Classical music is usually played using only acoustic musical instruments, although some 20th century composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen used electronic instruments, sometimes together with acoustic instruments.
Mandolin
The mandolin is a musical instrument, which literally means, a small soprano member of the lute family. It is played by hitting its strings and sounds similar in tone of a violin or a hammered dulcimer. The most common type of mandolin, which was first designed in Naples, has eight strings. It has a body made of wood and a fingerboard which has frets.
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music. It has its own roots in Irish, Scottish and English traditional music. It is usually played using acoustic musical instruments, and electronic musical instruments are rarely used in bluegrass music. Traditional instruments used include the banjo, mandolin, fiddle, guitar and bass. Other instruments such as the dobro are also used.
There are many accomplished bluegrass artists including Bela Fleck, Tony Rice, Alison Krauss, Laurie Lewis, Sam Bush, Bill Monroe, and Earl Scruggs. There are many organizations devoted to this music such as the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA).
Many festivals are held around the country where professionals perform, amateurs gather to play, and workshops are given.
Billboard charts
"Billboard" charts are charts published by "Billboard" magazine. They have information about the popularity of music songs, bands and singers. The Billboard Hot 100 is the most popular chart. It appears every week in the United States. It uses information from radio play and sales to say the most popular song each week.
Leuk
Leuk (French Loèche) is a municipality of Switzerland and is the capital city of the district of Leuk in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
Since it controls access to the Gemmipass, it had some importance from the time of Roman Raetia. The Leukerbad hot baths are just North of Leuk, towards the pass.
Loèche houses the installations of Onyx, the Swiss interception system for electronic intelligence gathering.
On 1 January 2013 the former municipality of Erschmatt merged into the municipality of Leuk.
Raron
Raron is the capital city of the district of Raron in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
Goms (district)
Goms is a district of the canton of Valais in Switzerland.
It includes the following municipalities:
Shavo Odadjian
Shavo Odadjian () (born April 22 1974, Yerevan, Armenia as Shavarsh Odadjian) is the bassist for the Armenian American-based alternative metal band, System of a Down. He also scored summer blockbuster hit, "Babylon, A.D." alongside with The Rza and Hans Zimmer. He is a multi-instrumentalist, painter, DJ, and director.
In his youth, Shavo used to spend his time skateboarding and listening to punk rock and heavy metal music. He started managing the band "Soil" with Malakian and Tankian in 1993 after meeting them in a recording studio. In 1995, Shavo became the permanent bassist of the band. They then named themselves "System of a Down" after a poem titled "Victims of a Down" authored by bandmate Daron Malakian.
Odadjian is a popular DJ in the LA area met by "Dj Tatic", taking part in such events as the "Rock/DJ Explosion" on March 2 2001 at The Roxy in Hollywood and collaborating with bandmate Tankian on SerArt, the singer's side project with Armenian musician Arto Tunçboyacıyan.
Aspartame
Aspartame (also known as E951 or NutraSweet) is an artificial sweetener. It was discovered in 1965 by James M. Schlatter. It can be used to replace some kinds of sugar. It is not based on sugars. It is not like saccharin.
Saccharin
Saccharin is the oldest artificial sweetener that exists. It can be used to replace certain kinds of sugar. It was discovered in 1878 by Constantin Fahlberg. It is also known as E954.
Isomalt
Isomalt is a natural substitute for sugar. It is a kind of sugar alcohol. It is used mainly to replace sugar in some products, like bubble gum, candies,chocolate or ice cream. This makes it different from other artificial sweeteners. It is also known as E563.
Sloth
Sloths are Xenarthran mammals from Central and South America. They are part of the order Pilosa. There are two families of sloths: two-toed sloth and three-toed sloth. Most scientists call these two families the Folivora, while some call them the Phyllophaga. They live in trees, but in the past there were giant ground sloths.
The biogeographic origins of the Pilosa is still unclear, but they can be traced back in South America as far as the early Tertiary, about 60 million years ago. The presence of these animals in Central America is explained by the Great American Interchange.
Many sloths are about the size of a small dog and they have short, flat heads. Their hair is grayish brown but, at times they look grey-green in color because they move so slowly that tiny camouflaging algae grow all over their coats. They have hook-like claws on their arms and legs to keep them attached to trees.
Sloths are active at night and sleep curled up with their head placed between the arms and the feet drawn close together, or hanging upside down with the help of their hook- like claws. This disguises them as part of a tree so that its enemies like the jaguar do not see them. Sloths rarely climb down from the trees, and when they are on the ground they can only crawl awkwardly. However, when there is a forest flood, they are very good swimmers. Sloths can live for up to 30 years. They mostly just eat leaves and flowers, which take a very long time to digest. Sloths move slowly; their name comes from the word "slow".
Jura
Places named Jura include:
Rivers named Jura include:
Oberon (moon)
Oberon is the farthest big moon of the planet Uranus. It is made of about half ice and half rock.
With a mean radius of about 760 km, Oberon is the second biggest moon of Uranus's 27 moons. It orbits Uranus about every 13.4 days.
It was found on January 11, 1787 by William Herschel, in the same year he found Titania. It was named after a Oberon, King of the Fairies, a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Oberon has several large impact craters where it has been hit by meteorites. These were photographed by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986 as it flew passed. Scientists also believe there is a mountain that could be high on the moon.
Craters on Oberon are named after characters in the plays of William Shakespeare.
Delémont (district)
The district of Delémont is one of three districts in Jura, Switzerland. Its capital is the city of Delémont. The district is nearly all French-speaking and is home to a population of 35,175 (end of 2005).
Delémont is divided into 28 municipalities:
Xavier Rudd
Xavier Rudd (born 1978) is an Australian musician. He grew up in the small town of Torquay, Victoria, Australia. When Rudd was young, he learned to play the didgeridoo on a vacuum cleaner hose.
Rudd is known for playing at music festivals and concerts in Australia and in North America. He has many fans in Australia, his home, as well as Canada, where he has recorded a few live albums.
Some of his songs have political themes that deal with the father of 3 sons environment and the rights of Aboriginal Australians.
Rudd is a father of three sons, Joaquin, Finojet, and Jundi. A husband to his wife, Ashley Freeman..
Rudd also describes himself as a full-time "barefooter", which means that he does not own any shoes or other footwear. Rudd is also a vegetarian.
Banjo
The banjo is a string instrument, that was first played by African slaves in the United States a few hundred years ago. The idea came from other African instruments.
The name "banjo" may have come from a Kimbundu word: "mbanza", but it could have also come from a Senegambian word for the bamboo stick used for the banjo's neck.
2. Banjo-Kazooie
Nicolás de Ovando