cyanic-selkie/wikianc huggingface dataset:
Abusir Papyri
Their content
The fragments bear the remains of two different writings. The introduction is written in hieroglyphs. It starts with a date referring to the reign of Djedkare Isesi. This dates the manuscripts near the end of the Fifth Dynasty.
The fragmented papyri are written in columns divided into three horizontal registers.
The text on the right summarizes allocations of grain. All writings were done in what is called the hieratic script. That is the original writing done in ink with reed pens on papyrus.
Valhalla
In Norse mythology, Valhalla (Old Norse: Valhöll - “hall of the slain”) is an enormous and majestic hall in Asgard, headed by Odin. Described as a "warrior's paradise," it is here that the souls of those who are slain in battle go, chosen and guided by the Valkyries, a group of warrior maidens in service to Odin. Once they are there, these eïnherjar, as they are known, make revelry, as they feast on the beast known as Sæhrímnir, having their fill of mead made from the udders of the female goat Heiðrún. The feast is prepared by Andhrímnir (Old Norse: “the one exposed to soot”), the cook of the gods, in his cauldron, Eldhrímnir (Old Norse: “fire-sooty”). Outside of Valhalla’s doors lies Glasir (Old Norse: “gleaming”), a massive tree that grows golden leaves, while its ceiling is adorned with golden shields. The tree Læraðr stands atop the great hall, where both Heiðrún and the stag Eikþyrnir (Old Norse: “oak-thorny”) graze its foliage. During Ragnarök, the eïnherjar will aid Odin in his battle against Surtr and his forces.
French Polynesia
French Polynesia (Polynésie française, Tahitian: Porinetia Farani) is a French "overseas collectivity" (French: collectivité d'outre mer, or COM) with the particular designation of "overseas country" (French: pays d'outre-mer, or POM) in the southern Pacific Ocean.
The country is made up of several groups of Polynesian islands. The most well-known is Tahiti, the most populous island, which is in the Society Islands group. The capital of the territory, Papeete, is also there.
Although it does not really belong in the territory, French Polynesia is in charge of affairs for Clipperton Island.
Other island groups include:
Aside from Tahiti, some other important atolls, islands, and island groups in French Polynesia are: Ahe, Bora Bora, Hiva `Oa, Huahine, Maiao, Maupiti, Mehetia, Moorea, Nuku Hiva, Raiatea, Tahaa, Tetiaroa, Tubuai, and Tupai.
References
Notes
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (Αλέξανδρος, Aléxandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC) commonly known as Alexander the Great, was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from 336 BC until his death in 323 BC. By the age of thirty, he had created one of the largest empires in history, stretching from Greece to northwestern India. He was one of the greatest military leaders of all time. He was born in 356 BC in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia.
Alexander was the son of Philip II, King of Macedonia, and Olympias, the princess of neighboring Epirus. Alexander spent his childhood watching his father turn Macedonia into a great military power, and watching him win victory on the battlefields in the Balkans.
Alexander the Great spoke the Greek language. He spread the Greek culture through out Asia.
Alexander's war
In 340 BC, Philip assembled a large Greek army and invaded Thrace. He left 16 year old Alexander with the power to rule Greece in his absence as regent. But as the Macedonian army advanced deep into Thrace, the Thracian tribe of Maedi bordering north-eastern Macedonia rebelled and posed a danger to the country. Alexander assembled an army, led it against the rebels, and with swift action defeated the Maedi, captured their stronghold, and renamed it Alexandroupolis.
Alexander became king of Macedonia in 336 BC when his father was assassinated. A meeting was held to the Greek cities made him strategos (General or supreme commander). He used this authority to launch his father's military expansion plans. In 334 BC, he invaded Persian-ruled Asia Minor. He began series of campaigns that lasted ten years. Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. He overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entire Persian Empire. He married the king's daughter to symbolize the unity of his new empire. At that point, Alexander's empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River.
He attacked the subcontinent in 326 BC, and defeated King Porus, who ruled a region in the Punjab. Afterwards they became allies. India at that time was divided into hundreds of kingdoms. The army refused to cross the Indus and fight the kings on the other side, so Alexander led them out of Pakistan.
Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BC, of unknown causes. Poison, murder, or a fever after a battle have all been suggested. At his death, he was planning a series of campaigns that would have begun with an invasion of Arabia. In the years following his death, a series of civil wars tore his empire apart. Several states were then ruled by the Diadochi, Alexander's surviving generals and heirs. They fought and conquered each other. The largest surviving piece was the Seleucid Empire.
Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion of Greek ideas and language. He started some twenty cities that were named after him, most notably Alexandria in Egypt. Alexander's settlement of Macedonian colonists resulted in a new Hellenistic civilization. Signs of this can be seen in the Byzantine Empire in the mid-15th century AD. There were Greek speakers in central and far eastern Anatolia until the 1920s.
Alexander died from Malaria when he was only 32 years old. He was never defeated in battle.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Greek king mentioned in Daniel 8:5–8 and 21–22 (who will conquer the Medes and Persians but then die at the height of his power and have his kingdom broken into four kingdoms) is often taken as a reference to Alexander. Alexander is also mentioned in the first Book of the Maccabees. In the Qur'an, Alexander is known by the Arabic epithet "Dhu Al-Qarnayn" (The Two-Horned One).
Bussy, Cher
Bussy is a commune in the Cher department in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. About 362 people lived there in January 2019.
Volendam
Volendam is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is part of the municipality of Edam-Volendam.
In 2017, it had about 22,000 inhabitants.
Jovenel Moïse
Death
Moïse was shot to death at his home while sleeping in Pétion-Ville, Haiti on 7 July 2021. His wife, Martine was also shot but she survived. He was shot with 12 bullets in his chest, arms, right leg, and left hip, and had a shattered left eye.
Right triangle
A right triangle, (also called a right-angled triangle), has one angle that is 90 degrees. The other two angles always add up to 90 degrees but can be different sizes. The side opposite to the right angle is the hypotenuse; it is the longest side in the right triangle. The other two sides are the legs or catheti (singular: cathetus) of the triangle.
Missing sides or angles of a right triangle can be found using trigonometry, the Pythagorean theorem, and many other ways. In any triangle all the angles add up to 180 degrees.
Tyka Nelson
Nelson has released four albums. She reached No. 33 on the Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in July 1988 with "Marc Anthony's Tune". It was produced by Larry Graham. Nelson is married to Maurice Phillips. She has six children.
She accepted Prince's American Music Award for Top Soundtrack after his death in 2016.
Early life
Tyka studied and graduated at of Minneapolis’ North High
Career
in 1978, After graduating from North High of Minneapolis, Tyka went to California to begin her musical career. She released her first studio album Royal Blue in 1988. She signed with the record lable Cooltempo. Her song “Marc Anthony's Tune” reached No. 33 on the Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in July.
Deena Nicole Cortese
Deena Nicole Buckner (born Deena Nicole Cortese; January 12, 1987) is an American reality television personality. She appeared on the MTV reality show Jersey Shore from 2010 to 2012.
In November 2016, Cortese became engaged to Christopher Buckner. They were married on October 28, 2017.
Androctonus crassicauda
Description
The Arabian fat-tailed scorpion is an Old World scorpion. It can be black or brown in color. It lives in deserts. This scorpion usually moves around at night.
Japanese kickboxing
The Japanese kickboxing is called in English oriental kickboxing. According to certain people, the word "kickboxing" would have been invented, in Japan, in the years 1950 by experts of karate who needed to fight with total contact.
In the year 1958, a man who practised kickboxing is the student of oriental languages, the Burmese Maung Gyi who studied martial arts from experts of bando in Burma and also from Gogen Yamaguchi - the grand person with special skill of karate, called "the cat". Maung Gyi fights in Japan under different names and makes the Burmese boxing (lethwei) known in time when the competitions of Japanese kickboxing happened.
Other websites
Kickboxing
Madame Curie (movie)
Madame Curie is a 1943 American biographical drama movie directed by Mervyn LeRoy and was based on the 1938 novel by Ève Curie. It stars Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, Henry Travers, Albert Bassermann, Robert Walker, C. Aubrey Smith, Elsa Bassermann, Reginald Owen and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was nominated for 7 Academy Awards in 1944.
Everything She Wants
"Everything She Wants" is a 1984 song by music group Wham!. The song is about a man having trouble trying to satisfy the woman with whom he is having a relationship. The song has several versions, one lasting six and a half minutes. It has been sampled for other songs and covered by other musicians since its 1984 release.
Princess Beatrice
Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (born Beatrice Elizabeth Mary; 8 August 1988) is a member of the British royal family. She is currently 9th in the Line of Succession.
Beatrice was born at The Portland Hospital for Women and Children in London, She is the daughter of Andrew, Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York.
Beatrice studied history at Goldsmiths, University of London. She got engaged in September 2019 to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. The couple got married on 17 July 2020. They are expecting their first child in late 2021. She gave birth to a daughter, Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi, on 18 September 2021 at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in Chelsea London
Titles
8 August 1988-17 July 2020 Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary of York
17 July 2020 Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Eduardo Mapelli-Mozzi.
Vladimir Andreyevich Uspensky
Uspensky died in Moscow of heart failure on 27 June 2018, aged 87.
Niederwerrn
Niederwerrn is a municipality in Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany.
Birtamod Municipality
Birtamode (Nepali: बिर्तामोड नगरपालिका) is a municipality in Jhapa District of Nepal. It is the commercial, educational and transportation center of Jhapa District. The nearest local towns connected to Birtamod are Sarnamati Bazar, Shivasatakshi Bazar, Kamatoli Bazar, Chakchaki Bazar and Surunga Bazar. Birtamod is the largest city of Jhapa.
Electoral division of Blain
Blain is an electoral division of the Northern Territory. It was created in 1997.
Blain is in Palmerston.
Polish literature
Almost no Polish literature remains before Christianisation in the 10th century. Polish literature was written in the Latin language during the Middle Ages (there are only several Polish language texts from that times).
The Polish language was accepted as equal to Latin after the Renaissance for literature.
Jan Kochanowski was a leading poet of European Renaissance literature in the 16th century.
Polish writers were inspired by Western European literature but they had their own ideas and trends too. Those trends were coming to Poland because of noble people's travells and political contacts but they were becoming popular some time later then in other countries.
Polish Baroque literature had to trends: elitary one (Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Daniel Naborowski) and the other one, created by usual nobles (Jan Chryzostom Pasek).
In times of Enlightenment Polish literature was influenced by France. Poland-Lithuania was very weak country and needed political changes. Literature was mainly about society and state, not about love or religion.
In 19th century Poland was not independent. From 1822 to 1863 there was Romanticism in Polish literature. Romantic poets include Adam Mickiewicz who wrote Pan Tadeusz epic in 1834, Juliusz Słowacki and Zygmunt Krasiński.
Several Polish novelists have won the Nobel prize. Henryk Sienkiewicz won in 1905. He wrote dramatized versions of famous events in Polish history. Władysław Reymont won a Nobel prize in 1924. He wrote the novel Chłopi.
Stanisław Lem is famous science fiction author in the modern era. His Solaris novel was made twice into a feature film.
Frederico Mompou
Federico (Frederic) Mompou (born Barcelona, 16 April 1893; died Barcelona 30 June 1987) was a Spanish (Catalan) composer. He is best known for his short works for solo piano and his songs.
Life
Mompou was born in Barcelona (Spain), and studied piano there at the Conservatorio del Liceo. In 1911 he went to Paris. He was studying to be a concert pianist, but he was very shy, and decided to become a composer.
Although he left Paris and returned to Barcelona when World War I broke out in 1914, he went to Paris again in 1921 and stayed there until 1941 when, once again he went back to Catalonia, because the German army were invading Paris in World War II. He continued to lecture about his music until he had a stroke. He died at the age of 94.
Medusa with the Head of Perseus
Medusa with the Head of Perseus is a sculpture. Argentine artist Luciano Garbati made it in 2008. It is famous because people in the Me Too movement talked about it. The media called the statue an "icon of justice" for people who survived sexual assault. That happened several years after the statue was made.
Myth
Medusa is a Greek myth. In the story, Perseus kills Medusa, not the other way around: Medusa is a monster with a face so terrible that anyone who sees her turns to stone. Medusa lives on an island. The hero Perseus comes to the island to kill Medusa. He cuts off her head and puts it in a bag. He later uses the head to turn his enemies to stone. Perseus then gives Medusa's dead head to the gods. Zeus puts Medusa's head on his shield so it will frighten his enemies.
At some point in history, no later than the Roman poet Ovid, another part was added to the myth: Medusa starts as a human priestess and not a monster. She works for the goddess Athena in her temple. She is raped by the god Poseidon in Athena's temple. To the people telling the myth, Medusa, not Poseidon, was the one who had done something bad. Athena punishes Medusa by turning her into an ugly monster: Her hair turns into snakes. Her face becomes terrifying. Only then does Medusa go to the island where Perseus will later kill her.
Making
In the 1500s, Benvenuto Cellini made a sculpture called Perseus with the Head of Medusa. In that sculpture, a nearly naked Perseus holds up Medusa's head. Garbati wanted to make that statue in reverse. Garbati did not think he was making feminist art. He only want to "flip the script" of the story of Perseus and Medusa. He only wanted to show the sculpture the opposite way. Garbati started with clay. He used the clay model to make another sculpture out of resin and fiberglass. Then, he could use the resin sculpture to make copies out of bronze. The sculpture is almost 7 feet tall (about 2 meters). It shows a naked Medusa with a sword in her left hand. She holds a man's head by the hair in her right hand. She stares down and ahead. She looks like a woman and not a monster. Garbati used his own face for Perseus.
Garbati offered to sell the original resin sculpture for US$35,000 and bronze copies for US$60,000, depending on who made the bronze copy.
Garbati decided not to copy Cellini's statue exactly. Cellini shows Perseus holding Medusa's head high and smiling. He stands lightly on one foot. Garbati shows Medusa holding Perseus' head low and staring straight ahead. She stands heavily on both feet. Garbati said this was because Perseus coming to attack Medusa meant different things to Perseus and Medusa:
"'I was thinking of Perseus, this man with all his gadgets, going there and having this victory. This difference between a masculine victory and a feminine one, that was central to my work. The representations of Perseus, he's always showing the fact that he won, showing the head…if you look at my Medusas…she is determined, she had to do what she did because she was defending herself. It’s quite a tragic moment.'"
Criticism
Some people said that black women started the #MeToo Movement, so it was not good to have a statue made by a male artist as its symbol. Garbati answered that he liked that people liked his statue. He also said he'd learned more about patriarchy. Other people asked Garbati why he made Medusa naked and beautiful when she is ugly in the myth. He answered that artists have been showing Medusa as beautiful since the 400s b.c.e. Other people asked why Medusa was holding the head of Perseus and not of the god who raped her, Poseidon. This was because Garbati had not meant to make the statue about rape survivors. He had only meant to do Cellini's statue backwards.
Location
For a long time, the statue stayed in Garbati's own art studio in Buenos Aires.
In 2020, the statue was shown in New York's Collect Pond Park near the court of criminal justice. This was where Harvey Weinstein stood trial for his crimes. Garbati and helpers started selling small copies of the statue. They gave 10% of the money to the National Women's Law Center.
Frederick Ward (bushranger)
Frederick Ward, also known as “Captain Thunderbolt”, was an Australian bushranger. He lived in northern New South Wales. Some people thought he was like Robin Hood, who robbed from the rich to help the poor.
Early life
Ward was born Windsor, New South Wales in 1835. His father, Michael Ward, had been sent to Australia as a convict in 1815. Fred was one of eleven children. He was arrested in 1856 for selling 50 stolen horses, and sent to prison on Cockatoo Island for ten years. After four years he was given a ticket of leave which meant he was able to leave the gaol as long as he reported to the police every three months.
Escape from gaol
Ward went to the Mudgee area to work. There he met a girl named Mary Ann Bugg who had a convict father and aboriginal mother. Mary Ann fell pregnant soon afterwards. Ward took her back to her father's farm near Dungog and did not report to the Mudgee police on time. His ticket of leave was cancelled. When he reached the Mudgee police station, he was also arrested for stealing the horse he was riding. He was sent back to Cockatoo Island to finish his six years in gaol plus another three for the stolen horse.
On 11 September 1863, he and Fred Britten escaped from gaol. They swam from Cockatoo Island and headed north to the New England district in north-east New South Wales. The government put up a reward of £25 for Ward’s capture. Late in October 1863, they robbed a woman at Gostwyck Hut, near Armidale, and stole a shotgun and some bacon. A few days later they were seen by the police near Thunderbolt's Rock. In the gunfight that followed Ward was shot in the back of the left knee. The two bushrangers split up soon afterwards.
Bushranger
In December 1863, Ward tried to take money from the toll keeper on the road between Maitland and Rutherford. There were only a few shillings in the cash box. Ward took the money but later gave it back. As he left, he told the toll keeper that his name was "Captain Thunderbolt". He then went into the Spread Eagle Inn (hotel) and asked for food. When he asked for his bill, the owner, Mrs. Byrne, told him that there was no charge. He replied that since she was so nice, he was not going to rob her. The police began to search for him but he managed to escape.
A quiet life
In 1864, Ward and Mary Ann lived quietly in the north-western plains near Bourke. Early in 1865 he joined up with three other men and formed his first gang. His three companions were McIntosh, Thomas Hogan (also known as The Bull), and a youth called John Thompson. They robbed travellers and stations near Collarenebri. A group of police from Bourke followed their tracks and found their camp in the bush. The gang escaped but Mary Ann and her two children were captured by the police. They started to take her to Bourke but she pretended she was having a baby and they left her at a nearby station. Ward went to the station and rescued his family, and took gunpowder and food. Ward and his first gang broke up after young Thompson was shot and nearly killed in April 1865 at Millie near Moree. Mary Ann was arrested again in 1866 and also in 1867 but she was soon released from prison because of support from the community.
1865 and after
Late in 1865, Ward formed his second bushranging gang with Patrick Kelly and Jemmy the Whisperer. They robbed as far south as Quirindi, Currabubula and Carroll. At Carroll they had another shoot-out with the police in December 1865 where a trooper was shot in the arm. The gang split up early in January 1866.
Ward had another quiet year in 1866. Early in 1867 he took on another young accomplice, Thomas Mason. They carried out robberies from near Scone as far north as the Queensland border. Mason was captured by the police in September 1867. Later that year, Ward and Mary Ann separated. Mary Ann lived for the rest of her life at Mudgee where she died in 1905.
In 1868 Ward took on another young accomplice, William Monckton, and they committed many robberies in northern New South Wales. They separated in December 1868 and soon afterwards Monckton was captured by the police. Ward did not have any other accomplices. Some claim that Thunderbolt was involved in about 80 robberies and stole about £20,000, but his takings were much smaller than that.
Captured
On 25 May 1870 the police at Uralla were told that Thunderbolt was robbing travellers at Blanch's Royal Oak Inn, near Thunderbolt's Rock Constable Alexander Binney Walker chased after Ward on horseback for six or seven miles until they reached Kentucky Creek, south-west of Uralla. Ward jumped off his horse and began swimming across the creek. Constable Walker shot Thunderbolt’s horse, then he shot and killed Ward himself. Ward was later buried at Uralla.
Heritage
Thunderbolt's Rock and Blanch's Royal Oak Inn were added to New South Wales State Heritage List in July 2012. This listing will protect the site which are now important places for tourists who come to the area. The site of his death at Kentucky Creek, and his grave, have also been added to the Heritage List.
ReBecca Hunt-Foster
ReBecca Hunt-Foster is an American paleontologist. She named the dinosaur species Arkansaurus and Zunityrannus. She also found many baby Torosaurus fossils. ReBecca lives in Utah as of 2018.
Son of Flubber
Son of Flubber is a 1963 Disney movie directed by Robert Stevenson. It stars Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olsen, Keenan Wynn, and Tommy Kirk. It is a science fiction, family-oriented comedy, and a sequel to Disney's 1961 comedy, The Absent-Minded Professor. Flubber tells of the Professor's further experiments with his anti-gravity substance called "Flubber".
Freerunning sleep
Freerunning sleep can be sleep which is not adjusted, entrained, to the 24-hour cycle in nature. Sleep which is entrained to 24 hours but is not artificially regulated by alarm clocks etc. can also be called freerunning sleep.
Scientific experiments
Animals which are kept in a laboratory for research in constant conditions, that is in constant light or constant dark, will freerun. They live by their built-in circadian rhythms. Each day will be a little bit shorter or a little bit longer than 24 hours. It will be shorter if the animal's natural cycle is less than 24 hours long. The animals sleep and are active as usual, but their timing gets to be farther and farther off.
Scientists let the animals freerun and then do experiments to see what sort of signals are most effective at entraining them. They also experiment to see how long or short a cycle that animal can be entrained to. Some animals can be entrained to a 22-hour day, but they can not be entrained to a 20-hour day.
Light is the most effective signal. Some animals are quite easily entrained by the timing of meals. Exercise is a signal for some animals. Heat is not effective.
Western Armenia
Western Armenia (Արևմտյան Հայաստան), also referred to as Byzantine Armenia, later Turkish Armenia, or Ottoman Armenia is a term coined following the division of Greater Armenia between Byzantine Empire (Western Armenia) and Persia (Eastern Armenia) in 387 AC.
History
After the death of Armenian king Arshak III, in 390 AC, the Western Armenia was governed by Greek generals. In the 7th century Western Armenia was one of the centers of Pavlikian Christian popular sect. Since 9th century the most part of Western Armenia included Vaspurakan and Taron was under the rule of Bagratid dynasty of Armenia. Then the Zakarid Armenia of 13-14th centuries included some parts of Western Armenia. After Turkish-Persian wars of 1602-1639 Western Armenia became part of Ottoman Empire. Since Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 that term is referred to the Armenian-populated historical regions of the Ottoman Empire that remained under Ottoman rule after the eastern part was ceded to the Russian Empire.
A Dog of Flanders (1999 movie)
A Dog of Flanders is a 1999 movie directed by Kevin Brodie. It is based on a book by Ouida. The movie stars Jack Warden, Jeremy James Kissner, Jesse James, Jon Voight, and Cheryl Ladd. The movie is about a grandfather and his grandson who adopted an abused dog. The grandson wants to become a great painter.
Freerunning sleep
Illness
Some people have a condition, a circadian rhythm sleep disorder, which makes them freerun all the time, even if they get out into daylight and eat regular meals. Many of these people are blind, but some of them can see. They have a long circadian cycle and they do not entrain. Scientists do not yet know why.
Western Armenia
History
Western (Ottoman) Armenia was composed of six vilayets (vilâyat-ı sitte), the vilayets of Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Kharput, and Sivas. After the collapse of Ottoman Empire Western Armenia remained under Turkish rule, and in 1894–96 and 1915 Turkey perpetrated systematic massacres and forced deportations of Armenians.
Freerunning sleep
Intentional freerunning
Some people believe they will be more healthy if they do not sleep on a regular schedule. They try to go to bed only when they are sleepy. They do not use alarm clocks. They call this freerunning, but since they are exposed to daylight and dark, it's not the same as freerunning as the scientists use the term.
Western Armenia
Modern period
The fate of Western Armenia — commonly referred to as "The Armenian Question" — is considered as a key issue in the modern history of the Armenian people. The first and second congresses of Western Armenians took place in Yerevan in 1917 and 1919. Since 2000, an organizing committee of congress of heirs of Western Armenians who survived the Armenian Genocide is active in diasporan communities.
Stan Rodger
Stanley Joseph Rodger (13 February 1940 – 29 May 2022) was a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the Labour Party. He was president of the Public Service Association between 1970 and 1973 and Member of Parliament for Dunedin North from 1978 to 1990. Rodger was the Minister of Labour from 1984 until 1989. Rodger was born in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Watchmaker analogy
The Watchmaker analogy is a teleological argument. In simple terms, it states that because there is a design, there must be a designer. The analogy is important in natural theology where it is used to show the existence of God as well as supporting the idea of intelligent design. William Paley (1743 – 1805) gave one of the best known explanations for this in his book Natural Theology, published in 1802: "Anyone finding a pocket watch in a field will recognise that it was designed intelligently; living beings are similarly complex, and must be the work of an intelligent designer". In 1859, Charles Darwin provided another explanation for this complexity; according to Darwin, this complexity is a result of continuing adaptation. Paley was not the first to use the analogy, though. Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle is generally credited for this, when he used it in his work Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds, published in 1686.
There are three main points of criticism against the Watchmaker analogy:
Stan Rodger
Rodger died on 29 May 2022 at the age of 82.
Barbie Girl
"Barbie Girl" is a dance-pop hit song from the Danish music group Aqua. The single was released in 1997. Its lyrics are about Barbie and Ken, the toys from Mattel. The song was very popular. It was #1 across the music charts of certain countries. It was in the Top 20 charts in the United States. Barbie Girl also caused controversy at various times.
Labinot Harbuzi
Labinot Harbuzi (4 April 1986 – 11 October 2018) was a Swedish footballer. He was of Kosovar-Albanian descent. He played as a midfielder.
At 15 years old, he was signed by Dutch club Feyenoord where he started playing professional football in the club's reserve team and youth team. In the spring of 2006, he returned to Malmö FF and made his Allsvenskan debut that same year.
He was a Swedish under-21 international, making his debut against Republic of Ireland on 28 February 2006.
On 11 October 2018, Harbuzi died at a hospital in Malmö, Sweden of cardiac arrest, aged 32.
List of towns in Northern Ireland
The following is a list of towns in Northern Ireland, by letter:
Mead
Mead is a fermented alcoholic drink. It is made from honey. Its history may be as old as that of beer. It is made by mixing honey, water, and yeast. Some kinds of mead also include spices or fruit. Mead is sometimes called "honey wine".
Archaeologists discovered that people made mead 9,000 years ago. Mead was described in the Rigveda, which is a Hindu religious text. Mead is popular in Central Europe and the Balkans. Mead is also made in Ethiopia and South Africa.
Planet Dinosaur
Planet Dinosaur is a six-part documentary television series produced by the BBC, narrated by John Hurt, first aired in the United Kingdom in 2011, produced by VFX studio Jellyfish Pictures. It is the first major dinosaur-related series for BBC One since Walking with Dinosaurs. There are more than 50 different prehistoric species featured, and they and their environments were created entirely as computer-generated images, for only a third of the production cost that was needed a decade earlier for Walking with Dinosaurs. By the time the third episode aired, the companion book to the series was released accompany it. The DVD will be released after the series finishes.
Reception
Tom Sutcliffe in the Independent found that it was visually "polished and jazzed up" but that the "knowledge and science generally take second place to B-movie spectacle".
The Human Comedy
The Human Comedy is a 1943 American World War II drama movie directed by Clarence Brown and was based on the 1943 novel of the same name by William Saroyan. It stars Mickey Rooney, Marsha Hunt, Frank Morgan, James Craig, Fay Bainter, Van Johnson, Donna Reed, Dorothy Morris, Darryl Hickman and was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It won an Academy Award in 1944 and was nominated for 4 others.
Conducting
Conducting in music means beating time to help a group of musicians to sing or play well together.
If an orchestra is playing music, it is important that they all play exactly together. They need to know exactly when to start, what tempo (speed) to go, how loud or quietly to play, and what the mood of the music should be. If a small number of people play music together (like in a chamber orchestra), they can talk about this amongst themselves. One person can nod with his/her head or with the bow of a string instrument to help the group to start and finish together.
With larger orchestras, such as a symphony orchestra, there are so many people (almost a hundred of them in some cases) that they need a separate person to lead. This person is called the conductor.
Horn (anatomy)
Horns are part of the body of some animals. They grow on the animal's head. They are projections (things that stick out) made of hard skin. The horn has a lot of keratin in it, the same protein that is in human hair and nails.
Conducting
History
In the 17th century, orchestras were usually small enough that they did not need a conductor. Often they were directed by the keyboard player or lead violinist. But as orchestras grew in size and began using a wider variety of instruments, it became a convention of having someone who was not playing any instrument to stand, facing the orchestra, as the director or conductor. One early conductor was the French composer Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687), who beat time by banging a big stick (like a walking stick) on the floor to the time of the music. One day he banged his stick so hard, it went through his foot, and he died of gangrene.
Horn (anatomy)
Normally horned animals will have two horns, but the rhinoceros has just one horn in the middle of its head.
D'oh!
D'oh! (also spelled out as annoyed grunt), is a famous catchphrase created by the fictional character Homer Simpson, from the popular animated television series, The Simpsons. It was also famously accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002. The quote is normally used when Homer hurts himself, finds out that he has done something stupid, or when something bad has happened or is about to happen to him. He often gives himself a facepalm at the same time. Other characters from the Simpsons have also been heard using the chatchprase too, the most common being his son Bart. Homer has also been known to change this phrase slightly. For example, in The Simpsons Movie he shouts "D'oooooome!" when the town is sealed in the glass dome.
Other websites
Die Simpsons Homer Simpson
Horn (anatomy)
Animals often use their horns for fighting one another.
Thousands of years ago people used the horns of dead animals for musical instruments (see horn (postal horn)). In later times, they were used for carrying gunpowder.
Conducting
History
Conducting as we know it today had become normal by the 19th century. The composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was known to be a very good conductor as well. Some conductors in Victorian times behaved like they wanted to show off. At around the same time, Louis Antoine Jullien (1812-1860) was a French conductor who wore white gloves, which were presented to him on a silver tray at the start of the concert. He dressed in expensive clothes and his long black hair waved all over the place as he conducted. He was very successful, in France at first, in the UK afterwards, and then even in the US, where he worked with the showman P.T. Barnum. His concerts were a mix of dance and "classical" music, always with the best musicians. His life was so strange that a biography (in French) has been published.
The British conductor Sir Henry Wood (1869-1944), who was famous for conducting The Proms, was a well-liked man who was respected and loved by orchestras and audiences.
Technique of conducting
Conductors usually beat time with their right hand. This leaves their left hand free to show the various instruments when they come in (when they start playing) and to give interpretative gestures, such as indicating when to play louder or softer, or faster or slower. Most conductors have a stick called a “baton”. It makes it easier for people at the back of large orchestras or choirs to see the beat. Other conductors, such as those who lead singers, prefer not to use a baton. A conductor stands on a small platform called a “rostrum”.
To be a good conductor is not easy. It is not just a question of giving a steady beat. A good conductor will know the music extremely well, understand how the composer wanted the music to sound, be able to figure out the technical details, and know how to be able to work with the orchestra to create great music everyone would want to listen to. Having good communication skills would help a lot, but some conductors speak very little during their rehearsals. They make everything clear through the way they conduct.
Famous conductors
Some of the most famous conductors of the past were: Gustav Mahler, Hans Richter, Arthur Nikisch, Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Leopold Stokowski, Georg Solti, John Barbirolli, Otto Klemperer, George Szell and Leonard Bernstein.
Coca
Coca is a plant in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to north-western South America. The plant plays a significant role in traditional Andean culture. Coca leaves contain cocaine alkaloids, a basis for the drug cocaine, which is a powerful stimulant. Today the plant has many uses, including traditional use by Andean cultures to flavoring Coca-Cola products to use as an anesthetic.
Conducting
Famous conductors
Some of the most famous conductors today are: Marin Alsop, Riccardo Chailly, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Simon Rattle, Andris Nelsons, Valery Gergiev and Bernard Haitink.
Coca
History
Coca has been cultivated by Andean cultures for thousands of years. Traditionally people would chew the leaf or soak it in hot water to make tea in order to get a small energy boost. Coca was introduced to Europe in the 16th century. After its stimulating effects were described by a European doctor in the 19th century, people began to refine the leaves to get cocaine. As people began to learn more about cocaine it began to be banned in many countries. In 1961 the United Nations classified the coca leaf as a narcotic even though studies had shown the leaf itself was non-addictive. This has led the United States to pressure coca-growing countries such as Peru and Bolivia to stop growing coca entirely. These countries have responded by fighting the 1961 decision, trying to remove the coca plant from the list.
Conducting
Titles
The main conductor who is in charge of an orchestra is often given the title "musical director". This will usually mean that he or she has a lot of power in the organization of the orchestra, such as choosing the music that will be performed at each concert or inviting soloists to perform with the orchestra. Orchestras may give honorary titles to their conductor, such as "conductor laureate".
A "guest conductor" is one who conducts an orchestra regularly, but is not the main conductor. Typically, he or she would be invited by the main conductor to conduct a performance now and then. An "assistant conductor" will often be a young conductor who helps the main conductor and gets the chance to conduct some of the concerts. Leonard Bernstein became famous in 1953 as the assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic when he led a concert, which was being broadcast nationally on CBS Radio, without having time to prepare for it. He would be the main director of that orchestra from 1958 to 1969.
Dieter Kemper
Kemper died on 11 October 2018 from bone cancer in Julianadorp, the Netherlands at the age of 81.
Irámuco
The original name of Irámuco is Imurac, from the Purépecha language, meaning: Hill that goes in to the lake. The ruler of this village was guatimurac (prince of the hill that goes in to the lake).
David L. Paterson
David Lord Paterson (born 1966) is an American screenwriter, actor and producer. He is the son of Katherine Paterson, the author of Bridge to Terabithia.
When Paterson was a boy, his best friend, an eight-year-old girl named Lisa Hill, was struck by lightning and killed. His mother, Katherine Paterson, used this real-life experience to write her children's novel Bridge to Terabithia. David Paterson produced and co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of the novel released in 2007.
He graduated from The Catholic University of America in 1989 with a BA. Paterson held a special advance screening of Bridge to Terabithia on February 1, 2007, for members of the CUA community at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Wimbleball Lake
Wimbleball Lake is in Exmoor National Park in Somerset, England. It is used as a water supply reservoir, built in the 1970s and completed in 1979.
Wimbleball Lake was nominated to be the first Dark Skies Discovery Site on Exmoor. Exmoor National Park has been designated an International Dark Sky Reserve, the first place in Europe to achieve this award and only the second in the world.
The 161 ft high dam is a concrete buttress which holds back the River Haddeo. It has a water storage capacity of 21,000 megalitres over 374 acre.
At times of low flow in the River Exe, water is released into the river for taking out downstream at Tiverton and Exeter. The effects of this regulation of the water flow from the lake have been studied.
The area near the lake is a recreation and sports area. The Outdoor + Active Centre is open for tuition in various watersports activities including sailing, windsurfing, canoeing and rowing. Visitors can also launch their own craft or hire from the centre. The cycle route takes you around the lake, following mostly bridleways and some quiet country lanes. The route passes through woodland and grassland, with glimpses of the lake.
Savage Sam
Savage Sam is a 1963 Walt Disney movie directed by Norman Tokar. It is based on a book of the same name by Fred Gipson. The movie is a sequel to Disney's Old Yeller. Sam stars Kevin Corcoran, Tommy Kirk, and Brian Keith. The movie follows the adventures of Old Yeller's son, Sam, when the boys are captured by Apaches.
Pauly D
Paul DelVecchio Jr. (born July 5, 1980), publicly known as DJ Pauly D, is an American television personality and disc jockey. He is best known for being a housemate on MTV's reality show Jersey Shore.
He is the first of the Jersey Shore cast to get his own spin-off show, The Pauly D Project.
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga (born August 6, 1973 in Passaic County, New Jersey) is an American actress and director. She is known for her role as Lorraine Warren in The Conjuring (2013) and The Conjuring 2 (2016).
Oberschwarzach
Oberschwarzach is a municipality in Schweinfurt in Bavaria, Germany.
Vera Farmiga
Early life
Farmiga comes from an immigrant family from Ukraine. She grew up with her six brothers and sisters in a Ukrainian community and learned with six years old the English language. In her youth she was in a Ukrainian folk group. In the beginning she went to a Ukrainian Catholic school and then, she studied at the School of Visual and Performing Arts of the Syracuse University.
Career
In 1996 she debuted in the Broadway theater play, Return to Paradise with Vince Vaughn, Anne Heche and Joaquin Phoenix in 1998. 2000 she played in the film drama Autumn in New York as Lisa Tyler. She played in the action film called 15 Minutes.
In 2004 she got an extra price of the Sundance Film Festival. 2005 the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and the Independent Spirit Award for her performance in the film Down to the Bone.
She became famous thanks to the film 2006: The Departed. The film won four Academy Awards. In Up in the Air from the year 2009, she got an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
She had her directing debut with the film Higher Ground (2011). Since 2013 she plays the main role as Norma Louise Bates on the series Bates Motel.
Personal life
From 1997-2005 she was married with the actor Sebastian Roche. In 2008 she married Renn Hawkey. They have a son Fynn (*2009) and a daughter Gytta (*2010).
She has also a sister called Taissa Farmiga.
Flag of Hyderabad State
The Flag of Hyderabad state is the flag of the State of hyderabad. The Hyderabad state flag shows Green and Red (fly) with a Star and reversed Crescent (in white) in the centre, used as a state flag. It was annexed by India in 1948, after Winston Churchill had proposed to the United Nations to consider it as an independent state.
Flag History
The forebears of the Asaf Jahi Dynasty came to India from Samarkand, in Central Asia, but the family actually originated from Baghdad. In 1724, the Mughal Governor of the Deccan, (Nizam ul-Mulk) Qamar-ud-din Khan, Asaf Jah I, established himself as an independent ruler of Deccan. Hyderabad became the capital and later lent its name to that of the state he had created. The first Nizam's successors became closely allied to the British colonialists, frequently assisting them in subduing their enemies, the Maratha dynasty, Tipu Sultan of Mysore, and the French. In later years, the Nizam's troops invariably took part in all the main campaigns undertaken by the British Indian Army. Large numbers of his troops took part in the First and Second World Wars. These contributions earned for the Nizam unequalled titles and honours from a grateful Emperor.
The state was the largest and premier of all princely states within the British Indian Empire. After the Pakistani and Indian Independences, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII decided that the Princely state of Hyderabad will not join the New Dominion of India or Dominion of Pakistan. His decision found favour with Pakistan but not with India, when he formally declared it on the 24th of August in 1947 respectively. The Nizam’s state was a prosperous one and had its own army, railway and airline network, postal system and radio network. On 15th August 1947, India declared itself an independent nation. And so did Hyderabad.
Osnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Germany in the state of Lower Saxony. It is around 1,200 years old. The castle dates back to the 19th century. The city was founded by Charlemagne. About 165,000 people live there. It is twinned with Derby, UK, as well as five other cities around Europe.