title: Earth's crust

paragraphs: The Earth's crust is the Earth's hard outer layer. It is less than 1% of Earth's volume. The crust is made up of different types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks.

paragraphs: Below the crust is the mantle. The crust and the upper mantle make up the lithosphere. The lithosphere is broken up into tectonic plates that can move.

paragraphs: The crust is of two different types. One is the continental crust (under the land) and the other is the oceanic crust (under the ocean). The continental crust is thicker, 30 km (20 mi) to 50 km (30 mi) thick. It is mostly made of less dense, more felsic rocks, such as granite. The oceanic crust is thinner, 5 km (3 mi) to 10 km (6 mi) thick. It is made of denser, more mafic rocks, such as basalt.

paragraphs: The temperature of the crust increases with depth because of geothermal energy. Where the crust meets the mantle the temperatures can be between 200 °C (392 °F) to 400 °C (752 °F). The crust is the coldest layer because it is exposed to the atmosphere.

paragraphs: Igneous rocks make up over 90% of Earth's crust by volume. This is not noticeable because they are mostly covered by sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.

paragraphs: A single family of silicates, the feldspars, account for about half of the material in the crust (60% by weight), and quartz is a sizeable proportion of the rest. Other common minerals are mica and hornblende.

paragraphs: Only 8% of Earth's crust is non-silicate minerals, and this includes carbonates, sulfides, chlorides and oxides.

paragraphs: Earth's mantle and crust formed about 100 million years after the formation of the planet, about 4.6 billion years ago. At first the crust was very thin, and was probably changed often as the tectonic plates shifted around a lot more than they do now. The crust would have been destroyed many times by asteroids hitting Earth, which was much more common in the Late Heavy Bombardment.

paragraphs: The oldest oceanic basalt crust today is only about 200 million years. Most of the continental crust is much older. The oldest continental crustal rocks on Earth are cratons between 3.7 and 4.28 billion years old. These have been found in the Narryer Gneiss Terrane in Western Australia, in the Acasta Gneiss in the Northwest Territories on the Canadian Shield, and on the Fennoscandian Shield. A few zircons at least 4.3 billion years old have been found in the Narryer Gneiss Terrane in Western Australia.

paragraphs: The average age of Earth's continental crust is about 2.0 billion years. Most crustal rocks formed before 2.5 billion years ago are in cratons. Such old continental crust and the mantle below it are less dense than other places in the Earth. These are not easily destroyed when the plates shift. The making of new continental crust is linked to times of major orogeny or mountain building. This happens at the same time as the formation of the supercontinents such as Rodinia, Pangaea and Gondwana. The crust forms in part by the coming together of island arcs including granite and metamorphic fold belts. They are kept together partly by the subduction of the mantle below the crust, which makes a mantle on which the crust can float.


title: Food chain

paragraphs: A food chain shows the feeding relationship between different organisms in a particular environment and/or habitat. Plants are at the bottom of a food chain because they are producers that make their food from a process called photosynthesis . Organisms that can make their own food are called producers. Consumers are animals that eat the products of producers or other animals. The animal that eats the producer is called the primary consumer and it gains the most amount of energy. The animal that eats the primary consumer is called a secondary consumer which in the primary consumer's energy which is transferred becomes lower due to the primary consumer consuming some energy. The animal that eats the secondary consumer is called a tertiary consumer and so on to fourth, fifth, etc. The direction of arrows between the organisms shows who eats what and what gets eaten by what.

paragraphs: A food chain also represents a series of events and consumption in which food and energy are consumed from one organism in an ecosystem to another. Food chains show how energy is passed from the sun to producers, from producers to consumers, and from consumers to decomposes such as fungi. They also show how animals depend on other organisms for food.

paragraphs: In any ecosystem, many food chains overlap. Different food chains may include some of the same organisms. Several consumers may eat the same kind of plant or animal for food. When this happens, the food chain forms a food web. A food web shows how food chains are related within an ecosystem and how the cycles balanced between an equilibrium


title: Embryology

paragraphs: Embryology is the study of embryos and their development. The study of embryology starts with the fertilisation of an egg, and continues until the foetus stage. A broader term, developmental biology, covers the whole period of growth from the egg to adult life.

paragraphs: In mammals (and some other animals) embryos develop inside the mother, in the mother's womb. Otherwise it takes place after the egg is laid. It most animals, there are various stages between the egg and the adult animal. If the stages are well-defined the process is called metamorphosis.


title: Histology

paragraphs: Histology is the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals, particularly the tissues. It is a part of cytology, and an essential tool of biology and medicine.

paragraphs: Histology is usually done by looking at cells and tissues under a light microscope or electron microscope. The tissue has to be specially prepared beforehand.

paragraphs: The stages below are only described in outline. Laboratories which do histology work from schedules which are much more detailed.

paragraphs: Chemical fixatives are used to preserve tissue from decay. This preserves the structure of the cell and of sub-cellular components such as cell organelles (e.g., nucleus, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria). The most common fixative for light microscopy is formalin (4% formaldehyde in saline).

paragraphs: After fixing, the block of tissue is embedded in paraffin wax. This holds and preserves the tissue as a block.

paragraphs: The section is cut into a series of wafer-thin slices, each of which is put on a glass microscope slide. The machine which cuts the block is a mechanical guillotine which can be set to cut at a suitable depth for the tissue in question.

paragraphs: Stains are dyes, chemicals used to make cells and tissues easy to see under a microscope. There are many tissue stains, and each of them has advantages and disadvantages.

paragraphs: This is the most widely used stain in biology and medicine. Haematoxylin colours cell nuclei and eosin colours cell cytoplasm.

paragraphs: Camillo Golgi developed a silver nitrate stain for nerve cells. His idea was used by Santiago Ramón y Cajal in his famous work on the structure of brain tissue.

paragraphs: Electron microscopy is used often as well as light microscopy. This has its own procedures. Its advantage is that it resolves things which light cannot resolve. For example, viruses were first seen by electron microscopy..

paragraphs: Specialised selective stains using immunology or radioactive labelling are now routine. The advantage of using antibodies or radioactive labels is that they stick to "specific kinds of molecules".

paragraphs: Increasingly popular is tagging with a fluorescent stain, which shows up even if a tiny part of a cell is stained. Immunoinfluorescence is the name of this particular technique.


title: Ann Arbor, Michigan

paragraphs: Ann Arbor is a city in the US state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Washtenaw County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Ann Arbor was the 6th largest city in Michigan. In 2010, there were 113,934 people living there. The city is part of the Detroit Metropolitan Combined Statistial Area.

paragraphs: Ann Arbor was started in 1824. It is thought that the city is named after the wife, Ann, of one of the founders. The University of Michigan was moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. (Before that, the University had been in Detroit.) The city grew during the 1800s and 1900s. The only time the city did not grow was the Depression of 1873.

paragraphs: During the 1960s and 1970s, Ann Arbor was an important place for the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and for left-wing and liberal politics.

paragraphs: Today, Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan. The University is very important to the city because 30,000 people work for it. 12,000 of these workers work for the University of Michigan Health System, which are hospitals and clinics run by the University. Ann Arbor's economy is also very high-tech. High-tech companies come to the area because there are many graduates and a lot of research and development money at the University.


title: Microbiology

paragraphs: Microbiology - (Greek μικρός, mikrós, „tiny“, βίος, bíos, „life“ and λόγος, lógos, „science“) is a science in the composition of biology, which is occupied by the study of microorganisms (bacterium, (archaebacteria), microscopic fungi, protozoa,alga,and viruses). Into the field of the interests of microbiology enter their systematics, morphology, physiology, biochemistry, evolution, role in the ecosystems

paragraphs: and also the possibility of practical use. Bacteriology is a division of microbiology.

paragraphs: In 1665, Robert Hooke saw that cork was made up of little cubes that he named cells. Later Anton van Leeuwenhoek made the important connection that cells are living things when he saw through his early microscope smallest one-celled organisms. Later Christian Ehrenberg found thatprotista or bacteria were different kinds of cells. In the late part of the 1800s Martinus Beijerinck showed that there were small particles called viruses.

paragraphs: Another important change in the study of microorganisms came from the discovery of DNA and RNA. This allowed using a vector to change the inside of a cell without killing it. One recent discovery that changed the study of microbiology is the discovery of transposons or jumping genes. Another one is the discovery of animal genes in the cells.

paragraphs: The branches of microbiology can be classified into pure and applied sciences.  Microbiology can be also classified based on taxonomy, as in the cases of bacteriology, mycology, protozoology, and phycology. There is considerable overlap between the specific branches of microbiology with each other and with other disciplines. Certain aspects of these branches can extend beyond the traditional scope of microbiology


title: Transposon

paragraphs: A transposon is a sequence of DNA that can move to new positions within the genome of a single cell. The press called them jumping genes, but it is not correct to call them 'genes'.

paragraphs: Transposons were first found by Barbara McClintock while working on maize. She received a Nobel Prize for her work in 1983.

paragraphs: Transposition can create significant mutations and alter the cell's genome size.

paragraphs: Transposons are only one of several types of mobile genetic elements.

paragraphs: Transposons themselves are of two types according to their mechanism, which can be either "copy and paste" (class I) or "cut and paste" (class II).

paragraphs: They copy themselves in two stages, first from DNA to RNA by transcription, then from RNA back to DNA by reverse transcription. The DNA copy is then inserted into the genome in a new position. Retrotransposons behave very similarly to retroviruses, such as HIV.

paragraphs: By contrast, the cut-and-paste transposition mechanisms of class II transposons do not involve an RNA intermediate.

paragraphs: Transposons are mutagens. They can damage the genome of their host cell in different ways:

paragraphs: Transposons can carry accessory genes, such as antibiotic resistance genes. They can be used to put a gene into the DNA of an organism. This has been done with fruit flies ("Drosophila melanogaster") by putting the transposon into the embryo.

paragraphs: Transposons are found in many forms of life. They may have arisen independently many times, or perhaps just once and then spread to other kingdoms by horizontal gene transfer.

paragraphs: While some transposons may confer benefits on their hosts, most are regarded as selfish DNA parasites. In this way, they are similar to viruses. Various viruses and transposons also share features in their genome structures and biochemical abilities, leading to speculation that they share a common ancestor.

paragraphs: Excessive transposon activity can destroy a genome, which is lethal. Many organisms have developed mechanisms to inhibit them. Bacteria may use gene deletion to remove transposons and viruses from their genomes while eukaryotic organisms use RNA interference (RNAi) to inhibit transposon activity.

paragraphs: In vertebrate animal cells nearly all the 100,000+ DNA transposons in a genome code for inactive polypeptides. In humans, all of the Class I-like transposons are inactive. The first DNA transposon used as a tool for genetic purposes, the Sleeping Beauty transposon system, was a transposon which was resurrected from a long evolutionary sleep.

paragraphs: Transposons may have been co-opted by the vertebrate immune system as a means of producing antibody diversity: The V(D)J recombination system operates by a mechanism similar to that of transposons. This is a system of three genes which get rearranged in the production of vertebrate lymphocytes. The system diversely encode proteins to match antigens from bacteria, viruses, parasites, dysfunctional cells such as tumor cells, and pollens.

paragraphs: The final DNA sequence, and thus the sequence of the antibody, is highly variable, even when the same two V, D, or J segments are joined. This great diversity allows VDJ recombination to generate antibodies even to microbes that neither the organism nor its ancestors have ever previously encountered.


title: Toowoomba, Queensland

paragraphs: Toowoomba (also called 'Garden City' by people who live there) is a city in South East Queensland, Australia. It is 132 km west of Brisbane, and two hours drive from the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast beaches. About 115,000 people live there, which makes Toowoomba Australia's second largest city that is not on the coast, after Canberra.

paragraphs: Every year in September, Toowoomba holds its annual Flower Festival. When this is taking place, the town, especially its CBD are decorated with flowers. People who live there may also open their gardens for public judging for the garden competitions. Another attraction is the parade, where one would see floats with flower themes. Many people from all over the nation visit the festival, and a popular way to arrive is on the specially operating retired steam train.

paragraphs: Another major event held in Toowoomba is the Easterfest. It is a large religious festival that thousands of people come to, to see many famous singers perform. Many put up tents on in Queens Park.

paragraphs: Toowoomba is also known for its historical buildings, such as the town hall, The Empire Theatre, and the Cobb & Co Museum. The town hall was the first in Queensland to be built for a town hall. The Empire Theatre was built as a silent movie house in 1911. A fire nearly destroyed the building, but it was built again, and reopened in 1933. Now, it is the biggest regional theatre in Australia. The Cobb & Co Museum began in the 1880s as a small mail run. It moved both mail and passengers to Brisbane and further.

paragraphs: Toowoomba is also home to some notable private schools, including Toowoomba Grammar School (which is a GPS school), Downlands College, and The Glenny School, none of which are 'co-educational'.

paragraphs: During the 2010-2011 Queensland floods, several people were drowned in their cars when water flooded the main shopping centre.


title: Albury, New South Wales

paragraphs: Albury is a city in New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Hume Highway that runs between Sydney and Melbourne. The Murray River separates Albury from Wodonga. Albury is on the north side of the Murray River. The river is also the border between Victoria and New South Wales. It is about 550 km from the state capital Sydney, but only 312 km from the Victorian capital Melbourne. Albury is believed to have been named after Aldbury in Hertfordshire.

paragraphs: The Australian Aboriginal people called the area Bungambrewatha. There are a number of historical aboriginal sites including rock paintings. There are also scarred trees, where the bark has been removed to make shields and canoes. The rich river flats would have provided food for native animals, and the wetlands would have been home to large numbers of water birds.

paragraphs: The first Europens to arrive in the area were the explorers, Hamilton Hume and William Hovell in 1824. They made their mark in a tree on the riverbank which later became the spot where people heading south would cross the river. Crossing the river was easy in summer when the water level was low. By 1844 a ferry was built to carry people over the river all year. There were soon many farmers moving into the area with large flocks of sheep. Some of the first in Albury were William Wyse and Charles Ebden.


title: Francisco de Goya

paragraphs: Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 30 April 1828) was a Spanish painter. He painted many portraits of the Spanish Royal Family. His most famous paintings are "Charles IV of Spain and His Family" and "The Third of May 1808". He regularly painted the famous Duchess of Alba.

paragraphs: Goya was born in Fuendetodos, in the region of Aragón, Spain, in 1746. His parents were José Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador. He spent his childhood in Fuendetodos. His father's work was gilding (putting gold onto picture frames). In about 1749, the family moved to a house in the city of Zaragoza. Goya went to school at Escuelas Pias. He became best friends with Martin Zapater. Through their lives, they wrote many letters to each other. Because of these letters, historians know a lot about Goya's life. When he was 14 Goya became an apprentice to the painter José Luzán.

paragraphs: Goya later moved to Madrid where he studied with Anton Raphael Mengs, a painter who was popular with Spanish royalty. Goya and Mengs did not like each other, and Goya got bad marks in his examinations. Goya tried to join the Spanish Royal Academy of Fine Art in 1763 and 1766, but failed.

paragraphs: He then traveled to Rome. In 1771 he won second prize in a painting competition in the city of Parma. Later that year, he returned to Zaragoza. He got work painting frescos in several buildings including the dome of the Basilica of the Pillar. He studied with the painter Francisco Bayeu y Subías. His painting began to show the style which later made his famous.

paragraphs: Goya married Bayeu's sister, Josefa, in 1774. Francisco Bayeu was a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Fine Art. This helped Goya to get work with the Royal Tapestry Workshop. He worked there for 5 years, and designed 42 patterns. Many of his designs were made into tapestries and used to decorate the bare stone walls of the royal palaces, such as El Escorial. The Spanish Royal family saw his works and later gave him work as a portrait painter. He also painted an altarpiece (Holy picture) for the Church of San Francisco El Grande. Because of this picture, Goya was at last made a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Fine Art.

paragraphs: In 1783, the Count of Florida blanca, commissioned Goya (gave Goya the paid work) to paint his portrait. Then King Charles III of Spain and other important people wanted Goya to paint their portraits. Goya became friends with Crown Prince Don Luis, and lived in his house. From 1788, in the reign of Charles IV, Goya became even more popular.

paragraphs: In the 1790s Goya became ill. It is not known exactly what his illness was. It is believed that he suffered mental breakdown. He may have had viral encephalitis or several strokes. He may have suffered from dementia. It is also thought that he may have been poisoned by lead paint. His sight, hearing, balance and mental health were all affected. From the 1790s onwards he began to paint pictures showing sad, violent subjects. His unhappiness was also affected by the French invasion of Spain in 1808. One of his most famous paintings, "The Third of May 1808", is about the execution of Spanish men trying to defend their country.

paragraphs: After the defeat of the French, Goya did not get on well with King Ferdinand VII. Goya moved to a house far away from the court. He lived there with his housekeeper and her daughter, and taught painting to the girl, Rosario Weiss. Some of the walls of the house are painted with strange dark pictures, but it is not sure whether Goya did them. For two years Goya lived in France but returned to Spain where he was warmly welcomed home in 1826, He died in 1828 at the age of 82.

paragraphs: Goya's early cartoons for the royal tapestries are merry scenes of festivals in bright colours.

paragraphs: Goya painted portraits of many famous people, including the Duke of Wellington. His paintings of the Royal Family of Charles IV of Spain and Ferdinand VII show them looking like very ordinary people, not like proud nobility. Queen Maria Luisa was delighted with the large portrait that he did of her family in 1800, even though a French writer Théophile Gautier said that Goya made them look "like the corner baker and his wife after they had won the lottery".

paragraphs: Two of Goya's most famous paintings were owned by a member of the royal court, Manuel de Godoy. These two paintings are called "The Nude Maja" ("La maja desnuda") and "The Clothed Maja" ("La maja vestida"). The nude painting was thought of as very shocking. In 1813, the Inquisition said that both paintings were pornography and took them away. They were returned to Goya in 1836. Nobody knows who the woman was that posed for Goya. One idea is that she was the Duchess of Alba. She may have been Godoy's mistress. Perhaps Goya painted the figure from his imagination. There is only one earlier nude painting by a Spanish artist, Velazquez's "Venus and Cupid", (see National Gallery, London). When this painting was done, other nude figures, painted in Italy, Germany and other countries, always showed the woman as a goddess from mythology or had some other "allegorical" meaning (was a symbol of some sort). This painting is unusual because the nude figure is not meant to be a Goddess and does not seem to have any symbolic meaning. It is the very first life-sized female nude in Western Painting that is just about the beauty of the female body.

paragraphs: In 1793 and 1794 Goya was recovering from his illness. During this time, he painted eleven small pictures painted on tin. These pictures are known as "Fantasy and Invention" today. They show a change in his art. From that time on, he painted dark, frightening pictures about war, violence and madness.

paragraphs: One painting is called "Courtyard with Lunatics". It is a scene in a mental asylum. It is about loneliness and fear. It shows how mentally ill people have trouble dealing with other people and normal life. Goya was the first artist to paint people with mental illness in a realistic way. Goya wanted to show that it was wrong to punish mentally ill people, and lock them up with criminals. There was a movement at this time to improve the life of people in asylums and prisons.

paragraphs: Goya made two series of prints. The first was called "Caprichos" and the second was called "The Disasters of War". The "Caprichos" series shows nightmarish scenes of the problems with Spanish society. "The Disaster of War" shows scenes of terrible violence. These were not published until more than 30 years after his death. "The Disaster of War" were made because of the war between France and Spain. One of Goya's most famous paintings is a large picture called "The Third of May 1808".(see above) It is about the executions of Spanish men that took place in 1808. This painting shows the courage of the unarmed Spanish hero. It shows the French soldiers in the firing squad acting as if they have no minds or feelings. This painting was a great inspiration to other painters such as the French painter Manet who painted a scene of the execution of the Governor of Mexico.

paragraphs: Goya's most frightening picture shows a giant man, eating people. It is now called "Saturn Devouring His Sons", (after Saturn the Father of the Gods in Greek mythology) but no-one knows what it really means. It is more likely a picture of the way that War destroys people. In the house that Goya owned, there are paintings on the walls known as the "Black Paintings". They show scenes with the Devil and witches. It is not sure whether Goya really painted them. Overall he was a pretty cool guy

paragraphs: Goya's brightly coloured tapestry cartoons influenced the French Impressionist painters such as Monet and Renoir. His portraits were an influence on Manet and Degas as well as Renoir. The "Black Paintings" influenced Expressionist painters.


title: Inclusive disjunction

paragraphs: Inclusive disjunction (also called or) is a logic operation. It normally takes two truth values as inputs and returns one truth value as output. It is false when both inputs are false, but is true otherwise. It is written with the symbol formula_1.

paragraphs: In general, given two propositions formula_2 and formula_3, formula_4 is true if formula_2 is true, or if formula_3 is true, or if both formula_2 and formula_3 are true.

paragraphs: This is different from the exclusive disjunction, which asserts "either "x" or "y", but not both".


title: Logical conjunction

paragraphs: Logical conjunction (very often called and) is a logic operation. It is represented by the symbol formula_1. Logical conjunction takes two truth values as inputs and returns an output. If both of the inputs are "true" at the same time, then logical conjunction outputs "true". If one of the inputs is false, or if both of the inputs are false, then logical conjunction outputs "false". Its logic gate equivalent is the AND gate.


title: Logical negation

paragraphs: Logical negation (also known as not) is a logic operation. For a proposition formula_1, its negation is written as formula_2. It takes one input. It flips the value of the input as the output. If the input was true, it returns false; If the input was false, it returns true.


title: Logic equality

paragraphs: Logical equality is a logical operation. It corresponds to equality (formula_1) in Boolean algebra and biconditional (written formula_2 or formula_3) in logic. It takes two inputs. It returns true if both inputs are true or if both inputs are false. Otherwise (when they are different), it returns false.


title: Implication (logic)

paragraphs: Implication (also known as logical consequence, implies, or If ... then) is a logical operation. It is the relationship between statements that holds true when one logically "follows from" one or more others. While a statement of the form "if "P" then "Q"" is often written as formula_1, the assertion that ""Q" is a logical consequence "P"" is often written as formula_2.

paragraphs: Implications take two arguments. It returns false if and only if the first term is true and the second term is false.

paragraphs: This may be problematic, because it means that from a false proposition, anything can follow.

paragraphs: The following shows a (valid) implication

paragraphs: On the other hand, the statement "I promise that if I am healthy, I will come to class" has four possibilities:

paragraphs: In the second scenario, the statement is false, since the promise is broken. In other scenarios, the statement is true, since the promise is kept.


title: Hellenistic art

paragraphs: The art of the Hellenistic time (400 B.C. to 0 B.C, a long time in the past, in Greece) is sculpture and painting and other things. For a long time, people said that the art of that time was not good. Pliny the Elder talked about the Greek sculpture of the classical time (500 B.C. - 323 B.C., the time before the Hellenistic time) and then said "Cessavit deinde ars" ("then art stopped"). But much good art is from the Hellenistic time. Many people know about the sculptures Laocoön (in the picture) and Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace.

paragraphs: Now more people have looked at writing about the Hellenistic time. People discovered art from the Hellenistic time at Vergina and other places. Now people can see that the art of the Hellenistic time is very good art.

paragraphs: One of the things that made the Hellenistic time different from other times was the division of Alexander the Great's country into smaller parts. In every part there was a family of leaders. The Ptolemies had Egypt; the Seleucids had Mesopotamia, the Attalids had Pergamon, and other leaders had other parts. Every family of leaders gave money for art in a way that was different from the way the city-states did it. They made big cities and complex groups of buildings in a way that most city-states had already stopped doing by 500 BC. This way of making buildings was new for Greece. This way was not to try to change or fix a natural place, but to make the buildings fit the natural place. There were many places for pleasure, for example many theatres and places to walk. The Hellenistic countries were lucky because they had much empty space where they could make big new cities. Some of their new cities were Antioch, Pergamon, and Seleucia on the Tigris.

paragraphs: Pergamon is a very good example of Hellenistic architecture. It started with a simple fortress on the Acropolis (a very big rock).

paragraphs: Different Attalid kings added to it and made a huge group of buildings. The buildings stretch out from the Acropolis in many directions, using the natural way of that part of the earth. The agora, on the south on the lowest level, has galleries along its sides, with "stoai" (beautiful tall stone things to hold up the roof.) The agora is the beginning of a street which goes through the whole Acropolis. On the east and top of the rock are the buildings of the organizers, leaders and soldiers. On the west side, at a middle level, are religious buildings. One of the biggest ones is the one with the Pergamon Altar which is called "of the gods and of the giants" and is one of the most beautiful pieces of Greek sculpture. A very big theatre has benches stretched out over the sides of the hill, for people to sit on, and is able to hold almost 10,000 people.

paragraphs: At that time they liked to make very big things. The second temple of Apollo at Didyma was like that. It was twenty kilometers from Miletus in Ionia. Daphnis of Miletus made the design for it at the end of the fourth century B.C. (about 300 B.C.) but it was never finished. They continued building it until the 2nd century A.D. (past 100 A.D.). The sanctuary (special part of the temple) is one of the largest ever made near the Mediterranean. Inside a very big room, the "cella" has two rows of columns (tall round things) around it. The columns are the Ionic kind, almost 20 metres tall, with much complex stone art on the bases and tops.

paragraphs: Hellenistic sculpture includes portraits which show things such as suffering, sleep or old age.

paragraphs: Attalus I (269-197 BC), to commemorate his victory at Caicus against the Gauls — called Galatians by the Greeks — had two series of votive groups sculpted: the first, consecrated on the Acropolis of Pergamon, includes the famous Gaul killing himself and his wife, of which the original is lost (the best copy is in the Massimo alle Terme museum of Rome, see illustration); the second group, offered to Athens, is composed of small bronzes of Greeks, Amazons, gods and giants, Persians and Gauls. Artemis Rospigliosi of the Louvre is probably a copy of one of them; as for copies of the Dying Gaul, they were very numerous in the Roman period. The expression of sentiments, the forcefulness of details — bushy hair and moustaches here — and the violence of the movements are characteristic of the Pergamene style.

paragraphs: These characteristics are pushed to their peak in the friezes of the Great Altar of Pergamon, decorated under the order of Eumenes II (197-159 BC) with a gigantomachy stretching 110 metres in length, illustrating in the stone a poem composed especially for the court. The Olympians triumph in it, each on his side, over Giants most of which are transformed into savage beasts: serpents, birds of prey, lions or bulls. Their mother Gaia, come to their aid, can do nothing and must watch them twist in pain under the blows of the gods.

paragraphs: Another phenomenon appears in Hellenistic sculpture: privatization, which involves the recapture of older public patterns in decorative sculpture. This type of retrospective style also exists in ceramics. As for the portraits, they are tinged with naturalism, under the influence of Roman art.

paragraphs: Few Greek wall paintings have survived the centuries. However, we can study the Hellenistic influences in Roman frescoes, for example those of Pompeii or Herculaneum. Certain mosaics provide a pretty good idea of the "grand painting" of the period: these are copies of frescoes. An example is the Alexander Mosaic, showing the confrontation of the young conqueror and the Grand King Darius III at the Battle of Issus, a mosaic which adorns the walls of the House of the Faun at Pompeii. It is believed to be a copy of a work described by Pliny the Elder (XXXV, 110) which had been painted by Philoxenus of Eretria for King Cassander of Macedon at the end of the 4th century BC. The mosaic allows us to admire the choice of colours, the composition of the ensemble with turning movement and facial expressivity.

paragraphs: Archeological discoveries at the cemetery of Pagasae (close to modern Volos), at the edge of the Pagasetic Gulf, or again at Vergina (1987), in the former kingdom of Macedonia, have brought to light some original works. For example, the tomb said to be that of Philip II has provided a great frieze representing a royal lion hunt, remarkable by its composition, the arrangement of the figures in space and its realistic representation of nature.

paragraphs: The Hellenistic period is equally the time of development of the mosaic, particularly with the works of Sosos of Pergamon, active in the 2nd century BC and the only mosaic artist cited by Pliny (XXXVI, 184). His taste for

paragraphs: trompe l'oeil (optical illusion) and the effects of the medium are found in several works attributed to him such as the "Unswept Floor" in the Vatican museum, representing the leftovers of a repast (fish bones, bones, empty shells, etc.) and the "Dove Basin" at the Capitoline Museum, known by means of a reproduction discovered in Hadrian's Villa. In it one sees four doves perched on the edge of a basin filled with water. One of them is watering herself while the others seem to be resting, which creates effects of reflections and shadow perfectly studied by the artist.

paragraphs: The Hellenistic period is that of the decline of painting on vases. The most common vases are black and uniform, with a shiny appearance approaching that of varnish, decorated with simple motifs of flowers or festoons. It is also the period when vases in relief appeared, doubtless in imitation of vases made of precious metals: wreaths in relief were applied to the body of the vase, or again the one shown here received veins or gadroons. One finds also more complex relief, based on animals or legendary creatures. The shapes of the vases are also inspired by the tradition of metal: thus with the lagynos (pictured here), a wine jar typical of the period.

paragraphs: In parallel there subsisted a tradition of polychromatic figurative painting: the artists sought a greater variety of tints than in the past. However, these newer colours are more delicate and do not support heat. The painting occurred therefore after firing, contrary to the traditional practice. The fragility of the pigments preventing frequent use of these vases, they were reserved for use in funerals.

paragraphs: The most representative copies of this style come from Centuripe in Sicily, where a workshop was active until the 3rd century B.C. These vases are characterized by a base painted pink. The figures, often female, are represented in coloured clothing: blue-violet chiton, yellow himation, white veil. The style is reminiscent of Pompei and is situated much more on the side of the grand contemporary paintings than on the heritage of the red-figure pottery.

paragraphs: Progress in bronze casting made it possible for the Greeks to create large works, such as the Colossus of Rhodes, with a height of 32 meters. Many of the large bronze statues were lost - with the majority being melted to recover the material. Because of this, only the smaller objects still exist. Fortunately, during Hellenistic Greece, the raw materials were plentiful following eastern conquests.

paragraphs: The work on metal vases took on a new fullness: the artists competed among themselves with great virtuosity. At Panagyurishte (now in Bulgaria), skilfully sculpted gold vases have been found: on an amphora, two rearing centaurs form the handles. In Derveni, not far from Salonica, a tomb has provided a great krater with bronze volutes dating from approximately 320 BC and weighing 40 kilograms (Derveni krater).

paragraphs: It is decorated with a 32-centimetre-tall frieze of figures in relief representing Dionysus surrounded by Ariadne and her procession of satyrs and maenads.

paragraphs: The neck is decorated with ornamental motifs while four satyrs in high relief are casually seated on the shoulders of the vase. The evolution is similar for the art of jewellery. The jewellers of the time excelled at handling details and filigrees: thus, the funeral wreaths present very realistic leaves of trees or stalks of wheat. In this period the insetting of precious stones flourished.

paragraphs: The figurines were equally fashionable. They represented divinities as well as subjects from contemporary life. Thus emerged the theme of the "negro", particularly in Ptolemaic Egypt: these statuettes of Black adolescents were successful up to the Roman period. Sometimes, they were reduced to echoing a form from the great sculptures: thus one finds numerous copies in miniature of the Tyche (good luck) of Antioch, of which the original dates to the beginning of the 3rd century BC.

paragraphs: Previously reserved for religious use, in Hellenistic Greece the Greek terracotta figurine was more frequently used for funerary, and even decorative, purposes. The refinement of molding techniques made it possible to create true miniature statues, with a high level of detail.

paragraphs: In Tanagra, in Boeotia, the figurines, full of lively colours, most often represent elegant women in scenes full of charm. At Smyrna, in Asia Minor, two major styles occurred side-by-side: first of all, copies of masterpieces of great sculpture, such as Farnese Hercules in gilt terra cotta. In a completely different genre, there are the "grotesques", which contrast violently with the canons of "Greek beauty": the "koroplathos" (figurine maker) fashions deformed bodies in tortuous poses — hunchbacks, epileptics, hydrocephalics, obese women, etc. One could therefore wonder whether these were medical models, the town of Smyrna being reputed for its medical school. Or they could simply be caricatures, designed to provoke laughter. The "grotesques" are equally common at Tarsus and also at Alexandria.

paragraphs: It was in the Hellenistic period that the Greeks, who until then only knew molded glass, discovered the technique of glass blowing, thus permitting new forms. The art of glass developed especially in Italy. Molded glass continued, notably in the creation of intaglio jewelry.

paragraphs: The art of engraving on gems hardly advanced at all, limiting itself to mass-produced items that lacked originality. As compensation, the cameo made its appearance. It concerns cutting in relief on a stone composed of several colored layers, allowing the object to be presented in relief through the effects of color. After that it is mounted on a pendant or as a ring. The Hellenistic period produced some masterpieces like the Gonzaga cameo, now preserved at the Hermitage Museum.


title: Interest

paragraphs: Interest is the cost for borrowing money or the payment for lending money. Usually, this is fixed as a percentage of the amount of money borrowed (which is called "interest rate").

paragraphs: If the interest charged on $100 is 1 percent per year then every year the borrower must pay $1. If the $1 is not added to the amount owed then the borrower is paying simple interest. If simple interest of 1 percent is paid each year at the end of 100 years the borrower would have paid $100 in interest, $1 each year, and would still owe $100. If the $1 is added to the $100 the amount owed will increase to $101. 1 percent interest on $101 will be more than $1. This is called compound interest. Compound interest will cause the amount to grow each year. As the amount grows larger more is paid as interest each year and added to the total. If compound interest of 1 percent is paid on a loan of $100 each year the amount of interest paid will slightly increase and after 70 years the amount owed will have grown to $200 and the interest payment will have increased to $2.

paragraphs: 1 percent compound interest on $100 will cause the amount to double to $200 in about 70 years. That is called the rule of 73 which can be used to figure out how fast something grows. The rule can be used to figure out how fast anything that always grows exponentially at the same rate will double in size. Suppose a kangaroo grows 10 percent a year; dividing 10 into 70 gives 7, so the kangaroo will double in size in 7 years. If the kangaroo grew 7 percent a year it would take 10 years for its size to double. If it only grew 2 percent it would take 35 years for its size to double.

paragraphs: At some times in the past, or in some places today, it has been illegal to make a person pay interest on a loan. It was, or is, against some religious rules. If the interest that a person must pay is too high, this is called usury. This is often illegal today, even when lower interest is legal.

paragraphs: Interest can also be the care or concern that someone has for something or someone. If someone cares about something, they "have an interest" in that thing, or they "find it interesting". If something is beautiful, or funny, or new, that might make the thing interesting. However, a very important concern, for example love or hate, is more than an interest. An interest can also be a task that someone likes to do or watch, like a game or a hobby.

paragraphs: If someone has a legal right to something (usually money or property) they have an interest in that thing. This is also true for someone who shares a right with others, or a person who has a future right to something. For example, if some brothers and sisters will be given a house after their parents die, each of them "has a financial interest" in the house, even if the parents are still living.


title: Newcastle, New South Wales

paragraphs: Newcastle is a city in New South Wales, Australia. It is also the second oldest city in Australia. Newcastle is 160km north of Sydney, and is the largest coal-harbour in the world. 500,000 people live in Newcastle making it second largest city in New South Wales. Newcastle was started in 1804 by Lieutenant Charles Menzies and was for convicts who mined the coal. It is named Newcastle after the English coal harbour of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Newcastle has lots of things to do such as restaurants and food.


title: Era

paragraphs: An era in geology is a time of several hundred million years. It describes a long series of rock strata which geologists decide should be given a name. An example is the Mesozoic era, when dinosaurs lived on the Earth.

paragraphs: An era is made up of periods, and several eras make up an eon. The Phanerozoic eon started about 541 million years ago (mya). It is made up of the Paleozoic era (from the Greek for "oldest life"), the Mesozoic era ("middle life") and the Cainozoic era ("latest life").


title: Drowning

paragraphs: Drowning means dying from not being able to breathe in air and breathing in water or another liquid.

paragraphs: Near drowning is the survival of drowning where the person passes out or breathes in water, and can cause serious problems, including death, after the event. That means that near drowning can also need attention by doctors.

paragraphs: Secondary drowning is death caused by chemical or biological changes in the lungs after a near drowning incident.

paragraphs: In many countries, drowning is one of the biggest causes of death for children under 14 years old. Children have drowned in wading pools and even bath tubs. Many people drown in countries where there is a lot of water, especially if they swim in dangerous waters. For example, in the United Kingdom there are about 450 drownings each year (that is: 1 per 150,000 of its people), and in the United States there are about 6,500 drownings (or around 1 per 50,000 of its people). Drowning related injuries are the fifth most likely cause of accidental death in the US. In some places, drowning is the second most likely cause of injury and death for children. Victims are more likely to be male, young or teenage. Surveys say that 10% of children under 5 have been through a situation where they could have drowned.


title: Schrödinger's cat

paragraphs: Schrödinger's cat is a thought experiment about quantum physics. Erwin Schrödinger suggested it in 1935, in reaction to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics.

paragraphs: In simple terms, Schrödinger stated that if you place a cat and something that could kill the cat (a radioactive atom) in a box and sealed it, you would not know if the cat was dead or alive until you opened the box, so that until the box was opened, the cat was (in a sense) "both" "dead and alive". This is used to represent how scientific theory works. No one knows if any scientific theory is right or wrong until said theory can be tested and proved.

paragraphs: Physics can be divided into two types; classic physics and quantum mechanics. Classic physics explains most physical interactions, like why a ball bounces when it drops. It can also be used to predict physical interactions, like what will happen when you drop a ball. However, there are some physical interactions which it does not explain; for instance, how light can be turned into electricity. Quantum mechanics provides a way for physicists to explain why these things happen.

paragraphs: The Copenhagen interpretation is used to explain what is happening to the smallest part of an atom (a sub atomic particle) without looking at it (observing it or measuring it). Mathematics are used to show how likely something is to happen to the particle. A particle could be described as being 50% likely to be in one place at one time, or 50% likely to be in one place at another time. This could also be expressed as a chart (or wave form). This is very convenient when making quantum physics calculations.

paragraphs: However the only way to be 100% sure of where a particle is, is to observe it. Up until the point that you observe it, the Copenhagen Interpretation says that the particle is there and is not there. It is only when you observe the particle that you know if it's there or not there.

paragraphs: While this makes sense in quantum physics, it does not make sense in classical (real world) physics.

paragraphs: Schrödinger wanted to show that this way of thinking about quantum mechanics would lead to absurd situations. He designed a thought experiment.

paragraphs: "A cat is placed in a room that is separated from the outside world. "

paragraphs: "A Geiger counter which counts the amount of radioactive decay and a little bit of a radioactive element are in the room. "

paragraphs: "Within one hour, one of the atoms of the radioactive material might decay (or break down because the material is not stable), or it may not. "

paragraphs: "If the material breaks down, it will release an atomic particle, which will hit the geiger counter, which will release poison gas, which will kill the cat."

paragraphs: The question now is: at the end of the hour, is the cat alive or dead? Schrödinger says that according to the Copenhagen Interpretation, as long as the door is closed, the cat is dead and alive. There is no way to know until the door is opened. But by opening the door, the person is interfering with the experiment. The person and the experiment have to be described with reference to each other.

paragraphs: By "looking" at the experiment the person has influenced the experiment, therefore it may not give us the correct answer.

paragraphs: The thought experiment was invented by Schrödinger to demonstrate the foolishness of thinking about quantum states for large objects. It has also been referenced many times in pop culture.


title: Wollongong, New South Wales

paragraphs: Wollongong is a city in New South Wales, Australia. It is on the eastern coast of Australia, , just over one hour from the south of Sydney and 2.5 hours from Canberra. It is the third largest city in New South Wales, after Sydney and Newcastle.


title: Yule

paragraphs: Yuletide is a pagan holiday also known as the Winter solstice. Generally celebrated by Wiccans and Northern European Christians. "Yuletide" celebrates the birth of the Sun and also celebrates the "Mother" at the height of her "Greatness".

paragraphs: Pagans celebrate Yuletide in many ways, most will decorate a "Yuletide" tree, keep it in their homes until most of the leaves fall off then burn the Yule log. Many Wiccans will decorate their alters with Yule colours and items and generally just honour the Goddess.

paragraphs: The Christian holiday, Christmas, was created by the Christian Romans based around the polytheistic (many Gods) Sun God festival (Sol Invictis) on the winter solstice, and people in northern Europe combined it with their Yule festival. Yule is celebrated on the 25th of December by most Northern Europeans and the 21st of December, by Wiccans and many non religious groups. For them, Yule is celebrated as the longest night of the year. It is the night when the sun sets earliest and rises latest the next day. The Wiccan ritual includes thanking the Goddess for the past year and asking for a happiness in the year to come.


title: Warrnambool, Victoria

paragraphs: Warrnambool is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. About 32,000 people live in the city. It is at the western end of the Great Ocean Road. It is also on the Princes Highwaywhich links Melbourne and Adelaide. Warrnambool is 265 kilometres and 3 hours from Melbourne by road or rail. The name "Warrnambool" is an Indigenous Australian word meaning "water between two rivers", "two swamps", or "plenty of water".

paragraphs: There are daily trains to Melbourne, via Geelong, and buses to Ballarat, Hamilton and Mount Gambier, South Australia.

paragraphs: The average maximum temperatures are 22 C in summer and 14 C in winter.

paragraphs: It is possible that the first European people to come to Warrnambool arrived in the 1500s. There is a wrecked ship in the sand dunes near Warrnambool which historians believe is an early Portuguese ship. It may have been part of an expedition in 1522, led by Christovao Mendonca. The wreck was first seen in 1836, but the last sighting was in 1880. Tt is now covered in sand, and its exact location is now unknown. It is just one of the 80 wrecked ships along the coast. There are 29 wrecks in Lady Bay at Warrnambool. The first recorded exploration of this part of the Victorian coast was by the French explorer Nicholas Baudin in 1802. During the 1830s whaler hunters lived on the coast during the whaling season.

paragraphs: Farmers began to settle along the coast during the 1840s. In 1846 the town was surveyed and laid out, and the first land sale was held in 1847.


title: Whitney Sloan

paragraphs: Whitney Adela Sloan (born August 21, 1988) is an English actress. She is from London, England. Perhaps her most notable role is in a recent Disney made movie, "Go Figure".


Macedonia


title: Rock–paper–scissors

paragraphs: Rock, paper, scissors (RPS) is a two-person hand game. It is often used as a selection method in a similar way to coin flipping or drawing straws to randomly select a person for some purpose. However, unlike truly random selections, it can be played with skill if the game extends over many sessions, as a player can often recognize and exploit the non-random behavior of an opponent.

paragraphs: Sportsmen often use RPS (both officially and unofficially, in place of a coin toss) to decide on opening plays. Similarly, uncertain calls, or even the whole game in case of rain, may be so decided. It is also often used as a method for creating appropriately non-biased random results in live action role-playing games, as it requires no equipment. It is also used in some gambling sites as a form of novelty betting.

paragraphs: The exact name of the game can vary, with the three components appearing in a different order, or with "stone" in place of "rock". Non-English speakers may know the game by their local words for "rock, paper, scissors", although it is also known as Janken or Yakyuken in Japan, Kawi Bawi Bo in Korea, Pierre-Papier-Ciseaux in France, Ca-Chi-Pun in Chile, and in South Africa as Ching-Chong-Cha, the words used in the 'count'.

paragraphs: The players both count aloud to three, or speak the name of the game (e.g. "Rock! Paper! Scissors!" or "Reaux! Sham! Beaux!"), each time raising one hand in a fist and swinging it down on the count. On the third count, or on a further beat after the third count (saying "shoot"), the players change their hands into one of three gestures, which they then "throw" by extending it towards their opponent.

paragraphs: Scissors is represented by the index and middle fingers extended.

paragraphs: The objective is to select a gesture which defeats that of the opponent. Gestures are resolved as follows:

paragraphs: Rock blunts/smashes scissors; rock wins.

paragraphs: In terms of logic, this type of game is intransitive.

paragraphs: If both players choose the same gesture, the game is tied and played again.

paragraphs: In some variations of the game, the winner of each round "uses" the weapon on the opponent's weapon, to demonstrate that they have won.

paragraphs: RPS is frequently played in a "best two out of three" match, and tournament players often prepare sequences of three gestures ahead of time.

paragraphs: The game is famous in Japan, China, and the United States.


title: Katie Leung

paragraphs: Katie Liu Leung (born 8 August 1987) is a Scottish actress. She is most famous for her roles as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter series. She was born in Motherwell, Scotland.

paragraphs: Her parents, Peter and Kar Wai Li Leung, are Chinese immigrants. After her parents got divorced, she lived with her father in a £400,000 house in Motherwell, Scotland. Her two brothers and a younger sister, also live with her. Her father owns a restaurant and a fast food business in Motherwell. Leung went to school at Hamilton College, a Scottish private school in Glasgow. She speaks fluent Cantonese and some Mandarin.

paragraphs: Leung has been named as Scotland's most stylish female and as the hottest Scotswoman by "The Scotsman". She has also been in "Teen Vogue" and in "Evening Standard".


title: Film noir

paragraphs: Film noir is a term used to describe crime drama movies from Hollywood that are often focused on sex, crime, and corruption.

paragraphs: Film noir movies were mostly made from the early 1940s to the late 1950s in the United States, and they were usually filmed in black-and-white. The term "film noir" comes from the French term for "black film" or "dark film". Film noir movies include many different genres of movies, such as gangster movies, police movies, and detective movies.

paragraphs: Film noir movies were often filmed so that there were many dark shadows in the movie, even on characters' faces. The Hollywood film noir movies were influenced by German film directors such as Fritz Lang, who used dramatic lighting techniques. Another influence on film noir movies was 1930s French books or movies about heroes who would die at the end of the story or stories with sad endings. Film noir movies were also influenced by crime fiction, such as the detective and crime stories by Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, and Raymond Chandler.

paragraphs: Some important film noir movies are: "Stranger on the Third Floor" (1940); "The Maltese Falcon" (1941) "Double Indemnity" (1944) "The Big Sleep" (1946) "The Postman Always Rings Twice" (1946); "Key Largo" (1948);"Kiss Me Deadly" (1955), and "Touch of Evil" (1958).

paragraphs: The important actors from Hollywood film noir movies were Robert Mitchum, Humphrey Bogart, and Peter Lorre.

paragraphs: The film noir period was the 1940s and 1950s. Even in the years after the 1950s, some movies were made in the film noir style. In the 1960s and 1970s, there were movies like "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) and "Chinatown" (1974), which were influenced by the film noir movies from the 1950s.

paragraphs: In the 1980s and 1990s there were movies that were a bit like film noir movies, like "Body Heat" (1981), "Basic Instinct" (1992), "Kill Me Again" (1989)," Red Rock West" (1992), and "Fargo" (1996). In the 2000s, there are also movies that are like film noir movies in some ways. For example, there are films such as "Memento" (2000) and "Sin City" (2005).

paragraphs: There are also science fiction movies that look a bit like film noir movies because they look dark and they have a lead character who does some bad things, such as "Soylent Green" (1973); "Blade Runner" (1982), which starred Harrison Ford; and "Minority Report" (2002), which starred Tom Cruise.

paragraphs: Film noir movies are often shot in cities at night, and the stories often take place in bars, nightclubs, gambling clubs, casinos, and cheap hotels. This makes film noir movies look very dark, because the scenes are shot at night, or inside dark places like a bar or hotel.

paragraphs: Film noir movie scenes often have a lot of shadows, such as the shadows of window frames, blinds, or stair banisters. There are also often dark shadows on the movie scenes, even on the faces of the actors. All of the shadows and darkness make the film noir movies feel mysterious and stressful.

paragraphs: The characters in film noir movies are often motivated by greed, jealousy, or revenge. The characters in film noir movies are often private detectives or police officers who are investigating crimes committed by bad criminals and gang members such as murder, gambling or prostitution. In film noir movies, there are often stories about robberies, heists, extortion of money (which is called "blackmail"), or murder.

paragraphs: In film noir movies, even the heroes or lead characters are often bad or partly bad in some way. For example, the hero of a film noir movie may help an innocent man or woman who is being threatened by a criminal, or rescue a woman from a criminal gang. Yet the hero or lead character may also do bad things, such as commit crimes, hurt or threaten people, or tell lies.

paragraphs: Often, the hero or lead character of a film noir film will be bitter, sad, lonely, or depressed, because of bad things that happened to them. The person watching the movie has to decide if they think that a hero who does both good and bad things is a good person or not. The stories from film noir movies can make the audience think about how people should act, or how people should make choices in their life. This is one of the things that people like about watching film noir movies.

paragraphs: Film noir movies are not happy movies. In happy movies, like romance movies, people fall in love, get married, and live happy lives. In film noir movies, sad things happen. A good man with a wife might need money for their rent, and borrow the money from a criminal gang leader, because the good man has no other way of getting the money. Then the bad gang leader might force the good man to do bad things to pay back the money. Maybe the bad gang leader will threaten to hurt the good man's wife. Then the good man has to decide between protecting his wife or doing a bad crime.

paragraphs: People who watch film noir movies like to see stories about people who have to make hard choices, or people whose lives have sad things happen in them. Real life is not a romantic comedy; people often have to make hard choices or have sad things happen.

paragraphs: Robert Ottoson wrote a book in 1981 about film noir called "A Reference Guide to the American Film Noir: 1940–1958".


title: Jazz fusion

paragraphs: Jazz fusion (or "jazz-rock fusion" or fusion) is a genre or style of music. Jazz fusion mixes jazz with rock. Some jazz fusion also uses funk, rhythm and blues and world music.

paragraphs: Jazz fusion is usually played with instruments, without singing. The songs are often longer than those in pop music. A jazz fusion song could be five to ten minutes long. A pop song is usually about three minutes long. Also, jazz fusion songs have a long solo played by instruments. Frank Zappa, for example, had long guitar solos in his music, which was of the jazz fusion genre. In jazz fusion, solos are improvised, or made up as they are played, during a performance.

paragraphs: Jazz fusion music is not heard much on the radio in the United States or Canada. In Europe, it is more popular on radio stations.

paragraphs: Jazz fusion began in the late 1960s in the United States. In the late 1960s jazz musicians such as Miles Davis and a band called The Tony Williams Lifetime began using electric instruments such as electric bass and electric piano in their jazz music. As well, jazz musicians began adding rhythms or beats from soul music, rhythm and blues, and rock music into their jazz music. Two important jazz fusion albums are "In a Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew."

paragraphs: In the 1970s, more people began playing jazz fusion. It became more popular, so more people began listening to jazz fusion and going to jazz fusion concerts. In the 1970s, jazz musicians such as Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Jan Hammer and Chick Corea began using electronic synthesizers in their songs.

paragraphs: In the early 1980s, a new style of jazz fusion called "pop fusion" began being played. This new style of pop fusion was softer and slower than fusion from the early 1970s. Pop fusion was played a lot more on the radio than the fusion from the early 1970s. Pop fusion musicians include Lee Ritenour, Al Jarreau, Kenny G, Bob James and David Sanborn.

paragraphs: Steve Vai was an icon of jazz fusion in the 1980s and played extensive guitar based jazz fusion instrumentals.


title: Stadio Olimpico

paragraphs: Stadio Olimpico is a sports stadium in Rome, Italy.


Insulation


title: Arc de Triomphe

paragraphs: The Arc de Triomphe (meaning "arch of victory)", at the centre of the place de l'Étoile and the western end of the Champs-Elysées, is a very famous monument in Paris.

paragraphs: Emperor Napoléon Bonaparte commissioned it in 1806 after victory in the Battle of Austerlitz. It is a large arch, but it is not possible to drive underneath it. Jean-François Chalgrin designed it, and it has roughly 300 steps that lead to the top. It has four main sculptures and six reliefs. Just beneath the vault of the arch, there is the tomb of the unknown soldier. The names of French generals and battles are engraved on the walls.


Show


title: Traffic light

paragraphs: Traffic lights (or traffic signals) are lights used to control the movement of traffic. They are placed on roads at intersections and crossings. The different colors of lights tell drivers what to do.

paragraphs: Traffic lights change their colors in the same order every time. In most English-speaking countries, traffic lights usually change in this order:

paragraphs: William Potts, a police officer, invented the first traffic light with three colors.


title: Railway signal

paragraphs: A railway signal or just signal is a mechanical or electrical machine that gives train drivers or engineers information about the line ahead. These traffic signals say whether the train must stop or may continue and what speed the train may go.

paragraphs: In Britain, modern signalling uses a system similar to road traffic lights. The signals are coloured lights mounted on a pole. A red signal means 'do not go further'. A yellow signal gives a warning to the driver that the next signal is showing a red. Some signals can show two yellow lights, known as a "double yellow" and are warnings to the driver that the next signal is showing a yellow. A green signal means 'you can continue'.

paragraphs: On older lines semaphore signals are still used. These are poles with a coloured bar at the top, which can be moved so that it is either horizontal, or at an angle. When a red bar is horizontal this means that the train must stop, and when it is pointing diagonally up or down it means that it's safe for the driver to continue. There are also signals with yellow bars which give warnings in the same way as yellow lights on newer signals.


title: Maitland, New South Wales

paragraphs: Maitland is a city in New South Wales, Australia. The city is on the Hunter River. Maitland is 200 km north of Sydney and 30 km northwest of Newcastle. Maitland is sometimes called the largest city, that is not on the sea in New South Wales. The Maitland Gaol, which closed in 1998, is now a tourist attraction.


title: Benalla, Victoria

paragraphs: Benalla is a city in Victoria, Australia. It is a city even though only 10,000 people live there. Benalla is on the Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne. The town is on the Broken River, which often floods. Benalla has a station on the main railway line between Sydney and Melbourne. Benalla is widely known for it's annual 'Wall to Wall' festival which sees many tourists through the area to visit the wall art.

paragraphs: Major Thomas Mitchell went through this area on his way back to Sydney in 1836. One of the men with him, a convict named James Taylor, was drowned while trying to cross the Broken River. After Mitchell many farmers arrived with sheep to make new farms. The Reverend Joseph Docker (1793 - 1865) started a farm called ""Benalta"" in 1838 but later settled on the run Bontherambo, near Wangaratta. The name came from the Taungurung Australian aboriginal word meaning "musk duck". The name later changed to Benalla.

paragraphs: Seven men, working for farmers George and William Faithfull, were killed by the aborigines at Winding Swamp on April 11 1838. The police under Captain Lonsdale killed many Taungurung people as punishment. Their ears were cut off and taken back to Melbourne as a trophy (prize).

paragraphs: The town of Benalla was surveyed in 1846.

paragraphs: The Benalla Botanical Gardens were started in 1886. They cover an area of . The gardens are well known for their collection of roses. The gardens also have three "Ulmus x viminalis", an elm tree hybrid. These trees are listed on the Significant Tree Register of the National Trust. They are the only known examples of the hybrid elm in Australia.


title: Grafton, New South Wales

paragraphs: Grafton is a small city on the northern coast of New South Wales, Australia. It is on the Clarence River and is 640 kilometres north of Sydney. The town is famous for its double-decker road/railway bridge.


title: Zupaysaurus

paragraphs: Zupaysaurus was a dinosaur that lived in South America 213 million years ago, during the Upper Triassic period. It was about 5 meters (15 feet) long. A dinosaur very similar to it, "Dracovenator", lived in South Africa at the same time.

paragraphs: During the Triassic period, all the continents were connected to form the supercontinent of Pangaea, and animals could migrate freely between them. Zupaysaurus was a carnivore.


title: Zephyrosaurus

paragraphs: Zephyrosaurus was a small dinosaur. It was a relative of Hypsilophodon. It lived 132 million years ago, in the western part of what is now North America. It was 6 ft (2 metres) long and 3 ft (1 metre) high.

paragraphs: The remains are bones from various parts of the body. It had a steep face, a raised knob on the upper jaw, and a larger knob on the cheekbone. Some of the bones may have allowed movement within the skull (cranial kinesis) as well. Like other hypsilophodonts, it had beak teeth.


title: Hypsilophodon

paragraphs: Hypsilophodon was a small, fast-running, plant-eating dinosaur. It lived 125 million years ago, was 2.3 metres long (7/8 feet), including tail, and weighed about the same as a man.

paragraphs: It was originally thought to be a young "Iguanodon" which could climb trees. Later it was realised to be a different species, and to be a running dinosaur, not adapted for climbing.

paragraphs: Like most small dinosaurs, "Hypsilophodon" was bipedal and ran on two legs. Its entire body was built for running; a light-weight, low, aerodynamic posture, long legs and stiff tail for balance. All this would have allowed it to travel remarkably fast for its size.

paragraphs: "Hypsilophodon" fed on low-growing vegetation, most likely preferring young shoots and roots in the manner of modern deer. The structure of its skull, with the teeth set far back into the jaw, strongly suggests that it had cheeks, an advanced feature that would have facilitated the chewing of food. There were twenty-eight to thirty ridged teeth in the animal's jaw which, due to their alternate arrangement, appear to have been self-sharpening. As in almost all dinosaurs and certainly all the ornithischians, the teeth were continuously replaced.

paragraphs: The level of parental care in this dinosaur has not been defined, although a neatly-arranged nest has been found, suggesting that some care was taken before hatching. Fossils of large groups have been found, so it is likely that the animals moved in herds. For these reasons, the hypsilophodonts, particularly "Hypsilophodon", have often been referred to as the "deer of the Mesozoic".

paragraphs: Despite living in the Cretaceous, "Hypsilophodon" had a number of primitive, or basal, features. For example, there were five fingers on each 'hand' and four on each foot. Most dinosaurs had fewer digits by the Cretaceous period. Also, although it had a beak, "Hypsilophodon" still had pointed triangular teeth in the front of the jaw. Most herbivorous dinosaurs had, by this stage, lost the front teeth altogether (although there is some debate as to whether these teeth may have had a specialized function in "Hypsilophodon").

paragraphs: The group Hypsilophodontidae remained the same from the Upper Jurassic to the end of the Cretaceous. It is possible that this was because the animals were almost perfectly adapted to their lifestyle, therefore selective pressure, it is assumed, was low.

paragraphs: The family named after "Hysilophodon" has these genera:


title: Dryosaurus

paragraphs: Dryosaurus was a small plant-eating ornithopod dinosaur that lived in forests of western North America around 150 million years ago.

paragraphs: Its family, the Dryosauridae, were precursors (ancestors) of the Iguanodons, and lived from the Middle Jurassic to the Lower Cretaceous.


title: Iguanodon

paragraphs: Iguanodon is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous period in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. It lived 125/126 million years ago (mya).

paragraphs: Discovered in 1822 and described three years later by English geologist Gideon Mantell, "Iguanodon" was the second dinosaur formally named, after "Megalosaurus". Together with "Megalosaurus" and "Hylaeosaurus", it was one of the three genera originally used to define Dinosauria.

paragraphs: A large, bulky herbivore, "Iguanodon" is thought by some to be in the same family as the duck-billed hadrosaurs. The taxonomy of the genus continues to be a topic of study as new species are named or long-standing ones reassigned to other genera.

paragraphs: Scientific understanding of "Iguanodon" has evolved over time. New information is got from the fossils. Researchers have made informed hypotheses about the living animal, including feeding, movement, and social behaviour. As one of the first scientifically known dinosaurs, "Iguanodon" has a small but notable place in the public's perception of dinosaurs. Its artistic representation changed after new interpretations of its remains.

paragraphs: There are at least two species recognised:

paragraphs: Because its front limbs were shorter than the hindlimbs, Mantell guessed it could move on two legs, as opposed to Owen, who thought it was quadrupedal. As it happens, it probably used both modes. Slow walking would be done on all fours, and faster running on the hind legs. Either way, the position of the body would be more horizontal than upright, with the tail held above the ground by its ossified (bony) ligaments (they can be clearly seen on the skeleton). It would defend itself against predators on its hind legs, using its strong front arms and dagger-like thumbs as weapons.

paragraphs: The teeth were close-set grinding teeth suitable for a browser. it is believed that, as with most other ornithischians, "Iguanodon" had some sort of cheek-like structure, muscular or non-muscular, to keep food in the mouth.


title: Xylem

paragraphs: Xylem is a tissue in vascular plants. Its cells have thick, hard walls. Xylem tissue dies soon after it is formed and is the wood in the middle of a tree. The dead cells are like pipes, hollow and rigid.

paragraphs: Xylem is one of two tissues in the plant which transport substances that plants need to live. Substances that xylem transports include water and minerals obtained through the plant's roots, as xylem runs from the roots to the stems and leaves. The other transport tissue is the phloem, which transports energy in the form of sugar (as well as any other chemicals) from the leaves to the rest of the plant.

paragraphs: Xylem cells are present in all parts of a plant, in stems, roots, and leaves. Water is carried against gravity by the negative pressure that builds up through the process of transpiration, which is the evaporation of moisture in leaves.

paragraphs: Most of these cells are dead cells and have thick walls.


title: Allosaurus

paragraphs: Allosaurus was a large theropod dinosaur from the Jurassic period, a predatory carnivore.

paragraphs: "Allosaurus" averaged 8.5 metres (28 ft) in length, though some remains suggest it could reach over 12 meters (39 ft). Its three-fingered forelimbs were smaller than its large hind legs, and the body was balanced by a long, heavy tail. It weighed 2/3 tons.

paragraphs: It is the most common large predator found in the Morrison Formation of North America. This formation was laid down 155 to 145 million years ago, in the Jurassic.

paragraphs: "Allosaurus" was at the top of the food chain. It probably preyed on large herbivorous dinosaurs and perhaps even other predators (e.g. "Ceratosaurus"). Potential prey included ornithopods, stegosaurs, and sauropods.

paragraphs: Some paleontologists think "Allosaurus" had cooperative behavior, and hunted in packs. Others believe they may have been aggressive toward each other.

paragraphs: Groups have been found together in the fossil record. This might be evidence of pack behavior, or just the result of lone individuals feeding on the same carcass.

paragraphs: Remains of many individuals have been found, including some which are almost complete. Over sixty-nine individuals from one species have been found.

paragraphs: Sauropods, live or dead, seem to be likely candidates as prey. Sauropod bones with holes fitting allosaur teeth, and the presence of shed allosaur teeth with sauropod bones have been found.

paragraphs: There is dramatic evidence for allosaur attacks on "Stegosaurus". An "Allosaurus" tail vertebra has been found with a partially healed puncture which fits a "Stegosaurus" tail spike. Also, there is a "Stegosaurus" neck plate with a U-shaped wound that correlates well with an "Allosaurus" snout.

paragraphs: "Allosaurus" was probably not a predator of fully grown sauropods, unless it hunted in packs. It had a modestly sized skull and relatively small teeth, and was greatly outweighed by adult sauropods. Another possibility is that it preferred to hunt juveniles instead of fully grown adults.

paragraphs: Researchers have made other suggestions. Robert T. Bakker compared the short teeth to serrations on a saw. This saw-like cutting edge runs the length of the upper jaw, and could have been driven into prey. This type of jaw would permit slashing attacks against much larger prey, with the goal of weakening the victim.

paragraphs: Another study showed the skull was very strong but had a relatively small bite force. The authors suggested that "Allosaurus" used its skull like a hatchet against prey, attacking open-mouthed, slashing flesh with its teeth, and tearing it away without splintering bones.

paragraphs: They suggested that different strategies could be used against different prey. The skull was light enough to allow attacks on smaller and more agile ornithopods, but strong enough for high-impact ambush attacks against larger prey like stegosaurs and sauropods.

paragraphs: Their ideas were challenged by other researchers, who found no modern examples of a hatchet attack. They thought it more likely that the skull was strong to absorb stresses from struggling prey.

paragraphs: The original authors noted that "Allosaurus" itself has no modern equivalent, so the absence of a modern 'hatchet attacker' was not significant. They thought the tooth row was well-suited to such an attack, and that articulations (joints) in the skull helped to lessen stress.

paragraphs: Another possibility for handling large prey is that theropods like "Allosaurus" were 'flesh grazers' which could take bites of flesh out of living sauropods, sufficient to sustain the predator so it did not need to kill the prey outright. This strategy might have allowed the prey to recover and be fed upon again later.

paragraphs: Another idea is that ornithopods, the most common available prey, could be subdued by "Allosaurus" grasping the prey with their forelimbs, and then making bites on the throat to crush the trachea. The forelimbs were strong and capable of restraining prey, and the articulation of the claws suggests that they could have been used to hook things.

paragraphs: The shape of the "Allosaurus" skull limited binocular vision to 20° of width, slightly less than that of modern crocodilians. As with crocodiles, this may have been enough to judge prey distance and time attacks. The similar width of their field of view suggests that allosaurs, like modern crocodiles, were ambush hunters.

paragraphs: Finally, the top speed of "Allosaurus" has been estimated at 30 to 55 kilometers per hour (19 to 34 miles per hour).

paragraphs: The fossil site known as the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry in Emery County, Utah was known in 1927, but major operations did not begin there until 1960. An effort from nearly 40 institutions got thousands of bones between 1960 and 1965. The quarry is notable for the many "Allosaurus" remains, the condition of the specimens, and our ignorance of its ancient origin. It is estimated that the remains of at least 46 "A. fragilis" have been found there, out of at least 73 dinosaurs. The fossils found there are disarticulated (separate) and well-mixed.

paragraphs: Suggestions as to how it arose include animals getting stuck in a bog, to becoming trapped in deep mud, to falling victim to drought-induced mortality around a waterhole, to getting trapped in a spring-fed pond or seep. Regardless of the cause, the great quantity of well-preserved "Allosaurus" remains means the animal is one of the best-known theropods. Individuals of almost all ages and sizes are found, from less than 1 meter (3.3 ft) to 12 meters (39 ft) long.

paragraphs: There are five recognised species of "Allosaurus":

paragraphs: "Allosaurus", like "Tyrannosaurus", has come to represent the quintessential large, carnivorous dinosaur in popular culture.

paragraphs: It is a common dinosaur in museums. A number of museums cooperated in excavations at the Cleveland Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry. By 1976, museums in eight countries on three continents had Cleveland-Lloyd allosaur material or casts. "Allosaurus" is the official 'state fossil' of Utah.

paragraphs: "Allosaurus" is top predator in both Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel, "The Lost World", and its 1925 film adaptation, the first full-length motion picture to feature dinosaurs.

paragraphs: "Allosaurus" was used as the starring dinosaur of the 1956 film "The Beast of Hollow Mountain", and the 1969 film "The Valley of Gwangi". Gwangi is billed as an "Allosaurus", though Ray Harryhausen based his model for the creature on Charles R. Knight's depiction of a "Tyrannosaurus". "Allosaurus" appeared in the second episode of the 1999 BBC television series "Walking with Dinosaurs" and the follow-up special "The Ballad of Big Al", which speculated on the life of the 'Big Al' specimen, as revealed by the numerous injuries and pathologies in its skeleton.


title: Ceratosaurus

paragraphs: Ceratosaurus was a predatory dinosaur from the Upper Jurassic period, 156 to 145 million years ago. It had a large horn on its nose, and a pair of smaller horns in front of its eyes. Uniquely among theropods, "Ceratosaurus" had armor, in the form of small osteoderms running down the middle of its back.


title: Carnotaurus

paragraphs: Carnotaurus was a predatory dinosaur that lived 70 million years ago. It was a large theropod which lived in South America during the Upper Cretaceous between about 72 and 70 million years ago. Although there is only one well-preserved skeleton, it is one of the best-understood theropods from the southern hemisphere. The skeleton, found in 1984, was uncovered in the Chubut Province of Argentina.

paragraphs: "Carnotaurus" is a member of the Abelisauridae, a group of large theropods. The abelisaurids were a family of large theropods which lived only in the ancient southern supercontinent Gondwana. They were the dominant predators of the later Cretaceous of Gondwana. They occupied the ecological niche filled by the tyrannosaurids in the northern continents.

paragraphs: "Carnotaurus" was a lightly built, bipedal predator, in length and at least in weight. As a theropod, "Carnotaurus" was highly specialized and distinctive. It had thick horns above the eyes, a feature not seen in other carnivorous dinosaurs, and a very deep skull sitting on a muscular neck. Also, it had small, vestigial forelimbs, smaller even than those of "Tyrannosaurus".

paragraphs: The remains include skin impressions showing a mosaic of small, non-overlapping scales about 5 mm in diameter. The mosaic was interrupted by large bumps that lined the sides of the animal, and there are no hints of feathers.

paragraphs: The distinctive horns and muscular neck may have been used in fighting rivals of its own species. Rivals may have fought with quick head blows, by slow pushes with the upper sides of their skulls, or by ramming each other head-on, using their horns as shock absorbers. The feeding habits of "Carnotaurus" remain unclear: some studies suggest the animal was able to hunt down very large prey such as sauropods, while other studies find it preyed mainly on relatively small animals. "Carnotaurus" was well adapted for running and was possibly one of the fastest large theropods.

paragraphs: The animal lived in an environment of estuaries, tidal flats or coastal plains. The climate would have been seasonal with both dry and humid periods. The most common vertebrates collected include lungfish, turtles, crocodiles, plesiosaurs, dinosaurs, lizards, snakes and mammals. Turtles are represented by at least five taxa. In 2011, the discovery of a new enantiornithine bird from the La Colonia Formation was announced.

paragraphs: It appears in the movie "Dinosaur" (2000), when two "Carnotaurus" were fighting with "Iguanodon", "Pachyrhinosaurus" and other species. And in Jurassic World 2: Fallen Kingdom (2018), when fighting a Sinoceratops and gets taken down by the iconic "Rexy" the T-Rex. Later on in the movie, when it escapes the "Lockwood Manor" and in Michael Crichton’s book "The Lost World" (1995)


title: Coelophysis

paragraphs: Coelophysis was a small fast running carnivorous dinosaur. It is one of the earliest known genera of dinosaur. "Coelophysis" was found in Upper Triassic strata dated to about 200 million years ago (mya). It lived in what is now the southwestern United States. Similar dinosaurs are found all over the world at that time.

paragraphs: "Coelophysis" walked on two legs (as did all theropods). It was no more than about three feet (1 meter) tall at the hips but because of a long tail could be almost 10 feet (3 meters) long. There is some evidence that these animals hunted in packs, from the large numbers found together at the Ghost Ranch fossil site in New Mexico.

paragraphs: Two different sizes of this species have been found in the fossil record. At first paleontologists thought that they were two different species, but most now think that this is because "Coelophysis" males were larger than the females. This trait, known as sexual dimorphism, is often seen today in many animal species.

paragraphs: "Coelophysis" had a long narrow head (approximately ), with large, forward-facing eyes that afforded it stereoscopic vision and as a result excellent depth perception. The eyes were supported by bony rings ("sclerotic" rings). The complete sclerotic ring of a juvenile "Coelophysis bauri" was compared to those of reptiles and birds. Evidently "Coelophysis" was a daytime predator which hunted by sight. The study found that its vision was superior to that of most lizards, and ranked with that of modern birds of prey.

paragraphs: For a while, it was thought that "Coelophysis" were cannibalistic, because what looked like "Coelophysis" babies were seen in the stomach of an adult "Coelophysis". However, these specimens were misinterpreted. Several specimens of "juvenile coelophysids" were actually small crurotarsan reptiles such as "Hesperosuchus". In some cases bigger individuals were crushed on top of smaller ones. There is no longer any evidence to support cannibalistic behavior in "Coelophysis".

paragraphs: Edward Drinker Cope first named "Coelophysis" in 1889. This was during the "Bone Wars" with Othniel Charles Marsh. An amateur fossil collector, David Baldwin, found the first remains of the dinosaur in 1881. The type species, "C. bauri" was named after him. These first finds were too poorly preserved to give a complete picture of the new dinosaur.

paragraphs: In 1947, a substantial 'graveyard' of "Coelophysis" fossils was found in New Mexico, at Ghost Ranch, close to the original find. So many fossils together were probably the result of a flash flood, which swept away a large number of "Coelophysis" and buried them quickly and simultaneously. It seems such flooding was commonplace at the time. The Petrified Forest of nearby Arizona was caused by a log jam of tree trunks caught in a flood.

paragraphs: The Ghost Ranch specimens were numerous, with many well-preserved specimens. Since the Ghost Ranch specimens were discovered, more skeletons have been found in Arizona, New Mexico and an as-yet unconfirmed specimen from Utah, including both adults and juveniles. The deposits where "Coelophysis" was discovered date from the late Triassic, bur similar specimens have been found in the Lower Jurassic elsewhere in the world.

paragraphs: "Coelophysis" is the state fossil of New Mexico.


title: Dilophosaurus

paragraphs: Dilophosaurus (meaning 'double-crested lizard') was a medium-large dinosaur from 190 million years ago.

paragraphs: "Dilophosaurus" has been examined several times over the years and has been put into no less than nine different theropod groups. It may be related to the smaller "Coelophysis". Specific details of its life-style are few. Some of its fossils were found in terrain which was a low-lying slow-moving river system at the time. The animal was obviously a carnivore.

paragraphs: "Dilophosaurus" was shown in the movie "When Dinosaurs Roamed America" scaring off a pack of "Megapnosaurus" and eating an "Anchisaurus".


title: SimCity 4

paragraphs: SimCity 4 is the fourth sequel to the SimCity computer game. It was created by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts.

paragraphs: The main new feature in this game is the addition of 'God Mode'. This is one of the three elements of gameplay. Players can add mountains, lakes, rivers and canyons to their landscape.

paragraphs: Another feature is "MySims" mode, a mode that lets players import their Sims from the game The Sims and add them into their city. This lets players see what they are thinking.

paragraphs: Cities are grouped into regions, which allow different cities in the same region to be connected. They can be connected by road or train, and cities could share water. Some regions come with the game, but you can create your own.

paragraphs: RCI stands for residential (housing), commercial, and industry demand. The higher the demand, the faster the city grows. No demand or negative demand causes buildings to be empty and run down.

paragraphs: Big buildings show up when you have high density zones. The amount of people living in the city changes the amount of skyscrapers built in the city. Skyscrapers can be built when residential population reaches 30,000, and when commercial population reaches 45,000.


title: Elasmosaurus

paragraphs: Elasmosaurus was a 46 foot long swimming reptile that lived in the North American Inland Sea. It was a plesiosaur.

paragraphs: It was first discovered in 1868 by a scientist named Edward Drinker Cope who accidentally put the head on the tail. It had 71 cervical vertebrae.

paragraphs: It was suggested by D.M.S. Watson that their method was as surface swimmers, mostly eating with their head above water, darting down to snatch smaller fish which were feeding on plankton. It is hard to see the benefit of a long neck under water. Aquatic mammals operating under water all have a streamlined torpedo-shape, as did pliosaurs and ichthyosaurs. All the longer-necked families were, from the setting of the teeth and jaws, eaters of small fish. The large number of neck vertebrae is probably linked to the modest degree of flexibility between adjacent vertebrae.


title: Waffen-SS

paragraphs: The Waffen-SS was part of the Schutzstaffel (SS). "Waffen-SS" means "armed SS" in German. The Waffen-SS was a paramilitary organization within the SS.

paragraphs: The divisions of the Waffen-SS were made of specially trained soldiers. Their original job was to protect higher-ranking people in the SS and the Nazi Party. Together with the "Sturmabteilung" ("Storm Battalion," or SA), they were used as a police force. The Waffen-SS was officially an extra police force on the streets.

paragraphs: In 1937, some soldiers were reorganized. Nazi leaders gave some SS members the job of guarding and running concentration camps (and, later, death camps). These soldiers were moved from the Waffen-SS to the "SS-Totenkopfverbände".

paragraphs: In some of the concentration camps, like Auschwitz and Buchenwald, doctors of the Waffen-SS did experiments on humans.

paragraphs: Heinrich Himmler led the SS from 1929 until Nazi Germany lost World War II in 1945. After World War II, the SS were found guilty of crimes against humanity, and the SS was made illegal.

paragraphs: The Waffen-SS was grouped into divisions, as follows:

paragraphs: The differences to the normal army units were as follows:

paragraphs: One of the strangest SS units was the British Free Corps. It was a unit of the Waffen SS during World War II. The unit was made of about 27 prisoners of war from the British Empire. One British soldier who helped recruit other soldiers to join the unit was John Amery. After the war, he was sentenced to death for high treason, he was then executed.

paragraphs: After the end of the war, all soldiers were dismissed from the SS.

paragraphs: In 1951, the "Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der ehemaligen Angehörigen der Waffen-SS" was founded in Germany. This translates to "Mutual support organisation of former members of the Waffen-SS'." In English, it is better known as "HIAG." The group wanted soldiers who were in the Waffen-SS to be treated the same as soldiers of the Wehrmacht (the regular German Army).

paragraphs: The group also publishes a magazine. The magazine tries to send the message that the Waffen-SS were just normal soldiers. Sometimes, there are also revisionist articles in it.


title: Pizzicato

paragraphs: Pizzicato means: playing a string instrument by plucking the strings (pulling a string with the finger and letting go quickly). Instruments such as the violin, viola, cello and double bass are normally played with a bow, but if the composer wants the player to pluck instead of bow, the word “pizzicato” or just “pizz” is written in the music. When the player has to play with the bow again the word “arco” is written in the music (“arco” is the Italian word for “bow”).

paragraphs: When instruments of the violin family are played pizzicato the player usually plucks the string with the index finger (pointing finger) of the right hand somewhere over the fingerboard. Bassists typically use the index and middle finger. Sometimes the player may rest the thumb on the edge of the fingerboard to keep the hand steady. Sometimes more fingers can be used for particularly fast pizzicato sections. Cellists and double bass players can use the thumb for plucking, especially for playing chords.

paragraphs: It is also possible to play pizzicato with the left hand (the hand which is normally doing the fingering). It is not difficult to pluck an open string with the left hand. Stopped strings are harder, and the brilliant violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini wrote some virtuoso pieces with extremely difficult left hand pizzicato.

paragraphs: Very occasionally violinists may be asked to pluck their instruments holding them down in their laps. This is normally when they are deliberately imitating a guitar.

paragraphs: Very often players have to change very quickly from bowing to plucking and back again. It is easy to play a bowed note and then immediately a plucked note if the bowed note finished near the heel of the bow (the end where the bow is held). If the bowed note finishes near the tip the player needs a moment to get the hand ready to pluck. It can take a little more time to go back to bowing again because the player has to get the bow back into playing position.

paragraphs: If there is a long pizzicato section then it is more comfortable to put the bow down instead of holding it in the right hand all the time. This is fine so long as the player has time to pick the bow up again when it goes back to arco.

paragraphs: Pizzicato notes sound short and detached (staccato). The player can get different sounds by plucking in different parts of the string. High notes sound very short and dry. Pizzicato notes on the double bass sound much more resonant (big and boomy). Double basses often play pizzicato to give extra rhythmic and harmonic support. For example: in a waltz the cellos and violas might be accompanying the tune with an “um-cha-cha, um-cha-cha” while the double basses just pluck on the “um” (the first beat of the bar). Double basses usually play pizzicato when playing with jazz groups.

paragraphs: One special effect can be made by pulling the string hard and letting it go so that it snaps against the fingerboard. Bartók used this effect several times. This is not the same as jazz bass players who slap the strings at the end of a note (“slap bass”).

paragraphs: In orchestras composers used pizzicato in the 17th century. Monteverdi used it in his opera "Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda". In the 19th century the Romantic composers often asked for pizzicato. Tchaikovsky’s "Symphony no 4" has a whole scherzo movement for pizzicato strings. Johann Strauss wrote a "Pizzicato Polka" and in the 20th century Britten wrote a whole movement for pizzicato strings in his "Simple Symphony".


title: Movement (music)

paragraphs: Long pieces of classical music are often divided into movements. They are like different sections of the piece. Movements can be quite short, or extremely long. If you listen to a symphony it may often be divided into four movements. In the time of Haydn and Mozart the four movements were normally: a fast movement, a slow movement, a dance-like movement (minuet) and a fast movement to end the work.

paragraphs: Concert programmes usually show how many movements there are in the work that is being performed. It may show this using Italian musical terms (e.g. "Allegro" meaning "fast", "Presto" meaning "very fast" or "Andante" meaning "a gentle walking pace"). Here is an example:

paragraphs: Robert Schumann: Symphony no 4 in D minor op.120

paragraphs: Sometimes an orchestra will take a minute or two to retune their instruments, especially in a symphony by Mahler or Shostakovich where one movement might be as long as 25 minutes. At other times the conductor or performer will want to go almost straight on with hardly any break. Sometimes the composer shows that there should be no break at all between movements.

paragraphs: Audiences in the olden days often used to clap between movements, but usually these days they wait until the end of the work to applaud.

paragraphs: The German word for “movement” (in this musical sense) is “Satz” which really means “sentence”. A movement is like a sentence: a collection of things that belong together to make sense. All the movements together are like several sentences: they tell the whole story.


title: Port Hedland, Western Australia

paragraphs: Port Hedland is a city on the north coast of Western Australia. It has 13,000 people living there. It is the largest city in the Pilbara Region. For its size, it has a very large mineral port, because of one of the worlds biggest iron deposits.