Known as the All-Father, Odin is often accompanied by two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, along with the wolves Geri and Freki; the god rides into battle atop an eight-legged steed, Sleipnir, and wields the mighty spear Gungnir, which was fashioned for him by the dwarves known as the Sons of Ivaldi and is said to never miss its target.
A defining feature of Odin is his being one-eyed, a result of him having sacrificed an eye to drink from the Well of Urðr, which granted him an incomprehensible amount of knowledge of the universe. Odin himself often receives counsel from the severed head of the being Mímir, which recites secret knowledge to him. Half of the souls of those slain in battle will be guided by the Valkyries, battle maidens, to Valhalla, Odin's enormous and majestic hall: the other half go to Fólkvangr, Freyja's realm. Odin was known in Old English as Wōden, in Old Saxon as Wōdan, and in Old High German as Wuotan or Wōtan, all of which stem from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic *"wōđanaz".
The modern English weekday name Wednesday bears the god’s name. (from Old English "Wōdnesdæg", “Wōden’s day”).
Odin is the son of Borr and the jötunn Bestla. He is married to the goddess Frigg, by whom he is the father of the twin gods Baldr and Höðr. With the giantesses Gríðr and Rindr, Odin has two other sons named Víðarr and Váli. His eldest son is Thor, god of thunder, born to him by Jörð, the personification of the Earth.
Qazi Muhammad
Qazi Muhammad (1893-1947) was the Nationalist and Religious Kurdish leader and the Head of Republic of Mahabad (Republic of Kurdistan), the second modern Kurdish state in the Middle East (after Republic of Ararat). He acted as the president of the Russian backed Republic of Mahabad, in Kurdistan of Iran (Eastern Kurdistan) in 1946. He was also the founder of the Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran. A year later, the Kurdish national movement (Komeley Jiyanewey Kurd) that he helped organize was crushed by Iran's central government. The Iranian military court sentenced him to death, and he was hanged in Chuwarchira Square in the center of city of Mahabad at March 30 1947. Mustafa Barzani, the father of nationalist Kurdish movement in Iraqi Kurdistan (Southern Kurdistan), was the defence minister in his cabinet. One of his sons Ali Qazi is today an active member in the kurdish movement.
Brine
Brine is water that has more than 5% salt in it. It is used for preserving food. For this it is much like vinegar or sugar. Brine is also used to transport heat. Adding salt to water lowers the freezing point of the water. The solubility of salt in water depends on temperature. At 15.5 ° Celsius, a saturated solution of brine can hold 26.4 % salt by weight. At 0°, it can hold 23.3% salt.
Brines also have some pharmaceutical properties, which can be used to treat people, especially those with diseases of the skin, allergies and common colds.
1450s
1855
Aladdin
Aladdin is a fictional person from the story "Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp", which is part of the "Book of One Thousand and One Nights".
The young man Aladdin is told by a sorcerer (magician), who is pretending to be his uncle, to get him an oil lamp from a cave. Aladdin gets the lamp, but the sorcerer tries to trick him. So, Aladdin keeps the lamp for himself. Aladdin learns that inside the lamp there is a djinn. The djinn can fulfill every wish of the lamp's owner. With the djinn's help, Aladdin becomes rich and powerful and marries a princess.
The sorcerer returns and tricks Aladdin's wife into giving him the magic lamp. Aladdin finds out that in a ring he has, there is another djinn. This djinn helps Aladdin defeat the sorcerer, get back the magic lamp, and save his wife.
There have been different versions of the story:
Nirvana
In Buddhism, Nirvana is the state of perfect peace free from reincarnation reached by not wanting more than you have. It means happiness and peace. It is every Buddhist's goal to achieve Nirvana. The Buddha described it as:
“the far shore, the subtle, the very difficult to see, the unaging, the stable, the undisintegrating, the unmanifest, the unproliferated, the peaceful, the deathless, the sublime, the auspicious, the secure, the destruction of craving, the wonderful, the amazing, the unailing, the unailing state, the unafflicted, dispassion, purity, freedom, the unadhesive, the island, the shelter, the asylum, the refuge...” (SN 43:14)
Lahti
Lahti is a city in Päijänne Tavastia, Finland. Literally it means "bay". It is part of the province of Southern Finland. As of April 2014, there were about 103,450 people living in Lahti. Lahti was the eighth biggest city in Finland as of 31 August 2012.
The concert house Sibelius Hall () in Lahti is named after Jean Sibelius. Many stars, including Antti Tuisku, have performed there.
Lahti's transport was big already at 14th century. Lahti was first a village that belonged to Hollola. It was been burned in 1877. Lahti has been a city since 1905. The population then was 2,779.
In 2016, Nastola merged with the city of Lahti.
British Virgin Islands
The British Virgin Islands are part of the Virgin Islands, which are chain of islands in the Caribbean, the territory is part of the United Kingdom. The British Virgin Islands are the Eastern half of the island chain, and they are a British Overseas Territory. The British Virgin Islands has sixteen islands which people live on. They have more than twenty islands with no inhabitants (people). Over 22,000 people live there, which is many fewer than the neighbouring United States Virgin Islands.
The capital city, Road Town, is on Tortola, one of the islands in the group. Most of the people live on Tortola, but the other main inhabited islands (islands with people) are Anegada, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke.
The islands were originally lived in by Caribbean Indians called Arawaks. By the time the first European explorers discovered the British Virgin Islands all of the Arawaks had left. The first Europeans to try and settle in the British Virgin Islands were the Dutch, but the English came soon after and the English and the Dutch settlers used to fight. The Spanish also claimed the islands, but no Spanish people ever tried to settle there. But the Spanish did attack the British and Dutch settlers.
In 1672 the British took control of the islands during a war against the Dutch and they have held on to them ever since.
During the early years after European settlement the British Virgin Islands was a plantation economy which relied heavily upon slave labour. After slavery was abolished in the British Virgin Islands there was a long period of decline and many people left. Those who remained were mostly descended from African slaves, although many of them also left to try and find better lives elsewhere.
In the 1950s the British Virgin Islands got its own government, and the economy of the islands began to get better with the introduction of tourism and financial services.
The British Virgin Islands are mostly indepependent, but some parts of the Government is run by the United Kingdom.
A new constitution was introduced in 2007. It grants more control over everyday life to the Islanders, and lists the protection a person can expect from the government. The head of Government in the British Virgin Islands is called the Premier, and he is in charge of a group of ministers of Government which is called the Cabinet. Laws are passed by a group of elected politicians in the House of Assembly. Most of the international relations are still dealt with by the British Government in London on behalf of the people of the British Virgin Islands.
Most people in the British Virgin Islands work in the tourist trade or in financial services. There are also a small number of farmers and fishermen.
Lamp