Names are often written with the last names first.
Numbers can be sorted in two ways. Sometimes, they are listed in order from smallest to largest. This is the normal way to sort numbers.
Other times, they can be sorted as if they were normal, spelled-out words. This way is often used for numbers in titles.
Bad Rodach
Bad Rodach is a German town in the north of Franconia. Next bigger cities are Hildburghausen and Coburg. Its population is ca. 7,000. Its mayor is Gerold Strobel.
M.I.A.
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (born 17 July 1977 in Hounslow, London) is an acclaimed artist, movie graduate and musician. She is the daughter of a Tamil revolutionary. She is best known by her stage name M.I.A. Her music style contains elements of grime, alternative, hip-hop, dance, and electronic music.
M.I.A. graduated from Central St. Martin's College of Art and Design with a degree in fine art, film and video. She has been noted for her idiosyncratic style in her music, her sense of fashion, and other artistic output.
In 2000, she did the cover artwork for the album "The Menace," by Elastica and directed the music video for their single "Mad Dog God Dam." She filmed a North American tour of the band. In 2002, she published a book of art inspired by the Tamil rebellion and her childhood in Sri Lanka. She met the musician Peaches who introduced M.I.A. to the Roland MC 505. M.I.A. wrote and recorded several songs on a demo using a 505, including the song "Galang."
"Galang" was initially released in 2003 on the white-label Showbiz Recordings. It became popular with DJs and garnered acclaim.
M.I.A. signed to XL Recordings in 2004. The song "Sunshowers" and "Galang" were re-released. Through 2004, file-sharing of the two singles and leaked promos of "Arular" on the internet increased anticipation for her debut album "Arular".
One of the first artists to break on the internet, M.I.A. ended 2004 making "Piracy Funds Terrorism," a mash-up mixtape of "Arular" tracks produced by herself and DJ Diplo.
in 2005, M.I.A. released her debut album, "Arular", which is named for her father. It sold over 100,000 copies. The most popular song off the album was "Galang" which appeared in a Honda advertisement. On the album, there is a hidden track called "M.I.A.". The listener hears nothing for a minute or two, then a new track starts playing.
"Kala" is M.I.A.'s second album. Track listing as follows:
Key (music)
Most music is in a particular key. This means that one of the 12 notes (C, D flat, D, etc.) sounds like the “home note”. When the piece finishes it normally comes to rest on this home note (also called: the “tonic”). The piece will be built on the notes of the scale that starts on that note. There are two kinds of key (like there are two kinds of scale): major and minor. Sometimes the key of a piece is in its title: "Minuet in C", "Sonata in F sharp major". If the title does not say “major” or “minor” it is normally taken to be major.
Otaku
Otaku is a Japanese slang word, deriving from the honorific "おたく" (otaku), meaning "your house", that has come to mean someone who obsessively exerts time, money, and energy into a hobby. Otaku have a deep, complex knowledge around a particular subject or area of study, and is oftentimes (esp. in the West) used to refer to avid consumers of anime and manga. The term can be compared with Hikikomori"."
In Japan, "otaku" has generally regarded as an offensive word, due to the negative cultural perception of withdrawal from society. However, the otaku philosophy of living has gained traction among Japanese youth and adolescents, likely as a reaction to the established culture of intense work and academic studies. Under 30’s have developed a neo-otaku identity with more positive associations of being a geek or . In the West, the word usually describes an anime or manga "fanatic" and is not typically perceived as derogatory.
Circle of fifths
In music theory the Circle of fifths shows how the different keys are related to one another. It is usually shown as a circle with the names of keys around it. If you take any key in the circle, its fifth is the one to its right. It can be easily understood together with a piano keyboard.
On a piano there are white and black notes (confusingly these are also called “keys”). The white notes are named by the letters A to G of the alphabet. After G comes another A and so on. The black notes go in threes and twos. This makes it easy to see the pattern of white notes. Where there are two black notes together, for example, the white note between them is D. The black notes do not have names of their own. They are named after the white notes next to them. The black note just above (i.e. to the right) of a G is a G sharp. The black note just below (i.e. to the left) of the G is G flat. This means that each black note has two possible names (e.g. G flat or F sharp).
Playing each note in turn, whether a white or a black note, will give a chromatic scale (e.g. C, C sharp, D, E flat, E, F, F sharp, G, A flat, A, B flat, B, C). Each step is called a “semitone” or “half tone”. A “tone” or “whole tone” therefore is a jump of two semitones (C to D, or C sharp to E flat, or E to F sharp).
By playing on white notes from C to the next C we get a major scale. Some of the steps are tones and some are semitones. The semitones come between E and F and between B and C, i.e. between the 3rd and 4th and between the 7th and 8th note of the scale. All major scales have this pattern (tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone).
Each time we went to a sharper key we took the note which was the 5th note of the previous scale (G, with one sharp, was the 5th note of C major. D, with two sharps, was the 5th note of G, etc.).
In a diagram this can be shown as a circle which is called the “Circle of Fifths”. As we get sharper and sharper we go clockwise round the circle.
The flats work in exactly the opposite way. Instead of going up to the fifth note (e.g. C,D,E,F,G) we can go down a fifth (C,B,A,G,F). F is the scale which has one flat. As we get flatter and flatter we go counter-clockwise round the circle until all seven notes are flattened.
It can be seen that three of the scales each have two possible names: B major (with 5 sharps) can also be thought of as C flat major (with seven flats), F sharp major (with 6 sharps) can also be thought of as G flat major (with 6 flats), and C sharp major (with 7 sharps) can also be thought of as D flat major (with 5 flats).
Relative minors (the minor scale with the same key signature) can also be worked out by going round three steps of the circle (C major is the relative major of A minor, i.e. it shares the same key signature: nothing). On a keyboard the relative minor can be worked out by going down three semitones (from C go down to B, Bflat, A).
Haddock
Haddock is a fish that lives in the Atlantic ocean. It only lives in the sea. Haddocks are important fish for the fishing industry. The fish can be easily recognised by a black line on the white side of the fish. Pollock is a fish with reversed coloring, white line on a black background.
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht (also called Reichskristallnacht, Reichspogromnacht, ) was a two-day pogrom that happened against Jews in Nazi Germany and parts of Austria. It was between 9 and 10 November 1938. About 30,000 Jews were moved to concentration camps, and over 1,500 synagogues were pillaged and partly destroyed. Also, almost all Jewish cemeteries in Germany and Austria were destroyed. This marked the change from discriminating against Jews to actively persecuting and deporting them.