alibayram/wikipedia-40-langs huggingface dataset:
Majulah Singapura

"Majulah Singapura" (Jawi: ماجولاه سانڬاڤورا, ; "Onward Singapore") is the national anthem of Singapore. It was written and composed by Singaporean musician Zubir Said in 1958. Seven years later, the anthem was adopted. This song must be sung in Malay, although there are translations provided in the country's three other official languages—English, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil.

Singaporeans are encouraged to sing the national anthem during times of national celebration or at important national events such as at the National Day Parade, at National Day observance ceremonies held by government departments and educational institutions such as schools and universities, and at sports events that Singapore teams take part in.

Lyrics

Official Malay

Mandarin Chinese translation

Tamil translation

English translation
Come, fellow Singaporeans
Let us progress towards happiness together
May our noble aspirations
bring Singapore success

Come, let us all unite
In a brand new spirit
Let our voices soar as one
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore

Come, let us all unite
In a brand new spirit
Let our voices soar as one
Onward Singapore
Onward Singapore

References

Other websites
 Music score for Wind band (instrumental parts)

1958 works
Asian anthems
National symbols of Singapore
Abruzzo

Abruzzo is one of the twenty regions of Italy, in Southern Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The capital is the city of L'Aquila.

Geography 
The region is located in Southern Italy bordered by Marche to the north, Lazio to the west, Molise to the south and the Adriatic Sea to the east.

Abruzzo is the 13th largest region in Italy, with a total area of . The main rivers in the region are:
 Aterno-Pescara,  long.
 Sangro,  long.
 Vomano,  long.
 Tordino,  long.
 Liri,  long,  in Abruzzo.

The Tronto river is  long but flows mainly in the Marche region.

The highest mountain in the region is Corno Grande (), in the Teramo province, with an altitude of .

Provinces 
The region is divided into four provinces:

Largest municipalities
The 10 communi of the region with more people living in it are:

Gallery

References

Other websites

 Official Site 
 Official Tourist Information
Teramo

Teramo is an Italian city in Abruzzo. Teramo is the capital of the Province of Teramo. In 2020, Teramo had about 53,000 people.

Cities in Abruzzo
Capital cities in Italy
Province of Teramo
Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea. It is between Greece and Anatolia. It is connected (attached) in the north to the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus. The islands of Rhodes, Karpathos and Crete mark the south end.

History 
In ancient times two groups of people lived near the sea  the Minoans of Crete, and the Myceneans of the Peloponnese. The city-states of Athens and Sparta came later and were part of Ancient Greece. Persians, Romans, the Byzantine Empire, the Venetians (people from Venice), the Seljuk Empire, and the Ottoman Empire later started around the Aegean Sea. The people near the Aegean were very advanced (powerful and clever) in Ancient history and they sailed across it to talk to each other.

There are seven groups of Aegean islands: the Thracian Sea group, the East Aegean group, the Northern Sporades, the Cyclades, the Saronic Islands (or Argo-Saronic Islands), the Dodecanese and Crete. The word archipelago used to mean these islands. Many of the Aegean islands, or chains of islands, are part of the mountain ranges on the mainland. One chain goes across the sea to Chios, another one goes across Euboea to Samos, and a third one goes across the Peloponnese and Crete to Rhodes. This one divides (splits, cuts) the Aegean from the Mediterranean. Many of the islands have safe harbours and bays, but sailing in the sea is difficult. Many of the islands are volcanos, and marble and iron are mined on other islands. The bigger islands have some green valleys and plains. Two big islands on the Aegean Sea are part of Turkey: Bozcaada () and Gökçeada ().

Notes 

Mediterranean Sea
William de Wiveleslie Abney

William de Wiveleslie Abney (24 July 1843 – 3 December 1920) was an English astronomer, chemist, and photographer. Abney was a member of many scientific organizations.

He was best known for his discovering and measuring the effect of adding white to a hue, in 1910. The effect is generally known as the Abney effect. For example, adding white to red makes it slightly bluish (bluish red is known as pink), and adding white to yellowish green hues makes them less yellowish and thus greener.

1843 births
1920 deaths
English chemists
English astronomers
English photographers
Giacomo Casanova

Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was a famous Venetian adventurer and writer. He was born in Venice. He is best known for having had many affairs with women. He died in Dux, Bohemia, (now Duchcov, Czech Republic).

References

Italian writers
1725 births
1798 deaths
People from Venice
Colima, Colima

Colima is the capital city of the Mexican state Colima. About 240,000 people live there.

Capital cities in Mexico
Colima
Given name

A given name is a name given to a person at birth or baptism.  Given names are referred as first names.  It is different from a surname.  A surname is the last name or family name.

Example: A baby girl is born and someone decides to name her Hope.  Hope is her given name.  Someone can decide to give her a surname as it is commonly accepted for people to have a last name.  When she grows up, she can pick her own given name or surname if she does not like the one that was picked for her.  Family names are inherited and are not easily changed.  

In most Western countries the given name comes first (before the last name or family name).  However, in many Asian countries such as India's Telugu States, Japan and China it comes after the last name or family name, and occasionally also in Europe, e.g. in Hungarian.

Christians often call their first name their "Christian name".

Related pages 
 Personal name
 Posthumous name
 Regnal name
 Indian name
Family name

A family name is a name shared by people in the same family. Different cultures have different customs for a person's family name and given name. In English, the family name is always at the end, and it is called a last name or surname. Children usually have the same family name as their father. A married woman usually changes her family name to be the same as her husband.

For example, Mary Brown married John Smith and she changed her name to Mary Smith. They had two children, David Smith and Kate Smith. Smith is the family name shared by the parents Mary and John, and their children David and Kate.

Some languages put the family name first. Some (for example Spanish) give both parents' family names in the children's' surnames. In Russian most surnames change depending on the gender of the person (example: ...ski or ...sky for a male, and ...skaya for a female). Some, such as Javanese, do not often give anyone a family name.

References

Related pages 
 Personal name
 Posthumous name
 Regnal name
John the Baptist

John the Baptist (also called John the Baptizer or Yahya the Baptizer) is viewed as a prophet by at least three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Mandaeanism. According to the New Testament, he was a preacher who baptized people. 

John called people to turn to God and to prepare for the coming of the messiah (Jesus). He baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.
People would go to him so that he would put them in the water to show that they have turned away from their sins, so that they could get into heaven.

John was the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and a relative of Jesus. He was known for living in the wild, wearing clothes made from camel's hair, and eating locusts and honey. In Catholicism, his birthday is celebrated on June 24.

References 

1st-century BC births
1st-century deaths
Ancient Israeli people
Early Christian saints
Executed people
New Testament people
List of Scottish monarchs

This is a list of the Kings and Queens of Scotland. This list goes from 843 until when England and Scotland joined in 1707.

House of Alpin

The House of Alpin traditionally ends in 1034, although this list continues to 1058.
 Kenneth I (c. 843–858)
 Donald I (858–862)
 Constantine I (862–877)
 Aed (877–878)
 Eochaid (878–889) (disputed)
 Giric (878–889)
 Donald II (889–890)
 Constantine II (900–943)
 Malcolm I (943–954)
 Indulf (954–962)
 Dub (962–967)
 Culen (967–971)
 Amlaíb (971-977) (disputed)
 Kenneth II (971–995)
 Constantine III (995–997)
 Kenneth III (997–1005)
 Malcolm II (1005–1034)
 Duncan I (1034–1040)
 Macbeth (1040–1057)
 Lulach (1057–1058)

House of Dunkeld 

The House of Dunkeld may have begun in 1034.
 Malcolm III (1058–1093)
 Donald III (1093–1094)
 Duncan II (1094)
 Donald III (1094–1097)
 Edmund (1094–1097)
 Edgar (1097–1107)
 Alexander I (1107–1124)
 Saint David I (1124–1153)
 Malcolm IV (1153–1165)
 William I (1165–1214)
 Alexander II (1214–1249)
 Alexander III (1249–1286)
 Margaret (1286–1290)

First Interregnum 1290–1292 
Guardians of Scotland
 William Fraser, Bishop of St Andrews
 Duncan Macduff, 8th Earl of Fife
 Alexander Comyn, 2nd Earl of Buchan
 Robert Wishart, Bishop of Glasgow
 James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland
 John Comyn

House of Balliol 
 John (1292-1296)

Second Interregnum 1296–1306
Guardians of Scotland
 Andrew de Moray (1297)
 William Wallace (1297–1298)
 Robert the Bruce, Earl of Carrick (1298–1300)
 John Comyn (1298–1301)
 William Lamberton, Bishop of St Andrews (1299–1301)
 Sir Ingram de Umfraville (1300–1301)
 John de Soules (1301–1304)
 John Comyn (1302–1304)

House of Bruce
 Robert I the Bruce (1306–1329)
 David II (1329–1371)

House of Balliol
 Edward Balliol (1329 – 1363)

House of Stewart (Stuart)
 Robert II (1371–1390)
 Robert III (1390–1406)
 James I (1406–1437)
 James II (1437–1460)
 James III (1460–1488)
 James IV (1488–1513)
 James V (1513–1542)
 Mary I (1542–1567) (executed 1587)
 James VI (1567–1625), Union of the Crowns with Kingdom of England from (1603)
 Charles I (1625–1649)
 Charles II (1649–1685) (See also English Interregnum)
 James VII (1685–1689)
 Mary II (1689–1694), co-monarch
 William II (1689–1702), co-monarch until 1694
 Anne (1702–1714), though the Scottish throne was replaced with that of the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707

Disputed or unrecognized claims 
Note: there have been other claims to the Scottish throne besides these
 Margaret, the Maid of Norway was unrecognized by some Scots (ruled 1286-1290)
 Henry Lord Darnley proclaimed himself king in 1565 as Henry I of Scotland (ruled 1565-1567)
 Charles II claimed to rule even during Oliver & Richard Cromwell's reigns (ruled 1649-1685)
 James VII was recognized by France to rule after his deposal (ruled 1685-1702)

Related pages
 In 1707, England and Scotland joined. For Kings and Queens after 1707, see British monarchs. The same monarchs had ruled Scotland, England, and Ireland since James VI and the Union of the Crowns in 1603.

 
Lists of British monarchs
Scotland-related lists
Dandelion

A dandelion is a flower. Its scientific name is Taraxacum, a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Taraxacum are native to Eurasia, and have been widely introduced to North and South America and other continents. They are an invasive species in some areas. Two species, T. offale and T. erythrospermum, are found as weeds worldwide. All parts of both species are edible.

Their sharp leaves look a bit like lion's teeth. Its seeds are like little parachutes that fly away with the wind, spreading and growing more dandelions. They are used in China as medicine. Dandelion pollen can often make people have allergies.

Like other members of the Asteraceae family, they have small flowers collected together into a composite flower head. Each single flower in a head is called a floret. Many Taraxacum species produce seeds asexually by apomixis, where the seeds are produced without pollination. This results in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent plant.

Al Razi around 900 (A.D.) wrote "the tarashaquq is like chicory". A Muslim scientist and philosopher Ibn Sīnā around 1000 (A.D.) wrote a book chapter on Taraxacum. Gerard of Cremona, in translating Arabic to Japanese around 1170, spelled it tarasacon.

References 

Flowers
Asteraceae
Herbs
Motet

The word Motet is a piece of music for a church service sung by a choir without using any instruments. The words are usually in Latin.  If the words are written in English for the Anglican church, it is called an anthem.

Motets have been written since the Middle Ages.  Medieval motets often had very complex rhythms.  The tenor often had the tune, which might be a folk tune, and two voices would put quite complicated accompaniments on top. The most famous medieval composer who wrote motets was Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)

In the Renaissance, motets were usually polyphonic. That means that the different voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass) would be singing different parts of the melody at the same time, making it very beautiful, but quite complicated to listen to. Many composers of this time wrote motets. The most famous was Giovanni da Palestrina (1525-1594).

In the Baroque period, one of the most famous composers was Heinrich Schütz(1585-1672), who wrote motets which he called “Cantiones Sacrae” (meaning: “sacred songs”).  Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) wrote six wonderful motets with German texts.  Some people think that Bach may have used a few instruments to accompany these motets. In three of them the choir divide into eight parts.

The most famous motet from the Classical period is Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus.

In the Romantic period (19th century), Anton Bruckner (1824-1896) wrote several motets which are still very popular with choirs, both in services and at concerts.
musical forms
John Carmack

John D. Carmack II (born August 20 1970) is a well known video game creator. He was one of the creators of id Software, a video game company, in 1991. Carmack was the main programmer of the first-person shooter games Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Quake, and their sequels.
In 1999, Carmack appeared as number 10 in TIME's list of the 50 most influential people in technology.

Carmack is married to Katherine Anna Kang since January 2000 and their son, Christopher Ryan, was born on August 13 2004. In March 2006, Carmack was added to the Walk of Game, an event that names the most important people in video games.

References 

 Kushner, David (2003). Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture, New York: Random House. .

1970 births
Living people
Carmack, John
Carmack, John
Scientists from Kansas
American bloggers
Anthem

An anthem is a piece of music written for a choir to sing at an Anglican church service.  The difference between an anthem and a motet is that an anthem is sung in English.  Also most anthems are accompanied by an organ.

The word “anthem” has come to mean “a song of celebration”. Anthems are also patriotic songs adopted by countries of the world. It has 158 stanzas, written by the poet Dionysios Solomos (although the cut-down version is shorter than Uruguay's, which is more than five minutes long). The anthem of Greece "Hymn to liberty" is the longest anthem in the world.

Anthems for the church have been composed ever since King Henry VIII argued with the Pope and did not want to be Roman Catholic any more.  He founded (started) the English Anglican church.  Church composers were told to write music in English.  The words usually come from the Bible.  We know that as early as 1502 the composer Fayrfax was paid 20 shillings for composing an anthem.  After the Reformation many anthems were composed.  At first they were like motets, but in English.  Soon the English anthem developed differently from the continental motet.  Two kinds of anthem developed: the “Full Anthem” in which the whole anthem was sung by the full choir, and the “Verse Anthem” which was usually longer and had several verses which would be sung by soloists, with choruses for the full choir in between.

Almost every music director of cathedrals or large churches has written anthems.  A few of the most famous composers of anthems are:

 Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
 William Byrd (1543-1623)
 Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
 Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
 George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
 William Boyce (1710-1779)
 Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876)
 Edward Bairstow (1874-1946)
 William H.Harris (1883-1973)
 Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
 William Mathias (1934-1992)
 John Tavener (1944-2013)
 John Rutter (b.1945)

References

musical forms
Improvisation

Improvisation is the art of performing without a script or rehearsal.

Music 
In music, improvisation is the art of playing an instrument (or singing) in which the musician or musicians make up the music as they play.  Improvising is inventing at the same time as one does something.  Some musicians only play music when they have written music in front of them, but it can be great fun to improvise music.  It is a way of composing. Improvisation is common during a jam session.

In Baroque times, all musicians were taught to improvise because composers often did not bother to write all the notes down.  Musicians would have improvised lots of ornaments, and even whole sections.

Many great composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Liszt were famous for their keyboard improvisations.

Organists are often expected to improvise during a service.  In this way they can fill in gaps in the service when there would otherwise be silence, they can make a smooth link between one piece of music and the next, and they can create the right atmosphere.  In Baroque times, in the Lutheran church, organists would improvise a chorale prelude.  This was a piece of music which uses the melody of the chorale (hymn) that the congregation sang.  Bach was one of many composers who wrote many of his chorale preludes down.  In more recent times, some famous concert organists often finish an organ recital by playing an improvisation.  This might be quite a long piece with several linked movements, finishing with a fugue.  Somebody may give them the theme written on a piece of paper, so that it is quite unprepared. Charles Tournemire, Marcel Dupré, Pierre Cochereau, Pierre Pincemaille are known to be great organ improviser.

A lot of people who play folk music improvise.  Traditional folk music would not have been written down.

In traditional jazz the musicians usually improvise.  It is quite tricky when a group of people are improvising together.  They have to listen to one another and get ideas from one another.  It can be a very exciting way of making music.

Comedy
Improvisation also refers to a type of performance.  Improvisation (or improv for short) is often used in comedy.  Actors or Improvisers will create an entire show that they make up as they go along. They will often ask the audience for an idea or suggestion. They will then do a short performance based on the suggestion. This lets them do many different short performances during each night's show. This is called "Short-form improv".

musical performance techniques
Plays
Theatrical forms
Reichstag (building)

The Reichstag building was designed as a home to the parliament of the German Empire. It was opened in 1894. The original building's design was made by Paul Wallot. It was built on the site of an old palace in Berlin, Germany.

The building was used by the parliament of the German Empire until 1918. The parliament of the Weimar Republic, also called the Reichstag, sat there until the 1933 Reichstag fire. The Third Reich seldom used its parliament, so the building remained empty and derelict until after German reunification.

Then it became the seat of the German parliament again in 1999 after a reconstruction led by British architect Lord Norman Foster.

Today's parliament of Germany is called the Bundestag. The Reichstag as a parliament dates back to the Holy Roman Empire and ceased to act as a true parliament in the years of Nazi Germany (1933-1945). In today's usage, the German term Reichstag refers to the building, while the term Bundestag refers to the institution.

The Reichstag dome 
The original Reichstag dome was damaged in the 1933 fire and again during the war. It was replaced by a large glass dome. The new dome has a 360-degree view of the surrounding Berlin cityscape. The main hall of the parliament below can also be seen from inside the dome, and natural light from above emits down to the parliament floor. A large sun shield tracks the movement of the sun electronically and blocks direct sunlight which would make the space too hot and dazzle those below. Construction work was finished in 1999 and the seat of parliament was transferred to the Bundestag in April of that year. The dome is no longer open to anyone without prior registration.

Other websites 

 panoramas and other images of the Reichstags building in Berlin 

Buildings and structures in Berlin
Landmarks in Germany
 
1894 establishments in Europe
1890s establishments in Germany
Siren

This article is about mythological creatures. For the noise-making siren see siren (noisemaker)

A siren is a creature in Greek mythology. The sirens were living on an island surrounded by rocks. Sirens also have a mermaid form where they still sing, but they hit the boat to sink it that way and sirens have a human form.  Sailors would try to go to them because of their singing, and their ships would get destroyed on the rocks, and they would drown.

Originally they looked like bird-women, but in modern time they are often shown to look like fish-women or mermaids. Many people said they were Naiads (spirits of the sea).

They also appear in Homer's Odyssey. There Odysseus and his ship have to pass the siren's island. Odysseus tells his men to put wax in their ears, so they will not hear the song of the sirens. He also tells his men to bind him to the ship's mast, so he cannot go to the sirens when he hears their song. When Odysseus and his men pass the Sirens, Odysseus wants to go towards them, but his men pull the rope tighter to hold him down. His men can then look at Odysseus and see when he cannot hear the sirens anymore, because he is calm again. Then they can take the wax out of their ears, and free Odysseus.

Greek legendary creatures
Sirens (movie)

Sirens is a 1994 movie that had many famous models in it.  The famous models were Elle Macpherson, Portia de Rossi and Kate Fischer.  The three models are in the movie without clothing. Some of them do sex scenes.  The models had to gain weight do the movie.

The Story
Sirens is based on the true story of the life of Norman Lindsay. He was an artist who made many beautiful pictures that were very rude and sexy. Many people thought that his pictures were wrong.

The movie stars Sam Neill as Norman Lindsay.  Hugh Grant is the main character who comes with his wife Tara Fitzgerald to see what Norman Lindsay is like.

1994 movies
English-language movies
Aqua

Aqua is the Latin word for water. It is sometimes as a prefix (such as aquaculture). It can also mean:

Aqua is also used by web site designers as a different name for the web colour cyan; aqua is also used for aquamarine by graphic designers and interior designers. 
Aqua (Chicago), a skyscraper in Chicago.  It is one of the tallest buildings in the world.
Aqua (band), a band from Denmark
Lavender

This article is about the plant.  For the color see Lavender (color).
Lavender is a type of plant found on almost all continents. It has a purplish color.  It has a color named after it, called lavender. Its Latin and scientific name is Lavandula.

Use in gardens 
Lavenders are very popular among gardeners. Sometimes their petals are dried and sealed in pouches for good scent, and sometimes put inside clothes to prevent moths, who can damage the clothes.

Use in food 
Lavenders are also used in cake decorating, because the flowers can become candied. Sometimes they are used in flavoring baked goods and chocolate desserts, and sometimes they use it to make a very delicious "lavender sugar". Lavender flowers are also used to make tea. The French make lavender syrup, which is used to make lavender scones and lavender marshmallows.

Medicine 
Lavender is sometimes put in medicine, and sometimes to prevent infection. Lavender oil was used in World War I to disinfect walls and floors of a hospital. As the folk wisdom says, lavender oil is also helpful to headaches when rubbed on your temple, and lavender tea helps you relax before bed time. Lavender is also helpful when applied to insect bites. There is a general lack of real knowledge about its effects.

Other uses 
Sometimes, dried petals of lavender are used to throw confetti at a wedding. It is also used for lavender theme wedding decoration where the flowers are put in the vases and kept on the venue table.

References 

Lamiaceae
Herbs
St. Gallen

St. Gallen is a city in the eastern part of Switzerland. It is near Lake Constance. St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen. The city was founded as a monastery by the Irish monk Gallus in the 7th century. In the Middle Ages a city grew around the monastery. The role of the monastery (and the city) was very important in the Middle Ages. One of the three remaining manuscripts of the Nibelungenlied are from the monastery of St.Gallen. Today, the monastery, with its library, and parts of the old town are classed as an UNESCO World Heritage site.

The city is about 675 meters above sea level and is in a part of Switzerland with many hills. As of 2004, about 70,000 people lived in the city. The urban area has about 100,000 to 120,000 people.

In the 18th and 19th century the city became known for its embroideries, which are still very well-known. Every four years, there is the St.Galler Kinderfest (Children's festival). This is a large representation of the primary (and some secondary) schools in the city. It's usually in early summer.

The city also has an university, which is known for its courses in economics, and (to a lesser extent), law.

In Switzerland, the city is also known for St.Galler Bratwurst, and a fair centered around agriculture, held once a year, in autumn. That fair is called OLMA (Ostschweizerische Land- und Milchwirtschaftsausstellung, roughly translates to Exhibition of agriculture and milk economics of eastern Switzerland).

In early summer there is also an open-air rock festival. Its called Open-Air St.Gallen, and held in a valley, near the river. Since the weather is not always as good, in many years it's a battle with the mud.

Other websites 

 Official website of the city of St.Gallen 

 
Imperial free cities
Jones

Jones may refer to:

People 
Jones is a common family name:
Christopher Jones (Mayflower Captain)
Davy Jones (actor), a British singer and actor
James Earl Jones, an American actor and voice artist
Jim Jones, leader of a sect
John Paul Jones (musician) bassist for the rock band, Led Zeppelin
Shirley Jones, an American actress and singer
Terry Jones, member of Monty Python
Tom Jones (singer), a famous Welsh singer

Fictional characters 
Jones, a cat in 1979 movie Alien by Ridley Scott and its sequel Aliens
Jones, a character in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
Indiana Jones, an archaeologist and adventurer
Hollyoaks

Hollyoaks is a British television teen soap opera. It was first broadcast on 23 October 1995, on Channel 4. There is a new episode every weekday. It is set in Chester and is mostly filmed in Liverpool on Abbey Road.

Since 1995, the cast has expanded from just seven major characters to approximately 50 cast members. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill. It is the only British soap that uses incidental music.

Hollyoaks was the first British television programme to tackle the issue of gay domestic violence. Its first character with gender identity disorder, a trans man called Jason Costello, was in the show August 2010 to December 2011. In 2014 Hollyoaks introduced a new transgender character called Blessing Chambers.

Other websites 

1995 British television series debuts
1990s British drama television series
1990s soap operas
1990s teen television series
2000s British drama television series
2000s soap operas
2000s teen television series
2010s British drama television series
2010s soap operas
2010s teen television series
British soap operas
British teen television series
Chester
British teen drama television series
English-language television programs
Astrology

Astrology is the belief the positions of the stars and movements of the planets of the Solar System, and also asteroids and other stars, but not as much, have an influence on the events, lives, and behavior of people.

An astrologer looks at the planets' positions and tries to understand a person's character or tries to predict the future. Modern astrologers see astrology as a symbolic language. It is also seen as an art, or a kind of divination.

Astrology and astronomy started out as the same thing, but today they are very different.

Newspapers and websites often print or post horoscopes. These horoscopes claim to predict a persons future based on their birth sign.

Astrological signs (in Western Astrology)
A person's astrological sign (usually referring to Sun sign) is based on their birthday. A list of astrological signs is below.

Arabian astrology

References

Further reading 

 Talk with astrologer: know Is astrology science or not?

 Astrology & Science: The Scientific Exploration of Astrology.
  – which also discusses ascension and declination errors in different systems of astrology
Black pepper

Black pepper is a plant that grows in the tropics, especially in India. The plant is a perennial vine that bears flowers. People cultivate the plant for its fruit, the peppercorn. The peppercorn can be used as a spice or condiment. Usually, it makes things hot.

There are several different plants called Pepper, all are in the Piper genus of Piperaceae.

From the 16th century onwards, people used the word pepper to also refer to the Chili peppers, which come from a completely unrelated plant. It was also called black gold in older times.

Culinary uses
Pepper is one of the most common spices used around the world. It is very common in European cuisine, and has been known and traded for a very long time. Very often, the peppercorns are ground, and the powder is used to make things taste hot. They get their heat from a chemical called piperine unlike other peppers that get it from capsaicin.

Medical uses

Like all eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a medicine. Long pepper, being stronger, was often the preferred medication, but both were used.

Black peppercorns are mentioned in Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicine in India. The 5th century Syriac Book of Medicines prescribes pepper (or perhaps long pepper) for illnesses such as constipation, diarrhea, earache, gangrene, heart disease, hernia, hoarseness, indigestion, insect bites, insomnia, joint pain, liver problems, lung disease, oral abscesses, sunburn, tooth decay, and toothaches. Various sources from the 5th century onward also say pepper is good to treat eye problems. Often special ointments made with pepper have to be applied directly to the eye. There is no current medical evidence that any of these treatments has any benefit; pepper applied directly to the eye would be quite uncomfortable and possibly damaging.

For a long time, people believed pepper is the cause for sneezing; this is still believed true today. Some sources say that piperine irritates the nostrils, which will cause the sneezing; some say that it is just the effect of the fine dust in ground pepper, and some say that pepper is not in fact a very effective sneeze-producer at all. Few if any controlled studies  have been carried out to answer the question. 

Pepper can irritate the intestines. It is therefore eliminated from the diet of patients having abdominal surgery and ulcers. The replacement is usually called a bland diet.

Pepper contains small amounts of safrole, a carcinogenic compound.

References

Other websites
Nutritional benefits of Black Pepper 
Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages
Plant Cultures: History and botany of black pepper in South Asia 

Piperales
Spices
Chili pepper

Chili pepper (not to be confused with the country called Chile) is the fruit of a series of plants called Capsicum (nightshade family). Chilis are now grown all over the world, but originally, they came from Mexico. They are used as spices or as vegetables, and also have some use in medicine.

Chili peppers are completely unrelated to the Piperaceae genus, which Black pepper is from.

History

Chili peppers have been a part of the human diet in the Americas since at least 7500 BCE. Chili peppers were domesticated over 6000 years ago in Mexico. Since then, chili peppers could be farmed throughout all of Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America.

Spelling
The word "chili" is spelled differently in different countries. They can be spelled as chili, chilli, and chile.

Chili is widely used in the United States and Canada.
Chilli is widely used in other English-speaking countries.
Chile is the most common Spanish spelling in Mexico and several other Latin American countries.

References

Capsicum
Spices
Vegetables
Euripides

Euripides (c. 480 BC–406 BC) was an Ancient Greek writer from Athens who wrote about 90 plays. Only 18 of his tragedies have survived complete, more than all other surviving ancient Greek tragedies put together.  A nineteenth play, Rhesus is sometimes thought to be by Euripides, but not all classicists agree on this.

Euripides was the last of the three greatest Ancient Greek writers of tragedies, the others being Aeschylus and Sophocles.

Surviving plays 
Alcestis (439 BC, second prize)
Medea (431 BC, third prize)
Heracleidae (c. 430 BC)
Hippolytus (428 BC, first prize)
Andromache (c. 425 BC)
Hecuba (c. 424 BC)
The Suppliants (c. 423 BC)
Electra (c. 420 BC)
Heracles (c. 416 BC)
Trojan Women (415 BC, second prize)
Iphigeneia in Tauris (c. 414 BC)
Ion (c. 414 BC)
Helen (412 BC)
Phoenician Women (c. 410 BC)
Orestes (408 BC)
Bacchae and Iphigeneia at Aulis (405 BC, posthumous)
Cyclops (408 BC)

Related pages 

Theatre of Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek writers
480s BC births
406 BC deaths
Chard

Chard (also known as Swiss chard, silverbeet, perpetual spinach, or mangold) is a vegetable. It is in the same family as spinach, Amaranthaceae.

References

Amaranthaceae
Leaf vegetables
Half-life (element)

This article is about the property of radioactive elements. For the video game, see Half-Life (video game).

The half-life of a substance is the time it takes for half of the substance to decay. The word "half-life" was first used when talking about radioactive elements where the number of atoms get smaller over time by changing into different atoms. It is now used in other situations, such as the time it takes for a drug in the body to be half gone. A Geiger-Muller detector can be used to measure the radioactive half-life; it is the time when the activity is half the original.

Half-life depends on probability because the atoms decay at a random time. Half-life is the expected time when half the number of atoms have decayed, on average. 

Radioactive isotopes are atoms that have unstable nuclei, meaning that the nucleus of each atom will decay after enough time has passed. Their nuclei are unstable because the arrangement of protons and neutrons in them  change.  This is known as radioactive decay. When they decay, they release particles such as alpha particles, beta particles, gamma rays. Sometimes they decay by fission, which means to break into pieces, to make smaller nuclei. For example, a radioactive carbon-14 atom releases a beta particle to become nitrogen-14. As an example of fission decay, a fermium-256 atom can split into xenon-140 and palladium-112 atoms, releasing four neutrons in the process.

Uranium-232 has a half-life of about 69 years. Plutonium-238 has a half-life of 88 years. Carbon-14, which is used to find the age of recent fossils, has a half-life of 5,730 years.

After ten half-lives, about 99.9% of the atoms have decayed into different atoms, so only 0.1% of the original atoms are left, and 99.9% of the radioactivity from the original kind of atom is gone. Some atoms decay into other atoms that are also radioactive, so the remaining radioactivity depends on the type of atom.

An example of a short half-life: the isotope, 260Sg, has a half-life of approximately y 4 ms (or 4 thousandths of a second).

Related pages 
Biological half-life
Period 8 element

References

Other websites 
Online chart of isotopes by half-life from the National Nuclear Data Center

Nuclear physics
Cyclops

A Cyclops (Ancient Greek: Κύκλωψ, Kyklōps; plural Κύκλωπες, Kyklōpes) is a member of a race of giants in Greek mythology, each with a single eye in the center of his forehead. 

The most famous of these beings is the cyclops Polyphemus, featured in Homer's Odyssey.

Hesiod

Elder Cyclopes
In Hesiod's Theogony, the Elder Cyclopes – Brontes (Greek: Βρόντης - "thunderer"), Steropes (Greek: Στερόπης - "lightning") and Arges (Greek: Ἄργης - "bright") – were one of three races of beings born to Gaia (Earth) and Ouranos (Sky).

Homer
The Elder Cyclopes are not featured in either of Homer's works. In the Odyssey, Homer describes another race of cyclopes as being the sons of Poseidon, god of the sea. They feature as herdsmen and shepherds with a taste for human flesh. The account is in Book 9 of Homer's Odyssey.

Greek legendary creatures
Forehead

The forehead of humans is the flat space of skin above the eyes, between the eyebrows and where your hair starts to grow. It exists to make room for the brain inside the skull.

A doctor or nurse will often touch someone's forehead to check whether or not they have a fever. This is because of the many blood vessels in the head and face.

In ancient Greece individuals with large foreheads were classified as intellectual because of their incredibly large "brain". Nowadays this is not the case.

According to the OED Forehead can be pronounced either 'forhed' or 'forrid'.
'Forrid' used mostly around the Isle of Sheppey area.

Face
James Prescott Joule

James Prescott Joule (24 December 1818 – 11 October 1889) was an English physicist, born in Salford, near Manchester. In his time he had great contribution to the world of electricity and thermodynamics. He was best known for discovering Joule's law, which described electric heating by saying the amount of heat produced each second in a conductor by a current of Electricity is proportional to the resistance of a conductor and to the square of the current. The unit for this is joule, equal to one watt-second. Later Joule worked with William Thomson to find out that the temperature of gas falls as gas expands. This principle was then known as the Joule-Thomson effect.

Early life 

The son of Benjamin Joule (1784–1858), a wealthy brewer, James Prescott Joule was born in the house next to the Joule Brewery in New Bailey Street, Salford on 24 December 1818. James was tutored at the family home  'Broomhill', Pendlebury, near Salford, until 1834 when he was sent, with his elder brother Benjamin, to study with John Dalton at the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. They only received two years of education in arithmetic and geometry before Dalton was forced to retire because of a stroke.

Kinetic theory 

Kinetics is the science of motion. Joule was a pupil of Dalton and it is no surprise that he had learned a firm belief in the atomic theory, even though there were many scientists of his time who were still skeptical. He had also been one of the few people receptive to the work of John Herapath on the kinetic theory of gases. He was further greatly influenced by Peter Ewart's 1813 paper On the measure of moving force.

References 

1889 births
1818 deaths
English physicists
People from Salford
Andromache

Andromache is a person in Greek mythology. She is the wife of Hector of Troy and mother of Astyanax.

After the Trojan War, Neoptolemus took her and Helenus as slaves. Of Neoptolemus she had a child named Molossus. After Neoptolemus died, Andromache married Helenus, and became Queen of Epirus.

People in Greek mythology
Slaves
Astyanax

Astyanax is a person in Greek mythology. He is the son of Hector of Troy and Andromache. He is killed at the end of the Trojan War by Neoptolemus, so he could not be a new king of Troy, or want revenge.

People in Greek mythology
Neoptolemus

Neoptolemos (or Latin Neoptolemus) is a person in Greek mythology. He is an important person in the Trojan War.

Neoptolemus was the son of Achilles and Deidamea. He was needed to win the Trojan War. He killed King Priam and Astyanax, sacrificed Polyxena to his dead father Achilles, and took Helenus and Andromache with him as slaves.

He was later killed by Orestes because he was going to marry Hermione, who Orestes wanted for himself.

People in Greek mythology
Earth's orbit

All planets in our solar system follow an elliptical path. This path is known as an orbit. Earth's orbit is not a perfect circle. If we were to draw the Earth's orbit on a sheet of paper as a perfect circle, the width of the line would be larger than the elliptical path of the Earth.

The Earth's orbit takes about 365 days, this is also called a year. This means that in 365 days (a year) the Earth has gone around the Sun. From this we can find that the orbital speed of the Earth is about  through space.

The closest distance Earth is to the Sun, or perihelion, is  and the farthest or aphelion is . It takes light (or any other electromagnetic radiation) just over eight minutes to travel from Sun to Earth. This averages out to a typical distance of 150 million kilometers.

The seasonal changes on Earth are because of the 23.44° axial tilt of its rotation and slightly elliptical path around the Sun.

The orbit varies over long periods of time according to the Milankovitch cycles. These cycles are one of the main causes of climate change.

This diagram shows a very exaggerated shape of Earth's orbit; the actual orbit is almost circular.

Related links 
 Earth phase
 Spaceship Earth

Notes

Other websites 
 Earth – Speed through space – about 1 million miles an hour – NASA & (WP discussion)

Orbits
Earth
Penelope

Penelope is a woman from the Greek mythology. She is the wife of Odysseus of Ithaca and mother of Telemachus. She became a symbol for the faithful wife.

When her husband Odysseus was on his long journey home, many people thought he was dead. Because of this, many suitors came who wanted to marry Penelope, because then they would own her land and wealth, and become king of Ithaca.
Penelope thinks of several tricks so that she does not have to marry one of the suitors. One trick is that she tells the suitors that she will first weave a cloth for the funeral of Odysseus' father, and when she was finished she would marry one of the suitors. But every night she undoes her weaving again, so that she never finishes it.

When Odysseus finally comes back after twenty years, he and his son Telemachos kill the suitors.

Sources
Richard Heitman 2005. Taking her seriously: Penelope and the plot of Homer's Odyssey. Michigan University Press, Ann Arbor. .

People in Greek mythology
Anemia

Anemia (U.S. spelling) or anaemia is not having enough red blood cells or hemoglobin in the blood.

Types or causes of anemia

Microcytic anemia 
 Iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of anemia overall
 Hemoglobinopathies—much rarer
 Sickle-cell disease (once called sickle-cell anemia)
 Thalassemia

Normocytic anemia 
 Acute blood loss
 Anemia of chronic disease 
 Aplastic anemia (bone marrow failure)

Macrocytic anemia 
 Megaloblastic anemia due to not having enough of either vitamin B12 or folic acid (or both)
 Pernicious anemia is an autoimmune problem with the parietal cells of the stomach
 Alcoholism
 Methotrexate, zidovudine, and other drugs that stop DNA replication. This is the most common cause in nonalcoholic patients.

Dimorphic anemia 
Dimorphic anemia means two types of anemia at the same time. For example, macrocytic hypochromic, due to hookworm infestation leading to not enough of both iron and vitamin B12 or folic acid or following a blood transfusion.

Blood disorders
Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is the second most populous city in the state of Tennessee. The city has a large port on the Mississippi River. It is also well known for blues music and barbecue. The city is also home to FedEx, a leading company that ships packages around the world. Memphis is also known for being the home of rock and roll legend Elvis Presley. 

Memphis is named for Memphis, Egypt, an ancient capital city of Egypt.

History
The future area of Memphis was first settled by the Mississippian Culture before it was discovered by French and Spanish explorers. 

The United States took the land from Spain in 1797, and Andrew Jackson  implemented the Indian Removal Act that facilitated the expulsion of the Cherokee from the area, making it available to white settlers. The city was established in 1819. Until the American Civil War, Memphis was a hub of cotton and slave trade. Brutal riots of angry whites against black people took place in 1866, in which 46 African Americans were killed. Yellow fever struck the city in the 1870s, killing a lot of people. The city recovered, and its population more than doubled. 

The Memphis sanitation strikes was one of the key movements in the Civil Rights Movement. Musicians such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and B.B. King influenced the city's identity as the birthplace of rock and roll.

Geography 
Memphis is located east of the Mississippi River. The Wolf River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, crosses the city.

Its metropolitan area extends into Arkansas and Mississippi.

Government 
Jim Strickland is the Mayor of Memphis.

Sports
A few professional sports teams are located in Memphis. The Memphis Grizzlies are a basketball team of the National Basketball Association (NBA). They play their home games at the FedExForum. The Memphis Redbirds are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League that plays at AutoZone Park.

References 

 
County seats in Tennessee
Dari

Dari (Fārsī-ye Darī) is a dialect of the Persian language. It is the Persian language as spoken in Afghanistan. It is the second official language of Afghanistan, and is widely used by the government and most media agencies. It is mainly spoken by the Tajiks and other minority groups. A small minority also exists in parts of Pakistan closest to these named regions. It is sometimes called Farsi. People in Afghanistan and Iran who speak Persian can understand each other. The name Dari was given to the Persian language at a very early date.

Historically, Dari was the court language of the Sassanids.

Related pages
 Pashto language
 Languages of Afghanistan

References 

Persian language
Languages of Afghanistan
Languages of Iran
Languages of Pakistan