Speed reading is the name for a number of ways to increase the speed at which a text can be read, so that the important facts of the text can still be understood. There are different ways to improve reading speed, but they are all similar. A trained reader is able to read and understand between 200 and 300 words per minute, for a text that is not very difficult to understand. Better training can improve this speed to over 1000 words per minute. Using a lot of exercise, it is possible to increase reading speed further. The best readers can read between 3000 and 4000 words per minute, and understand about 80% of them.
In general, only a small part of the letters read are seen clearly. The brain guesses what the rest of the word is, based on a small part of the word. This also applies to groups of words, which are treated the same way. Known groups are handled faster, because the reader knows them, and also has an "image" for them.
What is very important when reading text is the ability to recognize words and word groups. The reader will then add the known image to the context. A known font can help this.
What is bad for speed reading is having a bad short-term memory. Another factor is a small vocabulary. People who only know few words, need more time to "scan" unknown words, simply because fewer words in the text are known.
Abu Dhabi United Group
The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment (ADUG) is a United Arab Emirates (UAE) private equity company owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He is a member of the Abu Dhabi Royal Family. He is also the Minister of Presidential Affairs for the UAE. It was first thought that Abu Dhabi United Group is a part of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, a sovereign wealth fund owned by Abu Dhabi. But Abu Dhabi United Group had denied connection to the government of Abu Dhabi.
The Group bought Manchester City Football Club. The deal was announced on 1 September 2008. It was made between the club’s former owner Thaksin Shinawatra, former Prime Minister of Thailand, and ADUG.
The American educated Sulaiman Al-Fahim was the public face of ADUG during the beginning of the takeover. He is often called the "Donald Trump of Abu Dhabi". The takeover was completed on 23 September 2008.
Maine Road
Maine Road was a large football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England. It was home to Manchester City F.C. from when it was built in 1923 until 2003. It takes its name from the street it was built on which also had a remarkable history. The street was first known as Dog Kennel Lane. It formed part of an ancient route south of Manchester.
When first opened, the stadium was the largest club ground in England and the second largest in the country after Wembley Stadium. Maine Road's record attendance was set in 1934, when 84,569 people attended an FA Cup tie between Manchester City and Stoke City. It is the record for an English club ground (the 1923 FA Cup Final holds the world record). The following February the stadium recorded the highest Football League attendance. This stood at 79,491 for a game against Arsenal. The record has since been beaten for the League, but it is still Manchester City's largest League crowd. The design of the ground changed several times over its 80-year history. Before it closed, Maine Road was an all-seater stadium, with a capacity of 35,150.
The 2002-03 season was Manchester City's last at Maine Road. The last match was played on 11 May 2003. The following season Manchester City moved to City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester. Maine Road was torn down in 2004.
Plans to build Maine Road were first announced in May 1922. It came after a decision by Manchester City F.C. to leave their Hyde Road ground. Hyde Road did not have room for expansion and had been damaged by fire in 1920. Two sites in Belle Vue, East Manchester were suggested, but neither was considered good enough. To many City fans east Manchester was thought of as City's home. Many were disappointed when a site in south Manchester was chosen. A City director, John Ayrton, resigned from the Board later in the decade and helped to form an alternative MCFC, Manchester Central F.C., playing at Belle Vue.
A sixteen and a quarter acre former brickworking on Maine Road was purchased for £5,500. Maine Road had first been known as Dog Kennel Lane. It was renamed Maine Road during the 1870s because of pressure from the Temperance Movement.
Stadium construction began late in 1922. Plans by architect Charles Swain proposed a 120,000 capacity ground based on the design of Hampden Park. These plans were reduced to give a capacity of 80,000. However, this figure was still the second largest in the country, behind Wembley Stadium, leading to a label of "The Wembley of the North". Wembley had opened in London only a few months earlier. This made a source of rivalry between the northern and southern divisions of builders Sir Robert McAlpine, who built both stadia. During construction, the stadium was supposedly cursed by a gypsy when Manchester City officials evicted a gypsy camp from the area. This curse was allegedly removed on 28 December 1998. However, the gypsy curse is likely to be an urban myth, as such stories are endemic to a number of football league grounds. Construction took 300 days. The total cost £100,000. The first layout of the ground was one covered stand with a seating capacity of 10,000. It had uncovered terracing on the other three sides, with gentle curves connecting the corners.
The first match at Maine Road took place on 25 August 1923, and saw 58,159 fans watch the home side beat Sheffield United 2-1.
The first changes to the ground took place in 1931, when the corner between the Main Stand and the Platt Lane end at the south of the ground was rebuilt to incorporate a roof. The highest attendance at an English football game of any type at a club ground was at Maine Road on the March 3, 1934, when Manchester City played Stoke City in front of 84,569 fans in the 6th round of the FA Cup. Changes at the Platt Lane end took place in 1935, extending the terracing and providing a roof for the full stand. This marked the peak capacity of the ground, estimated at around 88,000. Further changes were planned, but were suspended when Manchester City were relegated from Division One in 1938, and abandoned when World War II broke out.
The stadium was shared by Manchester United for a period after the Second World War, since Manchester United's Old Trafford ground had been partially destroyed during the Manchester Blitz. United paid City £5,000 per season, plus a share of gate receipts. The highest attendance for a League game at Maine Road occurred during this period, when 83,260 people watched Manchester United play Arsenal on January 17, 1948. This figure is a national record for a League game.
Floodlights were installed in 1953, and in 1957, prompted by the hosting of two FA Cup semi-finals in successive years, the side facing the Main Stand (which until that time was generally known as the "Popular Side") was redeveloped and named "The Kippax Stand" after a nearby street. Over the course of the 1960s and 1970s, the Kippax became the part of the ground where the club's most vociferous fans congregated. In 1963, benches were installed at the Platt Lane end, meaning that Maine Road had more seats than any other English club ground of the time. The next major redevelopment came in the 1970s, with the construction of the North Stand, a cantilevered stand which remained in place until the closure of Maine Road. The 1980s saw ambitious plans for improvements: however, these plans were shelved due to financial pressures after the Main Stand roof had been replaced at a cost of £1 million.