ejaasaari/simplewiki-2025-04-01 huggingface dataset:
Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a military strategy in which two opposing military forces are powerful enough to completely destroy each other. It should help to avoid a nuclear war. This usually happens when both forces have nuclear weapons. If a state attacks another with nuclear weapons, the state attacked will potentially be able to attack back. The attacker must think that he will be destroyed with his victim if he attacks. The theory is that no state would start an attack if attacking its enemy means its own destruction. The concept was first discussed by the futurist, theorist and military strategist Herman Kahn, the founder of the Hudson Institute, who first used the term "mutual assured destruction" in 1962 during the height of the Cold War. The acronym "MAD", was used by Donald Brennan, a strategist working in Kahn's Hudson Institute, in 1962. Brennan used the acronym cynically, spelling out the English word "mad" to argue that holding weapons capable of destroying society was irrational.
Stairway to Heaven was a 1971 song by Led Zeppelin. It was on the album Led Zeppelin IV. Hidden Satanic message. Some listeners claim that by reversing the song, a hidden Satanic message is revealed. The message is: Oh, here's to my sweet Satan&lt;br&gt; The one whose little path would make me sad whose power is Satan&lt;br&gt; He'll give, he'll give you 666&lt;br&gt; There was a little toolshed where he made us suffer, sad Satan It's unlikely such a message was intentionally hidden in the song; rather, it is just a bizarre coincidence.
Thin Lizzy are an Irish hard rock band that started in Dublin in 1969. Up to 1984 the band were led by bassist, songwriter, and singer Phil Lynott (1949-1986). The band's famous song "The Boys Are Back in Town" is still played a lot on classic rock radio stations. Since Lynott's death, other former members have carried on using the band name. Phil Lynott wrote most of the band's songs. The band's music showed many musical styles including: country music, psychedelic rock, Celtic music, and folk music which Lynott mixed with hard rock and heavy metal styles. Thin Lizzy were listed at number 51 on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".
Aziz al-Abub (a.k.a. Ibrahim al-Nadhir or al-Nahdhir) was a Lebanese Hezbollah psychiatrist and mind control expert. Aziz was a disciple of Ewen Cameron and a graduate of the Soviet Union's that specialized in mind control techniques. Aziz al-Abub used mind-control, drugs and physical torture in the infamous 444-day (1984-1985) torture and mental derangement of American in Beirut.
Hobbits are a fictional race in the Middle-earth world invented by J. R. R. Tolkien, also often called "halflings". They appeared in the books "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". Several important main characters in those books are hobbits, such as Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins.  Hobbits (or similar beings) have become very popular and are now often used in fantasy fiction and (video) games. Appearance. Hobbits are like small humans between two and four foot tall (between 60 and 120 centimeters). They have hair/fur on the top side of their feet, leathery foot-soles, and slightly pointed ears. They tend to be stout and often have brown and curly hair. Male hobbits do not have beards. Hobbits live longer compared to humans, and many hobbits reach the age of 100. Culture. Hobbits are a peaceful people and live a simple, pre-industrial life in the land which they call The Shire, and also in Bree-land. A typical hobbit-house has a long hallway with rooms on both sides, and round doors and windows. Originally these were underground in hills, then the house was called a "smial"; but this architecture(style of building) is also used for 'normal' houses above ground.
Bilbo Baggins is a Hobbit from "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". He is a major protagonist of "The Hobbit" and a minor protagonist of "The Lord of the Rings". Fictional biography. Bilbo Baggins was greeted by Gandalf the Grey and a group of 13 Dwarves known as the Company of Thorin Oakenshield. He was offered to help them to take back Erebor from the dragon Smaug. At the Misty Mountain, he landed at a cave and met Gollum. He took Gollum's One Ring and went back to his Company. Decades after returning from Erebor, he celebrated his 111th birthday as well as his nephew Frodo's birthday. He wanted to keep the One Ring. Peter Jackson adaptations (2001-2003, 2012-2014). In Peter Jackson's movie adaptations of both books, Bilbo was played by Martin Freeman when he was younger and Ian Holm when he was older.
Middle-earth is a fictional fantasy world invented by J. R. R. Tolkien. Several of his books take place there, such as "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings". It is supposed to be a long gone mythological time of our earth. Although Middle-earth is only one continent in Tolkien's world, it is often used for the whole fictional world and all stories Tolkien invented for it. Tolkien created and worked on Middle-earth through most of his life, and it is this creation for which he is most famous. Middle-earth has its own geography, several different species and peoples (elves, dwarves, humans, hobbits), their languages, and a history that spans thousands of years. The stories of Middle-earth are also a kind of 'artificial myth'. "Middle-earth" is called "Endor" (or "Endóre") and "Ennor" in the fictional Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin. Peoples. The oldest people of Middle-earth are the immortal Elves. Second were the Dwarves. After them came mortal Men. In the Third Age, there appeared another people, the Hobbits. There are also the tree-like Ents. Chronology. The history of the Middle-earth world is thousands of years long. Sometimes, when big historical events happen, a new "Age" is begun, which starts counting again with the year 1.
Arnold Josef Rosé (October 24, 1863 – August 25, 1946) was a famous violinist. He was the leader of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for 50 years. Early life. Arnold Rosé was born in Iaşi (Jassy) in what is now Romania. His family was Jewish. Their name at that time was Rosenblum. He had three brothers. All four boys were musical and so his parents decided to move to Vienna which was a big city in Austria where there was lots of music. Arnold's father was a carriage builder. In those days, people often travelled by horse and cart. His father made good quality carriages and he made plenty of money from his business. When Arnold was seven, he started music lessons. When he was ten he was good enough to study the violin at the Vienna Conservatorium which was a special school for musical pupils. Career. In 1881, he played a violin solo with a famous orchestra and famous conductor: the Vienna Philharmonic under Hans Richter. The piece he played was the Violin Concerto by Otto Goldmark. He was offered the job of orchestral leader. This was a very important position for such a young man. He stayed in that job for 50 years. Rosé did other work in addition to playing with the orchestra. He gave violin lessons to talented pupils. He like to play string quartets and he got together with three other players to make up the Rosé Quartet. They were very good and for more than half a century people said they were the best string quartet in Europe. Arnold's brother Eduard was the cellist in the quartet. They played works by lots of composers, especially Haydn, Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. Rosé knew the composer Johannes Brahms and they played some of Brahms’s compositions when they had only just been written, e.g. the clarinet quintet (for clarinet and string quartet).  The Rosé Quartet also knew the composer Schoenberg and helped him to get well known by playing his music. Another composer Rosé knew very well was Gustav Mahler. Mahler had two
The 10s were a decade that began on 1 January 10 and ended on 31 December 19.
The Pontiac Silverdome was a domed stadium in the town of Pontiac, Michigan, near Detroit. It opened in 1975 and closed in 2007. The largest crowds to come to the stadium were for WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987, where the main event was a match between Hulk Hogan and André the Giant. The crowd attendance for that night reached 93,173, which is also the record for indoor attendance. The Detroit Lions NFL team played at the stadium from 1975 until 2001.
The Estonian language () is a Uralic language. It is mainly spoken in Estonia. The Estonian language is similar to Finnish and is one of the few national languages of Europe not to be an Indo-European language.  The Estonian alphabet uses the Latin alphabet. It has many vowels, including Ö, Ä, Õ and Ü. It has been influenced by and adopted many words from German and Swedish. The Estonian language also has different dialects.
The chromosomes of a cell are in the cell nucleus. They carry the genetic information. Chromosomes are made up of DNA and protein combined as chromatin. Each chromosome contains many genes. Chromosomes come in pairs: one set from the mother; the other set from the father. Cytologists label chromosomes with numbers. Chromosomes are present in every cell nucleus with very few and special exceptions. This means they are found in all eukaryotes, since only eukaryotes have cell nuclei. When eukaryote cells divide, the chromosomes also divide.  When a somatic (body) cell (such as a muscle cell) divides, the process is called mitosis. Before mitosis, the cell copies all the chromosomes and then it can divide. When they duplicate, chromosomes look like the letter "X". When they are doubled, the two halves are called chromatids (see diagram). The chromatids are joined at the centromere. There are 46 chromosomes in a human as 23 pairs. Everyone has a set of chromosomes from their father and a set from their mother. They include a pair of sex chromosomes. The mother's eggs always contain an X chromosome, while the father's sperm contains either a Y chromosome or an X chromosome. That determines the sex of the child. If the child gets a Y chromosome from the father it is male. If it gets an X from the father, it is female. To produce sex cells (gametes), the stem cells go through a different division process called meiosis. This reduces the 23 pairs (diploid) to 23 singles (haploid). These, when combined by fertilisation, produce the new set of 23 pairs. Different animals have different numbers of chromosomes. If a person does not have the usual number of chromosomes, they may die or have one or more peculiarities. For example, they might get a genetic disorder like Down syndrome (extra chromosome 21), or Klinefelter syndrome (a male with two X chromosomes). Some genetic disorders are more common than others. Polytene chromosomes. Polytene chromosomes are over-sized chromosomes which have developed from standard chromosomes. Specialized cells undergo repeated rounds of DNA
Giovanni Gabrieli (probably born Venice (date unknown), about 1553 - 57; died 21 August 1612, in Venice) was an Italian organist and composer.  He was very famous in his day and composed a great deal of church music; motets and madrigals. He lived at the end of the Renaissance period and beginning of the Baroque. About 1575, Giovanni began working for Orlando di Lasso at the Bavarian court, as his uncle Andres Gabrieli had before him. Little is known of his time in Munich, and he left in 1579 after the death of his patron, Duke Albrecht. There is no record of Gabrieli's activities until 1584 when he'd returned to Venice. That year he replaced organist Claudio Merulo at Basilica di San Marco, church of Venice's patron saint. Due to Merulo's resignation, a contest was eventually held January 1, 1585 to fill his post, which Gabrieli won, having already occupied the position anyway. Giovanni and his uncle, who had raised him and taught him music, worked together only a short time at the church before Andres died in August 1585. Giovanni held his post until he died in 1612. Also in 1585, Giovanni had been appointed as organist of Scuola Grande di San Rocco, where he composed ceremonial music. During all this, he was also a music teacher. Heinrich Schutz was one of his students. Giovanni is well known for being one of the first composers who specified volume markings and instrumentation in music.
Henry Purcell (born in Westminster, ; died in Westminster, 21 November 1695) was an English composer. Many musicians think he is the greatest English composer of all time. Although he only lived until he was 36, he wrote a large amount of music. His compositions include church music, instrumental music, music for the theatre, even popular drinking songs. He wrote the first English opera. He lived in the time called the Baroque period. He liked Italian and French music, and combined those styles to make something that was typically English. His life. Early years. We do not know very much about Purcell’s childhood. His mother’s name was Elizabeth. In 1664, Henry Purcell senior died and the widow took her children to live with her brother in law, Thomas Purcell, who was very kind to them. Thomas Purcell was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal which meant that he sang in the king’s choir. Soon Henry was singing in the Chapel Royal. This was the best musical training a boy could have in England. His teachers were Captain Henry Cooke, and then Pelham Humfrey. Henry sang in the choir until his voice broke in 1673. He was then given the job of looking after the king’s musical instruments.  Purcell may have been composing already when he was nine. We know that he wrote an ode for the King's birthday in 1670. When Humfrey died Purcell studied with the famous composer John Blow. He went to Westminster School. In 1676 he was made organist at Westminster Abbey. He started writing music for the theatre. He also wrote church music, including an anthem for a singer called John Gostling who had a very good, deep bass voice. Purcell wrote several anthems for him during his life. One is called "They that go down to the sea in ships". It goes down to a low D. Later career. In 1680, Blow, who had been made organist of Westminster Abbey in 1669, resigned so that the 22-years-old Purcell could have his job. Purcell then spent the next six years just writing sacred (religious) music. Later he went
Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a famous German composer. He started his career as a pianist. He was always very self-critical and destroyed any composition he thought was not really good. He thought that people were expecting him to be the “next Beethoven”, and spent many years on his first symphony before he allowed it to be performed. In the end, he wrote four symphonies altogether, as well as four concertos and a number of choral works, including a requiem. He also wrote chamber music, piano music, and German art songs, or "Lieder". One of his best known songs is "Wiegenlied" ("cradle song"), often called "Brahms' Lullaby," which is often heard in music boxes. His life. Early years. Brahms was born in Germany. His father was a double bass player in the Hamburg city orchestra. He probably gave the young boy his first music lessons. He soon was learning the piano with a teacher named Otto Cossel. When Brahms played in a public concert in 1843 an American agent asked him to tour America, but his teacher realized he was too young. He said that Johannes should study with Eduard Marxsen, a well-known teacher in Hamburg. By 1848 he was playing piano recitals. He also started to compose, and he sent some of his compositions to Robert Schumann to ask for his advice. Schumann sent the parcel back unopened. At this time there were many Hungarian musicians in Hamburg. Brahms liked their folk music with its unusual rhythms, little triplet figures and sense of rubato. It was to influence his own style of composition. One of the Hungarians was called Remenyi. He played the violin and Brahms often accompanied him at concerts. They went on tour together and met famous people such as the composer Franz Liszt and the violinist Joseph Joachim who became a close friend of Brahms for many years. Joachim told Brahms to go and see Schumann and his wife Clara in Düsseldorf. Schumann liked Brahms and could see that he was going
Béla Bartók (b. Nagyszentimiklós, Hungary, 25 March 1881; d. New York City 26 September 1945) was a famous Hungarian composer and pianist. He was one of the most important and original composers of the 20th century. He became very interested in folk music and travelled a lot in Hungary and other countries, including Romania, listening to the folk songs which the country people sang. He often used the style of these songs in his music. He is famous for his piano music, string quartets and several pieces for orchestra including one called "Concerto for Orchestra". Bartók’s harmonies and lively rhythms were sometimes quite new to classical music and some audiences found them difficult to understand at first. Childhood and early years. Béla Bartók was born in the small town of Nagyszentmiklós. In those days it was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but today it is in Romania. When he was very small he showed great musical talent, and his mother taught him to play the piano. Béla was often ill when he was a child. When he was seven his father died, and his mother took him and his sister to live in Nagyszőlős (today it is called Vinogradiv and is in Ukraine), and then to Pozsony (today it is Bratislava in Slovakia). There he gave his first public recital when he was eleven. He included some music which he had composed himself. Early musical career. Soon he was studying the piano with István Thoman who had studied with the famous Franz Liszt. He had lessons in composition from János Koessler at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. There he met the composer Zoltán Kodály, who was a great influence on him and who became a lifelong friend. He soon started to compose longer pieces of music. He liked the music of Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy and these influenced his style of music. He started to be interested in folk music. This can be heard in the first of his six string quartets. Bartók and Kodály
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh, OM CH (born Lowestoft, 22 November 1913; died Aldeburgh, 4 December 1976) was one of the greatest English composers of his time. He came from East Anglia (a region in the East of England) and he often thought about the East Anglian landscape and the sea when writing his music. He wrote a lot of music for his long-term partner, the tenor Peter Pears. His operas include "Peter Grimes", "Billy Budd", "A Midsummer Night’s Dream", and "Death in Venice". His "War Requiem" was performed in Coventry Cathedral in 1962 after it had been rebuilt because the old cathedral had been destroyed in the war. He wrote music for children which sounds like proper, adult music. Britten started the Aldeburgh Festival. He was an excellent pianist and conductor. Life. Early years. Benjamin Britten started composing music at the age of five although he had no one to help him. When he was ten years old he took part in an amateur music festival in Norwich. A composer called Frank Bridge heard him and was so impressed that he offered to teach him composition. He helped Britten to compose using proper musical techniques. Britten started to get to know music by a lot of important modern composers including Schoenberg and Bartók. In 1930 he went to the Royal College of Music. He had excellent piano teachers but he did not learn much from his composition teacher John Ireland and most of the music he wrote was never performed. Britten was more interested in music from abroad than in English music. In 1934 he heard the opera "Wozzeck" by Alban Berg. He wanted to go to Austria to study with Berg but he was not allowed to. Meanwhile, some of his first proper compositions started to be performed. He wrote some music for movies that were being made by the General Post Office, including one about a train delivering mail. The music describes the rhythm of the train rushing along. USA. While working on the movie music he met the writer W. H. Auden. He started to
Claudio Monteverdi (b.Cremona, 1567; d.Venice 25 November 1643) was the most important composer of the early Baroque period. He lived at a time of great change in musical style. The first opera ever written was composed in 1597 by a composer named Jacopo Peri. Just eleven years later Monteverdi wrote an opera "Orfeo" which was a really great work. Other important operas of his are "Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda" and "Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria". He wrote 9 books of madrigals. He also wrote a lot of church music including the "1610 Vespers". He was director of music at St Mark’s, Venice, which was the most important musical job in Italy. Early life in Cremona. Monteverdi was the son of an apothecary and a doctor. He was very talented as a young boy and was only 15 when he published his first pieces of music. In the introduction to this music he says that his music teacher was Marc’ Antonio Ingegneri, the maestro di cappella of Cremona cathedral. We cannot find anything that shows that he sang in the cathedral choir. He probably had private music lessons. He learned composition, singing and how to play string instruments such as the viol and viola da braccio. He got several compositions published in Venice. By the time he got his first job he had already published two books of madrigals. Mantua. His first job was working at the court of the Duke of Mantua. In Mantua there was a small band of excellent musicians. The musical director was the famous Giaches de Wert. Monteverdi got to know many famous poets, and there were famous singers at Ferrara which was not far away. At first Monteverdi had a low-paid job. He married the daughter of one of the court musicians in the string band. Monteverdi soon became well-known. He sent several of his compositions to be performed at Ferrara, and he went with the duke to when his
Charles Stuart "Charlie" Kaufman (born November 1, 1958) is an American screenwriter. Some of the movies he wrote screenplays for are "Being John Malkovich", "Adaptation", "Human Nature", and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Charlie Kaufman is known for writing very surreal movies - that is, movies where the plot has things in it that could never happen in real life, or that make the audience notice that they are watching a movie. He is one of the most celebrated screenwriters for now.
An oxbow lake is a lake, or area of water, in a U-shape. It is made by special bends in a river, called meanders, getting farther away from the river until they become separate. The river becomes straight and the bend becomes a lake. This happens due to floods or when a meander's neck gets too thin. Why does this happen? Water flows at different speeds at different parts of the river. In the middle, farthest away from the sides (or banks), the water flows fastest. At the banks, the water flows slowest. When the river bends, water flows faster on the outside of the bend than the inside. The fast water on the outside 'erodes' the outside of the bend. This means it breaks bits of the bank off. At the same time, the slow water on the inside of the bend leaves behind mud, sand and parts of plants (deposition). Together, these make the bend move in the direction of the outside of the bend.  The bend moves farther and farther along until it leaves the river. The river becomes straight and the bend is left as an oxbow lake.