ejaasaari/simplewiki-2025-04-01 huggingface dataset:
George Gershwin (September 26, 1898; Brooklyn, New York – July 11, 1937; Hollywood, California) was an American composer and a pianist. Story of his life. Childhood. George Gershwin was born on September 26, 1898, in Brooklyn, New York. His family immigrated to the United States. Gershwin, his two brothers and sister had a close, happy family life. George liked playing games on the streets of New York. He liked exploring the city, but he did not like school or studying. While exploring the city, Gershwin heard jazz and blues music spilling out of public drinking places. However, he did not become seriously interested in music until he heard another boy playing the violin in a concert at his school. Gershwin began to take piano lessons. His teacher was a fine classical musician. He immediately recognized Gershwin's unusual ability. The teacher wrote about him to a friend: "I have a student who will make his mark in music, if anybody will. The boy is a genius, without doubt." Younger days as a student. Gershwin studied classical piano, and he was a first-rate pianist,but his strongest interest continued to be jazz and popular music. He loved playing piano and it was his passion. At the age of fifteen, he left school and went to work in the music business. The New York City street where most music publishers had their offices was called "Tin Pan Alley." The phonograph and radio had been invented in the late 1800s. But it would be many years before there were musical recordings or regular radio broadcasts. Tin Pan Alley publishers needed another way to sell new songs, so they employed people to play the piano to do this. The piano players played the songs all day long to interested singers and other performers. Gershwin was one of the youngest piano players in Tin Pan Alley. Soon, he was considered one of the finest there. He was already writing his own songs. He succeeded in getting one published when he was only 18 years old. It had a long title: "When You Want 'Em, You Can't Get ‘
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer who wrote modern music. Aaron Copland wrote many kinds of music. He wrote music for the orchestra, piano, and voice. He wrote music for plays, movies, and dance. Copland also was a conductor, pianist, speaker, teacher, and writer. Music critics say Copland taught Americans about themselves through his music. He used parts of many old American folksongs in his work. He wanted to do this after studying music in France. He said that composers there had a very French way of writing music. He said Americans had nothing like that in this country. So he decided to compose music that was truly American. Early days of Copland. Aaron Copland was born November 14, 1900 in Brooklyn, New York. He died at the age of 90 on December 2, 1990. He was the youngest of five children. His parents had come to the United States from eastern Europe. They owned a store in Brooklyn. Aaron began playing the piano when he was a young child. He wrote his first song for his mother when he was eight years old. His dreams of becoming a composer began when he was young. When he was sixteen, he asked his parents to let him study composing with Rubin Goldmark. Goldmark had taught the composer George Gershwin. When he was in his early twenties, Copland went to Paris, France, where he studied music with Nadia Boulanger. She was one of the most important music teachers of the time. He returned to New York in 1924. Known classical works. The famous conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky, learned about Copland's music. Koussevitzky led the orchestra for the first performance of Copland's early work, "Music for the Theater", in 1925. Koussevitzky also conducted Copland's "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra" in 1927. This work was unusual because Copland used ideas from jazz music in his concerto. Copland later wrote the music for two ballets about
A diphthong (pronounced "DIF-thong" or "DIP-thong") is a vowel where the speaker has to move their mouth into two different positions to make. It is a vowel where two different vowel qualities can be heard. Examples are: waist, die, noise, road, house, fierce, bear, sure. Each of these is a different vowel sound. A monophthong is a simple vowel sound that a person does not have to move his or her mouth to make, like the "oo" sound in "book." In a diphthong, the person combines two different monophthongs, as with the "oi" sound in the word "oil". The speaker starts with the mouth in the position to make an "o" sound, then quickly moves the mouth to make a hard "e" sound. Another example is the "ou" sound in the word "house". The mouth starts out making a sound like the soft "a" sound in "flat", then moves to make the a hard "oo" sound like the one in "caboose". Just like with every other part of language, the exact way to pronounce a diphthong is a little different for different accents. The word diphthong is derived from the old Greek language. Here, "di" means "two" or "double", while the part "-phthong" means "sound" or "tone", from the basic word "phthalein", which means "speak", "creating sound by the voice".  A diphthong can be a lexeme of a language and as such it may be one syllable, but rarely.
The Price is Right is a USA game show on CBS. The current version started in 1972, and was hosted by Bob Barker for a long time. However, in 2006, Bob Barker announced that he would leave the show. His last episode aired in June 2007. Comedian Drew Carey is now the host; his first episode aired in October 2007. In this game, a person uses his shopping skills to correctly guess the price of different products, like in a market. Some products are simple household items, like toothpaste and vitamins. Other items are more expensive products, like furniture and cars. After the third and sixth games, the "Showcase Showdown" is played. The three players who got on stage in both halves of the show spin a wheel. They get two spins of the wheel. They have to be closest to $1.00 without going over. The person with the highest total moves on to the Showcase at the end of the show. If a player gets $1.00, they win $1,000 and get another spin. If they hit the $1.00 space on that spin, they win another $25,000. If they hit the 5¢ or 15¢ space, they win another $10,000. In the Showcase, the winners of the two Showcase Showdown games are shown prize packages. They make a bid on them, and whoever comes closest to the price of their showcase without going over wins it. If they are $250 or less from the price of their showcase, they win both showcases. If someone's bid was higher than the price of the real price, that person went over, and was disqualified from winning in that round. From 1956 - 1963, the show aired on NBC and was hosted by Bill Cullen. From 1963 - 1965, the show aired on ABC and was also hosted by Bill Cullen. Three nighttime syndicated versions of the show aired. The first one aired from 1972 to 1980. Until 1977, it was hosted by Dennis James. For the rest of its run, it was hosted by Bob Barker. From 198
A monophthong (pronounced "Mono-F-thong") is simply a vowel. The word monophthong comes from the old Greek language. "Mono" means "one" or "single", and the "-phthong" means "sound" or "tone", from the basic word "phthalein", which means "to speak", "create sound with the voice". The word monophthong shows that a vowel is spoken with exactly one tone and one mouth position. For example, when you say "teeth", then while you are creating the sound of the "ee", nothing changes for that sound. A monophthong can be a lexeme of a language and as such it can as well be a syllable. There is no shorter syllable than a single monophthong.
Kalua is a Hawaiian cooking method. The word "kalua" means "to cook in an underground oven" in Hawaiian. The oven is a hole in the ground called an imu. Kalua is most often used to cook pig. Kalua pig is a popular food at luaus. Ancient Hawaiians used rocks from rivers to cook pig. They heated the rocks in the imu and the pig cooked with steam. They covered the pig with banana leaves, ti leaves, old mats and then dirt to keep the heat inside. This produced a unique taste that cannot be reproduced. People today kalua pig in the same way that ancient Hawaiians did. Kalua pig is still served at luaus.
Ultraviolet is the part of the electromagnetic spectrum shown on the left side of the picture below as black—because humans cannot see light of such short wavelength (or high frequency). Many animals such as some insects, some reptiles, crocodiles, salamanders, and small birds can see things that this light. UV is a common abbreviation of ultraviolet, mainly used in technical contexts. Ultraviolet is beyond the visible violet light in terms of frequency, wavelength, and energy. Its wavelengths are between about 10 nanometers (nm) to about 400 nanometers. Frequency and wavelength are closely related. The equation that shows this relationship is: ν = c/λ . Saying that something has a short wavelength is the same as saying that it has a high frequency. Ultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet light is a type of ionizing radiation. It can damage or kill cells. Any electromagnetic radiation (light) that has a wavelength shorter than 450 nm may cause trouble. Therefore, humans that live in places with more ultraviolet light have adapted by getting darker skins. Pigments absorb the ultraviolet radiation, so it does not get through the skin to kill or injure cells inside. Injury to the skin by ultraviolet is called "sunburn." The violet light and ultraviolet light differ in their wavelength, frequency, and quantum energy. The differences between ultraviolet light and x-rays are also wavelength, frequency and quantum energy. In the electromagnetic spectrum, ultraviolet is beyond violet, x-rays are beyond ultraviolet, and gamma rays are beyond x-rays. Electromagnetic waves with a wavelength from about 400 nanometers down to about 10 nanometers are commonly called ultraviolet. Their characteristic photon energy is about 3 to 124 electronvolts. Although the air of the Earth is transparent to a broad range of ultraviolet, some ultraviolet sunlight is absorbed at a very high altitude by the ozone layer. Recent and ongoing destruction of ozone in high altitudes caused by human influence—mostly by industrial chemicals and air travel—has greatly increased the amount of ultraviolet light reaching the Earth's surface. This, in turn, has increased the risk of skin cancer to mankind, and this risk
Ornithology is the study of birds. A person who studies birds is called an ornithologist.  Aspects. Several aspects of ornithology differ from other disciplines, because they are easy to see and are often attractive. Many studies of birds have been done by amateurs working in a scientific manner. History. Konrad Gesner wrote his "Vogelbuch" and "Icones avium omnium" around 1557. Later, England developed a tradition of ornithology. Francis Willughby, John Ray, Gilbert White, John Gould (who studied the birds of Australia) and Peter Scott are good examples. What ornithologists do. Ornithologists typically trap birds for a closer look at them. This does not hurt the bird. Trapping birds can be done with in different ways, depending on the type of bird. For example, mist nets cause birds that fly into them to fall into a small pocket where the ornithologist can come back later and take a closer look. After the bird has been caught, the ornithologist will usually inspect (take a close look at) the bird. They may also attach a small ring to the bird's leg before releasing the bird. The ring allows ornithologists to study the bird's migration patterns, how long they live, and other information about the bird's species.
Sir Roderick David Stewart, (born 10 January 1945) is a British pop singer, known professionally as Rod Stewart. He was born in London to an English mother and Scottish father. When he started singing in the 1960s, he was player for Brentford F.C., a football team. He started singing in local R&amp;B groups, in the 1970s he began a solo career which made him very famous.
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was known for his charm and good looks, which have made him very famous. He was best known for playing James Bond in seven of the James Bond movies. He appeared in 94 movies. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Jimmy Malone in "The Untouchables" (1987). Early life. Connery was born in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. He was born as Thomas Connery, but later added Sean as his stage name which is what most people call him. His mother, Euphemia "Effie" McBain McLean, was a cleaning woman. In 1946, at the age of 16, Connery joined the Royal Navy, during which time he got two tattoos. He trained in Portsmouth at the naval gunnery school and in an anti-aircraft crew. He was discharged from the navy three years later due to an ulcer. Career. Connery had been in smaller theatre and television productions. He became well known when he became the first actor to play James Bond. Connery was the tallest actor to play James Bond to this day. He later went on to star on "Marnie" (1964), "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975), "A Bridge Too Far" (1977), "Highlander" (1986), "The Untouchables" (1988), "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989), "The Hunt for Red October" (1990), "Dragonheart" (1996), "The Rock" (1996), and "Finding Forrester" (2000). Connery retired from acting in 2006.  During his career, he won one Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award), and three Golden Globes. He received a lifetime achievement award in the US with a Kennedy Center Honor in 1999. Connery was knighted in 2000. Connery was offered the role of Gandalf
The Specials were an English new wave/ska band. They were originally from Coventry, England and formed in 1977. They were part of the ska revival in Britain in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  During the ska revival, bands began playing 1960s-style Jamaican ska music. The Specials often mixed other popular music styles from the 1970s and 1980s into their music, such as punk rock.
KC and the Sunshine Band was a disco group, that was popular in the 1970s. They formed in Miami in 1973. Hits are "That's the Way (I Like It)", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "Give It Up", "Get Down Tonight", and "Please Don't Go".
Roberta Cleopatra Flack (February 10, 1937 – February 24, 2025) was an American singer. She was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina. She has released nineteen studio albums. She has had three number one singles. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was her first number one. It won the 1973 Grammy Record of the Year. In 1974 Flack performed "When I Grow Up" with Michael Jackson. In 1999 a star was put in the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her. Early life. Roberta Flack was born in Black Mountain, North Carolina. She was raised in Virginia. Howard University gave her a music scholarship because she was good at playing piano. When she was fifteen she became a student there. Career. Flack released her first album "First Take" in 1969. The album went to number one in the US album chart. It was her most successful album. In 1970 Flack's second album "Chapter Two" was released. It was less successful. In 1972 "Roberta Flack &amp; Donny Hathaway" was released. In 1973 "Killing Me Softly" was released. In 1980 Flack's second album with Donny Hathaway was released. Health and death. On November 14, 2022, it was announced by a spokesperson that Flack had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and had retired from singing, due to the disease making it "impossible to sing", according to her spokesperson. Flack died on February 24, 2025 in New York City from cardiac arrest caused by ALS at the age of 88.
Transsexual people are people who change their appearance to more closely resemble the sex opposite to the one they had at birth. Transsexuals may be male or female. They typically take hormones and often undergo surgeries to support this process. They usually adopt a new name and may legally have their name changed. People who go from male features to female features are often referred to as transsexual women, or trans women. People who go from female features to male features are often referred to as transsexual men, or trans men. Transsexual people are also transgender, and the two words are often used as synonyms. Transgender people feel they are a different gender than the one they were assigned based on their sex. Not all transgender people change their bodies; those who do not are usually not called transsexuals. Ways to go from looking male to looking female. Transsexual women take artificial female hormones. They may also take drugs that stop male hormones called androgens. Taking estrogen pills makes breasts grow. It can also change where the body stores fat, so trans women get more fat in their hips and thighs like many non-transsexual women. It does not make beards go away. It does not make voices higher. Trans women may remove their facial hair so it does not grow back. This takes a long time and hurts.  Some transsexual women with low voices have surgery to raise their voices. Other transsexual women try to make their voice sound higher and more feminine without surgery. Some transsexual women also get surgery on their genitals. This is called a vaginoplasty. This is done by making a vagina from the skin of their penis, which is turned inside out. Some transsexual women also have surgery to make their faces look more feminine. Some also have surgery to make their breasts larger. Ways to go from looking female to looking male. Transsexual men take artificial male hormones. This will make their voices lower. Many trans men grow facial hair and more body hair. Male hormones can also stop their menstruation. Some transsexual men have surgery. One surgery is removal of breasts (mastectomy). Some transsexual men also get surgery on their genitals. One surgery is removal of the uterus and ovaries (h
A pianist is a person who plays the piano. A pianist can play music for piano alone or play together with other musicians in an ensemble or orchestra. Pianists also play along singers, solo musicians, and other performers in their leading performance.
Coventry is a city in England. Coventry is the ninth biggest city in England. It is also a metropolitan borough. It is in the West Midlands county. It used to be in Warwickshire.  During the 19th century Coventry became a great manufacturing area, especially for bicycles. In the 20th century it made many motor cars. It also made aeroplanes. It was badly bombed in World War II. During the November 1940 bombing, the city's cathedral was destroyed. A new cathedral was built after the war. The city has three universities. Coventry University is in the city centre. The University of Warwick is in the southwest of Coventry and private Arden University in the southeast. The local football team is Coventry City F.C.. Coventry was UK City of Culture in 2021.  Coventry is located on the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line. There are four railway stations, the main Coventry station and three local stations at Canley, Coventry Arena and Tile Hill.
Billy Preston (September 2, 1946 - June 5, 2006) was an American R&amp;B musician. He is best known for his piano and organ playing. Preston began playing piano when he was three years old. He worked with many other musicians including Aretha Franklin, Sammy Davis Jr., Quincy Jones, Eric Clapton, the Jackson 5 and the Rolling Stones. He worked on The Beatles's last album, "Let It Be", in 1969, including the song "Get Back". Many people thought that Preston would join the group, but the Beatles broke up shortly afterwards. He later worked with George Harrison, who had been a Beatle. Preston's biggest success also came from working with another musician. He did a duet with Syreeta Garrett on "With You I'm Born Again" in 1979. It sold over a million copies and reached Number 2 in the United Kingdom singles chart. Preston was gay. He died of respiratory failure after being in a coma from a heart infection.
A pop is an onomatopoeic term for a quick sharp explosion. Pop or POP could also mean:
A computer virus is a program that is able to copy itself when it is run. Often, computer viruses are run as a part of other programs. Any program that is affected by the virus is "infected". Biological viruses also work that way, as they copy themselves as part of other organisms. This is how the computer virus got its name. In addition to copying itself, a computer virus can also execute instructions that cause harm. For this reason, computer viruses affect security. They are part of malware. Very often, the term is also used for other kinds of malware, such as trojan horses and worms. Even though this is wrong, it may be difficult to tell the difference between different kinds of malware; they often occur together, and only an expert may be able to tell them apart. Such programs also fit more than one category. Computer viruses are created for a cause, sometimes they are created to spread political messages and they are also created to hack some system files. Computer viruses are spread through many ways. Some of the common ways of spreading are through downloads, email attachments, removable hardwares, and so on. Most viruses are very dangerous kind of malware. Kinds of computer viruses. There are different kinds of computer viruses: Limited user rights can limit the spread of a virus. In the beginning, operating systems Certain users may only have access to certain files and are unable to access others. Other users may be able to modify or delete certain files. These privileges can be specified for each file. The damage a virus can cause is influenced by the rights the user has; if the user has no rights to write to certain places in the system, the virus will not be able to spread to those places. Another problem is that sometimes the system for rights management may be available, but that it is not used by default. This is the case with systems such as Windows NT or Windows XP, where by default all users have same rights. Antivirus software. Antivirus software can protect computers against known viruses. Some antivirus software scan files and compare a hash code for each file with its database of hash codes (or "signature"). If the code matches, it has likely found a virus. This way of doing things has
Hades (, "Háidēs") is the king of the underworld (not to be confused with the god of the dead, Thanatos) in ancient Greek religion and myth. He is the eldest son of the Titans Kronos and Rhea and brother to Zeus, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera, Demeter and Chiron.  As the lord of the dead, Hades was greatly feared by the Greeks, and he had few temples or shrines dedicated to him. He was married to the goddess Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Hades’ symbols were the cornucopia, a sceptre, the cypress, narcissus, poplar and his Helm of Darkness; the screech owl was his sacred animal. His sacred fruit was the pomegranate, the fruit that Persephone ate one- third of when she was kidnapped and in the underworld. Hades’ Roman equivalent was Pluto, whose name is merely a Latinization of the Greek "Plouton".
A superlative, in grammar, is an adjective describing a noun that is the best example of a given quality. In other words, a superlative describes a noun that has more of some quality than any other.  Some examples: In English, most superlatives can be formed by adding -EST to an existing adjective, like the examples above. (For adjectives that end in "-y", like "crazy", you often change the "y" to an "i" before you add the -EST on the end.) Some adjectives have irregular superlative forms, which do not follow the rules, such as far ("farthest") and bad ("worst").  Other adjectives have no superlative form at all, and the superlative is made simply by adding the adverb "most" before the adjective. For instance, you do not say "funnest," or "interestingest". Instead, you say "most fun," and "most interesting."  This way of making the superlative is used for almost all adjectives ending in "ing" (like "interesting", "fascinating", "disgusting" or "appealing".)