sample also test positive. It did, and Landis was suspended from professional cycling and dismissed from his team. Landis's personal physician later disclosed that the test had found a T/E ratio of 11:1 in Landis, far above the maximum allowable ratio of 4:1.
The tests were done by French government's anti-doping clinical laboratory, the National Laboratory for Doping Detection (LNDD)which is part of the Ministry of Youth, Sport, and Social Life, and is and is accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).)
On May 14, 2007 a meeting began between the USADA and Landis about the doping allegations. On September 20, 2007, the arbitrators found Landis guilty of doping.
As Landis forfeited his Tour title, the second place rider, Óscar Pereiro, became the race's official winner. Landis has also been banned from the sport for two years, dated retroactively to January 2007.
Landis's former team, Phonak has already been disbanded
The USADA had more B samples taken during the Tour de France 2006 examined. After Landis's attempts to prevent these tests had failed, traces of exogenous testosterone were found in several samples in a test of seven samples. These confirmation tests were done at the same French lab Landis's team was trying to discredit for the first positive results.
Landis did race in France in 2007 so that the appeal could be decided in the United States first. If the raced in France they may start their own investigation because doping is illegal in France.
Among Landis's lawyers are José Maria Buxeda of Spain and Howard L. Jacobs of the United States. Buxeda represented Roberto Heras when he was suspended for two years after testing positive for doping. Jacobs has also defended athletes accused of doping, such as cyclist Tyler Hamilton and sprinter Tim Montgomery. They are also representing Kazakh cyclist Alexandre Vinokourov who was accused of blood doping, kicked out of the 2007 Tour de France, and fired from his cycling team.
On September 20, 2007 Landis was found guilty of doping by a 2-1 vote of the hearing committee. The committee said that there were mistakes testing the sample so they will not say that there was a high amount of the natural chemical testosterone. But the committee did say was proof of artificial testosterone and that
Landis does have the right to appeal the decision of the committee to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Óscar Pereiro
Óscar Pereiro is a cyclist from Spain. He was born on 3 August 1977. He came second in the 2006 Tour de France. On 20 September 2007 he was declared the winner because Floyd Landis was found guilty of doping.
Hawksbill sea turtle
The hawksbill sea turtle or hawksbill turtle ("Eretmochelys imbricata") is an endangered species of turtle.
It is mostly seen in shallow lagoons and coral reefs where its food is. It is smaller than the Australian flatback turtle: it is usually a little more than two feet long. It usually weighs about 150 pounds. It has the most pointed beak among sea turtles, which is how it gets its name. The hawksbill gets food from inside coral reefs, eating sponges, shrimp, squid, and other invertebrates. The hawksbill pointy beak helps the turtle get food out of the tiny cracks and holes in which it searches.
Though they are sometimes seen in American waters, hawksbill turtles almost always nest in the warmer climates that run along the equator. Because people use the shell to make jewelry and other things, the hawksbill turtle is endangered.
1924 Summer Olympics
The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were held at Paris in France.
The games were thought to be successful, but costly. The events were well attended.
A total of 44 nations sent athletes to compete at the Paris games.
Germany was not invited to participate.
1906 Summer Olympics
The 1906 Summer Olympics, also called the 1906 Intercalated Games, were held in Athens, Greece.
These games are not awarded the title of "Olympiad" because they were held between the III and IV Olympiads. Medals were given to the participants during these games, but the medals are not officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee.
Athletes from 20 nations took part in the St. Louis games.
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, were held in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012, followed by the 2012 Paralympic Games from 29 August to 9 September.
London became the first city to host the modern Olympic Games three times; London also hosted the 1908 Summer Olympics and the 1948 Summer Olympics.
By the bid submission deadline of 15 July 2003, nine cities had submitted bids to host the 2012 Olympics. These cities were Havana, Istanbul, Leipzig, London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, and Rio de Janeiro.
On 18 May 2004 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) reduced the number of cities to five: London, Madrid, Moscow, New York, and Paris.
The IOC inspection team visited the five candidate cities during February and March 2005.