AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Germanicus was given an official triumph. A contemporary calendar gives 26 May as the day in which "Germanicus Caesar was borne into the city in triumph". Coins issued under his son Gaius (Caligula) depicted him on a triumphal chariot, with the reverse reading "Standards Recovered. Germans Defeated".
In AD 18 he was given charge of the eastern part of the empire. Germanicus died in Syria for unknown reasons.
PS10 solar power plant
The PS10 Solar Power Plant () is a solar power plant in Sanlucar la Mayor, Spain.
The plant is made up of a tower in the center of a large field covered in many mirrors. Each of the 624 moveable mirrors has an area of 120 m (1290 ft). The mirrors reflect the light from the Sun to the top of the tower. The heat warms water within pipes in the central tower turning it into steam. The steam drives turbines which, at peak, put out 11 MW of electricity.
The planet is really good for providing electricity during the hottest parts of the day when air conditioning demand is the highest.
Feyenoord
Headquarters is a name given to the main building of an organization where most of its functions are done. All large companies have headquarters which control the business. A large non-governmental organization also has a headquarter from where its activities are controlled. The term is also used regarding military organizations.
Estates Theatre
The Estates Theatre or Stavovské divadlo in Prague is one of the oldest and most beautiful opera houses in Europe.
The Estates Theatre became part of the National Theatre in 1948. People from three different groups perform opera, ballet, and drama there. The same people also perform at the National Theatre (Národní divadlo), and the Theatre Kolowrat (Divadlo Kolowrat).
The Estates Theatre was built during the late 18th century. At first it was known as Count Nostitz’s Theatre. The theatre opened in 1783 with a performance of the tragedy "Emilia Galotti" by the German playwright Gotthold Lessing. It was built in the Neoclassical style. Today it is one of the very few theatres that have hardly changed since it was built.
Although the building is almost the same it always was, the organisation of the Estates Theatre has changed several times in its history. In 1798 it was called the Estates Theatre when it was bought by the Czech Estates. When the Provisional Theatre opened in 1862 the Estates Theatre started to put on German plays and the name was changed to the Royal Provincial German Theatre. From 1920 and 1948 it got its name (Estates Theatre) back again. In 1948 the organization became part of the National Theatre and was called Tyl Theatre (after dramatist J.K. Tyl). In 1990, after some restoration, it became known again as the Estates Theatre.
Many of the greatest artists worked or had their music or plays performed in the Estates Theatre. In 1787 the first performance took place of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni". Mozart's opera "La Clemenza di Tito" was also staged there for the first time in celebration of the coronation of Emperor Leopold II. Other famous people who conducted there were Carl Maria von Weber and Gustav Mahler.
Czech plays were often performed there. This made people interested in performing in Czech and so, in 1848, the National Theatre was built.
Today the Estates Theatre is still famous for dramas, ballets and operas. The opera company especially perform the operas of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The movie about Mozart which was called Amadeus was filmed in the Estates Theatre.
National Theatre (Prague)
The Národní Divadlo or the National Theatre in Prague is a very famous building which has been very important for more than 150 years for the culture of Czech history.
In the middle of the 19th century there were a lot of political changes in Europe. Prague had been part of the Austrian Empire. The official language was German. Bohemia (which included Prague) and Moravia now form the area of the Czech Republic. In the 19th century the Czechs in these areas wanted to be able to put on plays and operas in the Czech language. The National Theatre was built at a time when this was starting to become possible.
The National Theatre was built because the Czech people wanted their own national identity. The first stone was laid on May 16, 1868. It was opened on June 11 1881 to honour the visit of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. Another 11 performances were given after that. Then the theatre was closed down to finish the building. While people were working to finish it a fire broke out on August 12 1881 which destroyed most of it. However, a lot of money was found and it was built again and opened on November 18 1883 with a performance of Smetana’s opera "Libuše" which he had composed for this occasion. The story of the opera is based on a mythological story about how Prague began.
It was an excellent theatre, and it was not until 1977 that any more re-building was necessary. Then it was closed for six years, and opened again in time for the 100th anniversary of its opening: on November 18 1983. On that day again there was a performance of Smetana’s "Libuše".
Today the National Theatre has three ensembles (groups of people): opera, ballet and drama. These ensembles all perform in the National Theatre, the Estates Theatre and the Theatre Kolowrat. They put on a lot of Czech plays and operas, but also productions from other parts of the world.
Drone can mean:
In nature:
In vehicles:
Drone (music)
In music, a drone is a note which sounds all the time while a piece of music is played. Some folk instruments always make a drone when they are played: bagpipes and hurdy gurdies in European culture, sitars in Indian music, and many other instruments in Asian and African music. Sometimes more than one drone is heard (often two notes which are a fifth apart).
Music with drones has to have simple harmonies because it is not possible to modulate to different keys. Other things can make up for this, for example, Scottish bagpipe music has lots of little ornamental notes to make it interesting.
Some Western Composers liked to use a drone (especially one in fifths) to make it sound like bagpipes or other folk instruments. Bach, François Couperin and other Baroque composers often called such pieces "Musette" (the French for "bagpipes"). Sometimes they did this in orchestral music: Haydn used a drone in the last part of his Symphony No. 104 to accompany a folk tune.
Pedal point
A pedal point (or pedal note) is a note which keeps sounding for several bars, usually in the bass (the lowest notes). They are often used towards the end of a piece of music to help to drive the music to a climax. They are called "pedal" notes because they are often heard in organ music where the player puts one of his feet on a pedal note and holds it there.
Pedal points are usually on either the tonic (main key note) (tonic pedal) or the dominant (5th note of the scale) (dominant pedal) tones.
A good example of a dominant pedal can be seen in the "Prelude in C major" from Book I of the "Well-Tempered Clavier" by Bach.
An example of a tonic pedal can be seen in the third movement of Brahms's "German Requiem", where the double basses play continuous D's in the last section. Because this lasts for the whole section some people might prefer to call this a drone.
A double pedal is two pedal tones played at the same time.
An inverted pedal is a pedal that is not in the bass. It is often in the highest part.
Euclidean geometry
Euclidean geometry is a system in mathematics. People think Euclid was the first person who described it; therefore, it bears his name. He first described it in his textbook "Elements". The book was the first systematic discussion of geometry as it was known at the time. In the book, Euclid first assumes a few axioms. These form the base for later work. They are intuitively clear. Starting from those axioms, other theorems can be proven.
In the 19th century other forms of geometry were found. These are non-Euclidean geometry. Carl Friedrich Gauss, János Bolyai, and Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky were some people that developed such geometries. Very often, these do not use the parallel postulate, but the other four axioms.
Euclid makes the following assumptions. These are axioms, and need not be proved.
Euclidean geometry is a first-order theory. With it, statements like "For all triangles..." can be made, and be proven. Statements like "For all sets of triangles..." are outside the scope of the theory.
János Bolyai
Diana (mythology)
In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of hunting, and in later times, the moon and chastity. Cypress trees were sacred to her. She was the daughter of Jupiter and the Titan Latona (or Leto). In Greek mythology, Diana was called Artemis. She is also associated with fertility and nature. Artemis is her Greek equivalent.
According to mythology Diana was born with her twin brother Apollo on the island of Delos. Apollo was her only real brother but she had many half brothers and sisters from her father. Her half-siblings were Vulcan, Minerva, Mercury, Bacchus, Mars, and Proserpine. Diana made a group of three with two other Roman deities: Egeria the water nymph, her servant and midwife helper; and Virbius, the god of the woods. Diana is a maiden goddess which means she can't marry.
In Egyptian mythology, Thoth was the deity of scribes. He is thought to be one of the most important said to be born from the skull of Seth also said to be born from the heart of Ra.
Thoth was considered the heart and tongue of Ra. He was also the one who translated Ra's will into speech.
The main shrine of Thoth was at Khemennu. It was there that he was the head of the local company of deities. He also had shrines in Abydos, Hesert, Urit, Per-Ab, Rekhui, Ta-ur, Sep, Hat, Pselket, Talmsis, Antcha-Mutet, Bah, Amen-heri-ab, and Ta-kens.
Thoth was mostly prayed in the early dynasty. He was also prayed through the five days of celebration. They would sing hymns and chant spells for Thoth. There were many celebrations like "The feast of Thoth" in the year. He was a major god for the early dynasty.
Thoth played very important roles in Egyptian myths. He was said to have resurrected Osiris after he was slain by Seth and also later resurrected his son, Horus. He was also credited for creating 365 days instead of 360. One myth explains how Ra bans Nut from having children on any day of the year. Thoth then goes to the moon god, Khonsu, and gambles five days out of him, therefore giving five days (the demon days) when Nut can have children. He also was sometimes said to take the place of the Primeval Goose and be the creator of the world and all other gods.
Thoth had one direct relation to Ma'at that people know of, although some myths say he was the son of Ra. His feminine counterpart was a goddess named Seshat. She was also sometimes credited to be the inventor of hieroglyphs, while Thoth taught them. She was also said to be Thoth’s wife or daughter.
Ma'at also played a big role next to Thoth. He was there at the weighing of the heart, noting, while Ma’at weighed the heart. They both stood on either side of Ra’s boat and also he was sometimes said to be Ma’at’s husband. Ma'at was the goddess of law, order, truth, and justice.
Thoth was a unique god. He is said to have two forms: an ibis-headed human and a squatting dog-headed baboon. He held a stylus and a pallet, and sometimes the symbol of life, called the Ankh.
Thoth had many titles and a lot of roles. He was often called “Three times Great”. He was mediator, messenger, scribe and teacher. Some of his titles included;
‘Scribe of Ma’at in the company of the gods’
‘Lord of Ma’at’
‘Lord of divine words’
‘Judge of the two combatant gods’
‘Three times great’ or ‘Thrice Great’
These numerous titles show that Thoth had a very significant importance to ancient Egyptian mythology. He had his high point of worship in the Old Kingdom.
When the Greeks conquered Egypt, they equated Thoth with Hermes, their messenger god. Thoth’s central city was Khemenu, (where he has his chief temple) which the Greeks renamed to Hermopolis, city of Hermes. Today, ancient temples and ruins worshiping Thoth are there and what used to be Khemenu is now el-Eshmunein.
List of Germanic deities
This is a list of Germanic deities that are in Norse mythology.
Divided between the "Æsir" and the "Vanir", and sometimes including the "jötnar" (giants), the dividing line between these groups is less than clear. However, it is usually accepted that the Æsir (including Óðinn, Þór and Týr) were warrior gods, while the Vanir (mainly Njörður, Freyja and Freyr) were fertility gods. Various other groups of beings, including elves, dwarves and jötnar were probably minor gods, and might have had small cults and sacred places devoted to them.
List of Egyptian gods and goddesses
Nut (goddess)
In Egyptian mythology, Nut was the goddess of the sky. Her body made a protective layer over the Earth. Nut was the sister and wife of Geb, and the mother of (with Ra) Osiris, Nephthys,Isis and Seth and grandmother of Horus. Horus was also a grandchild of Ra.
The ancient Egyptians believed that Nut swallowed the sun-god, Ra, every night and gave birth to him every morning.
Although Nut was pictured in many temples and tombs, as well as on ceilings. She was not well observed in popular places.
Nut was the goddess of the sky but had many other purposes as well. She had three other names: Nuit, Newet, and Nueth. Nut was known as the mother of all gods, including Ra (her grandfather) because she swallowed him up every night and gave birth to him again in the morning. She was also the mother of heavenly bodies, whose laughter was thunder and tears were rain. She often carried the sun across the sky. She played a part in funeral beliefs and was sometimes drawn on the tops of sarcophagi. Nut was one of the nine major gods. She was the personification of the sky and the heavens. Egyptians called her "the mother of the sky". Nut was one of the oldest deities among history.
As the sky goddess, Nut was shown arching over Geb (earth god), her fingertips near his head and her toes by his feet. She was commonly pictured dark blue and wore no robes, although some Egyptians believed that Nut wore a rainbow-colored robe, with stars all over her body. Big paintings of her were often found on ceilings of tomb chambers. She can be seen with small vulture wings or a vase on her head. She was often shown as a cow, when carrying the sun across the sky. The cow was a very motherly figure.
Nut was a very beautiful and kind goddess. She was loving, and caring. She fell in love with Thoth, the god of knowledge, and Geb, the god of the Earth. She was a motherly figure and a very strong and independent goddess, for she would not marry just any person. She did what she wanted and when angered she never let anyone stand in her way.
Nut had a strong relationship with Geb, her twin brother, as well as Thoth the god of scribes and wisdom. She was the goddess of the Sky and Geb was the god of the Earth. In the morning they were separated but at night they came together, which created the darkness. This is a story the ancient Egyptians used to explain their 365-day calendar. Nut loved Geb and Thoth, but she was married to Ra. When Ra found out about her secret loves, he was furious. He told Nut that she could not have any children on any of the 360 days of the year. This saddened her, so she went to Thoth for help. She gambled with Khonsu (the moon god) to create 5 more days, so she and Geb could have five children. The children were: Osiris was first, Horus was second, Set was third, Isis was fourth, and Nephthys was the fifth. These days (December 27-31) were called the Demon Days. She and Ra also had one daughter named Sekhmet, the lion goddess, who had a flip personality called Hathor the goddess of love and peace.
Nut is gorgeous and worshipped, and she was a protective goddess, like Bast (the cat goddess). The Egyptian Gods are commonly thought to have been incestuous however it is now known by students of ancient Kmet (previous name of ancient Egypt) that brother-sister father-daughter language referred to the "principle relationship" these entities embodied and shared. The incest concept is a common error in Egyptology literature and needs be corrected. Revealed texts (scripture) consistently call people "sons of" and "daughters of" those unrelated, and people understand this is a social rather than sexual term. Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers were generic terms which still can be seen among Africans and African Americans, in addition to most religious groups (a "sister" is a nun Catholicism and Buddhism). When the pantheon is understood as reflecting "first principle" conceptions and worldview, and when attributing male and female to myths is appreciated as sheer anthropomorphism, it is easier to comprehend these relationships. Follow the defining principles, and the mating and birth of consequent principles (relationships) become clearer.
The ancient Egyptians had three calendars, but the Agricultural one was the one that was used in everyday life. It was made up of three seasons, each containing four months. The seasons were Akhet, (the inundation) Peret (when the water retreated) and Shemu (harvest season). Nut loved Geb, but Ra was not happy that she loved Geb so he told Shu, their father (the air god) to separate them. Then, Ra put a curse on Nut so she could not have babies on any of the three-hundred sixty days of the year. Thoth wanted to let Nut be able to have babies so he challenged Khonsu, the moon god, to a game of Senet. If he won, he would be able to add five days to the year. If he lost, he would be killed. Thoth won and added five more days to the year. On the first day, Nut had Osiris to replace Ra, but Set later deceived him and Osiris became god of the underworld. On the second day she had Horus, the war god. On the third day, she had Set, the god of storms, evil, and Chaos, on the forth day she had Isis the goddess of magic, and on the fifth day she had Nephthys the river goddess. After a long time, the Egyptians realized the calendar was off because they did not have the quarter day at the end, like we do by having leap years. The calendar said it was flood season, but the flood did not come until later. The ancient Egyptians noticed the star Sirius would rise right before the flood. They used this as the beginning of the year and as the beginning of flooding.
Dennis Kearney
Dennis Kearney (1847–1907) was an American politician who was himself an immigrant from Ireland. He is known for being racist towards Chinese people. His fame comes from his strong support of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
Cross of Gold speech
The Cross of Gold speech was a famous speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois by William Jennings Bryan. He wanted silver and not gold to be America's bullion standard. It was his goal to create inflation to help those in debt. The end of the speech gives it its name when he says;
Paolo Uccello
Paolo Uccello, (c. 1396 – 1475), was a painter from Florence in Italy, during the time known as the Early Renaissance. He is famous as one of the first painters of the Italian Renaissance to use perspective in his pictures.
Most of what we know about Uccello comes from Giorgio Vasari, who wrote Paolo's biography about 75 years after Uccello died. Uccello was born about the year 1396, in the city of Florence. Vasari says that he was called "Uccello", which means "Bird", because he loved all animals and would often paint them, but he loved birds best of all. When he was about 11 years old, he was sent to be trained in the workshop of one of the most famous artists in Florence, a young man called Lorenzo Ghiberti.
Ghiberti was famous because he had won an important competition to make a huge set of beautiful doors for the oldest church in the city. The doors took 27 years to make, so in that time, lots of different artists helped in the making of them, and lots of talented young people like Uccello were trained in the workshop. Uccello worked there for 8 years.
While Uccello was still quite young he got an important job to do, all by himself. He was asked to paint some frescoes showing stories of different saints for the monks of a Church of San Miniato, on a mountain above Florence. It was a large beautiful church, but the monks at the monastery did not eat expensive food. They only ate bread and cheese. So, Uccello also ate nothing but bread and cheese for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, sometimes made into soup. After a few weeks he thought he was turning into a cheese! So he ran away from the monastery and went back to Florence, leaving his work unfinished.
One day when two of the monks were walking in the street, they chased Uccello and caught him. They asked him why he had never finished the job. Uccello told them that it was because of the cheese. The monks laughed and promised that he would get better food, if only he would promise to come back and finish what he had started. He came back to finish the frescoes, called "The Lives of the Church Fathers". They are painted in dull colours as a protest against the simple food. Vasari, who tells this story, says that Uccello never ate cheese again in his life.
Today, these frescoes at San Miniato have been badly damaged by water. Most of them have fallen off the wall or have faded. However, one beautiful angel remains quite clear.
In 1425 Uccello went to the city of Venice where he lived and worked for several years.
In 1436 he was back in Florence to do some important jobs for Florence Cathedral. The first was to paint a large fresco in honour of an English Knight, Sir John Hawkwood.
The painting of Sir John is quite unusual. It is of Sir John on his war horse. Uccello has painted it to look like a statue of the soldier on his horse. He has used white and greenish-grey against a dark red-brown background. To add colour, Uccello has painted the horse's saddle and bridle bright red. The horse is standing on a painted "plinth" like the base of a statue and Sir John's name is written on the plinth, as if the statue was standing in the town square. And in large letters are words which translate as "The Work of Paolo Uccello".
The painting was very popular, and some years later, another soldier was remembered in the same way with a painting by the artist Andrea Castagno.
The second job that Uccello had at the Cathedral was to paint the clock. The clock has two faces, one that can be seen outside in the square and another which is on an inside wall of the cathedral. Uccello had to paint a clock face around the hand on the inside wall. (It's a 24-hour clock and it's only got one hand.) Uccello painted the round clockface into a square shape and put the head of a prophet in each corner. The prophets' faces are all very different but the thing that is the most clever about them is that Uccello painted bright light and dark shadows on their faces as if the light was coming from a real window which is high on the wall to the left side of the clock.
The other important job for the cathedral was to design two big round stained glass windows, each one 4.5 metres across. The cathedral had been built in the last century, but it had been left with a huge hole at the centre which needed a roof of some sort. An artist called Brunelleschi had come up with a brilliant plan for a dome, and the whole city was excited about getting it built. Workmen from every part of the town formed 8 gangs to build the 8 parts. As the dome grew, it had 8 large windows that needed glass. The best artists in Florence were asked to design them. Three of Uccello's designs were used but unfortunately one was smashed in 1828. The two that remain are "The Nativity" (The Birth of Jesus) and "The Resurrection" (Jesus rising from the dead).
By 1453, Uccello was married to Tomassa Malifici. In that year she gave birth to Donato who was named after the sculptor Donatello. In 1456 the couple had a daughter, Antonia, who later became a nun and a painter.
The paintings that are regarded as Uccello's masterpieces are frescoes of Noah's Ark and the Great Flood in the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Unfortunately, they are quite badly damaged and partly lost, but even so, it is possible to see what a clever artist Uccello was. There are two things remarkable about the pictures. Firstly, they are very realistic. The second is that they use perspective to give the impression that the viewer is looking into the scene.
As in the fresco of Sir John Hawkwood, Uccello does not use many colours. The pictures are painted in white, pale grey, blue grey and just a little black. The landscape is grey, the water is blue-grey, the people are white with grey shadows. But the paintings are made lively by all the bits of red. All the man-made things, like the Ark, the old doors, barrels, up-side-down tables and broken things that are floating on the flood water, are all painted in the same red colour. Some of the people are wearing big black and white hats that were popular in Florence. In the disaster of the flood, one man is floating in a barrel. Another man, seeing an old man standing on a little hill, has grabbed him round the ankles to pull himself up. Another man, with part of his great big fashionable hat slipped down around his neck, is thumping on the wall of the ark with a club. The wind is blowing, the rain is pouring down and twigs and branches are flying in the wind. It is a scene of terror.
One of the richest men in Florence was Cosimo Medici who liked to spend money on works of art. He asked Uccello to paint three large paintings on panels, each about 3 metres long, to decorate his palace. The subject was to be Three scenes from "the Battle of San Romano" in which the Florentine troops defeated the neighbouring town of Siena. In fact, it was not a very fierce battle. Modern soccer matches between Florence and Siena are probably more bloody. But it made three very good pictures which were later divided up between three important art galleries. The National Gallery, London has the left-hand scene of Niccolo Tolentino leading his troops on his magnificent rearing white charger and wearing, of course, a great big Florentine hat of red and gold "brocade". The Uffizi Gallery in Florence has the middle scene in which the leader of the enemy forces, Bernadino della Ciarda, has been struck by a lance and is falling off his horse backwards. The right-hand scene, which is in the Louvre in Paris, shows the brave Michelotto di Cotignola swinging his horse around to attack an opponent with his sword.
Even though, at first glance each battle scene looks quite chaotic, the paintings are very carefully organised. This is particularly noticeable in the way Uccello has arranged the lances that are held upright by the troops and the many weapons that are lying on the ground. They all serve the purpose of leading the viewers eye into the painting. They create perspective. And while the battle is raging in the "foreground", in the "background" are mountains, fields, hedges and woods. In them are farmers, hunters and animals. The difference in size between the figures in the "foreground" and the figures in the "background" create distance in the picture.
Uccello studied perspective all his life in a way that was quite obsessive. Sometimes he would not come out of his house for weeks. His friend Donatello, another respected artist, begged him to do more painting and less study. Uccello became very good at mathematical calculation of the perspective of buildings, but it was not until his old age that he could fully understand how to calculate the sizes of things like people in the distance. His last painting shows a hunting party, with a great forest of trees, people and dogs, all going away into the distance, from near to far.
In 1469 Paolo wrote on his tax assessment that he was too old to work any more and that his wife was ill. Giorgio Vasari, who, 100 years later, researched and wrote the lives of many painters, wrote that, unfortunately Paolo was badly offended by Donatello, who looked at his latest painting and told him, for a joke, to cover it up. Vasari said that Paolo was so hurt that refused to come out of his room but sat working at his drawings, and whenever his wife called him to come to bed he would answer "What a wonderful thing perspective is!"
He died on 10 November, 1475, leaving behind him his old wife and a daughter Antonia who was also very good at painting. Unfortunately, none of her pictures are known today.
Sumer Is Icumen In
"Sumer Is Icumen In" is a very old English song which can be sung as a round. It is the oldest example of a round that we know of. The composer is unknown. It was written down around the middle of the 13th century by a monk but we do not know whether that monk composed it, or whether it had been composed earlier.
The title means "Summer has come in". The round can be sung in six parts. There are also two parts which can be repeated again and again (an ostinato) throughout the piece. The language is Middle English and is based on the dialect spoken in Wessex, England at the time.
This is the manuscript that the monk wrote:
To sing as a round, one singer (or group of singers) would begin at the beginning, a second singer would start at the beginning as the first got to the point marked with the red cross, then the third would join in when the second singer got to the red cross, and so on until all six were singing. The repeated pattern is marked "Pes". The instructions are written in Latin.
Here is the song in modern notation:
Here are the words with a modern English translation:
Carmen is a French opera written and first performed on 3 March 1875 by Georges Bizet. The story is set in Spain. It is based on the story of the same title by Prosper Mérimée.
Carmen is about a gypsy girl who works in a factory. She falls in love with a soldier called Don José, who loves her. However, he is already engaged to somebody else. Later, he leaves the girl he was engaged to and the army for Carmen. Running away together, they are happy for a while until Carmen decides she loves a bullfighter called Escamillo. She leaves Don José. One day when Carmen is watching a bullfight, Don José waits for her and then tries to make her come back. She refuses, so he stabs her to death. Horrified at what he has done, he goes to jail.
The kumquats or cumquats are a group of small fruit-bearing trees. The edible fruit (which is also called kumquat) is similar to other "Citrus" but is smaller.
Kumquats are slow-growing, evergreen shrubs or small trees, from 2.5–4.5 m tall, with dense branches. Sometimes they have small thorns. The leaves are dark glossy green, and the flowers pure white, similar to citrus flowers.
Kumquats came from China (they are known in literature of the 12th century), and have long been cultivated there and in Japan. They were introduced to Europe in 1846 by Robert Fortune, who was collector for the "London Horticultural Society", and a short time later into North America.
They are much hardier than citrus plants as oranges. The 'Nagami' kumquat needs a hot summer, ranging from 25 °C(77°F) to 38°C(100.4°F), but can withstand frost down to about -10 °C(14°F). It grows in the tea regions of China where the climate is too cold for other citrus fruits, even the Mikan (also known as the Satsuma) orange.
The English name "kumquat" derives from the Cantonese pronunciation "gam1 gwat1" (given in Jyutping romanization). The alternate name 柑橘, also pronounced "gam gwat" in Cantonese ("gān jú" in Mandarin, literally "large tangerine orange") is now more commonly written by Cantonese speakers.
Names in other Asian languages include:
Teton Mountains
Baunach
Baunach is a town in the German state (bundesland) of Bavaria. It is in the district of Bamberg in Upper Franconia. About 3,950 people live there (in year 2005).
Burgebrach
In music, an ostinato is a short pattern of notes which is repeated several times throughout a song or piece of music. The word "ostinato" is related to the word "obstinate". It is like a musical idea which is being obstinate and will not go away. The plural can be either "ostinati" or "ostinatos".
An ostinato can last for a section of a piece or it might last for the whole piece of music.
An ostinato can be a repeated group of notes or just a rhythm. It is similar to a riff in jazz. Many kinds of music use ostinati, e.g. classical music, jazz, boogie-woogie and African music.
A ground bass, or "basso ostinato", is an ostinato pattern in the lowest notes, which keeps playing while the melodies in the higher notes change. This was often used in baroque musical works. An example is the famous "Canon in D" by Pachelbel.
An example of a rhythmic ostinato is the first movement from the "Planets Suite" by Gustav Holst. This is the movement in 5/4 time which describes Mars. "Boléro" by Maurice Ravel also uses a repeated rhythm all the way through the piece.
An example from popular music is Pink Floyd's "Money".
Coffee system
A coffee system or hot beverage system is a special machine for making coffee. Instead of using coffee beans or ground coffee, it uses special capsules. Each capsule has one serving of coffee, tea, milk, and other ingredients in it. This makes it easy to make coffee, espresso, etc. The process is very clean. The capsules with the coffee cost more money compared to normal coffee. There is also the problem that there is more waste because of the capsule.
1492 Pictures
1492 Pictures is an American movie production company founded by director Chris Columbus in 1995. The name is a play on Columbus's more famous namesake, Christopher Columbus.
In addition to various Columbus movies, 1492 Pictures has produced movies by other directors including Brian Levant ("Jingle All the Way"), Henry Selick ("Monkeybone"), Alfonso Cuarón ("Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"), Joe Roth ("Christmas with the Kranks"), Tim Story (the "Fantastic Four" films), and Shawn Levy (the "Night at the Museum" films). The logo music was composed by Academy award winner Hans Zimmer.
Life in Hell
Iraq War
The Iraq War was an armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein.
The conflict continued for much of the next ten years as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. An estimated 151,000 to 600,000 or more Iraqis were killed in the first 3–4 years of conflict. The United States officially withdrew from the country in 2011 but left private security contractors in its place to continue the war. In 2014 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant conquered much of northern Iraq. An American-led new coalition sent troops to help the government of Iraq.
Australia, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Poland were also involved in the war with support from the Kurdish Peshmerga.
After the Gulf War of 1990-1991 during which a US-led coalition of 35 nations retook Kuwait after the Iraqi invasion, Iraq was severely damaged both economically and socially. Numerous penalties were imposed on the crumbling state of Iraq, including a no-fly zone (essentially barring any civilian and military planes from flying over Iraq), along with UN weapon inspections to ensure that Saddam was not stockpiling WMDs (Weapons of Mass Destruction). In 1998, the Iraqi government stopped allowing these inspections to continue after allegations that the inspectors were spying for the US. Following this souring of relations, the Bush Administration began forging evidence so as to turn the public against Saddam and make them think he was Stockpiling WMDs. Using this as a case for war, another US-led coalition invaded Iraq. Other reasons was oil and money.
The feijoa is the fruit of Acca sellowiana, an evergreen shrub or small tree, 1–7 m in height. It comes from the highlands of southern Brazil, parts of Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay and northern Argentina. They are also grown throughout Azerbaijan , Iran (Ramsar), Georgia, Russia (Sochi), New Zealand and Tasmania Australia .
The fruit is also called the 'pineapple guava' or 'guavasteen'.
The fruit matures in autumn and is green, and about the size and shape of an egg. It has a sweet, aromatic flavour. The flesh is juicy. The fruit drops when ripe, but can be picked from the tree before to prevent bruising. Feijoa fruit have a distinctive smell. The chemical methyl benzoate smells strongly of feijoas and the aroma of the fruit is caused mostly by this and other closely related chemicals.
It is a warm-temperate to subtropical plant that will also grow in the tropics but requires some winter chilling to fruit. In the northern hemisphere it has been cultivated as far north as western Scotland but does not fruit every year, as winter temperatures below about -11 °C will kill the flower buds. A lot of feijoa are grown in New Zealand, where the fruit is a popular garden tree and the fruit is commonly available in season.
The fruit is usually eaten by cutting it in half, then scooping out the pulp with a spoon. It is popular in New Zealand to stew them in a pot with sugar and serve hot with vanilla ice cream in the wintertime . The fruits have a juicy sweet seed pulp, and slightly gritty flesh nearer the skin. The flavor is aromatic and sweet. The skin itself is tart and sour but also edible. If the utensils needed to eat it this way are not available, the feijoa can be torn or bitten in half, and the contents squeezed out and consumed.
Fruit maturity is not always apparent from the outside as the fruits remain green until they are over mature or rotting. When the fruits are immature the seed pulp is white and opaque, becoming clear and jelly-like when ripe. Fruits are at their optimum maturity when the seed pulp has turned into a clear jelly with no hint of browning. Once the seed pulp and surrounding flesh start to brown, the fruit is over mature and should not be eaten.
Wessex
Wessex was an old Anglo-Saxon kingdom before England became one country. It was one of seven kingdoms in England. It was named after the West Saxons. It was in the south and southwest of England. Wessex was a kingdom from the 6th century until the English state was made in the 9th century. It was an earldom between 1016 and 1066. Then "Wessex" was not an official place name. The 19th century novelist Thomas Hardy wrote about Wessex in his books which tell stories set in that area.
His Royal Highness The Prince Edward was given the title "Earl of Wessex" when he married Sophie who became the Countess of Wessex. The title Earl of Wessex had not been used since the last earl, King Harold Godwinson, was killed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Barrel racing
Clover (Trifolium) is a genus of about 300 species of plants in the pea family. It grows worldwide, mainly in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but many species also in South America and Africa, including at high altitudes on mountains in the tropics.
They are small herbaceous plants. It has three sections to each leave, which looks like three leaves. This is called trifoliate.
Clover is often associated with Ireland.
Clover (disambiguation)
Clover could mean:
Clover was also the name of a defunct discount department store owned by Strawbridge and Clothier department stores in Pennsylvania.
Discus throw
The discus throw is an event in athletics, where a heavy disc is thrown for distance. It was invented in 708 BC in Ancient Greece. The goal is to throw the discus farther than your opponents.
The discus throw is the subject of a number of well-known ancient Greek statues and Roman copies of them.US thrower Al Oerter is one of only two athletes to win the same individual event at four consecutive Olympic Games.
Athletics may mean:
Eragon is a book written by Christopher Paolini. It was published in August 2003. Eragon is the first book in the "Inheritance Cycle". The second book in the Inheritance Cycle, called "Eldest", was published in mid-2005. The third of the four books, "Brisingr", was released in 2008. "Eragon" was made into a movie and released in cinemas on December 2006. It was released on DVD in March 2007.
A long time ago, the Dragon Riders kept peace in the world between the humans, dragons, elves, and dwarves. They were humans or elves bonded to dragons. However, the dragon of a human Rider named Galbatorix was killed by the Urgals (a species that fights a lot). Galbatorix became insane because of this. The Riders would not give him another dragon, so he decided to destroy them. He stole a black baby dragon and forced it to bond with him with evil magic. Then he and other traitors fought with the Riders. Finally, they killed them all and Galbatorix became king of the humans. The book "Eragon" begins 100 years after this. When it begins, Galbatorix is trying to find and destroy the elves (who are hiding in a forest called Du Weldenvarden), dwarves (who are hiding in the Beor Mountains - a gigantic mountain range reaching far above the clouds), and the Varden (a group of rebels hidden with the dwarves). He has not destroyed the elves yet, because he is still cautious of their power. He has not destroyed the Varden or dwarves because he cannot yet find them in the large mountain range.
The story itself begins with a young farm boy named Eragon finding a polished blue stone in the Spine (a smaller mountain range and woods). The stone turns out to be a dragon egg, and the dragon that hatches from it is named Saphira. Eragon's uncle, Garrow is killed by the Ra'zac (insect-like creatures that work for Galbatorix), who want to find and capture Eragon and Saphira. Eragon decides to find them and kill them in revenge because of his uncle's death. He and Saphira leave, along with Brom, an old storyteller who tells Eragon and Saphira many things about dragons and Riders and promises to help them. In Yu'Zuac, Eragon and Brom were ambushed by two Urgals. After Brom was knocked from his horse, the Urgals chased Eragon, when he used magic to defeat them. Brom also teaches Eragon how to control magic after this. While they are travelling, they find a flask (a container, which usually holds liquids like water) full of corrupted Seithr oil dropped by the Ra'zac. This oil is very rare, so Eragon gets the idea to go to a coastal city for shipping records to find the Ra'zac. The three travel to the city of Teirm to see Brom's old friend, Joed. Joed is a merchant who is secretly giving supplies to the Varden. However all of his ships are being destroyed somehow by someone who knows he is working for the Varden. He helps them find a record of where the Ra'zac are - a city named Dras-Leona. Brom, Eragon, and Saphira travel to Dras-Leona, but Eragon is seen by Galbatorix's soldiers. The three run away, but the Ra'zac find them and capture them. Then they are driven away by a stranger named Murtagh, but they wound Brom first. Brom dies soon, but not before telling Eragon and Murtagh that he was secretly a Rider whose dragon was killed by Galbatorix.
Eragon and Saphira bury Brom. They decide to go to the Varden to fight Galbatorix, with Murtagh who does not want to go, but will help them until they reach the Varden, but they do not know where the Varden are. They go to Gilead, another city, to find someone who knows where the Varden are. While Murtagh is in the city, he comes back and the next morning, Eragon is captured when the three are ambushed by more Urgals. His food and water is drugged to make him forget magic so he can not escape. He realizes he is being given drugs in his food and stops eating the food. Finally, the drugs wear off and Eragon can use magic to escape. He breaks out, only to find Murtagh breaking in. The two rescue an elf that is also in the prison. Her name is Arya. They are attacked by a Shade (a sorcerer controlled by evil spirits), but escape. Arya is unconscious, but Eragon can talk to her in her mind and she tells him where the Varden are. They must go across a desert to get there, and Arya is dying from a poison, so they must hurry. They finally make it to the Varden (who are hiding in the Beor Mountains with the dwarves), but on the way Murtagh tells Eragon that Murtagh is the son of Morzan, a Rider who helped Galbatorix kill the other Riders. When they get to the Varden, Murtagh is captured because he is Morzan's son, but Arya is healed. Then the Varden and their leader (named Ajihad) find out Galbatorix is attacking them with Urgals. Murtagh is released to help the Varden, which he does. There is a big battle. In it, the Shade appears. Eragon fights the Shade and, with the help of Arya and Saphira, he kills the Shade, but his back is hit with a sword by the Shade. While Eragon is unconscious, he is rescued from death by a mysterious elf, who touched his mind and blocked the pain. Eragon promises to go to the elves with Arya for more training. Eragon wakes up and finds he is scarred by Durza's strike. The book ends with Eragon promising again to himself that he will go to the elves.
Christopher Paolini was only 15 when he started writing "Eragon", which many people have found impressive. He has also been praised for his writing style and the world he created. His strong female characters were also praised. However, some people think he is not a good writer, because his book is too much like other books (like The Lord of the Rings) and movies (like Star Wars). They also think he uses many complicated words when he does not need to. Unlike the book, the movie of "Eragon" is not liked by many people. They dislike it because it did not follow the book very well and changed many parts of the story which would make making more movies of the series harder.
William Baillie
Captain William Baillie (June 5, 1723 – December 22, 1810) was an Irish military man and artist.
Baillie went to London at age of 18 to study law, but liked art more. Shortly after getting to London, he joined the army. He served at the Battle of Culloden the Battle of Minden and retired with the rank of Captain. Baillie was later made the Commissioner of Stamps, which he was until 1795.
While he continued as an artist, what he is most famous for was his skill repairing and printing etching plates. He worked on plates by many artists, including Gerard Dou, Nicolas Poussin, and most notably Rembrandt. Apparently he got a number of Rembrandt's worn-out plates. The three best known:
A book of prints, after the above artists, was published in 1792, in two volumes, with subsequent editions.
Rusty Anderson
Rusty Anderson (born January 20, 1959) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter from La Habra, California. He has played lead guitar for Paul McCartney since 2001. He has played for many famous musicians, for example, Elton John, The Bangles, Courtney Love and Belinda Carlisle. He also has a band called Rusty Anderson Afternoon whose first single "Effortless" hit Number One on American radio and whose first full-length record "RAA" debuted in the Top Ten Alt Chart on iTunes.
HLS has a number of meanings:
A handshake is when two people hold hands for a few seconds and move them up and down before letting go. It is often used like a greeting (like saying "Hello, Hi" or "goodbye" when people meet) or to say that two people have agreed on something. Handshakes are also used between romantic partners.
The action is ancient, and occurs (or occurred) in many cultures. There are, however, many slight differences. In some cultures, the handshake is firm, in others it is gentle. In some cultures the senior person leads the handshake. The length of time also varies between cultures. One thing is almost universal: hand shaking is done with bare hands.
Another aspect is: do men shake hands with women? In the past, in many societies, they did not. Today, in western society, handshakes are allowed if the female offers her hand. It is not done between family members, when hugs and kisses are more usual.
Some secret societies have secret handshakes to show they are part of the group.
Wave (gesture)
Baseball bat
A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal rod used in the game of baseball to hit the ball after the ball is thrown by the pitcher. It is not more than 2⅔ inches (70 mm) in diameter at the thickest part and not more than 42 inches (1067 mm) in length. It usually weighs no greater than four pounds (1.8 kg). The batter uses the bat to try to hit a pitched ball so that he may run around the bases and score points.
Bats are sometimes used as a weapon in fights or attacks. When a bat is used this way, it can be called a "club".