ejaasaari/simplewiki-2025-04-01 huggingface dataset:
Jacopo Peri (born Rome, 20 August 1561; died Florence, 12 August 1633) was an Italian composer and singer. He composed the first opera ever written. Life. Peri was born in Rome, but studied in Florence. He had several church jobs, playing the organ and singing.He also worked at the court of the Medici family, playing instruments and composing incidental music for plays and madrigals. In the 1590s, Peri worked for Jacopo Corsi, the most important patron of music in Florence. They felt that art at that time (music, drama, painting etc.) was not as good as the classical art that had been produced 2000 years ago in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. They wanted to write drama like the old Greek tragedies. In music they started to write "monody", which meant a solo song with a continuo bass accompaniment. They soon started to realize that just monody on its own could become boring, so they developed it into recitative (where the story could be told) and aria (where the singers could express their feelings in song). Peri and Corsi asked the poet Ottavio Rinuccini to write some words for them and together they produced the opera "Dafne". It was probably nothing like what the Ancient Greeks would have done, but it was the first opera in modern times. In 1600, Rinuccini and Peri wrote another opera together: "Euridice". We still have the music "Euridice", although unfortunately the music to "Dafne" has been lost.  Peri wrote several other operas, although they are not great works. However, a very great composer was around at the time. His name was Claudio Monteverdi. In 1607, he started writing operas and his operas are often performed today. 1600 is the date usually thought of as the beginning of the Baroque music period. It is a convenient date because it is when opera started.
Francesco Cavalli (born Crema, Lombardy, 14 February 1602; died 14 January 1676) was an Italian composer. He lived in the early part of the Baroque music period. His real name was Pietro Francesco Caletti-Bruni, but he is better known as Cavalli, which was the name of his patron, a Venetian nobleman. He is remembered for his operas. Life. Cavalli was born at Crema, Lombardy. He became a singer at St Mark's in Venice in 1616, then he was organist there, and in 1668 he became "maestro di cappella". He began to write for the theatre in 1639. Soon after that the first public opera house opened in Venice. Cavalli became so famous that he was invited to Paris in 1660 where he performed his opera "Xerxes". He visited Paris again in 1662. He died in Venice at the age of 73. Music and influence. Cavalli lived at the time that opera had just been invented by Jacopo Peri. Claudio Monteverdi composed the first really good operas. Cavalli became the most important Italian writer of operas in the middle of the 17th century. His operas use small orchestras, unlike those of Monteverdi, who was writing for the court in Mantua where there was lots of money for big orchestras. Cavalli had a good sense of drama and he wrote lovely melodies. He wrote 57 operas, of which 27 survived. He also wrote some church music and some instrumental music.
Santana do Paraíso is a Brazilian city in the Vale do Aço metropolitan area, state of Minas Gerais. Its population in 2009 was 24.695 inhabitants. Its area is 275,529 km². The city was founded in April 28, 1992. It is limited with the municipal districts of Belo Oriente, Mesquita, Ipatinga, Caratinga e Ipaba
Scrap is a term used to describe recyclable materials left over from manufacturing and product consumption. It includes parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Often confused with waste, scrap in fact has significant monetary value.  Overall, the scrap industry processes more than of recyclable material each year into raw material feedstock for industrial manufacturing around the world. One example is scrap steel. Scrap is mainly reused to make other items. Plastic, for example, is melted down into new shapes. A water bottle may have been part of a computer once. Scrap is very valuable. Some scrap is stolen for its worth, like copper wires and pans. This is a crime in some countries, and many investigations are focused on issues with legitimate metal trading. Totaled cars are often also sold for the metal inside. They are crushed, melted into smaller ingots and cylinders, then shipped to a manufacturer of metal goods that paid for that scrap metal. For developed metals to become scrap metal, it needs to be unused and useless in the form it's in. Only then do people shred and melt metal to be used for other things.
Verismo is a word which refers to a type of literature and a type of opera that was popular towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The Italian word "verismo" means "realism". In literature the main verismo writers were the Frenchman Émile Zola, the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen and the Italian writer Giovanni Verga. The composer Pietro Mascagni used a story by Verga for his opera Cavalleria rusticana. This was a short, one-act opera which became extremely popular. Several composers were inspired by it and wrote similar works. The only one of these which is still regularly performed is "Pagliacci" by Ruggero Leoncavallo. These two short operas are often performed on the same evening. They are known together as "Cav and Pag". Verismo operas are generally based on stories about ordinary people from the working classes rather than about kings or gods or aristocrats. There is often a lot of violence in the stories as people love one another with great passions, which often leads to murder. Bizet's opera "Carmen" is typical of that kind of story, although it was composed before the verismo tradition was really popular.
Eats, Shoots &amp; Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation is a non-fiction book by . It was first published in 2003. The book talks about how punctuation is used incorrectly in modern English and why it is important to use it correctly. Truss writes with humour while teaching punctuation rules.  About the book. The book has chapters on different punctuation marks, including:  Truss also shares stories and history about punctuation.  Title meaning. The title comes from a joke about bad punctuation:  The comma in the wrong place changes the meaning of the sentence. Without it, the sentence means a panda eats plant shoots and leaves. With the comma, it sounds like the panda eats, then shoots a gun, and leaves the café. This joke shows why punctuation is important.  Success and criticism. The book became very popular, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was on "The New York Times" bestseller list in 2004. However, some people criticized the book.  Children's version. In 2006, a children's version of the book was published. It was called "Eats, Shoots &amp; Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!". This version used cartoons to show how commas change meanings.
Germany (, ), officially the Federal Republic of Germany ("Bundesrepublik Deutschland"), is a country in the western region of Central Europe. The country's full name is sometimes shortened to the FRG (or the BRD, in German). To the north of Germany are the North and Baltic Seas, and the kingdom of Denmark. To the east of Germany are the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. To the south of Germany are the countries of Austria and Switzerland. To the west of Germany are the countries of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The total area of Germany is 357,021 square kilometres (137,847 square miles). In 2024, Germany had a population of 83.6 million people, the second-largest in Europe after Russia. After the United States, Germany is the second most popular country for migration in the world. Before it was called Germany, it was called Germania. In the years A.D. 900 – 1806, Germany was part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1949 to 1990, Germany was made up of two countries called the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). During this time, the capital city of Berlin was divided into a west and an east part. On 13 August 1961, the German Democratic Republic started building the Berlin Wall between the two parts of Berlin. West Germany was one of the countries that started the European Union. History. Before 19th century. Germany gained importance as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, which was the first "Reich" (this word means "empire"). It was started by Charlemagne who became the first Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, and it lasted until 1806, the time of the Napoleonic Wars. After, German nation-states were made sovereign in Central Europe. 19th century. During the mid-1800s, Prussia was led by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who is sometimes known as the "Father of Germany". He led a process to bring the German people together under one country. In 1866, Prussia won
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels and eight movies by J. K. Rowling, a British author. It is named for its main character and hero, Harry Potter. Seven books in the series have sold over 500 million copies across the world in over 70 languages including Latin, Welsh and Ancient Greek, and is the best-selling book series of all time. They were adapted into movies by Warner Bros. The first one was released in 2001. The second, third, fourth, and fifth were released respectively in 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2007. The sixth movie, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", was released in 2009. The final movie was divided into two parts. The first part, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1", was released in 2010. The second part", Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2", was released in 2011"." Several spin-off movies have been released in 2016, 2018, and 2022 respectively, some television specials in 2022 for the streaming service Max, as well as a television series in 2024, and a reboot of the franchise is officially in the works. Plot. Harry Potter was born in England, United Kingdom. His parents, Lily and James Potter, were killed by an evil wizard named Lord Voldemort, while Voldemort was trying to kill Harry. Yet Harry escaped with no harm except a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt, and Voldemort ends up dead or is he? Harry is raised by his non-magical Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin (Dudley), and is mistreated by them. He believes the false words of the Dursleys that Harry's parents were killed in a car crash. As a child, he did not know that he was a wizard. He eventually discovers that there are many magical people, living secretly and hiding from non-wizards (known as "Muggles"). When Harry turned eleven on July 31, he received a letter inviting him to go to a school called Hogwarts for young witches and wizards. Each book tells the
Spain is a country in Southwestern Europe. It is in the Iberian Peninsula. Spain has borders with France, Portugal, Andorra and Gibraltar. Ceuta and Melilla border with Morocco in North Africa. In Spain's northeast side are the Pyrenees mountains. The people of Spain are known as Spaniards. They speak Castilian or Spanish (in Spanish, "Español", from "Castilla", or "Español"). They speak other languages in some parts of the country. They are Catalan, Basque, and Asturian, Galician, Leonese, Aragonese, Aranese Occitan and even Portuguese. The religion of about 67% of the population in Spain is Roman Catholic. Since 1975, Spain has had a constitutional monarchy. The King of Spain is Felipe VI; he only does what the constitution allows him to. The parliament is called "Las Cortes Generales," (General Courts) and has two bodies: "El Congreso" (The Congress) and "El Senado" (The Senate) and it is chosen by the Spanish people by voting. The Prime minister is Pedro Sánchez. The government and the king's palace are in Madrid, the capital of Spain. Spain has more than 500,000 square kilometres of land. It is smaller than France, but it is bigger than Germany. Almost fifty million people live in Spain. Spain is divided into 17 autonomous communities (this means that they can decide upon some affairs themselves). Each community has its own government. Although Spain seems small it used to be much bigger with a massive influence on South America and Central America, With the Philippians and Western African influence until France got most of it. Spain is known for flamenco which is usually performed by the Caló. Spain was a predominant Colonial Empire and had colonies throughout the continents South America, Asia, Oceania and Africa with a large hold of European lands. Spain was under a Falangismo under general  Francisco Franco from 1936 to 1974. History of Spain. Early history. People have lived in Spain since the Stone Age. Later, the Roman Empire controlled Spain for about five hundred years; then
World War I (WWI or WW1), also called the First World War, or the Great War, began on July 28, 1914 and lasted until November 11, 1918. It was a global conflict and lasted exactly 4 years, 3 months and 2 weeks. Most of the fighting was in continental Europe.  Soldiers from many countries took part, and it changed the colonial empires of the European powers. Before World War II began in 1939, World War I was called the Great War, or the World War. 135 countries took part in World War I, and almost 10 million people died while fighting. Before the war, European countries had formed alliances to protect themselves. However, that made them divide themselves into two groups. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated on June 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia and declared war on it. Russia then declared war on Austria-Hungary, which set off a chain of events in which members from both groups of countries declared war on each other.  The two sides were the Allied Powers (mainly Russia, France, the British Empire and later Italy and the United States) and the Central Powers (mainly German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire). There was fighting in many different fronts (areas). The French and the British fought the Germans on the Western Front in France and Belgium. Germany had tried to defeat France quickly with the Schlieffen Plan but were stopped in the First Battle of the Marne. Most of the fighting on the western front was trench warfare. The Russians fought the Germans and Austro-Hungarians on the Eastern Front in Central and Eastern Europe. Fighting on the eastern front was not trench warfare as in the west, but mobile warfare. The other main areas of fighting were in the Middle East, in the Gallipoli region of the Ottoman Empire and between Italy and Austria-Hungary. Fighting also took place in southeastern Europe, Africa, China, at sea and in the air. World War I was the first major war in which tanks, airplanes and submarines (or U-boats) were important weapons. End. In
World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict involving all continents of the world, except Antarctica. It involved fighting in most of the world from 1939 to 1945. Some fighting started in 1937, when Imperial Japanese forces started the Second Sino-Japanese War. Most of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two military alliances: the Allied Powers and the Axis Powers. The war involved more countries, cost more money, involved more people, and killed more people than any other war; 73 million people died, most of whom were civilians. The war included massacres, a genocide called the Holocaust, strategic bombing, starvation, and disease. This was the only time a nuclear weapon was used in war.  The two sides were the Allies (at first China, Free France and the United Kingdom, joined by the Soviet Union, United States and others) and the Axis (at first Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Vichy France, and Empire of Japan and others).  The war in Asia began when Japan invaded China on July 7, 1937. Combat in Europe began when The Third Reich of Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. France and the United Kingdom reacted by declaring war on Germany. By 1941, most of Europe was under German control, including France, Norway, Austria, Hungary, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. Only the British remained fighting against the Axis in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic. Germany gave up plans to invade Britain after losing the air Battle of Britain. In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, starting the largest land invasion in history. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and invaded British and French colonies in Asia, and two fronts developed: the Western Theatre and the Pacific Theatre.  The Japanese victories were stopped in 1942, and the Soviets won the huge Battle of Stalingrad in early 1943. Then, the Allies started to win in multiple areas. The Axis were forced back from the Soviet Union, weakening in the Scorched Earth tactic
Rubeus Hagrid is a character in the J.K. Rowling "Harry Potter" book series. A teacher and groundskeeper at Hogwarts, the school that Harry Potter attends, Hagrid is a friend of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Hagrid is also a "half-giant." His father was not a giant, whereas his mother, Fridwulfa, who abandoned him when he was just an infant, was a giantess. He has a half-brother named Grawp. In the "Harry Potter" movies, Hagrid was played by Robbie Coltrane. Martin Bayfield appears as a young Hagrid in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". Over the course of the "Harry Potter" books, Hagrid is expelled from Hogwarts after The Ministry of Magic thought he had opened the Chamber of Secrets. But the truth that he had been framed by Tom Riddle is exposed and Hagrid is allowed to remain at the school as gamekeeper. The government broke his wand and banned him from doing magic when he was expelled, but he keeps pieces of the wand in his pink umbrella.  Hagrid, who keeps several pets, is also a friend of Madame Olympe Maxime, headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, although it is not known if they were together in a romantic way.
Rodney "Norvell" Stuckey is a professional National Basketball Association player for the, Detroit Pistons. He went to Eastern Washington University. He went to Kentwood High School, in Kent, Washington. He was born on, April 21, 1986, in Seattle, Washington. He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 1st round (15th pick, 15th overall) of the 2007 NBA draft. His jersey number is 3. He is 6'5", and is 205 pounds. He was the 2007-08 NBA All-Rookie (2nd). He plays the guard position. On March 5, 2010, Stuckey had a seizure on the bench during a game and collapsed in his trainer's arms, and was taken to the hospital. However, he was reported to be doing well not long after going to the hospital, and returned to next play in a game on March 19.
Alou Diarra ( ; born 15 July 1981) is a French football player. He plays for Girondins Bordeaux and France national team. Club career statistics. 215||15 0||0 215||15 International career statistics. !Total||24||0
Gaël Givet-Viaros (born 9 October 1981), known as Gaël Givet, is a French former professional footballer who played as a left-footed centre back and as a left-back. Honours. Monaco France Individual
Bradley Scott Jones (born 19 March 1982) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played in England for Middlesbrough, Stockport County, Rotherham United, Blackpool, and Sheffield Wednesday. International career statistics. !Total||1||0
Sebastián Viera (born 7 March 1983 in Florida, Uruguay) is a Uruguayan former football player. He plays for Larissas and Uruguay national team. Club career statistics. 58||0 75||0 0||0 133||0 International career statistics. !Total||15||0 Honours. Nacional Atlético Junior
Mido (born 23 February 1983) is an Egyptian football player. He plays for West Ham United and Egypt national team. Club career statistics. 19||4||||||||||||||19||4 21||11||||||||||||||21||11 40||21||||||||||||||40||21 8||4||||||||||||||8||4 22||7||||||||||11||2||33||9 8||0||||||||||4||0||12||0 85||22||10||2||6||4||4||0||105||28 188||68||10||2||6||4||19||2||223||76 International career statistics. !Total||51||19
Angelo Carlos Pretti (born August 10, 1965) is a former Brazilian football player. Club career statistics. 149||76||11||8||0||0||160||84 149||76||11||8||0||0||160||84
Rudi Vata (born 13 February 1969) is a former Albanian football player. He has played for the Albanian national team. Honours. Dinamo Tirana Celtic KF Tirana Albania
Zamalek Sporting Club is a sport club in Egypt. It is located in Cairo. Honours &amp; Achievements. "'Total number of cups: 86" Domestic. Trophies and years are approved as the Egyptian football Federation site http://www.efa.com.eg , Zamalek SC Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/ZSCOfficial
IK Start is a Norwegian football club. It was founded on 19 September 1905. Current squad. "As of 1 September 2009."
William Archibald "Bill" Paxton (May 17, 1955 – February 25, 2017) was an American actor and movie director. Notably, he was the protagonist of the movie "Twister", as "Bill Harding", with co-star Helen Hunt. Alan Ruck and Philip Seymour Hoffman also co-starred. He is also known for his roles in "The Terminator" (1984), "Weird Science" (1985), "Aliens" (1986), "Predator 2" (1990), "True Lies" (1994), "Apollo 13" (1995), and "Titanic" (1997).  Paxton starred in the HBO series "Big Love" (2006–2011) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for the miniseries "Hatfields &amp; McCoys". He is the father of actor John Paxton. In 1987, he won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Aliens". Paxton was born on May 17, 1955 in Fort Worth, Texas. He was raised as a Roman Catholic. Paxton was in the crowd waving when President John F. Kennedy emerged from the Hotel Texas in Fort Worth, on the morning of his assassination, November 22, 1963. There are pictures at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas where 8-year-old Paxton can be seen lifted above the crowd. On February 14, 2017, Paxton underwent open-heart surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California to repair a damaged aortic heart valve and correct an aortic aneurysm. A day later, he underwent an emergency second surgery to repair a damaged coronary artery. His condition deteriorated over the following 10 days, and he died from a post-surgical stroke on February 25 at the age of 61.
Frederick Charles "Fred" Willard (September 18, 1933 – May 15, 2020) was an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred in movies, including "This Is Spinal Tap" (1984), "Waiting for Guffman" (1997), "American Wedding" (2003), ' (2004), "Harold &amp; Kumar Go to White Castle" (2004), "WALL-E" (2008), "Youth in Revolt" (2009), ' (2013). He also appeared in television series such as "Everybody Loves Raymond", "The Simpsons" and "Modern Family". In 2020, his last role was as Fred Naird in the Netflix comedy "Space Force". Willard was born in Cleveland, Ohio. His wife, Mary Lovell, died in July 2018. They had a daughter together, Hope. In July 2012, he was arrested for masturbation in an adult movie theater. However, no charges were filed because the police had no evidence. Willard died at his home in Los Angeles on May 15, 2020 of cardiac arrest caused by myelodysplastic syndrome, aged 86.
The Oslofjord () is one of Norway’s most popular recreation area. It is 100 kilometres in length. It is a short distance from Oslo by ferry. The fjord carries shipping to and from Oslo. The northern part of Oslofjord splits into several smaller fjords, including Sande Bay and Bunne Fjord.