cyanic-selkie/wikianc huggingface dataset:
BRICS
Terminology
Various sources (see external links below) refer to a purported "original" BRIC agreement that predates the Goldman Sachs thesis. Some of these sources claim that President Vladimir Putin of Russia was the driving force behind this original cooperative coalition of developing BRIC countries. However, thus far, no text has been made public of any formal agreement to which all four BRIC states are signatories. This does not mean, however, that they have not reached a multitude of bilateral or even quadrilateral agreements. Evidence of agreements of this type are abundant and are available on the foreign ministry websites of each of the four countries. Trilateral agreements and frameworks made among the BRICs include the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (member states include Russia and China, observers include India) and the IBSA Trilateral Forum, which unites Brazil, India, and South Africa in annual dialogues. Also important to note is the G-20 coalition of developing states which includes all the BRICs.
Also, because of the popularity of the Goldman Sachs thesis "BRIC", this term has sometimes been extended whereby "BRICK" (K for South Korea), "BRIMC"  (M for Mexico), "BRICA" (GCC Arab countries – Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates) and "BRICET" (including Eastern Europe and Turkey) have become more generic marketing terms to refer to these emerging markets.
In an August 2010 op-ed, Jim O'Neill of Goldman Sachs argued that Africa could be considered the next BRIC. Analysts from rival banks have sought to move beyond the BRIC concept, by introducing their own groupings of emerging markets. Proposals include CIVETs (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey and South Africa), the EAGLEs (Emerging and Growth-Leading Economies) and the 7 per cent Club (which includes those countries which have averaged economic growth of at least 7 per cent a year).
Marketing
The BRIC term is also used by companies who refer to the four named countries as key to their emerging markets strategies. By comparison the reduced acronym IC would not be attractive, although the term "Chindia" is often used. The BRIC's study specifically focuses on large countries, not necessarily the wealthiest or the most productive and was never intended to be an investment thesis. If investors read the Goldman's research carefully, and agreed with the conclusions, then they would gain exposure to Asian debt and equity markets rather than to Latin America. According to estimates provided by the USDA, the wealthiest regions outside of the G6 in 2015 will be Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore. Combined with China and India, these five economies are likely to be the world's five most influential economies outside of the G6.
On the other hand, when the "R" in BRIC is extended beyond Russia and is used as a loose term to include all of Eastern Europe as well, then the BRIC story becomes more compelling. At issue are the multiple serious problems which confront Russia (potentially unstable government, environmental degradation, critical lack of modern infrastructure, etc.), and the comparatively much lower growth rate seen in Brazil. However, Brazil's lower growth rate obscures the fact that the country is wealthier than China or India on a per-capita basis, has a more developed and global integrated financial system and has an economy potentially more diverse than the other BRICs due to its raw material and manufacturing potential. Many other Eastern European countries, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and several others were able to continually sustain high economic growth rates and do not experience some of the problems that Russia experiences or experience them to a lesser extent. In terms of GDP per capita in 2008, Brazil ranked 64th, Russia 42nd, India 113th and China 89th. By comparison South Korea ranked 24th and Singapore 3rd.
Brazil's stock market, the Bovespa, has gone from approximately 9,000 in September 2002 to over 70,000 in May 2008. Government policies have favored investment (lowering interest rates), retiring foreign debt and expanding growth, and a reformulation of the tax system is being voted in the congress. The British author and researcher Mark Kobayashi-Hillary wrote a book in 2007 titled 'Building a Future with BRICs' for European publisher Springer Verlag that examines the growth of the BRICs region and its effect on global sourcing. Contributors to the book include Nandan Nilekani, and Shiv Nadar.
International Law
Brazilian lawyer and author Adler Martins has published a paper called "Contratos Internacionais entre os países do BRIC" (International Agreements Among BRIC countries) which highlights the international conventions ratified by the BRIC countries, which allow them to maintain trade and investment activities safely within the group. Mr. Martin's study is being further developed by the Federal University of the Minas Gerais State, in Brazil.
Financial diversification
It has been argued that geographic diversification would eventually generate superior risk-adjusted returns for long-term global investors by reducing overall portfolio risk while capturing some of the higher rates of return offered by the emerging markets of Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America. By doing so, these institutional investors have contributed to the financial and economic development of key emerging nations such as Brazil, India, China, and Russia. For global investors, India and China constitute both large-scale production platforms and reservoirs of new consumers, whereas Russia is viewed essentially as an exporter of oil and commodities- Brazil and Latin America being somehow "in the middle".
Criticism
A criticism is that the BRIC projections are based on the assumptions that resources are limitless and endlessly available when needed. In reality, many important resources currently necessary to sustain economic growth, such as oil, natural gas, coal, other fossil fuels, and uranium might soon experience a peak in production before enough renewable energy can be developed and commercialized, which might result in slower economic growth than anticipated, thus throwing off the projections and their dates. The economic emergence of the BRICs will have unpredictable consequences for the global environment. Indeed, proponents of a set carrying capacity for the Earth may argue that, given current technology, there is a finite limit to how much the BRICs can develop before exceeding the ability of the global economy to supply.
Academics and experts have suggested that China is in a league of its own compared to the other BRIC countries. As David Rothkopf wrote in Foreign Policy, "Without China, the BRICs are just the BRI, a bland, soft cheese that is primarily known for the whine that goes with it. China is the muscle of the group and the Chinese know it. They have effective veto power over any BRIC initiatives because without them, who cares really? They are the one with the big reserves. They are the biggest potential market. They are the U.S. partner in the G2 (imagine the coverage a G2 meeting gets vs. a G8 meeting) and the E2 (no climate deal without them) and so on." Deutsche Bank Research said in a report that "economically, financially and politically, China overshadows and will continue to overshadow the other BRICs." It added that China's economy is larger than that of the three other BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia and India) combined. Moreover, China's exports and its official forex reserve holdings are more than twice as large as those of the other BRICs combined. In that perspective, some pension investment experts have argued that “China alone accounts for more than 70% of the combined GDP growth generated by the BRIC countries [from 1999 to 2010]: if there is a BRIC miracle it’s first and foremost a Chinese one”.
There are many uncertainties and assumptions in the BRIC thesis that could mean that any or all of these four countries will not live up to their promise. The preeminence of China and India as major manufacturing countries with unrealised potential has been widely recognised, but some commentators state that China's and Russia's large-scale disregard for human rights and democracy could be a problem in the future. Human rights issues do not inform the foreign policies of these two countries to the same extent as they do the policies of other large states such as Japan, India, the EU states and the USA. There is also the possibility of conflict over Taiwan in the case of China and smaller democracies that lie in the vicinity of these two authoritarian giants will no doubt be affected by human rights issues being relegated to a lower global priority.
There is also the issue of population growth. The population of Russia is beginning to shrink fast. Brazil's and China's populations will begin to decline in several decades, with their demographic windows closing in several decades as well. This may have implications for those countries' future, for there might be a decrease in the overall labor force and a negative change in the proportion of workers to retirees.
Brazil's economic potential has been anticipated for decades, but it had until recently consistently failed to achieve investor expectations. Only in recent years has the country established a framework of political, economic, and social policies that allowed it to resume consistent growth. The result has been solid and paced economic development that rival its early 70's "miracle years", as reflected in its expanding capital markets, lowest unemployment rates in decades, and consistent international trade surpluses - that led to the accumulation of reserves and liquidation of foreign debt (earning the country a coveted investment grade by the S&P and Fitch Ratings in 2008).
Finally, India's relations with its neighbor Pakistan have always been tense. In 1998, there was a nuclear standoff between Pakistan and India. Border conflicts with Pakistan, mostly over the longheld dispute over Kashmir, has further aggravated any economic ties.This impedes progress by limiting government finances, increasing social unrest, and limiting potential domestic economic demand. Factors such as international conflict, civil unrest, unwise political policy, outbreaks of disease and terrorism are all factors that are difficult to predict and that could have an effect on the destiny of any country.
Other critics suggest that BRIC is nothing more than a neat acronym for the four largest emerging market economies, but in economic and political terms nothing else (apart from the fact that they are all big emerging markets) links the four. Two are manufacturing based economies and big importers (China and India), but two are huge exporters of natural resources (Brazil and Russia). The Economist, in its special report on Brazil, expressed the following view: "In some ways Brazil is the steadiest of the BRICs. Unlike China and Russia it is a full-blooded democracy; unlike India it has no serious disputes with its neighbors. It is the only BRIC without a nuclear bomb." The Heritage Foundation's "Economic Freedom Index", which measures factors such as protection of property rights and free trade ranks Brazil ("moderately free") above the other BRICs ("mostly unfree"). Henry Kissinger has stated that the BRIC nations have no hope of acting together as a coherent bloc in world affairs, and that any cooperation will be the result of forces acting on the individual nations.
It is also noticed that BRIC countries have undermined qualitative factors that is reflected in deterioration in Doing Business ranking 2010 and other several human indexes.
In a not-so-subtle dig critical of the term as nothing more than a shorthand for emerging markets generally, critics have suggested a correlating term, CEMENT (Countries in Emerging Markets Excluded by New Terminology). Whilst they accept there has been spectacular growth of the BRIC economies, these gains have largely been the result of the strength of emerging markets generally, and that strength comes through having BRICs and CEMENT.
Proposed Inclusions
Mexico and South Korea are currently the world's 14th and 15th largest by nominal GDP, just behind the BRIC and G7 economies, while both are experiencing rapid GDP growth of 5% every year, a figure comparable to Brazil from the original BRICs. Jim O'Neill, expert from the same bank and creator of the economic thesis, stated that in 2001 when the paper was created, it did not consider Mexico, but today it has been included because the country is experiencing the same factors that the other countries first included present. While South Korea was not originally included in the BRICs, recent solid economic growth led to Goldman Sachs proposing to add Mexico and South Korea to the BRICs, changing the acronym to BRIMCK, with Jim O'Neill pointing out that Korea "is better placed than most others to realize its potential due to its growth-supportive fundamentals.
A Goldman Sachs paper published later in December 2005 explained why Mexico and South Korea weren't included in the original BRICs. According to the paper, among the other countries they looked at, only Mexico and South Korea have the potential to rival the BRICs, but they are economies that they decided to exclude initially because they looked to them as already more developed. However, due to the popularity of the Goldman Sachs thesis, "BRIMC" and "BRICK" are becoming more generic marketing terms to refer to these six countries.
In their paper "BRICs and Beyond", Goldman Sachs stated that "Mexico, the four BRIC countries and South Korea should not be really thought of as emerging markets in the classical sense", adding that they are a "critical part of the modern globalised economy" and "just as central to its functioning as the current G7".
The term is primarily used in the economic and financial spheres as well as in academia. Its usage has grown specially in the investment sector, where it is used to refer to the bonds emitted by these emerging markets governments.
South Korea
South Korea is by far the most highly developed country when compared to the BRICs and N-11s, with a GDP per capita higher than Italy and Spain and HDI higher than Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom. Yet, it has been achieving growth rates of 4-6%, a figure more than double that of other advanced economies. More importantly, it has a significantly higher Growth Environment Score (Goldman Sachs' way of measuring the long-term sustainability of growth) than all of the BRICs or N-11s. Commentators such as William Pesek Jr. from Bloomberg argue that Korea is "Another 'BRIC' in Global Wall", suggesting that it stands out from the Next Eleven economies. By GDP (PPP), South Korea already overtook a G7 and G8 economy, Canada, in 2009. It then surpassed Spain in 2010 and at current speed, will take over Italy before 2018. Economists from other investment firms argue that Korea will have a GDP per capita of over $96,000 by 2050, surpassing the United States and by far the wealthiest among the G7, BRIC and N-11 economies, suggesting that wealth is more important than size for bond investors, stating that Korea's credit rating will be rated AAA sooner than 2050.
United Korea
In September 2009, Goldman Sachs published its 188th Global Economics Paper named "A United Korea?" which highlighted in detail the potential economic power of a United Korea, which will surpass all current G7 countries except the United States, such as Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany and France within 30–40 years of reunification, estimating GDP to surpass $6 trillion by 2050. The young, skilled labor and large amount of natural resources from the North combined with advanced technology, infrastructure and large amount of capital in the South, as well as Korea's strategic location connecting three economic powers, is likely going to create an economy larger than the bulk of the G7. According to some opinions, a reunited Korea could occur before 2050, or even between 2010 and 2020. If it occurred, Korean reunification would immediately raise the country's population to over 70 million.
Bibliography
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Spaniel
A spaniel is a type of gun dog. Spaniels were especially bred in the 1700's in Great Britain to flush game birds out of thick bushes There are many types of spaniel dogs, the most popular ones are the Cocker Spaniel, the English Springer Spaniel, the Field Spaniel and the Welsh Springer Spaniel.
Copa México
Copa México is the main knockout cup competition in Mexican football. The competition was established in 1907.
Dimitri Tiomkin
Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (May 10, 1894 - November 11, 1979) is a Russian-born American film composer and conductor.
Early life and education
Dimitri Tiomkin was born in Kremenchuk, Poltava Governorate, Ukraine.
Death and legacy
Dimitri Tiomkin died in London, England in 1979 two weeks after fracturing his pelvis in a fall.
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines was given "Airline of the Year" by Skytrax in 2008. Its hub, Singapore Changi Airport, was given "Airport of the Year" in 2006.
Fleet
Singapore Airlines introduced the Airbus A330-300 in January 2009. It was the first aircraft in the fleet to feature a new regional business class product with 30 lie-flat leather seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, which has since been retrofitted on other regional aircraft in the fleet.
Nuclear fission
Nuclear fission is a kind of nuclear reaction. It is when an atom splits apart into smaller atoms. Some fission reactions give off a lot of energy, and are used in nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors. Nuclear fission was discovered in December 1938 by physicists Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch, who observed a uranium nucleus splitting in two. Although they originally thought the two tiny resulting nuclei were barium isotopes, what Meitner and Frisch truly saw was a process that would revolutionize nuclear chemistry: nuclear fission
An atom is the smallest particle which makes up a chemical element (e.g. hydrogen, oxygen, magnesium). All atoms are very small. Atoms are made of three components or particles: Protons, neutrons and electrons. The protons and neutrons are clumped together in a ball called a nucleus, at the center of every atom. The electrons orbit around the nucleus in its 'electron cloud'. Elements which have large nuclei, such as uranium and plutonium, can be made to fission.
If a (relatively) very large atomic nucleus is hit by a slow-moving neutron, it will sometimes become unstable and break into two nuclei. When the nucleus breaks apart (or fissions) it releases energy, mostly as gamma rays and heat. It also causes some neutrons to be released from the nucleus.
Singapore Airlines
Fleet
Five further A330s were delivered in 2009, progressively replacing older Boeing 777-200s on medium-haul routes, and the fleet stood at 19 examples by June 2011. All the aircraft were acquired on five-year leases with the option to extend if necessary, designed to fill the airline's capacity requirements until the delivery of Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s.
Nuclear fission
For a few isotopes (an atom with the same amount of protons but a different amount of neutrons) such fission can release many neutrons. If those neutrons then hit other atoms, they will make the other atoms split. This can happen again and again. This is called a nuclear chain-reaction, and it can release huge amounts of energy. Nuclear chain-reactions occur most commonly with Uranium-235. The splitting of Uranium-235 is jumpstarted when a neutron is slammed into its positively charged nucleus. This results in two lighter isotopes (Barium-141 and Krypton-92), whose total mass is less than that of the original Uranium isotope. The “mass defect” is converted into various forms of energy. A neutron is also released, triggering the afore-mentioned chain reaction as each additional neutron causes further collisions with existing Uranium isotopes in the environment.
This reaction can also occur "spontaneously" if the original nucleus is highly unstable. The resulting products are radioactive isotopes, but do not release enough energy to generate usable power or make a bomb due to the lack of a chain reaction.
In a nuclear bomb, this must happen very quickly to make a very big explosion. The amount of energy released in the explosion is measured in kilotons. One kiloton is the same as the energy of one thousand tons of TNT (trinitrotoluene). In a nuclear reactor this must happen slowly to make heat. The heat is used to boil water into steam, which turns a steam turbine to generate electricity.
Kay County, Oklahoma
Kay County is a county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, 48,080 people lived there. Its county seat is Newkirk.
Singapore Airlines
Fleet
The airline committed to an additional 15 A330 aircraft in June 2011, which were delivered between 2013 and 2015, continuing to replace older Boeing 777s in the fleet. The A330 fleet was the second largest by type in the airline as of 31 August 2016 (after the Boeing 777 fleet) with 27 aircraft in service. In January 2016 the airline confirmed its intention to eventually replace all A330 aircraft with Airbus A350s in a medium-range configuration by 2019.
Singapore Airlines placed an order for 30 Airbus A350-900 aircraft in 2006, with a further 30 orders placed in 2013. The airline took delivery of the first of the aircraft in February 2016 and flew its delivery flight to Singapore on 2 March. The airline began operating regular services using the A350 on the Singapore-Amsterdam route from 9 May 2016.
On 13 October 2015, Singapore Airlines announced that it had placed orders for seven Airbus A350-900ULR (Ultra-Long Range), which will see the return of non-stop flights between Singapore and both New York and Los Angeles. The A350-900ULR will be configured with approximately 170 seats, compared to 253 in Singapore Airlines' standard A350-900, and will be fitted with the airline's all-new business class seat design due in 2018.
A Weekend in the City
A Weekend in the City is the second studio album by Bloc Party. It was released on 5 February 2007. The album was produced by Jacknife Lee. The album cover is A Project by Rut Blees Luxemburg. This album deals more with original day working life than was on Silent Alarm. The album has themes from the 7 July 2005 London bombings, immigration, drug abuse, and criticism of youth and casual sex. The album has gotten many high reviews by web-critics and fans.
Behind the Mask (song)
"Behind the Mask" is a synthpop song by the band Yellow Magic Orchestra. It was written by the band's keyboardist, Ryuichi Sakamoto. It was first produced in 1978 for a Seiko advertisement. It was later released in 1979 on the band's album Solid State Survivor. English lyrics were added by Chris Mosdell.
A Weekend in the City
The album came in at #56 in the United Kingdom end of year album chart. It sold about 266,500 copies in 2007. Over 1 million copies of the album have been sold worldwide.
Behind the Mask (song)
Michael Jackson sang his own version of it. It was released in 2010, a year after Jackson's death on the album Michael. Jackson's version was released as a single in France.
Albermarie, Louisiana
Albermarle is an unincorporated community in Assumption Parish, Louisiana, United States.
Manorial Lordship of Caldecote
History
Before the Battle of Hastings, Norman Invasion in 1066, Caldecote was Edeva the Fair. After the Norman Invasion, in 1085, William the Conqueror ordered the commission of the Domesday Book. It was published in 1086 and divided the English counties into 13,418 manors under the governance of Lord of Manor. During this time, Caldecote was under the ownership of Bishop of Chester. The Caldecote Manor was transferred to Herbert Ruffus of Walsall in 1166 and was then passed to William Rufus. It then descended through Margaret, William’s daughter.
Description
Manorial Lordship is not a title of nobility as per the modern British honours system and is related to property ownership. It is an ownership title that can be transferred, conveyed, and even sold. This title is inheritable by the Lord or Lady’s child after their demise. The title is also referred to as the incorporeal hereditament as per the law.
Saint-Martin-le-Vieil
Saint-Martin-le-Vieil is a commune. It is in the region Occitanie in the Aude department in the south of France.
Ken Rosewall
Kenneth Robert Rosewall (born 2 November 1934) is an Australian former world top-ranking amateur and professional tennis player. He won a record 23 tennis Majors, including 8 Grand Slam singles titles and, before the Open Era and a record 15 Pro Slam titles.
Scelidosaurus
Scelidosaurus was an early type of herbivorous dinosaur. It was a thyreophoran, a lightly plated, herbivorous dinosaur about 4 metres long. It lived during the early Jurassic, 196 to 183 million years ago. Its fossils were found in Charmouth, Dorset, England.
Scelidosaurus has been called the earliest complete dinosaur.
Kingfisher County, Oklahoma
Geography
The county has a total area of 906 square miles.
Scelidosaurus
It is one of the earliest and most basal of the armoured dinosaurs. A review by Serano had Scelidosaurus as the sister group (closest relative) to both the Stegosauria and Ankylosauria.
This genus lived on the supercontinent Laurasia. Its length was about 4 metres (13 ft). Scelidosaurus was quadrupedal, with the hindlimbs longer than the forelimbs. It may have reared up on its hind legs to browse on foliage from trees, but its forefeet were as large as its hind feet. This suggests a mostly quadrupedal posture.
Scelidosaurus and its Jurassic relatives were herbivorous. Other ornithischians had teeth capable of grinding plant material, but Scelidosaurus had smaller, less complex teeth. Its jaw could only do simple up-and-down movements. In this aspect, they resembled the stegosaurids, which also had primitive teeth and simple jaws. Also, like stegosaurs, they may have swallowed gastroliths to aid processing of food (because of the lack of chewing ability). This is also done by modern birds and crocodiles. The diet of Scelidosaurus was low-lying plants like ferns and cycads. Seaweed has also been suggested as a food. Grass did not evolve until the Cretaceous period.
Saint-Martin-Lys
Saint-Martin-Lys is a commune of 25 people (2017). It is in the region Occitanie in the Aude department in the south of France.
Trams in Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia introduced trams in 1885 and now it is the largest tram network in the world, consisting of 250 km of tracks, 450 trams, 25 routes, and 1,700 tram stops. The trams are powered using 600V DC delivered by overhead wires and run on standard gauge track. Currently operated by a private company, Yarra Trams under contract from the Victorian Government, the owner of the network. Melbourne's trams give a lot to the city's distinctive character and are loved by the people of Melbourne.
In 2015-16, a total of 203 million passengers took rides on Melbourne’s trams.
Time horizon
A time horizon is a future point in time when something must be "done" (a "deadline") or will be "over" (a "time limit"). Either way, the matter will be closed when the time horizon is reached.
Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010)
The Northern League, was an independent baseball league which merged with the Golden Baseball League and the United Baseball League to form the North American League. It was affiliated with neither Major League Baseball nor the organized minor leagues.
Time horizon
Common time horizons people use are:
Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010)
Former Northern League East teams (1999–2002)
(Left to re-form Northeast League, then later the Can-Am League)
Time horizon
It is very important to know at what time horizon something you are doing will be scored, evaluated, marked or paid for.
Sports, for example football (soccer) and basketball, often have time limits. Baseball and others do not, which sometimes causes problems.
Cynthia Myers
Cynthia Myers (September 12, 1950 – November 4, 2011) was an American actress and fashion model. She acted primarily in B-movies. She was Playboy Playmate of the Month in December 1968. Her most famous theatrical movie was Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a 1970 movie in which she starred as bisexual musician Casey Anderson.
Myers was born in Toledo, Ohio. She died due to lung cancer at age sixty-one.
South Vacherie, Louisiana
South Vacherie is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. James Parish, Louisiana, United States.
Bilbao
Bilbao is a city in the Basque Country, in the North of Spain. There are 350,000 people living in Bilbao.
In Bilbao is the Nervión river, which ends in the Bay of Biscay. Bilbao has an oceanic climate (Cfb in the Köppen climate classification).
Bilbao was an industrial city, but today it is a tourist city. There are many things to see in Bilbao:
San Nicolás de los Garza
San Nicolás de los Garza, is a city and coextensive municipality in the Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is a suburb of Monterrey. It is the third-largest city in the state, behind Monterrey and Guadalupe.
Meniscus (liquid)
A concave meniscus happens when the particles of the liquid are more strongly attracted to the container (adhesion) than to each other (cohesion). This causes the liquid to climb the sides of the container. This happens between water and glass. Water-based fluids like sap, honey, and milk also have a concave meniscus in glass or other wettable containers.
Gros-de-Vaud (district)
Gros-de-Vaud District (District du Gros-de-Vaud) is a district of the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. The capital is the town of Echallens.
Saint-Michel-de-Lanès
Saint-Michel-de-Lanès is a commune. It is in the region Occitanie in the Aude department in the south of France.
Readability
Readability, or textual difficulty, means how easy or hard a text is to read. Research has shown that two main factors affect the ease with which texts are read.
Kiowa County, Oklahoma
Kiowa County is a county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, 10,227 people lived there. Its county seat is Hobart.
Readability
Readability predictions
A readability test is a way to measure a text for how easy it is to read. Readability tests give a prediction as to how difficult readers will find a particular text. They do this by measuring one or both of the two main causes, as follows:
Kiowa County, Oklahoma
Geography
The county has a total area of 1,031 square miles.
Readability
Word difficulty
Word difficulty is usually measured by vocabulary lists or word length. In 1923, Bertha A. Lively and Sidney L. Pressey published the first reading ease formula. They had been concerned that science textbooks in junior high school had so many technical words. They felt that teachers spent all class time explaining their meaning. They argued that their formula would help to measure and reduce the “vocabulary burden” of textbooks. Their formula used the Thorndike word list as a basis. Manually, it took three hours to apply the formula to a book.
Vocabulary lists
Several vocabulary lists have been published by researchers. These lists are based on samples of published texts in English, and (less often) samples of recorded spoken language. The lists differ slightly according to the sources chosen, but they are very reliable. The items listed may represent more than one actual word; they are lemmas. For instance the entry "be" contains within it the occurrences of "is", "was", "be" and "are". The top 100 lemmas account for 50% of all the words in the Oxford English Corpus.
The Reading Teachers Book of Lists claims that the first 25 words make up about one-third of all printed material in English, and that the first 100 make up about one-half of all written material.
One of the first readability tests, the Dale–Chall formula, used a vocabulary list. It counted the number of listed words in a passage, and applied a formula which gave a grade level. It was used to rate textbooks for grade levels in US school districts.
It is easy, in principle, to use a vocabulary list as part of a computer-based readability measure. The list is organised as a look-up table. The percentage of listed words in a passage gives the data for the formula, and the user is presented with a grade level.
Word length
This is called an index, or a proxy. This is because word length is correlated with word frequency, and word frequency is correlated with word difficulty. Longer words are, on average, harder than short words.
Word length is measured by counting the letters in each word, or by counting syllables. Since most syllables have one vowel, some computer programs count vowels per average word. A few tests measure the percentage of words on a list; the list is based on the known frequency of words in a language.
Sentence difficulty
Sentence difficulty is usually measured by sentence length. This again is an index, because longer sentences are, on average, harder than short sentences. Computers count the number of words between full stops, but this is a second-best method. Humans can judge whether a semi-colon or colon should count as the end of a sentence for testing purposes.
Since both factors may vary independently of each other, the best prediction is gained by devising a formula with makes use of both indices. What this means is that a single score is produced for a text, and that score is looked up on a table or graph. That tells you how difficult the text is in terms of either a) an American school grade level, or b) an artificial scale of 0% to 100%. Either way is effective. What really makes a difference is:
Direct measurement
It is possible to get a good prediction by getting a group of subjects to read through a passage, followed by multiple-choice questions. Even better is a method called cloze, where subjects fill in blanks on a text they have not seen before. The percentage of correctly completed blanks is an outstandingly good predictor of text difficulty.
Naturally, this kind of direct measure requires subjects and a skilled experimenter. It also requires the prior preparation of texts suitable for the chosen sample of subjects. The method is therefore too expensive for widespread use.
Types of tests
A person can perform readability tests himself by counting and doing some math, or by using word-processing software.
Use on Wikipedia
Wikipedia Signposts 2015-06-24 surveyed recent studies of web information on medical topics, including articles in English wiki.
Their summary was:
That shows these articles, and presumably many other medical articles on English wiki, are written in prose far too difficult for the average member of the public.
Akihabara massacre
The attacker, 25-year-old Tomohiro Katō (加藤 智大), drove into a crowd with a rented truck, killing three people and injuring two at first. He then stabbed at least twelve people using a dagger, killing four other people and injuring eight.
Katō was sentenced to death by the Tokyo District Court in 2011. He was executed on 26 July 2022.
Evelyn Lauder
Evelyn Lauder (August 12, 1936 – November 12, 2011) was an American businesswoman and socialite. She became well known for being one of the creators of the pink ribbon symbol of breast cancer.
Common Sense (pamphlet)
Common Sense is a pamphlet (short book) written by Thomas Paine. It was first published on January 10, 1776. Paine wrote the pamphlet to change the minds of people who wanted to peacefully settle their differences with the British government to fight for independence instead.
The pamphlet said that the British government and other European monarchies were tyrannical, meaning they did not acknowledge the rights of people. Paine called the pamphlet Common Sense because he wrote that it was against common sense for an island to rule a larger nation. Therefore, the colonies should overthrow the British government.
Mercer County, Illinois
Mercer County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois. In the 2020 census, 15,699 people lived there. The county seat is Aledo.
Common Sense (pamphlet)
The pamphlet was one of the bestselling works of the 18th century in America. Thomas Paine wrote in a style that was easy for most people to understand, instead of the hard to understand writing common in the Enlightenment Era. He also referenced the Bible and used idioms that many of the Protestant colonists understood.
The document was an important part of the American Revolutionary War. It lead to the Declaration of Independence, which the Second Continental Congress wrote and signed into law later that year. Common Sense helped by creating mass support. and it was published in 1776
Billie Jo Spears
Billie Jean Spears (January 14, 1937 – December 14, 2011) was an American country music singer. She reached the top ten in the country charts five times. She first sang "Harper Valley PTA", though that failed to chart. Her biggest song was "Blanket on the Ground" in 1975. She had other popular singles. Billie was born in Beaumont, Texas. She died of cancer at age seventy-four.
Ericaceae
Ericaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Ericales. Plants of this family grow both in Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere. The common English name of Ericaceae is the heath family.
Many plants of Ericaceae are shrubs, but there are also trees and herbs.
There are about 120 genera and about 4000 species in this family.
Many plants of Ericaceae are evergreen plants with small flowers in the shape of bells or tube. The color of flowers may be white, pink, red, violet, rarely yellow. It may be interest plants for gardens.
Some plants of Ericaceae have a poison in all their parts. The genus Epacris was treated in a separate family, Epacridaceae, but Epacris is now in this family.
Evangelista Torricelli
Evangelista Torricelli (15 October 1608 – 25 October 1647) was an Italian physicist and mathematician. He was a student of Galileo. He is known for his invention of the barometer. He is also known for improving the field of optics and his work on the method of indivisibles.
Torricelli died from typhoid fever in Florence on 25 October 1647 at the age of 39.
Iodomethane
Iodomethane is a chemical compound. Its chemical formula is CH3I. It is also called methyl iodide. It is commonly abbreviated as "MeI". It is a dense, colorless, volatile liquid. It is naturally released by rice plantations in small amounts. It is also made in large quantities by algae and kelp in the world's temperate oceans. It is made in small amounts on land by fungi and bacteria. It is used in organic synthesis as a source of methyl groups.
Eurovision Song Contest 2021
The EBU confirmed that 39 countries will participate in 2021. Like the previous year, Hungary and Montenegro did not take part. Armenia also did not take part, while Belarus was disqualified after their intended entry violated the contest's rules. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the EBU presented several scenarios (A, B, C and D) in which the competition could take place.
Venue
The contest happened in Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam and was organized by the Dutch broadcasters NPO, NOS and AVROTROS.
Hosts
There were four presenters hosting the contest in Rotterdam: Chantal Janzen, Jan Smit, Edsilia Rombley and Nikkie de Jager.
Slogan
The slogan of the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was Open Up. It was already planned for the 2020 contest and later confirmed that it would be used again.
Rule changes
For the 2021 edition, it was announced by the EBU that pre-recorded backing vocals will be allowed for the live shows. In previous years these had to be performed live.
Entries
Because the contest was cancelled last year, many countries decided to send their representative from last year again. However, the EBU announced that completely new songs have to be submitted for 2021.
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final took place on 18 May 2021 at 21:00 (CEST). Sixteen countries participated in the first semi-final. Those countries plus, and the  voted in this semi-final. was originally allocated to participate in the first half of the semi-final, but was disqualified from the contest after submitting an entry in violation of the rules.
The highlighted countries qualified for the final.
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final took place on 20 May 2021 at 21:00 (CEST). Seventeen countries participated in the second semi-final. Those countries plus, and the  voted in this semi-final. was originally allocated to participate in the second half of the semi-final, but withdrew from the contest due to social and political crises in the aftermath of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
The highlighted countries qualified for the final.
Final
The final took place on 22 May 2021 at 21:00 (CEST). Twenty-six countries participated in the final, with all thirty-nine participating countries eligible to vote.
No return to the contest
These countries confirmed that they will not take part in 2021:
Welcome, Louisiana
Welcome is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. James Parish, Louisiana, United States.
Saint-Nazaire-d'Aude
Saint-Nazaire-d'Aude is a commune of 2,032 people (2017). It is in the region Occitanie in the Aude department in the south of France.
Seongnam FC
Seongnam FC (성남 FC) is a South Korean football club, from Seongnam. Seongnam plays in the K League 1. It's the second most successful in club in South Korea. They won 7 K League 1 titles, 2 FA Cups, 3 League Cups, and 2 AFC Champions League titles.
Time limit
A time limit is a time horizon that is imposed on everyone at once.
It may be used to try to achieve fairness in some system of ethics. For instance, if poor people and rich people are debating something, a time limit may be imposed so that the rich people cannot keep debating until the poor people have to go to work, and lose.
Time limits are very important in accounting so that everyone can report their results (for tax and investment purposes) at the same time. This in turn creates deadlines for the accountant and those reporting.
However, the deadline is imposed by an authority, whereas the time limit is imposed by a system. So there can be slack in a deadline, so that results do not have to be reported always very fast.
For example, in the United States of America, the end of the calendar year on December 31 is the time limit for taxes, but the deadline for reporting is April 15. Sometimes the government allows more time, as it did for the families of those who were killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town Football Club are an English football club that are based in Luton in the county of Bedfordshire. They started in 1885 and play their home games at a stadium called Kenilworth Road.
Gütersloh
Gütersloh (Gütsel, Low Franconian: Gütersloh) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. About 96,000 people live there. It is home to the high-end appliance brand Miele.
Le Flore County, Oklahoma
Le Flore County is a county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2010, 50,384 people lived there. Its county seat is Poteau.
Geography
The county has a total area of 1,608 square miles.
Bruno Tonioli
Works
He has appeared as a judge on the BBC One celebrity dancing show Strictly Come Dancing from 2004 to 2020. He also currently appears as a judge on the ABC TV version of Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing with the Stars in the United States of America. Tonioli co-created and appeared on the BBC One talent show DanceX and its American version, Dance War: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann.
Satch Sanders
Thomas Ernest "Satch" Sanders (born November 8, 1938) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played his entire professional career as a power forward for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Sanders won eight championships. After his playing retirement, he was a head coach for the Harvard Crimson men's basketball team and the Boston Celtics.
Sanders was added into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011.
European migrant crisis
More than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015. This created a crisis because it is hard for countries  to cope with the large numbers of people or even in some countries war. This also causes the people to flee to safer countries. It also created a division in the European Union over how to deal with resettling people.
Test
A test is different from an experiment: Before a test is done, there is an expected result. The test is performed, to show this result. In an experiment, the outcome is open. Very often, tests are performed as part of an experiment.
Products
Products are usually tested for quality, so customers will get good products.
In software engineering, a test is used to see if the software system can do what it should. Software is tested before it is released. Alpha testing is where software developers check the software for bugs. Software can also be checked for quality and usability. Beta testing is done by groups of users.
People
People are tested to see what they have learned. This is often called an assessment or examination. In learning, a test item is a question, or set of questions.
Many people think tests are valuable. They believe tests:
However, academic tests are not perfect measures. Tests could only partly measure a student’s memory and maybe their understanding. The test would only be about a small part of the subject, and only at that moment in time.
People, animals and plants can also be tested for illnesses. For example, a blood test can be used to check for disease.
Latimer County, Oklahoma
Latimer County is a county in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, 10,692 people lived there. Its county seat is Wilburton.
Test
Science
In science, tests can done to check for a presence of a substance, or to check the quality of something.
Düren
Düren (Ripuarian: Düre, Low Franconian: Dürre or Dure) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is between Cologne and Aachen. About 90,000 people live there. Düren is at the river Rur.
Latimer County, Oklahoma
Geography
The county has a total area of 729 square miles.
Osman Yusuf
Osman Yusuf (オスマン・ユセフ Osuman Yusefu, May 23, 1920 - August 29, 1982), also credited under a variety of other names, was a Turkish actor who appeared frequently in Japanese films and television.
Life
Turkish born actor living in Japan. Yusef was somewhat fluent in Japanese, which made him a hot commodity for films that required actors of Western appearance that could convincingly interact with Japanese co-stars. Yusef also served as a translator between actors of different nationalities, along with fellow actor Heihachiro “Henry” Okawa, who also spoke English. Yusef’s hooded eyes and broad physique led to his casting in intrepid or officials roles, such as astronauts and submarine officers. He also had a notable appearance as one of Jerry Ito’s henchmen in Mothra (1961). He, along with fellow English-speaking actor Harold Conway, appeared in scenes filmed for Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) that were only shown outside of Japan.