Some late 18th-century kinds of couches had an arm running partly down one side, and this type continued to be made in England. In Greek places, there were flowing designs with all kind of elegant colors. Many of them had scrolled ends and short legs. The couch was later taken over by the overstuffed sofa during the Victorian age.
Because the couch is usually set in front of the TV, it is the main place where people usually sit and watch it. Lazy people would eventually seem to be stuck to it all the time. This person, a person who does not do a lot of physical activity, was called a "couch potato". This was also because potatoes do not move at all, and does not do anything but just sits there. This may also be considered as slang. Couch came from the word "couche", which means, "a bed, lair," or from the word "coucher", which means "to lie down."
The most common types of couches in homes are the "love seats" for two, or the "sofa" for more than two. Other couches include the "divan" or the ""fainting couch"", which usually does not have a back. Couches are usually bought in a set together with cushions, which give them a bouncey and decorative comfortable touch.
Jena Lee
Jena Lee (born 29 July, 1987 in Chile) is a French singer.
She was adopted by a French family at the age of nine months. In 2007, Jena Lee met Sulee B Wax, who was interested in her work. At this point in time Lee wrote the song "Some Share". The song was used in an album by Sherifa Luna. Jena Lee wrote six out of the thirteen songs that are on Sherifa Luna's album.
In 2008, Jena Lee won the Urban Music Nation contest by Skyrock. Her first single "J'aimerais Tellement" was released in April 2009 along with a music video. It was at the top of the French single charts for eleven weeks. It had the highest number of downloads in November 2009.
Sinik
Sinik (real name Thomas Gerard Idir; born on 26 June 1980) is a famous French rapper. His parents are Algerian. Thomas was four years old when his parents moved to Bergères in France.
Porridge
Porridge is a food which is made with a cereal, usually oats. The oats are boiled in water or milk, or both. It is usually served hot in a bowl or dish. Some people add things to their porridge such as sugar or syrup. In Scotland salt is often added.
Porridge is a traditional food in many countries in Northern Europe. It is usually eaten for breakfast. In some countries barley or other grains may be used. Porridge is cooked in saucepans or in a microwave. Traditionally, it was cooked in large metal kettles over hot coals. Porridge was often served as food for prisoners in prisons. This is why in English there is a slang expression "doing porridge" which means "being in prison". Porridge is also given to people who are ill because it is nourishing and easy to eat.
Semolina and gruel are foods which are quite similar to porridge. Semolina is usually served as a pudding. Gruel is a similar but thinner concoction to porridge. It is semi-liquid and usually drunk rather than eaten. Oliver Twist, in the famous book by Charles Dickens, was given gruel to eat.
Historically, heavy foods were eaten because most work was manual. Before the industrial revolution, men and women doing hard work needed more calories per day than they need today. At any rate this applies to countries which are highly mechanized. Porridge is a good example of the heavy calorie-laden food which has gradually gone out of favour.
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens is an optical lens, which was originally developed for Lighthouses. It is named after its inventor, French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel. The name is pronounced /freɪˈnɛl/ (fray-NELL), the 's' is silent. Before Fresnel, Buffon and Condorcet proposed a similar design, as a way to make large burning lenses.
The design allows the construction of lenses of large aperture and short focal length without the weight and volume of material that would be required in conventional lens design. Compared to earlier lenses, the Fresnel lens is much thinner. More light can pass through. Lighthouses that use these kind of lenses can be seen from farther away.
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born near Berlin, 5 September 1791; died Paris, 2 May 1864) was a famous German-born opera composer. He was the most important composer of French Grand opera during the 1830s and 1840s. Although he was tremendously popular in his day, his music is not often played now.
Meyerbeer was born into a rich Jewish family in Tasdorf (now a part of Rüdersdorf), near Berlin. His father owned large sugar refineries in Berlin and in Italy. His mother also came from a rich family. Her father had been important in Germany’s struggle to be free of the French in 1812 when Napoleon was trying to conquer much of Europe. Giacomo’s mother did a lot of good work trying to help people who were wounded during the Napoleonic wars.
Many famous people came to the house where Giacomo’s family lived. Some of the visitors were from the royal Prussian court, including the future King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt also visited them quite often.
The first piano teacher the boy had was Franz Lauska, who also taught the royal princes. He also had lessons in composition. Meyerbeer first played in public in 1801 playing Mozart's Piano Concerto in D Minor in Berlin. He wrote his first opera in 1810. In the same year he went to Darmstadt to study with the well-known music theorist Abbé Vogler. There he met the young Carl Maria von Weber who was also a pupil of Vogler. He left Vogler in 1811 and tried to get some work in Munich. In 1813 he found he had been offered a job as court composer to the Grand Duke of Hessen. Vogler had probably recommended him for the job. At this time Meyerbeer was better known as a pianist than as a composer. He travelled to London to hear an important pianist based there, namely J.B.Cramer. There he met other famous pianists such as Kalkbrenner and Ferdinand Ries.
In 1816 Meyerbeer went to Italy. He wanted to learn about Italian opera and collect Italian folksongs. While he intended at first to stay only three months, he stayed most of the next nine years. He made some trips back to Germany and Austria during this time. He composed several operas which became very popular. People started to compare him with the famous Rossini. However, in Germany people were not interested in his music. He took his opera "Il crociato in Egitto" to London and then to Paris, where it was a success. The opera is remembered now for being the last opera ever to have a part for a castrato singer.
He was becoming well-known now. Spontini asked him to compose an opera for Berlin. He became friends, in Paris, with the librettist Eugène Scribe who had a lot of influence in the French theatre.
From 1825 onwards Meyerbeer spent his life travelling about Europe. He was often in Paris and in Berlin, but did not live in either of these places. He stayed in hotels or private houses wherever he went. One reason why he travelled was because of his health. His wife also had bad health, so they often went to spa towns to try to get better. He also travelled about to watch productions of his operas, and to hear young singers.
When Carl Maria von Weber died, he left an opera, "Die drei Pintos", unfinished. It was sent to Meyerbeer in the hope that he would finish it, but he did not seem interested. In the end Mahler finished it many years later.
Meyerbeer made changes to "Il crociato in Egitto" and turned it into a grand opera for the Opéra in Paris. He changed it from an Italian to a French opera, composing extra dance music and a new overture. He was determined to be famous in Paris.
In 1826 he married his cousin. They had two children, but they both died when they were very small.