alibayram/wikipedia-40-langs huggingface dataset:
Frédéric Chopin

Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin (1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849; pronounced SHOH-pen) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the greatest Romantic piano composers. Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola, a village in the Duchy of Warsaw. A famous child prodigy, he grew up in Warsaw where he completed his music education and composed many of his mature works before leaving Poland in 1830 at age 20, shortly before the November 1830 Uprising.

Early life 
After the Uprising, he lived in Paris as part of Poland's Great Emigration. During the last 19 years of his life, Chopin performed only about 30 times, usually in a salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and teaching piano. After a romantic relationship with Polish women, including an abortive engagement, from 1837 to 1847 he carried on a relationship with the French writer Amandine Dupin, better known as George Sand.

Works 
Since he composed many piano pieces, he was called the poet of the piano. Most of Chopin's works are for solo piano, though he also wrote two piano concertos, a few chamber pieces and some songs to Polish lyrics. His piano works are often technically difficult, especially because deep expression is involved along with the importance of considering each detail in his music. Chopin also created the instrumental ballade, along with the addition of new ideas to the piano sonata, mazurka, waltz, nocturne, polonaise, étude, impromptu, scherzo and prélude. All of Chopin's works involve the piano, and for composing them he was using a number of them. While living in Warsaw, Chopin played on Buchholtz piano. Later in Paris he preferred an instrument from Pleyel. Both of these instruments were recreated in XXI century to help listeners to hear Chopin works played on pianos that they were written for.

Death 
Chopin suffered from poor health most of his life and died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1849 at age 39.

References

Other websites
Chopin biography 
Our Chopin

Deaths from tuberculosis
Infectious disease deaths in France
Polish pianists
Polish composers
Polish Roman Catholics
19th-century French composers
French Roman Catholics
Romantic composers
1810 births
1849 deaths
1510



Events 
 January 23 – Henry VIII of England, then 18 years-old, appears incognito in the lists at Richmond, and is applauded for his jousting before he reveals himself.
 Conquest of Pskov by Grand Prince Vasili III of Muscovy.
 Formation of the Holy League to defend the Italian States.
 Peter Henlein builds the first pocketwatch.
 End of the War of the League of Cambrai (started 1508)
 Start of the War of the Holy League (ended 1513)

Births 
 March 30 – Antonio de Cabezón, Spanish composer and organist (died 1566)
 April 2 – Ashikaga Yoshiharu, Japanese shogun (died 1550)
 July 22 – Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence (died 1537)
 October 6 – Rowland Taylor, English pastor (executed 1555)
 November 6 – John Caius, English physician (d. 1573)
 Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (died 1557)
 Francis Borgia, General of the Jesuits (died 1572)
 Jörg Breu the Younger, German painter (died 1547)
 Ferenc Dávid, Hungarian religious reformer (died 1579)
 Andrea Gabrieli, Italian composer and organist (died 1586)
 Claude Goudimel, French composer and music theorist (died 1572)
 Matsunaga Hisahide, Japanese warlord (died 1577)
 Aloysius Lilius, Italian inventor of the Gregorian calendar (died 1576)
 Solomon Luria, Polish-born Kabbalist (died 1574)
 Luis de Morales, Spanish religious painter (died 1586)
 Oda Nobuhide, Japanese warlord (died 1551)
 Bernard de Palissy, French potter and writer
 Ambroise Paré, French surgeon (died 1590)
 Guillaume Postel, linguist (died 1581)
 Renee of France, daughter of Louis XII of France and Anne of Brittany (died 1575)
 Lope de Rueda, Spanish dramatist and writer
 Lawrence Sheriff, Elizabethan gentleman and grocer (died 1567)
 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Spanish explorer (died 1554)
 Claudio Veggio, Italian composer
 Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon, French naval officer (died 1571)

Deaths 
 February 28 – Juan de la Cosa, Spanish mapmaker and explorer (born c. 1460)
 March 1 – Francisco de Almeida, Portuguese soldier and explorer (born c. 1450)
 March 10 – Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, German preacher (born 1445)
 May 17 – Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter (born 1445)
 August 17 – Edmund Dudley, English statesman
 December 14 – Friedrich of Saxony (b. 1473)
 December 31 – Bianca Maria Sforza, daughter of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan and wife of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1472)
 Agueybana, Taino chief
 Ambrogio Calepino, Italian lexicographer (born 1450)
 Catherine Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus (born 1454)
 Richard Empson, English statesman
 Giorgione, Italian painter (born c. 1477)
 Bohuslav Hasištejnský z Lobkovic, Bohemian writer (born 1461)
 Florian Zamoyski, Polish nobleman
Ellipsoid

An ellipsoid is a shape like a sphere, but it may be longer in one or more directions, like a rugby ball. It is the 3 dimensional analogue of an ellipse.

The Earth is shaped slightly like an ellipsoid. Its shape is called an oblate spheroid. An ellipsoid shaped like the Earth, called a reference ellipsoid, is often preferred to the geoid because it makes calculations simpler.

Related pages 
Ellipse
Oblate spheroid
Geoid

Three-dimensional shapes
Geodesy
Pentagram

A pentagram is a five-pointed star, with all lines the same length and all angles the same. A 'pentangle', 'star pentagon', or 'pentalpha' means the same thing. It is a type of pentagon.

The word pentacle originally meant 'any symbol that protects against evil spirits'. There are many of such symbols, only a few of which include a pentagram. During the modern age of Wicca, the word 'pentacle' acquired a second definition, due to sounding similar to the word 'pentagram', and the fact that wiccan pentacles use a pentagram. That second definition of 'pentacle' is 'a circumscribed pentagram', which means 'a pentagram drawn inside a circle so that the points of the pentagram touch the circle'.

The pentagram means different things to different people. These meanings have changed over time.

Religious meanings
In ancient times, the pentagram was used as a Christian symbol. It stood for the five wounds that Jesus Christ received during his crucifixion (the nails in each hand and foot, and the spear wound in his side).

In the past, the pentagram was commonly seen as a symbol for good and for protection against evil.

One of the earliest recorded uses for the pentagram was by the Pythagoreans as a sign of initiation for its mathematical relation to the golden ratio and common presence in naturally occurring shapes. 

In Taoism, a pentagram shows how the five classical oriental elements (earth, water, wood, fire, and metal) are related.

Today, the pentacle, commonly mistaken as a pentagram, is the most commonly used symbol of Wicca. Some post-Gardnerian wiccans, imitating Taoism, associate the five points of the pentagram with the four classical Greek elements (fire, water, earth, and air) and spirit.

Some Satanists, especially members of the Church of Satan, use an upside-down pentacle as a symbol for their religion. The Church of Satan's official symbol is an upside-down pentacle with a goat head inside, called the Sigil of Baphomet. (A 'sigil' is a symbol of a supernatural being). It was originally the influential 1800s French occultist Eliphas Levi who associated the pentagram with the goat-headed baphomet, by drawing a pentagram on the baphomet's forehead. Anton LaVey, who created the Church of Satan in 1966, took the idea from Levi.

The pentagram in literature
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a 14th century romance story, the pentagram is mentioned as a symbol for Gawain's good character and truth.

More recently, the meaning of the pentagram was discussed in The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. According to the book, the pentagram actually belonged to the ancient religion of Pagan Sun Worship, and was tied to the female planet Venus: every 8 years Venus traces a perfect pentagram across the sky. The book says that the pentagram was a symbol for the sacred female, but was later taken by Christianity and said to mean the devil in order to destroy beliefs that females were sacred.

Other uses
A pentacle is on the flag of Morocco, as well as  Ethiopia's.

References

Symbols
Religious symbols
Benzene

Benzene, also known as  benzol, is an organic chemical compound with the formula C6H6. It is a colorless and flammable liquid with a sweet smell. Benzene molecules are a ring of six carbon atoms that are each bonded to one hydrogen atom. It is an aromatic compound, meaning the ring has alternating double bonds. 

Benzene is carcinogenic, which means it can cause cancer. It has many real-world uses. It is used as an additive in gasoline, plastics, synthetic rubber, dyes and it is an industrial solvent, which means it can dissolve many other chemical molecules. Benzene is also a natural part of crude oil and is therefore present in gasoline. Many medicines contain parts made from benzene.

Structure
Benzene has special properties called aromaticity. All six carbon atoms in the ring are on the same flat plane. To account for all the bonds on a six carbon ring, there must be alternating double carbon bonds (Conjugated system):

If benzene had three double bonds, three sides of its ring would be shorter than the other three sides. X-ray diffraction shows that all of six carbon-carbon bonds in benzene are of the same length of 140 picometres (pm). The C–C bond lengths are greater than a double bond (135 pm) but shorter than a single bond (147 pm). This intermediate distance is consistent with electron delocalization: the electrons for C–C bonding are distributed equally between each of the six carbon atoms. The molecule is planar. One representation is that the structure exists as a superposition of so-called resonance structures, rather than either form individually. (In other words, the molecule's double bonds switch quickly between pairs of carbon atoms.) The delocalization of electrons is one explanation for the thermodynamic stability of benzene and related aromatic compounds. It is likely that this stability contributes to the peculiar molecular and chemical properties known as aromaticity. To indicate the delocalized nature of the bonding, benzene is often depicted with a circle inside a hexagonal arrangement of carbon atoms.

As is common in organic chemistry, the carbon atoms in the diagram above have been left unlabeled. Realizing each carbon has 2p electrons, each carbon donates an electron into the delocalized ring above and below the benzene ring. It is the overlap of p-orbitals both above and below the ring that produces the pi clouds.

In 1986, some chemists disputed the delocalized view of benzene in an article published in the journal Nature. They showed that the electrons in benzene are almost certainly localized to particular carbon atoms. They showed the aromatic properties of benzene come from spin coupling rather than electron delocalization. Other scientists wrote articles to support this view in Nature in 1987. But, chemists are slow to switch from the delocalized electrons view.

Derivatives of benzene occur sufficiently often as a component of organic molecules that there is a Unicode symbol in the Miscellaneous Technical block with the code U+232C (⌬) to represent it with three double bonds, and U+23E3 (⏣) for a delocalized version.

References

Hydrocarbons
Tasmanian devil

The Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a meat eating mammal. It is a marsupial, which means it has a small pouch to carry its babies. It is the largest meat eating marsupial in the world. It is nocturnal, which means it sleeps during the day and is awake during the night. Tasmanian devils now live only in Tasmania, an island state of Australia.

The devil is the same size as a small dog with a wide head and a short tail. Male devils can weigh 12 kg and be 30 cm tall. It has black fur and makes a loud and very scary screeching noise. It will hunt other animals and also feed on dead animals. The devil has strong teeth and jaws and will eat all its prey, even bones and fur.

The Tasmanian devil became extinct on the Australian mainland about 3,000 years ago - before European settlement in 1788. They were hunted in Tasmania. In the 1930s the Van Dieman's Land Company offered 25 cents for each male and 35 cents for each female killed. In 1941 they became officially protected.

Disease 

In 1996 the devils began to get very sick and then die with large tumours on their faces. Devil facial tumour disease has greatly reduced the number of devils and now threatens their survival. In some areas 85% of devils have been found with the disease. In the places where the tumours were seen first, devil numbers have dropped by 95%. The tumour is spread by biting. Because the devils are all closely related (not enough genetic diversity), the tumour cells are not seen as new; so the devil's immune system does not fight it. In May 2008 the Tasmanian devil was listed as endangered. Programs are being tried by the Tasmanian government to reduce the impact of the disease. About 60 devils without the disease have been captured and are to be kept as a tumour free group for rebreeding. Scientists have been looking at ways to give the devils immunity but so far this has not worked.

New research is showing the devils are having babies earlier, they use to breed at two years, but now are breeding at one year old. Devils used to have babies every year for three years, but they are now dying before they can produce a second litter (family).

Genetics

The devils have a low genetic diversity which is consistent with a 'founder effect'. What this means is: a small number colonised Tasmania from Australia at some stage. So their genetic variety was much less than the parent population. Disease like the present may have happened before, and reduced the population to a small number. These events are called 'population bottlenecks'. A small population which carries less variation is always vulnerable to extinction, because none of the animals may be resistant to the infection.

Its genome was sequenced in 2010 by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. There is some hope for their survival because, since 2005, three females have been found that are partially resistant to the disease.

Images

References

Other websites

 The Aussie Devil Ark Conservation Project

Dasyuromorphia
Marsupials of Australia
Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn (also known as Franz Joseph Haydn) was an Austrian composer. He was born on March 31 or April 1, 1732, and died on May 31, 1809. He was one of the most famous composers in the Classical music period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony." He also taught Ludwig van Beethoven and a friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Mozart considered him a mentor)

Life 
Haydn's father made wheels for a living. He had the skills of a blacksmith, stonemason, and carpenter. He used that skill in his spare time to make musical instruments for his family to play. The Haydn family would give informal weekend concerts. One of Joseph's relatives thought that Joseph had a great singing voice and should go with him to a boarding school where he would start studying to become a priest.

Haydn did not like it very much at the boarding school, but his voice developed to a point where he was selected to be a part of the Boy's Choir of the Vienna Cathedral. He stayed there until his voice changed. Haydn made a living teaching lessons and playing in the streets for handouts until he met Nicola Porpora, who hired Haydn as an accompanist and general servant. 

Eventually Haydn got a job working for Nicholas Esterhazy. He worked for the Esterhazys for over 30 years. He wrote symphonies, string quartets, operas, piano sonatas, and other pieces.

After he was released from his duties with the Esterhazys, Haydn travelled to London. Even at the age of 60 he was still active and wrote some of his most famous symphonies there. While in London, he heard Handel's Messiah, and was inspired to write two oratorios of his own, The Seasons and The Creation. While working on these oratorios in Vienna, Haydn gave lessons to Ludwig van Beethoven. Beethoven had first wanted to study with Mozart, but by the time Beethoven was ready to study in Vienna, Mozart had died.

The house in Vienna where Haydn wrote his oratorios has been turned into a museum called 'Haydnhaus'. There visitors can see the piano by Anton Walter that composer was using for writing music. Haydn was so well-respected in Vienna that he was known as "Papa Haydn" and his influence on music was profound and great.

1732 births
1809 deaths
Austrian composers
Classical era composers
Orthology (language)

For the use in evolutionary biology, see Orthology (biology)
Orthology is the study of the right use of words in language. The word comes from Greek ortho- ("correct") and -logy ("science of"). This science is a place where psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and many otherwife fields of learning come together. The most noted use of Orthology is for the selection of words 
for the language of Basic English by the Orthological Institute.

The book, The Meaning of Meaning, by C.K. Ogden and I.A. Richards, is an important book dealing with orthology. The term Orthology comes from the book The Grammar of Science by Karl Pearson.

References 

Vocabulary
1712

1712 was a leap year.

Events 
 January 26 – Tuscarora War: More than half of the Native Americans in Colonel John Barnwell's Carolina militia desert during the crossing of the Cape Fear River.
 January 29 – Tuscarora War: Colonel John Barnwell's Carolina militia attack the sprawling Tuscarora farming community of Torhunta by focusing on Fort Narhantes. Many Tuscarora captives are enslaved.
Toei Company

Toei Company, Ltd. (東映株式会社 Tōei Kabushiki-gaisha (pronounced toe ay) is a Japanese film, television production, and  distribution corporation. Based in Tokyo, Toei owns and operates thirty-four movie theaters across Japan, studios at Tokyo and Kyoto; and is a shareholder in several television companies. It is notable for anime franchises such as Dragon Ball Z, YoRo RoYo, One Piece and Sailor Moon, live action dramas known as tokusatsu, and jidaigeki historical dramas.

History 
Tokyo-Yokohama Films (東横映画 Tō-Yoko Eiga, incorporated in 1938, had previously erected its facilities immediately east of the Tōkyū Tōyoko Line, they managed the Tōkyū Shibuya Yokohama studio system prior to V-J Day. From 1945 through the Toei merger, Tokyo-Yokohama Films leased from the Daiei Motion Picture Company a second studio in Kyoto. Through the merger, they gained the combined talents and experience of different actors. On October 1, 1950, the Tokyo Film Distribution Company was incorporated; in 1951 the company purchased Ōizumi Films.

In 1956, Toei established an animation division, Toei Animation at the former Tokyo-Ōizumi animation studio, purchasing the assets of Japan Animated Films (originally founded in 1948)

Toei was a pioneer in the use of transformation in live-action martial-arts dramas, a technique developed for the Kamen Rider, Metal Heroes and Super Sentai series; The genre currently continues with Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.

On April 6, 2020, Toei create their official YouTube Channel and uploading some of the oldest tokusatsu series (from the 50s to 90s).

Other websites 
 toei.co.jp - Company webpage

Animation studios in Asia
Naoko Takeuchi

Naoko Takeuchi (武内直子 Takeuchi Naoko), born March 15, 1967, is a manga artist from Japan. She lives in Tokyo. She wrote the manga Sailor Moon, which was so popular it was made into an anime, musicals, video games and more. Her husband, Yoshihiro Togashi, is the creator of YuYu Hakusho and Hunter × Hunter.

1967 births
Living people
Japanese animators
Kimigayo

"Kimigayo" (Kanji: 君が代, Katakana: きみがよ, , meaning "His Imperial Majesty's Reign") is the national anthem of Japan. The anthem is based on a poem written by an unknown poet from Japan about one thousand years ago. The music was composed more recently, about two hundred years ago; however, it had to be rewritten shortly afterwards, because the original tune was unpopular.

Although popular for a long period and sung in situations where people from other countries would usually sing their country's national anthem, "Kimigayo" was only considered as Japan's official national anthem in 1999. The law that stated this also defined the Flag of Japan in a similar way.

The national anthem of Japan is one of the shortest national anthems in the world, containing only thirty-two syllables. Because it is so short, the anthem is normally played very slowly.

Lyrics

References

Other websites 

 Listen to Kimi ga yo (.ra format)

Asian anthems
National symbols of Japan
1860s songs
April Fools' Day

April Fools' Day (also known as April Fool's Day) is celebrated in many countries on April 1 every year. On this day, practical jokes (or April Fools) are played on friends and family. The jokes are done to embarrass them. In some countries, April Fools only last until noon, and if someone plays a joke after, they are an April Fool.

Origins
People have set aside a special day for playing jokes for centuries. The ancient Romans had a holiday called Hilaria.

In the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on March 25 in most European towns. In some areas of France, New Year's was a week-long holiday ending on April 1. Some people think that April Fools' started because those who celebrated on January 1 made fun of those who celebrated on other dates.

Long standing customs

United Kingdom
This custom makes no sense at all until one remembers how much colder the climate was before the 19th/20th century. Great rivers like the Thames were frozen over in the winter, and young people used to skate on them in wintertime. 

In the U.K., a person playing a joke would yell "April Fool!" at the recipient. According to tradition, the joking was supposed to stop at midday.

Nordic countries
In the Nordic countries, many news outlets would publish or broadcast a fake news story on April 1.

France
In France, an April fools joke is called a "Poisson d'Avril'. One tradition there is to try and stick a paper fish on one's friends back, and shout "Poisson d'Avril!' when it is discovered.

Media outlets
Sometimes a large media corporation would broadcast or publish a fake news story on April 1. For example, in 1957 the BBC broadcast a story about spaghetti trees. According to the story, people in Switzerland grew spaghetti on trees. Later, many people called the BBC asking how they could get a spaghetti tree.

Notes

Other websites

Observances
Canyon

A canyon (or gorge) is a big crack in the ground, or a  very deep valley. Most canyons are made by rivers. A few are made by earthquakes. They can be big, like the Grand Canyon, or small.

Canyons can be formed by erosion by running water which will take rocks and soil away.

References
Pattern language

Pattern language is used to mean a system of patterns that have a certain meaning other than just the pattern.

Method 
The pattern can be a pattern which has a hidden meaning shown through any sense like sight, sound, touch, taste and smell.

Sight
The most obvious form of sight-based pattern language comes in the form of writing. Nearly every language has a unique written form, which grammatically follows the spoken form.

Writing
Computer science
National Maritime Day

In the United States, National Maritime Day is held every May 22 to honor people who have served in the United States Merchant Marine service.

The first National Maritime Day was May 22, 1933, based on a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress on May 20, 1933. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first President to issue a proclamation about the day.

The biggest National Maritime Day celebration was in 1946, the first National Maritime Day after the Allied Powers won World War II. That year, governors of many U.S. states also officially named the day National Maritime Day or Maritime Day for their state. The first National Maritime Day after the end of the Korean War, in 1954, was also more widely celebrated than most.

In the 2006 annual proclamation by president George W. Bush, he made special mention of the Merchant Marine service's hurricane aid work following Hurricane Katrina and the other hurricanes of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

References
Joint Resolution of Congress text 
List of 1946 state and city proclamations 
Text of Bush proclamation

Holidays of the United States
Nuclear fusion

Nuclear fusion is the process of making a single heavy nucleus (part of an atom) from two lighter nuclei. This process is called a nuclear reaction. It releases a large amount of energy.

The nucleus made by fusion is heavier than either of the starting nuclei. However, it is not as heavy as the combination of the original mass of the starting nuclei (atoms). This lost mass is changed into lots of energy. This is shown in Einstein's famous E=mc2 equation.

Fusion happens in the middle of stars, like the Sun. Hydrogen atoms are fused together to make helium. This releases lots of energy. This energy powers the heat and light of the star.
Not all elements can be joined. Heavier elements are less easily joined than lighter ones. Iron (a metal) cannot fuse with other atoms. This is what causes stars to die. Stars join all of their atoms together to make heavier atoms of different types, until they start to make iron. The iron nucleus cannot fuse with other nuclei. The reactions stop. The star eventually will cool down and die.

On Earth it is very difficult to start nuclear fusion reactions that release more energy than is needed to start the reaction.  The reason is that fusion reactions only happen at high temperature and pressure, like in the Sun, because both nuclei have a positive charge, and positive repels positive.  The only way to stop the repulsion is to make the nuclei hit each other at very high speeds.  They only do that at high pressure and temperature.  The only successful approach so far has been in nuclear weapons.  The hydrogen bomb uses an atomic (fission) bomb to start fusion reactions.  Scientists and engineers have been trying for decades to find a safe and working way of controlling and containing fusion reactions to generate electricity.  They still have many challenges to overcome before fusion power can be used as a clean source of energy.

Related pages 
Stellar nucleosynthesis
Supernova

Notes 

Astrophysics
Nuclear energy
Nuclear physics
Concertmaster

The Concertmaster (American English) or leader (British English) is the most important violinist in an orchestra.  He or she will sit in the front seat, by the conductor's left.  The word concertmaster comes from the German Konzertmeister.

The leader will be the highest paid member of the orchestra.  He has to decide how the violins will play the music and write in the bowing.  He will decide where each member of the violins should sit.  He will probably also interview them and offer them the job in the orchestra.  He will talk to the conductor about anything the orchestra are not happy about (he may have to remind the conductor when it is time to stop the rehearsal!).  If part of the music is marked "solo" then he will play it as a solo while the other violins stop playing.

In the United States it is usual for the concertmaster to be on the platform before the concert and to tell the orchestra to tune their instruments, playing on his A string to give them the correct pitch.  In European orchestras it is usually the oboe that gives an A for tuning.  In Britain the leader usually comes on stage after the orchestra have tuned, and gets an applause.

Some famous orchestral leaders
of the past:
Arnold Rosé (Vienna Philharmonic)

of today:
Gordan Nikolitch (London Symphony Orchestra)
Glenn Dicterow (New York Philharmonic Orchestra)
Peter Manning ( Royal Opera House Orchestra Covent Garden  )

 
Entertainment occupations
Mutual assured destruction

Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a military strategy in which two opposing military forces are powerful enough to completely destroy each other. It should help to avoid a nuclear war.  This usually happens when both forces have nuclear weapons.  If a state attacks another with nuclear weapons, the state attacked will potentially be able to attack back. The attacker must think that he will be destroyed with his victim if he attacks. The theory is that no state would start an attack if attacking its enemy means its own destruction.

The concept was discussed by Herman Kahn. It was part of the background to the film Dr. Strangelove.

References 

Military
Nuclear weapons
Stairway to Heaven

Stairway to Heaven was a 1971 song by Led Zeppelin. It was on the album Led Zeppelin IV.

Hidden Satanic message 
Some listeners claim that by reversing the song, a hidden Satanic message is revealed. The message is:

Oh, here's to my sweet Satan
The one whose little path would make me sad whose power is Satan
He'll give, he'll give you 666
There was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad Satan

It's unlikely such a message was intentionally hidden in the song; rather, it is just a bizarre coincidence.

Other websites 
 Stairway to Heaven songfacts, tabs, videos and audio , at the Stairway to Heaven website.

1971 songs
1970s ballads
Progressive rock songs
Led Zeppelin songs
Heart (band) songs
Thin Lizzy

Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band that started in Dublin in 1969. Up to 1984 the band were led by bassist, songwriter and singer Phil Lynott (1949-1986). The band's famous song "The Boys Are Back in Town" is still played a lot on classic rock radio stations.  Since Lynott's death, other former members have carried on using the band name.

Phil Lynott wrote most of the band's songs. The band's music showed many musical styles including: country music, psychedelic rock, Celtic music and folk music which Lynott mixed with hard rock and heavy metal styles.

Thin Lizzy were listed at number 51 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

Notes

20th-century establishments in the Republic of Ireland
1960s music groups
1970s music groups
1980s Irish music groups
1990s Irish music groups
2000s Irish music groups
2010s Irish music groups
Hard rock bands
Irish rock bands
Musical groups established in 1969
Musical groups from Dublin
Aziz al-Abub

Aziz al-Abub (a.k.a. Ibrahim al-Nadhir or al-Nahdhir) was a Lebanese Hezbollah psychiatrist and mind control expert.

Aziz was a disciple of Ewen Cameron and a graduate of the Soviet Union's Patrice Lumumba Institute that specialized in mind control techniques.

Aziz al-Abub used mind-control, drugs and physical torture in the infamous 444-day (1984-1985) torture and mental derangement of American William Buckley in Beirut.

Year of birth missing

Lebanese Muslims
Lebanese nationalists
Lebanese terrorists
Muslim terrorists
Psychiatrists
Hobbit

Hobbits are a fictional race in the Middle-earth world invented by J. R. R. Tolkien, also often called halflings.

They appeared in the books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Several important main characters in those books are hobbits, such as Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins. 

Hobbits (or similar beings) have become very popular and are now often used in fantasy fiction and (video) games.

Appearance 
Hobbits are like small humans between two and four foot tall (between 60 and 120 centimeters). They have hair/fur on the top side of their feet, leathery foot-soles, and slightly pointed ears. They tend to be stout and often have brown and curly hair. Male hobbits do not have beards. Hobbits live longer compared to humans, and many hobbits reach the age of 100.

Culture 
Hobbits are a peaceful people and live a simple, pre-industrial life in the land which they call The Shire, and also in Bree-land.

A typical hobbit-house has a long hallway with rooms on both sides, and round doors and windows. Originally these were underground in hills, then the house was called a smial; but this architecture(style of building) is also used for 'normal' houses above ground.

Related pages
 The Hobbit
 The Lord of the Rings
 Middle-earth

Middle-earth
Fictional races
Bilbo Baggins

Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He is a major protagonist of The Hobbit and a minor protagonist of The Lord of the Rings.

Fictional biography
Bilbo Baggins was greeted by Gandalf the Grey and a group of 13 Dwarves known as the Company of Thorin Oakenshield. He was offered to help them to take back Erebor from the dragon Smaug. At the Misty Mountain, he landed at a cave and met Gollum. He took Gollum's One Ring and went back to his Company. Decades after returning from Erebor, he celebrated his 111th birthday as well as his nephew Frodo's birthday. He wanted to keep the One Ring.

Peter Jackson adaptations (2001-2003, 2012-2014)
In Peter Jackson's movie adaptations of both books, Bilbo was played by Martin Freeman when he was younger and Ian Holm when he was older.
Fictional characters introduced in 1937
Characters in The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings characters
Middle-earth

Middle-earth is a fictional fantasy world invented by J. R. R. Tolkien. Several of his books take place there, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It is supposed to be a long gone mythological time of our earth.

Although Middle-earth is only one continent in Tolkien's world, it is often used for the whole fictional world and all stories Tolkien invented for it. Tolkien created and worked on Middle-earth through most of his life, and it is this creation for which he is most famous.

Middle-earth has its own geography, several different species and peoples (elves, dwarves, humans, hobbits), their languages, and a history that spans thousands of years. The stories of Middle-earth are also a kind of 'artificial myth'.

"Middle-earth" is called Endor (or Endóre) and Ennor in the fictional Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin.

Peoples 
The oldest people of Middle-earth are the immortal Elves. Second were the Dwarves. After them came mortal Men. In the Third Age, there appeared another people, the Hobbits. There are also the tree-like Ents.

Chronology 
The history of the Middle-earth world is thousands of years long. Sometimes, when big historical events happen, a new Age is begun, which starts counting again with the year 1.

 First Age: The First Age can be divided into the "First Age of the Trees" and the "First Age of the Sun". Saying a year and "First Age" often means a year in the "First Age of the Sun". 
 First Age of the Trees: Begins at the creation of the Two Trees. During it are the Awakening of the Elves and the Dwarves. It ends with the destruction of the Two Trees.
 First Age of the Sun (590 years): Begins with the creation of the Sun and Moon, and ends with the War of Wrath, the final imprisonment of Morgoth and the destruction of Beleriand.
 Second Age (S.A., 3441 years): Begins after the end of the War of Wrath. During it is the destruction of Númenor (T.A. 3319). Ends with the defeat of Sauron in the War of the Last Alliance.
 Third Age (T.A., 3021 years): Begins after the Last Alliance defeated Sauron. During it are the events of The Hobbit (T.A. 2941) and the War of the Ring (T.A. 3018-3019). Ends with the destruction of the One Ring and the defeat of Sauron.
 Fourth Age: Follows the defeat of Sauron and the One Ring, but starts officially when the Bearers of the Rings left for the West. During this Age the Elves become less and leave, while the humans become the dominant people of Middle-earth.

Related pages
Middle-earth characters
Middle-earth languages
Middle-earth locations

References
10s



Important people 
 Caesar Augustus, Roman Emperor (27 BC – 14).
 Tiberius, Roman Emperor (14–37).
 Germanicus, Roman General
10s BC



Significant people 
 Caesar Augustus, Roman Emperor (27 BC – 14).

Deaths 

 Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
40s



Events 
 The Roman emperor Caligula assassinated (41), succeeded by his uncle Claudius
 Roman conquest of Britain begins under Aulus Plautius, 43
Pontiac Silverdome

The Pontiac Silverdome is a domed stadium in the town of Pontiac, Michigan, near Detroit. It opened in 1975 and closed in 2007. The largest crowds to come to the stadium were for WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, where the main event was a match between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant. The crowd attendance for that night reached 93,173, which is also the record for indoor attendance. The Detroit Lions NFL team played at the stadium from 1975 until 2001.

References

Sports in Detroit
Sports buildings in the United States
WrestleMania host
Buildings and structures in Michigan
1975 establishments in the United States
20th-century establishments in Michigan
2007 disestablishments in the United States
Disestablishments in Michigan
80s



Important people
Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Roman Emperor (79–81).
Titus Flavius Domitianus, Roman Emperor (81–96)
Estonian language

The Estonian language () is a Uralic language. It is mainly spoken in Estonia. The Estonian language is similar to Finnish and is one of the few national languages of Europe not to be an Indo-European language. 

The Estonian alphabet uses the Latin alphabet. It has many vowels, including Ö, Ä, Õ and Ü.

It has been influenced by and adopted many words from German and Swedish.  The Estonian language also has different dialects.

Sample words 

Finnic languages
Languages of Europe
Chromosome

The chromosomes of a cell are in the cell nucleus. They carry the genetic information. Chromosomes are made up of DNA and protein combined as chromatin. Each chromosome contains many genes. Chromosomes come in pairs: one set from the mother; the other set from the father. Cytologists label chromosomes with numbers.

Chromosomes are present in every cell nucleus with very few and special exceptions. This means they are found in all eukaryotes, since only eukaryotes have cell nuclei. When eukaryote cells divide, the chromosomes also divide. 

When a somatic (body) cell (such as a muscle cell) divides, the process is called mitosis. Before mitosis, the cell copies all the chromosomes and then it can divide. When they duplicate, chromosomes look like the letter "X". When they are doubled, the two halves are called chromatids (see diagram). The chromatids are joined at the centromere.

There are 46 chromosomes in a human as 23 pairs. Everyone has a set of chromosomes from their father and a set from their mother. They include a pair of sex chromosomes. The mother's eggs always contain an X chromosome, while the father's sperm contains either a Y chromosome or an X chromosome. That determines the sex of the child. If the child gets a Y chromosome from the father it is male. If it gets an X from the father, it is female.

To produce sex cells (gametes), the stem cells go through a different division process called meiosis. This reduces the 23 pairs (diploid) to 23 singles (haploid). These, when combined by fertilisation, produce the new set of 23 pairs.

Different animals have different numbers of chromosomes. If a person does not have the usual number of chromosomes, they may die or have one or more peculiarities. For example, they might get a genetic disorder like Down syndrome (extra chromosome 21), or Klinefelter syndrome (a male with two X chromosomes). Some genetic disorders are more common than others.

Polytene chromosomes 

Polytene chromosomes are over-sized chromosomes which have developed from standard chromosomes. Specialized cells undergo repeated rounds of DNA replication without cell division (endomitosis). Polytene chromosomes form when multiple rounds of replication produce many sister chromatids that are stuck together in parallel.

Polytene chromosomes are found in Drosophila species and in nonbiting midges. They also occur in arthropods of the class Collembola,  ciliate protozoa, early stages of mammalian embryos, and suspensor cells in plants.

Polytene cells have a metabolic function. Multiple copies of genes allows a high level of gene expression. In Drosophila, for example, the chromosomes of the larval salivary glands have many rounds of endoreduplication.  

Chromosome puffs (seen in diagram) are diffused uncoiled regions of the polytene chromosome. They are sites of active  transcription.

Related pages 
Karyotype
Cell division
Homologous chromosome
Mutation#Chromosome mutations
Genetics#Between Mendel and modern genetics

References
Giovanni Gabrieli

Giovanni Gabrieli (probably born Venice (date unknown), about 1553 - 57; died 21 August 1612, in Venice) was an Italian organist and composer. 

He was very famous in his day and composed a great deal of church music; motets and madrigals. He lived at the end of the Renaissance period and beginning of the Baroque.

About 1575, Giovanni began working for Orlando di Lasso at the Bavarian court, as his uncle Andres Gabrieli had before him. Little is known of his time in Munich, and he left in 1579 after the death of his patron, Duke Albrecht. There is no record of Gabrieli's activities until 1584 when he'd returned to Venice. That year he replaced organist Claudio Merulo at Basilica di San Marco, church of Venice's patron saint. Due to Merulo's resignation, a contest was eventually held January 1, 1585 to fill his post, which Gabrieli won, having already occupied the position anyway. Giovanni and his uncle, who had raised him and taught him music, worked together only a short time at the church before Andres died in August 1585. Giovanni held his post until he died in 1612.

Also in 1585 Giovanni had been appointed as organist of Scuola Grande di San Rocco, where he composed ceremonial music.

During all this, he was also a music teacher. Heinrich Schutz was one of his students.

Giovanni is well known for being one of the first composers who specified volume markings and instrumentation in music.

Other websites
http://www.goldbergweb.com/en/history/composers/10946.php 
http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/appendix/composers/G/GiovanniGabrieli.html 

1557 births
1612 deaths
16th-century Italian composers
Baroque composers
Italian organists
17th-century Italian composers
Arcangelo Corelli

Arcangelo Corelli (17 February 1653  8 January 1713) was an Italian violinist and composer. He composed some of the most important Italian music of the Baroque period. He was also very famous as a violin player. Other violinists learned from his style of playing and developed the art of playing the violin. His works include sonatas and concerti grossi.

18th-century Italian composers
Baroque composers
Italian violinists
1653 births
1713 deaths
17th-century Italian composers
François Couperin

François Couperin (born in Paris on 10 November 1668; died in Paris, on 12 September 1733) was a French composer who lived in the Baroque period. Many of his relatives were composers. He is often called François Couperin le Grand (The Great) because he was the most famous of the Couperin family. He is best known today for his harpsichord music. He wrote several pieces which he called Ordres meaning the same as the word suite i.e. a collection of dance movements. Sometimes these movements have strange titles and we cannot always be sure what they mean. Some of them may have been nicknames of people he knew. He also wrote important organ music. He never had a family of his own before he died.

1668 births
1733 deaths
18th-century French composers
Baroque composers
Harpsichordists
French organists
17th-century French composers
Christoph Willibald von Gluck

Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck (born in Erasbach, July 2, 1714; died in Vienna, November 15, 1787) was a German composer. He is famous for his operas which were written in a new and exciting way. He was not interested in writing operas which were just a series of songs for singers to show off.  He wanted to make his operas into good pieces of drama. His operas had a big influence on later composers like Mozart, Weber and Wagner. He wrote Italian operas and French operas.

1714 births
1787 deaths
18th-century German composers
Classical era composers
Jan Ladislav Dussek

Jan Ladislav Dussek (b. Ĉáslav, Bohemia, 12 Feb.1760; d.Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 20 March 1812) was a Bohemian composer of the Classical period.  He travelled a lot, living in Holland, Lithuania, Italy, France and England.  He lived nearly twelve years in London where he was a fashionable teacher and famous composer.  He is best remembered now for his piano music.

1760 births
1812 deaths
Dussek, Jan Ladislav
Czech composers
Frederick Delius

Frederick Delius (b.Bradford, 29 Jan.1862; d.Grez-sur-Loing, 10 June 1934) was an English composer. At first his parents did not let him study music, so he went off to Florida to work on an orange plantation. He later returned, studied music, and settled in France for the rest of his life. His music is often quite gentle and atmospheric, with chords that shift about in unusual ways. One of his best known orchestral works is On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring. In his last years he was very ill, but he still wanted to compose, so he dictated the music he heard in his head to a man called Eric Fenby.

1862 births
1934 deaths
20th-century English composers
Charlie Kaufman

Charles Stuart "Charlie" Kaufman (born November 1, 1958) is an American screenwriter.  Some of the movies he wrote screenplays for are Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Human Nature, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Charlie Kaufman is known for writing very surreal movies - that is, movies where the plot has things in it that could never happen in real life, or that make the audience notice that they are watching a movie.

He is one of the most celebrated screenwriters for now.

References 

American screenwriters
Writers from New York City
1958 births
Living people
Oxbow lake

An oxbow lake is a lake, or area of water, in a U-shape. It is made by special bends in a river, called meanders, getting farther away from the river until they become separate. The river becomes straight and the bend becomes a lake. This happens due to floods or when a meander's neck gets too thin.

Why does this happen?

Water flows at different speeds at different parts of the river. In the middle, farthest away from the sides (or banks), the water flows fastest. At the banks, the water flows slowest. When the river bends, water flows faster on the outside of the bend than the inside. The fast water on the outside 'erodes' the outside of the bend. This means it breaks bits of the bank off. At the same time, the slow water on the inside of the bend leaves behind mud, sand and parts of plants (deposition). Together, these make the bend move in the direction of the outside of the bend. 

The bend moves farther and farther along until it leaves the river. The river becomes straight and the bend is left as an oxbow lake.

Lakes
Sequel

A sequel is a type of new creation, like a movie, book, video game, or song, that follows or expands on a story from an earlier work. It is made because people liked the original and want more of it. Sequels let people see their favorite characters and settings again while adding new things to the story to make it interesting.

Types of sequels
Sequels can be different depending on the medium and the original work. In movies, sequels can continue the same story, go back in time, or focus on different parts of the original. In books, sequels can start where the last book ended or tell what happened before. Some sequels are spin-offs, which means they focus on other characters or explore different parts of the original world.

Purpose and significance
Sequels are made to give fans what they want. They let people explore more of the world, learn more about the characters, and discover new ideas. Sequels are important because they build on the success of the original and keep the story going.

Audience reception
People have different opinions about sequels. Some sequels become very popular, while others don't live up to the original. People are excited to see sequels, but they also want them to be as good as the original. The success of a sequel depends on things like how well the story is told and how the characters develop.

Impact on pop culture
Sequels have had a big impact on popular culture. They have changed the way stories are continued and expanded in movies, books, and other forms of entertainment. Sequels create excitement and make fans want to talk about the story and buy related things. They also help create bigger worlds and universes.

Literary terms
Movie industry