ejaasaari/simplewiki-2025-04-01 huggingface dataset:
A vergée, or vergee, is a unit of area, a quarter of the French acre. Other spellings include vergie and vrégie. It is not an SI unit. The SI unit of area is the square metre. The term derives from Latin "virga" (rod). Compare French "verge" (yard). In the Channel Islands, it is a standard measure of land, but the statutory definition differs between the bailiwicks. In France a vergée was 12,100 square Paris feet (1,276.8 m²). It was 25 (square) perches. The surveying perch measured 22 French feet. the royal perch was 18 French feet. Conversions. 1 vergée (Guernsey) is equivalent to: 1 vergée (Jersey) is equivalent to:
Derby Silk Mill, formerly known as Derby Industrial Museum, is a museum of industry in Derby, England. The museum is housed in a historic former silk mill which is part of Derwent Valley Mills. Between 1717 and 1721 George Sorocold built Britain’s first mill beside the River Derwent. This mill was built to produce silk threads using machines powered by a water wheel. The museum re-opened with the new name, the Museum of Making on 21 May 2021. John Lombe copied the design for the machines used for spinning large quantities of silk, when he was working within the Italian Silk Industry. This may be the first example of industrial espionage. Traditionally the spinning wheel had been used for producing small quantities of silk thread at the homes of local spinsters. But these new, large machines were able to produce far greater quantities of silk and came to compete with the Italians. However, these machines required large buildings and a huge power source. An undershot water wheel turned by the mill fleam on the west side of the new Silk Mill drove these large spinning machines. John Lombe unnaturally died in 1722. It was believed that he was killed with poison by an Italian as the revenge for stealing trade secrets. His half brother, Sir Thomas Lombe Knt., died on 2 June 1739 leaving his estate to his widow and their two daughters. Dame Elizabeth advertised the lease of the building and machinery in 1739, and the remaining 64 years of the lease were assigned to Richard Wilson junior of Leeds for £2,800. Richard Wilson stayed in Leeds and took a proportion of the profits. The mill was conducted by William and Samuel Lloyd (both London merchants) and Thomas Bennet as salaried manager. A description of the mill by William Wilson dating from sometime between 1739 and 1753 is left as follows: These circular spinning machines (also known as 'throwing machines'), were the most progressive feature of the factory. Also, they used the single source of power (water), and employed many organized workers (200-400, according to recent sources). Due to these total process of production from raw silk to
Auch (Gascon: "Aush" or "Aux") is a commune in southwestern France, in the region of Occitanie. It is the "prefecture" (capital) of the Gers department. It is also the capital of 3 "cantons": Auch-1, Auch-2 and Auch-3. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony and the people of this city are known, in French, as "auscitain" (women: "auscitaines"). History. Auch is an ancient town. The name of "Auch" comes from the people that inhabited the area at the time of the Roman conquest. The name of this tribe was "Ausci", singular "Auscus". The Romans named the town where that tribe lived as "Augusta Auscorum" (or "Augusta Ausciorum"), which means "Augusta of the Ausci". Eventually, "Augusta" was dropped, and the name changed into modern Gascon "Aush", and modern French "Auch". Geography. Auch is in the southwest of France, in Armagnac (Gascony), in the valley of the Gers river. It extends along the sides of the river that gives its name to the department. The river splits the city in two parts: The "commune" is, in straight line, at from the Pyrenees, from the Bay of Biscay, from Bordeaux, from Toulouse and from Pau. It has an area of and its average altitude is . Auch is surrounded by the following "communes", all of them part of the arrondissement of Auch: Roquelaure to the north, Preignan and Montaut-les-Créneaux to the northeast, Leboulin and Montégut to the east, Pessan to the southeast, Pavie to the south, Lasséran and Barran to the southwest, Ordan-Larroque and Duran to the west and Castin and Castillon-Massas to the northwest. Climate. The climate of the department is an oceanic climate with template summers, Cfb (Marine West Coast Climate)
Crevichon is an islet off Herm, immediately to the north of Jethou, in the Channel Islands. According to Dr S.K. Kellett-Smith, the name "Crevichon" means "island of crabs, crayfish or cranes". Like many names in the Channel Islands, it is Norman language in origin. A thousand years ago, the water level was ten feet lower (3 m), so there were many more of the animals the island was named after. Geography. The island is about 212 by 168 metres (696 by 551 ft) at its widest. Its area is less than . The distance to Jethou is about 215 metres (705 ft). History. A 16th-century drawing of the islet, now in the British Museum, shows Crevichon as apparently a wooded islet. Prof. John Le Patourel, in "The Building of Castle Cornet" said that in 1566, iron and hammers were taken to "Creavissham", and the island quarried for the castle. The quarry has been used since then, but this has made the island much smaller, and less visible. As a result, a fifteen-foot () marker was built on the top. Crevichon may have provided the granite for the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. It is said that in earlier times, pirates were hanged on it with chains, like nearby Jethou. Compton Mackenzie, former owner of Herm called Crevichon "Merg" in his book, "Fairy Gold", which is a fictionalised version of the islands. Wrecks. In 1953, Victor Coysh says that he saw the remains of a German bomber, from the time of the occupation. Other wrecks include:
""Houmet" redirects here, for further information on the placename element, please see "-hou"" Les Houmets are to the east of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. Their name comes from "hou", a Norman/Guernésiais word meaning islets. They are tidal islands. Amongst the islets are Houmet Benest/Houmet Benêt, Houmet Paradis and Houmet Hommetol (Omptolle). Although Victor Hugo suggests that they were heavily eroded by quarrying (which was certainly true in the case of Crevichon off Herm), Victor Coysh disagrees saying: "While much work of this nature was in progress in the parishes of the Vale and St. Sampson in the last century [i.e. 19th], quarrying was not responsible for any marked alteration in the coast off which Les Houmets lie. In fact, they have been islets for a very long time, as ancient maps reveal. Did the author ever visit them, I wonder." Victor Hugo. Victor Hugo who wrote about many of the Channel Islands in his books, described Les Houmets, in "The Toilers of the Sea" ("Les Travailleurs de la mer"). Gilliat, the main character lives on Houmet Paradis: "This house was called the Bû de la Rue. It was on the point of a tongue of land, or rather of rock, that made a little separate harbour in the creek of Houmet Paradis. The water was very deep here. This house was all alone on the point, almost off the land, with just enough land for a small garden. The high tides sometimes inundated the garden. Between the port of St. Sampson and the creek of Houmet Paradis rises a steep hill, surmounted by the block of towers covered with ivy, and known as Vale Castle, or the Chateau de l’Archange; so that, at St. Sampson, the Bû de la Rue was shut out from sight..." Moreover, this house had some very nasty inhabitants besides Gilliat, "The country people told how, towards the close of the great Revolution, a
Phoenix Park () is a park in the middle of Dublin, Ireland. It lies about west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. The wall around it is 16 km long. The area within the wall is . It is one of the largest walled city parks in Europe. It has large areas of grassland and wide roads with trees on both sides. A herd of wild Fallow deer have lived in the park since the seventeenth century. The English name ("Phoenix") comes from the Irish "fionn uisce" meaning "clear water". History. A Royal Hunting Park was created in 1662 by the English Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time, Lord Ormonde. The park contained pheasants and wild deer, and a wall was built around the whole area to stop them escaping. The Park originally included more land which was to the south of the River Liffey. But when they started to build the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham in 1680, the Park was made smaller to the size it is today. It was opened to the people of Dublin by Lord Chesterfield in 1745. Two people were killed in the park on 6 May 1882. This became known as the Phoenix Park Murders. Things to see in the park. Áras an Uachtaráin. "Áras an Uachtaráin" is Irish for "the house of the President". The President of Ireland lives here. It was built in 1754. It was first called the Viceregal Lodge, as it was where the English Lord Lieutenant of Ireland lived. Chief Secretary's Lodge. The Chief Secretary's Lodge was the former house of the Chief Secretary for Ireland. It has been the official house of the United States Ambassador to Ireland since 1927. Phoenix Park Visitor Centre and Ashtown Castle. The oldest building in the park is Ashtown Castle. It is a medieval tower house from the 15th century. It was restored in 1989. It is located beside the Visitor Centre which has information on the 5,500 years of park and area history. Magazine Fort. The Magazine Fort in the south east of
Thylacosmilus is a extinct genus of carnivorous sparassodont. found as fossils in deposits dated from about 10 million to 3 million years ago (late Miocene to late Pliocene epoch) in Argentina, South America.  "Thylacosmilus" was sabre-toothed and was about as large as a modern jaguar. To a remarkable degree, "Thylacosmilus" paralleled the evolution of felid sabre-toothed cats like "Smilodon". Its canine teeth were long and powerfully developed; they were used for stabbing prey. Its killing method was to hold its prey, and make deep bites into the soft tissue driven by powerful neck muscles. The canine teeth were protected by a well-developed flange, or projecting edge, in the chin region of the lower jaw. The canines continued to grow during adult life, which they do not in marsupials or placental mammals. "Thylacosmilus" died out during the late Pliocene, whereas saber-toothed cats did not get to South America until the middle Pleistocene epoch. As a result, the last appearance of "Thylacosmilus" is separated from the first appearance of "Smilodon" by over one and a half million years.
(), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (Guards), is the police force of the Republic of Ireland. The service is headed by the Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are located in Phoenix Park in Dublin. Terminology. The old English language name of the force was the Civic Guard, but this title is no longer used. "Garda Síochána na hÉireann" is usually rendered as the "Guardian of the Peace of Ireland" or the "Guardians of the Peace (of Ireland)". The full official title of the force is rarely used in speech. It is known, in decreasing order of formality, as ( pronounced ); "the" '; the ' (in the preceding names, ' "guard" is a collective noun, like "police"); the ( ; "guards", plural); or the Guards. An individual officer is also called a ' (plural '), or, informally, a guard. A police station is called a " station". ' is also the lowest rank within the force, also used as a title (e.g. " John Murphy"), analogous to the British term "constable" or the American "officer" ("deputy/trooper/etc."). "Guard" is the most common form of address used by members of the public speaking to a garda on duty. A female officer was once officially referred to as a ' (; "female guard"; plural '). This term was abolished in 1990, but is still used colloquially in place of the now gender-neutral '. Organisation. The force is headed by the Commissioner. Immediately below him are two Deputy Commissioners, one in charge of "Operations" and the other "Strategy and Change Management". The Chief Administrative Officer has responsibility for resource management (personnel, finance, ICT and accommodation) has the same rank as a Deputy Commissioner. There are twelve Assistant Commissioners: one for each of the six geographical Regions, and the remainder dealing with various national support functions. At an equivalent or near-equivalent level to the Assistant Commissioners are the positions of Chief Medical Officer, Executive Director of ICT and Executive Director of Finance. The six geographical "Assistant Commissioners" command the six "
Châteauroux is a commune in the Indre department in the center of France. Aérocentre is in Châteauroux. Sister cities. Châteauroux is twinned with:
The Compromise of 1877 was an unwritten agreement after the American Civil War between leaders of the Democrats, who mostly ruled the South, and the Republicans, who mostly ruled the North. The Democrats agreed to settle the Presidential election of 1876 by allowing Rutherford B. Hayes to become President and not their own candidate, Samuel J. Tilden.  The Republicans promised to remove the Army from the occupied territory of the South, thus ending the Reconstruction era. The Democrats promised they would maintain African American rights. The government stopped trying to fix Southern society and stopped helping the African Americans and Republicans there. Additional details are unclear, because it was an unwritten agreement.
"Keys to the City" is a 2007 industrial metal song by the American industrial metal band Ministry &amp; Co Conspirators. The song was made for the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL and the Wirtz family who is the owner of the Blackhawks. The money that was collected from the iTunes downloads was donated to Blackhawks Charities. It was the final song that Ministry did before the band was retired in 2008. The song was featured in the EA Sports video game "NHL 10".
Credo Reference is a company that offers subscription-based online reference content. It provides full-text online versions of more than 700 published reference works from over 70 publishers, including general and subject dictionaries and encyclopedias. History. The company began in 1999 and has offices in Oxford, England, and Boston, Massachusetts. It changed its name from Xrefer in 2007. Subscriptions are available to academic, government, public and company libraries. Access to Credo Reference is free to users if their library is a subscriber. Librarians can select which titles they wish to subscribe to within Credo General Reference. They can manage the selection during their subscription period by swapping titles in and out. Between 2000 and 2003, Xrefer offered a free site supported by advertising, and was one of Wikipedia's main competitors as a free content encyclopedia. When the dot com bust caused Internet advertising revenues to collapse, Xrefer launched a premium subscription variant, called "Xreferplus". On 17 June 2003, the free service stopped.
Coober Pedy is a small town in South Australia. It is famous for the opals which have been mined there since 1915. The town was first settled after opals were first discovered. The town is about half way between Adelaide and Alice Springs, on the Stuart Highway. The highway was named after the explorer John McDouall Stuart, who was the first Europen person to see the area in 1858.  The area around Coober Pedy is very dry, treeless flat desert. It has a hot desert climate (BWh in the Koeppen climate classification). The town has about 1700 people, many of whom live in underground houses to keep out of the heat. The name comes from two Aboriginal words which mean "white men in holes in the ground."
George Balabushka (December 9, 1912 – December 5, 1975) was a Russian-born American billiards (pool) cue maker. He may have been the most important cue stick maker. He is sometimes called "the Stradivarius of cuemakers". His full name or last name alone is often used to refer to a cue stick made by him. He arrived in the U.S. in 1942. He worked at different carpentry and toy and furniture making jobs. He loved playing pool and bought a pool room with a business partner in 1959. Then he started making cues as gifts for friends. This soon became a business when others wanted to buy them. Balabushka made about 1,200 handcrafted cues during his 16 year career from 1959 to his death in 1975. His cues are highly valued collectors items. They appeared in Martin Scorsese's 1986 film, "The Color of Money". Original Balabushka cues may sell for tens of thousands of dollars at auction. Life and career. Early life. George Balabushka was born in Russia on December 9, 1912 and immigrated to the United States in 1924 at 12 years of age. His family, parents Anton and Natalie and younger sister Mary, settled in New York City. Although originally named Gregori, according to Balabushka he was given a new first name, George, by emigration officials when he was processed through Ellis Island. Employment. Balabushka's first job was as a wooden toy designer and maker at the Educational Equipment Company. in Manhattan, The company made building blocks for nurseries and schools. Later, he built children's furniture for the Playtime Woodworking Company in Greenwich Village. While working, Balabushka lost his middle finger to a band saw. Using a wooden mold, he made himself a replacement plastic finger. It was very realistic so that even his friends did not realize his loss until long after the incident. As Balabushka's carpentry skills improved he began building accordions and other detailed carpentry pieces on his own time. Balab
A ballad is a form of verse. It is often a story set to music. Ballads were popular in British and Irish poetry and music until the 19th century from the late medieval period. It was also used in Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides. Poets and composers from the 18th century used this form. In this way, they produced lyrical ballads. In the later 19th century, ballads were slow form of popular love song. The term is now often used as synonymous with any love song, particularly the pop or rock "power ballad".  Power ballad. Power ballad is a name given to love songs that were predictably included in heavy metal albums in the 1980s.  The power ballad was usually slower in tempo and much less aggressive in lyrics than the other music on the album. The songs were often made in a hope of scoring a Top Forty hit, and were particularly associated with bands in the hard metal genre. Examples include Poison's "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead Or Alive".
Le Puy-en-Velay is a commune. It is found in the Haute-Loire department in the south of France. &lt;br&gt; Sister cities. Le-Puy-en-Velay is twinned with:
Lons-le-Saunier is a spa town in France. It is the prefecture of the Jura department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. Sister cities. Lons-le-Saunier is twinned with:
The following is a list of the 544 communes of the Jura "département", in France. Tancua was included in Morbier on January 1, 2007.
The Liffey ("An Life" in Irish) is a river in Ireland. It flows through the centre of Dublin. The river supplies much of Dublin's water. Major rivers that flow into the Liffey are the River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac. History of the name. The river was called "An Ruirthech", meaning "fast (or strong) runner" before it was called Liffey. The word "Liphe" (or "Life") was the name of the plain ("flat area of land") through which the river flowed but was later used to name the river itself. It was also known as the Anna Liffey, possibly because of the Irish for "River Liffey" - "Abhainn na Life" which sounds like "Anna Liffey" in English. Flow. The Liffey starts with a lot of small streams in the Liffey Head Bog between Kippure and Tonduff in the Wicklow mountains. It flows for around through counties Wicklow, Kildare and Dublin. It flows into the Irish Sea at the mid-point of Dublin Bay. Most of its length is in Kildare. The Liffey has a lot of tributaries ("rivers that flow into it"). Its major tributaries include the King's River, River Dodder, the River Poddle and the River Camac. The Liffey does not have any natural lakes, and has only a few islands. There are a few areas with rapids, mostly as the river comes close to Dublin city. There are dams built for three hydroelectric power stations along the river, at Poulaphouca, Golden Falls and Leixlip. A large reservoir is built at Poulaphouca. Towns along the river include Ballymore Eustace, Athgarvan, Kilcullen, Newbridge, Caragh, Clane, Celbridge, Leixlip and Lucan before the river reaches the city of Dublin as it approaches its mouth. Navigation and uses. The River Liffey in Dublin city was used for many centuries for trade. The Vikings already used
The Sin of Madelon Claudet is a 1931 American drama movie. The screenplay was adapted from the play "The Lullaby" by Edward Knoblock. It tells the story of a woman who was put in jail for the crime she did not commit and later had to turn to theft and prostitution to support her son. In 1932 Helen Hayes won an Academy Award for her leading role in it and was named a Favorite Actress at the first Venice Film Festival.
The fallow deer ("Dama dama") is a type of deer from the family Cervidae. The animal originally lived in Eurasia, though it has been brought it to other parts of the world, such as Australia. The male is called a buck, the female is a doe, and the young a fawn. They live for about 12–16 years. All of the fallow deer have white spots on their backs, and black tips at the ends of their tails. Only bucks have antlers, which are wide and shaped like a shovel. They are grazing animals. They like to live in an area that is mixed woodland and open grassland. They try to stay together in groups of up to 150. Colours. They have a lot of different coloured coats (hair). There are four main colours: "common", "menil", "melanistic" and "white". The common coat is a brown coat with white spots that are best seen in the summer. In the winter the coat is much darker. The white coat is lightest colored, almost white. The common and menil coat are darker. The melanistic coat is very dark, sometimes even black. Historical herds. One noted historical herd of fallow deer is kept in the Ottenby Preserve in Öland, Sweden. Karl X Gustav built a drystone wall of four kilometres long around a royal fallow deer herd in the mid 17th century. The herd still exists as of 2006. Another herd lives in Phoenix Park in Ireland. 400-450 fallow deer descend from the original herd introduced in the 1660s.
The MacDonnell Ranges are a long narrow range of mountains in the Northern Territory of Australia. They run in an almost straight line from east to west for hundreds of kilometres, on either side of Alice Springs. The Western MacDonnell Ranges have some spectacular gaps right through the range. Some of these such as Simpsons Gap, and Standley Chasm are major tourist attractions. The Heavitree Gap allows road and rail access to Alice Springs right through the mountains. They were named by the explorer John McDouall Stuart after Sir Richard MacDonnell, the Governor of South Australia. The ranges are protected by the West MacDonnell National Park There is a long walking trail along the ranges called the Larapinta Trail. The Arrente people, the indigenous Australian people who live in the area, believe the mountains were once giant caterpillars, called "Yerrenye".