AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
While it is a separate story, the book continues and develops many of the themes shown in the first book. When Alvin Miller and his older brother Measure go to the place of his birth (where Alvin is supposed to become apprenticed to the Hattrack River blacksmith) the two brothers are captured by 'Reds' (Native Americans) and brought into a plot with possibilities of affecting the entire future of America.
Province of Pavia
Pavia is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.
Province of Sondrio
Sondrio is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.
Province of Varese
Varese is a province in the region of Lombardy in Italy.
Prentice Alvin
Prentice Alvin (1989) is an alternate history/fantasy book that was written by Orson Scott Card. It is the third book in Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son (this gives him magical powers). "Prentice Alvin" was considered for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1989 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1990.
After being released from his time with Ta-Kumsaw, an Indian leader who taught Alvin the ways of Indian people, he sets out to start his apprenticeship as a Smith in the town where he was born.
While there he meets a young half-black boy by the name of Arthur Stuart, the son of a slave and a slave-owner who has been taken in by the owners of the town's guesthouse.
Another new friend comes in the form of Miss Peggy Larner, who he later finds out that she is the "torch" who helped him to be born so many years ago, and with whom he has been linked to since that day.
Eventually, Alvin is forced into helping Arthur to escape from some slave-hunters, which requires him to change Arthur's DNA to prevent the hunters' knacks (powers) from finging him. Alvin also creates a plow of living gold, which is bestowed with magic, as his journeyman work to release himself from his apprenticeship as a Smith (and also as a Maker).
The story ends with Alvin and Arthur leaving the town and going back to Alvin's home in the west.
George Winston
George Winston is a pianist from Michigan in the United States of America. He was born there in 1949 but moved to Montana as a child. Most of his music is about the four seasons and landscapes in the United States of America.
Sir Frederick William Herschel FRS (15 November 1738 – 25 August 1822) was a German-British astronomer, the greatest observational astronomer of the day. He is best known for discovering Uranus in 1781. He also discovered infrared radiation, binary stars, and published important catalogues of stars and nebulae. Herschel built many telescopes, including the largest in the world at that time.
Herschel was also a musician in his younger days. He played the cello, oboe, harpsichord and organ. He composed numerous musical works, including 24 symphonies and many concertos, as well as some church music.
Herschel was born in the Electorate of Hanover, one of ten children. His father was of Jewish descent, and an oboist in the Hannover Military Band. In 1755 the Hannoverian Guards regiment, in whose band Wilhelm and his brother Jakob were engaged as oboists, was ordered to England. At the time the crowns of Great Britain and Hanover were united under George II. The next year the brothers resigned from the Guards band, and moved to London to avoid the Seven Years' War. Wilhelm, nineteen years old at this time, learnt the English language quickly. In England he went by the English version of his name, Frederick William Herschel.
Herschel's music led him to an interest in mathematics and lenses. His interest in astronomy grew stronger after 1773 and he made the acquaintance of the English Astronomer Royal Nevil Maskelyne. He started building his own reflecting telescopes and would spend up to 16 hours a day grinding and polishing the metal primary mirrors.
When he discovered Uranus, Herschel was not looking for a planet but doing a survey of stars; it was an accidental discovery.
It was the first discovery of a new planet since ancient times. The first five, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, are visible with the naked eye, and have been known since early history. Uranus was the first discovered by telescope. Actually, Uranus had been seen before by other observers with telescopes, but had been marked on charts as a fixed star. Herschel found it moved against the background of stars, and at first thought it was a comet. His measurements were used by the French mathematician Pierre Laplace, who worked out its orbit, and proved it was a planet.
Herschel called the new planet the 'Georgian star' (Georgium sidus) after King George III, which brought him favour; the name did not stick, however. In France, where reference to the British king was to be avoided if possible, the planet was known as 'Herschel' until the name 'Uranus' was universally adopted. The same year, Herschel was awarded the Copley Medal and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1782, he was appointed "The King’s Astronomer". He got a generous award from the king, which enabled him to stop work as a musician, and devote all his time to astronomy. The award was a life pension to Herschel of £200 a year, and £50 a year to Caroline. Work on the 40-foot telescope was also supported by a grant from the king.
During the course of his career, he constructed more than four hundred telescopes. He was helped in this by his brother Alexander who, like Caroline, spent all his time working as Herschel's assistant.
The largest and most famous of his telescopes was a reflecting telescope with a main mirror and a 40-foot (12 m) focal length. This was the world's largest telescope from 1789 until it was dismantled (taken apart) 50 years later. The mirror was made of a hard metal alloy of tin and copper, called 'speculum', which he polished by hand.
On 28 August 1789, his first night of observation using this instrument, he discovered a new moon of Saturn. A second moon followed within the first month of observation. However, the 40-foot telescope was awkward to use, and most of his observations were done with a smaller reflector.
He continued his work as a telescope maker, selling many of them to other astronomers. Together with his pension from the king, the money helped support him and his two siblings in their work.
Herschel used to work with his sister Caroline Herschel. She recorded his observations as he made them. In 1783 he gave Caroline a telescope, and she began to make astronomical discoveries in her own right, particularly comets.
Caroline discovered eight comets, three nebulae and, at her brother's suggestion, updated and corrected Flamsteed's work on the position of stars. This was published as the "British Catalogue of Stars". She was honoured by the Royal Astronomical Society for this work. Caroline also continued to serve as his assistant.
Herschel was the first to find out that some line-of-sight apparent double stars were actually true binary star systems where the two stars revolved around each other. This was the first evidence that Newton's laws of gravitation apply outside the Solar System. Herschel discovered 850 binary stars, and worked up the first catalogue of binary stars. His son John Herschel discovered many more, and extended the catalogue.
Herschel studied the changes in star position relative to the Solar System. Changes do occur, and quite rapidly for some nearby stars. Also, the whole Solar System moves, and this was discovered by Herschel.
From studying the proper motion of stars, he was the first to realize that the solar system is moving through space. He worked out the approximate direction of that movement. He also studied the structure of the Milky Way and concluded that it was in the shape of a disk. This was also a really significant discovery.
On 11 February 1800, Herschel was testing filters for the sun so he could observe sun spots. When using a red filter he found there was a lot of heat produced.
Herschel discovered infrared radiation by passing sunlight through a prism and holding a thermometer just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum. This thermometer was meant to be a control to measure the ambient air temperature in the room. He was shocked when it showed a higher temperature than the visible spectrum. Further experimentation led to Herschel's conclusion that there must be an invisible form of light beyond the visible spectrum.
William Herschel and his wife Mary had one child, John. In 1816, William was made a Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order by the Prince Regent.
Herschel died at Observatory House, Windsor Road, Slough, Buckinghamshire, and is buried at nearby St Laurence's Church, Upton. He died in his 84th year, which is the same number of years Uranus takes to orbit the Sun. His son John Herschel also became a famous astronomer. His sister Caroline returned to Hanover, Germany after the death of her brother. She died on 9 January 1848 at the age of 97.
His house at 19 New King Street in Bath, Somerset where he made many telescopes and first observed Uranus, is now home to the Herschel Museum of Astronomy.
Caiman
The Caiman is a subfamily of the Alligators. The alligators are divided into True alligators and caimans. Caimans and true alligators develop slower than the rest of the crocodiles. Their lifestyle is also slower. Because of this, they grow older than the other crocodiles. In total, there are 6 species of caimans. All of them live in South America, the Spectacled Caiman can also be found in Central America.
There are three groups:
Cluj County
Cluj is a county (judeţ) of Romania, in Transylvania. The capital of Cluj County is Cluj-Napoca. About 755,000 people live in Cluj County.
Cluj County has an area of 6,674 km².
Cluj County has 5 municipalities, 1 town and 74 communes.
Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana
Quetzalcóatl (pronounced: ketsalˈkoːaːtɬ in Nahuatl) is an Aztec sky and creator god. The name is a combination of "quetzalli", a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and , which means serpent; it is therefore usually translated as "feathered serpent" or "plumed serpent". Quetzalcoatl was often pictured as a snake with feathers, although he was sometimes shown in the form of a human. Quetzalcoatl was associated with the planet Venus, as well as being the patron god of the Aztec priesthood, of learning and of knowledge.
The name Quetzalcoatl was also taken on by several ancient Aztec leaders. Many events and characteristics attributed to Quetzalcoatl are therefore exceedingly difficult to separate from the political leaders who took his name. To name one leader Herman Cortes who sailed to the Aztecs to conquer and to steal their gold. Today Quetzalcoatl is arguably the best known Aztec deity but there were several other important Aztec gods too: Tlaloc, Tezcatlipoca and Huitzilopochtli.
Other Mesoamerican cultures have worshipped a feathered serpent god as well: At Teotihuacan the several monumental structures have images of a feathered serpent (See the so-called "Citadel and Temple of Quetzalcoatl"). One can see similar images at Chichén Itza and Tula. This has led scholars to conclude that the deity called Quetzalcoatl in the Nahuatl language was among the most important deities of Mesoamerica.
There are many legends associated with Quetzalcoatl. One legend said that the world had been created four times before, but each time it was destroyed again. Then Quetzalcoatl collected human bones from the underworld and added his own blood to bring them to life. He was therefore considered the creator of the humans living at the time of the Aztec Empire.
Another legend said that Quetzalcoatl had been banished, but that he would return from the east just before the end of the world. This legend has been used to support the idea that the Aztec leader Moctezuma thought that the Spanish "conquistador" Cortés was Quetzalcoatl returning from exile. This would also explain why Moctezuma treated the Spanish so well. However, most historians now think that this idea was invented by the Spanish, and that Moctezuma didn't really think that Cortés was a god.
Heartfire (1998) is an alternate history/fantasy book that was written by Orson Scott Card. It is the fifth book in Card's "The Tales of Alvin Maker" series and is about Alvin Miller, the seventh son of a seventh son (which gives him magical powers).
Pattern matching is a family of tools for finding similar objects in different sources. In image processing, the pattern matching is used for locating a small image (called model) in a bigger one (called target image). For searching text, regular expressions are commonly used.
The simple way is to move the model in the target image and measure a similarity in each position. The position with highest value of the similarity will be accepted as result. The normalized correlation is used as a common metric for similarity.
The common way to reduce an amount of calculations is using the image pyramid. When using the image pyramid, the search is started on the reduced target image, and results are improved in the next, more detailed one. This process is similar to the human vision.
The Crystal City
The Tales of Alvin Maker
The Tales of Alvin Maker is a series of books by Orson Scott Card. They are about the experiences of a young man named Alvin Miller who finds out that he powers for making and changing things around him. It takes place in an alternate history of the American frontier in the early 1800s. It is based on early American folklore and superstition.
Atlanta Falcons
The Atlanta Falcons are an American football team in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the NFC South of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The Falcons joined the NFL as a 1966 expansion team. The Falcon's quarterback is Matt Ryan. Their uniform is a red jersey with white pants. An old nickname for the Falcons is Red Birds. In their 42 years in the NFL, the Falcons have a record of 262-386-6 with division championships in 1980, 1998, 2004, 2010 and 2012. They have played twice in the Super Bowl. This was in 1999 in Miami in which they lost to the Denver Broncos and 2017 against the New England Patriots.
Their current stadium since 2017 is the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. From 1992 through 2016, the Georgia Dome was their home stadium for 25 seasons before it was destroyed and replaced.
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The Saints play in the Southern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL).
In 1980, the Saints became the first ever NFL team to finish with 1 win and 15 losses.
After a history of bad luck, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV in the 2009 season off an interception from Peyton Manning by cornerback Tracy Porter. That was also meaningful because only about four years earlier the city was badly hurt when Hurricane Katrina came through in 2005.
That was later tarnished as in 2012 they and defesnive coodinator Gregg Williams were exposed to have used a bounty stystem, in which players were paid to deliver especially hard/illegal hits to the opponent. Brees denied knowing of the system. The Saints soon recovered and won three straight NFC South division titles.
The team name was inspired by a popular Mardi Gras song called "When the Saints Go Marching In".
The Saints have several famous players including their starting quarterback Drew Brees. They also have running back Alvin Kamara, wide receiver Michael Thomas and defensive end Cameron Jordan.
The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team in Los Angeles, California, United States. Originally known as the Cleveland Rams, and then later as the St. Louis Rams, they are currently in the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team has won two NFL Championships and one Super Bowl. Their starting quarterback is Matthew Stafford. They play at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.
The Rams played in Cleveland, Ohio from 1936 to 1945, before moving to Los Angeles, California in 1946. The Rams stayed in Los Angeles until the 1995 season, when the team moved to St. Louis, Missouri and played there until 2015. In 2015, the team wanted to move back to Los Angeles. Stan Kroenke, the team’s current owner, met with other NFL owners to approve the move. The owners approved the Rams' move to Los Angeles with a 30–2 margin. The Rams returned to Los Angeles at the beginning of the 2016 season. The Rams have won the Super Bowl title in 1999, when they were established in St. Louis.
On May 31, 2009, the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" reported that the Rams were up for sale. The sale price was not known, but "Forbes" magazine's estimated that the Rams' value was $929 million.
Gary Lightbody
Analog Science Fiction and Fact
Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2007, it is the longest currently published magazine of that genre. First published in 1930 in the United States with the name Astounding Stories as a pulp magazine, its name has been changed several times, such as Astounding Science-Fiction in 1938, and Analog Science Fact & Fiction in 1960.
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom are as follows:
Numbers beginning 01 or 02 are normal phone numbers for home and business telephone lines.
These numbers are always split into two parts:
Examples: (020) 7946 0018, (0117) 504 1102, (01632) 402881, (01647) 61321, (015394) 52749, (016977) 3789.
Numbers beginning with 03 are for businesses, government and other organisations that need a number not linked to any single part of the country. The law says they must always cost the same to call as normal 01 and 02 phone numbers from fixed telephones and from mobiles and be included in all call package bundles.
These numbers are for mobile phones and similar mobile services:
These are numbers that are charged at a different price to normal phone calls.
These are more expensive revenue-share numbers with a Service Charge of up to £1.50 per minute. These numbers are used to pay for services, for recorded information, for dating and for voting in competitions. The caller also pays an Access Charge to their own phone network and this varies from network to network.
Operator: 100
Police (non-emergency): 101
National Health Service (non-emergency): 111
Current time: 123 (not available from some mobiles)
Emergency services: 999 or 112
Telephone numbers in British Overseas Territories do not come under the UK telephone numbering plan. These calls are treated as international calls. Below are the access codes for the overseas territories:
Telnet is a common network protocol used on the Internet and also inside a LAN (local network). It was developed in 1969 beginning with RFC 15 and is now defined as IETF STD 8, which is one of the first Internet standards. However, due to its lack of security, Telnet has been replaced with Secure Shell (SSH) on most servers.
Telnet is one of the simplest ways to exchange data between two computers. It allows two computers anywhere on a computer network, including the worldwide Internet, to exchange text and other data in real time. It is still widely used for testing computer programs, and is simple enough that it is included on most computers today. But it allows many people to eavesdrop on the data exchange, which is why it has mostly been replaced by SSH.
Ofcom
Ofcom is the United Kingdom's regulatory body for telecommunications. This means they are responsible for making sure that the law is followed by television and radio broadcasters.
Pedro Antonio Marín, (1930-2008) known by his pseudonym, Manuel Marulanda Vélez, and nicknamed by his comrades "Tirofijo" (), apparently because of a reputed ability to accurately aim firearms. He was the main leader of the FARC-EP (""Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo""). He was born on May 13, 1930 (a date that has been disputed), in a coffee-growing region of west-central Colombia in the Quindío Department, to a peasant family politically aligned with the Liberal Party during La Violencia.
Marulanda himself changed his political and ideological inclinations to the Communist Party (PCC) sometime during the period of "La Violencia" (roughly 1948 to 1958) that followed the assassination of the Liberal Party's leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán.
He has been considered to be seriously ill, and his death has been reported several times throughout his long career as a guerrilla, but the status of his health remains uncertain.
In March 2006, Alberto Gonzales, the Attorney General of the United States, announced in conjunction with DEA and Department of Justice officials that the State Department had placed a $5 million dollar reward on Tirofijo's head, or for information leading to his capture.
According to a Brazilian journal, he seems to have sufffered from some form of cancer. There also seem to have been disputes on leadership (of the FARC) in January 2008.
His death has been reported several times; He seems to have died of a heart attack in May 2008 This has now been confirmed.
A Colombian newspaper published an interview with the defense minister of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos on the 24th of May, 2008. In it, Santos said, that Colombian intelligence agents thought, that Manuel Marulanda had died on the 26th of March 2008, either of natural causes, or through a heart attack. FARC commander ‘Timochenko’ confirmed on May 25 Telesur that ‘Manuel Marulanda’ died of a heart attack, as announced earlier by the Colombian government and the Colombian armed forces
This information was confirmed on the 25th of May: Marulanda had died of a heart attack.
David Livingstone (19 March 1813 – 4 May 1873) was a Scottish medical missionary with the London Missionary Society. He wanted to be a missionary, but he could not get many people to convert to Christian beliefs, so instead, he explored and charted much of southern and eastern Africa. He gave the Victoria Falls their name. He named them after his queen, Queen Victoria.
As an explorer, Livingstone had some advantages. He usually travelled lightly, and he was able to reassure chiefs that he was not a threat. Other expeditions had many soldiers armed with rifles, and even more people hired to carry supplies. They were often seen as military incursions or were mistaken for slave-raiding parties. Livingstone travelled on most of his journeys with a few servants and porters, bartering for supplies along the way. He only had a couple of guns for protection. He preached a Christian message but did not force it on unwilling ears. He understood the ways of local chiefs, and got permission to go through their territory. He was often hospitably received and aided, even by Mwata Kazembe.
Livingstone believed in trade, and wanted to see Christian missions established in central Africa. His motto on the base of the statue dedicated to him at Victoria Falls, was "Christianity, Commerce and Civilization". The reason he emphasised these three was that they would form an alternative to the slave trade, which was still rampant in Africa at that time. It would give the Africans some dignity when they met Europeans. The abolition of the African slave trade was his main hope. Around this time he believed the key to achieving these goals was the navigation of the Zambezi River as a Christian commercial highway into the interior. He returned to Britain to try to get support for his ideas, and to publish a book on his travels. The book brought him fame as one of the leading explorers of the age.
Livingstone died near a lake, in what is now Zambia.
Cincinnati Cyclones
The Cincinnati Cyclones are a ice hockey team in the ECHL (East Coast Hockey League). They used to be in the IHL (International Hockey League). The team plays in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cyclones won a championship (the Kelly Cup championship) in the 2007–2008 season. This was the first time they had won a championship in 18 years.
Timor
Timor is an island at the south end of the Malay Archipelago, north of the Timor Sea. It is divided between the independent state of East Timor, and West Timor, belonging to the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara.
The island's surface is 11,883 square miles (30,777 km²). The name is a variant of "timur", Malay for “east”; it is so called because it is at the east end of a chain of islands.
Biggar, South Lanarkshire
Biggar is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is a royal burgh, which means a king or queeen thought it was a very good town when Scotland still had its own royal family. There are many museums in Biggar.
South Lanarkshire
South Lanarkshire is a county in the central part of Scotland. It was formerly called Clydesdale. The Strathclyde police currently governs the county.
Some towns in South Lanarkshire are:
North Lanarkshire
Motherwell is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is an important town as many people have to come through it to get to places such as Lanark, Hamilton and Glasgow.
Motherwell has a big train station with four platforms, the biggest in North Lanarkshire. The station can take you to places such as London. Motherwell is next to Wishaw.
Motherwell has a football team, Motherwell F.C.. They play at Fir Park.
A Stirling engine is a kind of heat engine that converts heat into useful mechanical energy by the movement of a piston inside a cylinder within the engine. Unlike other commonly found heat engines such as the internal combustion engine used in cars and the steam engine used on railways, it re-uses the same gas for each stroke of the piston so there is no noisy exhaust. The same gas is repeatedly heated and cooled within the engine’s cylinder.
To run it needs a supply of heat to heat its hot parts. This can come from a fire, but also from the sun’s rays, from hot rocks near a volcano or from nuclear energy. It also has cold parts which cool the gas inside it and these are kept cold by a stream of air or water flowing over them.
It was invented by a Scottish minister, Reverend Dr. Robert Stirling in 1816.
Wishaw
Wishaw is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is bordered by Motherwell and Carluke, and is split into several areas such as Netherton, Craigneuk, Newmains, Cambusnethan and Pather.
One of only three hospitals in Lanarkshire is in Wishaw. Wishaw General Hospital is at the bottom of Wishaw, easy to find as it is on the main A721 road.
The origin of the name is uncertain. One suggestion is that it is from the Scots word for "Wicket gate in the wood", and that it used to be called "Wygateshaw". Another theory is that it was originally "Viashaw", meaning way or road through the wood. Yet another theory is that the name derives from "Wee Shaw", meaning small wood.
In November 1996, the world's worst recorded outbreak of "E. coli" occurred in the town, in which 20 people died and around 200 were infected.
Wishaw has had a number of famous residents, including:
FARC
FARC (or FARC-EP) is the abbreviation of Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo. This is the name of a guerrilla organisation operating in Colombia. The group says it has Marxist- Leninist roots. When the name of the group is translated into English, it usually reads "Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army".
The government of Colombia, the United States, Canada and the European Union<ref name="EU: Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001">Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 EUR-Lex - 32004D0306 - EN. Accessed 20 February 2008.</ref> have classified the organisation as a terrorist group. Other countries, such as Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Cuba and Venezuela do not see the group as terrorist. They instead refer to the group as “insurgents”. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, for example, publicly rejected this classification of "terrorists" in January of 2008. He called on Colombia and other world governments to recognize the guerrillas as a "belligerent force". Chávez said that if they were recognised that way, they would then be obliged to stop kidnappings and terror acts in order to respect the Geneva Conventions.
The FARC was established in the 1960s as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party. The group started as a guerrilla movement. It became involved with trading illegal drugs during the 1980s. This caused an official separation from the Communist Party and the formation of a political structure it calls the Clandestine Colombian Communist Party.
The FARC-EP still claims to be a guerrilla movement. According to the Colombian government, FARC has an estimated 6,000-8,000 members in 2008, down from 16,000 in 2001. Other estimates are higher, including up to 18,000 guerrillas, with the FARC themselves claiming in a 2007 interview that they have not been weakened.
The FARC-EP is present in 15-20 percent of Colombia’s territory. Most of them are in southeastern jungles and in plains at the base of the Andes mountains.
In June 2016, the FARC signed a ceasefire accord with the President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos in Havana. This accord was seen as a historic step to ending the war that has gone on for fifty years. On 25 August 2016, the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, announced that four years of negotiation had secured a peace deal with FARC and that a national referendum would take place on 2 October. The referendum failed with 50.24% voting against. The Colombian government and the FARC on 24 November signed a revised peace deal, which the Colombian Congress approved on 30 November.
On 27 June 2017, FARC ceased to be an armed group, disarming itself and handing over its weapons to the United Nations.
Lanarkshire
Atoll
An atoll is a kind of island. It is made when a coral reef forms around an island that sinks over many years. In the end, the land is gone, and only the coral reef continues to grow until it becomes an atoll, a group of islands shaped like a doughnut.
Charles Darwin, who is most famous for his theory of evolution, was the first person to find out how atolls form. He said that volcanoes in the ocean sometimes wear away or sink deeper. Coral growing on a volcano likes to be near the surface, and it keeps growing to stay there.
Most atolls are in the warm parts of the Pacific Ocean or the Indian Ocean.
Some island nations like Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Federated States of Micronesia have atolls as all or part of their country.
Province of Genoa
Genoa (or ) is a province in the region of Liguria in Italy.
Province of Imperia
Imperia is a province in the region of Liguria in Italy.
Province of La Spezia
La Spezia is a province in the region of Liguria in Italy.
Province of Savona
Savona is a province in the region of Liguria in Italy.
Evelyn Waugh (pronounce like the word "war") (28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer. He was born in Hampstead and raised in Golders Green, both in north-west London.
Waugh is well known for his satirical novels which include "Decline and Fall", "Vile Bodies", "Scoop", "A Handful of Dust" and "The Loved One", and especially for "Brideshead Revisited" and the "Sword of Honour" trilogy. When he was writing these novels he used experiences that he had in his own life. He often described British aristocracy and high society, making satirical fun of them. However, in his real life he was also attracted to them.
Waugh was a convert to Catholicism. His travel writings and his diaries and letters have also been published.
He was the father of writer Auberon Waugh (1939-2001).
Dima Bilan
Dima Bilan (; born Viktor Belan on December 24, 1981) is a popular Russian singer. Bilan was in the 2006 Eurovision contest. He sang the song "Never Let You Go." He finished in second place. In the 2008 contest, he came back with song "Believe" and he won with 272 points.
In February 2007 Bilan started to record his first international album in English in Los Angeles, Miami and in Philadelphia in collaboration with producer Jim Beanz and Ryan Tedder. One of the new tracks will be a duet with one of Timbaland's most successful artists, Nelly Furtado.
Thankerton
Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder is a novel by the English writer Evelyn Waugh. It was first published in 1945. The novel deals with subjects such as religion, especially Catholicism, and the love of God. It tells the story of a family called Flyte. They are an aristocratic family. The story is told by a narrator called Charles Ryder.
"Brideshead Revisited" was made into a television serial for ITV, produced by Granada Television, in 1981. A movie of the book was made in 2008. The movie makes several changes to the story of the book. The movie is mostly about the relationship between Charles and Julia.
Charles Ryder, who tells the story, is a student at the University of Oxford. He makes friends with Sebastian Flyte, the younger son of an aristocratic family. Sebastian, who comes from a very rich family, takes Charles to his family's home, Brideshead Castle. Charles meets his family, including Sebastian's sister, Julia.
During the holiday Charles goes back to his home, where he lives with his father. During the holiday Sebastian has a small injury and Charles goes back to him. Sebastian and Charles spend the rest of the summer together.
Sebastian's family is Catholic. His father, Lord Marchmain, had been an Anglican, but he had converted to Roman Catholicism, his wife's religion. The family talk a lot about religion which surprises Charles, who had always thought that Christianity was not an important subject. Lady Marchmain, Sebastian's mother, is a very strict Catholic. She tries to control others by making them feel guilty. Sebastian finds comfort by drinking alcohol. He often gets drunk, and over a period of two years he has less and less to do with the Flyte family.
However, Charles is fated to meet the Flyte family again, and he falls in love with Julia, who by that time is married to a rich Canadian, Rex Mottram.
Charles's own wife has been unfaithful, so he plans to divorce her so that he and Julia can marry. However, Julia decides for religious reasons that it would not be right for her to marry Charles. As Lord Marchmain lay dying, he had received the sacrament of Extreme Unction. This act had also influenced Charles, who had been "in search of love in those days" when he first met Sebastian, "that low door in the wall...which opened on an enclosed and enchanted garden,", an important metaphor in the book.
Charles became an architect. During the Second World War becomes an army officer. By chance he is billeted at Brideshead. It seems to him that builders do a useful job, even if there are problems sometimes.
Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain (August 21 1936–October 12 1999) was an American basketball player. Chamberlain played in the NBA during the 1960s, and many people think he is one of the best players in basketball history. At 7 feet 1 inch, he was the tallest and heaviest player in the league for most of his career, and he was one of the most famous people in the game for many years. He is the first and only basketball player to score 100 points in an NBA game. Chamberlain led the league several times in points, accuracy, rebounds and minutes. He also won 4 NBA Most Valuable Player awards and was placed in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
He won two NBA championships: the first in 1967, with the Philadelphia 76ers, and the second in 1972, with the Los Angeles Lakers. Chamberlain also played for several seasons with the Philadelphia Warriors and toured with the Harlem Globetrotters. In 1999, he died from congestive heart failure.
Kirkfieldbank
Jacqueline du Pré
Jacqueline du Pré (26 January 1945 - 19 October 1987) was an English cellist. Today she is thought of as one of the greatest cellists of all time. She is particularly remembered for her performances of the Elgar "Cello Concerto". She was still quite young when she became ill with multiple sclerosis and had to give up playing her cello.
Jacqueline du Pré was born in Oxford, England. Her father came from Jersey. His mother was a talented pianist who taught at the Royal Academy of Music. When she was four Jacqueline heard the sound of a cello on the radio and she told her mother she wanted "one of those." She started with lessons from her mother, who composed little pieces with little drawings. Then, when she was five, she went to the London Violoncello School . Her first teacher was Alison Dalrymple.
Soon she and her sister, who played the flute, were winning local music competitions. Du Pré’s main teacher, from 1955 to 1961, both privately and at the Guildhall School of Music in London, was the famous cellist William Pleeth. She took part in a masterclass with Pablo Casals in Zermatt, Switzerland in 1960, and had some lessons with Paul Tortelier in Paris in 1962, and with Mstislav Rostropovich in Russia in 1966. Rostropovich said that she was the only young cellist who could play better than he could.
In March 1961, when she was 16, du Pré gave her first concert at the Wigmore Hall, London, and she played the Elgar Cello Concerto in 1962 in the Royal Festival Hall with the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. She performed at the BBC Proms in 1963 playing the Elgar concerto again, with Sir Malcolm Sargent. People liked it so much that she was asked to play it every year for three years. Du Pré performed at the Proms every year until 1969.
In 1965, when she was 20, she recorded the Elgar concerto for EMI with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir John Barbirolli. This made her internationally famous. People still judge every cellist’s performance of this work by this recording by du Pré.
She played with the world’s greatest orchestras and conductors, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, New Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Israel Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. She regularly performed with conductors such as Barbirolli, Sir Adrian Boult, Sir Malcolm Sargent, Daniel Barenboim (her husband), Zubin Mehta, and Leonard Bernstein.
There were two cellos that Du Pré usually played. One was a Stradivari cellos, the Stradivarius made in 1673, and the other was made in 1712 and was called the Davydov Stradivarius. Both instruments were gifts from her godmother. She performed with the 1673 Stradivarius from 1961 until 1964 when she got the Davydov. Many of her most famous recordings were made on this instrument, including the Elgar Concerto with Barbirolli, the Robert Schumann Cello Concerto with Barenboim and the two Brahms cello sonatas. From 1969 to 1970 du Pré played a Francesco Goffriller cello, and in 1970 she got a modern instrument from the Philadelphia violin maker Sergio Peresson. It was the Peresson cello that du Pré played for the rest of her career until 1973, including a second, live recording of the Elgar Concerto, and her last studio recording in 1971 of the sonatas by Frederic Chopin and César Franck.
She often played chamber music with her husband Daniel Barenboim and her friends Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta, and Pinchas Zukerman. In 1969 a film was made when they played Schubert’s "Piano Quintet ("Trout")". There were also other films made of her playing.
Jacqueline du Pré met pianist Daniel Barenboim on New Year's Eve in 1966. They were married the following June (1967) at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. As her husband was Jewish, she converted to Judaism. They very often performed together, with Baremboim either playing the piano or conducting an orchestra.
Jacqueline’s sister Hilary and her brother Piers later wrote a book about her called "A Genius in the Family". This was made into a film "Hilary and Jackie". In this film it was claimed that Jacqueline had had an affair with Hilary’s husband. They said that this had helped her at the time she was having a nervous breakdown. Hilary’s daughter later criticized the story and said that her father had made Jacqueline have sex with him.
In the early 1980s, Barenboim began an affair with the Russian pianist Elena Bashkirova, with whom he had two sons. This was kept secret from Jacqueline, who was very ill by that time.
In 1971, Jacqueline du Pré’s started to suffer from multiple sclerosis. She began to lose feeling in her fingers, as well as in other parts of her body. She stopped playing for a while. Then, in 1973, she started playing again, but she could not play so well. She performed the "Elgar Concerto" for her last London concerts in February 1973 with Zubin Mehta and the New Philharmonia Orchestra.
Her last public concerts were in New York in February 1973, where she was going to play four performances of the Brahms "Double Concerto" with the violinist Pinchas Zukerman, and Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic. Du Pré later said she had difficulty in opening the cello case. She was in the middle of a performance when her fingers could no longer perform. The last performance was cancelled.
In October 1973 it was confirmed that she had multiple sclerosis. During her last years she was in a wheelchair. She sometimes gave some masterclasses. She died of multiple sclerosis in London on October 19, 1987, at the age of 42.
Jacqueline du Pré was given many honours. She was made an OBE in 1976. After her death a rose was named after her by the Royal Horticultural Society. The music building of St Hilda's College, Oxford is named after her. She has left us many recordings of her playing.
New Lanark is the UNESCO World Heritage Site in the South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
New Lanark is a 18th century village and model industrial community with cotton mill buildings, workers' housing, and school. The small town was built by Robert Owen as an experiment in utopian idealism.
Between 1785 and 1968, some buildings were torn down or burned; and some new buildings were built. However, the overall appearance of the village stayed much like it was in the first half of the 19th century.
In 1975, the New Lanark Conservation Trust was established to prevent demolition of the village.
In 2001, New Lanark was named a World Heritage Site.
North Medwin River
South Medwin River
List of rivers of Scotland
This is a list of rivers of Scotland, by geography and length (at the end):
"From Berwick-upon-Tweed to Duncansby Head (East Coast)"
"Isle of Skye"
"Mull"
"Islay"
"Dunnet Head to Mull of Kintyre"
"From Mull of Kintyre to Mull of Galloway"
"Arran and the Cumbrae Islands"
The eleven major rivers of Scotland, by length, are:
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
Province of Frosinone
The Province of Frosinone () is a province in the Lazio region of Central Italy. Its capital is the city of Frosinone.
The province of Frosinone was created in December of 1926 with territories of the Lazio and Campania regions.
The province of Frosinone has an area of , the third largest province of the Lazio region.
The province is in the southeast of the Lazio region. It borders to the north with the Abruzzo region (L'Aquila province), to the northwest and west with the Metropolitan City of Rome, to the east by the Molise region (Isernia province), to the southeast with the Campania region (Caserta), and to the south with the Latina province.
The highest mountain in the province is "Monte Meta" or, simply, "La Meta" (), with an altitude of ; it is on the border with the L'Aquila province.
The main rivers in the province are the Liri, long, and its tributary, the Sacco river, long.
There are 493,067 persons living in the province in 2017, for a population density of inhabitants/km².
Evolution of the population in the province of Frosinone
There are 91 municipalities (or "comuni") in the province; they are:
The largest "comune" is Veroli, with and the smallest is Vicalvi (). The "comune" with fewest people living in it is Acquafondata with 263 inhabitants.
Province of Latina
The Province of Latina () is a province in the Lazio region of Central Italy. Its capital is the city of Latina.
The province of Latina was created in December of 1934 with the name of Littoria.
The province of Latina has an area of , the smallest province of the Lazio region.
The province is in the southwest of the Lazio region. It borders to the north with the Frosinone province, to the northwest and west with the Metropolitan City of Rome, to the southeast with the Campania region (Caserta), and to the south with the Tyrrhenian Sea (Mediterranean Sea).
The highest mountain in the province is "Monte Petrella" (), with an altitude of .
In 2017, there are 574,891 persons living in the province, for a population density of inhabitants/km².
Evolution of the population in the province of Latina
The largest "comune" is Latina, with and the smallest is Ventotene (). The "comune" with fewest people living in it is Campodimele with 622 inhabitants.
Province of Rieti
The Province of Rieti () is a province in the Lazio region of Central Italy. Its capital is the city of Rieti.
The province of Rieti was created in January of 1927 with parts of the provinces of Rome and L'Aquila.
The province of Rieti has an area of , the second smallest province of the Lazio region.
The province is in the northeast of the Lazio region. It borders to the west, along the Tiber river, with the Viterbo province and the Rome, to the north with the Umbria region (provinces of Perugia and Terni), and to the east by Province of Ascoli Piceno in the Marche region, and with the provinces of L'Aquila and Teramo in the Abruzzo region.
The territory of the province is mostly mountainous with the "Monti Sabini" and "Monti Reatini" to the north, on the border with the Umbria region; the "Monti Terminillo" and the "Monti della Laga" to the east; and the "Monti del Cicolano" and "Monti della Duchessa" to the southeast.
The highest mountain in the province is Monte Gorzano (), in the "Monti della Laga" in the eastern part of the province along the border with the Teramo province, with an altitude of .
The main rivers in the province are:
There are several artificial lakes; the largest is the "Lago del Salto" with an area of .
, there are 157,429 persons living in the province, for a population density of inhabitants/km².
Evolution of the population in the province of Rieti
There are 73 municipalities (or "comuni") in the province; they are:
The largest "comune" is Rieti, with and the smallest is Frasso Sabino (). The "comune" with fewest people living in it is Marcetelli with 89 inhabitants.
Province of Rome
Rome (or ) is a province in the region of Latium (or ) in Italy.
Derren Brown
Derren Victor Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English magician, psychological illusionist, "mentalist", and painter. He was born in Croydon, south London. Brown studied law and German at the University of Bristol. In 1996, he started doing stage shows. He is especially known for "close-up magic", where the subject is, for example, sitting at a table opposite the performer.
"Trick of the Mind", "Trick or Treat" and "The System" are some of his television programmes shown on Channel 4.
Brown is openly gay. He was an Evangelical Christian in his teens, and became an atheist in his twenties. This is discussed by Brown in the "Messiah" special, and in his book "Tricks of the Mind". An interview as part of Richard Dawkins' two-part documentary series "The Enemies of Reason", where Brown explained various psychological techniques used by purported psychics and spiritual mediums to manipulate their audiences, Brown also said he sought to strengthen his belief and provide answers to common criticisms of religion by reading the Bible and other Christian religious texts. He found none of the answers he sought and came to the conclusion that his belief (in Christianity) had no basis.
The psychological element in Brown's scenarios seems clear.
Fall of a Kingdom
Rise of a Hero
Farsala Trilogy
A Watchtower or watch tower is a tower used for surveillance. They were used at city walls to see invaders, when they were far away, so the city could prepare for an attack. A watchtower is also used for watching over people (like a town or a city). Watchtowers were popular in the Middle Ages. They are still often used to watch over prisoners and make sure that they don't escape or leave the area. Forestry uses watchtowers to find fires before they become more dangerous.
Hilari Bell
Argeș County
Argeș () is a county (judeţ) of Romania, in Wallachia. The capital of Argeș County is Piteşti.
This county has a total area of 6,862 km².
The main river that croses the county is the Argeș River. In the south, the main rivers are the Vedea River and the Teleorman River.
The main sights of Argeș County include: