juno-labs/simple_wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Treaty of Warsaw (1970)

The **Treaty of Warsaw** () is a treaty between West Germany and the People's Republic of Poland. It was signed on December 7, 1970 and ratified by the German Bundestag on May 17, 1972.

In the treaty, both sides committed themselves to nonviolence and accepted the existing border - the Oder-Neisse line. This was a very sensitive topic at the time as Poland was concerned that one day a German government would lay claim to some of the territory Germany lost after World War II. Poland took over this territory to replace eastern Poland, which the Soviet Union had conquered in 1939. A lot of that land was east of the Curzon Line, and Poland kept it after the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1921).

Chancellor Willy Brandt was heavily criticized by the conservative CDU/CSU opposition, which indeed were in favour of such a claim, accusing him of abandoning German interests. The Oder-Neisse line was reaffirmed by a reunited Germany in the German-Polish Border Treaty, signed on 14 November 1990.

In the FRG at the time this treaty was signed it was not seen as the last word on the border, because article IV stated that previous treaties like the Potsdam Agreement were not superseded by this latest agreement, so the provisions of this treaty could be changed by a final peace treaty between Germany and the Allies of World War II as provided for in the Potsdam Agreement.

## Other websites

- Text of the treaty (PDF file, )
Polish–Lithuanian union

The term "**Polish-Lithuanian union**" means a development from the personal union between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, allso called the "Republic of the Two Nations", in 1569 and eventually to the creation of a short-lived  state in 1791.

The most important acts in the process of union were:

- 1385 - Union of Krewo - a personal union;
- 1401 - Union of Vilnius and Radom;
- 1413 - Union of Horodło;
- 1432 (1432-34) - Union of Grodno;
- 1499 - Union of Kraków and Vilnius;
- 1501 - Union of Mielnik;
- July 1, 1569 - Union of Lublin - creation of the Republic of the Two Nations;
- May 3, 1791 - Polish Constitution of May 3, 1791:  the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were abolished, and a common state was created in their place.
Scordatura

**Scordatura** in music is a technique in which players of string instruments tune their strings to different notes from a normal tuning. The word “scordatura” is an Italian word which means “mistuning”. It was used for lutes, guitars, viols and instruments of the violin family.

Using a scordatura tuning made the instrument sound different. For example: a string tuned to a slightly higher note will sound louder and brighter because it is tighter. Care has to be taken not to tune it too high otherwise it will break. Scordatura also made it possible to play unusual chords or combinations of notes in string-crossing (when the bow moves quickly from one string to another).

When a composer writes for an instrument using scordatura tuning he shows at the beginning of the music what notes the strings must be tuned to. The music is then written, not as it sounds, but so that the player can read it as if the instrument were being played normally, e.g. if a G string is tuned up to G# and the composer wants a G# he simply writes a G, but it will sound G#.

## Scordatura in the Baroque period

Scordatura tuning was mainly popular in the Baroque period from 1600-1750. Composers such as Heinrich Biber often used it. He composed a group of sonatas for violin and accompaniment called the "Rosary Sonatas". In each sonata the violin is tuned in a different way. In Sonata XI (called _Resurrection_) he even asks the violinist to make the two middle strings cross over between the bridge and the tailpiece so that the violin is tuned to two Gs and two Ds.

## Scordatura in the Classical Period

In the classical period a famous example of scordatura is Mozart’s, "Sinfonia Concertante" for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in which he asks the viola to tune all four strings a semitone higher than usual. This makes it sound louder and brighter so that it matches the brightness of the violin, especially as the violin is playing with normal tuning in the key of E flat, which sounds a soft key (because the key of Eflat hardly uses any “open” strings).

## Later examples

In the late 19th century and 20th century there are examples of composers using scordatura. In his Fourth Symphony Mahler asks the violin soloist (the leader of the orchestra) to play on a violin tuned to Gsharp-D-A-Eflat. The music is describing a poor beggar playing a violin. The violin soloist needs a second instrument for this, so that he can swap quickly back to a normal violin.

Saint-Saëns asks the solo violin in _Danse Macabre_ to tune the E string to Eflat to make it sound like the devil.

Zoltán Kodály wrote a sonata in B minor for solo cello, for which the cellist has to tune down the two lower strings to F# and B instead of G and C. This helps to make a very dark, rich sound when playing B minor chords.
2028 Summer Olympics

The **2028 Summer Olympics**, which will be officially known as the **Games of the XXXIV Olympiad**, is a sporting event that will happen from July 21 to August 6 in Los Angeles, California, United States. Football (soccer) will be held at various locations across California, while canoe slalom and softball will be held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Applying to host the games was supposed to begin in 2019. The host city was supposed to be announced in 2021. In July 2017, The International Olympic Committee decided to award 2024 and 2028 Games at the same time. On July 31, 2017, an agreement was announced that Los Angeles would apply to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. The agreement made Paris, France host the 2024 Summer Olympics. On September 13, 2017, the hosts for both Olympic games was announced at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru.

## Candidate City

- **Los Angeles, California, United States** (chosen)

## Other websites

- Official  Los Angeles 2028 Website

## Infobox (olympic games)

- 2028
- Summer
- Olympics
- **host city**: Los Angeles, California, United States
- **motto**: _Follow the Sun_
- **image**: 2028 Summer Olympics Logo.svg
- **image size**: 200px
- **caption**: One of the many variations of the Los Angeles 2028 logo
- **opening**: July 21
- **closing**: August 6
- **stadium**: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
SoFi Stadium
- **summer prev**: 2024 Summer Olympics, Paris 2024
- **summer next**: 2032 Summer Olympics, Brisbane 2032
- **winter prev**: 2026 Winter Olympics, Milan-Cortina 2026
- **winter next**: 2030 Winter Olympics, French Alps 2030
Etruscan origins

There are three main hypotheses as to the origins of the Etruscan civilization. Autochthonous development _in situ_ out of the Villanovan culture, as claimed by the Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus who described the Etruscans as indigenous people who had always lived in Etruria. A migration from the Aegean sea, as claimed by a couple of Greek historians: Herodotus, who described them as a group of immigrants from Lydia in Anatolia, and Hellanicus of Lesbos who claimed that the Tyrrhenians were the Pelasgians originally from Thessaly, Greece The third hypotheses is reported by Livy and Pliny the Elder, the  Etruscans as related to Rhaetian people to the north and other populations living in the Alps.

German linguist Helmut Rix proposed the Tyrsenian language family, with Etruscan related to the Rhaetic language spoken in the Alps north of Etruria, and to the Lemnian language spoken in Lemons. In particular the Lemnian language could have arrived in the Aegean Sea during the Late Bronze Age, when Mycenaean rulers recruited groups of mercenaries from Sicily, Sardinia and various parts of the Italian peninsula.

A 2013 mtDNA study concluded that the Etruscans appear to fall very close to a Neolithic population from Central Europe and to other Tuscan populations.

A 2019 genetic study published in the journal Science analyzed the autosomal DNA of 11 Iron Age samples from the areas around Rome, concluding that Etruscans (900-600 BC) and the Latins (900-200 BC) from Latium vetus were genetically similar, and Etruscans also had Steppe-related ancestry despite speaking a pre-Indo-European language.

A 2021 genetic study published in the journal Science Advances analyzed the autosomal DNA of 48 Iron Age individuals from Tuscany and Lazio and confirmed that the Etruscan individuals displayed the ancestral component Steppe in the same percentages as found in the previously analyzed Iron Age Latins, and that the Etruscans' DNA completely lacks a signal of recent admixture with Anatolia or the Eastern Mediterranean, concluding that the Etruscans were autochthonous and they had a genetic profile similar to their Latin neighbors. Both Etruscans and Latins joined firmly the European cluster, 75% of the Etruscan male individuals were found to belong to haplogroup R1b-M269 and its subclades, especially R1b-P312 and its derivative R1b-L2 whose direct ancestor is R1b-U152, while the most common mitochondrial DNA haplogroup among the Etruscans was H.

According to prehistoric and protohistoric archaeologists, anthropologists, etruscologists, geneticists, linguists, all the evidence gathered so far points to an autochthonous origin of the Etruscans.
 Moreover, there is no archeological evidence for a migration of the Lydians or the Pelasgians into Etruria.
Etruscan

**Etruscan** can mean:

## Etruscans

- Etruscan alphabet
- Etruscan architecture
- Etruscan chariot
- Etruscan cities
- Etruscan civilization
- Etruscan history
- Etruscan jewelry
- Etruscan language
- Etruscan mythology
- Etruscan numerals
- Etruscan Sibyl
- Etruscan society
- Etruscan terracotta warriors

## Species

- Etruscan honeysuckle
- Etruscan Pygmy Shrew

## Other

- Etruscan Resources, a company based in Nova Scotia that operates gold and diamond mines in Africa.
- The Etruscan Mask, a film.
Etruscan language

The **Etruscan language** was spoken and written by the Etruscans in the ancient area of Etruria (what is now Tuscany, western Umbria and northern Latium) and in parts of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna (where the Gauls took the place of the Etruscans), in Italy.

Inscriptions have been found in northwestern and west-central Italy in the region that still has a name that came from the Etruscans, Tuscany (from Latin _tusc_ "Etruscans") and in Latium, north of Rome, in Umbria west of the Tiber, around Capua in Campania and in the Po Valley to the north of Etruria. That is probably the area in Italy in which the language was once spoken.

## Other websites

- Etruscan News Online, the Newsletter of the American Section of the Institute for Etruscan and Italic Studies.
- Etruscan News back issues , Center for Ancient Studies at New York University.
- Etruscology at Its Best, the website of Dr. Dieter H. Steinbauer, in English. Covers origins, vocabulary, grammar and place names.
- Viteliu: The Languages of Ancient Italy at web.archive.org.
- The Etruscan Language , the linguistlist.org site. Links to many other Etruscan language sites.

## Infobox (language)

- **name**: Etruscan
- **image**: Perugia, Museo archeologico Nazionale dell'Umbria, cippo di Perugia.jpg
- **imagecaption**: The Cippus Perusinus, a stone tablet bearing 46 lines of incised Etruscan text, one of the longest extant Etruscan inscriptions. 3rd or 2nd century BC.
- **states**: Ancient Etruria
- **region**: Italian Peninsula
- **era**: attested 700 BC to 100 AD
- **ref**: linglist
- **familycolor**: grey
- **fam1**: Tyrsenian languages, Tyrsenian?
- **iso3**: ett
- **glotto**: etru1241
- **glottorefname**: Etruscan
- **notice**: IPA
- **map**: Idioma etrusco.png
- **extinct**: >AD 180
- **script**: Old Italic script
Albanian language

The **Albanian language** (__) is an Indo-European language. It is spoken mostly in Albania (3,500,000), Kosovo and (500,000) Republic of North Macedonia.

## Dialects

Ghegs, Tosks, Arbëresh, Arvanites, Arbanasi

## Other websites

- An overview of the Albanian language and culture
- Albanian language family tree
- List of free online resources for learners

## Infobox (language)

- **name**: Albanian
- **nativename**: _shqip, gjuha shqipe, 𐔜𐔘𐔍𐔗, 𐔋𐔟𐔌𐔀 𐔜𐔘𐔍𐔗𐔇_
- **states**: Albania, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Bulgaria, Albanian diaspora
- **speakers**: 7.6 million
- **date**: 2011
- **ref**: e18
- **familycolor**: Indo-European
- **dia1**: Gheg Albanian, Gheg
- **dia2**: Tosk Albanian, Tosk
- **dia3**: Arbëresh language, Arbëresh
- **dia4**: Arvanitika
- **script**: Latin script, Latin (Albanian alphabet)
Albanian Braille
- **nation**:

- **minority**:

- **agency**: Officially by the Social Sciences and Albanological Section of the Academy of Sciences of Albania
- **iso1**: sq
- **iso2b**: alb
- **iso2t**: sqi
- **lingua**: 55-AAA-aaa to 55-AAA-ahe (25 varieties)
- **iso3**: sqi
- **lc1**: aae
- **ld1**: Arbëresh language, Arbëresh
- **lc2**: aat
- **ld2**: Arvanitika
- **lc3**: aln
- **ld3**: Gheg Albanian, Gheg
- **lc4**: als
- **ld4**: Tosk Albanian, Tosk
- **glotto**: alba1267
- **glottorefname**: Albanian
- **map**: Albanian dialects.svg
- **notice**: IPA
Trialeti culture

The **Trialeti** culture was seen around the 2nd millennium B.C. In the late 3rd millennium B.C. settlements of the Kura-Araxes culture began to be replaced by early Trialeti culture sites. The Trialeti culture was the second culture to appear in the Caucasus, after the Kura-Araxes culture. The Trialeti culture shows close ties with the highly-developed cultures of the ancient world, particularly with the Aegean.

## Related pages

- Artaxiad dynasty of Iberia
- Kura-Araxes culture
- Shulaveri-Shomu culture
Kura–Araxes culture

The **Kura-Araxes culture** or the **Early trans-Caucasian culture**, a people that lived from 3400 BC until about 2000 BC.  The earliest evidence for this culture is found on the Ararat plain; thence it spread to Georgia by 3000 B.C.

The land they lived in are now Armenia, Georgia , Azerbaijan and the Caucasus.

## Other websites

- The Chronology of the Caucasus During the Early Metal Age: Observations from Central Transcaucasus  - Giorgi L. Kavtaradze
- The Beginnings of Metallurgy  - includes extensive discussion of Kura-Araxes metalworking
Biodiesel

**Biodiesel** is a type of fuel prepared by changing vegetable oil, animal fat, special types of algae and possibly even sewage.  It is considered a type of renewable energy, since it all comes from living plants and animals.  It can be used to power an engine, usually for vehicles, including airplanes.  It replaces diesel that comes from petroleum, a type of fossil fuel.

Biofuel prepared from biomass is different since it does not start from oil and uses a different chemical process to make the fuel.

## Advantages and disadvantages

Biodiesel is much cleaner and has less pollution than diesel fuel made from fossil fuels.  It also acts as a solvent (like soap). In fact, it cleans the engine so much that it might pull out old dirt in the engine and clog up the filters.  After the filters are replaced then it is fine.

In the United States and several other places, new laws say that regular diesel fuel must be low in sulfur.  This gets rid of pollution, especially acid rain, but it also makes the fuel less slippery.  Adding in biodiesel helps keep the fuel slippery and the engine running smoothly.

Most biodiesel comes from plants.  This means a lot of farmland is used to grow plants for fuel instead of for feeding animals and people.  There are scientists, chemical engineers and agricultural engineers who are studying ways to use algae and saltwater plants to make oil.  This would not take away farmland that is used to grow food.  Also, some biodiesel comes from waste oil and waste animal fat, that would otherwise be thrown away.  NASA is testing biodiesel made from chicken fat to fuel their airplanes.

All diesel fuel has a problem starting an engine in cold weather, but biodiesel has more of a problem.  This can be solved by mixing biodiesel and regular diesel at the right mixture.  Or by heating the fuel before it is used by the engine.  There might be a heater built into the vehicle for this.

## Biodiesel from plants

Most biodiesel is made from oilseed.  Oilseed is any type of seed that has enough oil in it to be useful in making vegetable oil.

In Brazil, castor beans are the best plants to make biodiesel.
In Germany biodiesel is usually made from rapeseeds.
Soybeans and sunflower seeds are commonly used in the United States.
In Thailand, the raw material will most likely come from palm oil, coconut oil, Jatropha oil, and animal fat.
Jatropha trees also grow in India and Africa.

Some people make their own biodiesel by converting old oil that is used in restaurants to fry foods.  The exhaust smells a bit like french fries.

## Biodiesel from algae

Someday algae might be used to make more biodiesel than is made today with vegetable oil.  Algae can be grown in places that food cannot be grown in, so it would not take food away from people.   But right now it is still too expensive, but scientists are looking at ways to make the process better.
Nimrod

**Nimrod** (; ,  _an-Namrūd_) according to the Bible was the son of Kush, grandson of Ham and a "mighty hunter before the Lord" who built cities at Akkad, Erech (Uruk), and Babel. According to many legends, and as told by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, he became an evil tyrant who forced all his subjects to bake bricks for the Tower of Babel.
Bridge (instrument)

A **bridge** on a string instrument is something that stands on the body of the instrument and supports the strings.  It sends the vibrations of the strings to the main part of the instrument so that the sound can be heard.

The bridge of an instrument in the violin family (violin, viola, cello and double bass) can be seen very clearly.  It is a piece of hardwood which is shaped like a bridge.  The top is like an arch in shape because the player needs to be able to play on one string at a time.  The feet of the bridge have to be shaped to fit on the front of the instrument (the “belly”) which is curved.  The bridge is not fixed to the instrument: it is only held up because of the tension (tightness) of the strings.  The soundpost, a small wooden column inside the body, is also held up by tension of the strings and the bridge.
The part of the string which vibrates and gives the note is the part between the bridge and the top of the fingerboard (or the part between the bridge and where the player puts his finger).  The other end of the string is fixed to a tailpiece.

On a banjo the bridge works in the same way, but on a guitar the bridge is fixed to the instrument and the strings are fixed to the bridge.

There are even instruments with moveable bridges such as the Japanese koto which has a separate bridge for each string.
Bridge (disambiguation)

**Bridge** may mean:
- Bridge (structure), a structure built so that a transportation route can cross above an obstacle.
- The Bridge (documentary movie), a movie about suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Bridge (dentistry), a fixed prosthesis used to replace missing teeth.
- Bridge (exercise), most commonly the balancing of the body on the head and feet.
- Bridge (graph theory), an edge whose removal disconnects a graph.
- Bridge (grappling), a move intended to dislodge an opponent in top control.
- Bridge (prosody), a point in a line of poetry where a break in a word-unit cannot occur.
- Bridge (ship), the area from which a ship is commanded.
    - Main Bridge (Star Trek), the control center of Starfleet vessels in the Star Trek universe.
- Contract bridge, a card game.
- Bridge loan, a short-term loan to cover a gap in time until a new long-term financing is realised.
- Adobe Bridge, a program included with the Adobe Creative Suite to link the other programs together
- Hashiwokakero, meaning "build bridges", a Japanese puzzle.
- "bridge the gap": a phrase meaning to connect different things or ideas
    - Bridge cameras combine some of the advantages of large and small cameras
- Bridge Records, Inc., a record label
In **chemistry**:
- Bridge (chemical), an unbranched chain of atoms or an atom or a covalent bond connecting two bridgeheads in a polycyclic compound.
- A Salt bridge, in chemistry, is a laboratory device used to connect the oxidation and reduction half-cells of a galvanic cell (electrochemical cell)
- Salt bridge (protein) (or salt bond), in protein chemistry, is the term used to denote chemical bonds between positively and negatively charged side-chains of proteins.
In **electronics**:
- Bridge rectifier, an electronic circuit for converting alternating current to direct current.
- Wheatstone bridge, an electronic circuit for comparing resistors, capacitors or inductors to high standards of accuracy.
In **music**:
- Bridge (instrument), the device that anchors the strings to or holds the strings above the body of a string instrument, such as a violin or guitar.
- Bridge (music), an interlude that connects two parts of song.
In **computers**:
- Bridge pattern, a computer science design used to separate an abstraction and its actual implementation.
- Network bridge, an electronic device used to connect two computer or telephone network segments.

## People

- Frank Bridge, composer

## Places with the name Bridge

- Bridge, Kent, a place in Kent, England.
- Scotland has many place names in the style of Bridge of Allan.

## Related pages

- Bridge the gap
Brazilwood

**Brazilwood** or **Pau-Brasil**, sometimes known as **Pernambuco wood** (_Caesalpina echinata_) is a Brazilian tree. It has a dense, orange-red wood (which takes a high shine), and it is the most frequently used wood for making bows for string instruments from the violin family.  The wood also gives a red dye called brazilin.

There are several trees in this family which have very similar properties, including the development of red dye. The term "brazilwood" is sometimes used for these other species as well. The tree was exploited for their dye in the 18th century, and is now lost over much of its original range.

When Pedro Álvares Cabral explored Brazil, he named it after the brazilwood that he found there.
Chav

**Chav** (male) and **chavette** (female) are mainly negative, unkind slang words used in the United Kingdom for a subcultural stereotype of young underclass white people. Chav: "a young working class person who dresses in casual sports clothing or a baseball cap".

They may wear fashion based on American hip-hop such as fake gold jewellery and designer clothing, combined with elements of working class British street fashion. Many are either school age or late teens/early twenties and may come from a family culture of social security claimants ("SS claimants"). The term first appeared in dictionaries in 2005.  They tend to listen to R&B, hip hop, UK garage, grime and reggae and drum & bass music.

"Chav" has started to mean a variety of things. Most chavs do not wear Burberry – this happened mostly in the '90s and early '00s. Chavs are stereotypically narrow-minded and more often than not, below average intelligence. Chavs also tend to use slang language to appear "cooler" and more "edgy".

Chavs may be associated with criminality, including: assault, mugging, robbery, burglary and car crime. Anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos) were introduced to tackle such persistent offending.

“Chavette” is a term used to describe female chavs.

## Pop culture

In 2011, Owen Jones published his first book, _Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class_. Jones says in it that 'chav' is a word used to make working-class people seem less human.
Council house

The **council house** is a form of public housing found in Ireland and the United Kingdom, sometimes called **social housing** in modern times. Council houses were built and operated by local councils to help the local population. Council houses were built and operated by local councils. The aim was to supply uncrowded, well-built homes with lower rents to working-class people. Council house building began in the late in the 1860s in London and Liverpool.  The Housing of The Working Classes Act, 1890 gave local councils powers to buy land and build houses. The Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1919 gave them money to pay for the building and powers to build outside their own areas..    Between 1919 and 1939, local councils built a total of 1.1 million homes.

It peaked in the mid-20th century.  The Housing Act 1980 gave tenants the Right to Buy their home at a large discount.  Gerald Kaufman, then in the Labour Party Shadow Cabinet and a former Environment Minister himself, said the Act would "not provide a single new home and [would] deprive many homeless people or families living in tower blocks from getting suitable accommodation".

As of 2005, approximately 20% of the country's housing was owned by local councils or by housing associations.  The largest council estate in the country (and one of the largest in the world) is Becontree, Dagenham, with a population of over 100,000. Building started in the 1920s and took nearly 20 years to finish.

The Republic of Ireland has a similar public housing system, Local Authority Accommodation.
Midnight Madness

***Midnight Madness*** is a 1980 comedy movie from Walt Disney Productions, starring David Naughton. The movie is about a group of college students who participate in an all night puzzle solving race. It is Michael J. Fox's first film role.

The movie did not do well in theaters and many critics did not like it. However, the movie has gained a cult following, and has been the inspiration for many real-life puzzle and alternate reality games.

## Related pages

- _It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World_
- _The Last of Sheila_
- _Scavenger Hunt_
- _Million Dollar Mystery_
- _Rat Race_

## Other websites

- Fagabeefe: An unofficial fan page devoted to the film
- http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/1378/index.html  Another website about the movie
- Roger Ebert's 1980 review
- Comprehensive Synopsis/Review at 3B Theater
- DVD review at Digitally Obsessed
- Hot Springs, Arkansas's 2006 Midnight Madness
- Midnight Madness Brevard County, Florida

## Infobox (movie)

- **name**: Midnight Madness
- **director**: Michael Nankin
David Wechter
- **producer**: Ron W. Miller, Ron Miller
- **writer**: Michael Nankin
David Wechter
- **starring**: David Naughton (actor), David Naughton
Michael J. Fox
Stephen Furst
Maggie Roswell
 Eddie Deezen
 Debra Clinger
Brad Wilkin
- **music**: Julius Wechter
- **cinematography**: Frank V. Phillips
- **editing**: Norman R. Palmer
Jack Sekely
- **studio**: Walt Disney Productions
- **distributor**: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Buena Vista Distribution
- **runtime**: 112 min
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **gross**: $2.9 million
Barvas

**Barvas** or **Barabhas** is a village on the Isle of Lewis. It is said to have the biggest percentage of Gaelic speakers in Scotland, (74.7% here speak Gaelic.)
Lewis

**Lewis** is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island in the Western Isles (or Outer Hebrides) of Scotland.

Its biggest town is called Stornoway, which has a population of over 5000. Most people on the island speak Gaelic. On the island, there is a town called Barvas, which is the place which has the biggest percentage of Gaelic speakers (74.7% of the people speak Gaelic).

## Related pages

- Callanish stones
Stornoway

**Stornoway** is the biggest town in the Outer Hebrides. It is on the Isle of Lewis, and over 5,000 people live there. It has nearby the Stornoway Airport, an old RAF airbase which now acts a link between the island and the Scottish mainland.
Skye

**Skye** is the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. More than 9000 people live there, and half of the people speak Gaelic. The main settlement is **Portree**, known for its picturesque harbour.

The island has been occupied since the mesolithic period and has a colourful history. It was rule by the Norse for 400 years, then dominated by Clan MacLeod and Clan Donald. The Highland Clearances of the 19th century caused a decline in the population from over 20,000 to around 9,200 in the early 21st century. The population has risen 4% from the census of 1991. The main industries are tourism, agriculture, fishing and whisky-distilling.

Skye is part of the Highland Council local government area and is now linked to the mainland by a road bridge. The island is renowned for its spectacular scenery, vibrant culture and heritage, and its abundant wildlife, including the Golden Eagle, Red Deer and Atlantic Salmon.

## The Clans

Skye has a rich heritage of ancient monuments from the clans, especially castles. Dunvegan Castle has been the seat of Clan MacLeod since the 13th century. It may have been inhabited by a single family for longer than any other house in Scotland.

The 18th century Armadale Castle, once home of Clan Donald was abandoned as a residence in 1925 but now hosts the Clan Donald Centre. Nearby are the ruins of two more MacDonald strongholds, Knock Castle, and Dunscaith Castle, the legendary home of Queen Scáthach.

## Geography

At 1,656 square kilometres (639 sq mi), Skye is the second-largest island in Scotland after Lewis and Harris.

### The Black Cuilin

The Black Cuillin, low mountains mainly composed of basalt and gabbro, include 12 peaks the Scots call 'Munros'. This is some of the most dramatic and challenging mountain terrain in Scotland. The ascent of Sgùrr a' Ghreadaidh is one of the longest rock climbs in Britain and the Inaccessible Pinnacle is the only peak in Scotland that requires technical climbing skills to reach the summit. A full crossing of the Cuillin ridge may take 15–20 hours to complete.
2024 Summer Olympics

The **2024 Summer Olympics**, which is officially known as the **Games of the XXXIII Olympiad**, was a sporting event that happened from July 26 to August 11 in Paris, France.

## Infobox (olympic games)

- 2024
- Summer
- Olympics
- **image**: 2024 Summer Olympics text logo.svg
- **image size**: 220
- **caption**: Emblem of the 2024 Summer Olympics
- **host city**: Paris, France
- **motto**: _Games wide open_ ()
- **nations**: 206 (including the Individual Neutral Athletes at the 2024 Summer Olympics, AIN and Refugee Olympic Team, EOR teams)
- **athletes**: 10,714
- **events**: 329 in 32 sports
- **opening**: 26 July 2024
- **closing**: 11 August 2024
- **opened by**: President of France, President Emmanuel Macron
- **cauldron**: Teddy Riner
Marie-José Pérec
- **stadium**: Jardins du Trocadéro and the Seine (opening ceremony)
Stade de France (closing ceremony)
- **summer prev**: 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo 2020
- **summer next**: _2028 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles 2028_
- **winter prev**: 2022 Winter Olympics, Beijing 2022
- **winter next**: _2026 Winter Olympics, Milano Cortina 2026_
2022 Winter Olympics

The **2022 Winter Olympics**, formally called the ** XXIV Olympic Winter Games**, is the 24th Games of the Winter Olympics. It is an international winter sports event that was held from February 4 to February 20, 2022. The winning bid was announced in the summer of 2015 and Beijing was chosen. Because Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics, it became the first city ever to host both the Summer and the Winter Olympics.

## Candidate Cities

- **Beijing, People's Republic of China** (chosen)
- **Almaty, Kazakhstan**
- **Oslo, Norway**

### Asia

- **Harbin**, **People's Republic of China**: Li Zhanshu, governor of Heilongjiang, has said that "If we fail again for the 2018 Games, we are determined to win the 2022 Winter Games." Harbin bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but did not make the short list.
- **Kazakhstan**: Kazakhstan considers to bid for the 2022 games, either in Almaty, the former capital, largest city, and financial centre, or divided between Almaty and Nur-Sultan, the capital.  The Almaty alternative gives higher chance of winning, but the divided alternative is preferred by the government because of lower cost, since more arenas and hotels exist already. Kazakhstan hosted the 2011 Asian Winter Games, which can be seen as preparation for hosting the Winter Olympic Games in 2022. The Asian Winter Games were divided between Astana and Almaty. On November 29, 2011, Almaty was chosen to host the 2017 Winter Universiade.

### Europe

- **Lviv, Ukraine**
- **Prahova Valley, Romania** -  Romanian Prime Minister Călin Popescu Tăriceanu said on June 14 2007 that the country is thinking about a bid for the Games to be held there.
- **Zurich, Switzerland**

### North America

- **Quebec City, Canada**
- **Salt Lake City, Utah, United States**: Salt Lake City considered a bid for either the 2018 Games or the 2022 Games. The city hosted the 2002 Winter Olympics.
- **Montreal, Quebec, Canada – Lake Placid, New York, USA**: Officials from Quebec and the state of New York have met to talk about the possibility of a bid together. With Vancouver hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, the earliest that Canada hoped to host the Olympics was 2022. Montreal, Canada hosted the 1976 Summer Games and Lake Placid hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Games.

### South America

- Santiago, Chile

## Infobox (olympic games)

- 2022
- Winter
- Olympics
- **host city**: Beijing, China
- **motto**: _Joyful Rendezvous Upon Pure Ice and Snow_
()
- **nations**: 95
- **image**: 2022 Winter Olympics logo.svg
- **events**: 109 in 7 Olympic sports, sports (15 disciplines)
- **opening**: 4 February
- **closing**: 20 February
- **opened by**: Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP General Secretary
- **cauldron**: Dilnigar Ilhamjan & Zhao Jiawen
- **stadium**: Beijing National Stadium
- **winter prev**: 2018 Winter Olympics, PyeongChang 2018
- **winter next**: 2026 Winter Olympics, Milan-Cortina 2026
- **summer prev**: 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo 2020
- **summer next**: 2024 Summer Olympics, Paris 2024
Guarneri

**Guarneri** is the name of a family of famous violin makers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries.  Together with the families Amati and Stradivari they made some of the best violins the world has known.

**Andrea Guarneri** ( - 7 December 1698) was a pupil in the workshop of Nicolo Amati from 1641 to 1646 and returned to make violins for Amati from 1650 to 1654.  He married a rich lady and they were able to buy a large house which became known as the “Casa Guarneri”.  They had seven children.  Two of his sons: Pietro Giovanni and Giuseppe Giovanni, became violin makers. Andrea Guarneri produced some fine violas, one of which was played by William Primrose in the early 20th century.

**Pietro Giovanni Guarneri** (18 February 1655 - 26 March 1720), known as **Peter of Mantua** (_Pietro da Mantova_) to distinguish him from his nephew Pietro Guarneri. He worked in his father's workshop from around 1670 until his marriage in 1677. He had settled in Mantua by 1683, where he worked both as a musician and a violin maker. His instruments are generally better than his father's. However, he did not make so many instruments because he spent a lot of his time playing them.  None of his children became violin makers. Joseph Szigeti played one of his instruments.

Andrea's younger son, **Giuseppe Giovanni Battista Guarneri** (25 November 1666 - 1739 or 1740), known as _filius Andreae_, joined his father's business in Cremona.  He inherited it in 1698. He is one of the great violin makers.

Giuseppe Giovanni Battista was father to two other instrument makers:  Pietro Guerneri who settled in Venice and Bartolomeo.

**Pietro Guarneri** (Peter of Venice or _Pietro da Venezia_) (14 April 1695 - 7 April 1762) made some instruments that are as great as those of his father.  One of his cellos was played by Beatrice Harrison.

Bartolomeo **Giuseppe Guarneri** (_del Gesù_), also known as Joseph (21 August 1698 - 17 October  1744), has been called the finest violin maker of the Amati line (Amati and his pupils). Giuseppe is known as _del Gesù_ because his labels always have the characters I.H.S. (_iota-eta-sigma_) and a Roman cross. His instruments are different from the others made by his family.  They are thought of as the greatest violins with the exception of those by Stradivari. The famous violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini’s favorite instrument was a Guarneri del Gesù violin of 1743. The "Lord Wilton" Guarneri del Gesù violin made in 1742 was owned by Yehudi Menuhin and other Twentieth-century 'del Gesù' players have included, Arthur Grumiaux, Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern and Henryk Szeryng.

## References

- Grove Music Online

## Other websites

- Guarneri family web page, violins, violin labels
- Guarneri web site
- The Violin Site - Violin Making
- Casa Guarneri Auctioneers of fine musical instruments
Amati

**Amati** is the name of a family of Italian violin makers. They made violins between about 1549 and 1740. They worked in Cremona in Italy, the town which is famous for violin making.

## Andrea Amati: the founder of the family

The most famous member of the family was **Andrea Amati** who was born some time before 1511 and died in Cremona on 24 December 1577. He can be thought of as the inventor of the modern violin. He made violins, violas and cellos. A small number of his instruments are still in existence. They are dated between 1564 and 1574 and they have the coat of arms of Charles IX of France on the back.

### His sons Antonio and Girolamo Amati

Andrea Amati’s two sons were **Antonio Amati** who was born about 1540 in Cremona and died there on 14 February 1607 and **Girolamo Amati** who was born about 1561 in Cremona and died of the plague there on 21 October 1630. They are known as "The Brothers Amati", but they did not work much together. However, they both produced some great instruments. They made the shape of the f holes perfect and gave their instruments more strength. They also made some large violas and cellos. They had an enormous influence on all other violin makers.

### Nicolò Amati

**Nicolò Amati** was the son of Girolamo Amati. He is now the most famous member of the family. He was born on 3 December 1596 and died on 12 April 1684. He was the most eminent of the family. He had become a very skilled violin maker by 1630 when his father died. During the next few years there was a lot of suffering because of the plague and not many people could afford to buy instruments. Then, after 1640, there was more demand again and Nicolò made many great instruments. Those that have survived are among the most sought-after and expensive violins today. He made instruments that were slightly wider and were known as the “Grand Pattern”. Many other violin makers learned from him. These pupils include Andrea Guarneri and possibly also Antonio Stradivari.

### Girolamo Amati

The last maker of the family was Nicolo's son, **Girolamo Amati**, known as **Hieronymus II**. He was born on 26 February and died on 21 February, 1740. Although he made some improvements to his father's instruments, they are not as good. Antonio Stradivari became the greatest violin maker at this time.

## Related pages

- Antonio Stradivari
- Guarneri

## References

- Grove Music Online

## Other websites

- The Violin Site - Violin Making
Guardians of Scotland

The **Guardians of Scotland** were appointed to act as King during the two _interregnums_ of 1290-1292 and 1296-1302.

An interregum is a time when a monarchy has no king.  It is from the Latin for "between reigns".
Pretzel

A **pretzel** (French: _Bretzel_, Alsatian: _bradchdal_, German: _Breze_ or _Brezel_) is a baked snack that originated in Germany. It is traditionally twisted into a unique knot-like shape. The pretzel dough is made from wheat flour and yeast. Before baking, it is dipped into "Natronlauge" (, sodium hydroxide solution (NaOH) or sodium carbonate solution (Na<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub>)) and sprinkled with coarse salt. During baking, a Maillard reaction then gives the pretzel its brown color and distinctive flavor. In Bavaria, it is eaten in a Weißwurst breakfast.

Because they are made mostly of wheat, pretzels can cause health problems for people who have wheat allergy, coeliac disease, or wheat intolerances.

There are different types of pretzels, like chocolate pretzels.

## Other websites

- Sturgis Pretzel House: Pretzel History
- German Brezel History
- Video Clips of Pretzel
- History at Snyders of Hanover
Shoplifting

**Shoplifting** is theft by stealing goods from a retail store. It can be done by placing the item in pockets, under clothes or in bags and leaving the store without paying for the item in question.

Shoplifting, when detected, is punishable by law enforcement.
Portrait

A **portrait** is a painting or a photograph of a person's face and its expression. The purpose of a portrait is to show the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this reason, in photography, a portrait is actually not a snapshot, but a calm image of a person in a still position. A portrait normally shows a person looking directly at the painter or photographer.

## Other websites

- National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution
- National Portrait Gallery London
- Painting The Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces
- Jeanne Ivy's Self-Portrait Page  - _What Artists Find When They Search in the Mirror_.
- Portrait Detectives - Fun interactive introduction to the analysis of portraiture.
- Reportret - A gallery of reconstructions of missing portraits from world history.
Road rage

**Road rage** means violent behavior by a driver of a road vehicle. This includes verbal abuse, offensive gestures, and dangerous driving methods. Road rage may cause violence or accidents.
Graceland

**Graceland** is a  estate and large white-colored mansion that was owned by Elvis Presley. It is located in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

## Further reading

- Engel, Matthew. "Still stuck on Elvis, fans exalt the King". _The Guardian_ (London), August 17, 2002, p. 1.
- Harris, John. "Talking about Graceland". _The Guardian_ (London), March 27, 2006.

## Other websites

- Official website
- O.T.I.S. Odd Things I've Seen
- National Historic Landmark news release
- Elvis Information Network History of the building
Daniel Schneidermann

**Daniel Schneidermann** (born April 5, 1958 in Paris) is a French journalist. He mainly reports about televised media. He is most active in weekly columns. Schneidermann has written in _Le Monde_ and is presently in _Libération_. He also can be seen on the television program _Arrêt sur images_ (_Freeze-frame_), broadcast by the public television channel France 5.
Pound (mass)

A **pound** (usually abbreviated as **lb**, plural **lbs**) is a unit used to measure the mass of something. It is used in the imperial system and the United States customary system. It is related to the Pound (force). There are a number of different definitions. The most commonly used definition today is the international avoirdupois pound. This is equal to , and is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces.

The abbreviation **lb** is for the Latin word _libra_, meaning _weight._

## Avoirdupois pound

The avoirdupois pound (abbreviation **lb.**, plural **lbs.**) is the most common unit. This type is used for all purposes except the uses of the troy pound. Most people from the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Liberia and Burma use this as their standard measure of their personal mass.

|Units|Grains|Drachms|Ounces|Pounds|Stones|Quarters|Short Hundredweights (Centals)|Long Hundredweights|Short Tons|Long Tons|Metric Value|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Avoirdupois pound|7,000|256|16|1|||||||453.59237 Grammes|

## Troy pound

The troy pound (abbreviation **t lb.**, plural **t lbs.**) is generally not used anymore. It was used in England by apothecaries and jewellers. A troy pound contains 12 troy ounces. The troy ounce is still used to measure the mass of precious metals and gems.

|Units|Grains|Pennyweights|Ounces|Pounds|Metric Values|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Troy Pound|5,760|240|12|1|373.2417216 Grammes|

## Metric pound

In some European countries, a metric pound is an informal term for half a kilogram (500 grams). In the Netherlands, however, the metric pound () used to be equal to 480 grams, but nowadays a Dutch pound equals 500 grams. A Dutch 'ons' (ounce) is equal to 100 grams, and it is often said that 5 ons is 1 pond.

## Comparison

|Units|Avoirdupois pounds|Troy pounds|Metric value|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Avoirdupois pound|1|1|453.59237 Grammes|
|Troy pound||1|373.2417216 Grammes|
Eastern Armenia

**Eastern Armenia**, also _Caucasian Armenia_, was a Persian Armenia and a part of
Ottoman Armenia that was merged with the Russian empire.

The Eastern Armenian dialect of the Armenian language is spoken mostly in the Caucasus region (including Armenia) and in Iran and Russia.

## Related pages

- History of Armenia
- Persian Armenia
- Ottoman Armenia
- Russian Armenia
- Western Armenia
- Greater Armenia
- Lesser Armenia
Western Armenia

**Western Armenia** (), also referred to as **Byzantine Armenia**, later **Turkish Armenia**, or **Ottoman Armenia** is a term coined following the division of Greater Armenia between Byzantine Empire (_Western Armenia_) and Persia (_Eastern Armenia_) in 387 AC. Today, it is mostly a term used for eastern parts of Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) that were part of the historical homeland of Armenians.

## History

After the death of Armenian king _Arshak III_, in 390 AC, the Western Armenia was governed by Greek generals. In the 7th century Western Armenia was one of the centers of _Pavlikian_ Christian popular sect. Since 9th century the most part of Western Armenia included Vaspurakan and Taron was under the rule of Bagratid dynasty of Armenia. Then the Zakarid Armenia of 13-14th centuries included some parts of Western Armenia.

After Turkish-Persian wars of 1602-1639 Western Armenia became part of Ottoman Empire. Since Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 that term is referred to the Armenian-populated historical regions of the Ottoman Empire that remained under Ottoman rule after the eastern part was ceded to the Russian Empire.

Western (Ottoman) Armenia was composed of six vilayets (_vilâyat-ı sitte_), the vilayets of Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbekir, Kharput, and Sivas. After the collapse of Ottoman Empire Western Armenia remained under Turkish rule, and in 1894–96 and 1915 Turkey perpetrated systematic massacres and forced deportations of Armenians.

After the Armenian genocide the distinct Western Armenian dialect of the Armenian language (recognized as one of the major dialects of Armenian http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/search/collections.html ) is spoken primarily in Istanbul, Lebanon, Egypt, other parts of Armenian diaspora, and formerly in eastern Turkey. It differs orthographically from Eastern Armenian, there are also phonological differences. In some parts of the diaspora, the Armenian schools, such as L'École Arménienne Sourp Hagop and the Armenian Sisters Academy instruct Western Armenian to the students, instead of Eastern Armenian, the official dialect of the Republic of Armenia.

## Modern period

The fate of Western Armenia — commonly referred to as "The Armenian Question" — is considered as a key issue in the modern history of the Armenian people. The first and second congresses of Western Armenians took place in Yerevan in 1917 and 1919. Since 2000, an organizing committee of congress of heirs of Western Armenians who survived the Armenian Genocide is active in diasporan communities.

## Publications

- Dr Arman Kirakosian, English Policy towards Western Armenia and Public Opinion in Great Britain (1890-1900), Yerevan, 1981, 26 p. (in Armenian and Russian).

## Related pages

- Kingdom of Armenia
- Armenian Highland
- Wilsonian Armenia
- Armenian Empire

## Other websites

- Disappearance of Western Armenia after World War 1
- Video: Provinces of Western Armenia