Greek had many different dialects. Attic Greek was spoken in Athens, the largest city, and was thought to be the purest form of Greek. Later, in the educated Roman world, children were taught Greek as a second language just as many people now learn English as their second language. Koine Greek was the common language of Greeks. It was Attic Greek mixed with several other dialects.
Homer spoke and wrote in an old dialect that was somewhat different from Attic Greek. The "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" are long poems that tell exciting stories about warfare, travel and the Greek gods. In the 5th century BC, some great plays were written by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. The Golden Age of Ancient Greece inspired literature that has been read for centuries.
Attic Greek was the dialect that was spoken in Athens and the rest of the region of Attica. It was the dialect most similar to later forms of Greek since it was the standard form of the language. It is studied in Ancient Greek courses because it was the most common dialect.
All languages change with time, and Greek has changed a great deal over 2500 years. Modern Greek is often said to have started in the year 1453 AD.
Unlike Latin, Ancient Greek did not split into many languages, but it is still considered to be a separate language from Modern Greek. The pronunciation has changed; for instance, beta was pronounced "b" in Ancient Greek, but it is pronounced "v" and is called "vita" in Modern Greek. The spelling has not changed much, which gives the appearance of less change than has actually happened. Also, many different vowels and diphthongs merged into "i", the vowel sound in the English word "ski". The tonal system of Ancient Greek has disappeared, but modern Greek had only recently changed its spelling to match that change.
Despite these changes, much of the language has remarkably survived intact through the centuries. There is a community near Trabzon, Turkey, that speaks a dialect that is closer to Ancient Greek than to Standard Modern Greek.
Autobahn
Autobahn (engl. "motorway") is the controlled-access highway system in Germany. They are famous because in many parts of the roads, there are no speed limits and drivers can drive as fast as they want to.
An autobahn has at least two lanes in each direction, with a barrier between the directions. Sometimes there may be more than two lanes for one direction (or another lane for cars with mechanical failures). All drivers are supposed to drive on the outer-most right lane except when they move past other cars or trucks that are going slower.
Many autobahns in Germany have no speed limit. There is only a speed recommendation of per hour. However, drivers going faster than 130 km/h can be made responsible for an accident that they are involved in. The German traffic law says that it is only permitted to drive as fast as the track conditions allow.
German Road Safety Council (DVR), has established that on average, there are 25% more deaths on sections of the autobahn without speed limits compared to those with a limit.
Data analysis performed by Der Spiegel, has established that a speed limit applied across all German motorways would save 140 lives a year.
An emergency telephone is located at a German autobahn every . Junctions between two autobahns are called "Dreieck" (Triangle), if one autobahn ends there or "Kreuz" (Cross). Junctions with normal roads are called "Anschlussstelle". All junctions of an autobahn are numbered sequentially.
Driving on a German autobahn is free for cars. Trucks (12,5 tons and above) do have to pay a toll of about a twelve cents (-,€12) per kilometre.
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Franz Walter Schoenberg (originally written 'Schönberg') (13 September 1874 – 13 July 1951) was an Austrian-born composer. He was known for his twelve-tone system of writing music.
Schoenberg came from a strict Jewish family who had moved to Austria from Hungary. They were quite poor and Schoenberg taught himself about music. When he was grown up he had to do a lot of teaching to try and earn enough money to live. In later life he went to live in the United States. It took a long time before he was recognized world-wide as a great composer. His two most famous pupils were Alban Berg (1885-1935) and Anton Webern (1883-1945). He taught them how to write twelve-tone music and they became famous composers.
When Arnold Schoenberg was a young man he was living in the late 19th century. If you look at the way composers wrote music at this time you will find that their compositions became more and more chromatic. This means that more and more sharps and flats were used during the piece, and the music went from one key to another (modulated) very quickly. Richard Wagner wrote very chromatic music, especially in his opera "Tristan and Isolde".
In 1898 Schoenberg converted to Christianity in the Lutheran church. According to MacDonald, this was partly to connect with Western European cultural traditions, and partly as a means of self-defence "in a time of resurgent anti-Semitism".
In 1933, after long thought, he returned to Judaism, because he realised that "his racial and religious heritage was inescapable", and to take up an unmistakable position on the side opposing Nazism. He would self-identify as a member of the Jewish religion later in life.
Schoenberg’s early works are mostly Late Romantic. His piece "Verklärte Nacht" (which can be played by six string instruments or by a whole orchestra) has very beautiful harmonies which go quickly from one key to another. Gradually Schoenberg’s music changed. It became so chromatic that it was no longer in any key at all. Music like this (called “atonal”) is much harder to understand. His "Five Orchestral Pieces" were played by the conductor Sir Henry Wood at a Promenade Concert in 1912. The audience did not like it at first and took some time to get used to the sound.
In 1923 Schoenberg developed the twelve-tone system for which he is famous. This is music which is based on a particular row of notes. Twelve-tone music is atonal because there is no feeling of being in any key, because of the equal use of every pitch.
Slovak koruna
The Slovak Crown or Slovak Koruna (in Slovak, Slovenská koruna, "koruna" means crown) has been the currency used in Slovakia since February 8, 1993. It replaced the Czechoslovak Crown. Slovak koruna should not be mistaken with the Slovak koruna during the World War II (Slovak: Koruna slovenská, short Ks, notice word order)
The ISO 4217 code for the Slovak Koruna is SKK. The symbol is Sk. One Koruna is equal to 100 hellers (written shortly as "hal.", in Slovak singular: halier). The symbol is put after the amount.
Slovak koruna exists in these values: 50 h, 1 Sk, 2 Sk, 5 Sk, 10 Sk, 20 Sk, 50 Sk, 100 Sk, 200 Sk, 500 Sk, 1000 Sk and 5000 Sk. 10 h and 20 h are not used since 31 December 2003.
The central rate of Slovak koruna against Euro was 35.4424 SKK as of 19 March 2007. Slovakia will use Euro instead of koruna from 1 January 2009.
Slovakia is using Euro now, so the Slovak koruna is not the valid currency any more.
War of the Roses
War of the Roses may refer to:
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 British-American war drama movie directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the Gustav Hasford book "The Short-Timers". The name of the movie comes from the full-metal jacketed bullets used in the military. The movie follows soldiers who are drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. The story is set in the late 1960s and follows the characters from their time in recruit training and them fighting in the war.
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England. It is located in the East part of the country. The counties around Cambridgeshire are Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. The county town is Cambridge.
1468
English Channel