The old Ross Casino was constructed in the late 1800s by Ross himself. It contained the first mail and telegraph service and a big store. The building had three floors, and was raised using imported materials. In January 20, 1906, the first Chilean casino was opened in that building. The Ross Casino worked until 1932, when the permission was cancelled, allowing just the newly constructed Viña del Mar Casino to work. After the closing of the Ross Casino, the building was converted into a hotel was which functioned until the 1980s.
The old casino (1905) and its gardens (1885) are an important part of the city. It was named Historic Monument by the National Monuments Council on February 25, 1988, by the supreme decree N° 100.
Ross was also the administrator of the great Juana Ross de Edwards fortune, the Nancagua Hacienda, near the city of same name. He designed an urban set of high environmental value and landscape, transforming ""La Posada"" to a hotel ("Great Hotel Pichilemu", later "Hotel Ross", or "Ross Hotel").
Ross also built several chalets, terraces, embankments, stone walls, a balcony in front of the beach and several large houses with imported building materials and furniture from France and England. Additionally, he put up a park and a forest of more than 10 hectares. Ross turned Pichilemu into a summer resort town for rich people from Santiago. He, however, could not build a dock for the city, as he had planned.
In 1935, the Ross successors ceded to the Illustrious Municipality of Pichilemu all the Ross constructions (streets, avenues, squares, seven hectares of forests, the park in front of the hotel, the perrons and the terraces) under condition that the municipality hold them for recreation and public access.
The Cultural Centre was severely damaged after the February 2010 Chile earthquake. The library that it hosted was completely destroyed. After the 2010 Pichilemu earthquake, the Cultural Centre suffered structural damage, but Roberto Córdova, Mayor of Pichilemu, said that it was repairable.
Australia national rugby union team
The Australia national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies are the national rugby union side of Australia. The first Australian teams played against the British Lions at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 24 June 1899. The Australians won the game 13-3. In 1908, the Australians went to the United Kingdom, France and North America to play. They needed a name and someone suggested the "Rabbits", but the team did not like it and chose the "Wallabies" instead. A wallaby is a small mammal from Australia, very similar to a kangaroo. Until the 1980s, only teams playing overseas were called the Wallabies; when they played in Australia they were called Internationals. Now the national team is called the Wallabies all the time.
Sparrow
A sparrow is a member of the genus "Passer". They are small passerine birds which belong to the family "Passeridae". They are also known as old-world sparrows. Sparrows often make their nests near houses or buildings. This means they are one of the easiest birds to see in the wild.
The genus has about 30 species around the world. The best known of these is the house sparrow, "Passer domesticus".
Some authorities place other genera in the sparrow group: "Petronia", the rock sparrows; "Carpospiza", the pale rockfinch; and "Montifringilla", the snowfinches.
Sparrows are small birds. They are between 11–18 centimeters long. They can weigh between 13–42 grams. They are usually brown and gray. They have short tails and small, strong beaks. Most sparrows eat seeds or small insects. Sparrows are social birds and they live in flocks (groups).
The house sparrow ("Passer domesticus") is a species of sparrow. It lives all over the world. It originally lived only in Europe and Asia. However, people travelled to new places and the house sparrow went to those places too. It is now the bird with the widest distribution. This means it lives in the most places. The species has about 50 subspecies.
Sparrows can be seen on every continent on earth. A long time ago, they lived only in Europe, Asia and Africa. However, people traveled to Australia, North America and South America, and now sparrows are seen there too. The house sparrow is seen in every continent. In Australia, there are no sparrows in Western Australia, as they have not been able to travel across the deserts that separate that state from the eastern states. The government employs people to hunt and destroy any sparrows that might arrive.
The house sparrow was introduced to America in the late 19th century. It was introduced on purpose. It was imported by several people, including Eugene Schieffelin, who was a wealthy New York City admirer of Shakespeare. He wanted to introduce to America all the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare. Two of these species were great successes: starlings and house sparrows. He organized a society for the importation of foreign birds, incorporated in Albany.
Some ornithologists thought the "Estrildid finches" were in the same family as sparrows. However, they are now in a different family, the Estrildidae.
There is also a group called 'American sparrows', or New World sparrows. These are also in a different family, the Emberizidae (buntings).
The hedge sparrow (also known as the dunnock or accentor) "Prunella modularis" is also not a true sparrow. It is in a different family, the Prunellidae. It is only called a sparrow because people called all small brown birds 'sparrows'. Birdwatchers call then all LBJs (little brown jobs) because they are usually so difficult to tell apart.
The house sparrow is small bird. It is between 14–18 centimeters (5.5–7.1 in) long. It weighs between 24–39.5 grams (0.85–1.4 oz). Females are smaller than males.
Male and female house sparrows are different colors. The male is brown, gray and white. It has a black throat. The female and young house sparrows are brown and dark yellow or cream. They have streaks (stripes) on their heads and wings.
The house sparrow lives close to humans, often near human houses in towns or cities. It also lives near farms and makes a nest in a bush or small tree. It can have two or three broods per year. This means it has two or three sets of eggs and chicks each year.
Nest sites are varied, though cavities are preferred. Nests are most frequently built in the eaves and other crevices of houses. Holes in cliffs and banks, or tree hollows, are also used. A sparrow sometimes digs out its own nests in sandy banks or rotten branches. More often it uses the nests of other birds, such swallows' nests in banks and cliffs, and old tree nest holes. It often uses deserted nests. Sometimes it takes over active nests by driving away or killing the occupants. Tree hollows are more commonly used in North America than in Europe. This puts the sparrows in competition with bluebirds and other North American cavity nesters so the native bird population declines.
The number of house sparrows in the United Kingdom has gone down, perhaps because their hedgerow habitat has shrunk. They are now 'endangered' in the United Kingdom. However, in other countries, the bird is still very common. Hedges are necessary to the bird because predators cannot usually get at their nests. They would have no defence against magpies (for example) if face-to-face.
Couch
A couch, sofa or settee is a kind of furniture that is designed to seat more than one person. It usually has a place to rest your arm on each side. Couches are normally found in the living room or in front of the TV.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, a couch was thought as a long, upward seat for resting on. One end would slope up high enough to provide a place for the head to rest.