China set up the first giant panda nature reserve in 1963. Other nature reserves were also set up. There were 40 giant panda reserves in 2006.
Game Boy Color
The Game Boy Color (often said as GBC) is a video game console manufactured by Nintendo. It was first introduced in Japan in October 1998 and released in North America, Europe and Australia in November 1998. It is the successor to the original Game Boy, but it precedes the Game Boy Advance (which is backwards compatible with "GB" and "GBC" games). The biggest innovation of the Game Boy Color was its colorful graphics. The Game Boy Color is almost as powerful as the Nintendo Entertainment System. With the exception of the Pokemon Mini, it was the last 8-bit console made by a mainstream company. The last game released for Game Boy Color was "Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets" in 2002.
The GBC has a color screen rather than a monochrome, but it is not backlit. It is clearly thicker and bigger and has a slightly smaller screen than the Game Boy Pocket, its last model in the Game Boy line. As with the original Game Boy, it has a 8-bit processor made by Sharp Corporation that is a hybrid between the Intel 8080 and the Zilog Z80. The spelling of the system's name, Game Boy Color, remains used throughout the world, with its American English spelling of "color".
The Game Boy Color is part of the fifth generation of video game consoles. The GBC's competitors in Japan were the grayscale 16-bit handhelds, Neo Geo Pocket and the WonderSwan, though the Game Boy Color outsold them by a wide margin. SNK and Bandai countered with the Neo Geo Pocket Color and the Wonderswan Color, this did little to change Nintendo's sales. With Sega discontinuing the Game Gear in 1997, the Game Boy Color's only competitor in the United States was its last one, the Game Boy, until the short-lived Neo Geo Pocket Color was made in August 1999. The Game Boy and the Game Boy Color together have sold 118.69 million units worldwide making it the third-best-selling system of all time.
It was discontinued on March 23, 2003, shortly after the Game Boy Advance SP was made. Its best-selling game was "Pokémon Gold and Silver", which sold 23 million units worldwide.
Hula
Hula is a type of dancing from Hawaii.
Hula is a word in the Hawaiian language. Male dancers and female dancers can both dance hula. A long time ago, hula dance was used only in special ceremonies. Now, hula dance is mainly for entertainment.
A hula dancer usually wears a grass skirt or a leaf skirt, a flower necklace (called "lei" in Hawaiian), and sometimes a flower in the hair.
Traditionally, the hula dancer dances to a chant (a poem that is sung to a rhythm). The chanter beats his or her hand on a gourd (dried, empty squash) to create the rhythm.
There are many kinds of hula dance. For example, the Hawaiian hula dance style is slow and the Tahitian hula dance style is fast.
Herakles
Herakles (Ancient Greek: Ἡρακλῆς, "Hēraklēs" - “one glorified of Hera”) is a divine hero in Greek mythology. The greatest of the Greek heroes, Herakles was a demigod, son of Zeus and the mortal Alkmene as well as the twin brother of Iphicles. As a god, Herakles served as a paragon of masculinity, and was a patron of heroic endeavor. In Ancient Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The figure is most well known for his famous Twelve Labors, a series of seemingly impossible tasks he was made to complete in order to atone for the crime of murdering his family. As a culture hero, he was said to have started the Ancient Olympic Games and marked out the length of the Olympic stadium. He was the subject of much ancient and modern art, and remains a popular figure in modern times, being the subject of various films and television series, such as Walt Disney's "Hercules".
A major factor in the tragedy surrounding Herakles was the hatred that the goddess Hera, wife of Zeus, had for him, as he was one of the god’s illegitimate children, born to him by the mortal woman Alkmene. Zeus, lusting after her, took the guise of Alkmene’s husband Amphityron (he had been away fighting a war at the time) and lay with her. The real Amphitryon returned to Thebes later that night, and Alkmene became pregnant with his son, Iphicles. On the night Herakles and his twin Iphicles were slated to be born, Hera made Zeus swear an oath that the next descendant of Perseus to be born would become High King (ruler of Tiryns and Mycenae). Once the oath was made, Hera hurried to Alkmene’s house in Thebes, where Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth, had come to help deliver the twins; Hera arranged for Eileithyia to keep her legs and arms crossed, causing Herakles and his twin to be trapped in the womb. Hera then caused Eurystheus (son of Sthenelus and Herakles’ cousin) to be born prematurely, making him the one to become the High King instead. Alkmene wouldve remained in labor, had it not been for her maidservant Galanthis, who came out of Alkmene's room to announce (falsely) that Alkmene had just given birth. Eileithyia jumped up in surprise, allowing Herakles and his twin to be born. Hera angrily turned Galanthis into a weasel. (Herakles was given the name Alkeides, meaning "of the line of Alcaeus", father of Amphitryon).
Shortly after Herakles was born, Alkmene, fearing Hera might take vengeance on her, took her infant child to a desolate plain outside of Thebes and abandoned him. The goddess Athena saw Herakles and swooped down to Earth, taking him up to Olympus. She took the baby to Hera, who, not knowing it was Herakles, took pity on the child and began to nurse him at her breast. Herakles suckled so hard that it hurt Hera, who pushed him away; the goddess' divine milk then spilled across the night sky, forming the Milky Way. This bestowed upon Herakles the godlike strength for which he is famous for. When Herakles was only eight months old, Hera placed two enormous serpents in the crib where Herakles and Iphikles slept. As Iphicles cried out in fear, Herakles took a serpent in each hand and strangled them to death.
Herakles became a strong teenager. He learned to use weapons and to drive a chariot. One day he killed his music teacher Linus because the man had tried to whip him. Herakles was charged with murder, but said he had acted in self defense. He was freed. People feared him though, so he was sent far out of town to work on a farm. Herakles became stronger with the hard work. He was seven feet tall. He was eighteen when he left the farm.
Herakles was eighteen when he hunted the large and powerful Lion of Kithaeron. This lion was killing cows in a land near Thebes. The hunt lasted fifty days and ended when Herakles smashed the lion's skull with a club of olive wood. This club is seen in pictures of Herakles. He dressed in the lion's skin.
Herakles slept in King Thespius' palace while the hunt progressed. He had sex with the King's fifty daughters and became the father of fifty-two sons. One of the girls did not have sex with him. She became a priestess in his shrine.
Herakles was going back to Thebes when he met the heralds of King Erginus. They were on their way to Thebes to collect tribute. They treated Herakles with contempt. Herakles cut off their ears, noses, and hands. Erginus made war on Thebes, but was defeated and killed by Herakles. For saving Thebes, King Kreon gave his daughter Megara in marriage to Herakles.
Hera could not rest easily because Herakles was becoming more and more famous. He was loved by everyone. Her anger and hatred made her look foolish. She tricked Herakles into thinking his sons were his enemies and, insane with anger, he murdered them.