A kippah (Hebrew) or yarmulke (Yiddish) is a small cloth cap worn by Jews.
Traditionally it was worn only by men, but in modern times the push for equality between the sexes in the practice of Judaism has led some women to wear yarmulkes. Some Jews only wear yarmulkes while praying; others wear yarmulkes the entire day, making sure not to walk more than four cubits without head covering (especially outside).
The basis for wearing a head covering is a story in the Talmud (tractate Shabbat).
Often, the color and fabric of the "yarmulke" can be a sign of adherence to a specific religious movement. The Israeli National Religious community is often referred to by the name "kipot srugot" כיפות סרוגות, literally "woven yarmulkes". Similarly, some Haredi sects are referred to by the name "kipot shkhorot" כיפות שחורות, literally "black yarmulkes".
The etymology of "yarmulke" is unclear. Linguists (e.g. Max Vasmer) maintain that the Yiddish word is derived (via Russian or Polish) from the Turkic "", meaning 'raincoat'.
Traditionally, "yarmulke" is considered to have originated from the Aramaic phrase """" (in awe of the Lord), in keeping with the principle that the yarmulke is supposed to reflect someone's fear of heaven. Or perhaps, ""yira malkah"" (fear of the King).
Judeo-Arabic languages
Judeo-Arabic languages are a collection of Arabic language dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in Arabic-speaking countries. Just as with the rest of the Arab world, Arabic-speaking Jews had different dialects for the different regions where they lived. Most Judæo-Arabic dialects were written in modified forms of the Hebrew alphabet, often including consonant dots from the Arabic alphabet to accommodate phonemes that did not exist in the Hebrew alphabet.
In retaliation for 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jews in Arab countries became subject to increasingly insufferable discrimination and violence, causing virtually all of them to flee en masse to Israel. Their dialects of Arabic did not thrive in Israel, and most became extinct, replaced by the Modern Hebrew language.
In the Middle Ages, Jews in the Islamic diaspora spoke a dialect of Arabic, which they wrote in a mildly adapted Hebrew script (rather than using Arabic script).
This phenomenon is called Judaeo-Arabic and may be compared to both Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish) and Yiddish (Judaeo-German).
Some of the most important books of medieval Jewish though were originally written in Judaeo-Arabic, as well as certain halakhic works and biblical commentary. Only later were they translated into medieval scientific Hebrew so that they could be read by the Ashkenazic Jews of Europe. These include:
The Clangers
The Clangers is a British children's television series. The first episode was broadcast on the BBC on 16 November 1969. The series is about a family of aliens who live under the surface of the Moon in caves. They looked like small, pink, knitted mice. Other characters include the Froglets and The Soup Dragon, a dragon that gives out soup. The family uses a US flag as a table cloth.
London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is a London borough in West London but is part of an area called Inner London. House prices are more expensive than most parts of England. The borough has three famous football teams: Fulham F.C., Queens Park Rangers F.C. and Chelsea F.C.
1 E9 m²
1 E9 m² is a term used to group together areas of similar size. It is used for places that are between 1,000 km² and 10,000 km² in area. The term is based from the scientific notation for 1 x 10m².
1 E8 m²
1 E8 m² is used for places that are between 100 km² and 1000 km² in area. The term is based from the scientific notation for 1 x 10m².
1 E7 m²
1 E7 m² is a term used to group together areas of similar size. It is used for places that are between 10 km² (1,000 hectares) and 100 km² (10,000 hectares) in area. The term is based from the scientific notation for 1 x 10m².
Athletics at the Summer Olympics
Athletics, known as Track and Field in the United States, has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics.
No new events have been added to the men's athletics programme since 1952 when the short racewalk was added. The roster of events has not changed since then, with the exception of the omission of the long racewalk in 1976. The long racewalk is the only event held for men but not included on the women's programme.
A total of 52 different events have been held in the men's competition. The current list has 24 events.
Many of the discontinued events were similar to modern ones but at different lengths, especially in the steeplechasing, hurdling, and racewalking disciplines.
Team racing events were only run in the six early editions of the Games.
The athletic multi-discipline "triathlon" (3 events) and "pentathlon" (5 events) have been replaced by the 10 event "decathlon", and the medley relay replaced by relay races where each section is the same length as the others.
Standing jump competitions are no longer held, nor are the various modified throwing events which were experimented with in 1908 and 1912.
1968 Summer Olympics
The 1968 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad, were held in Mexico City in 1968. Mexico City beat out bids from Detroit, Buenos Aires and Lyon to host the Games in 1963. The Games were preceded by the Tlatelolco massacre, in which hundreds of students were killed by security forces ten days before the opening day. It is the only Games ever held in Latin America, and it was the second ever outside of Western Europe, Australia, or the USA.
Sima Qian
Sima Qian () was the historian of the Han Dynasty under Emperor Wu. He was born at Xia Yang (present-day Shan Xi Province, Han City) in either 145 or 135 BC. His father, Sima Tan, was also a historian.
When Sima Qian was 10, he could read the articles which were written in Classical Chinese.
He travelled around China and visited a plenty of scenic attractions and heritages when he was 20.
In 108 BC, with the death of Sima Qian's father, he carried on the job of being a historian.
In 104 BC, Sima Qian finished editing Taichu Calendar with the imperial officials, Tang Du and Luo Xiahong.
In 99 BC, Sima Qian got involved in the Li Ling Affair. He was punished and sent to prison. Sima Qian would be sentenced to death if he could not pay a fine or accept the terrible punishment - castration. With the fact that Sima Qian did not have enough money to pay the fine and he hoped to finish writing the Records of the Grand Historian, he accepted the castration. Sima Qian finally spent 19 years to write that book.
Sima Qian died in 86 BC.
Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics was represented by 14 events: 6 for women and 8 for men. The competition was held from August 27 to September 1 at the Sports Hall in Munich.
The scoring in the team competition event and in event finals was the same, as for gymnastics events at the previous Olympics. But in the all-around the scoring system became similar to that of event finals: for the all-around a gymnast showed one's skills once more on each of the apparatuses; to get the "Total" value for the all-around performance, marks in the team competition were added together, the result was divided by two ("Prelim" value) and added to the sum of marks for all-around routines ("Final" value). Judging system was basically the same, as at the previous Olympics.
"C" stands for "Compulsory exercises" and "O" stands for "Optional exercises".
"Prelim" mark is the value from the "Score" column of the team competition table, divided by two.
"Prelim" value is the sum of two marks for compulsory and optional routine in the team competition on the respective apparatus, divided by two.
"C" stands for "Compulsory exercises" and "O" stands for "Optional exercises".