title: Emu

paragraphs: The Emu, "Dromaius novaehollandiae", is a large flightless bird. It is native to Australia. The emu is the tallest bird from Australia. It is also the second tallest bird in the world, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. The emu is also related to the cassowary which is slightly smaller but heavier. It should also be noted, as an odd fact, that the Emus won a war against Australia.

paragraphs: There were four separate groups of emus in 1788 when the European settlers arrived. The emus on the mainland of Australia and those on the island of Tasmania may have been different species.

paragraphs: There were also two species of dwarf emu, "Dromaius minor", one living on King Island in Tasmania and the other on Kangaroo Island. They are examples of island dwarfism. The group on King Island became extinct in 1805, that on Kangaroo Island in 1827, and that in Tasmania in 1865.

paragraphs: The soft-feathered, brown birds reach up to in height. Their feathers are in a double layer which helps keep the emu cool. They have bare skin on the sides of the face and their neck. They can weigh up to . They have two large legs, with three toes on each foot. Their wings are very short, about

paragraphs: The emu is common over most of mainland Australia. It avoids very thick forests and very dry areas. Emus can travel great distances at a fast trot. If necessary they can run at up to for some distance at a time. They may travel long distances to find food. One emu was found to have traveled .

paragraphs: They feed on a variety of plants (seeds, flowers, new growth) and insects. Because of their size they need to eat a lot.

paragraphs: Emus are solitary birds. However, the young chicks stay with the father until they are 18 months of age. The breeding season is between February and July, when the female can lay between 5-15 eggs in a ground nest built by the male. The male then sits on the eggs for 8 weeks until hatching. The baby chicks have very clear stripes on the feathers which act as camouflage.

paragraphs: On the east coast of Australia, emus were once common but have become uncommon with increased human population. On the other hand, the development of farms and the supply of water for stock have increased the range of the Emu in arid (dry) regions. Emus are farmed for their meat, oil and leather. The first emu farms began in Western Australia during the 1970s.

paragraphs: There are approximately 1100 emus in zoos.

paragraphs: The first written description of the emu was under the name of the New Holland Cassowary in Arthur Phillip's "Voyage to Botany Bay", published in 1789. The species was named by ornithologist (bird expert) John Latham, who worked on Phillip's book. He provided the first descriptions of and names for many Australian bird species. Its scientific name, Dromaius novaehollandiae, is from the Latin words, meaning "fast-footed New Hollander". The history of the common name, "emu", is not certain, but is thought to have come from an Arabic word for large bird. This word was later used by Portuguese explorers to describe the related Cassowary in New Guinea. In Victoria, some Indigenous Australian words for the emu were "Barrimal" in the Djadja wurrung language, "myoure" in Gunai, and "courn" in Jardwadjali.


title: Kiwi

paragraphs: The kiwi is a type of bird from New Zealand. They are the genus Apteryx of the family Apterygidae. There are several species and sub-species of kiwi. The kiwi is a symbol for New Zealand. People from New Zealand are nicknamed "Kiwis".

paragraphs: They have a long beak and brown feathers. The feathers look like fur. Kiwi cannot fly, and their wings are so small that they cannot usually be seen. Kiwi cannot see well, but they can hear very well. They are the smallest ratite birds.

paragraphs: Kiwi are night (nocturnal) birds. They mostly eat invertebrates, like worms and insects. Kiwi keep a territory where they live alone or with their mate. In their territory they build several small caves where they sleep, or lay their eggs.

paragraphs: Kiwi are monogamous; the male and female stay together until one of them dies. The male and female live in the same territory and raise their children together.

paragraphs: Female kiwi lay 1-3 eggs. Compared to the size of the mother, the eggs are the largest of any bird species. Kiwi are mature when they are 2 years old, and they can live more than 20 years. One kiwi kept in a zoo even reached 35 years old.

paragraphs: The female brown kiwi lays enormous eggs, which are almost one-sixth of her own body weight. These eggs take 11 weeks to incubate, the longest time for any bird. In comparison, Yellow-breasted Chats' eggs take only 11 days, and chickens' eggs take 21 days.

paragraphs: Kiwi prefer to live in burrows they make in forested areas. They either make their burrows in the ground like rabbits, in between the roots of trees, or in hidden sheltered places such as hollow logs. Kiwi line their burrows with leaves to make them more comfortable and warm. Sometimes they hide the entrance to their burrows using piles of twigs. Kiwi may have more than ten different burrows in their territory and will swap between them sometimes.

paragraphs: Kiwi are threatened by many mammals. Stoats are the main threat for the kiwi chicks. Ferrets and dogs kill adult kiwi.


title: Dodo

paragraphs: The dodo "(Raphus cucullatus)" is an extinct species of flightless bird from Mauritius.

paragraphs: Like many other island birds, they lost the power of flight because it was no advantage where they lived. Dodos were in the same family as the pigeon. They were endemic to (only lived on) the island of Mauritius. They became extinct in the late 17th century.

paragraphs: The Dodo has become a symbol of extinction caused by the arrival of humans in ecosystems where humans had never before lived.

paragraphs: The history of the word 'Dodo' is not clear. Dutch admiral Wybrand van Warwijck discovered the island and the bird in 1598 during an expedition to Indonesia. He called the bird 'walgvogel', meaning "disgusting bird" because he disliked the taste of the meat. Four years later, the Dutch captain, Willem van Westsanen, used the word 'Dodo' for the first time.

paragraphs: The "Encarta Dictionary" and the "Chambers Dictionary of Etymology" say "dodo" is a Portuguese word, coming from "doido". It means "fool" or "crazy". Another idea is that 'dodo' was a copy of the bird's own call, a two-note pigeon like sound, "doo-doo".

paragraphs: In 1606 Cornelis de Jonge wrote a description of the Dodo, and of other animal and plants on the island .

paragraphs: The dodo was a large bird and weighed about . They had grey feathers and yellow feet. Their big hooked bill was a green/yellow color. It had short wings that were only stubs. They ate fruit, seeds and nuts. Portuguese sailors said that they saw the Dodos eating fish. They also ate rocks and stones which might have helped them digest food. They are eaten by humans who come in the search of treasure or spouting.

paragraphs: The dodo was not scared of people which made it easy to hunt and kill. Dogs, cats, rats and pigs were left on the island and also killed the dodos. Because dodos built their nests on the ground, the new animals ate their eggs. The forests were chopped down and the dodo lost its habitat. Within 80 years, the dodo was extinct.

paragraphs: The last known stuffed bird was at Oxford University and was thrown out as rubbish. Only a foot and a head are left. The American Museum of Natural History in New York has a skeleton showing. It was put together out of bones from several different Dodos. The Natural History Museum of Mauritius has the only complete skeleton of a dodo, found in a swamp.


title: Tolkāppiyam

paragraphs: Tolkaapiyam (தொல்காப்பியம்) is a book on grammar of the Tamil language.

paragraphs: Tol (தொல்) means Old and Kappiyam (காப்பியம்) means a literary work.

paragraphs: The name of the author could not be identified (usually referred as "Tholkappiyar") and the work apparently relates to Grammar in Tamil.

paragraphs: It is learnt that the author was one of the 12 disciples of Sage Agastya the Father of Tamil Grammar. This sage was living in the south near Madurai, during the visit of Lord Ram to the south in search of his wife, abducted by the Lankan King Ravan.

paragraphs: The age of Lord Ram precedes that of Lord Krishna and hence the work can safely be said to precede 3000 BC (the ideal period of Mahabharat Yudh).

paragraphs: Lord Shiva and his Son Murugan is said to have laid the first tenets for the Tamil Language, probably long long time before sage Agastya could compile the same.


title: Great auk

paragraphs: The great auk was a large bird, that could not fly. People hunted it for meat and feathers. It grew rare, because it was too easy to kill, and the ones left could not breed fast enough to make up for the lost ones. The last known great auks (there were two auks) were killed on June 3, 1844 in Iceland. It lived mostly in the water, like a duck.

paragraphs: Penguins got their name from the great auk. The word "penguin" was the Celtic word for "great auk". When sailors saw penguins for the first time, they thought they looked like great auks.

paragraphs: The great auk was covered in black feathers, but had white feathers on its chest and abdomen. It had very short wings, like stubs, which meant it could not fly. On land it stood upright and was about 75 cm tall. They spent most of their time at sea, coming to shore in the summer to breed. They lived in large breeding colonies on low rocky islands in the north Atlantic Ocean from Canada to Norway. Females laid one egg on bare rock. In winter they went as far south as Florida and southern Spain.


title: Abbey Road Studios

paragraphs: Abbey Road Studios, usually called just "Abbey Road", are the recording studios in EMI's headquarters in St. John's Wood, London, England.

paragraphs: Abbey Road had three different studios for most of its history. Other space was turned into a fourth studio later. Studio One is large, and used to be a ballroom. Symphony orchestras and very large bands and groups are recorded there. Studio Two is smaller, and works best for small combos or groups of musicians. Studio Three is much smaller, and is meant for soloists and duos. Studio Four is mostly for post-production, where changes are made to earlier recordings.


title: Ujamaa

paragraphs: Ujamaa, meaning 'familyhood' is the group of ideas of Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. They are based on the traditional African society.


title: Prisoner

paragraphs: A prisoner is a person who is arrested, made to stay in a prison. People who are suspected of a crime, for example a murder, may be arrested and held in jail so they won't escape before their trial. After conviction a prisoner may be punished, for example by being a prisoner for a long time.

paragraphs: A prisoner of war is a person who was captured by the enemy in a war.


title: Fachhochschule Düsseldorf

paragraphs: The Fachhochschule Düsseldorf is a so-called Fachhochschule (university of applied sciences), that means a special kind of college, with technical, design and business subjects in Düsseldorf.


title: Psychoanalysis

paragraphs: Psychoanalysis is a set of psychological and therapeutic theories and techniques. It was started by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud, with experience from the clinical work of Josef Breuer and others.

paragraphs: Since then, psychoanalysis has expanded and been revised, reformed and developed in different ways. Freud's own colleagues and students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Jung, had their own ideas. They went on to develop their ideas independently from Freud. Much later, Anna Freud and Melanie Klein used the ideas to treat troubled children.

paragraphs: Sometimes people cannot say why they are feeling the way they feel or acting the way they act. What causes the feelings and actions is called the unconscious mind in psychodynamic theory.

paragraphs: Under the broad umbrella of "psychoanalysis" there are at least 22 different approaches to the theory and clinical treatment. The term also refers to a method of studying child development.

paragraphs: Freudian psychoanalysis uses a type of treatment where the subject (analytic patient) talks, including free associations, fantasies, and dreams. From these the analyst works out the unconscious conflicts which cause the patient's symptoms and character problems. By interpreting them for the patient, the analyst creates insight into the problems. The analyst identifies and clarifies the patient's pathological defences, wishes and guilt.

paragraphs: Psychoanalysis has been criticized on many fronts. It has been called a pseudoscience, and lacking in empirical support. However, it remains influential within psychiatry, more so in some quarters than others.


title: Zaandam

paragraphs: Zaandam is a city in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It has about 74,000 inhabitants (2014). It makes part of the municipality of Zaanstad.

paragraphs: First settlements in the region were known up from the 11th century.

paragraphs: Czar Peter the Great visited Zaandam in 1697 and 1717.


title: Windows 3.x

paragraphs: Windows 3.x was a family of Microsoft Windows operating system, released in 1990-1994. Notable operating systems in this family include Windows 3.0 and Windows 3.1. This Windows could run in either Standard or 386 Enhanced memory modes. Both of the modes used a Graphical User Interface (or picture-based), and supported a mouse, but 386 Enhanced Mode was faster and was better at multitasking (or doing many things at once). Windows NT 3.x was released in 1993-1996.

paragraphs: It also had many features from versions of Windows before it. These included a calculator, a notepad, and more. It also brought in many new features, like the Program Manager (which is still in Windows XP today - Start>Run>progman.exe), and the icons and programs looked better.

paragraphs: Windows 3.x was made better in 1992, with Windows for Workgroups 3.1x (1992-1993), that added networking support.


title: Woodwind instrument

paragraphs: A woodwind instrument is an instrument belonging to the woodwind family. Traditionally they were always made of wood, although some of them are now made of metal or plastic.

paragraphs: In an orchestra there are four main types of woodwind instrument. Each of these also has related instruments of different sizes:

paragraphs: The piccolo is the highest of the four main instruments. The lowest note is Middle C and it has a range of 3 octaves. The piccolo is the smallest and highest instrument in the orchestra. It plays one octave higher than the flute. There is also an alto flute which sounds a fifth lower than the ordinary flute. Flutes are still sometimes made of wood, but mostly they are metal.

paragraphs: The oboe can play slightly lower than the flute. There is a larger version called the cor anglais (which means: “English horn”). This is a double reeded instrument. The clarinet plays nearly an octave lower than the flute. The bass clarinet plays an octave lower than the clarinet. The bassoon is the lowest of the four.

paragraphs: The recorder is one of the oldest and most popular woodwinds and has been used to great effect by greats, such as Bach, Telemann and Vivaldi. The general public is normally only familiar with the plastic, child's version of the recorder, but professional and high-quality recorders are still made of wood.

paragraphs: The saxophone may look like a brass instrument, but it is played like a clarinet and therefore it is a woodwind instrument. It is usually played in bands and jazz groups.

paragraphs: Woodwind instruments are played in several ways. The flute is played by blowing across the top of the mouthpiece. It is like blowing across the top of an empty bottle. The oboe and bassoon both have a double reed. It is like blowing through a drinking straw. Bagpipes have double reeds which are inside the mouthpiece (“enclosed reeds”). The clarinet and saxophone have single reeds which are clamped against the opening of the mouthpiece.

paragraphs: In comparison, brass instruments are all blown in the same way: by blowing against a cup-shaped mouthpiece. This is why the saxophone cannot be called a brass instrument, although it is made of brass.

paragraphs: The way that a player shapes his mouth to blow an instrument is called the “embouchure”. Woodwind instruments have several different embouchures.

paragraphs: In an orchestra there may be two each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons. In larger orchestras, particularly from the Romantic period onwards, there may be three or four. Sometimes the extra instruments such as the piccolo are used. If, for example, in an orchestral piece the third flute is marked “doubling piccolo”, it means that the person playing flute 3 will also play the piccolo. However, if the piccolo plays at the same time as flute 3 they will obviously need an extra player for the piccolo part.

paragraphs: Woodwind instruments in an orchestra often have short solos. These will be played by the first player (the “section principal”).


title: Bewitched

paragraphs: Bewitched is a comedy television show that was shown on TV by ABC from 1964 to 1972. It is about a man who is married to a witch.

paragraphs: The lead characters are Darrin and Samantha Stephens. Samantha twitches her nose or moves her hands to make a spell happen. Samantha was played by Elizabeth Montgomery. Darrin was played by Dick York from 1964 to 1969. Because of illness, Dick York left the show and was replaced by Dick Sargent who played Darrin from 1969 to 1972. Samantha's mother Endora was played by Agnes Moorehead. Endora dislikes Darrin and often makes things difficult for him.


title: Dumbo

paragraphs: Dumbo is a 1941 American animated movie. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions. It was first released on October 23, 1941 by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth movie in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, "Dumbo" is based upon a child's book of the same name by Helen Aberson and illustrated by Harold Perl. The main character is Jumbo Jr., a baby elephant who is cruelly nicknamed Dumbo. He is ridiculed for his big ears, but in fact he is capable of flying by using them as wings. Throughout most of the movie, his only true friend aside from his mother is the mouse Timothy, making fun of the stereotype between mice and elephants. "Dumbo" was made to make up for the damages of "Pinocchio" and "Fantasia". The movie has been criticized in recent years as being "racist" (the leader crow in the movie was named "Jim Crow" and at some point in the 1950s was renamed "Dandy Crow" in attempt to avoid controversy, but the original name is still the one mostly known, although it was supposed to be just a sarcastic mockery to the Jim Crow laws in the Southern USA back then and was used only on the character's model sheets), yet is also considered to be one of Disney's best movies. It was an attempt to be simple and make profits for the Disney studio, is now generally regarded as a classic of animation. At 64 minutes, it is one of Disney's shortest animated features.

paragraphs: Florida, 1941. Mrs. Jumbo sadly looks on how babies are delivered by the stork to other circus animals. As even a baby elephant makes a pretty heavy package, hers is the last to arrive, but soon becomes the laughing stock of the others because of his big ears, getting meanly named "Dumbo" by the others. When Mrs. Jumbo can not take the public making fun of her son, she is locked up as "mad elephant", and Dumbo finds himself all alone. A mouse named Timothy comes and scares the mean herd. He encourages Dumbo and tells the circus director to make Dumbo the top (literally) of an elephant pyramid stunt which ends up literally bringing the house down, and Dumbo is given the job of "baby clown" in a repetitive, humiliating and dangerous number as punishment. To cheer Dumbo up, Timothy brings him to go see his mother. The next morning, they find themselves up in a tree with a bunch of crows, who discover that Dumbo can fly.

paragraphs: Dumbo is the main character in the movie. He is a fictional anthropomorphic elephant who has really big ears. He can fly using his big ears. Similar to Dopey from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and Gideon in "Pinocchio", Dumbo has no spoken dialogue. However, in the live-action/puppet television series "Dumbo's Circus", Dumbo was voiced by Katie Leigh.

paragraphs: In the movie, Dumbo is delivered by Mr. Stork, and is made fun of for the strange size of his ears. As his mother, Mrs. Jumbo, beats up the bullies who pick on her baby, the ringmaster has his helpers chain her up and lock her up in a trailer, which says: "MAD ELEPHANT". It is then that Timothy Q. Mouse looks after Dumbo. The two of them try to make Dumbo famous and get his mother free. Thanks to the help of a "magic feather" from some crows￼￼, Dumbo flies to fame, and gets his mother free.

paragraphs: Timothy Q. Mouse is a mouse who became the only friend of elephants Dumbo and his mother Mrs. Jumbo. He teaches Dumbo how to become the ninth wonder of the universe, and the only flying elephant in the whole world.

paragraphs: Mrs. Jumbo is Dumbo's mother. Deeply depressed at not having her baby delivered, she loves her son more than anything. She becomes angry when the boys pick on him.

paragraphs: Other characters include the other elephants who also make fun of Dumbo, the Ringmaster, the clowns of the circus, the Pink Elephants, Mr. Stork and the Crows who give Dumbo the "magic feather" and teach him to fly.

paragraphs: Even though World War II was going on, "Dumbo" was still the most financially successful Disney movie of the 1940s. This was one of the first of Disney's animated movies to be broadcast, albeit severely edited, on television, as part of Disney's anthology series. The movie then received another distinction of note in 1981, when it was the first of Disney's canon of animated movies to be released on home video and also was released in the "Walt Disney Classics" Video Collection in 1985. That release was followed by remastered versions in: 1986, 1989, 1991 (Classics), and 1994 (Masterpiece). In 2001, a 60th Anniversary Special Edition was released that has original RKO titles. In 2006, a "Big Top Edition" of the movie was released on DVD that also has original RKO titles. A UK Special Edition was released in May 2007 and was a successful Disney release.

paragraphs: The movie received very good reviews and did well at the box office despite being released less than 2 months before "World War II".

paragraphs: It also has been known as both a classic and a masterpiece, and has received a Special Edition 60th Anniversary Disney DVD on October 23, 2001, exatly 60 years after its first release. That release featured a sneak peek of a direct-to-video sequel called Dumbo II. The preview showed a lot of sketches and storyboard ideas. The main story has to do with Dumbo and his new friends getting separated from the rest of the circus as they wonder into the big city. Dumbo's new friends are Claude and Lolly the twin bears who leave chaos everywhere they go, Dot the curious zebra, Godfrey the hippo who is older and wants to do things for himself, and Penny the adventurous ostrich. Timothy returns as well. The story was supposed to be as if the first Dumbo ended and this one started the next day. The project seems to have been canceled,as no further announcements have been made since, plus the fact that The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning, Tinker Bell, and its sequels, were to be the last projests for DisneyToon Studios.

paragraphs: The crow characters in the movie are often seen as African-American stereotypes.

paragraphs: The leader crow voiced by Cliff Edwards was originally named "Jim Crow" for script purposes. The other crows are all voiced by African-American actors and singers, all members of the Hall Johnson Choir: Nick Stewart, James Baskett, Jim Carmichael and Hall Johnson. The late famous duo of African-American dancers Freddie and Eugene Jackson were invited and hired by Disney to work as live-action reference and models for the animators of the characters, like the chief-animator and Disney Legend Ward Kimball, improvising dances and movements then used in the iconic musical sequence "When I See An Elephant Fly". Despite suggestions of racism by writers like Richard Schickel, many historians, critics, writers, pundits and personalities such as John Grant, Leonard Maltin, John Canemaker, Floyd Norman, Eric Goldberg, Alex Wainer, Michael Wilmington, Whoopi Goldberg and Neal Gabler reject these claims. For instance, the crows are noted as forming the majority of the characters in the movie who are empathetic and sympathetic to Dumbo's plight (the others are Timothy Q. Mouse and Mrs Jumbo), they are free spirits who serve nobody, and intelligent characters aware of the power of self-confidence and of what means being ostracized and marginalized, unlike the Stepin Fetchit stereotype common at that time and in the previous decade. Furthermore, their song "When I See An Elephant Fly" is more orientated to mocking Timothy Mouse than Dumbo's large ears.

paragraphs: "Dumbo's Circus" was a live-action puppet television programme for preschool audiences that aired on The Disney Channel in the 1980s. Unlike in the movie, Dumbo spoke on the show. Each character would perform a special act, which ranged from dancing and singing to telling knock knock jokes.

paragraphs: Dumbo the Flying Elephant is a popular ride that appears in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Park (Paris), and Hong Kong Disneyland.

paragraphs: Dumbo appears as a hero in the game Kingdom Hearts. Sora, the main character, flies on him and Dumbo splashes enemies with water from his trunk.

paragraphs: (NOTE: Most of the above titles were later renamed simply "Dumbo".)


title: Bertolt Brecht

paragraphs: Brecht went to school in Augsburg, where his father was the director of a paper factory.

paragraphs: Afterwards he studied sciences, medicine and literature at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich. He had to take a break in his studies because he had to join the army.

paragraphs: In the 1920s, Brecht went to Berlin and became a part of the cultural scene. He met his second wife Helene Weigel in Berlin and married her, after divorcing his first wife. It was with his second wife that Brecht had another son.

paragraphs: In Berlin he met a lot of artists and intellectuals of the Weimar Republic.

paragraphs: His works became very critical about the capitalistic society (e.g. "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" (1930)). Many of his friends were communists, but he never joined the KPD.

paragraphs: His most famous work was from that time, the "Dreigroschenoper".

paragraphs: In 1933 the Nazis prohibited playing some of his works and arrested some of his friends.

paragraphs: After the Reichstag fire, he travelled from Germany to Prague, Vienna, Switzerland and Denmark.

paragraphs: For the next five years he lived in Denmark. In 1938 he wrote "Das Leben des Galilei" (The Life of Galilei) about Galileo Galilei, who was hunted by the Holy Inquisition because he wanted to tell the scientific truth.

paragraphs: When Germany occupied Denmark he had to flee once again.

paragraphs: He went to Sweden, then to Finland and finally to Moscow in the Soviet Union.

paragraphs: Even under Stalin he was not safe. He therefore flew through China to the United States.

paragraphs: He lived and worked in California and translated a lot of text.

paragraphs: In 1947, in the McCarthy era, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated him, because they suspected him of being a communist.

paragraphs: He gave a statement and said that he had never been a member of the communist party.

paragraphs: He then flew back to Switzerland - the only place he could go to at the time.

paragraphs: In 1948 he was allowed to return to Berlin, East Berlin.

paragraphs: He was an important writer and director for the young East Germany.

paragraphs: After the workers' protest on June 17 1953, Brecht complained about the Eastern German government which landed him into some trouble. From that point on he got more and more isolated.

paragraphs: Brecht died of a heart attack in 1956 at the age of 58 years in Berlin.


title: Beresford, South Dakota

paragraphs: Beresford is a city in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of South Dakota. Most of the city is located in Union County, but a small part of it is in Lincoln County. Beresford became a city in 1884, and 2,005 people lived there at the 2010 census.


title: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing

paragraphs: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (22 January 1729 in Kamenz (Saxony) – 15 February 1781 in Braunschweig) was a German poet and philosopher in the time of the enlightenment.

paragraphs: Lessing was one of twelve children. His father was a Protestant priest. He went to school in Kamenz and got a stipendium for the Higher School in Meißen. From 1746 to 1748, he studied medicine and theology in Leipzig. In 1750, he moved to Berlin, where he met Voltaire. In 1752 he got the Magister (Master) degree from the university in Wittenberg.

paragraphs: He moved back to Leipzig in 1755, but returned later to Berlin. He traveled around in Europe and studied. He worked as a reporter. From 1760 to 1765, he worked as secretary for a general in "Breslau" (today: Wroclaw). Later he worked at the theater and became a librarian. Lessing got married in 1776. But 1778 his wife died.


title: Heinrich Böll

paragraphs: Heinrich Böll (December 21, 1917 in Cologne – July 16, 1985 in Langenbroich the Eifel, south of Bonn) was a German writer. He was the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1972.

paragraphs: Böll was born in Cologne. His family were strong Catholics and pacifists.

paragraphs: He went to school from 1922 to 1937. After his abitur, he started a training to become a bookseller. He did not go to the Hitler Youth, but he had to join the German army in the World War II. In 1939, he started to study German literature in Cologne, but he had to break for his army service.

paragraphs: In 1945 he became prisoner of war by the Americans. The Americans wanted to educate the German people to became a democracy. So they encouraged prisoners with talent to write. Böll and some other young writers founded the group 47.

paragraphs: Böll wrote a lot of social critical literature. His main themes were the repression in the way of life by conservative catholic forces and the unsolved problem of old Nazis in the society.

paragraphs: In the 1970s, he criticized the losing of civil laws by the fight against terrorism (of the RAF, Red Army Faction, a left-winged political terror group in the 1970s in West Germany). For that reason, the Bild-Zeitung, an very conservative yellow press newspaper, started a campaign against him.

paragraphs: In the late 1970s, he started to look for Human Rights in the Eastern Blok, where some friends of his lived, too. He helped the Soviet dissidents Alexander Solshenizyn and Lev Kopelev.

paragraphs: In the 1980s, he worked for the peace movement. He protested against the nuclear armament in West Germany.

paragraphs: He went back to the Roman Catholic Church, which he left 1976 by protests, before he died.

paragraphs: The Green Party of Germany gave its foundation the name of Böll, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung. The goals of the foundation are for countries to work together, civil laws and democratic and ecological thinking.

paragraphs: More than seventy translations of Annemarie and Heinrich Böll are listed in the bibliography published in 1995 by Werner Bellmann: poetical works of , , , , , , et al.


title: Anna Seghers

paragraphs: Anna Seghers (November 19, 1900 in Mainz – June 1, 1983 in East Berlin) was an (East) German writer.

paragraphs: Her parents were orthodox Jews, but also interested in Christians belief.

paragraphs: Nelly made her abitur in 1920. Before she served as nurse in the World War I.

paragraphs: She studied in Cologne and Heidelberg history, arts history and Chinese.

paragraphs: By marrying the Hungarian Communist Laszlo Radvanyi in 1925, she obtained also the Hungarian nationality. She joined later the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). They had three children.

paragraphs: After the Nazis took over government in Germany, she was arrested for a short while, her books were burned.

paragraphs: After she got free again, she had the chance to flee into Switzerland. Then she went to Paris and worked for unions of exilised writers.

paragraphs: After German troups occupied Paris she could flee to Marseille, which was not occupied. But her husband was arrested. She tried to get him free.

paragraphs: In 1941 the complete family flew about Martinique and New York City to Mexico City.

paragraphs: She founded new unions for exiled writers.

paragraphs: In 1947 she returned to Berlin, Eastern Berlin.

paragraphs: She joined the Socialist Party of the later GDR and worked for the Writers Union of the GDR.

paragraphs: She tried to make silent interventions for colleges, who had trouble with the government, but she was unsuccessful.


title: Friedrich Schiller

paragraphs: Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (November 10, 1759 in Marbach, Württemberg – May 9, 1805 in Weimar), usually known as Friedrich Schiller, was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and dramatist.


title: Clement Attlee

paragraphs: Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was a British politician. Prime Minister from 1945 to 1951, he was the first Labour prime minister with a majority in government, and was very important in the setting up of the welfare state. He was made a member of the House of Lords after he retired, and became the first Earl Attlee.

paragraphs: Attlee died of pneumonia in 1967. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

paragraphs: Attlee was born in Putney. Attlee was educated at Haileybury College. He graduated from University College, Oxford with a Second Class Honours BA in Modern History in 1904.

paragraphs: Attlee began a career as a barrister after graduating from Oxford. This lasted for two years. He then worked as manager of Haileybury House in East London. Attlee's work at the House inspired him to become a socialist. In 1907 he joined the Fabian Society. In 1908 he joined the Independent Labour Party. In 1911, he was employed by the UK Government. In 1919 Attlee became Mayor of Stepney. He was elected to Parliament in 1922 as the MP for Limehouse., In 1935 he was elected leader of the Labour Party. From 1942 to 1945 he was deputy prime minister. Attlee resigned as party leader after Labour lost the 1955 election. He was made a member of the Order of Merit in 1951 and a Knight of the Garter in 1956. In 1958 he started the Homosexual Reform Society with Bertrand Russell.


title: Bassoon

paragraphs: The bassoon is the lowest of the four main instrument of the woodwind family. Like the oboe, it has a double reed. The reed is attached to a curved metal mouthpiece called a "crook" or "bocal" which is joined to the main part of the instrument. This consists of two parts called ‘bass joint’ and ‘wing joint’ (or ‘tenor joint’). These two are joined at the bottom by a U-shaped piece called the ‘boot’. At the top of the instrument is the ‘bell joint’. The instrument is quite heavy. Some players have a neckstrap around their neck to support the weight, but usually they use a seat strap that connects at the bottom of the boot and goes across the floor. The bassoonist, a person who plays a bassoon, then sits on that strap. The bassoon is held to the right side of the bassoonist and the top of the boot joint is usually level with the players hip. The bassoon, when played right, can sound very beautiful. The bassoon has one of the largest note ranges, going from low B flat to a high F on the top line of the treble clef. The bassoon can also play in tenor clef, but usually plays bass clef.

paragraphs: Some bassoons have a white, ivory ring round the top of the bell joint. These are German bassoons (called ‘Heckel’). French bassoons (called ‘Buffet’) do not have this ring, and also sound quite different to German bassoons. Bassoons have keys to help the player to cover all the holes, but these keys do not use the Boehm fingering system like the other woodwind instruments. German bassoons use a system called the Heckel system, and French bassoons use the Buffet system..

paragraphs: The Bassoon is usually seen as a comical instrument, however it provides a very important role in the orchestra.In fact, the Saxophone was invented to replace the Bassoon and Oboe, however, was rejected because it didn't sound the same in the orchestra.

paragraphs: To play the bassoon, it is very important to have lots of breathing support. Like with the oboe, fast passages can be played using double tonguing (single tonguing is like saying “tu-tu-tu-tu-tu”, double tonguing is like saying “te-ke-te-ke-te-ke”). In most music, the bassoon will spend a lot of time playing a bass line, perhaps the same notes as the cello or tuba. It can sometimes sound quite amusing when playing an “um-cha-um-cha” accompaniment like in the “Dance of the Cygnets” from Tchaikovsky’s "Swan Lake". It can sound very tuneful and sad as in the second movement of Rimsky Korsakov’s "Sheherazade". Listen to the opening of Stravinsky’s "Rite of Spring" where it plays some quite high notes to fool people that it is the Cor anglais or the English Horn. Even a famous composer, Saint Saëns, did not know what the instrument was. Prokofiev uses the bassoon for grandfather’s tune in "Peter and the Wolf". Also, to play the bassoon, a player needs big hands because the bassoon's keys and holes are quite wide.

paragraphs: The holes are drilled in at an angle so that the upper register is not overblown and produces an unpleasant sound. Whisper keys were also invented to prevent overblowing. The bassoon is known for its reedy sound. Its upper register is shrill and sometimes scary. Middle register could be used for lullabies because of its majestic and soothing tone. Its lower register is deep, dark, and could be used for scary movies and such.

paragraphs: The bassoon developed from a renaissance instrument called the "curtal" or "dulcian". These were double reed instruments which often played with shawms. In the Baroque period the bassoon became popular as an instrument to play the bass line, perhaps playing the same as the cello. A man named Hotteterre made many parts of the modern bassoon. In the late Baroque period composers like Antonio Vivaldi wrote concertos for bassoon and orchestra. Some more famous bassoon concertos include one by Mozart, and in more recent times by Peter Maxwell Davies. The bassoon was a very important instrument in the orchestra. Mozart and Beethoven gave the bassoon important parts in the music.

paragraphs: In some pieces with a large orchestra a contrabassoon is used. This plays an octave lower than a bassoon, taking it right down to bottom B flat or C on the piano. Some contrabassoons are made to play a note lower, i.e. the very lowest note of the piano (A). One might expect to see the contrabassoon sticking up high above all the other instruments in the orchestra, but in fact the tube keeps doing U-turns, making four parallel rows of tubing. They are usually made with the bell pointing downwards. The weight is supported by a peg to the floor. The contrabassoon used to be shaped like a bassoon.

paragraphs: The contrabassoon adds richness to the sound of a full orchestra. Listen carefully for the contrabassoon in the hymn-like introduction to the last movement of "Symphony no 1" by Brahms. It can be clearly heard, growling away, in the opening of the "Piano Concerto for the Left Hand" by Ravel.


title: Octave

paragraphs: An octave is the distance between two musical notes that have the same letter name.

paragraphs: If a musician sings or plays a scale (‘do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-ti-do’) the first and last ‘doh’ are an octave apart. It is called an ‘octave’ because there are eight notes in a scale (‘octo’ is Latin for ‘eight’).

paragraphs: If a musician sings or plays the first two notes of the song “Somewhere over the rainbow” (i.e. the word ‘Somewhere’) these two notes are an octave apart.

paragraphs: Two notes that are an octave apart sound very similar, almost like the same note. The scientific reason for this is that the top note vibrates twice as fast. For example: if someone plays Middle C on a piano, a hammer hits the Middle C strings inside and makes them vibrate 256 times a second. The C an octave higher will vibrate 512 times a second.

paragraphs: Young children who learn the piano will not be able to stretch an octave with one hand, if their hands are too small. Most adults can stretch an octave easily (playing one note with the thumb, and the other with the little finger). Advanced pianists can practice scales in octaves. Violinists can play scales in octaves, too, playing on two strings at once, but this is very hard.


title: Tinder

paragraphs: Tinder is a material that is used to start fires easily when lit with a match.

paragraphs: Some materials commonly used as tinder are:


title: Stephen Harper

paragraphs: Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian economist, entrepreneur, and retired politician. He was the 22nd Prime Minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. He is a member and the former leader of the Conservative Party. He was elected in February 2006 and replaced Paul Martin as Prime Minister.

paragraphs: Harper was born in 1959 in Toronto, Ontario and lives in Calgary, Alberta. He is married to Laureen Teskey and has two children. He is the third Prime Minister, after Pierre Trudeau and John Turner, to send their children to Rockcliffe Park Public School, in Ottawa. Stephen Harper was Prime Minister for nine years, during which Canada hosted both the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games. Harper also hosted the G8 and G20 meetings.

paragraphs: Harper is a conservative and supports cutting government spending and taxes. As Prime Minister, he has cut the goods and services tax and approved a budget that would cut funding to several government programs. He has also shown support for the military and a bigger Canadian military presence in the northern part of Canada.

paragraphs: Even though Harper did win the seat in the riding of Calgary Heritage during the October 19, 2015 federal election, the Conservative Party was defeated by the Liberal Party of Canada, which was led by Justin Trudeau and who succeeded Harper as Prime Minister. It was thereafter announced Harper would resign as party leader and had requested an interim leader be chosen to serve until a leadership election can be held.


title: Tadpole

paragraphs: A tadpole or polliwog is a young frog that breathes and lives in the water. They hatch from small eggs laid in a pond or lake by their mother.

paragraphs: Frog eggs are round and toad eggs are laid in long strings. There is enough food in each egg to last 21 days.

paragraphs: After a few weeks, they begin to grow back legs, then front legs. Soon after, the froglets begin to breathe air and lose their tails. They will grow larger, and in a few months, become adults.

paragraphs: Most types of tadpole eat only plants. Some types of tadpole eat plants and animals, even other smaller tadpoles.

paragraphs: During the tadpole stage of the amphibian life cycle, most breathe by means of external or internal gills. They usually do not have arms or legs until the change to adulthood. They have a large, flattened tail with which they swim by 'lateral undulation' (side to side), similar to most fish.

paragraphs: As a tadpole matures, it changes by gradually growing limbs, usually the back legs first. Then it gradually loses its tail by programmed cell death (apoptosis). Lungs develop at the time of leg development: tadpoles late in development are often near the surface of the water, where they breathe air. During the final stages, the tadpole's mouth changes from a small mouth at the front of the head to a large mouth the same width as the head. The intestines shorten to accommodate the new diet. Most tadpoles are herbivorous, living on algae and plants. Some species are omnivorous, eating detritus and, when available, smaller tadpoles.


title: Zeulenroda-Triebes

paragraphs: Zeulenroda-Triebes is a German town in the rural district of Greiz in Thuringia.

paragraphs: It has about 18,000 inhabitants. Most famous sight of the town is the beautiful town hall.


title: Harry Nilsson

paragraphs: Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 - January 15, 1994) was an American singer-songwriter.

paragraphs: Nilsson was born in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City. His paternal grandparents were Swedish.

paragraphs: "Without her" is one of his early hits. This number is nowadays considered one of his standards as Blood, Sweat & Tears did later an jazzy cover on their album. His biggest hits were during the late 1960s and the 1970s. His songs include "Me And My Arrow", "Coconut", "Cuddly Toy", "Spaceman", and "One". "One" was also a hit for the band Three Dog Night. Nilsson's two most famous songs were "Without You" and "Everybody's Talkin'". These songs were written by other people. "Without You" has been re-recorded many times by other singers. It was written by Peter Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger. "Everybody's Talkin'" was used in the 1969 movie "Midnight Cowboy". The song was written by Fred Neil.

paragraphs: Nilsson recorded a tribute to The Beatles on his first album. He used lines from fifteen of their songs in one cover version of "You Can't Do That". Derek Taylor, who worked for the Beatles, sent them copies of the album, and Nilsson became a friend of the band. He later shared a house with John Lennon and Ringo Starr. They worked together on each other's music.

paragraphs: Nilsson also wrote a cartoon movie named "The Point!". It was broadcast on ABC. It was about tolerance and diversity. "The Point!" was later turned into a musical. One production of the musical starred former Monkees Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones. The Monkees had recorded two of Nilsson's songs, "Cuddly Toy" and "Daddy's Song", after they met him through producer Chip Douglas.

paragraphs: Nilsson died of heart failure in Agoura Hills, California.

paragraphs: The movie "You've Got Mail" uses several of Nilsson's songs in its soundtrack.


title: Acoustic guitar

paragraphs: An acoustic guitar is a string instrument. It has six strings which pass from tuning pegs over the instrument's neck which is marked with lines called frets. These marks show where to press a string with the fingers of the left hand, to change the note that string plays. The right hand plucks or strums the strings, either with the fingers or using a plectrum ("pick"), to make them sound. Acoustic guitars are used in types of music ranging from classical to rock and roll, to bluegrass and folk. The six strings can be steel or nylon. Nylon strings are typically used for classical and related styles of music. Steel strings are typically used for most other styles.

paragraphs: The acoustic guitar came from Spain (an instrument with six strings), created by Antonio Torres Jurado. But at the beginning, the guitar was different with what we see the guitar now. In the 16th to 17th centuries, the guitar became popular in Europe. In the 18th century, the guitar changed to be similar to how it is now. But before the 19th century, many people thought the guitar could not be same as a piano or violin. They thought it could not play classical music. But at the beginning of 19th century, a famous guitar player, Fernando Sor, made the guitar become more popular and he made more people like playing the guitar. Before the 20th century, people played the acoustic guitar. In the 20th century, a musician in United States, Leo Fender, invented the electric guitar.

paragraphs: The guitar and the ukulele are similar in shape and other ways, but they are also different. The ukulele looking like a small guitar. But the guitar has six strings, and the ukulele has just four strings. The six strings in a guitar are tuned: E, B, G, D, A, and E; the four strings in a ukulele are tuned: G, C, E, and A. Also, the ukulele comes from Hawaii, and the guitar comes from Spain.


title: Flipper

paragraphs: A flipper is a special kind of limb that is flattened like a paddle for moving through water. Many animals that live in water, such as whales and seals have flippers. The flipper of a fish is called a fin.

paragraphs: It can also be an item worn on the foot to help people swim more easily.


title: Coral fungi

paragraphs: Coral fungi or clavarioid fungi, are mushrooms that are usually shaped like coral, but can also be shaped like forks, worms or clubs.

paragraphs: They are rubbery and at times are brightly coloured.

paragraphs: Originally, such fungi were put in the genus "Clavaria", and called "clavarioid", which means "Clavaria"-like. It is now known that clavarioid species are not all closely related. Since they are often studied as a group, we keep the informal (non-taxonomic) name of "clavarioid fungi", and it is frequently used in research papers.

paragraphs: Most coral fungi grow on the ground, but some grow on well decayed logs and stumps.

paragraphs: They are usually found in forests but some can also be found in fields. They are decomposers.

paragraphs: Although they are not poisonous, some kinds are a laxative and some can cause stomach upset.


title: Stone fruit

paragraphs: A stone fruit, also called a drupe, is a fruit with a large "stone" inside. The stone is sometimes called the seed, but that is a mistake, as the seed is inside the stone. The stones can also be called a pit. Examples of stone fruits are peaches, nectarines, plums, lychees, mangoes, almonds, apricots, dates and cherries. These fruits are edible and used frequently in cooking.


title: Humpback whale

paragraphs: A humpback whale ("Megaptera novaeangliae") is a large baleen whale with long flippers and a knobbly head. They can be found in every ocean.

paragraphs: They can grow to 15–16 m (49–52 ft) long and weigh up to 40 metric tons.

paragraphs: Humpback whales can live up to 45 years. They migrate between the places they feed in the winter and the places they give birth in the summer. They usually live alone.

paragraphs: Humpback whales eat krill and small fish, for example herring, capelin, and sand lance. They scoop up their food in their large mouths. Sometimes they round up their prey by swimming in tight circles and blowing curtains of bubbles around them. They often hunt in small groups, called pods.

paragraphs: The male whale is known to sing for up to 22 hours at a time. Because whales do not have vocal chords, they make songs by forcing air through their nasal passages. Every male has a different song. We don't yet know why they sing, it might be to call a female or scare away other males. The songs are made up of a pattern of low notes repeated over a period of hours or days. The whales slowly change their songs over a period of years.

paragraphs: Both the male and female humpback whales make other sounds, such as moans and grunts, to communicate with each other.


title: Slovak language

paragraphs: Slovak is the language spoken in Slovakia, a country in Central Europe. It is a language from Slavic language family. It is very similar to Czech, and Czechs and Slovaks understand each other quite well when they speak their own language. Polish and Sorbian are also quite similar. All of them belong to the western branch of Slavic languages. Slovak is spoken by more than 5 million people.

paragraphs: Slovak is written using the Latin alphabet, but some letters have special signs (called diacritics).

paragraphs: The letters č, š, ž and dž are like the English sounds in "ch"in, "sh"in, vi"s"ion and "j"uice.

paragraphs: The letters ď, ľ, ň, and ť are called “soft consonants” and are pronounced with the blade of the tongue at the roof of the mouth.

paragraphs: The letters c, dz and j are also soft, like "ts" in ba"ts", "ds" in ro"ds", and "y" in "y"es.

paragraphs: Signs over a vowel show that the vowel is pronounced long: á, é, í, ó, ý ú. A long vowel is never followed in the next syllable by a short vowel.

paragraphs: The letter ô is like English "wo"man, and ä is the same as the letter e.

paragraphs: The letter ch is like "ch" in Scottish lo"ch". V is more like English "w".

paragraphs: The letters b, d, ď, dz, dž, g, h, z, ž are voiceless when they are at the end of a word (for example, 'd' will sound like 't').

paragraphs: The accent is always on the first syllable of the word. That is different from Russian, for example, in which the stress can be anywhere.

paragraphs: Like other Slavic languages, Slovak is difficult for English-speakers to pronounce., especially because several consonants often come together. In the sentence: “Strč prst skrz krk!” there is not one single vowel (it means: “Stick a finger through your neck!”)!

paragraphs: The grammar is similar to Russian, but there are some differences. Slovak, unlike Russian, has the words for “to have” and “to be”:

paragraphs: Unlike English, Slovak does not have articles (such as “the” and “a”).

paragraphs: There are three genders in Slovak, therefore it is important to know whether a noun is masculine, feminine or neuter. There is no article to make it obvious (unlike in German), but it changes the adjective's ending.

paragraphs: Like many other European languages, Slovak verbs agree with the person, and there are different forms for 'I', 'you', 'he', etc. Verbs have different aspects to show whether or not the action is complete. There are also different cases that show how a word is used in a sentence. Different prepositions use different cases. All of that makes grammar quite complicated for English-speakers.

paragraphs: Use the familiar form when talking to a child, and the polite form when talking to an adult.


title: Electronic Arts

paragraphs: Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) is a large company which makes computer and video games all over the world. They made famous games such as The Sims, Madden NFL and Medal of Honor. They also made the Need for Speed series. EAs most popular products are the games which are sold under the EA Sports label.

paragraphs: The company was started in February 1982 by Trip Hawkins. They first shipped their games in May 1983.

paragraphs: They have since then produced video games every year.

paragraphs: EA owns other smaller game companies which they call 'studios'.

paragraphs: A few of these include Maxis (creators of The Sims), Bullfrog (creators of Theme Park and Theme Hospital), and BioWare (makers of Mass Effect).


title: Tap (valve)

paragraphs: A tap, faucet, or spigot is something that a liquid or gas comes out of. Taps usually have a handle that can be turned to start or stop the liquid coming out.

paragraphs: Many taps give water and are used in homes. They are found in kitchens and bathrooms.

paragraphs: Water that comes out of a tap is called "tap water". At many restaurants, a person can ask for tap water instead of bottled water.


title: Competition

paragraphs: A competition or contest is an event where people get together to see who is the best at something. Someone who takes part in a competition ("enters for a competition") is called a competitor. The competitors compete against one another. The person who wins may get a prize. The prize might be a trophy or money.

paragraphs: Competitions can be for lots of different things, for example, sport, writing, music, dancing, science, or chess.

paragraphs: Some competitions need a referee. The referee will make sure that the game is played fairly and that the competitors obey the rules. In events like music competitions there will often be an adjudicator who will decide which person they think is the best.

paragraphs: The adjective of 'competition' is competitive.

paragraphs: There are a lot of different kinds of competitions, for example:


title: SimCity

paragraphs: SimCity is a computer game where the player has to build a city. They can do whatever they want to their city. It can be built from the ground up or it can be destroyed by a hurricane or a UFO.

paragraphs: "Sim City" was made by game maker Will Wright and first released by the company Maxis. They are now owned by Electronic Arts. The game was first officially released in 1989.

paragraphs: It was very popular because the game had no end. A player could not win or lose. This was the start of all simulation games.

paragraphs: At the start, the player has to build power plants. Power plants make power so the city can have electricity. By building power lines, power is connected to the different areas of the city. Water needs to be pumped in from a river using pipes to connect them to the city.

paragraphs: Smaller areas are marked out. These are made either residential, commercial, or industrial zones. Zones are the only places where buildings can develop. Every city needs the right amount of each zone otherwise the city will not grow.

paragraphs: Roads, schools and hospitals must all be built for the city to get better. Parks and libraries make more people want to move to the city. Railways and highways provide ways to connect to other neighborhoods.

paragraphs: After the first game, many more were created. These were made up of three games, with spin-offs and expansion packs. These were:


title: Doorstop

paragraphs: A doorstop (or door stop or doorstopper) is a tool.

paragraphs: There are two types. One holds a door open (or "stops" it from closing), and the other stops the door from hitting a wall.

paragraphs: Doorstops that keep the door from hitting a wall can be put on the door, or on the wall, or on the floor in front of the wall.

paragraphs: Doorstops that are used to keep a door open come in two varieties:


title: Digital rights management

paragraphs: Digital rights management (DRM) is a way to make it difficult to copy music, movies, and computer programs. It is used to make people follow copyright laws. It works by using computer technologies.

paragraphs: Many companies use DRM to protect their properties from copyright infringement, such as Sony, Microsoft and the BBC. Other companies also use DRM.

paragraphs: Some people do not like digital rights management. They think that DRM makes copying harder than copyright laws allow. The Free Software Foundation suggested that 'digital restrictions management' is a better name.

paragraphs: People can break DRM. If someone breaks a DRM technology then copying is possible. All common DRM technologies have been broken. Making a DRM technology that can not be broken is very hard. Some people say that all DRM technologies can be broken. In the United States it is illegal to break a DRM.

paragraphs: DRM is a way for companies to keep their profits while sharing their content online. A good example of this is BBC iPlayer. They do this by keeping their content online for a certain amount of time.


title: Cement

paragraphs: Cement is a material that hardens and sticks to other materials to hold them together. Portland cement is a common kind, and made from quicklime (heated limestone) and clay. Cement is used to make concrete and mortar.


title: Brown algae

paragraphs: Brown algae are a large group of algae. They are classified as heterokont protists because they are neither plant nor animal. All the brown algae are multicellular, composed of more than one cell. Most brown algae have fucoxanthin, a chemical that gives them a brown color.

paragraphs: There are 2000 species of brown algae. Most species live in the ocean. They are important as food and as homes for many animals and marine life. Some brown algae are gathered by humans for food. The giant kelp "Macrocystis" is a brown alga that forms underwater forests, and it may grow to 60 meters. The Sargasso Sea gets its name from the "Sargassum" seaweed that floats on the surface. Many brown algae grow on rocks at the seashore.

paragraphs: This is a list of the orders in the class Phaeophyceae:


title: Bacillus

paragraphs: Bacillus is a genus of rod shaped bacteria. They are Gram-positive, meaning they have an extra outside cell layer.

paragraphs: Bacilli are partly or wholly aerobic. They do aerobic respiration. They are everywhere in nature. "Bacillus" includes both free-living (non-parasitic) and parasitic pathogenic species.

paragraphs: Under stressful conditions, they produce endospores. These are not true spores, but like survival pods they can stay in a dormant state for long periods.

paragraphs: Some species of "Bacillus" are worth noting:


title: Milk powder

paragraphs: Milk powder is a powder made by dehydrating milk. When water is added, it becomes liquid milk again. Milk powder is often used in countries that lack widespread access to refrigeration. As well, it is often used in recipes that call for milk.


title: Vaccinium vitis-idaea

paragraphs: Vaccinium vitis-idaea (also called Lingonberry and Cowberry) is a small evergreen shrub that produces edible fruits.

paragraphs: Growing happens in northern side of globe.

paragraphs: It is rarely grown by people, but often they will collect berries from the wild plants.

paragraphs: In kitchen berries can be used many ways example in juices or when making jelly,


title: Dehydration

paragraphs: Dehydration (hypohydration) means less water in something. The word comes from the ancient Greek word for water, "hydor".

paragraphs: People get dehydrated when they lose more water than they take in. The human body needs water to survive. If a person gets badly dehydrated, their body will be unable to work the right way. Bad dehydration can cause organ damage and even death.

paragraphs: A person will get dehydrated if their body is losing water in some way and they do not drink enough to replace the water the body is losing. The most common causes of dehydration are:

paragraphs: Anyone can get dehydrated. However, some people are more at risk for dehydration. (This means that they get dehydrated more easily than most people.) Elderly people, very young children, and people with chronic illnesses are at the highest risk for dehydration.

paragraphs: Dehydrated people may have different symptoms depending on how dehydrated they are. If dehydration is not treated, it will get worse. As dehydration gets worse, the symptoms get more dangerous.

paragraphs: When people start to get dehydrated, they may have these symptoms:

paragraphs: When dehydration gets severe (very bad), its symptoms include:

paragraphs: Severe dehydration is a medical emergency. If a person with severe dehydration does not get medical treatment soon enough, they can die.

paragraphs: Bad dehydration can cause serious health problems. Some of these problems are:

paragraphs: To fix dehydration, a person has to replace the fluids and electrolytes that they have lost.

paragraphs: When dehydration is not too bad, people can usually treat themselves by drinking. This is called oral rehydration therapy. Stores sell special drinks like Pedialyte and Gatorade, which have both water and electrolytes in them. People can also make their own oral rehydration solution (a drink which treats dehydration) by mixing water with sugar and salt.

paragraphs: People with very bad dehydration need emergency medical treatment. They may need to get fluids intravenously (through a needle placed into a vein). This replaces lost fluids and electrolytes much more quickly than drinking. It is also helpful for people who are unable to drink because of nausea and vomiting from dehydration.


title: Square Enix

paragraphs: Square Enix is a Japanese company that makes video games and manga. It was created on April 1, 2003. Two companies called Square Co., Ltd. and Enix combined to form Square Enix.

paragraphs: Square Enix is famous for its role-playing games. This includes the "Final Fantasy series", the "Dragon Quest series" and the "Kingdom Hearts series".They are one of the biggest videogame companies in the world.


title: Game designer

paragraphs: A game designer is someone who designs games. The term "game designer" usually refers to someone who designs computer or video games, but can also be a person who designs older games like a board game.


title: Shigeru Miyamoto

paragraphs: He is one of the muslim game designers in the world and is often called the father of modern video gaming. His games give players many ways to play and explore. This was unique in video games when his games were first released.

paragraphs: Miyamoto started working with Nintendo in 1977 as an artist when it was still a toy and playing-card company. In 1980, he designed "Donkey Kong", which was a big success. Miyamoto became Nintendo's leading producer, and he continues to create many popular games for Nintendo today Such as entries in the Super Mario and the Zelda series.

paragraphs: Miyamoto was born on November 16, 1952 in the Japanese town of Sonobe. It is a rural town that is northwest of Kyoto. His father taught English language.

paragraphs: Miyamoto graduated from Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts with a degree in industrial design. However, he could not find a job. He also loved manga. Before he thought about starting a career in video games, he wanted to become a professional manga artist. Manga's classical kishōtenketsu narrative structure influenced him. Western genre television shows also influenced him. The game that made him want to enter the video game industry was the 1978 arcade game "Space Invaders".

paragraphs: Nintendo was a small Japanese company in the late 1970s. They had traditionally sold playing cards and other novelties. However, they started making toys and games in the mid-1960s. Through a mutual friend, Miyamoto's father set up an interview with Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi. After showing some of his toy creations, Miyamoto was hired in 1977 as an apprentice in the planning department.

paragraphs: Miyamoto became Nintendo's first artist. He helped create the art for Nintendo's first original coin-operated arcade video game, "Sheriff". He first helped the company develop a game with the 1980 release "Radar Scope". The game had some success in Japan. However, by 1981, Nintendo's efforts to sell it in the North American video game market failed. This left the company with a lot of arcade machines that were not sold. Nintendo was also facing financial ruin. In order to try to keep Nintendo going, Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi decided to change unsold "Radar Scope" machines into a new arcade game. He asked Miyamoto to do this. Miyamoto said that "no one else was available" to do the work. Nintendo's head engineer, Gunpei Yokoi, oversaw the project.

paragraphs: Miyamoto thought of many characters and story ideas, but eventually decided on a love triangle between a gorilla, a carpenter, and a girl. He wanted to create something like what was with comic characters Bluto and Popeye for the woman Olive Oyl. Although, Nintendo tried to get the rights to "Popeye", but they failed. Bluto became an ape, a form Miyamoto said was "nothing too evil or disgusting". This ape would be the pet of the main character, "a funny, hang-loose kind of guy." Miyamoto also said "Beauty and the Beast" and the 1933 film "King Kong" influenced him. "Donkey Kong" was the first time that the creation of a video game's story came before the actual programming. Usually, the story was added without much care. Miyamoto had high hopes for his new project. However, he did not actually know how to program it himself; instead, he thought of the game's concepts, then asked technicians on whether they were possible. He wanted to make the characters different sizes, move in different ways, and react in various ways. However, Yokoi thought Miyamoto's original design was too difficult. Yokoi suggested using see-saws to catapult the character across the screen; however, this was also too difficult to do. Miyamoto next thought of using sloped platforms and ladders to move the character. He thought of using barrels for obstacles. When he asked that the game have multiple stages, the four-man programming team complained that he was basically asking them to make the game repeat, but the team eventually programmed the game. When the game was sent to Nintendo of America for testing, the sales manager did not like how it was different from the maze and shooter games common at the time. When American staffers started naming the characters, they decided on "Pauline" for the woman. She was named after Polly James, wife of Nintendo's Redmond, Washington, warehouse manager, Don James. The playable character was first called "Jumpman". They changed the name to Mario. He was named after Mario Segale, the warehouse landlord. These character names were written on the American cabinet art and used in advertising. The staff also got an English name for the game. The title was "Donkey Kong".

paragraphs: "Donkey Kong" was successful. Miyamoto started to work on sequels "Donkey Kong Jr." in 1982 and "Donkey Kong 3" in 1983. In the next game, he changed the "Donkey Kong" character Jumpman into Mario. He gave him a brother: Luigi. He named the new game "Mario Bros." Yokoi convinced Miyamoto to give Mario some special powers, namely being able to fall from any height without getting hurt. Mario's look in "Donkey Kong"—overalls, a hat, and a thick mustache—led Miyamoto to change parts of the game. He changed it to make Mario look like a plumber instead of a carpenter. Miyamoto thought that New York City would be the best setting for the game. He thought it was the best place because it has a "maze of subterranean sewage pipes". The two-player mode and other parts of gameplay were influenced by an earlier video game called "Joust". To date, games in the "Mario Bros." series have been released for many consoles. Shortly after, Miyamoto also drew the character sprites and game design for the "Baseball", "Tennis", and "Golf" games on the NES.

paragraphs: Nintendo released its first home video game console, the Family Computer (released in North America as the Nintendo Entertainment System). While this happened, Miyamoto created two of the most famous games for the console and in the history of video games as a whole: "Super Mario Bros." (a sequel to "Mario Bros.") and "The Legend of Zelda" (an entirely original title).

paragraphs: In both games, Miyamoto decided to focus more on gameplay than on high scores. This was different from most games at the time. "Super Mario Bros." was a linear game. The player moved the stage by running, jumping, and dodging or defeating enemies. Miyamoto used nonlinear gameplay in "The Legend of Zelda". This requires the player to think their way through riddles and puzzles. The world was big and and it seemed to never end. It had a lot of different choices and depth never seen before in a video game. With "The Legend of Zelda", Miyamoto wanted to make an in-game world that players could relate to. He said it was like a "small garden that they can put inside their drawer." He was influenced from his time as a boy around Kyoto. When he was a boy, he explored nearby fields, woods, and caves; each "Zelda" title has this feeling of exploration. "When I was a child," Miyamoto said, "I went hiking and found a lake. It was quite a surprise for me to find it. When I traveled around the country without a map, trying to find my way, finding amazing things as I went, I realized how it felt to go on an adventure like this." He recreated his memories of becoming lost in the maze of sliding doors in his family home in "Zelda"s maze-like dungeons. In February 1986, Nintendo released the game as the first game for the Nintendo Entertainment System's new Disk System.

paragraphs: Miyamoto worked on different games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. These games included "Ice Climber", "Kid Icarus", "Excitebike", and "Devil World". He also worked on sequels to "Super Mario Bros" and "The Legend of Zelda".

paragraphs: 'Super Mario Bros. 3" was developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development; the game took more than two years to make.

paragraphs: A merger between Nintendo's different internal research and development teams led to the creation of Nintendo Entertainment Analysis & Development (Nintendo EAD). Miyamoto was the head of it. Nintendo EAD had about fifteen months to develop "F-Zero", one of the launch titles for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Miyamoto worked on different games on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. One of them was "Star Fox". For the game, programmer Jez San convinced Nintendo to make an upgrade for the Super Nintendo. This upgrade would allow it to be able to show three-dimensional graphics better. This upgrade was the Super FX chip. Using this new hardware, Miyamoto and Katsuya Eguchi designed the "Star Fox" game with an early use of three-dimensional graphics.

paragraphs: Miyamoto produced two big "Mario" titles for the system. The first game was "Super Mario World". It was a launch title. It was included with Super Nintendo Entertainment System consoles. It had an overworld as in "Super Mario Bros.". It had a new character, Yoshi. Yoshi would go on to be in many other Nintendo games. The second "Mario" game for the system was "Super Mario RPG". It was different than most "Mario" games. Miyamoto led a team that was a partnership between Nintendo and Square Co.; it took almost a year to develop the graphics. The story takes place in a newly rendered Mushroom Kingdom based on the "Super Mario Bros." series.

paragraphs: Shigeru Miyamoto helped Satoshi Tajiri. Miyamoto guided him during the creation of "Pocket Monsters: Red and Green" (released in English as "Pokémon Red" and "Blue"), the first video games in the Pokémon series. He was also the producer for these games. Miyamoto worked on social gameplay ideas such as trading. Pokémon would become one of the most popular entertainment franchises in the world, spanning video games, anime, and other merchandise.

paragraphs: Miyamoto made several games for the Nintendo 64. Most of these games were from his previous franchises. His first game on the Nintendo 64 was "Super Mario 64". He was the main director. In developing the game, he started with character design and the camera system. Miyamoto and the other designers were unsure of what the game should be like. It took months to decide on a good camera view and layout. The first idea used a fixed path. This would have been similar to an isometric-type game.They decided on a free-roaming 3D design. He changed the design of the Nintendo 64 controller to fit with that of "Super Mario 64".

paragraphs: Using what he had learned about the Nintendo 64 from developing "Super Mario 64" and "Star Fox 64", Miyamoto produced his next game, "". He led a team of several directors. Individual parts of "Ocarina of Time" were developed by multiple directors—a new strategy for Nintendo EAD. However, when things progressed slower than expected, Miyamoto returned to the development team with a more central role. He was helped in public by interpreter Bill Trinen. The team was new to 3D games. However, assistant director Makoto Miyanaga remembers a feeling of "passion for creating something new and never done before". Miyamoto went on to produce a sequel to "Ocarina of Time", known as "".

paragraphs: Miyamoto worked many "Mario" series spin-offs for the Nintendo 64. These included "Mario Kart 64" and "Mario Party".

paragraphs: Miyamoto produced many games for the GameCube. This included the launch title "Luigi's Mansion". The game was first shown at Nintendo Space World 2000 as a technical demo. It was designed to show off the graphical power of the GameCube. Miyamoto made a short demo of the game concepts. Nintendo decided to make it a full game. "Luigi's Mansion" was later shown at E3 2001 with the GameCube console. Miyamoto made more "Mario" spinoffs in these years. He also produced the 3D game series "Metroid Prime". This was because the original designer Yokoi, a friend of Miyamoto's, died. In this time he developed "Pikmin" and its sequel "Pikmin 2". These games were based on his experiences gardening. He also worked on new games for the "Star Fox", "Donkey Kong", "F-Zero", and "The Legend of Zelda" series on the GameCube and the Game Boy Advance systems. With the help of Hideo Kojima, he helped the developers of "". He helped with many games on the Nintendo DS. The games included the remake of "Super Mario 64", "Super Mario 64 DS". It also included the new game "Nintendogs", a new franchise based on his own experiences with dogs.

paragraphs: Miyamoto produced "Super Mario 3D Land" and "" for the 3DS, and "Pikmin 3" for the Wii U.

paragraphs: After Nintendo president Satoru Iwata died in July 2015, Miyamoto was chosen to be an acting Representative Director, along with Genyo Takeda. He was no longer in this positin in September 2015 when Tatsumi Kimishima became the company's president. He was also chosen to be in the position of "Creative Fellow" at the same time. He would give expert advice to Kimishima as a "support network" alongside Takeda.

paragraphs: Miyamoto was a creative director on the 2017 game "Super Mario Odyssey". He was not one of its producers. He is credited as being a big influence on the game's development.

paragraphs: Miyamoto and Nintendo do not use focus groups. Instead, Miyamoto figures out if a game is fun by playing it himself. He says that if he enjoys it, others will too. He uses how the "Pokémon" series was created as an example. He said "And that's the point – Not to make something sell, something very popular, but to love something, and make something that we creators can love. It's the most important feeling we should have when we make games."

paragraphs: "Time" called Miyamoto "the Spielberg of video games" and "the father of modern video games." "The Daily Telegraph" says he is "regarded by many as possibly the most important game designer of all time." "GameTrailers" called him "the most influential game creator in history." Miyamoto has greatly influenced various things about video games in general. "The Daily Telegraph" credited him with creating "some of the most innovative, ground breaking and successful work in his field." Many of Miyamoto's works have started new video game concepts or changed existing ones. Miyamoto's games have received outstanding critical praise. Some are considered the best games of all time.

paragraphs: Miyamoto's games have also sold very well. Some became the best-selling games on Nintendo consoles and of all time. As of 1999, his games had sold 250 million copies and grossed billions of dollars.

paragraphs: Miyamoto's games have received a lot of praise. Many of his games are considered some of the best of all time.

paragraphs: Games in Miyamoto's "The Legend of Zelda" series have received a lot of praise. was a big game for Nintendo. It is considered today to be one of the best video games ever made. is considered by critics and gamers to be one of the best video games ever made. "Twilight Princess" was praised by nearly everyone who reviewed it. It is the third highest-rated game for the Wii. It received perfect scores from major publications such as CVG, "Electronic Gaming Monthly", "Game Informer", GamesRadar, and GameSpy.

paragraphs: Many critics and fans say "Super Mario 64" is one of the best and most revolutionary video games of all time.

paragraphs: Metacritic says that "Super Mario Galaxy" and "Super Mario Galaxy 2" are the first- and second-highest rated games for the Wii.

paragraphs: A 1995 article in "Maximum" said that "in gaming communities, Miyamoto's name is more famous than Steven Spielberg's could ever be."

paragraphs: Miyamoto's games have sold very well. many of them became some of the best-selling games on Nintendo consoles and of all time.

paragraphs: Miyamoto's "Mario" series is the best-selling video game franchise of all time. It has sold over 400 million units. "Super Mario Bros." is the second best-selling video game of all time. "Super Mario Bros.", "Super Mario Bros. 3", and "Super Mario Bros. 2" were, respectively, the three best-selling games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Levi Buchanan of IGN considered "Super Mario Bros. 3"s appearance in the film "The Wizard" as a show-stealing part. He said the movie was a "90-minute commercial" for the game. "Super Mario World" was the best-selling game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. "Super Mario 64" was the best-selling Nintendo 64 game. As of May 21, 2003, the game had sold eleven million copies. At the end of 2007, "Guinness World Records" said the sales were 11.8 million copies. As of September 25, 2007, it was the seventh best-selling video game in the United States because it had sold six million copies. By June 2007, "Super Mario 64" had become the second most popular title on Wii's Virtual Console. "Super Mario Bros." was the most popular on the Wii Virtual Console. "Super Mario Sunshine" was the third best-selling video game for the GameCube.

paragraphs: The first "The Legend of Zelda" game was the fifth best-selling game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. "The Wind Waker" was the fourth best-selling game for the GameCube. "Twilight Princess" had sold well. In the PAL region, which covers most of Asia, Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe, "Twilight Princess" is the best-selling "Zelda" game ever. During its first week, the game was sold with three out of every four Wii purchases. The game had sold 4.52 million copies on the Wii as of March 1, 2008. 1.32 million copies were sold on the GameCube as of March 31, 2007.

paragraphs: The name of the main character of the PC game "Daikatana", Hiro Miyamoto, is for Miyamoto. The character Gary Oak from the Pokémon anime series is named Shigeru in Japan. He is the rival of Ash Ketchum (called Satoshi in Japan). Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri was mentored by Miyamoto.

paragraphs: In 1998, Miyamoto was the first person to be in the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame. In 2006, Miyamoto was made a "Chevalier" (knight) of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.

paragraphs: On November 28, 2006, Miyamoto was in "TIME Asia"'s "60 Years of Asian Heroes," alongside Hayao Miyazaki, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Bruce Lee and the Dalai Lama. He was later one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of the Year in both 2007 and also in 2008. At the Game Developers Choice Awards, on March 7, 2007, Miyamoto received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Both GameTrailers and IGN placed Miyamoto first on their lists for the "Top Ten Game Creators" and the "Top 100 Game Creators of All Time".

paragraphs: He was made a Fellow of BAFTA at the British Academy Video Games Awards on March 19, 2010. In 2012, Miyamoto was the first interactive creator to be awarded the highest recognition in the Spanish-speaking world, the Prince of Asturias Award.

paragraphs: Miyamoto has a wife, Yasuko, and two children. In 2010, his son was 25 and working at an advertising agency. His daughter was 23 and studying zoology at the time. His children played video games in their youth, but he also made them go outside. Although he knows some English, he is not fluent and would rather speak in Japanese for interviews.

paragraphs: Miyamoto usually does not sign autographs. He is worried that if he signs an autograph for one person, many other people will ask for autographs too. He also does not appear on Japanese television because he likes privacy. More foreign tourists than Japanese people recognize him.

paragraphs: Miyamoto does not spend much time playing video games in his personal time. He likes playing the guitar, mandolin, and banjo. He likes bluegrass music. He has a Shetland Sheepdog named Pikku. The dog was why Miyamoto wanted to create "Nintendogs". He is also a semi-professional dog breeder. He has been quoted as saying, "Video games are bad for you? That's what they said about rock and roll."

paragraphs: Miyamoto like to move the furniture in his house, even late at night. He also said that he has a hobby of guessing how long something is, then checking to see if he was correct. He carries a measuring tape with him everywhere. In December 2016, Miyamoto showed his hobby on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". He also played the "Super Mario Bros." theme on guitar with The Roots during the same show.


title: Individual

paragraphs: Individual can be an adjective or a noun.

paragraphs: As an adjective, a living thing that is individual is not in a group (by him/her/itself). An object that is individual is for only one person or thing (not shared by a group). Something that is individual can also be different from anyone else (unique).

paragraphs: As a noun, an individual is only one person or thing, not a group. An individual can also mean someone who is different from anyone else (one a kind).


title: Truck

paragraphs: A truck (or lorry in British English) is a motor vehicle used to transport goods. The word "truck" comes from the Greek word ""trochos"", which means "wheel". Most trucks use diesel fuel.

paragraphs: "Light trucks" are trucks the size of cars. They are used by individuals and also companies. In the United States, a truck is a light truck if it weighs less than 6,300 kg (13,000 lb). Light trucks are only a little heavier than vans or pickup trucks, but require a special driver's license.

paragraphs: "Medium trucks" are heavier than light trucks but lighter than heavy trucks. In the United States, a truck is a medium truck if it weighs between 6,300 kg (13,000 lb) and 15,000 kg (33,000 lb). Trucks that are used for local delivery and public service (dump trucks, garbage trucks) are normally around this size. Medium trucks have usually two axles: one at front and one at rear. The rear wheels may be coupled (that is: two wheels hitched together) to enable heavier load, but they may also be single.

paragraphs: "Heavy trucks" are the heaviest trucks that are allowed on the road. In the U.K. they are known as "lorries". Usually heavy trucks have three axles: one at front and two at rear, and the rear axles have coupled wheels to enable heavy loads. Often heavy trucks pull trailers. They can be either "full trailers" which have both front and rear axles or boggies and their own brakes, and are connected to the towing truck with a towbar, or "semi-trailers", which are attached to a special kind of a truck called "tractor unit" with a turntable coupling ("fifth wheel"). A semi-trailer is a kind of trailer which has wheels only in the back and the front rides on the back of the tractor unit. The tractor unit has an engine and the semi-trailer does not. Driving a heavy truck requires a professional driver's license. Truck drivers are called "truckers".

paragraphs: The laws of various countries say what kind of vehicle combinations are allowed. A semi-trailer can be converted into a full trailer with using a "dolly". A dolly is a small trailer which has only a bogie (= set of wheels), fifth wheel coupling for the semi-trailer and a towbar. Using a dolly, the semi-trailer can now be hitched to an ordinary cargo-carrying truck and does not need a tractor unit.

paragraphs: A heavy truck-trailer combination is often called big rig or eighteen-wheeler.

paragraphs: The largest heavy trucks are the Australian "road trains" which may have up to four semi-trailers coupled to a tractor in a train-like fashion and may carry up to 200 tonnes of cargo.

paragraphs: Box trucks or Dry vans ("tilts" in the UK) have walls and a roof, making a closed cargo room. The rear has doors. Some have a side door.

paragraphs: Concrete mixers have a turning drum on back. Turning it one way mixes the concrete. Turning it the other way pushes the concrete out. The concrete goes down "chutes" (like large pipes with an open top). On most trucks the concrete comes out the back. Some new types have the concrete goes over the cab and down chutes in the front. Concrete is very heavy and hard to mix. Concrete mixers have to be very heavy duty.

paragraphs: Dump trucks ("tippers" in the UK) carry sand, gravel, and dirt. Most dump trucks have an open-top box bed with an opening "tail-gate" door on the back. The body lifts up at the front. The load falls out the tailgate and is "dumped" on the ground behind the truck.

paragraphs: Flatbed trucks have a flat body with no sides. There is a wall between the cab and the body. The load will not move forward and hit the cab. The truck can be loaded from the side or top. Nothing covers the load. Some trucks have sides that can be taken off or folded down. Many times the load is covered with tarps.

paragraphs: Garbage trucks pick up garbage and trash from homes and some businesses. Most were loaded from the rear. Now some load from the front or side. The same type of truck is often used for recycling.

paragraphs: Semi-tractors ("artics" in the UK) have no bodies. They have a "fifth wheel" that carries weight. A semi-trailer has no front wheels. The front of the trailer goes on the fifth wheel. The semi-tractor carries weight from the trailer and pulls the trailer

paragraphs: Tank trucks ("tankers" in the UK) are designed to carry liquids or gases. They usually have a round tank that is long (a cylinder) lying on its side. There are many types of tanks because there are many liquids and gases. Most tankers are built for only one liquid.

paragraphs: Wreckers ("recovery lorries" in the UK and sometimes "tow trucks" in the US) are used to lift and tow broken cars and trucks. They usually have a boom with a cable. Cars are often carried on special flatbeds.


title: Crown-of-thorns starfish

paragraphs: The crown-of-thorns starfish ("Acanthaster planci") is a type of sea star. Usually, they have orange-red to purplish skin, with yellow or pink spikes on their skin. The crown-of-thorns is also one of the largest starfish in the world, as it has a diameter of up to 3 feet. The crown-of-thorns lives in the warmer areas of the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, and Red Sea.

paragraphs: It only feeds on coral polyps, and usually at night. The crown-of-thorns climbs over its prey, releases digestive enzymes to break down its food, and then absorbs the coral polyp, which has now turned into a liquid. What's left behind by the sea star is the leftover coral skeleton.

paragraphs: They are usually of subdued colours, pale brown to grey-green, but they may be garish with bright warning colours in some parts of their wide range. These bright colours warn animals that may want to eat it that it is venomous.

paragraphs: The crown-of-thorns is well known for its destructive habits of eating coral, especially on the Great Barrier Reef, which is a World Heritage Site. Usually, when there are not too many of them, these sea stars help maintain the coral reef by preventing the faster-growing coral from taking over the coral reef. However, when there are too many crown-of-thorns, they can devastate the reef.


title: Sea urchin

paragraphs: Sea urchins are the Class Echinoidea of the Phylum Echinodermata. Like the rest of the Echinoderms, literally "spike-skinned", they are entirely marine. They are usually globe-shaped, and protected by calcareous plates and spines. "Urchin" is an old word for hedgehog, and in many foreign languages these animals are called "sea hedgehogs".

paragraphs: Like other echinoderms they have five-fold symmetry (called pentamerism) and move by means of hundreds of tiny, transparent, adhesive 'tube feet'. The symmetry is not obvious in the living animal, but is easily visible in the dried test.

paragraphs: Sea urchins mostly feed on algae and small animals. They have a special chewing apparatus called "Aristotle's lantern", after the Greek philosopher Aristotle who was fascinated by sea urchins. With this apparatus they can scrape organisms stuck to the surface over which the urchin is moving.

paragraphs: The spines are long and sharp in some species, and protect the urchin from predators. The spines inflict a painful wound when they penetrate human skin, but are usually not dangerous. Echinoids also have pincer-like pedicellaria all over their body between the spines. The job of these is to deal with anything (like larvae) settling on the test (outer shell). It is not known if the spines are venomous (unlike the pedicellariae between the spines, which are venomous).

paragraphs: Typical sea urchins have spines that are in length, thick, and not terribly sharp. "Diadema antillarum", familiar in the Caribbean, has thin, potentially dangerous spines that can reach long.

paragraphs: Sea urchins have five jaws with one tooth each. The teeth grow throughout the sea urchin's life. The teeth of the pink sea urchin chip against each other to stay sharp.

paragraphs: Sea urchins feed mainly on algae, but can also feed on sea cucumbers, and a wide range of invertebrates such as mussels, polychaetes, sponges, brittle stars and crinoids. Sea urchins are one of the favorite foods of sea otters and wolf eels. Without predators to eat them, urchins breed in large numbers and eat almost all the nearby kelp, creating an "urchin barren", devoid of macroalgae and associated fauna. Sea otters have re-entered British Columbia, dramatically improving coastal ecosystem health by eating sea urchins.

paragraphs: The first echinoid fossils are from the Lower Ordovician period. The earliest forms had flexible tests, with plates that could slide over each other. Echinoids were a relatively unimportant part of the biota in the Palaeozoic. Only one group survived the P/Tr extinction event to form the basis of all later echinoids. The group which survived into the Triassic, the Cidaroids, radiated into all other modern groups, which are known as the Euechinoids.

paragraphs: The break with perfect symmetry, which happened in the Jurassic, gave them definite front and back ends. This opened up new habitats, in particular, the burrowing habitat. Sand dollars and heart urchins have been highly successful. The living echinoids are now important members of the biota, especially in shallow and in-shore waters.

paragraphs: Some humans eat the reproductive organs of sea urchins (which they call roe). This is popular in Korea. In Japan, this kind of sushi is called "uni".


title: Brittle star

paragraphs: Brittle stars are Echinoderms of the Class Ophiuroidea. The adults are superficially like starfish, but they are a different group, with different larvae. Like other echinoderms, they do have a skeleton of calcareous plates, and radial symmetry. There are about 1500 different species.

paragraphs: Usually they have 5 "arms", which can grow long, up to 60 cm, in the largest species. The central disk of brittle stars can be three to eight inches in diameter. Unlike starfish, they live deeper in the ocean. Ophiuroids are known even from abyssal (>6000 m) depths. However, brittle stars are also common members of reef communities, where they hide under rocks and even within other living organisms. Generally, brittle stars live below 500m of depth.

paragraphs: There are two related groups of Ophiuroids: the "Ophiurida" (brittle stars) and the basket stars ("Eurialida"). Basket stars usually live in the deeper parts of the range. Brittle stars are mostly scavengers and detrivores, able to catch some small prey on occasion.

paragraphs: Many brittle stars are more fragile than starfish, which is how they got their name. When they are picked up, their arms may fall off. This might make the animal seem brittle, but they often do this as a defense to escape from predators.

paragraphs: Brittle stars do not use their tube feet for movement, but instead use muscles in their long, thin arms to go around rocks. Ophiurids move quickly when disturbed, and are faster movers than starfish. In living ophiuroids the plates are linked by longitudinal muscles. Ophiurid arms only move horizontally. The way their plates interlock prevents the arms from moving in any other plane. In contrast, basket star arms can move vertically. These movement patterns are distinct, and separate the groups.

paragraphs: Ophiuroids in general are mostly scavengers or detritivores. Small organic particles are moved into the mouth by the tube feet. Ophiuroids may also prey on small crustaceans or worms. Brittle stars will eat small suspended organisms if available. In large, crowded areas, brittle stars eat suspended matter from prevailing seafloor currents.

paragraphs: Basket stars (Euryalids) are large brittle stars with many rays. Their arms branch, and can be moved in any direction. This distinguishes them from the Ophiurids. Basket stars may be capable of suspension feeding, using the mucus coating on their arms to trap plankton and bacteria. They extend one arm out and use the other four as anchors. The arms form so many branches that they are almost feathery on the ends. They get their name because when they stretch their rays out to catch plankton, they look like the bottom of a basket.

paragraphs: Basket stars can be large and heavy, the biggest Ophiuroids. The largest, "Gorgonocephalus stimpsoni", weigh up to 5 kg (11 lbs) and has arms 70cms long, with a disk diameter of 14 cm.