A Mediterranean climate is a climate that has dry summers that are hot or warm as well as winters that are cool or mild with moderate or high rainfall. It includes the climate of much of the land near the Mediterranean Sea. Outside the Mediterranean, one can find this climate only in rather small areas. It is found in many places that are roughly between latitudes 30° to 45° north and south of the equator.
In the Köppen climate classification, it is split between hot-summer Mediterranean ("Csa"), warm-summer Mediterranean ("Csb") and cool-summer Mediterranean ("Csc"). Examples of "Csa" are Rome, Lisbon and Adelaide. Examples of "Csb" are Porto, Cape Town and San Francisco. "Csc" only occurs at very high altitude.
Besides the Mediterranean Basin, regions which have a Mediterranean climate include the coastal areas of the Western United States, down to Los Angeles, the Western Cape in South Africa, central Chile, southern Western Australia and the coastal areas of South Australia.
Hans Richter
Hans Richter (born as Raab (now Györ) 4 April 1843; died Bayreuth 5 December 1916) was an Austro-Hungarian conductor. His name was originally János Richter.
Richter came from a musical family and studied violin, horn and music theory at the Vienna Conservatory. He became famous for his conducting of the music of Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner and Johannes Brahms.
Richter helped Wagner to prepare the printed musical scores of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" and the four operas in the cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen". He conducted a lot in Vienna and at the Bayreuth Opera House which Wagner had built for the performance of his own operas.
Later he became very popular in England and lived in Manchester. He was conductor of the Hallé Orchestra and director of the Birmingham Music Festival. He conducted German operas at Covent Garden and in 1909 he conducted Wagner’s Ring cycle which was being performed in English for the first time.
When he retired he lived in Bayreuth until his death.
Richter helped the English audiences to get to know the music of Wagner, Dvořák and Elgar. Elgar dedicated his "First Symphony" to Hans Richter, describing him as a “true artist and true friend”.
Thylacine
Thylacine was a carnivorous (mainly meat eating) marsupial animal. The Thylacine was also known as a "Tasmanian tiger", a "Tasmanian wolf" and a "Tasmanian hyena". The last known Thylacine died in a Hobart zoo on 7 September 1936. They once lived across Australia and New Guinea. There are paintings of the animals in the north of Western Australia, and in the Northern Territory. At Riversleigh in north Queensland, scientists have discovered the fossil bones of thylacines that are at least 30 million years old.
Thylacines were common across Australia. Fossil remains have been found in Queensland, paintings have been found in Western Australia, and a mummified body was found in cave on the Nullabor Plain in South Australia. The body was dated as being 4,650 years old. The thylacine began to disappear from the Australian mainland about 5,000 years ago. This is about the same time as the arrival in Australia of the dingo. Because of rising sea levels 10,000 years ago, Tasmania was separated from the Australian mainland by Bass Strait which the dingo never crossed. By the time Europeans came to Australia in 1788, the Thylacine was only living in Tasmania.
Sailors on Abel Tasman's ship in November 1642 reported seeing "tygr" footprints. The French explorer, Antoine Bruni d'Entrecasteaux, found a thylacine jaw bone in 1792. On May 13, 1792, he made the first confirmed sighting, which was described as being the size of a large dog, streaked with black. In 1805, Lieutenant Governor Paterson sent a description of a thylacine to Sydney. He said the animal was rare and uncommon.
Thylacines were hunted because farmers said they were killing sheep. The Tasmanian government gave money to farmers for each thylacine they killed. The last thylacine shot and killed was at Mawbanna, Tasmania, on 13 May, 1930, by farmer Wilfred Batty. The government brought in laws to protect them a few months before the last one died. They are now extinct, which means there are no thylacines left alive anywhere in the world.
The "Thylacine" was about 1.8 metres (71 inches) long and its tail was up to 53 cms (21 inches) long. It would have been about 58 centimetres (23 inches) tall and could be up to 30 kilograms (66 pounds) in weight. It was grey and brown in colour with 16 black or brown stripes on its back. It had the same shape as a dog, but the back, rump and tail were more like a kangaroo. Its tail was quite stiff. It had very short legs. It had teeth like a dog, but with more incisor teeth. The Thylacine was able to open its mouth about 120 degrees.
The thylacine was a nocturnal (night) hunting animal. They ate wallabies, rats, birds, echidnas, rabbits and sheep.
The thylacines were marsupials, which means the female carried the babies in a pouch. The pouch opened to the rear.
Rock Against Communism
Rock Against Communism (RAC) is a type of rock music. It started as a series of Neo-Nazi concerts in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and 1980s. The first RAC concert was in Leeds, England in 1978.
List of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movies
This is a selected list of feature movies made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Zoo Tycoon 2
Zoo Tycoon 2 is a 2004 simulation computer game. In the game, the player must create and run a zoo. This is done by managing its finances, employees and animal exhibits. The goal is to become a "zoo tycoon".
The game is a sequel the 2001 game "Zoo Tycoon". Six expansion packs have been created for the game. The latest is "Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals".
Zoo Tycoon
Zoo Tycoon is a simulation computer game. It was developed by Blue Fang Games and released by Microsoft Game Studios. It is a game in which the player must run a business, in this case a zoo, and try to earn money. "Zoo Tycoon" was followed by "Zoo Tycoon 2" in 2004.
Chapel
A chapel is a place for Christian worship. The word is used in several different ways. Generally, a chapel is a place of worship that is not a church which belongs to a parish in a village or town, but is more private or has a special purpose.
Some large houses and palaces have their own private chapel where the family and the servants of the house can worship.
Usually these chapels are small. As well as being used for prayers, the chapel might also hold the graves of members of the family, or else have memorials and statues around the walls.
Famous small family chapels are at Haddon Hall in Derbyshire and in the "Riccardi Medici Palace" in Florence. This small chapel has famous frescoes of the Three Kings by Benozzo Gozzoli.
Some private chapels are as large as very large churches. Because these large chapels can only be built by very rich people, they often have magnificent architecture or very rich decoration.
Some of the most famous large private chapels are St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, the Chapel Royal at Versailles Palace and the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Palace. The Sistine Chapel is the chapel of the popes and is famous for its ceiling painted by Michelangelo.
Many universities, colleges, schools, law courts, hospitals and prisons have their own chapels. These might be a grand and beautiful building like the Eton College Chapel, or just a small room that is set aside for prayer.
At many schools, Chapel Service is an important part of the week, when the whole school gets together to pray and to sing hymns. Sometimes a big important church or cathedral might also act as a chapel. Oxford Cathedral is the chapel for Christ Church College of the University of Oxford. St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney acts as the chapel to 900 pupils of the cathedral school.