the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_split huggingface dataset:
Not only did this drama help skyrocket 5566 to fame, it was also the driving force behind the careers of Angela Zhang and Johnny Yan.
Due to a serious injury while filming a variety show, Rio Peng temporary pulled out from group activities to recover.
Although the remaining 5566 members confirmed that Peng was still part of the group, Peng eventually left, forming his own management company, Wingman Entertainment.
In December of the same year, 5566 released their first album, which sold 240,000 copies in Taiwan.
Because the album was re-released in two additional versions, 5566 became infamous for regularly repackaging their albums.
This holds true till today; Westside Story OST and Top of the Forbidden City OST are the only two albums that remain unrepackaged.
The members of the band are said to have disrespectful behaviour.
The band has also been accused of having "most of their songs" as cover versions, "showing no originality and no talent in their song-writing."
On the Internet, many debates have been created surrounding the band.
Tony's Blog  (Chinese)
Zax's Blog  (Chinese)
Sam's Blog  (Chinese)
Jason's Blog  (Chinese)
5566's Album Lists and Lyrics
Taiwanese musical groups
Fahrenheit (Traditional Chinese: 飛輪海; Pinyin: Fēi Lún Hǎi) is a Taiwanese boy band.
Fahrenheit has been a great success around Asia, particularly in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan.
The group has four members: Calvin Chen, Jiro Wang, Wu Zun and Aaron Yan.
They record albums with HIM International Music record label.
Background and Members
The name Fahrenheit comes from each of the members representing a season or temperature matching their different personalities.
Calvin Chen represents spring, warmth; Jiro Wang represents summer, hot; Wu Zun represents autumn, cool; and Aaron Yan represents winter, cold.
Each of the four members also has a temperature symbolising them on the Fahrenheit scale: Calvin is at 77 degrees, Jiro is at 95 degrees, Wu is at 59 degrees and Aaron is at 41 degrees.
Wu was born and raised in Brunei for most of his life, later graduating at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia.
He was entered the entertainment business while on a trip to Taiwan, when a television producer discovered him during this trip and recommended him to play the lead male role of Tokyo Juliet, which he accepted.
Aaron moved to New York, United States at a young age but later returned to Taiwan for high school and college at Chinese Culture University.
Around early 2005, Comic producers had been searching for good bloggers on the Internet.
They discovered him, who at that time, was popular online, and thus recommended him to go casting for a role in a TV show.
After Calvin finished high school in Taiwan, he studied in university in Canada, where he completed his master's degree in Economics at University of Victoria.
He then further continued his life in Vancouver by joining the pageant-like competition Sunshine Boyz, where he won first place with a free ticket to Taiwan and a contract with a music company, as well as a role in a TV drama.
Jiro graduated in Taiwan's Fu-Shin College.
He was first asked to join the entertainment industry from a singing competition.
But he failed to release an album because of company difficulties, so he decided to continue his career in the industry by working backstage, mainly in fashion designing and modeling.
He was approached again around 2004, when his acting career began.
Although unsure at first, Fahrenheit first gained great fame around 2005 when all of the members first starred in the series KO One on television in Taiwan.
Because it felt awkward to have only three members in a boyband, Wu Zun joined the group later in late 2005.
On 28 December 2005, Fahrenheit officially became a quartet boy band.
Fahrenheit @ HIM Taiwan
Fahrenheit: Official Japanese Site
Fahrenheit's Official Blog
Lyrics.Robby.Haryan.to  (Lyrics in Pinyin)
Musical groups established in 2005
2005 establishments in Asia
Laborschule Bielefeld (Laboratory school Bielefeld) is school in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The school was created in 1974.
It is based on the ideas of Hartmut von Hentig.
Laborschule Bielefeld tries new ways of teaching.
The University of Bielefeld runs the school.
Laborschule Bielefeld has students from grade 0 through grade 10.
Each grade has 60 students in it with a total of 660 students in the school.
Laborschule Bielefeld does not group children by age.
It groups them by level of learning.
In that way, there are groups of children of different ages that are together to learn.
Only students in grades nine and ten get written marks for their work.
The school was rated with a PISA-Test.
The test showed that students at the school were generally better at reading and in sciences than students of the same age who went to other schools.
Jody David Scheckter (born January 29, 1950) is a South African former auto racing driver.
He won the Formula One driver's title in 1979 driving for Ferrari.
He is only South African ever to win the formula one driver's title.
Scheckter is of Jewish descent.
Jewish sportspeople
South African Jews
South African sportspeople
The Programme for International Student Assessment is a test done by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
It is done every 3 years.
In the test, 15-year-old schoolchildren are tested in different subjects.
Their grades can then be compared.
It is used to say that a certain school (or schooling system) does better or worse than a different one, on a certain subject.
PISA website
Doris Lessing (Doris May Tayler, 22 October 1919 – 17 November 2013) was a British writer.
In 2007, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Reporters told Doris that she had won the Nobel prize and they asked her "Are you not surprised?".
She said she had already "won every other European literature prize" so winning prizes was normal.
Lessing was born in Iran on 22 October 1919.
Her parents were both English.
They met at the Royal Free Hospital.
Her father, Captain Alfred Tayler, was a patient because he had lost his leg in World War I. Her mother, Emily Maude Tayler (maiden name McVeagh), was a nurse.
Alfred Tayler and his wife moved to Kermanshah, Iran.
He started a job there as a clerk for the Imperial Bank of Persia.
Doris was born here in 1919.
Later, the family moved to the British colony of Southern Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe) in 1925 to farm maize.
Lessing studied at the Dominican Convent High School in Salisbury (now Harare).
It was a Roman Catholic convent school for girls.
She left school aged 14, and taught herself after that.
She left home at 15 and worked as a nursemaid.
She started reading about politics and sociology and began writing around this time.
In 1937, Lessing moved to Salisbury to work as a telephone operator.
She soon married her first husband, Frank Wisdom.
They had two children (John and Jean), before the marriage ended in 1943.
She took care of future author Jenny Diski after her parents abused her.
Diski lived with Lessing for four years in London.
After her divorce, Lessing became more involved with members of the Left Book Club.
She had joined this communist book club the year before.
She met her second husband, Gottfried Lessing there.
They married soon after she joined the group, and had a child named Peter.
This marriage ended in divorce in 1949.
Gottfried Lessing later became the East German ambassador to Uganda.
He was murdered in the 1979 rebellion against Idi Amin Dada.
She went to London to pursue her writing career and communist ideals.
Lessing left two young children with their father in South Africa.
Peter, from her second marriage, went with her.
She later said that she thought she had no choice at that time.
She felt she had done the best she could and that she was not the best person to raise the children.
She would have been very frustrated like her mother had been because it was diificult for an intelligent woman to spend all of her time with young children.
The largest collection of Lessing's writing is at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, at the University of Texas at Austin.
There are 45 boxes of Lessing's materials at the Ransom Center that contain nearly all of her available manuscripts and typescripts up to 1999.
Lessing kept none of the originals of her early manuscripts.
Other institutions, including the McFarlin Library at the University of Tulsa, hold smaller collections.
During the late 1990s, Lessing suffered a stroke which stopped her from travelling during her later years and focused her mind on death.
Lessing died on 17 November 2013 at her home in London, aged 94.
Somerset Maugham Award (1954)
Prix Médicis étranger (1976)
Austrian State Prize for European Literature (1981)
Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F. V. S., Hamburg (1982)
W. H. Smith Literary Award (1986)
Palermo Prize (1987)
Premio Internazionale Mondello (1987)
Premio Grinzane Cavour (1989)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography (1995)
Los Angeles Times Book Prize (1995)
Premi Internacional Catalunya (1999)
Order of the Companions of Honour (1999)
Companion of Literature of the Royal Society of Literature (2000)
David Cohen Prize (2001)
Premio Príncipe de Asturias (2001)
S.T. Dupont Golden PEN Award (2002)
Nobel Prize in Literature (2007)
The Grass is Singing (1950)
Retreat to Innocence (1956)
The Golden Notebook (1962)
Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971)
The Summer Before the Dark (1973)
Memoirs of a Survivor (1974)
The Diary of a Good Neighbour (as Jane Somers, 1983)
If the Old Could... (as Jane Somers, 1984)
The Good Terrorist (1985)
The Fifth Child (1988)
Love, Again (1996)
Mara and Dann (1999)
Ben, in the World (2000) – sequel to The Fifth Child
The Sweetest Dream (2001)
The Story of General Dann and Mara's Daughter, Griot and the Snow Dog (2005) – sequel to Mara and Dann
The Cleft (2007)
Alfred and Emily (2008)
The Children of Violence series
Martha Quest (1952)
A Proper Marriage (1954)
A Ripple from the Storm (1958)
Landlocked (1965)
The Four-Gated City (1969)
Canopus in Argos: Archives series
Shikasta (1979)
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (1980)
The Sirian Experiments (1980)
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (1982)
The Sentimental Agents in the Volyen Empire (1983)
Opera libretti
The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (opera)|The Making of the Representative for Planet 8 (music by Philip Glass, 1986)
The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five (music by Philip Glass, 1997)
Playing the Game (graphic novel illustrated by Charlie Adlard, 1995)
Each His Own Wilderness (three plays, 1959)
Play with a Tiger (1962)
Fourteen Poems (1959)
The Wolf People - INPOPA Anthology 2002 (poems by Lessing, Robert Twigger and T.H. Benson, 2002)
Five Short Novels (1953)
The Habit of Loving (1957)
A Man and Two Women (1963)
African Stories (1964)
Winter in July (1966)
The Black Madonna (1966)
The Story of a Non-Marrying Man (1972)
This Was the Old Chief's Country: Collected African Stories, Vol.
The Sun Between Their Feet: Collected African Stories, Vol.
2 (1973)
To Room Nineteen: Collected Stories, Vol.
The Temptation of Jack Orkney: Collected Stories, Vol.
Through the Tunnel (1990)
London Observed: Stories and Sketches (1992)
The Real Thing: Stories and Sketches (1992)
Spies I Have Known (1995)
The Pit (1996)
The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels (2003)
Particularly Cats (stories and nonfiction, 1967)
Particularly Cats and Rufus the Survivor (stories and nonfiction, 1993)
The Old Age of El Magnifico (stories and nonfiction, 2000)
On Cats (2002) – omnibus edition containing the above three books
Autobiography and memoirs
Going Home (memoir, 1957)
African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe (memoir, 1992)
Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 (1994)
Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949 to 1962 (1997)
Other nonfiction
In Pursuit of the English (1960)
Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (essays, 1987)
The Wind Blows Away Our Words (1987)
A Small Personal Voice (essays, 1994)
Conversations (interviews, edited by Earl G. Ingersoll, 1994)
Putting the Questions Differently (interviews, edited by Earl G. Ingersoll, 1996)
Time Bites (essays, 2004)
On Not Winning the Nobel Prize (Nobel Lecture, 2007, published 2008)
British communists
Najaf (Arabic:النجف; Transliterated: An Najaf; Persian:نجف) is a city in Iraq.
It is about 160 km south of Baghdad.
In 2008, about  900.583 people lived there.
The city is the capital of Najaf province.
It is one of the seven holy cities of Shia Islām.
It is the center of Shia political power in Iraq.
The city is home to the Imam Ali Mosque, where Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, the fourth caliph is buried.
Shia Muslims consider the mosque to be the third holiest Islamic site.
Hārūn ar-Rashīd founded the city  on the site of Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib's grave in the 8th century.
Najaf was badly damaged during the Iran-Iraq War and the Gulf War.
In 1991, there was a Shiite uprising in Najaf, which was suppressed by Saddam Hussein.
This conflict caused many deaths, there are mass graves around the city.
In 2003, a suicide bombing caused widespread damage.
120 people died, including the moderate imam Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim.
In April 2004, forces of Muqtada as-Sadr captured the city, as well as the city of Kut.
Before the 2004 elections, a part of the occupying forces left the city.
Mosque and seminary
This mosque is the most important Shi'a mosque in Iraq.
The city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Shi'a Islamic world.
It is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims.
Shia Islam's second most important figure is buried in Najaf.
the Imam Ali Mosque is considered by Shias as the third holiest Islamic site.
The Imam Ali Mosque is housed in a grand structure with a gold gilded dome and many precious objects in the walls.
Nearby is the Wadi-us-Salaam cemetery, reputed to be the largest in the world.
It contains the tombs of several prophets and many of the devout from around the world aspire to be buried there, to be raised from the dead with Imām Alī on Judgement Day.
Over the centuries, numerous hospices, schools, libraries and Sufi convents were built around the shrine to make the city the centre of Shīʻa learning and theology.
The Najaf seminary is one of the most important teaching centres in the Islamic world.
Ayatollah Khomeini lectured there from 1964 to1978.
Karbala (Arabic:كربلاء; Transliterated:Al Karbala; also known as Karbala al-Muqaddasah, in the West, sometimes spelled Kerbela) is a city in Iraq.
It is about 100 km southwest of Baghdad.
It is the capital of Karbala Province.
For Shi'a Muslims the city is one of the holiest cities, after Mekka,Medina, Jerusalem, and An Najaf.
Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?
is a television game show based on asking grade-school level questions to adults.
The format started with the United States version, which first aired on FOX in February 2007.
The show was created by Mark Burnett, the same person behind the hit show Survivor.
The show has since been made in many other countries; some use the same title, and some use different titles.
In Australia, the show is on the Ten Network.
The top prize is AU$500,000.
A syndicated version of the show aired in the United States from September 2009 to March 2011.
Contestants answer eight questions (ten in Season 1), and can answer a 5th grade bonus question for ten times the amount they earned from those questions.
Unlike other versions of the show, the game does not end after a wrong answer.
Instead, the contestant loses their earnings up to that point.
Washington State University is a university in the U.S. state of Washington.
It is a land-grant university in Pullman.
It is also the original and largest land-grant university in the state.
The university was founded on March 28, 1890.
Their team is the Washington State Cougars.
A land-grant university is a college or university first built on land the United States government owned.
They were made so that more people could go to college, and to do research that helps farmers.
Every state has at least one.
Pullman is a city in Whitman County, on the eastern border of Washington.
The town's population was measured in 2000 as 24,675.
The F-8 Crusader was an American fighter plane made by Vought.
It first flew in 1955, and went into the Navy and Marine corps in 1957.
It was the only fighter plane in the Vietnam War to have both guns and missiles on it.
It was slowly replaced by the F-4 Phantom II and was retired in 1999.
There was also a different type of it called the RF-8 Crusader, meant for spying.
It also took the pictures of Soviet missiles during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
A-7 Corsair II
French military aircraft
The A-7 Corsair II was an attack plane like the F-8 Crusader.
It was made by Ling-Temco-Vought.
It first flew in 1965, and went into militaries in 1967.
It can take off from aircraft carriers, and can carry bombs meant to destroy enemies on the ground.
The F-4 Phantom II was an American fighter-bomber.
It was mainly used during the Vietnam War.
It was first flown in 1958 and was shown in 1960.
The plane could carry four AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles and four long range AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, but it did not have a gun.
Later, the E model had a cannon mounted on it.
After the F-15 Eagle replaced it, it was used as a bomber and the G model was used as a Wild Weasel.
The Kappa (also called Kawatarou, Kawako, Kawaranbe, Gatarō) is a character in Japanese folklore.
It is water spirit (yōkai) that is responsible for mischief.
The Kappa is said to be the size of a 6 to 10-year-old boy.
It has the body of a tortoise and an ape-like head.
The most notable thing about its body is a hole in its head that holds the kappa's strength giving water.
They are said to live off of blood and to drain the life out of people.
They are known for innocent pranks such as theft, but it is also said that they will rape women and eat children.
The only things kappas enjoy more than children are cucumbers.
To write a name on a cucumber and to throw it into a river is said to save that person from being eaten by the kappa.
Bowser (known as "Kuppa" in Japan), the main antagonist of the popular Nintendo's Mario videogame series, was based on the creature.
Mark Schumacher (2004).
Kappa -- River Imp or Sprite.
An Oni is a creature from Japanese folklore.
They are described as large monsters who resemble ogres, trolls and demons.
Sometimes they are described with horns usually wearing a jaguar skin loincloth and are very masculine.
Tengu are a group of creatures from Japanese folklore.
They are recognized for either a bird-like appearance or occasionally a human with a large nose or beak.
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician.
He was a United States Senator from Arizona.
McCain was the Republican Party's candidate in the 2008 United States presidential election.
McCain married businesswoman Cindy McCain in 1980.
McCain's father and grandfather had been Admirals in the United States Navy.
His great-great-grandfather was a slave owner in Mississippi.
He served as a naval aviator during the Vietnam War.
When his plane was shot down, he was captured by the North Vietnamese military.
He was a prisoner of war with Colonel and future Washington State Senator Leo K. Thorsness for more than five years.
During that time, he was tortured.
In 1982, McCain was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
He represented Arizona.
In 1987, he became a U.S. Senator for Arizona.
In 2000, McCain tried to be the Republican Party candidate for President of the United States, but George W. Bush was chosen.
In 2008, he was chosen as the Republican candidate.
His running mate was Sarah Palin.
He opposed several foreign policies of the Obama administration.
On November 4, 2008, he lost to Barack Obama.
McCain was popular for his support of the Arab Spring, protests and uprisings inside the Arab World, and protests outside those regions like many Russian protests.
He said that the recent protests were worldwide and he encouraged intervention in the Syrian civil war.
In July 2017, McCain under went surgery to remove a blood clot, causing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to delay a vote on the Better Care Reconciliation act to replace Obamacare.
On July 19, 2017, it was announced McCain had glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.
On August 24, 2018, McCain's family announced that he was stopping treatment for his brain cancer.
McCain died the next day at his home in Cornville, Arizona, four days before his 82nd birthday.
United States representatives from Arizona
United States senators from Arizona
wikiHow is a wiki-based website with a collection of articles which tell people how to do things.
The site uses  version 1.12.0 of MediaWiki.
As of August 2017, wikiHow contains more than 190,000 free how-to articles and over 1.6 million registered users.
wikiHow's mission is to create the world's largest collection of how-to information.
In May 2011, wikiHow had 36 million unique readers.
In January 2005, Jack Herrick and Josh Hannah started wikiHow.
On April 28, 2006, wikiHow was launched on its own www.wikihow.com domain.
wikiHow's censorship policy usually does not allow articles about things that:
Are "sexually charged"
Are inaccurate
Contain potty humor
Are joke pages, or pages that rely on backwards logic
Are spam pages, or pages advertising a product or service
Violate copyright
Are not a step-by-step how-to guide
Are illegal
Contain drug use; especially information about illegal drugs
Or are potentially destructive or dangerous.
wikiHow.com
wikiHow to Open Content
"How to do absolutely everything" , Macleans, October 16, 2006
MediaWiki websites
Oregano (Origanum vulgare), also known as pot marjoram, is a species of Origanum.
It is native to Europe, the Mediterranean region and southern and central Asia.
It is a perennial herb.
It can grow to 20–80 cm tall.
Its leaves are opposite each other.
They are 1–4 cm long.
They can grow 3–4 mm long.
The name of the plant comes from the Greek origanon [ὀρίγανον]: oros [ὄρος] “mountain” and the verb ganousthai [γανοῦσθαι] “delight in”.
Growing oregano for cooking
The subspecies of oregano Origanum vulgare hirtum is an important herb.
It is used for cooking, especially in  Turkish cuisine and Italian cuisines.
Oregano is often used for tomato sauces, fried vegetables and grilled meat.
Together with basil, it adds much to the special character of many Italian dishes.
Oregano is an ingredient needed for Turkish cuisine.
It adds flavour to the Turkish choban salad.
It can be used separately.
It can also be added to the lemon-olive oil sauce that goes with almost every fish or meat barbecues and some casseroles.
Oregano has an aromatic, warm and slightly bitter taste.
The taste varies in intensity; good quality is so strong that it almost numbs the tongue, but the cultivars adapted to colder climates have often unsatisfactory flavour.
The influence of climate, season and soil on the composition of the essential oil is bigger than the difference between the various species.
The related species Origanum onites (Turkey, Asia Minor) and O. heracleoticum (Italy, Balkan peninsula, West Asia) have similar flavours.
A closely related plant is marjoram from Asia Minor.
That plant has a completely different taste.
This is  because phenolic compounds are missing in its essential oil.
Some breeds show a flavour intermediate between oregano and marjoram.
The Oregano plant is also commonly found in the mediterranean region, and the black sea.
Flora Europaea: Origanum vulgare
Germplasm Resources Information Network: Origanum vulgare
Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages: Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.)
Origanum is a genus of herbs.
They are native to the Mediterranean and Asia.
well-known members include Oregano and Marjoram.
Some of the species are used by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species.
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) ( or ) is a plant of the Family Lamiaceae.
It is also known as Sweet Basil or Tulsi.
It is a tender low-growing herb that is grown as a perennial in warm, tropical climates.
Basil is originally native to India and other tropical regions of Asia.
It has been cultivated there for more than 5,000 years.
It is prominently featured in many cuisines throughout the world.
Some of them are Italian, Thai, Vietnamese and Laotian cuisines.
It grows to between 30–60 cm tall.
It has light green, silky leaves 3–5 cm long and 1–3 cm broad.
The leaves are opposite each other.
The flowers are quite big.
They are white in color and arranged as a spike.
The plant tastes somewhat like anise, with a strong, pungent, sweet smell.
Basil is very sensitive to cold.
It is best grown in hot, dry conditions.
While most common varieties are treated as annuals, some are perennial, including African Blue and Holy Thai basil.
The word basil comes from the Greek βασιλεύς (basileus), meaning "royal".
This is because it is believed to have grown above the spot where St. Constantine and Helen discovered the Holy Cross.
The Oxford English Dictionary quotes speculations that basil may have been used in "some royal unguent, bath, or medicine".
Basil is still considered the "king of herbs" by many cookery authors.
An alternative etymology has "basil" coming from the Latin word basilicus, meaning dragon and being the root for basilisk, but this likely was a linguistic reworking of the word as brought from Greece.
Basil for cooking
Most of the time, Basil should be used fresh.
In recipes it is generally added at the last moment.
Cooking it quickly destroys the meal.
The fresh herb can be kept for a short time in plastic bags in the refrigerator.
Using a freezer will allow for it to be kept a longer time.
In both cases, it needs being blanched quickly in boiling water.
The dried herb also loses most of its flavour, and what little flavour remains tastes very different, with a weak coumarin flavour, like hay.
Mediterranean and Indochinese cuisines frequently use basil.
In Mediterranean cuisines it is often combined with tomato.
Basil is one of the main ingredients in pesto—a green Italian oil-and-herb sauce from the city of Genoa.
The other two main ingredients  of Pesto are olive oil and pine nuts.
The most commonly used Mediterranean basil cultivars are "Genovese", "Purple Ruffles", "Mammoth", "Cinnamon", "Lemon", "Globe", and "African Blue".
Chinese also use fresh or dried basils in soups and other foods.
In Taiwan, people add fresh basil leaves into thick soups (羹湯; gēngtāng).
They also eat fried chicken with deep-fried basil leaves.
Basil is sometimes used with fresh fruit and in fruit jams and sauces.
Most commonly this is done with strawberries, but also raspberries or dark-colored plums.
Some people say that the flat-leaf basil used in Vietnamese cooking is more suitable for use with fruit.
Basil seeds
When soaked in water the seeds of several basil varieties become gelatinous.
They are used in Asian drinks and desserts such as falooda or sherbet.
Such seeds are known variously as sabja, subja, takmaria, tukmaria, falooda, or hột é.
They are used for their medicinal properties in Ayurveda, the traditional medicinal system of India.
Several other basils, including some other Ocimum species, are grown in many regions of Asia.
Most of the Asian basils have a clove-like flavour that is generally stronger than the Mediterranean basils.
In China, the local cultivar is called 九層塔 (jiǔcéngtǎ; literally "nine-level pagoda"), while the imported varieties are specifically called 羅勒 (luólè) or 巴西里 (bāxīlǐ), although [巴西里] often refers to another different kind plant—parsley.
'Lemon basil' has a strong lemony smell and flavour very different from those of other varieties because it contains a chemical called citral.
It is widely used in Indonesia, where it is called kemangi and served raw, together with raw cabbage, green beans, and cucumber, as an accompaniment to fried fish or duck.
Its flowers, broken up, are a zesty salad condiment.
Growing Basil
Basil grows well in hot weather.
It  behaves like an annual if there is any chance of a frost.
In Northern Europe, the northern states of the U.S., and the South Island of New Zealand it will grow best if sown under glass in a peat pot.
It can be planted out in late spring/early summer, when there is little risk of frost.
It fares best in a well-drained sunny spot.
Although basil will grow best outdoors, it can be grown indoors in a pot.
Like most herbs, it will do best on a south-facing windowsill (in the Northern Hemisphere).
It should be kept away from extremely cold drafts.
It grows best in strong sunlight.
A greenhouse or cloche is ideal if available.
Basil plants can even be grown  in a basement, under fluorescent lights.
If its leaves have wilted from lack of water, it will recover if watered thoroughly and placed in a sunny location.
Yellow leaves towards the bottom of the plant are an indication that the plant needs more sunlight or less fertilizer.
In sunnier climates such as Southern Europe, the southern states of the U.S., the North Island of New Zealand, and Australia, basil will thrive when planted outside.
It also thrives over the summertime in the central and northern United States, but dies out when temperatures reach freezing point, to grow again the next year if allowed to go to seed.
It will need regular watering, but not as much attention as is needed in other climates.
If a stem successfully produces mature flowers, leaf production slows or stops on any stem which flowers, the stem becomes woody, and essential oil production declines.
To prevent this, a basil-grower may pinch off any flower stems before they are fully mature.
Because only the blooming stem is so affected, some can be pinched for leaf production, while others are left to bloom for decoration or seeds.
Once the plant is allowed to flower, it may produce seed pods containing small black seeds.
These can be saved and planted the following year.
Picking the leaves off the plant helps "promote growth", largely because the plant responds by converting pairs of leaflets next to the topmost leaves into new stems.
Basil suffers from several plant diseases that can ruin the crop and reduce yield.
Fusarium wilt is a soilbourne fungal disease that will quickly kill younger basil plants.
Seedlings may also be killed by Pythium damping off.
A common foliar disease of basil is gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea, can also cause infections post-harvest and is capable of killing the entire plant.
Black spot can also be seen on basil foliage and is caused by the fungi genus Colletotrichum.
Basil, like other aromatic plants such as fennel and tarragon, contains estragole, a known carcinogen and teratogen in rats and mice.
While human effects are currently unstudied, the rodent experiments indicate that it would take 100–1000 times the normal anticipated exposure to become a cancer risk.
Cultural aspects
There are many rituals and beliefs associated with basil.
The French call basil "herbe royale".
Jewish folklore suggests it adds strength while fasting.
It is a symbol of love in present-day Italy, but represented hatred in ancient Greece, and European lore sometimes claims that basil is a symbol of Satan.
African legend claims that basil protects against scorpions, while the English botanist Culpeper cites one "Hilarius, a French physician" as affirming it as common knowledge that smelling basil too much would breed scorpions in the brain.
Holy Basil, also called 'Tulsi', is highly revered in Hinduism and also has religious significance in the Greek Orthodox Church, where it is used to prepare holy water.
It is said to have been found around Christ's tomb after his resurrection.
The Serbian Orthodox Church, Macedonian Orthodox Church and Romanian Orthodox Church use basil (Macedonian: босилек;  Romanian: busuioc, Serbian: босиљак) to prepare holy water and pots of basil are often placed below church altars.
In Europe, they place basil in the hands of the dead to ensure a safe journey.
In India, they place it in the mouth of the dying to ensure they reach God.
The ancient Egyptians and ancient Greeks believed that it would open the gates of heaven for a person passing on.
In Boccaccio's Decameron a memorably morbid tale (novella V) tells of Lisabetta, whose brothers slay her lover.
He appears to her in a dream and shows her where he is buried.
She secretly disinters the head, and sets it in a pot of basil, which she waters with her daily tears.
The pot being taken from her by her brothers, she dies of her grief not long after.
Boccaccio's tale is the source of John Keats' poem Isabella or The Pot of Basil.
A similar story is told of the Longobard queen Rosalind.
Diseases of Basil and Their Management
Gernot Katzer's Spice Pages explain the culinary use of basil in European and Asian cooking; further web links.
A Cockapoo (also called a Spoodle or Cockerpoo) is a hybrid dog.
It is a mix of an American Cocker Spaniel and a Poodle; (in most cases the Miniature Poodle or Toy Poodle), or by breeding a Cockapoo with another Cockapoo.
The Cockapoo has been around since 1950 and the first dictionary reference was a 1960 Oxford English Dictionary citation.
Because it is a mixed breed, it is not recognised by purebred kennel clubs.
The American Cockapoo Club
Cockapoo Crazy
Cockapoo Place
The short story is a genre of literature.
It is usually fictional narrative prose and tends to be more direct and less-detailed than longer works of fiction, like novels.
Short stories are closely related to oral (spoken) story-telling traditions and prose anecdotes.
They all develop the story very quickly and come to a conclusion quickly too.
Many authors today release their short stories together in a book, instead of one at a time.
A short story can be written in only 10 words or less.
The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, is the 22nd Games of the Winter Olympics.
It is an international winter sports event that was held from February 7 to February 23, 2014.
The host city was Sochi in Russia.
It was chosen on July 4, 2007, during the 119th International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
This was Russia's first time hosting the Winter Olympics (the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow though).
These were also the first winter games in a subtropical city.
Fifteen winter sports were played in the 2014 Winter Olympics program.
Sports included were ones that are generally played in the winter.
They include skiing, ice skating, ice hockey, and curling.
A total of twelve new events was contested to make it the largest Winter Olympics to date.
The following sports were played:
Bobsledding
Most of the stadiums will be built at a place called Sochi Olympic Park near the Black Sea coast  All of the venues(stadiums) being used  are new.
The venues are near each other.
This will provide a great compactness of the concept with the Olympic Stadium and all indoor venues of the Olympics  will be gathered within walking distance.
Bolshoy Ice Dome – ice hockey (final), 12,000 spectators
Shayba Arena – ice hockey, 7,000 spectators
Adler Arena Skating Center – speed skating, 8,000 spectators
Iceberg Skating Palace – figure skating, short track speed skating, 12,000 spectators
Ice Cube Curling Center – curling, 3,000 spectators
Fisht Olympic Stadium – ceremonies (opening/closing) 40,000 spectators[13]
Main Olympic village- where the athletes sleep
International broadcasting centre and main press room
Hoewever, some parts of the Olympics, mainly skiing and snowboarding, will take place away from the main area.
These events will take place at Krasnaya Polyana (Mountain Cluster)
Laura Biathlon & Ski Complex – Biathlon, Cross-country skiing
Rosa Khutor Extreme Park – Freestyle skiing and Snowboarding
Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort – Alpine skiing
Sliding Center Sanki – Bobsleigh, Luge and Skeleton
RusSki Gorki Jumping Center – Ski jumping and Nordic combined (both ski jumping and Cross-country Skiing on a 2 km route around the arena)
The opening ceremony of the Games was held on 7 February 2014.
It was held from 20:14 to 23:02 local time.
The Games were officially opened by Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia.
There was an audience of about 40,000 people.
The performance part of the ceremony was mainly about Russian classical music.
The pop duo t.A.T.u performed as well.
The site of the opening ceremony was Fisht Olympic Stadium.
This was built just for the games.
It will be used only for the opening and closing ceremonies.
In 2013, a law against 'homosexual propaganda' was made in Russia.
Cher chose not to perform at the Winter Olympics because of the law.
Incidents and threats
Organizers received several threats prior to the Games.
In a July 2013 video release, Chechen Islamist commander Dokka Umarov called for attacks on the Games, stating that the Games were being staged "on the bones of many, many Muslims killed ...and buried on our lands extending to the Red Sea."
Threats were received from the group Vilayat Dagestan, which had claimed responsibility for the Volgograd bombings under the demands of Umarov, and a number of National Olympic Committees had also received threats via e-mail, threatening that terrorists would kidnap or "blow up" athletes during the Games.
However, while the IOC did state that the letters "[contained] no threat and appears to be a random message from a member of the public", the U.S. ski and snowboarding teams hired a private security agency to provide additional protection during the Games.
2014 in sports
2010s in Russian sport
The games would have been held in 1944 in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy.
Cortina d'Ampezzo had won the right to host the event in June 1939.
1944 in Italy
Winter Olympics 1944
The IOC decided to give the Winter Olympics to St. Moritz, Switzerland.
There were some problems between the Swiss organisers and the IOC so the Games were cancelled again.
The IOC then gave the 1940 Winter Olympics to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.
Garmisch-Partenkirchen had hosted the 1936 Winter Olympics.
The Games were to be held from February 2 - 11 1940.
Alonso González de Berruguete (Alonso Berruguete) (c. 1488 – 1561) was a Spanish painter, sculptor and architect.
He is considered to be the most important sculptor of the Spanish Renaissance, and is known for his emotive sculptures, which had religious meanings.
1488 births
1561 deaths
Alonso Sánchez Coello ( 1531/32 – 8 August 1588) was a portrait painter of the Spanish Renaissance.
He was one of the pioneers of the great tradition of Spanish portrait painting.
1588 deaths
The Western European Union (WEU) was a European defence and security organization.
It was set up by Treaty of Brussels of 1948, West Germany and Italy joined in 1954.
It should not be confused with the European Union (EU).
The WEU headquarters were in Brussels.
After the Cold War its functions were gradually transferred to the European Union and the Council of Europe.
It was dissolved on 31 March 2011.
Treaty of Brussels
The Treaty of Brussels was signed by the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands on March 17, 1948.
It was changed on October 23, 1954 when West Germany and Italy joined.
To promote European economic recovery;
To help each other to resist any attacks or threats of attack;
To promote the unity in Europe.
The WEU was led by a Council of Ministers, helped by a Council of Permanent Representatives (ambassadors).
The Parliamentary Assembly eventually had the same members as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe).
Social and cultural activities were handed to the Council of Europe to avoid duplication.
WEU official web site
Assembly of the Western European Union ; Assembly of the Western European Union
Historical fonds of the Western European Union at the Historical Archives of the EU in Florence
History of NATO – the Atlantic Alliance - UK Government site
WEU evolution: The presentation of the Eurocorps-Foreign Legion concept at the European Parliament in June 2003
Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night) is a firework festival in Britain.
It remembers the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605.
Anniversary days in the United Kingdom
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency of the United States government that is focused to monitor the oceans surrounding the United States and the atmosphere.
NOAA warns people for dangerous weather, charts seas and sky, guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, and conducts research to help understanding and stewardship of the environment.
In addition to its civilian employees, NOAA research and operations are supported by 300 uniformed service members who make up the NOAA Corps.
NOAA
Dame Tracey Ullman,  (born 30 December 1959) is a British-American comedian, actress, singer, dancer, screenwriter and author.
She is most famous for being the host of her variety television show, The Tracey Ullman Show.
Ullman was born in Buckinghamshire.
She emigrated to the U.S. and ended up having her own network television series, The Tracey Ullman Show, from which The Simpsons was spun off in 1989.
Actors from Buckinghamshire
The Tracey Ullman Show was a weekly American television variety show, hosted by British comedian and former pop singer Tracey Ullman.
It debuted on April 5, 1987 as the FOX network's second primetime series (after Married... with Children), and ran until May 26, 1990.
The show featured sketch comedy along with many musical numbers, featuring Emmy Award-winning choreography by Paula Abdul.
It also produced the hugely successful spin-off, The Simpsons.
TV.com Entry
Watch Simpsons shorts
The Dr. N!Godatu web page
The Tracey Ullman Show Episode Guide
Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (February 27, 1863 – August 10, 1923), was a Spanish painter, born in Valencia.
He excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and large works of social and historical themes.
His most typical works are skillful pictures of the people and landscape under the Spanish sun.
People from Valencia
The work commonly referred to as Laienspiegel is a book of law.
It was published in Mainz, in 1509.
Its full title is Laijen Spiegel.
von rechtmässigen ordnungen in Burgerlichen vnd peinlichen regimenten.
mit allegation[en] vn[d] bewerungen auß geschribnen rechten vnnd gesatzen.
This can be roughly translated as A layman's guide, of the correct order of civil and criminal regiments, with illustrations of written rights and laws.. It was written by Ulrich Tengler, and published by Sebastian Brant.
There was a second edition in 1511.
The work was very important, there were 14 editions of it in the 16th century.
The work is divided in three parts.
It contains private law, criminal law, and law of the public institutions.
The publication is much like the Klagspiegel of 1436.
Other similar works are the Malleus Maleficarum of the 13th century, and the Constitutio Criminalis Bambergensis.
Completely digitised edition of the Work (Univ.
Heidelberg) (German)
The Berlin Blockade was from 24 June 1948 to 11 May 1949.
It began when the Soviet Union blocked railway and road access by the three Western powers (the Americans, British, and French) to the Western-occupied sectors of Berlin.
The Blockade stopped after the Western powers used airplanes to airlift food and other things that people needed.
Postwar division of Germany
When the Allied Powers met at Potsdam they agreed to divide Germany into four occupation zones, American, British, Soviet, and French.
They divided Berlin into four zones as well.
Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet occupation zone, so the only way to get to the three western controlled sectors was driving through Soviet-controlled territory.
The Soviet Union began the blockade because they thought the western half of Germany (controlled by the UK, USA and France) was becoming too strong, because one currency had recently been introduced throughout the entire western half - the Deutsche Mark.
The Soviets were worried that a single currency would help the economy of the western half recovered quickly from the damage caused by the Second World War, and that this stronger western half would eventually develop into a country (it eventually did, called West Germany).
The Russians wanted one Germany, without an army, that they could easily control.
The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union had killed one in seven Soviet people, and the Soviets feared that Britain, France and America might try to launch their own invasion at some point in the future.
They therefore wanted as much land between them and France as possible, so that any major war would be fought in central Europe, and not in the Soviet Union where Soviet civilians might be killed (which is what had happened during WWII).
Germany also has lots of coal and iron near its border with France.
The Soviets wanted to use the coal and steel to help rebuild their own country, but these resources would be difficult to access if the western half of Germany turned into a capitalist country that was allied to Britain, France, and the USA.
If Germany was a single neutral country, gaining access to these resources would be easier because Germany could be bullied by the Soviet Union.
Berlin airlift
On 24 June 1948, the Soviet Union blocked access to the three Western-held sectors of Berlin.
They cut off all rail and road routes going through Soviet-controlled territory in the United States.
They also blocked routes by river and canal to the Baltic Sea.
The Western powers had arranged a treaty with the Soviets guaranteeing the right to use the roads, railways and waterways.
The commander of the U.S. occupation zone in Germany, General Lucius D. Clay, wanted to send some tanks along the Autobahn from West Germany to West Berlin, with instructions to fire if they were stopped or attacked.
President Truman said no, because that may start a war.
Clay was told to ask General Curtis LeMay, commander of United States Air Forces in Europe, to see if an airlift was possible.
General Albert Wedemeyer, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff, was in Europe when the blockade began.
He had been commander of the American forces in India and China in 1944–45.
He knew about the Allied airlift from India over "The Hump" of the Himalayas to China.
He was in favour of starting an airlift.
The first flight of the airlift was thirty-two C-47 cargo planes on 26 June 1948.
They carried 80 tons of cargo including milk, flour, and medicine.
So many things had to be flown into Berlin that aircraft took off every three minutes.
If an aircraft missed its landing place it could not fly around the airfield and try again, it had to return to its base.
This was easier and safer than holding up the aircraft following behind.
British, U.S., Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and South African pilots flew in the airlift.
The French were fighting in their colonies in South-East Asia and could not spare many aeroplanes for the airlift.
Instead they built a new and larger airport in its sector, on the shores of Lake Tegel.
They completed the building in less than 90 days.
Today it is the Berlin-Tegel International Airport.
Hundreds of aircraft, nicknamed Rosinenbomber ("raisin bombers") by Berliners, were used to fly in a wide variety of cargo, ranging from large containers to small packets of candy with tiny individual parachutes intended for the children of Berlin, were flown out of Berlin on return flights.
The USSR lifted its blockade at midnight, on 11 May 1949.
But, the airlift did not end until 30 September 1949, because the Western states wanted to build up enough supplies in West Berlin in case the Soviets blockaded it again.
The three major Berlin airfields involved were Tempelhof, in the American Sector, RAF Gatow in the British and Tegel in the French.
To keep everything safe, air traffic control was located at Tempelhof.
A new four-power organization also started, Berlin Air Safety Center (BASC).
BASC only closed down in 1990, when Germany was reunited and the ordinary German civilian air traffic control took over.
British operation
The British had about 150 C-47 Dakotas and 40 Avro Yorks.
The RAF was also using 10 Short Sunderlands and later by Short Hythe flying boats.
These flew Finkenwerder on the Elbe near Hamburg to the Havel river.
The flying boats were designed to resist rust and water damage so were very useful for transporting bulk salt, which would have rusted the other planes.
Many other aircraft were later used, and the British had flown in about 100,000 tons of cargo by the end of the blockade.
39 British and 31 U.S. pilots died during the blockade.
There is a monument with their names in front of Tempelhof airport.