Ice hockey is a sport that is played by two teams on ice. The players wear ice skates on their feet and can skate across the ice at very high speeds. They hold hockey sticks, which they use to push, shoot or pass a puck around the ice. The players score by shooting the puck into a net; the goaltenders try to stop them. Six players on each team play at once, but a whole team has over 20 players. Each team has 2 defenders, 3 forwards, and a goalie on the ice at a time. When a player breaks a rule, a referee calls a penalty, and the player has to sit in a penalty box for 2-4 minutes. While the player sits in the penalty box, his team has to play without him, and will have fewer players on the ice until the penalty is over.
Ice hockey is very well-known and well-liked in Canada, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, the United States, Latvia and Slovakia. Most of the best players in the world play in the National Hockey League (NHL), which has 31 teams in the United States and Canada. These teams are divided 2 conferences and 4 divisions. In the regular season, they play 82 games. Each team faces each other about 3 times. They try to win the Stanley Cup at the end of the year. Another popular hockey league is the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), which has teams in Russia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Belarus, Slovakia, China and Croatia. In North America, women play in the Canadian Women's Hockey League and the Western Women's Hockey League. In North America and Europe, men's hockey is much more popular than women's hockey. Hockey is played by both men and women at the Olympic games, and at world championships. Ice hockey began in Canada in the 19th century. There are two types of penalty: The major and the minor. The minor is the main one the referee will call during a game and the players have to go in the penalty box for two minutes. The major is when players fight with each other or when someone did something very dangerous. Most of time players are kicked out of the games but in a fight they only get 5 minutes in the penalty box. In the National Hockey League (NHL) there are four referees. Two lineman and two head referee. Only head referees can call the penalty. They can be recognized by the orange armband on their arm. In the major league, the game is separated into three periods of 20 minutes. For the minor league, the time can be different for each category. Each period starts after the face-off. A face-off is when two teams are in position around the face-off circle. Then, the referee drops the puck between the players who play center. There are 6 different positions: center, right wing, left wing, right defense, left defense and goalie. The play is over after a whistle of any referee. After a whistle-blow, the time stops running. Each team can have a maximum of 20 players, including two goaltenders who have a zone to defend. Each team has one captain and two or three assistant captains. The ice is separated into three zones. Each zone is marked by lines. The center zone is between two blue lines and team zones are between one blue line and the end of the ice. The lineman can whistle for two reasons: icing and offside. An icing is when a player throws the puck into the zone before he crosses the red line (center line) and an offside is when a player enters the zone before the one who has the puck enters with it.
1492
The year 1492 is considered to be an important year in the history of the Western Hemisphere, Europe, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Spain, and the New World, among others.
Virtues of Harmony
Virtues of Harmony was a sitcom that ran in Hong Kong from 2001 until February 2005. "Virtues of Harmony One" was set in ancient China during the Ming Dynasty. It follows the lives of the Kam family. The allure of the series was the humorous storylines and how the good always wins. The star of the show was Nancy Sit, a kind hearted matriarch with the best intentions.
Following the success of "Virtues of Harmony One", "Virtues of Harmony Two" was set in modern Hong Kong with a similar cast.
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a large town in Kent in England. Many villages in are nearby and Ashford attracts lots of locals for its shopping. The Ashford international railway station is connected by the Channel Tunnel to mainland Europe. Ashford is an established and populated area of Kent with lots of houses. The UK Government is going to build many more houses in the town and will double its population in a few years. About 120,000 people live there.
There's also an Ashford Designer Outlet Shopping Centre nearby.
Song
A song is a piece of music which contains words. Songs may be made by songwriters. Other songs are folk songs, which are songs created by people long ago that have been sung as tradition.
Some people form bands which write and record songs to make money from it. When two or three singers sing the song it is called a duet or trio. Some people also make parodies of songs, which is usually changing the words of the song but keeping the tune. Parodies are usually made to make fun of a song or its writer/singer (parody artist "Weird Al" Yankovic is an example of this).
The word "song" is often used to describe any piece of music, even one without words or lyrics. The proper word for a piece of music without words is ""instrumental"".
Magnesium
Magnesium ( /mæɡˈniːziəm/ mag-NEE-zee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol "Mg", atomic number 12 and common oxidation state +2. It is an alkaline earth metal and the eighth most abundant element in the Earth's crust, where it constitutes about 2% by mass, and ninth in the known universe as a whole. This preponderance of magnesium is related to the fact that it is easily built up in supernova stars from a sequential addition of three helium nuclei to carbon (which in turn is made from three helium nuclei). Magnesium ion's high solubility in water helps ensure that it is the third most abundant element dissolved in seawater.
Magnesium is the 11th most abundant element by mass in the human body. Its ions are essential to all living cells. The ions play a major role in manipulating important biological polyphosphate compounds like ATP, DNA, and RNA. Hundreds of enzymes thus require magnesium ions to function. Magnesium is also the metallic ion at the center of chlorophyll, and is thus a common additive to fertilizers. Magnesium ions are sour to the taste, and in low concentrations help to impart a natural tartness to fresh mineral waters.
The free element (metal) is not found naturally on Earth, as it is highly reactive (though once produced, is coated in a thin layer of oxide (see passivation), which partly masks this reactivity). The free metal burns with a characteristic brilliant white light, making it a useful ingredient in flares. The metal is now mainly obtained by electrolysis of magnesium salts obtained from brine.
Commercially, the chief use for the metal is as an alloying agent to make aluminium-magnesium alloys, sometimes called "magnalium" or "magnelium". Since magnesium is less dense than aluminium, these alloys are prized for their relative lightness and strength.
Magnesium is used in fireworks to make a brilliant bright light. Another use is to mix it with other metals to make it strong, lightweight alloys such as those used to make bicycle frames.
Magnesium compounds are used medicinally as common laxatives, antacids (i.e., milk of magnesia), and in a number of situations where stabilization of abnormal nerve excitation and blood vessel spasm is required (that is, to treat eclampsia).
Magnesium is used in electronic devices, including: mobile phones, laptop computers, cameras, and other electronic components. Magnesium's low weight, good mechanical and electrical properties are good for these uses.
Magnesium reacted with an alkyl halide gives a Gringard reagent, which is a very useful tool for preparing alcohols.