alibayram/wikipedia-40-langs huggingface dataset:
Dozen

A "dozen" is a unit of measurement. It means twelve (12) items of something. The term goes back to duodecim, which means 12 in  Latin. Humans might have started to count on a base 12 because there are approximately 12 cycles of the moon in one cycle of the sun. In other words, a solar year has 12 months. The first to have used the unit were probably the Mesopotamians.

12 dozen  (144 items) are a gross. 12 gross (1728 items) are called a great gross. 
A great hundred is 120 or ten dozen (a dozen for each finger on both hands).

The dozen is convenient because its multipliers and multiples are convenient: 12 = 3 × 2 × 2, and 360 = 30 × 12. The French word douzaine means "about twelve" and is part of a family of words with similar meanings, e.g. vingtaine – "about 20"  centaine – "about 100"  etc. A baker's dozen, also known as a long dozen, is thirteen.

Examples:

I have a dozen doughnuts 

There is a dozen members in a team

Numbers
European sprat

The European sprat is a kind of fish. It is related to the herring. It lives in the ocean, all around Europe. It has about 12% fat in its flesh. It is a source of many vitamins. It is an important fish for commercial fishing, and can be found in many cans in shops. It can also be salted, to preserve it better.

Clupeiformes
The Little Mermaid

"The Little Mermaid" is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1837 in the third volume of Fairy Tales Told for Children with "The Emperor's New Clothes".  The tale glorifies suffering and self-denial. There is a statue of The Little Mermaid in the harbor of Copenhagen. The story has been adapted to opera and animated movies.

Story 
A Beautiful mermaid princess , red hair delicate white skin and blue eyes swims to the surface of the sea. 
As it happens, she sees a human prince and falls in love with him. She wants to meet him again; however, she is a mermaid, and her father, who is the king of the sea, would not let her do so. She wants to find a way to win the prince's love, so she goes to the sea witch's cave. She will get an immortal soul if she wins the love of a human. She sacrifices her voice and her tail to the sea witch for two human legs. The prince becomes her companion. But, he falls in love with another person. The mermaid has the chance to return to the sea. She must kill the prince to go back, and so she refuses. She dies, and is transformed into a daughter of the air. She will receive an immortal soul if she does good deeds for three hundred years.

Adaptations 
In 1957, Germaine Tailleferre wrote a three act opera with the subject. In 1968, there was a Soviet animated movie. In 1976, a co-production of the Soviet Union and Bulgaria resulted in a live-action movie. In 1989, The Walt Disney Company also made an animated movie. In 2008, Studio Ghibli made a movie inspired by the story called Ponyo.

Notes

References 
 Zipes, Jack. 2000. The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales. Oxford UP.

Other websites 

 Den lille Havfrue Original text in Danish from the Danish Royal Library website.
 The Annotated Little Mermaid  by Heidi Anne Heiner, Paull's translation, with scholarly annotations, scans from six illustrated editions, bibliography.

Fairy tales
Works by Hans Christian Andersen
1830s books
Hans Christian Andersen

Hans Christian Andersen (2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish writer. 

Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark. His father was a shoemaker, and his mother washed clothes for customers. The family was poor. When Andersen was 11, his father died. At 14, Andersen left his mother and his home. He moved to Copenhagen. 

The king helped Andersen finish his education. Andersen wanted to be an actor or dancer. He did not have the talent for either. He started to write novels, plays, poems, short stories, and travel books. In 1835, he published four fairy tales that were liked by the readers. After this success, he wanted to write more fairy tales. 

Andersen's stories were popular all over Europe. He was invited into the homes of rich and powerful people. He fell in love with several men and women. He was in love with singer Jenny Lind. He also fell in love with ballet dancer Harald Scharff. 

Andersen was a happy and carefree man. He travelled all over Europe. He wanted to see the sights. He hoped travelling would make him even happier. He always carried a rope with him. He planned to use this rope as a fire escape if needed. In the spring of 1872, Andersen fell off of his bed and suffered major injuries. He never recovered fully. Soon after that, Andersen showed signs of liver cancer. He died on 4 August 1875 from liver cancer.

Works  
 The Princess and the Pea (1835)
 The Tinderbox (1835)
 Thumbelina (1835) 
 The Little Mermaid (1837)
 The Emperor's New Clothes (1837)
 The Steadfast Tin Soldier (1838)
 The Wild Swans (1838)
 Ole Lukøje (1841)
 The Swineherd (1841)
 The Angel (1843)
 The Nightingale (1843)
 The Ugly Duckling (1843)
 The Little Match Girl (1845)
 The Red Shoes (1845)
 The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep (1845)
 The Snow Queen (1845)
 The Fir Tree (1845)
 The Shadow (1847)
 The Story of a Mother (1847)
 The Marsh King's Daughter (?)

Related pages
List of Danish writers

References

1805 births
1875 deaths
Accidental deaths from falls
Bisexual people
Children's writers
Danish poets
Deaths from liver cancer
Cancer deaths in Denmark
LGBT writers
Danish novelists
Odense
Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium

The Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium is a football stadium in Istanbul in Turkey. It is home to the club Fenerbahce.

Other websites 
 Fenerbahçe SK Stadium Link

 Satellite Photo of Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium

Football stadiums in Turkey
Buildings and structures in Istanbul
Atlantic herring

The Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) is a kind of herring, a fish. It can be found on both sides of the Atlantic. It can grow up to 45cm in length, weighing more than half a kilogram. It is a swarm fish, meaning many fish come together and form a school (or swarm) of fish. Swarms of up to 4 cubic kilometers in size have been measured of atlantic herring, with an eastimated 4 billion individual fish. Like with so many other fishes though, commercial overfishing is posing a problem. Stocks of herring have been collapsing. 

Their natural predators are seals, cod, other large fish as well as some kinds of whales. 
The current reason for the overfishing is the need of the Omega Fatty Acid, which helps increase memory, and brain functions.

Baltic herring 
The herrings that occurs in the Baltic Sea is much smaller. Some people consider it a distinct subspecies. They call it Baltic herring, C. harengus membras.

Clupeiformes
Pelagie Islands

The Pelagie Islands are three islands in the Mediterranean. They are Lampedusa, Linosa and Lampione. They are between Malta and Tunisia. They are part of the African continent but belong to Italy.

Because of deforestation, the islands are very barren. In the past they lived on agriculture, but nowadays they live on fishing and tourism. 

Archipelagos
Islands of Africa
Islands of Italy
Province of Agrigento
Lampedusa

Lampedusa is the largest of the Pelagie Islands. Sicily is 205 km to the north, Tunisia is 113 km to the south. There are no sources of freshwater on the island, so those living there collect rainwater. Fauna and Flora, as well as the climate is similar to what can be found in North Africa. 

There is a NATO base on the island. It is also a popular destination for refugees who try to enter the European Union that way.

Islands of Italy
Islands of Africa
Province of Agrigento
Muscat

Muscat () is the capital and largest city of The Sultanate of Oman. It is the largest city in the mintaqah (governorate) of Muscat. The city of Muscat has a population of 1.28 million people (2015). The official language is Arabic and English is used as an additional language for many purposes, including business and tourism purposes. Muscat is located on the north east coast of Oman.  The city is 3,500 km2  in size.

History 
People started living in the Muscat area about 2300 years ago but the first writings of the city are about 1900 years old in the 1st century CE.  Muscat developed into an important city in the 9th century CE because of business and trade at the port.  Portugal, Persian (Iran) and Turkey had many wars for control over Muscat from the 1500s to the 1700s.  The Al Bu Sa 'id tribe has ruled Muscat since then.

Climate and weather 
Muscat is a hot and dry city.  The average daytime temperature in summer can be as high as 40 °C.  The winter is cooler and the average daytime temperature is between 19 °C and 22 °C.  There is very little rain with only 10 cm per year.

Tourism 
Muscat has several tourist sites including seven museums, a fort, an old palace and a new opera house.  The city has beaches with hotel resorts.  People can do many water-sports including dolphin tours in the city's harbour.  In 2016, 2.5 million tourists visited Muscat.  According to an article in Times Of Oman, almost 500,000 people visited in February alone for the popular Muscat Festival.

National capitals in Asia

Geography of Oman
Ukrainian language

The Ukrainian language (Ukrainian: українська (мова), transliteration: ukrajins'ka mova) is an Eastern Slavic language. This language is a part of the Indo-European language family.

Ukrainian is the second most spoken Slavic language. It is the official language of Ukraine. There are 37 million speakers in Ukraine. Most of them are native speakers. All over the world there are more than 50 million speakers.

The Ukrainian language is written with Cyrillic letters.

Some words are similar to the Polish language.

Alphabet 
The Ukrainian alphabet with transliteration and German transcription:

Notes 
1only before o
2only after consonants; a capital letter does not exist; the soft sign ь is not a letter representing a sound, but modifies the sound of the preceding letter, indicating palatalisation ('softening').
3an apostrophe (’) is used to mark de-palatalization of the preceding consonant.

References
Native speaker

A native speaker is someone who learned to speak a language as part of their childhood development. A native speaker's language is usually the language their parents speak and/or the language of their country of origin. It is the only language of a monolingual person, and likely the first language of a multilingual person which is acquired naturally in their native environment. It may serve as the basis for their sociolinguistic identity. 

A native speaker of a language has the following traits: 
 The speaker learnt the language in childhood,
 mastery of idiomatic forms of the language,
 comprehension of regional and social variance,
 fluent, spontaneous production and comprehension of discourse.
 Mastery of the grammar and vocabulary of the language tacitly.

Many employers of language teachers prefer native speakers.

Further reading 
 Davies, A. (2004). The native speaker in applied linguistics. In A.Davies & C. Elder (Eds.), The handbook of applied linguistics (pp. 431-450). Oxford, UK: Blackwell

References

Language
Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American epic drama movie directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

It tells a fictional story which takes place in the 1960s during the Vietnam War. It tells the story of an Army Captain who is sent on a boat deep into the Cambodian jungle to capture a Special Forces colonel who, it is suggested, has gone insane. It was partly based on Joseph Conrad's novel about a journey down the Congo River, Heart of Darkness.

It is now thought to be a great movie, but in the making it ran into problems. Its key star Martin Sheen, is on the screen for almost all the movie. He had a breakdown, and a heart attack. Editing the mile plus of film took years. It was unfinished when it was shown in the Cannes Film Festival.

Apocalypse Now is today considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards at the 52nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director (Coppola), and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Duvall. It went on to win for Best Cinematography and Best Sound. It ranked #14 in Sight & Sounds greatest films poll in 2012, and #6 in the Director's Poll of greatest films of all time.

The film as now shown on streaming channels is the Director's "Final Cut". This was first shown in 2019 at the Tribeca Film Festival. It runs for 3 hours, 3 minutes.

Awards and honors 

American Film Institute lists
 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – No. 28
 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
 "I love the smell of napalm in the morning." – No. 12
 AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 30

References

Other websites
 

1979 drama movies
1979 war movies
1970s epic movies
American drama movies
American epic movies
American war movies
Cambodia
English-language movies
French-language movies
Jungle movies
Movies set in the 1960s
United States National Film Registry movies
Vietnam War movies
Movies directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Movies about assassinations
Movies about tigers
Movies set in Cambodia
Movies set in Vietnam
1228

1228 was a leap year.

Events 
 The Sixth Crusade is launched by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, after delays due to sickness and an excommunication from Pope Gregory IX.
 Conrad IV of Germany becomes titular King of Jerusalem, with Frederick II as regent.
 Baldwin II becomes emperor of the Latin Empire in Constantinople, with John of Brienne as regent.
 Amadeus IV becomes count of Savoy.
 Francis of Assisi founder of the Franciscan order Canonized by Pope Gregory IX
 Sukaphaa, the first Ahom king, establishes his rule in Assam. The Ahom kings reigned for close to 600 years.
 First mention of the Transylvanian town of Reghin, in a charter of Andrew II of Hungary.
1305

1305 (MCCCV) was .

Events 
 August 5 – English troops capture William Wallace
 Wenceslas III becomes king of Bohemia
 Archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Got, was elected as Pope Clement V.
 Philip IV of France accused the Knights Templar of heresy.
1327

1327 was a common year.

Events 
 January 25 – Edward III becomes King of England.
 Beginning of reign of Alfonso IV of Aragon.
 April 6 – Petrarch sees a woman he names Laura in the church of Sainte-Claire d'Avignon, which awakes in him a lasting passion. He writes a series of poems dedicated to her, which are collected into his Canzoniere ("Song Book").
312

312 was a leap year.

Events 
 October 28 – Battle of Milvian Bridge: Constantine I defeats Maxentius and becomes the only Roman Emperor in the West.
 Construction of the Arch of Constantine in Rome begun.
1709



Events 
 January 10 - Abraham Darby I makes cast iron using coke fuel at his Coalbrookdale blast furnace in Shropshire, England.
 February - In America, Mardi Gras is celebrated one more time with Masque de la Mobile in the capital of French Louisianne, Mobile (Alabama), before Mobile is moved 27 miles (43 km) down the Mobile River to Mobile Bay in 1711.
 February 2 - Alexander Selkirk is rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe.

 July 8 (New Style) - Battle of Poltava: In the Ukraine, Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava (see above).
 August 8 - The hot air balloon of Bartolomeu de Gusmão flies in Portugal.
 September 11 - Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, the Netherlands and Austria defeat France.
 October 12 - The City of Chihuahua, México is founded.
 December 25 - In London, 10 ships leave for the New York colony, carrying over 4,000 people.

Births
 February 24 – Jacques de Vaucanson, French inventor (d. 1782)
 March 10 – Georg Steller, German naturalist (d. 1746)
 August 7 – Jean-Jacques Lefranc, marquis de Pompignan, French poet (d. 1784)
 August 8 – Tokugawa Ietsugu, 7th Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan (d. 1716)
 September 18 – Samuel Johnson, English writer and lexicographer (d. 1784)
 November 2 – Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange, (d. 1759)
 December 18 – Elizabeth of Russia, reigning Empress of Russia (d. 1762)
 John Cleland, English novelist (d. 1789)
 Charles Collé, French dramatist (d. 1783)

References
1336

1336 was a leap year.

Births 
 April 14 – Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan (died 1374)
 July 25 – Albert, Count of Holland (d. 1404)
 King Albert of Sweden (died 1412)
 Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow (died 1406)
 Pope Gregory XI (died 1378)
 Pope Innocent VII (died 1406)
 Gao Qi, Chinese poet (died 1374)
 Tamerlane, founder of the Timurid Empire (died 1405)
1374

1374 was a common year.

Deaths 
 March 12 – Emperor Go-Kogon of Japan (born 1336)
 July 19 – Petrarch, Italian poet (born 1304)
 November 25 – Prince Philip II of Taranto
 King Gongmin of Goryeo
 Joanna of Flanders, Duchess of Brittany (born 1295)
 Gao Qi, Chinese poet (born 1336)
 William Whittlesey, Archbishop of Canterbury
1295



Events 
 Mongol leader Ghazan Khan is converted to Islam, ending a line of Tantric Buddhist leaders.
 Philip IV of France and Pope Boniface VIII begin having disagreements.
 Jayavarman VIII of the Khmer Empire in Cambodia abdicates.
 Marco Polo returns to Italy from his travels to China.
 Edward I summons the Model Parliament.

Births 
 September 16 – Elizabeth de Clare, English noblewoman (died 1360)
 John IV, Duke of Brittany (died 1345)
 Eudes IV, Duke of Burgundy (died 1350)
 Reginald de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham (died 1361)
 Joanna of Flanders, military leader in the Breton War of Succession (approximate date; died 1374)
 Nicephorus Gregoras, Byzantine historian (approximate date; died 1360)
 Al-Nasr Muhammad, sultan of Egypt (died 1341)
 Saint Roch (approximate date; died 1327)

Deaths 
 April 25 – King Sancho IV of Castile (born 1257)
 August 12 – Charles Martel d'Anjou (born 1271)
 December 7 – Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford, English politician (b. 1243)
 December 21 – Marguerite Berenger of Provence, queen of Louis IX of France (born c. 1221)
 Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol (born 1238)
1360



Events 
 October 24 – The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War.
 King Valdemar Atterdag of Denmark seizes Scania (from 1658 a Swedish province).

Births 
May 2 – Yongle Emperor of China (died 1424)
Vojvodina

The Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (Serbian: Аутономна Покрајина Војводина or Autonomna Pokrajina Vojvodina) is one of the two autonomous provinces in Serbia. It is located in the northern part of the country, in the Pannonian plain. Its capital and the largest city is Novi Sad and the second largest city is Subotica. 

Vojvodina is ethnically, culturally and linguistically diverse, with more than 26 different ethnic groups and six official languages.

Serbia
Provinces
1649



Events 
 January 30 – King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded. His widow Henrietta Maria lives in her native France.
 January 30 – The Commonwealth of England, a republican form of government, replaces the monarchy as the form of government of England and later of Scotland and Ireland. Members of the Long Parliament serve as government.
 January 30 – Prince Charles Stuart declares himself King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. At the time all three Kingdoms had not recognized him as ruler.
 February 5 – In Edinburgh, Scotland claimant King Charles II of England is declared King in his absence. Scotland is the first of the three Kingdoms to recognize his claim to the throne.
 March 11 – The Frondeurs (rebels) and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
 March 19 – The House of Commons pass an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring that it is "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
 May 17 – Banbury mutiny ends – leaders of the Leveller mutineers in the New Model Army are hanged
 May 19 – An act declaring England to be a Commonwealth is passed by the Rump Parliament.

 Robert Blake is promoted to become an Admiral of the English fleet
 August 15 – Admiral Robert Blake blockades Prince Rupert to allow Oliver Cromwell to land in Dublin and begin the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland
 September 2 – The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
 Unknown date – Urga founded (now Mongolian capital)
 Digger movement crushed at St George's Hill

Births 
 February 2 – Pope Benedict XIII
 February 8 – Gabriel Daniel, French Jesuit historian
 February 11 – William Carstares, Scottish minister
 April 5 – Elihu Yale, American benefactor of Yale University
 April 9 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland
 June 13 – Adrien Baillet, French scholar and critic
 July 23 – Pope Clement XI
 September 15 – Titus Oates, English minister and plotter
 December 7 – Charles Garnier, French Jesuit missionary

Deaths 
 January 30 – King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland (executed)
 March 9 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish statesman
 March 9 – Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier (executed)
 March 16 – Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary
 March 19 – Gerhard Johann Vossius, German classical scholar and theologian
 March 26 – John Winthrop First Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
 May 14 – Friedrich Spanheim, Dutch theologian
 June 3 – Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet
 September 6 – Robert Dudley, styled Earl of Warwick, English explorer and geographer
 September 15 – John Floyd, English Jesuit preacher
 October 3 – Giovanni Diodati, Swiss Protestant clergyman
 October 16 – Isaac van Ostade, Dutch painter
 November 19 – Caspar Schoppe, German scholar
 December 4 – William Drummond of Hawthornden, Scottish poet
 December 8 – Noël Chabanel, French Jesuit missionary
Pennsylvania Station

Pennsylvania Station, or Penn Station, is a name of several railway stations in the United States. The name "Pennsylvania Station" comes from the times when all these stations belonged to the Pennsylvania Railroad and, later, to Penn Central. The stations in New York City, Newark, New Jersey, and Baltimore still have this name.  The station in Pittsburgh, although officially known as Union Station, is also called Penn Station by locals. All these stations are currently served by Amtrak.

Railway stations in the United States
Dan Quayle

James Danforth "Dan" Quayle (born February 4, 1947) is an American politician who was the 44th vice president of the United States. He served with President George H. W. Bush (1989–1993).

Early life
Quayle was born at Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital (When he was born as Methodist Hospital in 1947) in Indianapolis, Indiana. His parents were Martha Corinne (née Pulliam) and James Cline Quayle. He has often been incorrectly referred to as James Danforth Quayle III. In his memoirs, he points out that his birth name was simply James Danforth Quayle. The name Quayle originates from the Isle of Man, where his great-grandfather was born.

His maternal grandfather, Eugene C. Pulliam, was a rich and influential publishing magnate who founded Central Newspapers, Inc., owner of over a dozen major newspapers such as The Arizona Republic and The Indianapolis Star. James C. Quayle moved his family to Arizona in 1955 to run part of the family's publishing business. While his family was very wealthy, Quayle was less rich; his total net worth by the time of his election in 1988 was less than $1 million.

Personal life
Quayle and his wife are Presbyterians. He currently lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

References

1947 births
Living people
Lawyers from Indianapolis
American Presbyterians
Manx people
2000 United States presidential candidates
United States representatives from Indiana
United States senators from Indiana
Republican Party (United States) politicians
20th-century American politicians
Politicians from Indianapolis
Cincinnati

Cincinnati is a city in the southwestern corner of the state of Ohio near the states of Kentucky and Indiana. The city is in Hamilton County, Ohio. Cincinnati is home to major sports teams including the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals, as well as events like the Cincinnati Masters and the Thanksgiving Day race. The University of Cincinnati traces its foundation to the Medical College of Ohio, which was founded in 1819.

Cincinnati was named after the Roman leader Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus and was an early major city in the midwestern United States. Many Germans settled in the city and the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood gets its name from the river in Germany. Soap and machine tools are major industries in the area, which is home to the company Procter & Gamble as well as Macy's. Cincinnati's economy and population declined in the late 1900s, but the city is on the upswing. The Over-The-Rhine neighborhood has seen a lot of new businesses and development in recent years.

People from Cincinnati 
 Michael K. Allen – former Hamilton County, Ohio prosecutor
 Stan Aronoff – former president of the Ohio Senate
 Oba Chandler – rapist and murderer on death row in Florida
 Dixon Edwards – former NFL linebacker
 Marc Edwards – NFL fullback
 Ray Edwards – NFL defensive end
 Joseph H. Albers – first bishop of Lansing, Michigan
 Anthony Allaire – New York City Police inspector
 Levi Addison Ault – businessman, naturalist, donor of Cincinnati's Ault Park
 Doris Day -actress, singer, animal lover
 Pete Rose -  most MLB hits, ever.  Famous athlete.
 Charles Manson -  Manson family leader, Famous 60's murder conspirator.
 Barry Larkin - Cincinnati Red's player, Famous Athlete.
 Ken Griffey Sr., Cincinnati Red's player, Famous Athlete.
 Ken Griffey Jr., Cincinnati Red's player/Seattle Mariners player, Famous Athlete.
 William Howard Taft, 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913.

References 

 
County seats in Ohio
1788 establishments in the United States
18th-century establishments in the Northwest Territory
Cable car

A cable car is a type of car that runs on cables above the car.  The machines that drive the cables are in the two "winding houses".  One winding house is at the bottom and one at the top.  It is used much in areas where there are a lot of mountains.

The construction of the longest cable way in the world was finished in 16th October 2010 in Armenia. Its name is Wings of Tatev and has length of 5.7 km.

Some cable cars run on railway tracks, pulled by a cable.

Related pages
Gondola lift

Other websites 
 A picture of a typical cable car 

Vehicles
Cableways
Tokusatsu

Tokusatsu is a Japanese word that means "special effects". It is used to talk about television shows and movies that have superheros, giant monsters, and other science fiction and fantastic themes. Some famous tokusatsu features include Godzilla, Ultra Series, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai.

Japanese language
Movie terminology
Japanese television
Snakes on a Plane

Snakes on a Plane (released in Japan as Snake Flight (スネーク・フライト)) is a 2006 American action horror crime thriller movie. It was directed by David R. Ellis and it stars Samuel L. Jackson and released to movie theaters by Warner Bros. It is about many snakes attacking people on a plane that is traveling from Hawaii to Los Angeles, California.

Plot
After witnessing the murder of prosecutor Daniel Hayes in Hawaii, by Yakuza boss Eddie Kim, a biker named Sean Jones runs away but is escorted out by Samuel L. Jackson's character, FBI agent Neville Flynn. They catch a flight heading to California. Suddenly snakes start attacking people on the plane, and Flynn becomes angry at the snakes, so he fights them. After fighting the snakes, the plane lands on a nearby airport, everyone gets out of the plane safely on a liferaft until a snake attacks Sean and Flynn shoots the snake off of him with his gun. Eddie Kim is also sentenced to death. After the incident Flynn and Sean go on a holiday in Bali, Indonesia.

Reception
The movie became very popular before it was released because of the title and because of many people talked about it on the Internet.

Other websites 

2006 horror movies
2006 action movies
2006 crime thriller movies
2000s American action movies
American crime thriller movies
American horror movies
German action movies
German crime movies
German horror movies
German thriller movies
2000s English-language movies
Movies about snakes
Movies set in Hawaii
Movies set in Los Angeles
War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

The War in Afghanistan was a war fought by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and other countries against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, after the terrorist attacks against the US on September 11, 2001.

On 31 August 2021 (local time), the war ended as the last coalition soldiers (from foreign countries), left Afghanistan.

History
The war started when the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001. The US and its allies forced the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to hide. In December 2001, the US and its allies founded a new government for Afghanistan. Its president was Hamid Karzai.

By February 2002, 5,000 soldiers from ISAF (or International Security Assistance Force) were in Afghanistan. That military force was led by United States. ISAF's soldiers were on loan from the militaries of NATO countries and allied countries. In 2012 ISAF was at its maximum: 130,000 soldiers (in Afghanistan).

In 2004 Hamid Karzai started as the first president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Even though the Taliban had lost power, they formed a "shadow government". Taliban insurgents, or fighters, controlled many parts of Afghanistan, and enforced their own laws.

Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, May 2011.

British troops left Afghanistan in 2015, after 5 years of training the Afghanistan police to deal with threats from the Taliban.

After security deteriorated, American soldiers returned and over 10,000 were in the country at the end of 2017. In 2020, the US and NATO allies promised to leave Afghanistan as long as the Taliban agreed to certain things: not allowing terrorists to operate in its area, and starting peace talks with the Afghanistan government. In mid-2021, the Taliban began a military offensive to enlarge their territory as US and allied forces began to leave. By August 15, 2021, the Taliban had recaptured Kabul and defeated the Afghan government.

An anti-Taliban front took control of the Panjshir Valley, in August 2021.

During the 2021 evacuation from Afghanistan, over 150,000 people chose to to be taken out of Afghanistan; They were diplomats, other civilian staff, other civilians, and military staff.

The last military airplanes of the United States, left the airport in Kabul, one minute before 31 August 2021.

On 31 August 2021 (local time), the war ended.

Deaths and injuries
More than 15,000 Coalition soldiers were wounded:  6,773 US, 3,954 UK, 1,500 Canadian and over 2,500 other Coalition soldiers.  5,500 Afghan army soldiers and 200 Northern Alliance militants were killed in this war.  378 US civilian contractors were killed and 7,224.

Aftermath

An anti-Taliban front has control of the Panjshir Valley, as of 2021's third quarter.

Gallery

References

2000s in Asia
2010s in Afghanistan
2020 in Afghanistan
2021 in Afghanistan
Wars involving Canada
Wars involving Germany
Wars involving Greece
Wars involving Italy
Wars involving New Zealand
Wars involving the Netherlands
Wars involving the United Kingdom
Wars involving the United States
War in Afghanistan (since 1978)
Castrato

A castrato (plural castrati) was a type of male singer with a very high voice. The effect was produced either through castration, or because of some hormonal problems. The word castrato literally means castrated. Such singers were very sought after in the early days of the opera. Most of the main soprano roles in operas by Handel and other composers of that time were written for castrati. Nowadays they are almost always sung by female sopranos, since there are no castrati left.

The practice of castrating young boys who had good singing voices was quite common in Italy in the 17th century. When castration is done before puberty, the usual effects of puberty will not happen. These include the vocal cords enlarging and growing bigger, and the voice getting deeper as a consequence. 

Even though castration was illegal in many parts of Italy, it was often performed. Many families who were poor had their children castrated because it might give them a better future. 

Once a boy was castrated he would go to a special music school where children learned singing and musical instruments. The castrati pupils were given special treatment. They were fussed over and kept warm to stop them from getting colds. When they grew up they hoped to become famous opera singers. A few of them had very successful careers in opera. They were the great stars of their day, and audiences came to the opera to cheer on their favourite singers. Those who were not good enough to make a career in opera joined church choirs instead.

It is impossible now for us to know what these great castrato voices sounded like, but they must have had very powerful voices and many of the singers were very skilled in singing and adding musical ornamentation to the songs. In the 18th century Italian opera became very popular in England. This was largely due to the German-born composer Georg Friderich Händel who moved to England in 1709 and wrote lots of Italian operas. Many singers who sang in London came from Italy, and many were castrati. The most famous one was called Farinelli. 

The popularity of castrato singers died out in the 19th century. By the mid-19th century they were no opera castrati left, although a few castrati still sang in church choirs. The last one, a man called Alessandro Moreschi, died in 1922 aged 64. There is a recording of his voice made in 1902 which can be heard online, but he may not have been a good singer and he was old when he made the recording, so we cannot judge whether the castrato voice was beautiful by that recording.

Related pages
 Breeches role

Other websites 
 Alessandro Moreschi at Internet Archive

Vocal ranges
Falsetto

A falsetto voice is a special way of speaking or singing. If a man tries to imitate a woman’s voice he does it by speaking in a falsetto voice. When a man sings with a falsetto voice it sounds high like a soprano. Actors do this sometimes, e.g. Robin Williams in the film Mrs Doubtfire or Kevin Clash when voicing the character Elmo in Sesame Street and Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, with his R&B falsetto. Also, Kellin Quinn from the band sleeping With Sirens uses falsetto sometimes.

Women can also use falsetto, but when they do there is not as big of a change in sound from their normal voices as there is in men. When women use falsetto the voice sounds lighter or weaker than it does when they speak or sing normally.

It is like stretching the mouth out into a wide smile and saying 'ee', except it is sung.

Processes and uses of falsetto  
When people speak or sing, their vocal cords vibrate.  When a man sings falsetto only the edges of his vocal cords vibrate.  These produce harmonics.  It is similar to playing harmonics on a string instrument by lightly touching the string at a certain point so that only part of the string vibrates.  When a man sings falsetto his vocal range is usually one octave higher than his normal singing voice. When people sing in falsetto, their voice can be breathy sometimes.

Falsetto singing was used in the days when women were not allowed to sing in churches.  Instead, men sang countertenor.  Later the popularity of the countertenor disappeared, but in the mid 20th century it became popular again for performing Renaissance and Baroque music. Today the tradition of men singing alto (with countertenor voices) still exists in Britain in cathedral choirs and some church choirs which are all-male choirs.  It is not a big, operatic voice, and it blends in well with boys’ treble voices in the acoustic of churches and cathedrals.  

Occasionally falsetto can be used for comic effect, as in the roasted swan in the Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.

Other websites 
 Definition of falsetto  at Virginia Tech's website

Vocal ranges
Countertenor

A countertenor is a male singer who uses a falsetto voice to sing high notes like a female contralto or mezzo-soprano.

Countertenors were used a lot in the Renaissance and Baroque periods when females were not allowed to sing in church choirs. They did not have big, dramatic voices like castrati, so they were not normally used in opera. People forgot about this way of singing in the 18th and 19th centuries, although male altos continued to sing in English cathedral and church choirs. In the 20th century an English countertenor called Alfred Deller became very famous. He sang many songs from the Baroque period that had been written for the countertenor voice, for example songs by Henry Purcell who sang countertenor himself. Today there is a lot of interest again in using this type of voice for performing early music like Renaissance and Baroque music.

Vocal ranges
Breeches role

A breeches role is a part in an opera in which a woman plays the role of a man. It is also called a trouser role (British) or pants role (U.S.) or travesti role (the Italian word). It is called a breeches role because breeches are tight-fitting, knee-length trousers. These used to be worn by men at the time that breeches roles became popular. Sometimes breeches roles are in plays, but they are usually in opera.

Breeches roles are usually female singers acting the role of a young man. They are normally sung by mezzo-sopranos or contraltos with light voices because they can often sound boyish. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was normal to have actors and actresses who cross-dressed. It was the time when castrato singers were popular. These castrati were men pretending to be women, but there were also women pretending to be men (especially when the actress was trying to deceive another character) and the audiences were used to this kind of thing. As they gradually stopped the horrible practice of castrating young boys in the late 18th century these male characters started to be sung by mezzo-sopranos instead.

Mozart wrote an opera called The Marriage of Figaro. In this opera the role of Cherubino, a young page boy, is sung by a mezzo-soprano. Other famous examples include the role of Siebel in Dvořák’s opera Rusalka and the role of Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss’s opera Die Fledermaus.

Composers from the 20th century do not usually have breeches roles in their operas. There is the role of Oktavian in Richard Strauss’s opera Der Rosenkavalier (1911), but this opera was deliberately trying to produce the old-fashioned atmosphere of Mozart’s time. Benjamin Britten wrote an opera called Midsummer Night’s Dream, based on Shakespeare’s play. There is no breeches role here. Instead, the part of Oberon is written for a countertenor: a man with a high, falsetto voice.

There is also a term called a skirt role. This is the opposite of a trouser role: it is a man acting the part of a woman. Benjamin Britten uses one in the role of the Madwoman in Curlew River. The witch in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel is also sung by a man. In both cases it makes the characters more dramatic, but the first is very serious while the second is supposed to be humorous.

Cross-dressing
Opera terminology
Treble (singer)

The word treble is used, especially in British English, to mean the singing voice of a boy or girl.  Often it is called boy soprano, but since there are also many girls who sing in cathedral and church choirs these days, the word treble is now used to describe the voice of either sex.

A boy can sing treble until he reaches puberty.  At puberty he starts to become a man and his voice range will go down (we say that his voice “breaks”).  He will then become a tenor, baritone or bass, or he may even train to be a countertenor.  A girl’s voice also changes when she reaches puberty, but the change into a grown-up female voice is more gradual than with a boy, and it is still within the soprano or  alto range.

Boys who join a cathedral choir or the choir of a large church will have to work hard to develop their voice and learn to sing musically.  They often start this training aged 7 or 8, and they may only have four or five years before their voice starts to break.  They do not usually become famous as soloists, but the Welsh treble Aled Jones became very famous for about three years and made many recordings before his voice broke in 1987.

The word ‘treble’ is used for children singing in a Classical Music style, especially church music.  Although children do not usually sing in opera, occasionally a treble is used for the part of a very small boy, e.g. in  Debussy’s opera Pélléas et Mélisande.

Vocal ranges
Claque

A claque (pronounce: ‘clack’) is a small group of people in an opera house who deliberately either clapped loudly (applauded) or shouted boo for a particular singer. Usually it means an organised group who know in advance what they are going to do.

In the 19th century there was very often a claque at performances of an opera. Someone who liked one of the singers and wanted them to have lots of applause would pay a group of people to sit near the back of the opera house and to clap and shout enthusiastically whenever that singer had finished a song. This would encourage the rest of the audience to clap loudly too. Sometimes the claque would be paid to do the opposite: they would be told to hiss and boo when the singer had sung.

Very often a singer would have to pay some money to the claque so that they would applaud him (or her). If the singer did not pay, the claque would hiss and boo. This was, of course, a nasty form of blackmail. In the early 20th century, when the world-famous tenor Enrico Caruso refused to pay the claque in Naples a bribe, they hissed during his singing of the great aria Una furtiva lagrima.

Groups of supporters at football ('soccer') matches do much the same thing without being paid. Abuse of match officials is also quite common. Abuse between rival groups of fans is also common. Clubs are required to keep away fans in different sections from home fans.

References 
Teach yourself opera by Susan Sutherland 1997, LCCC number: 06-72382

Opera terminology
Leech

A leech, plural leeches, is a kind of worm that live in wet areas. Some only live in water, but some, called terrestrial leeches, can live on land. Terrestrial leeches can only live in wet and humid areas. Some leeches that live in water can swim. Leeches have 34 connected parts, called segments, that make up the body. Some leeches are predators, and eat other small animals, called invertebrates. Other leeches drink the blood of bigger animals, including humans.

References 

Annelids
Academy Award for Best Production Design

The Academy Award for Best Production Design recognizes achievement for art direction in film. The category's original name was Best Art Direction, but was changed to its current name in 2012 for the 85th Academy Awards. This change resulted from the Art Directors' branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) being renamed the Designers' branch. Since 1947, the award is shared with the set decorators. It is awarded to the best interior design in a film.

The films below are listed with their production year (for example, the 2000 Academy Award for Best Art Direction is given to a film from 1999). In the lists below, the winner of the award for each year is shown first, followed by the other nominees in alphabetical order.

Superlatives

Winners and nominees

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

See also
 BAFTA Award for Best Production Design
 Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Production Design

Individuals with multiple wins

11 wins
 Cedric Gibbons

8 wins
 Edwin B. Willis

7 wins
 Richard Day

6 wins
 Thomas Little
 Walter M. Scott

5 wins
 Lyle R. Wheeler

4 wins
 John Box
 Samuel M. Comer
 F. Keogh Gleason
 George James Hopkins

3 wins
 Edward Carfagno
 Stuart Craig
 William S. Darling
 John DeCuir
 Vernon Dixon
 Hans Dreier
 Dante Ferretti
 Paul S. Fox
 Alexander Golitzen
 Paul Groesse
 John Meehan
 Ray Moyer
 Francesca Lo Schiavo
 Jack Martin Smith

2 wins
 Ken Adam
 E. Preston Ames
 Herman A. Blumenthal
 Henry Bumstead
 Donald Graham Burt
 Gene Callahan
 Rick Carter
 George Davis
 Leslie Dilley
 Michael D. Ford
 George Gaines
 Russell A. Gausman
 Nancy Haigh
 Harry Horner
 William A. Horning
 Hugh Hunt
 Wiard Ihnen
 Emile Kuri
 Terence Marsh
 Catherine Martin
 William Cameron Menzies
 Urie McCleary
 John Myhre
 Gil Parrondo
 Robert Priestley
 Stuart A. Reiss
 Norman Reynolds
 Dario Simoni
 Robert Stromberg
 Richard Sylbert
 Joseph C. Wright
 Peter Young

Notes

References

Best Production Design

Awards for best art direction
Actrius

Actresses (Catalan: Actrius) is a 1997 Catalan language Spanish drama film produced and directed by Ventura Pons and based on the award-winning stage play E.R. by Josep Maria Benet i Jornet. The film has no male actors, with all roles played by females. The film was produced in 1996.

Synopsis 
In order to prepare herself to play a role commemorating the life of legendary actress Empar Ribera, young actress (Mercè Pons) interviews three established actresses who had been the Ribera's pupils: the international diva Glòria Marc (Núria Espert), the television star Assumpta Roca (Rosa Maria Sardà), and dubbing director Maria Caminal (Anna Lizaran).

Cast 
 Núria Espert as Glòria Marc
 Rosa Maria Sardà as Assumpta Roca
 Anna Lizaran as Maria Caminal
 Mercè Pons as Estudiant

Recognition

Screenings 
Actrius screened in 2001 at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in an American Cinematheque retrospective of the works of its director. The film had first screened at the same location in 1998. It was also shown at the 1997 Stockholm International Film Festival.

Reception 
In Movie - Film - Review, Christopher Tookey wrote that though the actresses were "competent in roles that may have some reference to their own careers", the film "is visually unimaginative, never escapes its stage origins, and is almost totally lacking in revelation or surprising incident". Noting that there were "occasional, refreshing moments of intergenerational bitchiness", they did not "justify comparisons to All About Eve", and were "insufficiently different to deserve critical parallels with Rashomon". He also wrote that The Guardian called the film a "slow, stuffy chamber-piece", and that The Evening Standard stated the film's "best moments exhibit the bitchy tantrums seething beneath the threesome's composed veneers". MRQE wrote "This cinematic adaptation of a theatrical work is true to the original, but does not stray far from a theatrical rendering of the story."

Awards and nominations 
 1997, won 'Best Catalan Film' at Butaca Awards for Ventura Pons
 1997, won 'Best Catalan Film Actress' at Butaca Awards, shared by Núria Espert, Rosa Maria Sardà, Anna Lizaran, and Mercè Pons
 1998, nominated for 'Best Screenplay' at Goya Awards, shared by Josep Maria Benet i Jornet and Ventura Pons

References

External links 
 
  as archived 17 February 2009 (Spanish)

1997 films
1997 drama films
Catalan-language films
Films set in Barcelona
Films directed by Ventura Pons
Spanish drama films
1990s Spanish films