The other regional language of Brittany is Breton. Breton is a Celtic language.
Diethyl ether
Diethyl ether is a clear liquid chemical. It is often just called ether. Ether burns very easily and boils at about 35°C. It has a sweet smell and does not mix with water.
Ether was discovered in 1275. It was used in the past as a general anesthetic to make people unconscious during surgery. Now other chemicals are used because ether has side effects and can catch fire. Ether is used as a solvent by scientists for chemical reactions.
People used to take ether as a recreational drug (drugs used for fun, such as alcohol) in the 1800s. People would either drink a drink with small amounts of ether in it, just like people drink alcoholic drinks, or inhale the fumes given off by pure or nearly pure ether. This could have addicted these people to the ether if they did that often enough. It was a big problem in some places, like Ireland and Poland. It first became popular because Europeans thought it was unladylike to drink alcohol. Women would drink ether instead, as would teetotalers, people who had decided not to drink alcohol.
It became illegal to sell ether in Poland in 1923.
Ether is made as a byproduct when ethanol is made, so it is not very expensive.
Carriage
A carriage is a type of vehicle that was used before cars were invented. It is a fancy type of cart or wagon, usually with four wheels and suspension. The carriages may be pulled by horses. Carriages are often used for weddings.
Lozi language
Lozi, also called Silozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language of the Niger-Congo language family.
It is spoken by the Lozi people in southwestern Zambia. It is also spoken in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and the Zambezi Region of Namibia.
The Lozi language comes from a mix of two languages: Luyana and Kololo.
This is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Lozi:
Ruhleben P.O.W. Camp
Ruhleben P.O.W. Camp was a camp near Berlin, Germany, where British prisoners of war were detained (kept) during World War I. Ruhleben itself was then a village 10 kilometres to the west of Berlin, but now it is part of the city of Berlin, in a district called Ruhleben in the borough of Spandau. The camp was originally a horse racecourse.
The detainees (people who were kept there) came from countries that were fighting against Germany in the war. Most of them were British. They were in Germany when the war broke out, which is why they were taken prisoner (detained). Some of them were in Germany because they lived there, others were on holiday at the time. Some of them were crew members of civilian ships that happened to be in German harbours at the time or who were captured at sea.
There were about 5,500 prisoners in the camp. Most of them spent all four years of World War I there. Books have been written about what it was like living in the camp. These include "To Ruhleben - And Back" by Geoffrey Pyke, who successfully escaped from the camp in 1915.
The detainees were mostly treated quite well. The guards had to obey the Geneva Conventions. Although there were some people who found it very difficult being kept there, many others found lots of things to do to keep themselves occupied. Letters, books, sports equipment and a printing press were all allowed into the camp and the detainees organised their own police force, magazine, library and postal service. Some of the detainees were young people who later became famous. They included the Canadian musician Ernest MacMillan who later became the conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. MacMillan had been on holiday in Germany to visit the Bayreuth Festival when war broke out. Charles Ellis and James Chadwick later became famous scientists. They used their time in Ruhleben to study. They were able to build a laboratory and do some experiments. There were famous footballers and athletes as well.
A lot of musical activities were organized in the camp. There was a Ruhleben Musical Society. Ernest MacMillan was a member and he gave concerts and lectures. Together with the composer and pianist Benjamin Dale, he played piano duet versions of all Beethoven’s symphonies. The society put on a performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera "Mikado" and a pantomime version of "Cinderella". They did not have the music for the "Mikado", but someone had the libretto (the words), and four of the musicians wrote the music from what they could remember. They wrote it out for whatever instruments they had in the camp. There was also a Ruhleben Drama Society which put on productions of Shakespeare’s "Othello" and "Twelfth Night" and Oscar Wilde’s "The Importance of Being Earnest".
As well as music and drama, sports also played a big part in the life of the camp detainees. Among the detainees were four people who had been England internationals: Fred Spiksley, Fred Pentland, Samuel Wolstenholme and Steve Bloomer, a Scotland international, John Cameron, a German international Edwin Dutton, and John Brearley, once of Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. There was a Ruhleben Football Association. Sometimes 1,000 detainees watched a game. Cricket, rugby, tennis, golf and boxing were also popular.
The detainees were free when the war ended and many of them were taken by ship back to Britain.
M249 light machine gun
The M249 light machine gun is a machine gun which is the U.S. vesion of the Belgian FN Minimi light machine gun, used by the United States and Lebanon. The main use of this weapon is to provide cover fire for other people in the group (the "squad") The gun uses 5.56 NATO caliber ammunition.
The M249 was made because a lot of the squadrons of the U.S. Army did not have fully automatic weapons. It has seen action in every war that the United States has been in since 1989.
The M249 is due to be replaced by the German M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle in the U.S. Marines, but the U.S. Army does not plan to buy any M27's, so it will stay in service with them.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra. 400,000 people go to its concerts each year and it is often broadcast over CBC Radio 2. It was formed in 1922. The concerts used to be given in the Massey Hall but since 1982 they have been in the Roy Thomson Hall. The Orchestra often goes on tour and has had some famous conductors.
List of conductors of the TSO:
The TSO's concertmaster now is Jacques Israelievitch.
Vattenfall Cyclassics
The Vattenfall Cyclassics is a cycling race held every year in Hamburg, Germany.
It started as an unimportant race in 1996, but because cycling became very popular in Germany it was made a part of the UCI Road World Cup in 1998. Since 2005, it is a part of the UCI ProTour.
The route of the race changes, but is about 250 km long. During a number of laps through Hamburg, the Waseberg hill is climbed a several times. The cyclists also race over Hamburg's highest bridge Köhlbrandbrücke. Unlike many races the Cyclassic race almost never ends in a "mass sprint", that is, with a lot of riders close together racing to the finish line.
There is an amateur part of the Cyclassics. Earlier on the day of the race there are three "Jedermann-Rennen". Anybody ("jedermann") with a ticket can take part in these races ("rennen") over 55 km, 100 km and 155 km. Tickets must be reserved months in advance. In 2005 there were 20000 amateurs on the course.
The sponsor of the Cyclassics, was the "Hamburg Electrizität Werke", Hamburg electricity plant or "HEW", after it became part of the big "Vattenfall" company the Cyclassic changed its name too, and from 2006 this cycling race has been known as the Vattenfall Cyclassics.
Gothic language
The Gothic language is an extinct Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is the East Germanic language with the most texts surviving today. It had died out by the 8th century or perhaps the early 9th century.