recursal/SuperWikiNEXT-32B huggingface dataset:
Emperor Taizu of Qing
**Taizu Emperor** (Chinese: 清太祖, 1559 - 1626) was the founding father of the Qing Dynasty. His name was **Nurhaci** and Aisin Gioro was his surname. The reign name was Tian Ming. Nurhaci was Manchurian. He was also the creator of the Manchu alphabet.

Life
----

In 1580, Nurhaci became the Jianzhou general of the Ming Dynasty. He unified the Manchu tribe and organised the Eight Banners.

In 1616, Nurhaci declared himself **Khan** (King) and founded the Jin Dynasty in Liaoning.

In 1618, in order to encourage people to against the Ming Dynasty. Nurhaci wrote an article called the Seven Great Vexations and sent it to the public.

Form 1618 until 1622, Nurhaci led armies to against the Ming Dynasty. He successfully occupied 70 cities in the north-eastern part of China. The capital was changed to Liao Yang after several battles.

In 1622, Nurhaci's armies captured Guangning.

In 1626, Nurhaci led armies to attack the Ningyuan city. Unluckily, Nurhaci was wounded by Yuan Chonghuan's Portuguese cannon and he died 2 days later at a little town called De-A Man.

| * v
* t
* e
Emperors of the Qing Dynasty |
| --- |
|  | Nurhaci  • Huang Taiji  • Shunzhi Emperor  • Kangxi Emperor  • Yongzheng Emperor  • Qianlong Emperor  • Jiaqing Emperor  • Daoguang Emperor  • Xianfeng Emperor  • Tongzhi Emperor  • Guangxu Emperor  • Xuantong Emperor |
Petroleum coke**Petroleum coke** is a solid that is mainly made of carbon. It is similar to coke, but it is gotten from petroleum (coke is made from coal). Petroleum coke can be used as an industrial fuel, but there are very toxic by-products based on nickel and vanadium which make this a problem. Petroleum coke is also used in the aluminum industry, and in the heat treatment of steel and iron. Petroleum coke may be kept in a pile near an oil refinery ready for sale.

Types
-----

There are four types of petroleum coke. They are: needle coke, honeycomb coke, sponge coke and shot coke. Different types of petroleum coke have different properties and microstructures.

Needle coke is a crystalline petroleum coke. It is also called acicular coke. It is used in making electrodes for the steel and aluminium industries. Needle coke is made only from either fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) decant oil or coal tar pitch.

Honeycomb coke is an intermediate coke. Compared to needle coke, honeycomb coke has a lower coefficient of thermal expansion and a lower electrical conductivity.

Composition
-----------

The chemicals inside petroleum coke depends on the petroleum feed stock used. It is mainly always made of carbon. It is also sometimes made up of hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and so on.
**Saint Vitus** is an American doom metal band. Many consider Saint Vitus to be an influential doom metal band which helped start the genre in the late 1970s and early 1980s, along with their contemporaries Pentagram, Witchfinder General, Trouble and Candlemass.

History
-------

Saint Vitus formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978. Their original lineup was Scott Reagers (vocals), Dave Chandler (guitarist), Mark Adams (drums) and Armando Acosta (drums). Saint Vitus was known as Tyrant until 1980, when they changed their name to their current name Saint Vitus, which was inspired by the song "St. Vitus' Dance" by Black Sabbath, a band they have cited as one of their major influences.

Around 1983, Greg Ginn of Black Flag signed Saint Vitus to his label SST Records and the band managed to record their first album, which is self-titled. It came out in 1984, and later that year, the embarked on their first-ever tour with Black Flag, another band that Saint Vitus is influenced by and would latercover their song "Thirsty and Miserable" for their 1987 EP with the same title. Their second album *Hallow's Victim* and the *The Walking Dead* EP were both released in 1985.

Saint Vitus experienced their first lineup change when Scott "Wino" Weinrich replaced Reagers on vocals in 1986. They would achieve moderate success with the next three albums, including *Born Too Late*, which has been cited as their best-selling release, but they were never able to become a popular band. Weinrich eventually left the band in 1991 to focus on the reunion of The Obsessed, which was his band before he joined Saint Vitus. He was replaced by Chritus Linderson, who sang on *C.O.D.* (1992), the sixth Saint Vitus studio album, before he left the band.

In 1994, Saint Vitus reunited with their original singer Scott Reagers. With him, the band recorded their seventh studio album *Die Healing* (1995) and then broke up in 1996. The band reunited twice, in 2003 and 2008, with the *Born Too Late* lineup. After 31 years in the band, Acosta left Saint Vitus in 2009 and was replaced by Henry Vasquez. This new incarnation recently completed a new album, entitled *Lillie: F-65*, which was released on April 27, 2012.

Discography
-----------

Saint Vitus' full-length studio albums include:

* *Saint Vitus* (1984)
* *Hallow's Victim* (1985)
* *Born Too Late* (1986)
* *Mournful Cries* (1988)
* *V* (1990)
* *C.O.D.* (1992)
* *Die Healing* (1995)
* *Lillie: F-65* (2012)
* *Saint Vitus* (2019)

Their other recordings include *The Walking Dead* and *Thirsty and Miserable* EPs (released in 1985 and 1987 respectively), the live album *Live* (1990) and the compilation album *Heavier Than Thou* (1991).
Women of the Mexican Revolution ("adelitas" or "soldaderas") with crossed bandoliers.
**Colonel Petra Herrera**, also known as "Pedro Herrera", was a Mexican "soldadera". She fought as a revolutionary in the Mexican Revolution.

Life
----

Petra Herrera changed herself into "Pedro" Herrera and joined the revolutionary troops of Pancho Villa. She changed her looks and became more masculine. She invented tricks like saying she shaved at dawn before the other soldiers were awake. She was known for her courage, and for her specialty of blowing up bridges.

As "Pedro" Herrera, she was well-liked. She was accepted as a leader. She decided to reveal that she was a woman, but the revolutionary leaders would not give her a military rank.

### Fight in Torreón

Herrera decided to leave Pancho Villa's group. She created a group of women who, like her, wanted to fight at the front. Sources say there were tens of thousands of them.

Herrera was in the biggest fight of the war to that date, the second battle of Torreón in 1914. With 400 other women, she took the city on May 30, 1914. Cosme Mendoza Chavira, another follower of Villa, said "*Ella fue quien tomo Torreón y apago las luces cuando entraron en la ciudad*" (She was the one who took Torreón and turned out the lights when they entered the city.") Conventional history does not say anything about the participation of Petra Herrera. Villa gave the role of Petra Herrera in the revolution to an unknown woman.

### The end of her days

At the end of the fighting, she asked to be a general and to continue to fight, but they only gave her a promotion to colonel. Later, the women under her command were disbanded. It is not clear how Herrera died. Some say she finished her military days as a spy. They say she was attacked by bandits and died from the wounds. Others say she died in the cross fire between the federal soldiers and the revolutionaries in Zacatecas. Others say she formed her own brigade of 25,000 women and lived in a camp where men could not enter without being attacked. Still others say she ended her existence as a waitress in the city of Juarez in Chihuahua.
The **Wars of Scottish Independence** were a series of military campaigns fought between Scotland and England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotland in 1296, and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328. The Second War (1332–1357) began with the English-supported invasion of Edward Balliol and the 'Disinherited' in 1332, and ended around 1357 with the signing of the Treaty of Berwick. 

The wars were part of a great national crisis for Scotland and the period became one of the most important moments in the nation's history. At the end of both wars, Scotland still was a free and independent nation, which was her main aim throughout the conflict. The wars were also important for other reasons, such as the emergence of the longbow as a key weapon in mediaeval warfare.

Important Figures
-----------------

Scotland

* King David II
* King John Balliol
* King Robert I the Bruce
* William Wallace

England

* King Edward I
* King Edward II
* King Edward III

Battles
-------

Robert the Bruce talking to his troops. Illustration from Cassell's History of England, 1902
### Battle of Bannockburn

See the main article: Battle of Bannockburn
The **Battle of Bannockburn** (23–24 June 1314) was an important Scottish victory. It was the decisive battle in the First War of Scottish Independence. In this battle, the Scottish king Robert the Bruce defeated the English king Edward II.

Related pages
-------------

* First War of Scottish Independence
* Second War of Scottish Independence

Other websites
--------------

* Wars of Independence
An example of a Positronium atom, with a positron and an electron in the same orbital
**Positronium** is an onium, a type of exotic atom that is made of a particle and its antiparticle. In Positronium, one positron and one electron are bonded together. The positron replaces a proton that would normally be present in a Hydrogen atom. They both stay in the same orbital. The atom is unstable, and a few nanoseconds after it is created, the positron and the electron collide, destroying the Positronium and forming two gamma rays.

Positronium molecules
---------------------

Positronium can form molecules, like normal atoms. It can bond with both other exotic atoms and normal atoms.

### Di-positronium

Di-positronium is a simple molecule made from two positronium atoms bonded together. It was predicted in 1946 by John Archibald Wheeler, but was discovered in 2007 by David Cassidy and Allen Mills, when they fired positrons at molecules of silicon dioxide.

### Positronium hydride

Positronium hydride, also called hydrogen positride, is an exotic molecule made of an atom of hydrogen bonded to a positronium atom. It was predicted in 1951 by A Ore, but was not discovered until 1990 by R. Pareja and R. Gonzalez, who discovered it when they trapped positronium in hydrogen-magnesia crystals.
The **Portuguese alphabet** is a Latin alphabet with 26 letters. Also, the language uses accent marks to show sound changes and stressed syllables. The accents used in Portuguese are the acute accent (Áá, Éé, Íí, Óó, Úú), the circumflex (Ââ, Êê, Ôô) and the tilde (Ãã, Õõ). Respectively (in order), the accents mark open, closed and nasal vowels. There are rules that tell when to put an accent in a word. Most of the time, accented syllables are the stressed ones, and some words even have more than one accent, like "órgão", meaning "organ".

Lastly, the language has a "ç" character (C with a cedilla, used for historical reasons. It has a /s/ sound like in the word "soap" and it never appears at the very start or at the very end of a word.

Even though the Portuguese alphabet uses all 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet, the letters "k", "w", and "y" were not part of the Portuguese alphabet before 2009. These letters are part of the Portuguese alphabet now, but they do not appear in original Portuguese words.
Sanford Dole
**Sanford Dole** (April 23, 1844 – June 9, 1926) was an American politician. Dole was a part of a group of businessmen who first forced a new Hawaiian national constitution on the country during King David Kalakaua's reign and then after his death removed Queen Liliuokalani from the throne and took control of the country in 1893. They removed the queen by threatening to use the warships of the U.S. Navy had in Honolulu harbor. 

Queen Liliuokalani did not want her people to be harmed so she agreed to do what the revolutionists wanted. The Queen went to Washington and talked to the American President, Grover Cleveland. Cleveland decided that this had been an act of war against the Hawaiian Kingdom. Cleveland ordered Sanford Dole, the President of the newly formed republic, to make Liliuokalani the queen again. 

Dole refused to do this. He said that President Cleveland was interfering. Dole remained the president of Hawaii from 1894 until 1900 after Cleveland was elected out of office. The newly elected American president William McKinley signed the Newsland Resolution. The Newsland Resolution made Hawaii a territory of the United States. This ended any legal or military chance of restoring the Queen and the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Dole served as governor of Hawaii from 1900 until 1903, he was the first when he accepted a position as United States District Court judge. He remained a judge until 1915.
A fireworks display is a public good because it is non-excludable (impossible to prevent people from using it) and non-rivalrous (one individual's use does not reduce availability to others).
In Economics, a **public good** is a kind of common good. Public goods have two main properties:

* It is not possible to prevent someone from consuming the good.
* If a person consumes the good, this does not reduce the availabililty of the good to others.

Examples for public goods are fresh air, knowledge, street lighting, or a fireworks display.

Public goods are an example of market failure: If all actors maximize their gain, this does not produce an efficient solution. 

It is obvious that because the goods are non-excludable, it means that a producer sees no benefit in producing or providing the good on the market, this is because it is impossible to make a profit from it as people who have not paid for the good. For this reason, the government may intervene to provide it. There are relatively few examples of *purely* public goods, however some examples are:

* Flood Control
* Public water supplies
* Street lighting
* Lighthouse protection
* National Defence Services
* Parks and other public recreational areas

The reason that the government feels the need to provide these goods is because the Marginal Social Benefit is greater than the Marginal Private Benefit, and so because there are positive externalities in consumption, it will always be under consumed in the market mechanism,
A cast of the type specimen of *Microraptor gui* at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The feathers are on both front and rear legs.
Same fossil with arrows
***Microraptor*** was a small feathered dinosaur. It was a basal theropod related to *Velociraptor* and *Deinonychus*. It had flight feathers, and could glide and probably fly. About two dozen well-preserved fossil specimens were found in Liaoning, China. They come from the Lower Cretaceous Jiufotang Formation, 125 million years ago. 

Adult specimens are 42–83 centimeters (1.4–2.7 ft) long, so *Microraptor* was one of the smallest dinosaurs.

Flight
------

### Context

*Microraptor* is one of a number of 'dinobirds' found in the same area of China. They were buried in volcanic ash during huge eruptions.

"The evolution of powered flight in birds from theropod dinosaurs is recognized as the key adaptive breakthrough that contributed to the biological success of this group...   
 Hundreds of small, exquisitely preserved, feathered theropods were discovered in the Early Cretaceous Jehol Group of northeastern China as they died some 125 million years ago, smothered in the "Cretaceous Pompeii"...   
Both anatomy and phylogeny strongly suggest that these theropods... offer new insights into the origins of feathers and flight, favoring the arboreal ('trees-down') over the cursorial ('ground-up') hypothesis".
### Details

*Microraptor* was among the first non-avian dinosaurs discovered with the impressions of feathers and wings. Three specimens of *M. zhaoianus* have been described in detail, in addition to two specimens of *M. gui* and three specimens of *M. sp.* described by Xu and colleagues in 2003, from which most feather impressions are known.

Unusual even among early birds and feathered dinosaurs, *Microraptor* is one of the few known bird precursors to sport long flight feathers on its feet as well as its forearms and hands. This led Xu Xing to describe it as a "four winged dinosaur", and to speculate that it may have glided using all four limbs for lift. Their bodies had a thick covering of feathers. A diamond-shaped fan on the end of the tail gave stability during flight.

Sankar Chatterjee found that, in order for *Microraptor* to glide or fly, the fore and hind wings must have been on different levels (as on a biplane) and not overlaid (as on a dragonfly). Using this biplane model, he calculated possible methods of gliding, and determined that *Microraptor* most likely launched itself from a perch, swooped downward in a deep 'U' shaped curve and then lifted again to land on another tree. The feathers not directly employed in the biplane wing, like those on the tibia and the tail, could have been used to control and alter the flight path. The hind wings would also have helped control the gliding flight. 

Chatterjee also used computer algorithms to test whether or not *Microraptor* was capable of true, powered flight, in addition to gliding. The data showed that *Microraptor* could sustain some level powered flight, so it is possible that the animal flew as well as glided.
**Microsoft Agent** is the technology created by Microsoft which uses animated characters Text to speech engines, and Speech recognition software to improve interaction with computer users. It comes pre-installed with Windows 2000 through to Windows Vista but not on Windows 7.

Technology
----------

Microsoft Agent characters are stored in files of the .ACS file format, and can be stored in a number of compressed .ACF files for better World Wide Web distribution. Microsoft Office 97 and Microsoft Bob Actor characters are stored in files of the .ACT format.

The speech engine itself is driven by the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI), version 4 and above. Microsoft SAPI provides a control panel for easily installing and switching between various available Text to Speech and Speech to Text engines, as well as voice training and scoring systems to improve the quality and accuracy of both engines.

Microsoft provides four agent characters for free, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft Agent website. These are called Peedy, Merlin, Genie, and Robby. Some characters also shipped with Microsoft Office up to version 2003 as the Office Assistants and with Windows XP as search assistants. New Agent characters can also be created using Microsoft's development tools, including the Agent Character Editor. Agents can be embedded in software with Visual Basic for Applications and in web pages with VBScript, and automated tools for the purpose of simplifying this exist. However, web page agents are only compatible with Internet Explorer, since alternative browsers like Opera or Mozilla Firefox do not support ActiveX. Additionally, users of Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and above or owners of Microsoft Office 2000 and up are the only ones who have Agent software pre-loaded on their computers; others have to download the software and install it manually.
**Quinn Sullivan** (born March 26, 1999) is an American child prodigy from New Bedford MA. He plays the guitar. 

Sullivan began taking guitar lessons at age three. He has studied with Brian Cass of The Overclock Orchestra and the Toe Jam Puppet Band as well as Stan Belmarce. The first original song he wrote with Chris Waters was titled "Sing, Dance, Clap Your Hands". Sullivan first gained national media attention at age six when he appeared on *The Ellen Degeneres Show*. Sullivan gained more notoriety when Buddy Guy asked him to come on stage and play during a performance at the Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford, Massachusetts, in 2007. Quinn has since performed on stage with Guy as well as with B.B. King and has played in venues such as the Beacon Theatre in New York City, the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, and Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago. In 2008, Sullivan appeared on *The Oprah Winfrey Show* and was featured on NBC's *The Today Show* in July 2009. In 2009, Sullivan opened for Buddy Guy on his East Coast tour during the summer, played his own set at the popular summer music festival Lollapalooza, as well as the Austin City Limits Festival in October.

Sullivan makes a guest appearance on Buddy Guy’s Grammy-nominated album *Skin Deep*, released in 2008. Sullivan's solo can be heard on the track "Who’s Gonna Fill Those Shoes". Sullivan's single, "Summer of Love", was released in 2009.

Other websites
--------------

* Official website
**Tropical Depression Seven** was a weak tropical depression that formed near the northeast Florida coast. It was the seventh tropical cyclone of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. The depression formed on July 25 from the same tropical wave that created another weather system. It was a small and disorganized depression, and it never became a tropical storm, which is stronger than a tropical depression. The depression moved onto land at St. Catherines Island, Georgia, and it quickly weakened. Because the storm was weak, the effects were limited to heavy rain in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

Storm history
-------------

Storm path
A tropical wave, which had also created Tropical Depression Six, combined itself with an upper-level low pressure area to create an area of deep convection near Hispaniola on July 23, 2003. A mid- to lower-level circulation started to form inside the storm as it moved mostly in a north-northwest direction. According to surface and satellite observations, it is thought that the system became Tropical Depression Seven at 1200 UTC on July 25 about 60 miles (95 km) east of Daytona Beach, Florida. The system was caught in an environment characterized by high surface pressures.

At first, the depression moved west-northwest at about 13 mph (20 km/h), and most of the convection from the storm was separated from the center. However, the cloud pattern became organized, and was made up of a number of curved banding features. The storm continued to move northwestward for its whole life, from the steering currents of a subtropical ridge and an approaching mid-level trough.

Moving through an area of cool water temperatures, as well as unfavorable upper-level winds, the depression was not able to get winds greater than 35 mph (55 km/h), and as a result did not gain tropical storm status. Before landfall, the highest winds were measured to exist in a small area northeast of the center of circulation, where a well-defined group of clouds persisted. Early on July 26, it moved onto land on St. Catherines Island, Georgia, and after slowly weakening over land, it died out on July 27.

Impact
------

The depression was never predicted to become tropical storm status. Because of this, no tropical storm warnings or watches were issued. However, flood watches were issued for part of Georgia and South Carolina. At Georgetown County, South Carolina, officials watched the storm closely.

The depression dropped light to moderate rain from Florida to the coast of North Carolina. The highest rain was 5.17 inches (131 mm) in Savannah, Georgia. Other rainfall totals of 2 to 3 in (50 to 75 mm) were common. There were no damages or casualties because of this depression.

Related pages
-------------

* Atlantic hurricane
* Tropical cyclone
This nucleotide contains: 
the five-carbon sugar deoxyribose (at center), 
a nitrogenous base called adenine (upper right), 
and one phosphate group (left). 
The whole structure along with the phosphate group is a nucleotide, a constituent of DNA.
A **nucleotide** is an organic molecule. Nucleotides are the building blocks of the nucleic acids RNA and DNA. These two types of nucleic acid are essential biomolecules in all forms of life on Earth.

A nucleotide is composed of a nucleobase (nitrogenous base), a five-carbon sugar (either ribose or 2-deoxyribose), and one phosphate group. Nucleotides contain either a purine or a pyrimidine base. **Ribonucleotides** are nucleotides in which the sugar is ribose. **Deoxyribonucleotides** are nucleotides in which the sugar is deoxyribose.

In DNA, the purine bases are adenine and guanine, and the pyrimidines are thymine and cytosine. RNA uses uracil in place of thymine. Adenine always pairs with thymine by 2 hydrogen bonds, while guanine pairs with cytosine through 3 hydrogen bonds, each due to their unique structures.

Nucleotides also play a central role in metabolism at a fundamental, cellular level. They provide chemical energy for the many cellular functions that need it. Examples are: amino acid, protein and cell membrane synthesis, moving the cell and cell parts (both internally and intercellularly), cell division, and so on. In addition, nucleotides work in cell signaling, and they are in important cofactors of enzymatic reactions (e.g. coenzyme A, FAD, FMN, NAD, and NADP+).

In experimental biochemistry, nucleotides can be labeled using radionuclides to make radionucleotides.
**Victor Amadeus I** (8 May 1587 – 7 October 1637) was the Duke of Savoy from 1630 to 1637. He was also titular King of Cyprus and Jerusalem. He was also known as the *Lion of Susa*. Archived 2011-07-27 at the Wayback Machine

Biography
---------

He was born in Turin to Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Catherine Micaela of Austria. He spent much of his childhood at the Spanish court in Madrid. When his brother Filippo Emanuele, Prince of Piedmont died, he became legitimate heir to the duchy and received the loyalty swore of the court at Racconigi on 21 January 1607.

After a crisis with relationships with Spain, he was married to Henry IV of France's daughter Christine Marie in 1619.

Victor Amadeus became Duke of Savoy after his father's death in 1630. Charles Emmanuel's policies had brought a great instability in the relationships with both France and Spain, and troops were needed to defend the Duchy. As money was lacking to recruit mercenaries or train indigenous soldiers, Victor Amadeus signed a peace treaty with Spain. With the Treaty of Cherasco, Savoy was given back Pinerolo, although, according to a secret point of the agreement, that important stronghold was to remain with France in exchange for Geneve.

On 25 September of that year, Victor Amadeus fell ill after a dinner offered by the Duke of Créqui. Carried to Turin, he died here on 7 October.

Titles, styles, honours and arms
--------------------------------

### Titles and styles

* **8 May 1587–21 January 1607** *His Highness* Victor Amadeus of Savoy
* **21 January 1607–26 July 1630***His Highness* the Prince of Piedmont
* **26 July 1630–7 October 1637** *His Highness* the Duke of Savoy
This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is *Durán-Ballén* and the second or maternal family name is *Cordovez*.
**Sixto Alfonso Durán-Ballén Cordovez** (July 14, 1921 – November 15, 2016) was an American-born Ecuadorian political figure and architect. He served as Mayor of Quito between 1970 and 1978, and as President of Ecuador between 1992 and 1996. He served as congressman in 1984 and again in 1998.

Early life
----------

Ballén was born **Sixto Alfonso Durán-Ballén Cordovez** on July 14, 1921 in Boston, Massachusetts. He married Josefina Villalobos in 1948.

Career
------

He was elected mayor of Quito in 1970 and re-elected in 1974. In 1979 he ran as the PSC's presidential candidate, but was defeated by the populist Jaime Roldós Aguilera. In 1988 he ran again, but was eliminated in the first round.

After León Febres Cordero's faction inside the PSC succeeded in appointing Jaime Nebot as the party's presidential candidate in 1992, Durán Ballén and his supporters left the party to form the more right-wing Republican Union Party. Eventually, Durán defeated Nebot in the second round of the presidential election.

Personal life
-------------

Ballén has two children. He was married to Josefina Villalobos. He lived in Quito. He was the oldest living former Ecuadorian president.

Ballén died on the night of November 15, 2016 at his home in Quito, aged 95.

Other websites
--------------

 Media related to Sixto Durán Ballén at Wikimedia Commons

* Official Website of the Ecuadorian Government about the country President's History[*permanent dead link*]
**Xcelerator** is a steel launched roller coaster that was built by Intamin, and is located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California.

The ride
--------

After the riders have been loaded onto the train at the station, the train is first hooked up to a catch car that is under the train. The train has to move back to hook onto the catch car in order to launch. After 2.3 seconds, the train is released from the catch car, and travels at a speed of 82 miles per hour (132 km/h) from the station. The train then travels over a 205 feet (62 m) tower, or top hat element, and after that it travels through a 110 ft over banked turn, and then a 95 ft over banked turn before coming to a smooth stop over magnetic brakes.

Problems
--------

A train almost stops at the top of the hill
Sometimes, a train does not have enough speed to make it over the 215-foot (66 m) top hat element. If that happens, a train tries to go up the tower, stop, then roll back to the station. This is called a shortshot, and it is part of the ride's design. A shortshot can cause the ride to be closed for a period of time while the ride is reset and tested several times before it can be opened again. Rain, weight, the number of time its launched, the outside temperature, and overheating can cause a shortshot.

Xcelerator will not operate in the rain so that a shortshot does not happen when the launch track is wet. Then the track needs to dry until it is safe to test the roller coaster. This happens so that a shortshot does not happen.

Other websites
--------------

* Official *Xcelerator* page Archived 2014-09-11 at the Wayback Machine
* Xcelerator Pictures on Ultimate Rollercoaster.com.
* Xcelerator at the Roller Coaster DataBase
Drought seedlings (photo credit: Christopher Philipson)
Garton's catalogue from 1902
**Plant breeding** is the art and science of changing the traits of plants to produce desired characteristics. Plant breeding can be done by many different techniques. Plants with desirable characteristics for propagation can be selected. More complex molecular techniques are also possible (see cultigen and cultivar).

Plant breeding has been practiced for thousands of years, since near the beginning of human civilization. It is now done worldwide by gardeners and farmers, or by professional plant breeders employed by government institutions, universities, crop-specific industry associations or research centres.

International development agencies believe that breeding new crops is important for preventing famine. New varieties are developed. They are higher-yielding, resistant to pests and diseases, drought-resistant or adapted to different environments and growing conditions.

History
-------

**Plant breeding** started with the domestication of the first agricultural plants, a practice dates back 9,000 to 11,000 years. Initially early farmers simply selected food plants with particular desirable characteristics, and employed these as progenitors for subsequent generations, resulting in an accumulation of valuable traits over time.

Gregor Mendel's experiments with plant hybridization led to his establishing laws of inheritance. Once this work became well known, it formed the basis of the new science of genetics, which stimulated research by many plant scientists dedicated to improving crop production through plant breeding.

Modern plant breeding is applied genetics, but its scientific basis is broader, covering molecular biology, cytology, systematics, physiology, pathology, entomology, chemistry, and statistics (biometrics). It has also developed its own technology.

Related pages
-------------

* Genetically modified food
* Artificial selection
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| Serketin hieroglyphs |

Serket. The staff she holds in her right hand is a symbol of power. In her left hand, she holds an Ankh, the Egyptian symbol for life.
**Serket** was an ancient Egyptian goddess. She was shown as a scorpion. She would sting "bad" people, but she could also cure scorpion stings and other poisons, such as snake bites. Because Serket could cure snake bites, she was sometimes known as the protector from Apep, the evil snake-god.

She was shown in art as a scorpion or as a woman with a scorpion on her head. Serket did not have any temples, but she had many priests.

Many people in ancient Egypt who were bitten by poisonous animals died from the poison. Because of this, Serket was also known as a protector of the dead. She was associated with fluids that cause stiffening during embalming. This caused her to become known as a protector of embalmers' tents and of the canopic jar for the intestine (*Qebehsenuf*). The intestine's canopic jar was the one associated with poisons. 

Because she was a protector of canopic jars, Serket was associated with Aset (Isis), and Nebet Het (Nephthys) and Neith. Later, Serket began to be known as Isis. Serket came to be known as a part of Isis, instead of a separate goddess.
tracks of a sidewinder in the sand
The **Sidewinder rattlesnake** (*Crotalus cerastes*), also known as the "Horned Rattlesnake", is a species of venomous pit viper. There are three subspecies. It is called a sidewinder because it uses sidewinding to move across sand.

Description
-----------

The Sidewinder rattlesnake is a small species of snake, with adults measuring to about 43 to 76 centimetres (17 to 30 inches) long. The females are larger than the males, which is unusual for most snakes. The color of this snake is usually cream or yellowish-brown, and the belly is white colored.

Where it lives
--------------

In the southwestern United States of America it can be found in desert regions of eastern California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and western Arizona. In northwestern Mexico, it can be found in western Sonora and eastern Baja California.

Behavior
--------

The Sidewinder is nocturnal in hot months and diurnal in cooler months. The Sidewinder uses its tail to attract lizards which it eats, but when it becomes an adult it stops eating lizards and starts eating desert rodents.

Reproduction
------------

A female Sidewinder Rattlesnake gives birth to around 5 to 18 young at a time. For 7–10 days the young stay with their mother in a burrow, they then shed for the first time and then leave the burrow. Sidewinders mature at the age of 2 or 3, then mate in April and May and sometimes in the fall. The female then has its 5-18 babies in the late summer. These babies are born 6-8 inches long. Males live a little bit longer than females, males live to about 13 years old and females about 11 years old.

Subspecies
----------

There are three subspecies:

* Mojave Desert Sidewinder, *C. c. cerastes*
* Sonoran Desert Sidewinder, *C. c. cercobombus*
* Colorado Desert Sidewinder, *C. c. laterorepens*
A **rhetorical question** is a figure of speech in the form of a question. It is a question that is asked in order to make a point: it does not need a reply.

The question is used as a rhetorical device or tool. The question is posed for the sake of persuasion, or to encourage the listener or reader to consider a message or viewpoint.

Suggested dialogue
------------------

Rhetorical questions suggest a dialogue which does not really exist. The speaker both asks and answers the question himself. A rhetorical question is often a statement in the form of a question.

For example, in "Can't you do *anything* right?", the words are not intended to start an investigation or to invite any response at all. What the words actually mean could change according to circumstance. It could be a little joke between friends, or it could be an insulting criticism. Generally, it would be taken to mean "You can't seem to do anything right".

The role of context is always important if someone asks "What does that mean". Consider this question: "Do you think this treatment is just?". There is no way of knowing whether this is a genuine question or not, because we do not know what the circumstances are. This is true of many kinds of communication, that what they mean varies according to circumstance.

On the other hand, "Is it right for a murderer to be allowed out of prison after only ten years?" clearly asks for the reply "No!". This is because the questioner has *signalled* what answer is expected. A neutral way to describe the situation might be: "A convicted murderer spends at least ten years in jail".

Related pages
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* Thought experiment

Other websites
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* What is a rhetorical question?
* A short definition of the term
**Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)** is a serious, painful, and chronic (long-lasting) disease. It is an autoimmune disease - a disease where the body's immune system attacks healthy cells. When a person has RA, their immune system attacks the joints and the tissues around the joints in the body. This causes different problems, like:

* The capsules around the joints get swollen
* The body makes too much synovial fluid (the special fluid that is supposed to cushion the joints)
* Tough fibrous tissue builds up in the synovium area (which is also supposed to help cushion the joints)

Eventually, RA can destroy a person's articular cartilage. Normally, articular (having to do with the joints) cartilage covers the end of bones where they come together to form joints. This keeps the bones from rubbing against each other. If the articular cartilage has been destroyed by RA, the bones will rub against each other, which is very painful.

No one knows what causes RA, but some theories are that it has to do with hormones, environment, infection and genes. There is no cure, but doctors have determined ways to help slow down and reduce the impact of the disease. Women are two to three times as likely as men to get rheumatoid arthritis. Most cases of RA occur in people between the ages of 25 and 55.

RA was first recognized around 1800 by Dr. Augustin Jacob Landré-Beauvais.

Symptoms
--------

Symptoms may include:

* Swelling, stiffness, and pain around affected joints
* Fever
* A feeling of discomfort and tiredness

Often, people with RA also develop anemia, a different disease that causes a person to have not enough blood cells in the blood. 

Less often, a person with RA could have:

* inflamed blood vessels
* neck pain
the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal near Nuremberg
The **Rhine-Main-Danube Canal** (also known in German as the **Main-Danube Canal**, **RMD Canal** or **Europa Canal**) is a canal that joins up the three rivers Rhine, Main and Danube so that boats can travel from one to the other. It is in Bavaria in the south of Germany. It goes from Bamberg, past Nuremberg, to Regensburg. It was finished in 1992. Boats can now travel from Rotterdam in the Netherlands all the way to the Black Sea. The canal is 171km (106 miles) long. 

A previous "Ludwig Canal" connected the Danube to the Main from the middle 19th century until it was damaged in World War II and abandoned. 

From Bamberg to Fürth the canal follows the valley of the Regnitz, a tributary of the Main. From Fuerth to beyond Roth it follows the valley of the Rednitz, a tributary of the Regnitz. It crosses the Frankish Alb mountains and joins the river Altmuehl near Dietfurt. From Dietfurt to Kelheim on the Danube the canal follows the Altmuehl valley.

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Volcanic eruptions.
A **volcanic eruption** occurs when hot materials from the Earth's interior are thrown out of a volcano. Lava, rocks, dust, and gas compounds are some of these "ejecta".

It is worth remembering that the Earth below its solid cruse is still very hot, even after its long existence (over 4,000 million years). 

Eruptions can come from side branches or from the top of the volcano. Some eruptions are terrible explosions that throw out huge amounts of rock and volcanic ash and can kill many people. Some are quiet outflows of hot lava. Several more complex types of volcanic eruptions have been described by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of eruption has been seen. Some volcanoes may show only one type of eruption during a period of activity, while others may show a range of types in a series.

Volcanic Explosivity Index
--------------------------

The Volcanic Explosivity Index (commonly shortened VEI) is a scale, from 0 to 8, for measuring the strength of eruptions. It is used by the Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program to assess historic and prehistoric lava flows. It works in a way similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes: each interval in value is a tenfold increase in magnitude (it is logarithmic). Most volcanic eruptions are of VEIs between 0 and 2.

**Volcanic eruptions by VEI index**

| VEI | Plume height | Eruptive volume \* | Eruption type | Frequency \*\* | Example |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 0 | <100 m (330 ft) | 1,000 m3 (35,300 cu ft) | Hawaiian | Continuous | Kīlauea |
| 1 | 100–1,000 m (300–3,300 ft) | 10,000 m3 (353,000 cu ft) | Hawaiian/Strombolian | Months | Stromboli |
| 2 | 1–5 km (1–3 mi) | 1,000,000 m3 (35,300,000 cu ft) † | Strombolian/Vulcanian | Months | Galeras (1992) |
| 3 | 3–15 km (2–9 mi) | 10,000,000 m3 (353,000,000 cu ft) | Vulcanian | Yearly | Nevado del Ruiz (1985) |
| 4 | 10–25 km (6–16 mi) | 100,000,000 m3 (0.024 cu mi) | Vulcanian/Peléan | Few years | Eyjafjallajökull (2010) |
| 5 | >25 km (16 mi) | 1 km3 (0.24 cu mi) | Plinian | 5–10 years | Mount St. Helens (1980) |
| 6 | >25 km (16 mi) | 10 km3 (2 cu mi) | Plinian/Ultra Plinian | 1,000 years | Krakatoa (1883) |
| 7 | >25 km (16 mi) | 100 km3 (20 cu mi) | Ultra Plinian | 10,000 years | Tambora (1815) |
| 8 | >25 km (16 mi) | 1,000 km3 (200 cu mi) | Supervolcanic | 100,000 years | Lake Toba (74 ka) |
|  **\*** This is the minimum eruptive volume necessary for the eruption to be considered within the category. **\*\*** Values are a rough estimate. Exceptions occur. **†** There is a discontinuity between the 2nd and 3rd VEI level; instead of increasing by a magnitude of 10, the value increases by a magnitude of 100 (from 10,000 to 1,000,000). |

ERUPTION VOLUMETypes of volcanic eruptions

Related pages
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* Volcanism
* Volcano
天瓊を以て滄海を探るの図. Painting by Eitaku Kobayashi (Meiji period). Izanagi to the right; Izanami, ruler of Yomi, to the left.
**Yomi** (黄泉), the Japanese word for the underworld in which horrible creatures guard the exits. According to Shinto mythology as related in Kojiki, this is where the dead go to exist and rot forever. When one eats at the hearth of Yomi it is impossible to return to the land of the living.

Overview
--------

Yomi is similar to Hades or Hell. In the Shintoist tradition, Yomi is known because Izanami retreated to that place after her death. Izanagi followed her there and when he returned, he washed himself, creating Amaterasu, Susanoo, and Tsukuyomi. (See Japanese mythology.)

Yomi is different from Christian Hell in that all souls go there, no matter their actions in life; and one does not receive punishment for evils made when alive. It is a dirty and polluted place. In Japanese tradition, pollution is usually associated to evil. By the tradition of Kojiki, Yomi is usually believed to be underground, and its entrance to be located in Izumo province.

Yomi is ruled over by Izanami no Mikoto, the Grand Deity of Yomi (*Yomotsu-Ōkami* 黄泉大神). According to Kojiki. The entrance to Yomi was blocked by Izanagi when he returned to Earth, using a great boulder (*Chibiki-no-Iwa* 千引の岩) at the base of the slope that leads to Yomi (*Yomotsu Hirasaka* 黄泉平坂).

  


|  |  |
| --- | --- |
|  | **Japanese Mythology & Folklore** |
| **Mythic Texts and Folktales:**
 Kojiki | Nihon Shoki | Otogizōshi | Yotsuya Kaidan
 Urashima Tarō | Kintarō | Momotarō | Tamamo-no-Mae
 **Divinities:**
 Izanami | Izanagi | Amaterasu
 Susanoo | Ama-no-Uzume | Inari
 List of divinities | Kami | Seven Lucky Gods
 **Legendary Creatures:**
 Oni | Kappa | Tengu | Tanuki | Fox | Yōkai | Dragon
 **Mythical and Sacred Places:**
 Mt. Hiei | Mt. Fuji | Izumo | Ryūgū-jō | Takamagahara | Yomi |
A **rhinoceros** (**rhino** for short) is any animal in the family **Rhinocerotidae**. They are in the order Perissodactyla, or odd-toed ungulates. There are five living species. Two of these species are native to Africa. Three of these species are also native to Southern parts of Asia.

Taxonomy
--------

Sizes of the different rhinoceros species.
* Family **Rhinocerotidae**
	+ Black rhinoceros, *Diceros bicornis*
	+ White rhinoceros, or square-lipped rhinoceros *Ceratotherium simum*
	+ Javan rhinoceros, *Rhinoceros sondaicus*
	+ Indian rhinoceros, *Rhinoceros unicornis*
	+ Sumatran rhinoceros, *Dicerorhinus sumatrensis*

Habitat
-------

All five rhinoceros species are native to Africa or Asia. The two species in Africa are the White rhinoceros and the Black rhinoceros. The three species in Asia (including islands of Indonesia) are the Javan rhinoceros, Sumatran rhinoceros, and Indian rhinoceros.

Life
----

A white rhinoceros and its calf.
The rhinoceros is a herbivore. Its favourite food is plants, branches and bushes (if it is a browser species), or grass (if it is a grazer species).

Rhinoceroses have a large horn on the nose. Their horns are not like those of other horned mammals: the rhinoceros' horn is made of keratin packed together very tightly. 

The rhinoceroses can weigh up to 2,000 kilograms (4,400 lb) and be up to 375 centimetres (12.30 ft) tall.

Rhinoceros and humans
---------------------

Only the white rhinoceros is not in critical danger of becoming extinct. They are protected, but hunted mainly by poachers, for their horns. The horns are used in Asian medicine, similar to elephants and tigers, and for dagger handles in Yemen and Oman. Loss of habitat is also a danger to rhinos. Governments have made logging their habitat and poaching illegal.

Related pages
-------------

* *Elasmotherium*, a large extinct rhinoceros.

Other websites
--------------


Wikispecies has information on: ***Rhinocerotidae***.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to ***Rhinocerotidae***.

* Rhinoceros information from the International Rhino Foundation Archived 2006-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
Female sawfly laying eggs
A **sawfly** is an insect belonging to suborder **Symphyta** of the order Hymenoptera. The sawflies are a group of largely plant-eating (herbivorous) insects. The group is less specialised than the ants, bees and wasps.

Sawflies differ from most other Hymenoptera by their broad connection between the abdomen and the thorax, and by their caterpillar-like larvae. The common name comes from the saw-like appearance of the ovipositor, which the females use to cut into the plants where they lay their eggs. Large populations of certain sawfly species may cause economic damage to forests and cultivated plants. 

As of 2013, the Symphyta are treated as nine superfamilies (one extinct) and 25 families. Most sawflies belong to the Tenthredinoidea superfamily, with about 7,000 species worldwide. Tenthredinoidea has six families, of which Tenthredinidae is by far the largest with some 5,500 species.

Xyelidae
--------

The **Xyelidae** is a small family of sawflies known from fewer than 50 living species in five genera, with an extensive fossil record. They are the oldest fossil Hymenoptera, dating back to the Triassic, some 200 million years ago. 

Most species occur in the Northern hemisphere, especially in boreal regions, though there are a few neotropical species. Most are associated with conifers (esp. *Pinus* and *Abies*), where the larvae feed on pollen or within buds, though larvae of a few species feed on the leaves of deciduous trees.


Wikispecies has information on: ***Symphyta***.