title: Toy Story

paragraphs: Toy Story is a 1995 American computer animated buddy fantasy comedy adventure movie. It was the first Disney/Pixar animated movie. Pixar made the movie while Disney packaged it and sold the reels of the movie to movie theaters. It was released on November 22, 1995. It was the first animated movie to be completely done with computers instead of hand-drawn animation. "Toy Story" had three sequels, "Toy Story 2" released in 1999, "Toy Story 3" released in 2010, and "Toy Story 4" released in 2019.

paragraphs: Woody, a pull-string cowboy doll, is the leader of a group of toys that belong to a boy named Andy Davis and come to life when humans are not seen. With his family moving to a new house and having a birthday party for Andy, the toys stage a reconnaissance mission to discover Andy's new presents. Andy receives a space ranger Buzz Lightyear action figure, whose features replace Woody's position as Andy's favorite toy. Buzz does not know that he is a toy when Woody tries to convince him and thinks that he is a real space ranger. While the other toys befriend Buzz, Woody hates Buzz and he doesn't want Buzz to become Andy's favorite toy.

paragraphs: Andy prepares to go to a family outing at Pizza Planet with Buzz. Woody attempts to replace Buzz so that Woody's position is taken, but knocks him out a window instead, making the toys mad. Andy takes Woody to Pizza Planet with him instead. However, Buzz climbs into the car and confronts Woody when they stop at a gas station. The two toys fight and accidentally fall out of the car, which drives off and leaves them behind. Woody sees a pickup truck bound for Pizza Planet and plans to rendezvous with Andy there, convincing Buzz to come with him by saying that the pickup truck can take him to his home planet. Once at Pizza Planet, Buzz makes his way into a claw game machine shaped like a spaceship, thinking that it is the ship that Woody had promised him. Inside, he finds a horde of squeaky aliens who revere the machine's claw arm as their master. When Woody follows Buzz into the game to try to rescue him, the two of them are captured by Andy's next door neighbor, Sid Phillips, who likes to torture and destroy toys for fun.

paragraphs: The two toys try to escape from Sid's house before Andy and his family move, encountering nightmarish hodge-podge toys of Sid's creation as well as Sid's vicious dog, Scud. Buzz sees a commercial for Buzz Lightyear action figures just like himself and realizes that Woody was right about him being a toy. Unable to face the truth, Buzz tries to prove he is still a space ranger by attempting to fly out of the window, but falls and loses one of his arms. Buzz becomes too depressed over the truth to participate in Woody's escape plan which forces Woody to try and get the other toys attention in Andy's room by waving Buzz's disconnected arm, but the other toys still distrust him for what happened to Buzz and leave him behind. Woody realizes that Sid's mutant toys are friendly when they fix Buzz's arm but is forced to hide when Sid arrives, leaving Buzz behind. Sid prepares to destroy Buzz by strapping him to a rocket, but is delayed by a thunderstorm and sleeps for the night. Woody convinces Buzz life is worth living even if he is not a space ranger because of the joy he can bring to Andy, and helps Buzz regain his spirit. Cooperating with Sid's mutant toys, Woody stages a rescue for Buzz and scares Sid away by coming to life in front of him. However, the two miss Andy's car as it drives away to his new house.

paragraphs: Running down the road, they climb onto a moving truck but Scud chases them and Buzz tackles the dog to save Woody. Woody attempts to rescue Buzz with Andy's RC car but the other toys, who think that Woody got rid of RC, toss Woody off onto the road. Spotting Woody driving RC back with Buzz alive, the other toys realize their mistake and try to help them into the truck. When RC's batteries become depleted, Woody ignites the rocket on Buzz's back and manages to throw RC into the moving truck just in time before they go soaring into the air. Buzz then opens his wings to cut himself free before the rocket explodes, and he and Woody glide through the air and land safely into the car. Andy looks in the box and is relieved to have found Woody and Buzz.

paragraphs: On Christmas Eve at their new house, Buzz and Woody stage another reconnaissance mission to prepare for the new toy arrivals, one of which is a Mrs. Potato Head, much to the delight of Mr. Potato Head. Woody jokingly asks Buzz "What could Andy possibly get that is worse than you?", a question which is immediately answered; Andy's new gift, as it turns out, is a puppy, and the two share a worried smile.

paragraphs: Pixar's Oscar-winning short film "Tin Toy" (directed by Lasseter) and its CAPS project were among works that gained Disney's attention and, after meetings in 1990 with Jeffrey Katzenberg, Pixar pitched a television special called "A Tin Toy Christmas". By July 1991, Disney and Pixar signed an agreement to work on a film, based on the "Tin Toy" characters, called "Toy Story". The deal gave Pixar a three-film deal (with "Toy Story" being the first) as well as 10% of the films' profits.

paragraphs: "Toy Story"s script was strongly influenced by the ideas of screenwriter Robert McKee. The script went through many changes before the final version. John Lasseter decided Tinny was "too antiquated", and the character was changed to a military action figure, and then given a space theme. Tinny's name changed to Lunar Larry, then Tempus from Morph, and eventually Buzz Lightyear (after astronaut Buzz Aldrin).

paragraphs: Billy Crystal was going to play as Buzz, but later refused his role, although he would voice Mike Wazowski in Pixar's later movie, "Monsters, Inc". Katzenberg took the role to Tim Allen, who was appearing in Disney's "Home Improvement", and Allen accepted the Role. "Toy Story" was both Hanks and Allen's first animated film role.

paragraphs: Lasster's 1993 draft of the film was a disastrous result, presenting Woody as a "sarcastic jerk" because Katzenberg kept sending notes to Pixar saying that he wanted more edge to the character. Katzenberg talked with Walt Disney Feature Animation president Peter Schneider in the hall during the screening and asked him why it was so bad. Schneider responded that it "wasn't their movie anymore." Schneider wanted to immediately shut down production, fire all recently hired animators and move the key writers (John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter and Joe Ranft) into the Disney Studio, pending a new script approved by Disney. Pixar refused and said that the entire story will be changed in two weeks. As promised, two weeks later a new script had been written that made Woody a more likable character. It also included a more adult-orientated staff meeting amongst the toys rather than a juvenile group discussion that had existed in earlier drafts. Buzz Lightyear's character was also changed slightly "to make it more clear to the audience that he really doesn't realize he's a toy" as John Lasseter remarked. After the second screening Katzenberg restarted production. The voice actors returned in March 1994 to record their new lines.

paragraphs: "Toy Story" was made on a $30 million budget, using a staff of 110 people; Lasseter told how hard of the computer animation was to do in the film: "We had to make things look more organic. Every leaf and blade of grass had to be created. We had to give the world a sense of history. So the doors are banged up, the floors have scuffs."

paragraphs: According to Lee Unkrich, one of the original editors of "Toy Story", there was a scene that was cut out of the movie. In this scene, Sid, after he leaves Pizza Planet, tortures Buzz and Woody violently. Unkrich decided to cut right into the scene where Sid was interrogating the toys because the creators of the movie thought the audience would be loving Buzz and Woody at that point.

paragraphs: Another scene, where Woody was trying to get Buzz's attention when he was stuck in the box crate, was shortened because the creators felt it would "lose the energy of the movie." 2 more deleted scenes, abandoned at the story reel stage, were actually seen as active scenes in Toy Story 2. The first scene was an opening sequence as a Buzz Lightyear cartoon, which ended up as a video game, and the second was the famed "Woody's Nightmare" scene, where Woody is thrown out, as he fails to glow in the dark and destroyed by cockroaches, but in Toy Story 2, he was thrown out because his arm was broken, and he was sucked in by other broken toys.

paragraphs: Ever since its original 1995 release, "Toy Story" received positive reviews from critics; Review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes (which gave the movie an "Extremely Fresh" rating) reports that 100% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 74 reviews, with an average score of 9/10. The critical consensus is: "As entertaining as it is innovative, Toy Story kicked off Pixar's unprecedented run of quality pictures, reinvigorating animated film in the process." The film is "Certified Fresh". At the website Metacritic, which utilizes a normalized rating system, the film earned a "universal acclaim" level rating of 92/100 based on 16 reviews by mainstream critics. Reviewers liked the film for its computer animation, voice cast, and ability to appeal to numerous age groups.

paragraphs: Leonard Klady of "Variety" commended the animation's "... razzle-dazzle technique and unusual look. The camera loops and zooms in a dizzying fashion that fairly takes one's breath away." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" compared the film's innovative animation to Disney's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", saying "Both movies take apart the universe of cinematic visuals, and put it back together again, allowing us to see in a new way." Due to the film's animation, Richard Corliss of "TIME" claimed that it was "... the year's most inventive comedy."

paragraphs: The voice cast was also praised by various critics. Susan Wloszczyna of "USA Today" approved of the selection of Hanks and Allen for the lead roles. Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" stated that "Starting with Tom Hanks, who brings an invaluable heft and believability to Woody, "Toy Story" is one of the best voiced animated features in memory, with all the actors ... making their presences strongly felt."

paragraphs: Several critics also recognized the film's ability to appeal to various age groups, specifically children and adults. Owen Gleiberman of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote: "It has the purity, the ecstatic freedom of imagination, that's the hallmark of the greatest children's films. It also has the kind of spring-loaded allusive prankishness that, at times, will tickle adults even more than it does kids."

paragraphs: In 1995, "Toy Story" was named eighth in "TIME"'s list of the best ten films of 1995. In 2011, "TIME" named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films".

paragraphs: It also ranks at number 99 in "Empire" magazines list of the 500 Greatest Films of All Time. .

paragraphs: In 2003, the Online Film Critics Society ranked the film as the greatest animated film of all time. In 2007, the Visual Effects Society named the film 22nd in its list of the "Top 50 Most Influential Visual Effects Films of All Time". In 2005 the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry, one of five films to be selected in its first year of eligibility. The film is ranked ninety-ninth on the AFI's list of the hundred greatest American films of all time. It was one of only two animated films on the list, the other being "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". It was also sixth best in the animation genre on AFI's 10 Top 10.

paragraphs: Director Terry Gilliam would praise the film as "a work of genius. It got people to understand what toys are about. They're true to their own character. And that's just brilliant. It's got a shot that's always stuck with me, when Buzz Lightyear discovers he's a toy. He's sitting on this landing at the top of the staircase and the camera pulls back and he's this tiny little figure. He was this guy with a massive ego two seconds before... and it's stunning. I'd put that as one of my top ten films, period."


title: María Capovilla

paragraphs: María Esther de Capovilla (September 14, 1889 – August 27, 2006) was an Ecuadorian supercentenarian. She was the world's oldest living person between May 29, 2004, aged 114 years 258 days, and her death from pneumonia on August 27, 2006, aged 116 years 347 days. At the time of her death she was verified as the sixth oldest person on record, and later the fifth oldest when the case of Shigechiyo Izumi was discounted. She remained the world's fifth oldest verified person until Misao Okawa surpassed her age in February 2015. Following Capovilla's death, Elizabeth Bolden became the world's oldest person.


title: Wart

paragraphs: Warts are growths on the skin. Very often they resemble solid blisters. Usually, applying pressure to a wart causes pain. Warts are caused by viruses in the HPV family. As there are many types of viruses in the HPV family, there are also many types of wart. In most cases, warts are not dangerous, but may cause a lot of pain.

paragraphs: The virus infects skin cells; if these skin cells move to other areas, new warts can grow there. Warts contain tissue that bleeds easily. A bleeding of this tissue allows the wart to spread to other places. In general, coming in contact with infected tissue spreads the infection.

paragraphs: There are different ways of getting rid of a wart:

paragraphs: There are different types of warts, caused by different HPV viruses:


title: Ming Kipa

paragraphs: Ming Kipa is a Nepalese Sherpa girl who (as recorded in the 2009 Guinness Book of Records) was the youngest person to climb Mount Everest. She reached the summit on May 24, 2003 when she was 15 years old, with her brother Mingma Gyula and her sister Laphka. Nepalese law does not allow climbers under 16 to climb Everest, so Ming Kipa Sherpa summitted Everest from the Chinese side.


title: Sun Tzu (mathematician)

paragraphs: Sun Tzu or Sun Zi was a Chinese mathematician of the third century CE.

paragraphs: His interests were in astronomy. He tried to develop a calendar and for this he investigated Diophantine equations. He is best known for authoring "Sun Tzu Suan Ching" (pinyin: "Sun Zi Suan Jing"; literally, "Sun Tzu's Calculation Classic"), which contains the Chinese remainder theorem.


title: Sergey Karjakin

paragraphs: Sergey Karjakin (born 12 January 1990 in Simferopol) is a Russian (formerly Ukrainian) chess grandmaster.

paragraphs: He was a chess prodigy and holds the record for the youngest grandmaster in history, at the age of twelve years and seven months.

paragraphs: On 25 July 2009 Karjakin adopted Russian citizenship and afterwards played for Russia.

paragraphs: He won Candidates Tournament 2016 and earned the right to challenge for the World Chess Championship. In November 2016, he lost the championship match to Magnus Carlsen in the rapid tiebreaks after drawing 6–6 in the classical games. He won the 2016 World Blitz Chess Championship. He played in the candidates tournament again in 2018, coming third.


title: Yusuf Islam

paragraphs: Yusuf Islam (born July 21, 1948) is an English singer. He sang many of his early songs when he called himself "Cat Stevens". He was born as Stephen Demetre Georgiou to a Swedish mother and Greek father. He became a Muslim in 1977. After 2 years, he took the name of Yusuf İslam. He has sold over 60 million albums around the world since the late 1960s as Cat Stevens or Yusuf İslam.

paragraphs: As a waiter in his father's cafe, he began writing songs "to escape the mundanity of it all". Chart success was followed by adulation, touring, drug use, confusion, tuberculosis and, in the early 1970s, Islam's changed outlook and an album called Tea For The Tillerman.

paragraphs: Stevens nearly drowned in an accident in Malibu in 1975. Stevens described the event in a VH1 interview some years later: "I suddenly held myself and I said, 'Oh God! If you save me, I'll work for you.'" He had looked into Buddhism; Zen and I Ching, numerology, tarot cards and astrology", but when his brother David gave him a copy of the Qu'ran, Stevens began to convert to Islam.

paragraphs: In 1977 he changed his name to Yusuf Islam upon becoming a Muslim. He stopped playing and recording pop music for almost 30 years, but started performing again in 2006.

paragraphs: He lives with his family in London, England.


title: Malay language

paragraphs: The Malay language, or Bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as parts of Southern Thailand. A language of the Malays, it is spoken by 290 million people across the Strait of Malacca, including the coasts of the Malay Peninsula of Malaysia and the eastern coast of Sumatra in Indonesia and has been established as a native language of part of western coastal Sarawak and West Kalimantan in Borneo. It is also used as a trading language in the southern Philippines, including the southern parts of the Zamboanga Peninsula, the Sulu Archipelago and the southern predominantly Muslim-inhabited municipalities of Bataraza and Balabac in Palawan.

paragraphs: There are innumerable dialects, creoles, versions and forms of Malay. The language is extremely diversified.

paragraphs: In Indonesia, the language is based on the distinct Riau-Johor dialect and is standardised as "Bahasa Indonesia", "Indonesian language". In Malaysia, the language is registered as "Bahasa Malaysia", "Malaysian". In Singapore, Brunei and Thailand is referred to as "Bahasa Melayu", "Malay language". Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Melayu are the same versions and based on the same dialect, Bahasa Indonesia however contains many differences such as false cognates and false friends when compared with Malaysian/Malay. Yet, 80% of Indonesian and Malaysian are cognates. In southern Thailand, the Malays living in the country do speak Bahasa Melayu, but their also speak a distinct dialect of Malay, known as Yawi or "Bahasa Jawi". Bahasa Melayu is Brunei's national language but Bruneians also speak their own dialect of Malay, known as "Brunei Melayu" or "Bruneian Malay".

paragraphs: Indonesians do not see Indonesian and Malaysian/Malay as the same language, and are generally upset when Bahasa Indonesia is ever referred to as "Malay" or "Indonesian Malay". Malay is distinguished as a local language in Indonesia as opposed to the national language, Bahasa Indonesia. The Malays in Indonesia learn their own dialects of Malay before learning Indonesian. Malaysians see the two as the same language.

paragraphs: Malay is normally written with the Latin alphabet called Rumi. But there is also a modified Arabic alphabet that is called Jawi. Rumi is official in Malaysia and Singapore, and the Indonesian language has a different official orthography that uses also the Latin script. Rumi and Jawi are both official in Brunei. Efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve Jawi script and to revive its use amongst Malays in Malaysia, and students taking Malay language examination in Malaysia have the option of answering questions using Jawi script. But the Latin alphabet is still the most commonly used script in Malaysia, both for official and informal purposes.

paragraphs: Historically, Malay has been written in various types of script. Before the introduction of Arabic script in the Malay region, Malay was written using Pallava, Kawi and Rencong script and are still in use today by the Champa Malay in Vietnam and Cambodia.


title: Timothy Dalton

paragraphs: Timothy Peter Dalton (born 21 March 1946) is a Welsh-born British actor. He is famous for playing fictional spy James Bond in two movies in 1987 and 1989. He also voiced the hedgehog Mr. Pricklepants in "Toy Story 3".

paragraphs: His father was English and his mother was an American of Italian and Irish descent. He has, in the past, identified himself as Welsh and as English.

paragraphs: Dalton has one son, Alexander (born 7 August 1997), by Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva. He was in a relationship with English actress Vanessa Redgrave (with whom he appeared in the 1971 film "Mary, Queen of Scots") between 1971 and 1986. Dalton is a Manchester City F.C. supporter. He is often seen at the City of Manchester Stadium to watch his team play. Dalton remains unmarried.

paragraphs: Novels by "Benjamin Black" (pseudonym of John Banville):


title: Euzebiusz Smolarek

paragraphs: Euzebiusz Smolarek (born 9 January 1981) is a Polish football player. He plays for ADO Den Haag and Poland national team.

paragraphs: In 2004, he came to Dortmund with Bert van Maarwijk, who is his trainer. Before that, he played for Borussia Dortmund and under van Maarwijk with Feyenoord Rotterdam. He is also in the Poland national team.


title: Bushido (rapper)

paragraphs: Bushido is a German rapper. He was born in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, 28 September 1978 and raised in Berlin. His real name is Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi. Bushido left the record company Aggro Berlin in 2001. Now he has his own record label ersguterjunge and insults his old label, for example in the song "Sonnenbank Flavour". Other big hits are "Von der Skyline zum Bordstein und zurück" and "Nie Ein Rapper" ( "Never a rapper" ). In 2006, he won the category German act of the European Music Awards in Copenhagen.

paragraphs: The artist name "Bushido" is Japanese and means "Way of the Warrior". Bushido was raised by his mother. He met his Tunisian father when he was 26 years old. Bushido was raised in Berlin-Tempelhof and went to the "Gymnasium" (German "grammar school", the highest school form) which he quit without his Abitur (German "A-level", right to study at university). He started his drug-selling career.

paragraphs: He first came to rap through graffiti where he painted walls using the name "Fuchs" (German "Fox"). He learned about rap music from his friend Vader(-licious) from DMK (Dark Mingz Klique). Together with King Orgasmus, the three recorded a tape under the name "030" which is the telephone number for Berlin. Bushido's first commercial appearance was on the Frauenarzt-Tape with King Orgasmus for I Luv Money Records in 2002. A short time later he published his self-made first album "King of Kingz".

paragraphs: German Rap is based on a monarchy view of things. Everything is a kingdom and the best rappers are kings. There are currently three Kings: Kool Savas, Azad and Bushido himself. However at that time, nobody knew him, but his raps were thought of being very good. Because he knew that, he named his record "King of Kingz". He said "there can be 2 Kings, one for Berlin (Kool Savas) and one for Frankfurt am Main (Azad). Whatever. I shit on 'em. I'm the King. There is noone despite me. Fuck it. I'm the King of Kings."

paragraphs: This record was his way up. He was signed by Aggro Berlin which released this tape. He then made his well known record "Carlo, Cokxxx, Nutten" (English: "Carlo, Cocain, Hoes") and "Vom Bordstein bis zu Skyline" ("From Pavement to the Skyline") which gained him fame nationwide.

paragraphs: In 2004 he quit Aggro Berlin and started his own label Ersguterjunge ("First best boy", a term which was used in the 1930s). He recorded albums and released them every 6 months. Including "Electroghetto", "Carlo, Cokxxx, Nutten 2" and "Staatsfeind Nr 1" ( "State enemy No. 1"). He was officially accused for making racist material and disrespect of minorities and females. However, this could not stop him from gaining success and fame. All his Albums gained Top-3 Chart placements. He was the first German Rapper to have two Albums in TOP-10 Charts placement.

paragraphs: Other rappers, for example the American rapper Raptile, said that Bushido rapped about a way of life he never lived. Media like CNN showed that this is not true. In August 2005 he was sentenced to jail in Austria for beating someone with his bodyguards. They beat up the person because that person damaged the tires of his car. The Austrian judge gave him the option to pay 100.000 Euro ( 150,000 USD) to get out of jail. This was the highest amount possible by law and the judge thought Bushido could not afford that.


title: National Party of Australia

paragraphs: The National Party of Australia is the third biggest political party in Australia. It was first called the Country Party when it started in 1920 and then became the National Country Party in 1975. In 1982 it became the National Party.

paragraphs: The National Party represents the interests of people who live in rural areas, that is, not in big cities. It normally joins together with the Liberal Party to form a coalition government. It has fewer people in Parliament than the Liberal Party. The current leader is Warren Truss. When the National Party is in a coalition government its leader is usually the Deputy Prime Minister.

paragraphs: The Party was quite powerful during the 1940s, 1950's and 1960s. Because it worked closely with the United Australia and later Liberal Party, three National leaders - Earle Page, Arthur Fadden and John McEwen - were Prime Minister for a short time. The Party is strongest in Queensland, where it has had several State Premiers. In 2008, the Liberal Party and National Party came together in Queensland and are now called the "Liberal National Party of Queensland".

paragraphs: The party's federal parliamentary leader since 3 December 2007 is Warren Truss. He led the party to the 2010 Australian Federal Election.


title: Oil well

paragraphs: An oil well is a well to get petroleum from the ground. People in the petroleum industry look for a place that might have oil. They drill a hole deep in the ground and, if the oil is there, then pump it up from the hole. Most oil is very deep underground.

paragraphs: Active wells can also be categorized as:

paragraphs: Wells may be straight holes, or directionally drilled:


title: Prairie

paragraphs: A prairie is a type of habitat with mostly grasses, but also flowering plants and occasional shrubs or isolated trees. This type of habitat can be found around the world, but it goes by different names, such as steppes in Asia. The word prairie generally means grasslands in North America. There are often many animals on a prairie, that either prefer a prairie or can only live in a prairie. Some that are well known are the American bison (also called the buffalo) and the pronghorn antelope. Birds include the bobolink and meadowlark.

paragraphs: A "tall grass prairie" has plants and grasses that typically grow three to seven feet (one to two meters) high, with occasional plants growing higher. This type of prairie grows in areas with a good amount of rain. Illinois (the "prairie state"), Indiana and Iowa are good examples of where a tall grass prairie would be. This type of habitat usually has rich soil and is very good for farming. Much of the original prairie has been changed into crops or lost to brush and trees.

paragraphs: Trees can grow in this area, but most were stopped by fires that would sweep through. Some oaks and hickories could survive a prairie fire. If there are scattered trees, it is called a savanna, and an area in a prairie where trees grew closer together is called a grove. In the last century, fires have been stopped, and trees and brush that once did not grow in prairies are taking over. Some of these invasive species were accidentally introduced from Europe or elsewhere. In Illinois, less than 0.01% of the original prairie still exists. For this reason, conservationists in this area practice prairie restoration to bring the prairie back.

paragraphs: "Short grass prairie" is in drier areas, and is usually one to two feet (0.3 to 0.6 meters) high and has more space between plants. The "American West" (from central Texas up into Canada, east of the arid semi-desert) is all short grass prairie. Much of this area is converted to pastures for grazing cows and sheep. Areas near rivers are irrigated for crops. Some of the original native plants are still widespread.

paragraphs: Mixed grass prairie is found between the short grass prairie and the tall grass prairie and contains more species than either the short grass prairie or the tall grass prairie


title: Mall

paragraphs: A mall or shopping centre is a large building that is full of many smaller shops and stores. It is different from earlier markets or bazaars because most of the shops are not little booths or stalls in one big open area. Each store has its own space with walls. Most of their entrances face a central walking area inside the building.

paragraphs: "Mall" is the most common name for these buildings in American English, and "shopping centre" is the most common name for them in British English. Americans also talk about "shopping centers", but they use their spelling for the word "center". Malls are also sometimes called plazas.

paragraphs: People visit the stores in the mall to shop. Most malls have parking lots (places to park cars). Most malls also have roofs so people can shop inside. Most malls have a food court. Food courts are areas where people buy food. Some malls have movie theatres.


title: Ice skating

paragraphs: Ice skating is skating on ice as a sport, entertainment or pastime. Ice skates, a special type of boot with metal blades on the bottom, are worn to skate on ice. Figure skating and speed skating are the sport forms of ice skating. Hockey is also played on ice, with players wearing ice skates. The International Skating Union (ISU) is the international governing body for figure skating and speed skating.

paragraphs: Ice skating probably began in Scandinavia as early as 1000 BCE, as a way to travel in the winter. The sport of skating started in the Netherlands. Since the Middle Ages, people in the Netherlands have skated on canals. The first skating club was created in Scotland in 1742. In 1850, Edward Bushnell created steel-bladed skates which allowed skaters to make difficult turns and movements on the ice. Figure skating was included in the Olympics in 1908. It was the first winter sport included in the Olympics. Today, ice skating is a popular pastime. Ice shows, like Ice Follies and Ice Capades, are a popular form of entertainment.

paragraphs: Modern figure skates have two edges on the blades and a toothed toepick on the front of the blade. The toepick is used for jumps and spins. Figure skating boots are made of leather. Speedskating ice skates and hockey ice skates have a single edge on the blade.

paragraphs: Men's singles, women's singles, pairs and ice dance are the four types of competitive figure skating. In singles competitions, skaters perform a short technical routine and a longer, creative free routine. The skaters are judged on their performance of jumps, spins and spirals, as well as their artistry. In pairs competitions, two skaters perform two original routines together and are judged on their skills, artistry, and synchronization. In ice dancing, two skaters perform two compulsory routines and an original routine together.

paragraphs: Speed skating is racing on ice. Skaters are judged on their speed. Speed skating has been an Olympic sport since 1924.


title: Rink

paragraphs: Rinks are places for sports. There are several types of rinks:


title: Trading post

paragraphs: A trading post is a place where trade takes place. The path to a trading post, or between trading posts, is known as a trade route.

paragraphs: Trading posts were common places in Canada and the United States when they were both new countries. People used trading posts to trade fur and other things.

paragraphs: Trading posts are also used in many campsites across the United States and Canada as places to buy snacks and other things.

paragraphs: The clerk was in charge of a trading post and a fur trader owned the trading post.


title: Wasp

paragraphs: Wasps are members of the order Hymenoptera, which also includes ants, bees and sawflies.

paragraphs: The common or garden wasps, "Vespula vulgaris", and hornets ("Vespa") are members of the eusocial family Vespidae. This has about 5000 species.

paragraphs: By far the greater number of wasp species (over 100,000) are the parasitic wasps. Most of them are parasitoids which lay their eggs in the caterpillars of other insect species. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it. This makes wasps vital to the natural control of pest numbers (biocontrol). Parasitic wasps are increasingly used in agricultural pest control as they prey mostly on pest insects and have little impact on crops.

paragraphs: Many people get confused between wasps and bees. It's pretty easy to tell the difference between bees and wasps, because bees look quite hairy and wasps do not.

paragraphs: Wasps have biting mouthparts and antennae with 12 or 13 segments. They usually have wings and their abdomens are attached to their thorax by a slender petiole, or a “waist”. Females have a sting, which they use for piercing and egg laying. Adult wasps feed mostly on nectar, but their larvae feed on insects or pollen, provided by the mother.

paragraphs: Most free-living wasps are social insects, like bees and ants, but there are a few solitary wasps. Social wasps are formed of paper wasps, yellowjackets and hornets. All three make paper nests from tree wood. They create paper cells similar to the combs that bees make with wax. They chew up bits of wood and convert it into a paste which they use to construct their paper nests.

paragraphs: The queen lays an egg in each cell of the nests. When it hatches the grub is fed regurgitated insects by the worker wasps. In one group, the pollen wasps, grubs are fed pollen and nectar only. Adult wasps eat only nectar.

paragraphs: Unlike honeybees, the only one in a social wasp colony that will survive the winter is the queen. She will find a place to hibernate - in the hollows of trees, under bark, or in the walls of buildings. In the spring, she crawls out and starts all over again building a few cells, laying a few eggs, and nurturing them until they can become workers who will do all the work while she lays more eggs.

paragraphs: With most species, adult parasitic wasps themselves do not take any nutrients from their prey, and, much like bees, butterflies, and moths, those that do feed as adults typically derive all of their nutrition from nectar. Parasitic wasps are typically parasitoids, and extremely diverse in habits, many laying their eggs in inert stages of their host (egg or pupa), or sometimes paralyzing their prey by injecting it with venom through their ovipositor. They then insert one or more eggs into the host or deposit them upon the host externally. The host remains alive until the parasitoid larvae are mature, usually dying either when the parasitoids pupate, or when they emerge as adults. Farmers buy these parasitic wasps for insect control in their fields.

paragraphs: The mud dauber is one of the most common solitary wasps. The difference between normal wasps and mud daubers can be seen easily because of its long petiole. The female gathers together mud and puts it in her mouth to use when building her paper nest for her young. She uses her ovipositor to sting and paralyze tiny insects, spiders, caterpillars, and other creatures, which are stuffed into the mud nest. After each cell in the nest is filled and almost overflowing with spiders and insects, the mud dauber lays an egg in each cell, closes the openings, and leaves. Then, when the eggs finally hatch, the larvae, have a perfectly nice feast upon which they will dine until they become adults.

paragraphs: Some solitary wasps make galls, which are abnormal growths on plants. They form directly after the wasp lays its eggs, and the plant develops a growth around the egg, encasing it. The trigger for the gall to form is not known. The gall protects the eggs while they develop. Galls can be found almost everywhere in the late summer, especially on the branches of oak trees, like in this picture.

paragraphs: Some wasps deposit their eggs in wood so that the young wasp larvae will feed on the tree itself, making circular tunnels through the wood as they feed, until they pupate and crawl out of the tree as adult wasps.

paragraphs: A few people are allergic and might die if stung by a wasp. Wasps do not usually sting something unless it bothers them first. Allergy to bees is uncommon compared with allergy to wasps. Some people have a very marked local reaction to a wasp sting. This can usually be prevented with good self care such as elevation, cold compress, pain relief tablets and (if medically advised) antihistamines.

paragraphs: A sting is not the same as an allergy: the reaction to a sting is a normal immune response. If a person has symptoms at a distance from the sting (spreading rash or itch, tight chest, wheeze, tight swallowing, swollen lips/face, faintness or nausea), they need to seek medical care immediately. Prevention of stings is fairly easy if people understand how wasps live. Avoid eating sweet foods in their environment and take care over sweet smells when they are particularly hungry in the autumn.


title: Human papillomavirus

paragraphs: The Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a virus that can infect the skin or mucous membranes (like the genitals, or inside the mouth) of humans. They cause warts. Some of them may cause cancer. There are over 100 different virus types in this group. About 40 virus types can be transmitted sexually. About 12-15 can cause cancer.

paragraphs: Most cases of HPV can be prevented by a vaccine, which also would stop the HPV from causing cancer. Most cases of cervical, oral and throat cancer are caused by HPV.

paragraphs: A first step in treatment is the use of salicylic acid. This is available in pharmacies, usually without a prescription. If this does not help, the wart can be frozen, and destroyed that way, or a laser can be used to destroy it. If this still does not help, different methods of chemotherapy can be used.


title: Salicylic acid

paragraphs: Salicylic acid is a chemical substance. It is an acid. It is the base ingredient for a drug called aspirin. It is also used as a food preservative, and to treat diseases of the skin, like acne or warts. It is also used in shampoos to treat dandruff (flaking skin on the head).


title: Shampoo

paragraphs: Shampoo is a beauty care product. It is used to remove natural oils from hair. It is like liquid soap, but it is made to wash hair. It is sold in stores, and many people use it to make their hair clean. After people use shampoo, they might use a conditioner, which makes the hair soft. Together they have a good effect on a person's hair. The people who make shampoo try to make it smell nice. They also try to make the shampoo healthier.

paragraphs: In addition to shampoo for hair, there are body shampoos made to wash an entire body.


title: Dmitri Shostakovich

paragraphs: Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich (born St Petersburg, September 25 1906; died Moscow August 9 1975) was a Russian-Soviet composer.

paragraphs: Shostakovich's parents came from Siberia. His father was a biologist and engineer, and his mother was a pianist. They lived comfortably, although this was to change after the Revolution (1917). Shostakovich studied the piano and composition at the Petrograd Conservatory (St. Petersburg was called Petrograd between 1914 and 1924, after which it became Leningrad until 1991, when it became St. Petersburg again). After his mother died, the family were short of money, so young Dmitri had to earn money by playing the piano in cinemas for silent movies. He worked extremely hard and with a lot of concentration. He was very successful both as a pianist and a composer. His Symphony No. 1 was very popular. His music sounded very modern with lots of dissonant chords. His first dramatic works include an opera called "The Nose" and a ballet called "The Golden Age".

paragraphs: In 1930 he wrote an important opera called "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District". It was a huge success, and the critics said that “it could only have been written by a Soviet composer brought up in the best traditions of Soviet culture”. One night in 1936 Stalin came to watch it. He left before the end. Two days later there was an article in the official government paper "Pravda". The title was “Chaos instead of Music”. It said that this opera was primitive and vulgar, full of screaming and noise. The politicians were criticizing not just Shostakovich but all modern Soviet music. Shostakovich was denounced, and his friends were too frightened to defend him in case they were denounced as well. Shostakovich suffered quietly and wrote his Fifth Symphony. The politicians liked this symphony. He was once more thought of as the leading Soviet composer. He was supposed to have said that his new symphony was the “creative reply of a Soviet artist to justified criticism”, but it was actually a critic who said this. Shortly afterward, he received the Stalin Prize for his Piano Quintet.

paragraphs: During World War II Shostakovich was evacuated with his wife and two children. His next two symphonies, nos.7 "Leningrad" and 8, describe the war. They were hugely popular in the West. In the United States, the Seventh Symphony became the symbol of resistance against Nazism.

paragraphs: After the war, Soviet politicians again began to control and criticize artistic life very hard. In 1948, there was a big meeting at which Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and several other composers were criticized. Their music was called “formalist”, “anti-democratic”, and lots of other things which had nothing to do with music. There was nothing the composers could do except to say how sorry they were. For the next five years Shostakovich was careful not to write anything the politiciones would not like. He wrote songs such as "The Sun Shines on our Motherland". Some of his other compositions in which he expressed his real feelings were kept in a drawer so that no one could see them.

paragraphs: In 1953, Stalin died and things became easier again. Shostakovich wrote his Tenth Symphony. The whole world now saw Shostakovich as the greatest Soviet composer. He suffered less from official repression. Surprisingly, articles criticizing the music of modern young composers carried his name, but a lot of these articles he had not written. He was persuaded to sign them so that the politicians would leave him in peace. He wrote more symphonies and quartets as well as concertos. His opera "Lady Macbeth" was revised and given a different title: "Katerina Izmaylova". It was performed in many countries, and was made into a movie. Yet in 1962, he wrote his very serious Symphony No. 13 using poems including one of the Babi Yar massacre, so he suffered from repression again.

paragraphs: In his later years, Shostakovich suffered from ill-health. He had poliomyelitis, which made it difficult for him to use his hands and legs. He suffered several heart attacks, and started to lose his sight. He died of lung cancer in 1975.

paragraphs: Shostakovich is best known for his fifteen symphonies and fifteen string quartets. His most important opera is "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District". He also wrote a lot of film music and music for plays including "Hamlet". Shostakovich read a lot of Russian literature. His songs had words by famous Russian writers such as Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Marina Tsvetaeva and Alexander Blok. He wrote twenty-four Preludes and Fugues for piano, a piano trio, two piano concertos, a piano quintet, a sonata for cello and piano, and a sonata for viola and piano (his last work).

paragraphs: He had lots of friends who regularly gave the first performances of his works. Most of his symphonies were first performed by the Leningrad Philharmonic conducted by Eugeny Mravinsky. His string quartets were first performed by the Beethoven String Quartet. The violinist David Oistrakh, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovitch, and the pianist Sviatoslav Richter were all close friends who played his music.

paragraphs: Shostakovich had an amazing musical memory and could play almost anything he knew by ear. When he was young he spent hours improvising, composing, and playing. Although he had small hands, he was a very gifted pianist. He had no difficulty in playing any of his works on the piano, even music written for an orchestra. He often played his music too fast and without much expression.

paragraphs: Shostakovich was a very nervous person. He was shy and very self-critical. He hated having to talk to people he did not know. He did not sit still, always fidgeting and twitching his face nervously. He was, however, always very polite and very kind to everyone he met. He was very careful not to criticize musicians who asked him for advice. He said very little, but what he said was carefully thought out. He wrote lots of letters to the authorities to try to help his friends. He was very reliable, and always tried to arrive on time. In his last years, he found it very difficult to use his hands because of his illness, but he always insisted on writing down his music himself.


title: Transparency

paragraphs: In optics, transparency is the property of allowing light to pass through something.

paragraphs: An object that is transparent can be seen through. That is, what is on the other side of the object can be seen through it. The image you can see through a transparent object is similar to the image you can see without it. It may be changed if the transparent object behaves like a lens. This could change the size or shape of the image. The opposite of transparency is opacity.

paragraphs: Some animals are transparent, so predators cannot see them so easily. An example of a transparent animal is the jellyfish. Transparency works better in places with a small amount of light than in places with lots of light.

paragraphs: If some light can be seen through an object but some of the detail of the image is lost, it is a translucent material.

paragraphs: Light passes through a translucent object, but you cannot see objects behind it. The light passes through but the material scatters the light, so you cannot see the object, only its shadow.

paragraphs: Examples of translucent materials are frosted glass, paper, and some types of amber.


title: Punjab region

paragraphs: Punjab is a region in South Asia. It is divided by the Radcliffe Line: Some parts of it are in Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and others are in the Republic of India. It is in a plain, with the River Indus flowing through the western part, which is in Pakistan. The soil is very fertile. It lives from agriculture. Main religions in the region are Islam, Sikhism and Hinduism.


title: Hepatitis

paragraphs: Hepatitis is a disease of the liver. In hepatitis, the liver is inflamed. There can be several reasons why the liver is inflamed. For this reason there are several kinds of hepatitis. The most common forms are Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C. Most cases of Hepatitis are caused by viruses. Some forms are caused by bacteria, fungi or parasites. The bacteria that cause tuberculosis or syphilis can also cause hepatitis; so can the parasite that causes malaria.

paragraphs: Hepatitis can also be caused by alcohol. About one in four people who drink more than three alcoholic drinks a day (over a period of 10–15 days) will have some form of hepatitis caused by alcohol.

paragraphs: Various drugs and chemicals can also cause hepatitis, most notably paracetamol (overdose), yellow phosphorous, and others. Hepatitis may also be caused by other diseases.

paragraphs: Hepatitis A can be spread through personal contact, eating raw seafood, or drinking water with the hepatitis A virus in it. This happens mostly in third world countries. Strict personal hygiene and avoiding raw and unpeeled foods can help prevent an infection.

paragraphs: Once a person has hepatitis A, their immune system makes antibodies to fight the virus. This will make them immune against future infection.

paragraphs: People with hepatitis A should rest, drink a lot of water and avoid alcohol. The time between the infection and the start of the illness can run from 15 to 45 days. About 15% of people with hepatitis A have symptoms from six months to a year after the first diagnosis. Infected people excrete the hepatitis A virus in their stool two weeks before and one week after the appearance of jaundice.

paragraphs: There is a vaccine for hepatitis A. It will protect against hepatitis A for life.

paragraphs: Hepatitis B is not spread by food or casual contact. Instead, hepatitis B is spread by blood or body fluids from an infected person. A baby can get it from its mother during childbirth, and it can also be spread by sexual contact, use of street drugs, and unsafe medical care. Some people just have hepatitis B for a little while and then suppress the infection. Others can be infected for life, usually with few or no symptoms for many years. Hepatitis B sometimes damages the liver severely, and can cause cancer.

paragraphs: There is a vaccine that can prevent hepatitis B. There is no cure for hepatitis B, but there is treatment.

paragraphs: Hepatitis C is not spread by food or casual contact. It is spread in ways that are similar to hepatitis B. There is no vaccine, and the treatment is somewhat unpleasant. People with hepatitis C who drink alcohol greatly increase their risk for liver damage.


title: Rodeo

paragraphs: A rodeo is a North American sport. It is a collection of several similar activities that came from the history of the day-to-day lives of Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) and American cowboys. It has events that came from the handling of cattle, and the riding and training of horses. Rodeos started as a competition between the cowboys to see who was the best. Over time it has gone from taking a collection of money for the person who won to today's large professional competitions such as the National Finals Rodeo with a lot of money for the winners.


title: Dewey Decimal System

paragraphs: The Dewey Decimal System is a way to put books in order by subject. It is often used in public libraries and schools in the United States and other countries. It places the books on the shelf by subject using numbers from 000 to 999. It is called "decimal" because it uses numbers to the right of the decimal point for more detail (e.g. 944.1 for History of Brittany). Each subject has its own group of numbers. The system was created by Melvil Dewey in 1876. It is also called the Dewey Decimal Classification. The classification has been changed many times. The latest change is number 23 in 2011. There is also a smaller one for small libraries called "Abridged Dewey".

paragraphs: Each subject is broken up into 10 smaller, more specific categories.


title: Rhombus

paragraphs: A rhombus is a parallelogram with all sides equal in length. A rhombus with all angles equal is called a square. The word "rhombus" comes from the Greek word "rhombos", meaning "spinning top". A rhombus is sometimes called a diamond, but not all rhombi are diamond shaped.

paragraphs: To find the perimeter of a rhombus, just add up all the sides. Also opposite sides are parallel and opposite angles are equal. Another interesting thing is that the diagonals (dashed lines in second figure) meet in the middle at a right angle.


title: Change (money)

paragraphs: Change is the money returned after paying for something with more money than it costs. For example, if someone buys a 25-pence sweet bar with 1 pound (100 pence), they will get 75 pence back.

paragraphs: Change can also mean any kind of money in coin form. To have "exact change" means to have the exact cost of the item. In the United States, buses require people riding the bus to have "exact change". The bus does not give money back. They must pay exactly what the cost is, they can not pay more.


title: Homework

paragraphs: Homework is school work that are given at school to do at home. Homework is usually given to students by the teachers. It is a practice work which helps students revise on what they've learned that day.

paragraphs: Homework also helps students to remember what they learned. Many students will get more homework and some will get less. This depends on how old they are, what grade/primary/year they are in and how smart/intelligent they are.

paragraphs: This could help determine what level they are in. Most students say that homework is a waste of time and that they do enough work at school. However, it is also believed that homework is very important for a student as it can help in their exams and education.

paragraphs: It helps parents to get to know about their children progress in studies. It can also teach a child to be responsible. However, it has been a controversial form of learning as some groups argue about its disadvantages.


title: Garlic

paragraphs: Garlic (species Allium sativum) is a type of plant that people eat for food. Garlic is related to onions, shallots, and leeks. It has a very strong flavor and smell. Most of the time, people use it as a flavoring so that it helps make food taste better.

paragraphs: Garlic is used as herbal medicine in the treatment of cold and flu.. It has side effects of heartburn, flatulence and sweating.

paragraphs: The part of the garlic plant that people eat is called the head. It grows at the bottom of a long green stalk. People pull the head apart into smaller pieces called cloves of garlic. Cloves have papery skin on them. People peel off the skin before cooking the cloves.

paragraphs: People plant garlic in the fall right after the first frost. They plant the clove like a seed. One clove can grow into a whole head. The garlic plant grows its roots before the ground freezes for winter. People harvest (collect) the garlic in the middle of the next summer.

paragraphs: Garlic is in legends about vampires. In these legends, vampires do not like garlic. Garlic keeps vampires away. Writers for the Toronto Garlic Festival say this might be because the vampire legend comes from the disease porphyria. People with porphyria do not like to eat foods that have sulfur in them, and garlic has sulfur in it.


title: Glaze

paragraphs: Glaze is a layer or coating used on pottery or ceramics. It may be called vitreous enamel or porcelain enamel. Powdered glass is fused onto ceramics by firing to between 750 and 850 °C (1,380 and 1,560 °F). The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, lasting vitreous coating on metal, or on glass or ceramics. This is done in a kiln.

paragraphs: There are many different types of glaze, some are used for decoration and some are used to make pottery watertight so it can hold liquids. Glaze serves to colour, decorate, strengthen or waterproof an item.

paragraphs: Glazing is important for earthenware vessels as otherwise they would leak water. Glaze is also used on stoneware and porcelain. In addition to the functional aspect of glazes, they can form a variety of surface finishes, including degrees of gloss and matte and colour. Glazes may also enhance an underlying design or texture.

paragraphs: Glaze is used on building materials. The Iron Pagoda, built in 1049 in Kaifeng, China, of glazed bricks is an example.

paragraphs: Ceramic glaze raw materials generally include silica, which forms glass when fired. Metal oxides, such as sodium, potassium and calcium, act as a "flux" to lower the melting temperature. Alumina, often derived from clay, stiffens the molten glaze to prevent it from running off the piece. Colour comes from iron oxide, copper carbonate or cobalt carbonate. Tin oxide or zirconium oxide make the glaze opaque.


title: Nuclear

paragraphs: Nuclear means relating to a nucleus. It may be about:


title: Stanford University

paragraphs: The Leland Stanford Junior University, often called Stanford University (or simply Stanford), is a private university next to Palo Alto in California, in the middle of Silicon Valley,

paragraphs: about 37 miles (60 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco and about 20 miles northwest of San José, in Santa Clara County. Leland and Jane Stanford opened the university on 1 October 1891. They named the university after their son, Leland Stanford Junior, who died at young age.

paragraphs: With one of the largest university campuses in the United States, the University includes the Schools of Engineering, Law, Medicine, Education, Business, Earth Sciences, and Humanities and Sciences. Stanford also hosts volunteer programs and a teaching hospital.

paragraphs: Leland Stanford Junior died in Europe in 1884. His parents, Leland and Jane Stanford, were rich and influential Californians. They chose to turn a farm they already owned into a large university, as a memorial to their curious son. Stanford had early trouble, as the school ran low on money, and was hurt by the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake.

paragraphs: Herbert Hoover, who later became the US President, helped the school improve its operations, and later university leaders pushed students and alumni to develop the surrounding area. By the 1950's, cities around Stanford University were filling with technology companies, starting what became Silicon Valley.

paragraphs: Stanford has many special areas. In honor of Stanford graduate and US president Herbert Hoover, Stanford hosts a large think tank and archive called the Hoover Institution. Many former students, like the founders of HP, donate lots of money and have buildings named after them. A large radio telescope called "The Dish" sits on the hills above Stanford.

paragraphs: Stanford has about 7,000 undergraduate students, and a larger number of students working on advanced degrees. Few high school students who apply to Stanford are accepted - over the last several years, only four out of every hundred students who applied were offered a spot.

paragraphs: People who graduated from Stanford University are:


title: Palladium

paragraphs: Palladium is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol Pd. It has the atomic number 46. It is a metal. It is silver white. In chemistry it is placed in a group of metal elements named the transition metals. It is also part of the platinum group.

paragraphs: Palladium has similar chemistry to platinum. It is extracted from (made by taking from) some copper and nickel ores. Its main use is as a catalyst and also in jewellery.


title: Personal care

paragraphs: Personal care items are toiletry items. These are products used by people to look after their bodies, and to improve their appearance. They are usually sold in chemist shops and supermarkets. Many celebrities use beauty products.

paragraphs: Personal care includes products as diverse as cleansing pads, bandages, colognes, cotton swabs, cotton pads, deodorant, eye liner, facial tissue, hair clippers, lip gloss, lipstick, lotion, makeup, nail files, pomade, perfumes, razors, shaving cream, moisturizer, talcum powder, toilet paper, toothpaste, and wet wipes.

paragraphs: The one synthetic product I choose to avid is parabens, which you won't find in true natural skin care products. There are controversial studies about parabens. Some studies say they are OK and others say they are bad. I usually don't focus on the negative things in life, but when it comes to my health, I tend to look on the safety side and in the case of , I steer clear of skin care products that contain them.

paragraphs: Here are a couple reports that I read that explain why I am choosing to caution on the safe side and buy natural skin care products. In the July 2002 issue of the Archives of Toxicology, Tokyo Metropolitan Research Laboratory of Public Health reported exposure of newborn male mammals to butylparaben "adversely affects the secretion of testosterone and the function of male reproductive system." So the question here is, why would any male want to take the risk of messing with the reproductive system of their body?

paragraphs: In a report by the United States Environmental Protection Agency entitled "Pharmaceuticals and Personal care Products in the Environment" Agents of Subtle Change?" reports that the chemical preservatives called - methyl, propyl, butyl, and ethyl- displayed estrogen like activity in several tests. The hormone oestrogen is known to have a role in breast cancer, so the question here is, why would anyone want to rub this stuff on their skin where it can be absorbed into the body through the skin's pores, putting them at risk for breast cancer?

paragraphs: When I can find products that do a great job at my skin, I will choose those over products that contain parabens. There are 100% free paraben products out there that will cleanse, moisturize, tone, and replenish my skin naturally.

paragraphs: · Natural Vitamin E () an antioxidant which helps to reverse the effects of aging, by reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and also helps prevent the appearance of age spots.

paragraphs: · is a special passion fruit , unique to Brazil. It is an emollient which help to revitalize your skin and give it a smooth velvety feel.

paragraphs: · is a powerful antioxidant, which creates an invisible film on your skin to keep moisture in. It is good for repairing the skin around the eyes and helps to reduce stretch marks on the skin.

paragraphs: · is used to soften the skin and soothes inflamed skin. absorbs rapidly without leaving a greasy feeling.

paragraphs: · Active is rich in antioxidants and stimulates the immune system. This is a great ingredient to look for in a night cream, because it will help to restore and your skin while you sleep.


title: Irish Republican Army

paragraphs: The Irish Republican Army or IRA originated from the Irish Republican Brotherhood, and fought against the British Army to get freedom for Ireland in the Irish War of Independence. The British army had invaded Ireland earlier in the plantation of Ulster and then invaded Dublin, after some time when the IRA had fought the island of Ireland was split up and the Republic of Ireland became independent, the IRA split up and some parts of it were involved in the fighting in Northern Ireland called "The Troubles". The original IRA are now named as ná Óglaigh na hÉireann. While the other IRA have used guerilla tacticts to achieve a united Ireland free from British rule.

paragraphs: The Irish Republican Army (Irish: Óglaigh na hÉireann) was formed from the joining of a part of the Irish Brotherhood with the union's Irish Citizens Army militia after the Easter Rising of 1916.

paragraphs: After the unilateral declaration of independence by the Irish Parliament in 1919, the IRA continued the war against British occupation in what was called the Irish War of Independence. This ended in 1921 with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which divided the island into the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The signing of the treaty led to a split in the IRA between those who were against the treaty and those who were for it. This led to a very bitter civil war, which saw former friends and even family members on different sides. The IRA lost the civil war but the group did not go away and they continued to fight Great Britain.

paragraphs: In the 1930s, the leftist group achieved some success in overcoming the division between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland . The refusal of IRA-Leadership, to cooperate with this course, led to a further division. Frank Ryan led a part of the Congress-group after Spain, where they are in the Spanish Civil War against General Francisco Franco.

paragraphs: The brutal police action against the Northern Ireland civil rights movement and the raids by loyalist paramilitaries in 1967 brought the IRA back on the map. At that time and until the end of the 80s were Northern Irish Catholics were in a legal vacuum, and were de facto vulnerable to the whims of the official from Britain supported nordir-Protestant police forces and paramilitary groups. Open violence to murders, torture, open prosecution, defamation and exclusion of qualified training and public offices were years of normalcy for the Northern Irish Catholics. The IRA obtained the support of large parts of the Catholic population, and almost had the status of a "protecting power". Some Irish-Americans also supported the violence.

paragraphs: In the 60s, there were differences between the military and the Provisionals oriented rather Marxist-theory oriented Officials. This resulted 1969 to re-divide into Provisional Irish Republican Army PIRA and the "official" group OIRA, which is strong in the civil rights movement-oriented. The "official" wing of the IRA never formally dissolved, but is de facto since about 1980 is no longer relevant.

paragraphs: In the 80 years changed the leadership of the Provisional IRA, instead of the veterans from the south over younger activists from Northern Ireland to key positions. At the top of the Sinn Féin joined Gerry Adams, the party clearly to the left. In 1993 he initiated jointly with the Social Democrats John Hume to the peace process, in August 1994, the IRA a unilateral ceasefire, a prerequisite for the Good Friday Agreement created. Despite the ceasefire, the IRA remained active even though not fighting.

paragraphs: Only two small splinter groups held up at the last state of war: The Real IRA and the Continuity IRA. When a car bomb attack the splinter group, which is called "Real IRA", in August 1998, in Northern Ireland Omagh were a total of 29 people killed.

paragraphs: On 28 In July 2005, the end of the IRA's armed warfare. "All IRA-Soldiers have been instructed to lay down their arms," reads a statement from the IRA days, and continued: "We believe that there is now an alternative way, (…) the British rule in our country to an end.”On 26 September 2005, the complete disarmament of the IRA by the head of thedisarmament commission, Canadian General John de Chastelain, announced. Two pastors, one Catholic, one Protestant were present at the destruction of weapons, no photographs or video was allowed to be taken as proof.

paragraphs: On 29 In October 2005 Gerry Adams said that the IRA campaign had "clearly come to an end".


title: Rhythm and blues

paragraphs: Rhythm and blues (also known as R&B or RnB) is a popular music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists. It is now performed worldwide by people of many cultures and ethnic groups.

paragraphs: During the 1980s, James Brown and Sly & the Family Stone had used parts of psychedelic rock and other styles in their music. Funk became a big part of disco music. In the early 1980s, funk and soul had become sultry and more sexual with the work of Prince and others. The modern style of "contemporary R&B" came to be a major part of American popular music.

paragraphs: R&B today defines a style of African-American music. It combines elements of soul music, funk music, pop music, and (after 1986) hip hop in what is now called "contemporary R&B".

paragraphs: It is sometimes called "urban contemporary" or "urban pop".

paragraphs: By the 2000s, the only big difference between a record being a hip hop record or an R&B record is whether its vocals are rapped or sung. R&B started to focus more on solo artists than groups. By 2005, the most famous R&B artists include Usher, Beyoncé (formerly of Destiny's Child), Ashanti, and Mariah Carey.

paragraphs: Soulful R&B continues to be popular, with artists such as Alicia Keys, R. Kelly, John Legend, and Toni Braxton. Some R&B singers have used parts of Caribbean music in their work.


title: Tungsten

paragraphs: Tungsten (sometimes named wolfram) is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol W. It has the atomic number 74. It is a metal. The colour of the metal is steel-gray to white. In chemistry it is placed in a group of metal elements named the transition metals. Tungsten is found in several ores. Two ores which have tungsten in them are wolframite and scheelite.

paragraphs: Tungsten has a higher melting point than any other non-alloy that exists. The pure form (only tungsten) is mainly used for electrical uses. Its compounds and alloys are used for many things. Their most well known use is in electrical filaments for light bulbs. It is also used in the filament and target in most X-ray tubes and also in superalloys. It is used in glass-to-metal seals.

paragraphs: Tungsten's density and hardness have many uses. In the military, for example, tungsten has been used in armor-piercing artillery.

paragraphs: Tungsten's density is almost the same as gold. Gold-plated tungsten ingots have been fraudulently passed off as solid gold.


title: Arc

paragraphs: An arc is a part of a circle. An arc is a curved line. The curve of an arc is constant and does not change (that is, an arc has constant curvature). It sometimes is portrayed as a dotted line.

paragraphs: In a circle, the arc from point A to point B is written as formula_1. We call the length of an arc an arc length. For an arc on a circle with radius "formula_2" subtended by an angle formula_3, its arc length is precisely formula_4.


title: Particulate

paragraphs: Particulates are very tiny pieces of a solid or liquid that are carried floating in a gas. When the tiny pieces are solid, it is called a smoke. When the tiny pieces are liquid, it is called an aerosol. Aerosols can be naturally found in clouds and geysers. There are also artificial aerosols such as haze and some air pollutants. Smokes can be found naturally in wildfires and volcanoes. Artificially, they can be found in cigarettes, factories and power plants. Both of them can cause air pollution and climate change.


title: Shorthand

paragraphs: Shorthand or stenography is a way of writing. Shorthand systems allow people to write much faster. Shorthand systems have been in use since antiquity. Now, they are not used as much, because there are dictation machines to record voices.


title: Sine wave

paragraphs: All waves can be made by adding up sine waves. The sine wave has a pattern that repeats. The length of this repeating piece of the sine wave is called the wavelength. The wavelength can be found by measuring the length or distance between one peak of a sine wave and the next peak. The wavelength can be found in many other ways too.

paragraphs: Waves are found everywhere in the natural world. Examples of waves:

paragraphs: Sine waves have a "length" called a wavelength. There are other properties of waves and sine waves, such as their frequency, amplitude, phase, and speed.

paragraphs: The frequency of a sine wave is the number of oscillations a wave has in a certain period of time, for example one second.


title: Collingwood Football Club

paragraphs: Collingwood Football Club, the Magpies, is a club which plays Australian Rules Football in the AFL. It comes from Collingwood, a suburb of Melbourne in Victoria. In the AFL/VFL, it has won 15 premierships.

paragraphs: The Collingwood Football Club was formed in February 1892. Collingwood played its first game in the Victorian Football Association on 7 May 1892, against Carlton. In 1902, Collingwood won its first premiership against the Essendon Football Club.

paragraphs: The Victorian Football League (VFL) formed in 1897. Collingwood was one of the original teams (along with Fitzroy, Melbourne, St Kilda, Carlton, Essendon, South Melbourne and Geelong). In the early years of the VFL, Collingwood was the most successful team; it won 11 premierships in the first 40 years. They won the most recent AFL premiership against St Kilda in 2010. The teams had to play a second match after the scores were equal at the end of the first Grand Final game.


title: Vibration

paragraphs: Vibration means quickly moving back and forth (or up and down) about a point of equilibrium. The vibration may be periodic (having a pattern) or random. Something that is vibrating may shake at the same time. If it vibrates in a regular way, it may produce a musical note because it can make the air vibrate. This vibration will send sound waves to the ear and to the brain.

paragraphs: In structural engineering including earthquake engineering, vibrations may be bad. They may cause the structure to fail.

paragraphs: The time it takes a vibrating object to go back and forth completely is the period. The number of back-and-forth movements in one second is its frequency, measured in Hertz (Hz). The farthest possible distance from the equilibrium point is the amplitude.

paragraphs: Free vibration occurs when vibration is set off with a push and allowed to vibrate freely. Examples of this type of vibration are pulling a child back on a swing and then letting go or hitting a tuning fork and letting it ring. The mechanical system will then vibrate at a 'Natural frequency' and gradually wind down.

paragraphs: Forced vibration is when an alternating force or motion is applied to a mechanical system. Examples of this type of vibration include

paragraphs: In forced vibration the frequency of the vibration is the frequency of the force or motion applied. The size of the effect depends on the actual mechanical system.


title: Molybdenum

paragraphs: Molybdenum is a chemical element. It has the chemical symbol Mo. It has the atomic number 42. It has 35 isotopes. The name Molybdenum is from the Greek meaning "leadlike". The color of pure molybdenum is silvery-white. It does not occur naturally, and is made from molybdenite.

paragraphs: It is used in alloys with other metals like stainless steel. It helps to make metal stronger, especially in high temperatures, and makes it less likely to rust. This makes it good for use in high speed tools, such as drills and saw blades. It is used in aircraft and missile parts, as well as in nuclear reactors. It is also not toxic, so it is used in making metal bowls for use in making food, medicines and other chemicals.

paragraphs: Molybdenum was used for many years before it was identified in 1778 by Swedish scientist, Carl Wilhelm Scheele. In 1782, Peter Jacob Hjelm was able to separate it into a dark powder he called "molybdenum". It was first mined in 1916 at Climax, near Leadville, in Colorado.


title: Solution

paragraphs: In chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture of two or more substances. The substances that are dissolved are called solutes. The substance the solutes are dissolved in is called the solvent. An example from everyday experience is a solid like salt or sugar (which are crystalline solids), dissolved in a liquid (like water). Gases can dissolve in liquids. An example is carbon dioxide or oxygen in water. Liquids may dissolve in other liquids and gases in other gases.

paragraphs: The amount of solute added to the solvent determines the concentration of the solution. The solution with the large amount of solute is called a concentrated solution; the solution with less solute is called a dilute solution.

paragraphs: Examples of solid solutions are alloys and some minerals. For example, brass is an alloy of copper and zinc.


title: Insurance

paragraphs: Insurance is a term in law and economics. It is something people buy to protect themselves from losing money. People who buy insurance pay a "premium" (often paid every month) and promise to be careful (a "duty of care"). In exchange for this, if something bad happens to the person or thing that is insured, the company that sold the insurance will pay money back. (However, there are some times when the company will not have to pay money back, such as if the person was not careful.)

paragraphs: There are different kinds of insurance. There are life insurance and general insurance.

paragraphs: In life insurance, someone ensures their life or someone else's life. At the death of insured person or on the date of maturity whichever happens earlier, the amount insured will be paid.

paragraphs: General insurance is a non-life policy, such as:

paragraphs: Actuaries are the people who figure out how much the premium should be, forecast trends, evaluate the cost impact of medical programs, design and price new products, assist in designing formulary model, and forecast the impact of risk adjustment on revenues. They balance how much the insurer might have to pay out against the chances of having to pay out. If actuaries think there is a big chance that the company will have to pay out, they will make the premium higher.


title: Bunsen burner

paragraphs: A Bunsen burner is a common piece of laboratory equipment. It is commonly used for heating chemical substances, sterilization, and combustion. It works by burning flammable gas. It is named after Robert Wilhelm Bunsen, a German chemist. He made important improvements on an earlier burner invented by Michael Faraday.

paragraphs: The Bunsen burner can be adjusted to make a flame that is very hot without making much light. This allows seeing the different colors that various chemicals make when they are sprinkled into the flame.


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title: Michael Faraday

paragraphs: Michael Faraday (Newington Butts, Surrey, 22 September 1791 – Hampton Court, Surrey, 25 August 1867) was the son of a blacksmith who became one of the most famous scientists of the 19th century.

paragraphs: He was sent to a local school to learn how to read and write. A local vicar paid for this, seeing his obvious intelligence. Faraday became the greatest experimental physicist of the nineteenth century.

paragraphs: Faraday became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was awarded the Royal, Copley and Rumford medals of the Society. Although Faraday had only primary school education, and did not know higher mathematics, he became one of the most influential scientists in history. For the most part, he was an autodidact: he taught himself.

paragraphs: At the time when he lived, people like him were called "natural philosophers". Then, only a little was known about electricity. Michael Faraday discovered many things about the way electricity flowing in a wire can act like a magnet (now called electromagnetism). He also found out a lot about the way electricity can be used with chemicals to make them change (now called electrochemistry).

paragraphs: He showed that magnetism is able to affect rays of light, as there is an underlying relationship between the two phenomena. His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became viable for use in technology. He made the first electric motor. It is thanks to his early work that the electricity has been made into a useful thing today.

paragraphs: As a chemist, Michael Faraday discovered benzene, invented an early type of Bunsen burner and popularized terminology such as anode, cathode, electrode and ion. Faraday was the first Fullerian Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution of Great Britain, a position to which he was appointed for life. He was also the Director of the Royal Institution after Sir Humphrey Davy.

paragraphs: Albert Einstein kept a photograph of Faraday on his study wall alongside pictures of Isaac Newton and James Clerk Maxwell.

paragraphs: Michael Faraday's family was poor. His father, James, was a blacksmith. James Faraday had come to London in the 1780s from North-West England. The young Michael Faraday was one of four children and only had the most basic school education.At fourteen he went to learn how to be a bookbinder and bookseller from a man called George Riebau.

paragraphs: During his seven-year study of making books with Riebau, he read many books. He read Isaac Watts's "The improvement of the mind". Faraday loved to use the ideas in this book in his work. He started to become interested in science, especially in electricity. He began to attend public lessons run by the best scientists in London at the time. He showed the notes he made to the great chemist Sir Humphrey Davy. Davy liked him and offered him a job as an assistant in March 1813.

paragraphs: Faraday's knowledge continued to grow as he helped Sir Humphrey Davy until he was making new discoveries on his own. He was eventually made a professor in 1833. The importance of his work was seen within his own lifetime and the British government gave him a pension in his old age as a reward.

paragraphs: Faraday also discovered that if electricity strikes a metal object, it will only pass through the outside of the object. The inside is unaffected by the electricity. This is what keeps the people inside safe when lightning strikes a car or a plane. This is now called Faraday's Cage.


title: Robert Bunsen

paragraphs: Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen (31 March 1811 – 16 August 1899) was a German chemist. He improved the bunsen burner which now has his name. It was invented by Michael Faraday.

paragraphs: Much more important was the work he did which led to spectroscopy. Together with Gustav Kirchhoff, he developed a method of using the spectrum of light to identify the composition of solids,liquids or gases. Spectroscopy originated through the study of visible light dispersed according to its wavelength, for example, by a prism. Bunsen found the elements caesium and rubidium with his spectroscope.

paragraphs: In 1841, Bunsen developed the Bunsen cell, by improving the galvanic cell William Grove had developed in 1839.


title: Keith Haring

paragraphs: Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 - February 16, 1990) was an American artist. He was famous in the 1980s for his art, which was a mixture of graffiti and pop art and used bright colors and simplistic images, as well as social and homoerotic themes. Haring also donated money to children's causes and organizations. His artwork became well known around the world. Haring was openly gay. He died of an AIDS-related illness in 1990. The Keith Haring Foundation set up in 1989, continues his legacy of promoting art and helping children.


title: The Adventures of Tintin

paragraphs: The Adventures of Tintin () is a Belgian comic strip, created by Hergé (Georges Remi) starting in the late 1920s and into the 1970s. They were originally written and published in French, but have been translated into many languages and are popular around the world.

paragraphs: The stories center around a young reporter from Belgium named Tintin, who travels the world and has many exciting adventures with his dog, a white wire fox terrier named Snowy (Milou, in French) and later (starting with "The Crab with the Golden Claws" in 1941) his friend, Captain Haddock, a bearded drunk with a temper. Other popular characters include Professor Cuthbert Calculus (Professeur Tryphon Tournesol) an absent-minded and mostly deaf (but he insists he's hard of hearing) scientist and inventor, and Thomson and Thompson (Dupond et Dupont), two silly detectives.

paragraphs: The stories are a mixture of many different genres, including adventure, satire, and social commentary and changed over time. Twenty-three completed books, came out between 1929 and 1976. A twenty-fourth story, "Tintin in Alph-Art", was never officially finished following the death of Hergé in 1983. There have been many unofficial books, but most of those are parodies or not part of the official series. The books in the official series are:

paragraphs: There have also been plays, films, and animated cartoons based on the stories. Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson have made a movie about Tintin. There are also Tintin Shops in Europe, which sell books, toys and other items based on the books.


title: Gastrointestinal tract

paragraphs: Gastrointestinal tract is the term used in zoology for the gut of animals. For humans in particular, see human gastrointestinal tract.

paragraphs: The tract (or tube) is in bilaterian animals. It carries food through digestion and excretion. Into the tube come various digestive enzymes. Gut flora help digestion, and the production of vitamins. Muscular movements pass the material down the tube. The gut usually has an exit, the anus, by which the animal disposes of solid wastes. Some small animals have no anus and dispose of solid wastes by other means, for example through the mouth.

paragraphs: Animals that have guts are classified as either protostomes or deuterostomes, as the gut evolved twice, an example of convergent evolution. They are distinguished by the development of their embryos. Protostomes develop their mouths first, while deuterostomes develop their mouths second. Protostome include arthropods, molluscs, and annelids, while deuterostomes include echinoderms and chordates.


title: Selenium

paragraphs: Selenium is a chemical element. Its chemical symbol is Se and its atomic number is 34. It has 34 protons and 34 electrons and a mass number of 78.96.

paragraphs: Selenium (selenium atoms only) has several different forms. They are called allotropes. The most stable of these is a dense gray semimetal (an element that is partially a metal and a nonmetal). The way the atoms are put together is a named a trigonal polymer chain. It lets electricity pass through it better in the light than in the dark. This form is used in photocells.

paragraphs: Selenium also has many nonconductive forms: a black glass-like substance, as well as several red crystalline forms. In the red form the eight atoms of selenium form ring to make a molecule. These rings then stack together to make the solid red selenium. The way that red seleniums atoms are put together is similar to sulfur.

paragraphs: Selenium is not very reactive. It does not dissolve in acids except nitric acid. It also dissolves in alkali's like sodium hydroxide. It reacts with air when powdered to make selenium(IV) oxide. It does not react with many things, so selenium(IV) oxide is what most selenium compounds are made from.

paragraphs: Selenium forms several oxidation states; -2, +2, +4, and +6. The -2 state is in selenides. Selenides are strong reducing agents. They are stronger reducing agents than sulfides. Hydrogen selenide is the acid made from selenide ion. Selenium also reacts with reactive metals to make selenides, such as sodium selenide or aluminium selenide.

paragraphs: The +1 state is found in some selenium compounds, such as selenium(I) chloride. They are the most unreactive selenium compounds.

paragraphs: The +4 state is found in selenites. Selenites and selenous acid are moderate oxidizing agents. It is made by dissolving selenium dioxide in water and making selenous acid. Then selenous acid is reacted with bases to make selenites.

paragraphs: The +6 state is found in selenates. Selenates and selenic acid are powerful oxidizing agents. Selenic acid can even dissolve gold! They are made by reacting hydrogen peroxide with selenium(IV) oxide to get selenium(VI) oxide, which dissolves in water to make selenic acid. Selenates are more reactive than sulfates.

paragraphs: Most selenium compounds are colorless. Selenium compounds are not common.

paragraphs: Selenides are the most common -2 compounds. Selenides are strong reducing agents.

paragraphs: +4 compounds can exist in anions or cations.

paragraphs: +6 compounds can exist in anions or cations, too.

paragraphs: Selenates are powerful oxidizing agents.

paragraphs: Selenium is very rarely found as an element in the ground. Most selenium in soil is in a very tiny amount. It is easily washed away. It is in very small amounts in the human body. Selenium is found most in sulfide ores like pyrite. This selenium is in selenides. Selenium is gotten as a byproduct. Sometimes selenium is concentrated in plants. It can also be leached into rivers when copper is mined. Too much selenium is bad for a river. Some coal has selenium in it.

paragraphs: It is made as a byproduct when refining copper and certain other sulfide ores. Selenium is made by oxidizing selenide ores to selenium dioxide. The selenium dioxide is dissolved in acidic water to make selenous acid, which is reacted with sulfur dioxide to make selenium as an element. It is the red form that is made. To make the black form, the red form is heated and melted.

paragraphs: Selenium is used in photocells. The gray metallic form is used, as it changes its electrical conductivity when light shines on it. Selenium is also used as a catalyst. The largest use is to color glass red. It can be used in special brasses instead of lead. It is used in some rectifiers. Most use silicon instead. It is used to tone photographs. It can be used to remove dandruff from hair in the form of selenium sulfide.

paragraphs: Selenium is a trace element in the human body. Humans need very small amounts of selenium. Only about 50-200 micrograms are needed. Selenium can be toxic if more than 400 micrograms are taken. Once there was coal that had a large amount of selenium in it. People were getting selenium poisoning from the coal.

paragraphs: Selenium deficiency is rare. Although selenium has some helpful effects on the human body, it also has some harmful effects and only a very little should be eaten.

paragraphs: It is toxic in large amounts. Some selenium compounds are very toxic and harmful to things that live in water. Consuming around 5 mg of selenium per day can kill a human being after a certain amount of time.


title: Germanium

paragraphs: Germanium is a chemical element. Its chemical symbol is "Ge". Its atomic number is 32. It was discovered by Clemens Winkler. It is a shiny, hard, silver-white metalloid. The chemistry of Germanium is quite like tin. Germanium forms many organometallic compounds. It is an important semiconductor material used in transistors.


title: Tom Green

paragraphs: Michael Thomas "Tom" Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian actor, comedian, rapper, director, producer and writer. He was born in Pembroke, Ontario. He had his own comedy program, "The Tom Green Show", on MTV. He directed, co-wrote and starred in "Freddy Got Fingered". He was also a member of the short lived hip hop group Organized Rhyme where he performed under the stage name "MC Bones".


title: The Force

paragraphs: The Force is a term from the "Star Wars" universe. It is a set of mystical powers that all the Jedi and Sith have. They can do many things with the Force, such as lifting an object up without touching it, shooting lightning out of their hands, choking people and many other things.

paragraphs: There are two sides to the Force: the light (or good) side and the dark (or bad) side.

paragraphs: The light side is used for good things like healing and growing food. The people who study and learn the light side of the Force are called "Jedi".

paragraphs: The dark side of the Force is used by the Sith, the bad guys, in the "Star Wars" movies. Sith have a lot of anger, fear, hate and aggression. The dark side of the Force gives the bad guys powers that the Jedi, the good guys, do not have. For example, Darth Sidious is able to shoot lightning from his fingers. The dark side can seem stronger but that is just because a person who uses the dark side of the Force does not have to hold anything back, he is not restrained.


title: Jedi

paragraphs: In the fictional "Star Wars" universe, the Jedi or Jedi Knights are members of an old order, who use a power they call The Force.

paragraphs: The Jedi use The Force to have magic-like powers. Their typical weapon is the lightsaber, a sword-like weapon with an energy blade.

paragraphs: The Jedi try to lead a good and virtuous life, serving others. They keep and defend the peace of the galaxy.

paragraphs: The opposite of the Jedi are the Sith, who follow the Dark side of the Force (using the force for evil).


title: Sith

paragraphs: In the fictional "Star Wars" universe, the Sith are users of the Dark side of The Force and the opposite of the Jedi.

paragraphs: The Sith live to dominate all others and to cause pain throughout the "Star Wars" galaxy so they can get more power. Some famous Sith are Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Maul.

paragraphs: They lead the Galactic Empire, the antagonists of the Star Wars series who are known for brutality, being a dictatorship, and having a strong control over peoples lives. The Sith lost power for hundreds of years, before slowly taking over the Republic, or the Jedi Government, and turning it into the Galactic Empire.

paragraphs: In the Expanded Universe, The Sith at the start were a different species, looking like Humans, but with red skin and small bones coming out from their heads.

paragraphs: The Sith Species almost all died after the Jedi committed genocide on them thousands of years before the movies. This is why some people think the Sith Empire are the "good guys", who bring law and order to the Galaxy and are just responding to the Jedi actions.


title: Alex Jones

paragraphs: Alex Jones (born February 11, 1971) is a radio talk show host from Texas. He is described as conservative politically by a mainstream source. He describes himself as a paleoconservative politically, which means that he advocates old or traditional forms of political conservatives, as opposed to the newer forms, i.e. neoconservatives. He also calls himself an "aggressive constitutionalist". He is a conspiracy theorist.

paragraphs: Jones claims that the USA was responsible for the 9/11 attacks.

paragraphs: Jones is the host of "The Alex Jones Show" on Genesis Communications Network.

paragraphs: Jones was born in Dallas, Texas and grew up in the suburb of Rockwall. His father is a dentist. He attended Anderson High School in northwest Austin, Texas. Jones was a lineman on his high school's football team.

paragraphs: He began his career in Austin with a live, call-in format Public-access television cable TV program. In 1996, Jones switched format to KJFK, hosting a show named "The Final Edition". In 1998, he released his first film, "America Destroyed By Design".

paragraphs: In 1998, Jones organized a successful effort to build a new Branch Davidian church as a memorial to those who died during the 1993 fire that ended the government's siege of the original Branch Davidian complex near Waco, Texas. He often featured the project on his Public-access television program and claimed that Koresh and his followers were peaceful people who were murdered by Attorney General Janet Reno and the ATF during the siege.

paragraphs: In 1999, he tied with Shannon Burke for that year's "Best Austin Talk Radio Host" poll as voted by "The Austin Chronicle" readers. Later that year, he was fired from KJFK-FM. According to the station's operations manager, Jones was fired because his viewpoints made the show hard to sell to advertisers and he refused to broaden his topics. Jones argued: "It was purely political, and it came down from on high [meaning it was ordered by powerful people]", and, "I was told 11 weeks ago to lay off Clinton, to lay off all these politicians, to not talk about rebuilding the church, to stop bashing [slang for criticizing] the Marines, A to Z."

paragraphs: In early 2000, Jones was one of seven Republican candidates for state representative in Texas House District 48, an open seat swing district based in Austin, Texas. Jones stated that he was running, "to be a watchdog [a person who makes sure no wrongdoing is taking place] on the inside." He aborted his campaign and withdrew before the March primary when polls indicated he had little chance of winning.

paragraphs: Jones maintains several websites and has created numerous documentary movies.

paragraphs: He is also the author of "9-11 Descent into Tyranny".


title: Stuart Sutcliffe

paragraphs: Stuart Fergusson Victor Sutcliffe (23 June 1940 – 10 April 1962) was an early member of the English band The Beatles. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and raised in Liverpool, England. He was the band's original bassist, but left before they became famous. He wanted to be an artist, and he returned to art school, which he had quit to join the Beatles.

paragraphs: Sutcliffe died in 1962, at the age of 21, in Hamburg, Germany from a brain . It was long thought that the hemorrhage was from a fight with locals after a concert in 1961, but it is now believed he may have been born with a medical condition which caused it.


title: Beautiful

paragraphs: If something is described as beautiful, it means that it has beauty. Beautiful can also mean:


title: George Boole

paragraphs: George Boole [], (November 2, 1815 – December 8, 1864) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He created Boolean algebra. This is one of the bases of modern-day computer science. Other people, like Augustus De Morgan and Charles Peirce, refined and completed his work. In their times, very few people knew of the work those mathematicians had done. "Boolean algebra" was rediscovered by Claude Shannon about 75 years after Boole's death. In his doctoral thesis, Shannon showed that boolean algebra was useful. It could simplify the design of electric switches and relays (like those that were used in the telephone switchboards of the time). Shannon also showed that such switches could solve boolean algebra problems. All modern-day digital circuits (mainly computers) use such algebra to solve problems.


title: Managua

paragraphs: Managua has been the capital city of Nicaragua since 1855. There had been an Indian settlement there before the Spanish, but the modern city was founded as Leal Villa de Santiago de Managua in 1811. Before 1855, León and Granada were the capital cities. The word "managua" comes from the Nahuatl language "mana-ahuac". It means "near water". About 1.8 million people lived there in 2004. This makes it one of the biggest cities of Central America (after Guatemala City). The city is at the shore of Lake Managua. Many people who live in Managua are White or Mestizo. They all speak Spanish. There are also big communities of Catalonians, Germans, Italians and French. Many of the people belonging to those communities have lived in the city for many generations. Many people see Managua as one of the safest cities in America to live in.

paragraphs: The city has had two destructive earthquakes in the 20th century. Hurricane Mitch caused further destructions in 1998. Many old buildings were damaged or destroyed in these earthquakes, and new streets and monuments were built in their place. In general, addresses are rarely used to give directions. Instead, people usually use monuments to tell where a certain place is. The problem with that approach is that sometimes, the monuments themselves were destroyed. Therefore, foreigners often have problems finding their way around the city.


title: Flat

paragraphs: In music "flat" can have two (related) meanings:


title: Curve

paragraphs: A curve is a line that turns or bends. A curved line is never straight, and a curved surface is a surface that is never flat. Some curves can be drawn on paper, but some curves, like a helix, can only be seen in 3-D. A circle is a curve that can be described with the formula "x" + "y" = "r". "x" and "y" are used as in a Cartesian coordinate system, and "r" is the radius of the circle (distance from the center to the outside). Many other curves can also be described with a formula like that.