title: Capsicum

paragraphs: Capsicum is a genus of plants from the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Some of these plants are used as spices, vegetables, or drugs. The fruit of "Capsicum" plants have a variety of names. The names vary depending on place and type. They are commonly called Chili pepper, red or green pepper, or just pepper in Britain and the US; the large mild form is called bell pepper in the US, capsicum in New Zealand English, Australian English and British English, and paprika in some other countries (although paprika can also refer to the powdered spice made from various capsicum fruit).

paragraphs: Capsicums originated in the Americas, but are now grown worldwide.

paragraphs: The fruit of "most" species of "Capsicum" contains capsaicin. Capsaicin is a chemical that can produce a strong burning sensation in the mouth (and, if not properly digested, anus) of the unaccustomed eater. Most mammals find this unpleasant; however, birds are unaffected. The plants developed the secretion of capsaicin to protect the fruit from being eaten by mammals. At the same time, the bright colors attract birds. These birds will spread the seeds. The amount of capsaicin in peppers is highly variable and dependent on genetics. This means that almost all types of peppers have varied amounts of heat felt by those consuming them. The only pepper without capsaicin is the bell pepper. Chili peppers are of great importance in Native American medicine. Capsaicin is also used in modern Western medicine to stimulate blood circulation or to relieve pain.

paragraphs: Black pepper and Sichuan pepper cause similar burning sensations. These are caused they by different substances though —piperine and hydroxy-alpha-sanshool, respectively.

paragraphs: "Capsicum" fruits and peppers can be eaten raw or cooked. Those used in cooking are generally varieties of the "C. annul" and "C. pubescens" species, though a few others are used as well. They are suitable for stuffing with fillings such as cheese, meat or rice.

paragraphs: They are also frequently used both chopped and raw in salads, or cooked in stir-fries or other mixed dishes. They can be sliced into strips and fried, roasted whole or in pieces, or chopped and incorporated into salsas or other sauces.

paragraphs: They can be preserved by drying or pickling. Dried peppers may be reconstituted whole, or processed into flakes or powders. Pickled or marinated peppers are frequently added to sandwiches or salads. Extracts can be made and incorporated into hot sauces.

paragraphs: In 2005, a poll of 2,000 people revealed peppers to be Britain's 4th favorite culinary vegetable.

paragraphs: Many varieties of the same species can be used in many different ways; for example, "C. annual" includes the "bell pepper" variety, which is sold in both its immature green state and its red, yellow or orange ripe state.

paragraphs: This same species has other varieties as well, such as the Anaheim chilly often used for stuffing, the dried Ancho chilly used to make chili powder, the mild-to-hot Jalapeño, and the smoked ripe Jalapeño, known as a Chipotle.

paragraphs: Most of the capsaicin in a pepper is found in the interior ribs that divide the chambers of the fruit, and to which the seeds are attached. At the stem end of the pod, glands secrete the capsaicin, which then spreads throughout, but is concentrated on the ribs and seeds. The amount varies very significantly by variety, and is measured in Scoville heat units (SHU), ranging from the mild bell pepper to the scorching Habanero chile.

paragraphs: The name given to the fruits varies between English-speaking countries.

paragraphs: In Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore and Hong Kong, heatless species are called "capsicums" while hot ones are called "chilli/chillies" (double L). The term "bell peppers" is rarely used, usually in reference to C. annuum and other varieties which look like a "capsicum" or bell but are fairly hot.

paragraphs: In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Canada, the heatless varieties are called "peppers", "sweet peppers" or "capsicums" (or "green peppers," "red peppers," etc.) while the hot ones are "chilli/chillies" (double L) or "chilli peppers".

paragraphs: In the United States and Canada, the common heatless species is referred to as "bell peppers," "sweet peppers," "red/green/etc peppers," or simply "peppers", while the hot species are collectively called "chile/chiles," "chili/chilies," or "chili/chile peppers" (one L only), "hot peppers", or named as a specific variety (e.g., banana pepper). In many midwestern regions of the United States the Sweet Bell Pepper is commonly called a mango. With the modern advent of fresh tropical fruit importers exposing a wider latitude of individuals to the tropical fruit variety of the Mango, this definition is becoming archaic. However many menus still call a stuffed Bell Pepper a "Mango".

paragraphs: The name "pepper" came into use because the plants were hot in the same sense as the condiment black pepper, "Piper nigrum". But there is no botanical relationship with this plant, nor with Sichuan Pepper.

paragraphs: In Spanish-speaking countries there are many different names for each variety and preparation. In Mexico the term "chile" is used. Several other countries, such as Chile, whose name is unrelated, Perú, and Argentina, use "ají". In Spain, heatless varieties are called "pimiento" and hot varieties "guindilla".

paragraphs: In Indian English, the word "capsicum" is used exclusively for bell pepper. All other varieties of chili peppers are called chili. In northern India and Pakistan, bell pepper is also commonly called "Shimla Mirch" in the native languages. Shimla incidentally is a popular hill-station in India (and "Mirch" means chili in native languages).

paragraphs: In Polish, the word "papryka" is used for capsiscum fruit and dry spice (the word "pieprz" is used for black, red, and green pepper, but not for capsisum fruit or spice).

paragraphs: In Hungarian, the word "paprika" is used for capsicum fruit and dry spice.

paragraphs: In Israel capsicum is commonly called "pilpel", meaning pepper in Hebrew.

paragraphs: You can test how hot a hot pepper can be by using the Scoville scale.

paragraphs: Capsicum is excellent source of laxative (purgative) and pain relief. Capsaicin has also been studied for possible prostate cancer fighting effects.


title: Cinnamomum

paragraphs: Cinnamomum is a genus of evergreen trees and shrubs. All of them belong to the same family as the laurel, Laurelaceae. The species in the genus have aromatic oils in their leaves and bark. There are over 300 species in the genus. They can be found in the tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, Oceania, Asia and Australasia.

paragraphs: Well-known "Cinnamomum" species include Cinnamon ("Cinnamomum verum", also known as "true cinnamon" or Ceylon Cinnamon); Cassia ("C. aromaticum" or "C. cassia"), Camphor laurel ("C. camphora"), Saigon cinnamon ("C. loureiroi", also known as Vietnamese cinnamon, Vietnamese cassia, or Saigon cassia), Malabathrum ("C. tamala", also known as "C. tejpata"; "tejpat" or "tej pat" in Hindi; or, inaccurately, "Indian bay leaf").


title: London Stock Exchange

paragraphs: The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in London, England. It is the biggest stock exchange in the Europe and third largest in the world.

paragraphs: It is the home of the FTSE 100 Index, as well as others.

paragraphs: The Exchange was opened in 1801 by Queen Elizabeth I.

paragraphs: There are currently 2,938 companies from over 60 countries listed on the London Stock Exchange. The total value of these companies is £3.9 trillion.


title: The 4400

paragraphs: The 4400 was a science fiction television series. The series ran from 2004 to 2007.

paragraphs: "The 4400" is a reference to 4400 people who disappeared mysteriously over the last century. These people all returned near Seattle, Washington at the same time from a large ball of light. They had not gotten older. After a short time, each person that came back started showing some special abilities, for example: healing, precognition (seeing the future), and persuasion.


title: Foyle's War

paragraphs: Foyle's War is a British detective drama television show. It started on 27 October 2002 and ended on 18 January 2015. The show is set during and after World War II.

paragraphs: On 12 January 2015, it was announced by ITV that they would not commission any more episodes because of how much production costs and their intention to air original drama commissions. The last episode of the series aired on 18 January 2015.


title: Giant anteater

paragraphs: The giant anteater, "Myrmecophaga", is an animal that lives in Central and South America.It is also known as the ant bear

paragraphs: It the only mammal without teeth. Its diet consists of termites and ants, hence the name. It is the largest anteater: its length is between 182 cm and 217 cm. Males weigh between 33 and 41 kg, female are 27 and 39 kg. This species lives on the ground, in contrast to other living anteaters and sloths which are arboreal or semi-arboreal. It forages in open areas and rests in more forested habitats.

paragraphs: The giant anteater is adapted to eat termites and ants, and does not have any teeth in its mouth. It uses its front claws to dig them up and its long, sticky tongue to collect them. They eat about 30,000 ants and termites every day.

paragraphs: The tongue can reach up to , longer than the length of the skull, and move in and out around 160 times per minute (nearly three times per second). The anteater's tongue has little to no attachments to the hyoid and this is what allows it to flick its tongue at such distances and speed. The hyoid apparatus is large, V-shaped and flexible and supports the tongue as it goes in and out of the mouth. Before being swallowed, insects are crushed against the palate.

paragraphs: The giant anteater knuckle-walks, meaning its front toes are curled under like a fist when it moves. It is one of only a few animals other than primates that do this.


title: Sanctuary (TV series)

paragraphs: Sanctuary is a Canadian science-fiction-fantasy television series.

paragraphs: The show originally started out as a no-cost eight-webisode series and later expanded into a television-based 13-episode season after Syfy decided to buy the rights to it. The show ran for 4 seasons before Syfy said that the show had been cancelled.


title: William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne

paragraphs: William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (15 March 1779-24 November 1848) was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

paragraphs: Lamb was elected to Parliament in 1806 as a member of the Whig party.

paragraphs: Lamb served as Irish Secretary in the government.

paragraphs: Lamb became Lord Melbourne when his father died. His family home was in Melbourne in Derbyshire. Melbourne in Australia is named after William Lamb.

paragraphs: Melbourne became Home Secretary during Lord Grey's government. Grey resigned in 1834 and Melbourne became Prime Minister.

paragraphs: Melbourne was dismissed by King William IV who wanted the Robert Peel's party. Melbourne came back when the Whigs won the next election.

paragraphs: Melbourne was Prime Minister when Queen Victoria became queen. He helped her learn about how the government worked.

paragraphs: Melbourne helped to reduce the number of people killed for doing crimes. Melbourne also made changes to local government.

paragraphs: Melbourne resigned in 1841, and died on 24 November 1848.


title: Silicon Valley

paragraphs: Silicon Valley is the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in California in the United States. The term originally meant the innovators and manufacturers of silicon chip who worked here, but now means all the high tech businesses in the area. Even though it's not truly a valley, it is a term for the high-tech sector generally.

paragraphs: Silicon Valley includes the northern part of Santa Clara Valley and adjacent communities in the southern parts of the San Francisco Peninsula and East Bay. It reaches from Menlo Park (on the Peninsula) and the Fremont/Newark area in the East Bay down to San Jose.

paragraphs: The term "Silicon Valley" was coined by journalist Don Hoefler in 1971. He used it as the title of a series of articles "Silicon Valley USA" in a weekly trade newspaper Electronic News which started with the January 11, 1971 issue. "Valley" refers to the Santa Clara Valley, located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay, while "Silicon" refers to the high concentration of semiconductor and computer-related industries in the area. These and similar technology firms slowly replaced the orchards which gave the area its initial nickname, the Valley of Heart's Delight.

paragraphs: The San Francisco Bay Area had long been a major site of U.S. Navy work, as well as the site of the Navy's large research airfield at Moffett Field. A number of technology firms had set up shop in the area around Moffett to serve the Navy. When the Navy moved most of its West Coast operations to San Diego, NASA took over portions of Moffett for aeronautics research. Many of the original companies stayed, while new ones moved in. The immediate area was soon filled with aerospace firms.

paragraphs: However, there was almost no civilian "high-tech" industry in the area. Although there were a number of excellent schools in the area, graduating students almost always moved east or south (that is, to Los Angeles County) to find work. This was particularly annoying to Frederick Terman, a professor at Stanford University. He decided that a vast area of unused Stanford land was perfect for real estate development, and set up a program to encourage students to stay in the area by enabling them to easily find venture capital. One of the major success stories of the program was that it convinced two students to stay in the area, William Hewlett and David Packard. In 1939, they founded Hewlett-Packard in Packard's garage, which would go on to be one of the first "high tech" firms in the area that was not directly related to NASA or the U.S. Navy.

paragraphs: Thousands of high technology companies are headquartered in Silicon Valley; among those, the following are in the Fortune 1000:

paragraphs: Additional notable companies headquartered (or with a significant presence) in Silicon Valley include (some defunct or subsumed):

paragraphs: Befitting its heritage, Silicon Valley is home to the high-tech superstore chain Fry's Electronics.

paragraphs: Technically the following universities are not located in Silicon Valley, but have been instrumental as sources of research and new graduates:

paragraphs: A number of cities are located in Silicon Valley (in alphabetical order):

paragraphs: Cities sometimes associated with the region:

paragraphs: In the James Bond film "A View to a Kill", villain Max Zorin plans to destroy Silicon Valley by detonating explosives between the "Hayward Fault" and "San Andreas Fault", causing them to flood. He dubs the operation 'Main Strike' in order to gain complete control of the microchip market by selling his own and destroying the competition.


title: Signal (biology)

paragraphs: A signal in biology is any kind of coded message sent from one organism to another, or from one place in an organism to another place.

paragraphs: In biology, especially in electrophysiology, a signal or biopotential is an electric quantity (voltage or current or field strength), that is caused by chemical reactions of charged ions. Biological signals can also be seen as an example of signal (electrical engineering).

paragraphs: Another use of the term lies in the transfer of information between and within cells, as in signal transduction.


title: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury

paragraphs: Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (3 February 1830 - 22 August 1903) was a Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was known as Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and as Viscount Cranborne from 1865 until 1868.

paragraphs: Salisbury served as Prime Minister three times for a total of over thirteen years. When Prime Minister, he acted as his own Foreign Minister.

paragraphs: Lord Cecil was elected to Parliament in 1853 as a member of the Conservative Party. In 1866 (now called Viscount Cranborne), he served as Secretary of State for India under Prime Minister Lord Derby. Cranborne resigned, but he would return to government in 1874, now as the Marquess of Salisbury. Salisbury was again Secretary of State for India under Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. In 1878, Salisbury became Foreign Secretary in the Disraeli government.

paragraphs: Salisbury became the Conservative Party leader. Salisbury first served as Prime Minister from 23 June 1885, to 28 January 1886. His first government did not last long as the Conservatives did not have full control.

paragraphs: Salisbury became Prime Minister again on 25 July 1886, with a majority. He would be in office until 11 August 1892. His third time as Prime Minister was from 25 June 1895, until 11 July 1902.

paragraphs: Two issues dominated his time as Prime Minister. One was the struggle between European powers seizing parts of Africa, the so-called "Scramble for Africa". The United Kingdom fought the Second Boer War while Salisbury was Prime Minister.

paragraphs: The other was Ireland, the rise of Irish nationalism amongst Catholics in Ireland. This was backed by his great opponent, Gladstone, leader of the Liberal Party and also three times Prime Minister.

paragraphs: Salisbury helped establish the London County Council. Salisbury built up the Royal Navy. Africa was divided up into colonies.

paragraphs: Salisbury resigned on 11 July 1902. He died on 22 August 1903. The great issues which had divided the country in his time colonialism, Ireland and Africa – lasted in British politics for most of the next century. The one great issue which was not appreciated at the time was the rise of militant German nationalism, which in the next century led to two World Wars. Throughout his career Salisbury wrote articles for the "Quarterly Review", which have now been edited and published.


title: Electrophysiology

paragraphs: Electrophysiology is the study of the electrical properties of biological cells and tissues. It involves measurements of voltage change or electrical current flow on a wide variety of scales from single ion channel proteins, to whole tissues like the heart. In neuroscience, it includes measurements of the electrical activity of neurons, and particularly action potential activity.

paragraphs: Classical electrophysiology involves placing electrodes into various preparations of biologic tissue. The principle types of electrodes are: 1) simple solid conductors, such as discs and needles (singles or arrays), 2) tracings on a printed circuit boards, and 3) hollow tubes filled with an electrolyte, such as glass pippettes. The principal preparations include 1) living organisms, 2) excised tissue (acute or cultured), 3) dissociated cells from excised tissue (acute or cultured), 4) artificially grown cells or tissues, or 5) hybrids of the above.

paragraphs: If an electrode is small enough in diameter (on the order of microns), then the electrophysiologist may choose to insert the tip into a single cell.

paragraphs: Many particular electrophysiological readings have specific names:


title: Ion channel

paragraphs: Ion channels are pore-forming proteins that help to establish and control the small voltage gradient across the plasma membrane of all living cells (see resting potential) by allowing the flow of ions down their electrochemical gradient. They are present in the membranes that surround all biological cells.

paragraphs: An ion channel is an integral membrane protein or more typically an assembly of several proteins.

paragraphs: The 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon for their discovery of ion channels.


title: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth

paragraphs: Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC (30 May 1757–15 February 1844) was a British statesman. He was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804.

paragraphs: His father was a physician specialising in the treatment of mental illness. His father was one of George III's doctors and this resulted in Addington being known (in no friendly spirit) as "The Doctor". Before becoming Prime Minister he had been Speaker of the House of Commons.

paragraphs: He tried but failed to negotiate a lasting peace with Napoleon's France.

paragraphs: He was not well regarded as Prime Minister and his capabilities were summed up in the rhyme: "Pitt is to Addington as London is to Paddington". As Viscount Sidmouth, he was a very reactionary Home Secretary in the Government of the Earl of Liverpool but he was eventually persuaded to retire in favour of Sir Robert Peel.


title: Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton

paragraphs: Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, KG, PC (28 September 1735–14 March 1811) was a British Whig statesman. He was one of a handful of dukes who were Prime Minister of Great Britain.

paragraphs: He studied at Westminster School and then got a degree from Peterhouse College in Cambridge.


paragraphs: William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville PC (25 October 1759–12 January 1834), was a British Whig statesman and Prime Minister. Grenville was the son of Prime Minister George Grenville.

paragraphs: He was educated at Eton College, Christ Church, Oxford and Lincoln's Inn.


title: Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

paragraphs: Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (7 June 1770–4 December 1828) was an English politician and the longest serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Robert Walpole held office for longer, but only as Prime Minister of Great Britain) During his time as Prime Minister from 1812 to 1827, Liverpool became known for the harsh rules he put in place to restore order, but he also led the country through the bad period that followed the Napoleonic Wars. Important events during his time as Prime Minister included the Congress of Vienna, the Corn Laws, Catholic emancipation and the Peterloo Massacre.


title: Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich

paragraphs: Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon PC (1 November 1782–28 January 1859) was a British statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (when he was known as Lord Goderich).


paragraphs: Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS (1 May 1769–14 September 1852) was a soldier and statesman. He was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain. His defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 put him in the top rank of Britain's military heroes. In 2002 he was number 15 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

paragraphs: Wellesley was born in Dublin into a wealthy Anglo-Irish aristocratic protestant family. Starting as an ensign in the British Army, he served well in British India and in the Napoleonic Wars, mostly in the Peninsular War, where he reached the rank of Field Marshal. He became a Duke when Napoleon was exiled to Elba.

paragraphs: Wellington is often compared to the 1st Duke of Marlborough. They had many things in common, including being in politics after a highly successful military career.

paragraphs: Wellington was twice Tory Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was one of the leading figures in the House of Lords until his retirement in 1846. He remained Commander-in-Chief of the British Army until his death.


title: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey

paragraphs: Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC (13 March 1764 – 17 July 1845) was a British Whig statesman and Prime Minister. Earl Grey tea, a type of tea with a bergamot orange flavour is named after him.


title: John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

paragraphs: John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878) was an English Whig and Liberal politician. He served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century.

paragraphs: Russell was known as "Lord John Russell", which is called a courtesy title. As the third son of the then Duke of Bedford, he was entitled to use one of the family's lower titles. Before becoming Prime Minister, he served in other important posts, such as Home Secretary, Colonial Secretary and Foreign Secretary.


title: Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

paragraphs: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. He began his parliamentary career as a Tory and ended it as a Liberal.

paragraphs: He is best remembered for his leading of British foreign policy in a period of time when the United Kingdom was at its strongest. He served as both Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister. Some of his actions, now sometimes called 'liberal interventionist', were disliked by the Queen and by many of his fellow politicians.


paragraphs: George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, KG, KT, PC (28 January 1784–14 December 1860) was a Scottish Tory/Peelite politician. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1852 until 1855.


title: Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby

paragraphs: Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, KG, PC (29 March 1799–23 October 1869) was an English statesman. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times. To date, Derby was the longest serving leader of the Conservative Party. Derby is one of only four British Prime Ministers to have been in office three or more times. However each time he was only in office for less than two years. Derby was Prime Minister for a total of just over four years, less than many other Prime Ministers.


title: Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery

paragraphs: Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (7 May 184721 May 1929) was a British Liberal politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, also known as Archibald Primrose (1847–1851), Lord Dalmeny (1851–1868).

paragraphs: After an education at Eton and Oxford, Dalmeny succeeded to his grandfather's Scottish earldom in 1868.

paragraphs: Becoming involved in politics, he became a Liberal, and was involved in Gladstone's Midlothian campaign, which brought the Liberals back into power in 1880. In the Liberal administration that followed, Rosebery served in junior offices, including that of Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, before entering the Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal in March 1885.

paragraphs: Rosebery became a leader of the Liberal Imperialist faction of the Liberal Party, and in Gladstone's third (1886) and fourth (1892–1894) administrations, Rosebery served as Foreign Secretary. When Gladstone retired in 1894, Rosebery became his successor as Prime Minister, much to the disgust of the more left-wing Liberals. Rosebery's government was largely unsuccessful—his designs in foreign policy, such as expansion of the fleet, were defeated by disagreements within the Liberal Party, while the Tory-dominated House of Lords stopped the whole of the Liberals' domestic legislation. In 1895, Rosebery resigned, and a Conservative government under Lord Salisbury took his place.

paragraphs: Rosebery resigned as leader of the Liberal Party in 1896, and gradually moved further and further from the mainstream of the party, supporting the Boer War and opposing Irish Home Rule, a position which prevented him from taking part in the Liberal government that returned to power in 1905. In his later years, Rosebery turned to writing, including biographies of Lord Chatham, Pitt the Younger, Napoleon, and Lord Randolph Churchill. He was also famous for his champion racehorses.

paragraphs: Roseberry was extremely wealthy, even by the standards of the aristocracy before the First World War. He owned 12 houses, all of them grand, and some of huge size.

paragraphs: It was rumoured that Rosebery was homosexual or bisexual. Like Oscar Wilde, he was hounded by Queensbury for his association with one of Queensberry's sons. It was Francis Douglas, who was Roseberry's private secretary. The suggestion was that Queensberry had threatened to expose the Prime Minister if his government did not vigorously prosecute Wilde for Wilde's relationship with Francis Douglas's younger brother, Lord Alfred Douglas. Queensberry believed, as he put it in a letter, that "Snob Queers like Rosebery" had corrupted his sons, and he held Rosebery indirectly responsible for Drumlanrig's death.


title: Henry Campbell-Bannerman

paragraphs: Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (7 September 1836 - 22 April 1908) was a Scottish- born British Liberal statesman. He served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 5 December 1905 until resigning because of bad health on 3 April 1908.

paragraphs: Campbell-Bannerman was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1836 as Henry Campbell. The surname "Bannerman" was added to his surname in 1871 as required by his uncle's will. It was a requirement of his inheritance of his uncle's Kent estate, Hunton Court.

paragraphs: Seriously ill by the time of his resignation as Prime Minister, he died just nineteen days later. He remains the most recent Prime Minister to die in 10 Downing Street.


title: United States Census Bureau

paragraphs: The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census) is a part of the United States government that is responsible for the United States Census.

paragraphs: The Census Bureau is a part of the United States Department of Commerce.

paragraphs: The Constitution of the United States says that the population must be counted at least once every ten years (through the U.S. Census). This is done to calculate how many Federal Representatives in Congress each state should have. The Census Bureau is in charge of doing this. It collects statistics about the nation, its people, and its economy. The Census Bureau's legal authority is listed in Title 13 of the United States Code. The first census bureau was in 1790.

paragraphs: Since 1903, The Bureau of the Census has been the census-taking organization of the United States government. The Bureau is led by a Director, who is helped by a Deputy Director and associate directors.

paragraphs: The Census Bureau headquarters is located at 4600 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, Maryland. There are regional offices in 12 cities: Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Kansas City, Seattle, Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Los Angeles. More offices are set up and used when it comes time to do the census every 10 years.

paragraphs: The Census Bureau also use real-time extrapolation of information on population, birth, and death to give their estimates of the number of people in the United States and the world.


title: Signal processing

paragraphs: Signal processing is the analysis, interpretation and manipulation of signals. Signals of interest include sound, images, biological signals such as ECG, radar signals, and many others.

paragraphs: Processing of such signals includes storage and reconstruction, separation of information from noise (e.g., aircraft identification by radar), compression (e.g., image compression), and feature extraction (e.g., converting text to speech).

paragraphs: For analog signals, signal processing may involve the amplification and filtering of audio signals for audio equipment or the modulation and demodulation of signals for telecommunication. For digital signals, signal processing may involve the compression, error checking and error detection of digital signals.

paragraphs: Signal processing is the analysis, interpretation and manipulation of acquired signals. Acquired signals must to be processed depending on the purpose of measurement, a method of measurement, and a property of acquired signals.

paragraphs: When signals are processed, statistics is used because it's essential to know a distribution of data and represent data by numerical formulas. In other words, to study signal processing, it's demanded to study statistics (like the theory of error, the arithmetical mean, probability, a stochastic variable, accuracy, and detailed drawing, etc.).

paragraphs: In most cases, signals are regular, as it is acquired from electric instruments like telemeter, or communications equipment, etc. But there are also many accidentally occurred irregular signals which make it difficult to find formulas that fit exactly. Here, the irregular means it's hard to predict the result which is not yet occurred. When irregular signals are acquired, photon is necessary, so it is measured, and calculated.


title: Henri Troyat

paragraphs: Henri Troyat, born Levon Aslan Torossian or Lev Aslanovich Tarasov, (November 1, 1911 – March 2, 2007) was a French author, biographer, historian and novelist. Originally, his family was from Armenia.

paragraphs: He was born in Moscow. His family fled Russia, because they feared the coming revolution. After a long exile, the family settled in Paris in 1920, where young Troyat was schooled and later earned a law degree.

paragraphs: He won his first literary award at the age of 24, "le prix du Roman populaire". At the age of 27 he was awarded the prestigious Prix Goncourt.

paragraphs: He published more than 100 books, novels and biographies, among them those of Anton Chekhov, Catherine the Great, Rasputin, Ivan the Terrible and Leo Tolstoy. He was at his death the dean of the Académie française.

paragraphs: His best-known work is "La neige en deuil", which was adapted as an English-language movie in 1956 under the title "The Mountain".


title: Rondônia

paragraphs: Rondônia is a state in Brazil. It is in the northwest of the country. To the west is the state of Acre. To the north is the state of Amazonas. In the east is Mato Grosso. In the south is Bolivia. Its capital is Porto Velho. The state was named after Candido Rondon.

paragraphs: The state is covered mostly by jungle of the Amazon Rainforest. About three-fifths of the state has had the jungle removed since the 1970s. Most of the people living in the state now live in urban areas. It is a big exporter of wood. The state also makes both coffee and cocoa. The breeding of cattle is also important here.

paragraphs: The flag was made by Silvio Carvalho Feitosa. It was made the flag of the state on December 22, 1981. The flag uses the same colors of the flag of Brazil. The big star in the middle of the flag is a symbol for the new state. The star is shown rising into the blue sky that is stretching over Brazil (the yellow and green areas in the lower half of the flag).

paragraphs: The Akuntsu tribe is one of the tribes of Rondônia. They are one of the indigenous peoples of Brazil. They were first contacted in only 1995. At that time, there were only seven people in the tribe. As of 2006, there were six people. They live in the Igarape Omere region to the southwest of Rondônia. The tribe consists of chief Kunibu Baba (male, age: ~ 70), Pupak (male, age: ~ 40), Ururu (female, age:~80) and three women with ages from 23-35. The seventh member of the tribe died in 1995. The only child born after that died in 2000 in a storm. With his death the only hope of the tribe not becoming extinct lessened.


title: Singular

paragraphs: In linguistics, noun phrases have grammatical number. Singular is one kind of grammatical number. A singular noun phrase usually refers to something that you would count as one only (e.g., "one time", "a glass", "the sun", "my mother", "Jennifer"). Noun phrases that cannot be counted are also singular in English (e.g., "water", "the meat", "some space", etc.). In contrast, plural noun phrases are counted as more or less than one (e.g., "no bananas", "0.5 liters", "1.2 grams", "two times", "three fish", "20 mothers").


title: Cantons of Switzerland

paragraphs: Switzerland is divided into 26 different areas called "cantons". A canton is like a state in the United States.

paragraphs: In the past, each canton had its own army and money. This changed in 1848 when Switzerland finished a civil war and changed to the structure it has now.

paragraphs: The cantons Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden (Nidwalden and Obwalden together are called "Unterwalden") are called "Urkantone". An Urkanton is a canton that existed since the foundation of Switzerland in 1291. With time, other cantons joined Switzerland. "Jura" is the newest canton in Switzerland since 1978. In that year, it split from the canton of Berne, after some rioting.

paragraphs: The cantons of Basel-Stadt, Basel-Landschaft, Appenzell-Innerrhoden, Appenzell-Ausserrhoden, Obwalden and Nidwalden are different from the others in one way. For historical reasons, their voting is counted differently in national elections. Other than that, they are the same as the others.

paragraphs: In Switzerland, the individual municipalities and cantons are very free. Usually, there is a Swiss law (at the level of the whole confederation). Very often this states general things and says that the cantons must follow this rule. The cantons then make detailed rules, each in the way it sees fit. Sometimes this leads to strange situations. There are 26 different schooling systems.

paragraphs: Drug abuse is a federal offense. Punishment is usually one to three years, but can also be only a fine. The problem is: Consumption itself (not trading, or giving away for free) is not punishable. Also in light cases, the police can say that there will be no fine. This has led to the fact, that in each canton, this law is applied differently. In one canton, smoking marijuana will mean a fine, in another, it can mean a prison term.

paragraphs: The word for that is called federalism. That means, that each canton has its own government. So all cantons have their own constitution. The constitution is the highest law in a state.

paragraphs: The cantons are listed in the order given in the federal constitution.

paragraphs: Notes: As of 31 December 2001, National Statistics, km², per km², based on 2000 population seat of government and parliament, the seat of the judicial authorities is Trogen.

paragraphs: The two-letter abbreviations for Swiss cantons are widely used, e.g. on car license plates and in the ISO 3166-2 codes (with the prefix "CH-", i.e. CH-SZ for the canton of Schwyz).


title: Nervous system

paragraphs: The nervous system is a system in the body which sends signals around the body. It lets people and animals respond to what is around them. The "central nervous system" is the brain, the spinal cord, and nerves. It is present in most animals. It is there to coordinate movement, to process the input of the senses, and to make the animals act a certain way. It is made up of neurons and cells called glia, among other things. Glial cells keep the neurons safe and healthy.

paragraphs: The structure of the system includes the brain and spinal cord, which together are called the "central nervous system." The brain has billions of nerve cells to help think, walk, and breathe. The nervous system can react in 1/100 of a second to a stimulus, like a pain signal.

paragraphs: The system of nerves in your body that sends messages for controlling movement and feelingbetween the brain and the other parts of the body anatomy of nervous systems can be sub-divided as follows:


title: Alexandre Dumas, fils

paragraphs: Alexandre Dumas, fils (fils is French for "son"), (27 July 1824 – 27 November 1895) was the son of Alexandre Dumas, père (père is French for "father"). Like his father, Alexandre Dumas, fils was a celebrated author and playwright.

paragraphs: Alexandre Dumas "fils" was born in Paris, France, the illegitimate child of Marie-Catherine Labay, a dressmaker, and novelist Alexandre Dumas. In 1831 his father legally recognized him (he adopted him) and ensured the young Dumas received the best education possible at the Institution Goubaux and the College Bourbon. At that time, the law allowed the elder Dumas to take the child away from his mother. Her agony inspired Dumas "fils" to write about tragic female characters. In almost all of his writings, he emphasized the moral purpose of literature and in his 1858 play, "Le fils naturel" ("The Illegitimate Son"), he wrote about the belief that if a man fathers an illegitimate child, then he has an obligation to legitimize the child and marry the woman.

paragraphs: Dumas' paternal great-grandparents were a white French nobleman and a young black Haitian woman. In the boarding schools, Dumas "fils" was constantly taunted by his classmates. These issues all profoundly influenced his thoughts, behaviour, and writing.

paragraphs: In 1844, Dumas "fils" moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to live with his father. There, he met Marie Duplessis, a young courtesan who would be the inspiration for his romantic novel, "La dame aux camélias" ("The Lady of the Camellias"). Adapted into a play, it was titled in English (especially in the United States) as "Camille" and is the basis for Verdi's 1853 opera, "La Traviata". Although he admitted that he had done the adaptation because he needed the money, he had a huge success with the play. With this work began the playwriting career of Dumas "fils" which not only eclipsed that of his father during his lifetime but also dominated the serious French stage for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. After this, he virtually abandoned the novel (though his semi-autobiographical "L'Affaire Clemenceau" (1867) achieved some success).

paragraphs: In 1864, Dumas married Nadeja Naryschkine, with whom he had a daughter. After Naryschkine's death, he married Henriette Regnier.

paragraphs: In 1874, he was admitted to the Académie française and in 1894 he was awarded the "Légion d'Honneur".

paragraphs: Alexandre Dumas the son died at Marly-le-Roi, Yvelines, on 27 November 1895 and was interred in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris. It was, perhaps coincidentally, only some 100 metres away from Marie Duplessis.


title: Conjunctivitis

paragraphs: Conjunctivitis (also known as pinkeye) is a medical condition when the "Conjunctiva" (a transparent membrane that lines the outer eye, and inner part of the eyelid) becomes inflamed. The cause of conjunctivitis can be either bacterial or viral infection.


title: Cerulean

paragraphs: Cerulean is a range of colours from teal-blue, sky-blue, bright blue, or azure to deep cyan. The word cerulean comes from the Latin word "caeruleum", which means "sky" or "heavens". This was in turn from Latin "caeruleus" deep blue: resembling the blue of the sky.

paragraphs: In classical times, this term was used to describe blue pigments, particularly mixtures of copper and cobaltous oxides, called genuine cerulean. These early attempts to create sky blue colours were often less than satisfactory due to greenish hues and lack of permanence. When the artificial pigment cerulean blue was invented people started using this instead.

paragraphs: The first recorded use of "cerulean" as a color name in English was in 1590.


title: John Barrowman

paragraphs: John Barrowman (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom but moved to Joliet, Illinois in the United States when he was 8 years old and grew up there. He is citizen of both the United Kingdom and the United States because of this. Barrowman was a contestant on the first series of "Dancing on Ice" in 2006.

paragraphs: Barrowman is most known for playing the character Captain Jack Harkness in the television series "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood". He is also a famous musical actor and singer. He has appeared in many musicals, as well as television shows about musicals. He also has been a presenter for series such as "Live & Kicking and, the Hollow Earth trilogy". He is currently staring in CW's Arrow as Malcolm Merlyn.

paragraphs: Barrowman is openly gay. He has been in a relationship with Scott Gill since 1993. They have been civil partners since 2006. They married in 2013.


title: Swamp

paragraphs: A swamp is part of a wetland ecosystem. Swamps are forested, low, spongy land generally saturated with water and covered with trees and aquatic plants. Big parts of swamps are often flooded with water. Swamps are nesting and breeding grounds for birds and other animals.

paragraphs: About 6 percent of Earth's surface is covered by swamps. Swamps are also filters for groundwater, and protect against flooding. Swamps are one of the key wetland areas which are protected by the international agency Ramsar.


title: Diego Rivera

paragraphs: Diego Rivera (December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a famous Mexican painter and muralist. He was born in Guanajuato City, Guanajuato.

paragraphs: Rivera is famous for his 1933 mural, "Man at the Crossroads," for the lobby of the RCA Building at Rockefeller Center. Before he finished the mural, people saw that there was an image of Vladimir Lenin and other communist images in it. Rivera was fired because of this and the mural was destroyed.

paragraphs: Rivera's wife, Frida Kahlo, was also a famous Mexican painter. He died in Mexico City of congestive heart failure at the age of 70.


title: David Alfaro Siqueiros

paragraphs: David Alfaro Siqueiros (December 29, 1896 in Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico – January 6, 1974 in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico) was a famous painter and muralist.


title: Avenged Sevenfold

paragraphs: Avenged Sevenfold (or A7X) is an American hard rock band. The band started in Huntington Beach, California in 1999. The band is sometimes called "A7X", which is a title started by the band's guitarist, Zacky Vengeance. They have a song called "Beast and the Harlot" which is used in the video game "Guitar Hero II" and "". Their song "Almost Easy" is used in "Rock Band 2".


title: Siege

paragraphs: A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress. The purpose is to conquer by starvation, lack of water, or by a well-prepared assault.

paragraphs: Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict. The defender inside has a strong, static, defensive position. Negotiation between combatants is common.

paragraphs: A siege happens when the attacker gets to a city or fortress which cannot be taken by storm, and which refuses to surrender. Sieges block the supplies and reinforcements or escape of men. Siege engines, artillery bombardment, and undermining are frequent. Deception and treachery are common.

paragraphs: Sieges can be decided by starvation, thirst, or disease. This form of siege can take many months or even years, depending upon the size of the stores of food the fortified position holds.


Hull


title: River Hull

paragraphs: The River Hull is a river in Yorkshire in the north of England.

paragraphs: It has its source in the Yorkshire Wolds. It joins the River Humber estuary in the centre of Kingston upon Hull.

paragraphs: The river separates the industrial area of the city, and several opening bridges have been constructed. These continue to cause traffic delays during high tides, though river traffic is not so heavy any more in recent years.

paragraphs: These are the bridges in the Hull area:-


title: Hull (watercraft)

paragraphs: A hull is the body of a ship or boat. It is a central concept in floating vessels as it provides the buoyancy that keeps the vessel from sinking.

paragraphs: Almost all watercraft, from small boats to the largest ships, have a general form that is necessary for stability and efficient propulsion, which includes:

paragraphs: Archimedes, a Greek doctor, inventor, and mathematician, made the science of "hydrostatics", the study of liquids and pressure. The Archimedes principle says that the force holding up an object that is inside a liquid in part or totally. So, a ship actually does sink, until it moves an amount of water that is the same weight of the weight of the ship. The weight must be over a wide area to work. This explains why ships and boats (including submarines) float. An object's weight pulls down in the direction of gravity, but the water's buoyant (floating) force pushes it up. Because these forces counteract each other, the object seems to lose weight. NASA uses this principle to prepare their astronauts for the weightlessness of space, so they had the astronauts work on parts of the space ship inside water tanks 25 feet (7.6 m) deep.

paragraphs: Portside is the left side of the boat when facing the Bow

paragraphs: Starboard is the right side of the boat when facing the Bow

paragraphs: Waterline is an imaginary line circumscribing the hull that matches the surface of the water when the hull is not moving.

paragraphs: Midships is the midpoint of the LWL (see below).

paragraphs: It is half-way from the forwardmost point on the waterline to the rear-most point on the waterline.

paragraphs: Baseline an imaginary reference line used to measure vertical distances from. It is usually located at the bottom of the hull.


title: Buoyancy

paragraphs: In physics, buoyancy () is a force on an object making that object rise or move upward. It comes from the Spanish word for "float", "boyar". Buoyancy is made by the difference in pressure put on the object by the Fluid or air that the object is in.

paragraphs: The net upward buoyancy force is equal to the magnitude of the weight of fluid that is displaced by the body. This force enables the object to float or at least to seem lighter. Buoyancy is important for many vehicles such as boats, ships, balloons, and blimps.

paragraphs: If the object has exactly the same density as the liquid, then its buoyancy is the same as its weight. It will not sink or float.

paragraphs: If the object has a higher average density than the liquid, then its buoyancy is less than its weight. It will sink. That is why pebbles do not float.

paragraphs: If the object has a lower average density than the liquid, then its buoyancy is greater than its weight. That is why, although a ship may be made of steel which is more dense than water, it floats because it encloses a volume of air and the resulting shape has an average density less than that of the water.


title: Asura

paragraphs: The Asura are a group of supernatural creatures in Hinduism and Buddhism.

paragraphs: In today's beliefs and assumptions, the Asuras are demons. But this was not always that way. The idea of the Asuras is very, very old, from long before the time people learned how to read and write. The Asuras only became demons after much time had passed. Buddhism also has Asuras. These are from Hinduism but have also changed a lot in their own way.

paragraphs: Some of the Asuras are very important, and have been worshiped for thousands of years. The most important of these are Varuna and Mitra. Varuna is the god of the ocean, which in olden times was thought to be flowing under the earth. So, Varuna came to be seen as god of the underworld. In ancient times, water was thought to be where wisdom came from. So Varuna is considered very wise, and he gives his wisdom to those who honor him. Varuna's closest companion is Mitra. Mitra mostly means "friend" in Hinduism, but it originally meant "promise". And so Mitra is the god of friendships and promises. He protects people who honor the truth and punishes those who tell lies. The "Mi-" in "Mitra" means "to tie tightly". Friendship and promises tie people to one another.

paragraphs: In Hinduism, the Asura (Sanskrit: असुर) are a group of creatures looking for more power, sometimes called demons. They went against the devas. The devas and asuras are the children of "Kashyapa".

paragraphs: Hinduism has many stories of Asuras and Devas fighting each other. Mostly they fight about who will get the best prayers from the worshipers.

paragraphs: In Hinduism the Asuras are said to be beings of moral and social things. Like truth and marriage. The Daevas are said to be beings of natural things. Like the sun and the rain. In Hinduism, the Asuras are said to be "older". And the daevas are said to be "younger". There are very many Asuras and Daevas. Two hundred years ago someone counted them and said there were over 2,000 Daevas and Asuras. So naturally not all Asuras are very important. But some names have been forgotten since then, and others have been added. This is why Hinduism is called a "living religion." It is changing all the time.

paragraphs: The Asuras are partly—but not completely -- demonic in Buddhism. Buddhism takes the basic idea from Hinduism.

paragraphs: Mostly the Asuras of Buddhism represent some mental state of humans that is not nice. For example, anger or pride or violence. There are many different kinds of Asuras. They are always angry with everyone and are always fighting. Their leaders are called the Asurendra, which means "Lord of Asuras".

paragraphs: The Asuras are almost human in their emotions. On the Buddhist scale of supernatural beings, the Asuras are almost at the bottom.

paragraphs: Buddhism is very popular in the far east. So, many of the Asuras also have Japanese, Chinese and Korean names.

paragraphs: The Vedas are the most holy books of the Indian religions, especially of Hinduism. There are four Vedas, and they are all very, very old. The oldest of the Vedas is called the RigVeda, and it is more than 3,000 years old.

paragraphs: In the RigVeda the Asuras are not yet demons. At that time the Asuras and the Devas were both still groups of gods. In fact, many of the figures of the RigVeda are both "asura"s "and" "daeva"s. This is because, at that time, the two words were not yet names of groups. They were just names of characteristics. "Asura" means "life", and so the gods who were called "asura"s were thought to give life. And the "daeva"s were shining. This is the original meaning of the names. In later books they became different.

paragraphs: In the RigVeda many of the devas are called asuras, and many of the asuras are called devas. Sometimes they are also called both at the same time: Like "daev"ic" asuras" or "asur"ic" devas". The "-"ic"" makes those words a part of the other word. There are some beings who are both ahuric daevas "and" daevic ahuras. This shows that there was no big difference between 'ahura' and 'daeva' in the RigVeda.

paragraphs: The forefathers of the people who wrote the Vedas spoke Sanskrit. Sanskrit is the source of many Indian languages. The stories in the Rig Veda are seen in the books of various North Indian peoples, and also in the books of some Iranian peoples like the Zoroastrians.

paragraphs: One of the books of the Iranian peoples is called the Avesta. It is not really one book, but a collection of many books, but together they are called the Avesta. The Avesta is the holy book of Zoroastrianism. The language of the Avesta is very similar to the language of the RigVeda. The Avesta also has asuras and devas. But in Iran they are written as "ahura" and "daeva".

paragraphs: The old part of the Avesta is almost as old as the RigVeda. In this old part of the Avesta the ahuras and the daevas are almost like they are in the RigVeda. In both books they are groups of supernatural beings. But they are very different in character.

paragraphs: Some time after the RigVeda was written, stories were told about the asuras and devas that made them not friends any more. A similar thing also happened in the Avesta. Only that the two groups had been switched: The Asuras became demons in regions where North Indian languages were spoken, and the Daevas became demons in regions where Iranian languages were spoken.

paragraphs: It is not known for sure why this happened. It was a very, very long time ago.

paragraphs: One possible reason why the Asuras became demons in India is this: Some time after the RigVeda was written Indians started to think that "asura" means "a-sura", which means "not a hero". So, maybe that way the "asura"s got a bad name.

paragraphs: One possible reason why the Daevas became demons in Iran is this: At about the same time as the Indians were writing the last part of the RigVeda, a very thoughtful man named Zoroaster appeared in Iran. He thought and thought a lot about why there was goodness and badness in the world. Finally, he told everyone what he had been thinking about. And one of those things was that Daevas were not to be trusted because they could not tell the difference between truth and lies. After some time Zoroaster became very popular for his ideas. And so, with time, the Daevas became demons in Iran.

paragraphs: In both cases, the one side did not know what the other side was thinking. So in India only the Asuras became demons. And in Iran only the Daevas became demons.

paragraphs: Many, many centuries before the RigVeda and before Zoroaster, a name that sounds like "Asura" was the proper name of a very mighty god. Some scholars say his name was "Ansu" but this is not sure. So that is why they write the name as "*Ansu". That '*' means it is not sure. *Ansu was the god of life from which the name 'asura' and 'ahura' comes. We know that this god existed because far, far away in Northern Europe there was also a god named 'Aesir', who was also a giver of life. It sometimes can happen that a similar name appears in two or three places. But it is very rare that the same name with the same function appears. So, that is why 'Asura' and 'Ahura' and 'Aesir' must be all come from '*Ansu'. And we know that such a god must have been very powerful because he was very popular for so very long.

paragraphs: Although the Asuras and the Ahuras are related, they should not be mixed up. This is not only because their names are slightly different. It is also because they are very different. But the most important thing is that they are from different cultures. Even if they came from the same place, that was very long ago. After such a long much time, people have very different ideas about them.


title: Intercontinental ballistic missile

paragraphs: ICBM is an acronym. It stands for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. It is a missile that can travel such distances so it can be used from one continent to another. The missile can then carry a bomb. This can be a conventional or nuclear warhead. Today, most of the time, it will be a nuclear warhead.It is a guided ballistic missile which follows a path and has a range of 5500 km.They are primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery but can also carry chemical and biological weapons.


title: Elevation

paragraphs: When talking about geography the elevation of a certain point is how high it is compared to some reference point. Very often, the reference point is mean sea level, the level of the ocean midway between high and low tide on an average day. Most land has a positive elevation, which means it is above sea level. A few desert places are below sea level, thus have negative elevation.

paragraphs: Sometimes elevation is measured against the center of the earth. The problem there is that the earth does not really look like a ball, it is slightly squashed (an oblate spheroid). This means, that while still at mean sea level (at the equator), some points are farther away from the center of the earth than others. That way the peak of Chimborazo, a volcano in Ecuador is farther away from the center of the earth than the peak of Mount Everest. Yet, Mount Everest is higher above sea level.


title: Bastila Shan

paragraphs: Bastila Shan is a character from the "Star Wars" universe.

paragraphs: Bastila Shan was born in the year 3,979 BBY. She is the daughter of Helena Shan and an unknown treasure hunter who joined the Jedi Order despite her protests. She became a valuable member to the Jedi Order despite her young age due to her mastery of Battle Meditation. During the Jedi Civil War, she was responsible for the capture of Darth Revan, with whom she fell in love.

paragraphs: After the amnesic Darth Revan was given an entirely new identity, they worked together for a long time, searching for the Star Forge.

paragraphs: After Revan learnt of his true identity she was captured and tortured by Darth Malak and turned to the dark side. During a confrontation, she tried to persuade the redeemed Revan to return to the dark side and reclaim his rightful place. After being rejected and forced to flee to the Star Forge, Bastila confronted Revan again and lost. She begged him to kill her, but he refused and used the power of their love to bring her back to the light and help the Republic in the Battle of Rakata Prime.

paragraphs: She later married Revan and soon had a child called Vaner. When Revan left to stop a war he was sure was coming, she stayed behind to look after her child. She is also one of the surviving Jedi to survive the purge that followed it. She died of old age.


title: Darth Revan

paragraphs: Darth Revan is a fictional character from the "Star Wars" universe and .

paragraphs: Revan was a Jedi Knight and general who turned to the dark side in the Mandalorian Wars. After the death of Mandalore the Ultimate, Revan claimed the title of "Dark Lord of the Sith". He then founded a powerful new Sith Empire, and declared war on the Republic and the Jedi themselves. After defeating almost all of the Republic territories, Revan was captured by the Jedi due to the betrayal of his apprentice Darth Malak. He almost died (a small spark of the Force kept him alive) and was brought to the Council to have his mind replaced by a new identity that was loyal to the Republic. Even after discovering his former identity, he rejected the dark side. Revan ended the war he had begun by killing Malak. After the Jedi Civil War, Revan was given back his rank as Jedi Knight at age 26.

paragraphs: He was the lover of Bastila Shan. A year later, all his memories returned. He later left to the Unknown Regions to face this new threat known as the "True Sith".


title: Kraft Foods

paragraphs: Kraft Foods () is a business that makes packaged food. They own Oscar Meyer and Nabisco.


title: Soft drink

paragraphs: Soft drinks (also known as pop, soda, tonic, soda pop, fizzy drinks, or minerals ) are carbonated drinks made from concentrates and sugar. Some have flavors. Some popular types of soda are Sprite, Mountain Dew, 7 Up, Pepsi, Dr Pepper and Coca-Cola. Most soft drinks are sweetened with sugar, that is what makes them so unhealthy.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (1920s)

paragraphs: The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards. Also called Oscars, the Academy Awards are given to people working in the movie industry by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year between 1927 and 1929 is shown first, followed by the other nominees.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (1930s)

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year between 1930 and 1939 is shown first, followed by the other nominees. The name of the award becomes Best Picture in 1930.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (1940s)

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year from 1940 to 1949 is shown first, followed by the other nominees.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (1950s)

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year from 1950 to 1959 is shown first, followed by the other nominees.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (1960s)

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year from 1960 to 1969 is shown first, followed by the other nominees.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (1970s)

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year from 1970 to 1979 is shown first, followed by the other nominees.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (1980s)

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year from 1980 to 1989 is shown first, followed by the other nominees.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (1990s)

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year from 1990 to 1999 is shown first, followed by the other nominees.


title: Academy Award for Best Picture (2000s)

paragraphs: In the list below, the winner of the award for each year from 2000 to 2009 is shown first, followed by the other nominees.


title: Lexington, Kentucky

paragraphs: Lexington is the second largest city in Kentucky. In 2010, 295,803 people live there. It is called "the Horse Capital of the World".

paragraphs: Lexington was first named by a party of Virginians who camped here in June, 1775, after they heard the news about the Battle of Lexington, Massachusetts in April of that year starting the American Revolution against the British government. A fort was begun at the same spot in 1779, and by 1782 there was a town here known as "Lexington, Virginia". This is because Kentucky was still part of Virginia then, and was not made into a state of its own until 1792.


title: Toby Keith

paragraphs: Toby Keith Covel (born July 8, 1961) is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor.


title: Redhead

paragraphs: Redhead is a person with red or reddish-tinted hair. Approximately 1 to 2% of the world's population has red hair.

paragraphs: Red hair is made by genes. The gene for red hair is recessive, meaning to be weaker than other genes, like the brown hair gene, for example. Because of this, in order to have natural red hair a person needs to have red-haired ancestors present on both the maternal (mother's) and paternal (father's) side of the family.

paragraphs: Red hair is said to be most common close to the Northern European coasts and islands of the Atlantic Ocean, like British Isles, and in particular among Celtic people.

paragraphs: In Ireland, the percentage of population with red hair is very high relative to the rest of the world at around 10%, with 46% carrying the gene. Parts of the United Kingdom such as Scotland also have very high percentages with around 6%. There was a misconception that red hair occurrence in Scotland ran at around 13%, due to this figure appearing in reliable media sources, however this figure was only an estimate and has since been disproved by research. Dr. Jim Wilson of Britain's DNA has carried out the only large scale genetic study of Red Hair using a sample of over 2,343 people; and has found red hair occurrence of 6% in Scotland, this is concurrent with the largest ever study of hair colour in Scotland which analysed over half a million people and found red hair prevalence of 5.3%. A 1956 study of hair color among British army recruits also found high levels of red hair in Wales and the English Border counties.

paragraphs: Depite all this, the US has the largest number of redheads living there in the world (up to 18 million compared to 650,000 redheads living in Scotland).

paragraphs: In some countries, particularly the British Isles, despite the high proportion of redheads there, redheads are sometimes given rude names such as "carrot-top" and "ginga", and are in some cases heavily ridiculed (made fun of) by their peers. In some extreme cases, people have been harassed (others have behaved threateningly towards them) for having red hair.


title: Owen Spencer-Thomas

paragraphs: Owen Spencer-Thomas was born on 3 March 1940 in Braughing, Hertfordshire, England. He is perhaps best known as a television and radio news journalist over three decades. Spencer-Thomas combined this career with that of ordained Anglican clergyman and charity fundraiser. He is married to Maggie; they have three adult children, two sons and a daughter.

paragraphs: He graduated in sociology at The Polytechnic, Regent Street, (now the University of Westminster) where he helped to establish its Students' Union and became its first elected President in 1966. He continued his studies at Westcott House and Fitzwilliam College in the University of Cambridge. His father, Ivor Spencer-Thomas, held the feudal barony of Buquhollie and Freswick in Caithness, Scotland.

paragraphs: He has wide experience in the field of communications - mainly in television and radio broadcasting as a news journalist. Joining Anglia Television in 1978 as senior reporter on the regional magazine programme "About Anglia", he became news bulletin editor of "Anglia News" in 1992. He also presented Anglia Television’s late night religious programme "Reflections". He has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's "You and Yours" and "Sunday" programmes and has presented religious and ethics programmes on Thames Television and Southern Television. He has reported for Independent Television News.

paragraphs: He devised and presented the popular "Sounding Brass" radio phone-in programme which was later fronted by Gloria Hunniford on BBC Radio 2. His radio biographies appealed to a wide audience and his portrayal in 1978 of the outspoken television personality, panellist and quizmaster, Gilbert Harding, was widely acclaimed.

paragraphs: An innovative programme producer, Spencer-Thomas recorded two half-hour interview programmes with Kenneth Williams in which the comic actor, who rarely revealed his private life, spoke frankly about his early days and his feelings of loneliness, despondency and underachievement. Carry On Kenneth also featured skilfully chosen clips from the famous Carry On films, in which Williams starred, adding a gentle humour to the probing interview questions.

paragraphs: His award-winning documentary "Underneath the Arches" broke tradition by enabling London’s homeless people to tell their own stories without any links from a programme presenter. Instead, short clips from catchy music hall songs were used to establish each location and, with careful editing, the interviewees related their own experiences and introduced each other. The unique presentation won the Unda award for the best religious radio programme in 1977.

paragraphs: As well as giving practical support to families with disabled children, Owen Spencer-Thomas headed several successful major charity appeals and raised millions of pounds for adult accommodation. He was the Founder Chairman of the East Anglian Autistic Support Trust (EAST) which established the first and desperately needed specialised accommodation and daycare for adults with autism in Cambridgeshire. He served on the National Autistic Society (NAS) Council from 1996 until 2002 and continues to raise funds for a range of other charities.

paragraphs: He became Director of Communications for the Diocese of Ely in 2002. He was Chaplain of Christ's College from 1997 - 2001 and was made an Honorary Canon of Ely Cathedral in 2004. During the Lent Term 2005, he was Acting Dean of

paragraphs: Clare College, and in 2006 was Acting Dean of Trinity Hall, in the University of Cambridge.

paragraphs: Spencer-Thomas was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours. He was invested by HM Queen Elizabeth II on 4 March at Buckingham Palace for services to the Church of England and to the community in Cambridgeshire.

paragraphs: The University of Westminster awarded him an honorary degree, Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) in January 2010 in recognition of his services to journalism and the voluntary sector.


title: John Inman

paragraphs: Frederick John Inman (28 June 1935 – 8 March 2007) was an English actor. He is best known for his role as Mr Humphries in the 1970s/early 1980s BBC comedy series, "Are You Being Served?".


title: Edward Abbey

paragraphs: Edward Abbey was an American nature writer. He is known for books including Desert Solitaire, Black Sun, The Journey Home, The Fool's Progress, and Hayduke Lives.

paragraphs: He was born in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States in 1927. He grew up in Pennsylvania, in a small town in the mountains near the city of Pittsburgh. He later moved to the American Southwest and wrote several books. He spent most of his adult life in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. Most of his books are about the Southwest.

paragraphs: During World War II, he was in high school. He took a trip hitchhiking to see the American West. During his trip through Arizona and New Mexico, he fell in love with the Southwest. He enlisted near the end of World War II and was stationed in Italy as a military policeman. When he came back to the United States, he moved to New Mexico and got a college degree. Then he started writing books.

paragraphs: Abbey's first book was titled "Jonathan Troy". It did not sell well and Abbey did not like it very much, and it was taken out of print. His second book was "The Brave Cowboy". This book sold better and made him known as a writer of western fiction. It was also made into a movie called "Lonely are the Brave". "Fire on the Mountain" was his third book. "The Brave Cowboy" and "Fire on the Mountain" are about cowboys who loved the old American West and did not like it becoming modernized.

paragraphs: He moved to New Jersey for a short time but did not like it, and moved back to the Southwest. He took a job as a park ranger in Utah. He wrote about his job as a park ranger in his fourth book, "Desert Solitaire". "Desert Solitaire" became a bestseller and made him a popular nature writer. He also took other jobs in the Southwest. He worked as a fire lookout at the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and as a park ranger in other National Parks.

paragraphs: After "Desert Solitaire" became a bestseller, he wrote several books of nature essays. Some of these include "The Journey Home", "Abbey's Road", "Down the River", "Beyond the Wall", and "One Life At a Time, Please". He also kept writing novels. His next novel was "Black Sun", which is about a fire lookout at the Grand Canyon falling in love but then seeing his girlfriend disappear. His next novel after that was "The Monkey Wrench Gang". This was his most controversial novel because it was about four people using sabotage to stop development in the Southwest. He also wrote a science fiction novel called "Good News".

paragraphs: His last two novels were "The Fool's Progress" and "Hayduke Lives". "The Fool's Progress" is a long novel that is based on Edward Abbey's own life. "Hayduke Lives" is a sequel to "The Monkey Wrench Gang".

paragraphs: He died in 1989 and was buried in the desert in Arizona.


title: Rio de Janeiro (state)

paragraphs: Rio de Janeiro is one of the 26 states of Brazil. Its capital is the city of Rio de Janeiro.

paragraphs: Rio de Janeiro is in the Southeast Region of Brazil. It shares borders with Minas Gerais, Espírito Santo and São Paulo as well as the Atlantic Ocean. Rio de Janeiro has an area of .

paragraphs: The state's largest cities are Rio de Janeiro, Nova Iguaçu, Niterói, Duque de Caxias, São Gonçalo, São João de Meriti, Campos dos Goytacazes, Petrópolis and Volta Redonda. Its main rivers are the Guandu River, the Piraí, the Paraíba do Sul, the Macaé and the Muriaé. Its climate is tropical.

paragraphs: The state is made up of both mountains and plains. It is between the Mantiqueira Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. The bays of Guanabara, Sepetiba, and Ilha Grande are on the coastline of Rio de Janeiro.

paragraphs: Rio de Janeiro is the smallest state in the Southeast Region and one of the smallest in Brazil. Its coastline is , the third longest coastline in the country.


Sampling


title: Bretons

paragraphs: The Bretons are a distinct ethnic group in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythons who settled the area from south western Britain in the 4th-6th centuries. The region of Brittany is named after them and many speak "Brezhoneg", a Brythonic language closely related to Cornish and a bit more distantly to Welsh. The Breton language as such is part of the Insular Celtic language group. In eastern Brittany, a regional "langue d'oïl" named Gallo developed; it shares certain points of vocabulary, idiom, and pronunciation with Breton.


title: West Midlands (region)

paragraphs: The West Midlands is an official Region of England, covering the western half of the Midlands.

paragraphs: The official region contains the large conurbation that includes Birmingham and Wolverhampton and includes also the mainly rural shire counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

paragraphs: (Unofficially the West Midlands region also spreads as far as Cheshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, but these are not part of the official region.)

paragraphs: There is some confusion in the use of the term "West Midlands", as the name is also used for the much smaller West Midlands county, and is still used by various organisations within that area such as West Midlands Police and West Midlands Fire Service.

paragraphs: The highest point in the region is Black Mountain, at 703 metres.

paragraphs: Major towns and cities in the West Midlands region include:

paragraphs: The official representative body of the region is the West Midlands Regional Assembly which has limited administrative functions such as regional planning and economic development. The assembly is not an elected body, but is made up of members appointed from local councils across the region, and members from regional interest groups such as business and environmental groups and trade unions.

paragraphs: The official region consists of the following subdivisions:

paragraphs: Key: shire county = † | metropolitan county = *

paragraphs: Coal mining used to be the main industry of the Black Country. Nationally famous companies in the West Midlands are Cadbury's in Bournville, Birmingham; the brewing companies such as Coors Brewers in Burton on Trent, as well as Marmite; JCB is based in Staffordshire.


title: Midlands

paragraphs: Midlands could be in general the central region of any territory. In Britain and Ireland, the term is reseved for the "middle" in the North-South ("vertical") direction (countries that are oriented more East-West use "Mid" with a "horizontal" meaning.)

paragraphs: In the United Kingdom, Scotland and England both have midland areas that are famous enough to be called the "Midlands" (as a name, not just as a description). In Wales the term for the central region is "Mid Wales" (not "The Welsh Midlands").

paragraphs: The rest of this article deals with the English Region known simply as The Midlands, which is more or less the territory of the early-medieval kingdom of Mercia.

paragraphs: The area lies between Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales, and includes the counties of Derbyshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, the West Midlands and Worcestershire. The 2001 census also included Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire in the Midlands but these are not generally considered to be part of the Midlands but East Anglia.

paragraphs: There are two administrative regions of England in the Midlands: West Midlands and East Midlands. Taken together, these regions do not fully cover the traditional Midlands:

paragraphs: The "midland" status of Cheshire is often debated. South Cheshire has strong links with North Staffordshire (definitely in the Midlands), and North Cheshire with Merseyside and Manchester (both definitely in Northern England). Officially Cheshire is now part of the North West region.

paragraphs: The largest Midlands conurbation, which includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, is approximately covered by a metropolitan county (which also includes Coventry) also called the West Midlands. Thus, there are two West Midlands, a Region and a (smaller) County.

paragraphs: Parts of the East Midlands are also densely populated, particularly the triangle formed by the cities of Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.

paragraphs: The South Midlands have an own government for development. They include Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire with northern Buckinghamshire. In other context Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire are not considered part of the Midlands. They are in the administrative regions of the South East and the East of England.


title: Jaworzno

paragraphs: Jaworzno is a city in Poland in Silesian Voivodeship. It has about 96 600 inhabitants and 152,2 km².


title: Volt

paragraphs: The volt (symbol: V) is the SI derived unit of electric potential difference or electromotive force (also known as voltage). It is named in honor of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827), who invented the voltaic pile, the first chemical battery.

paragraphs: The volt is defined as the potential difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. Hence, it is the base SI representation m · kg · s · A, which can be equally represented as one joule of energy per coulomb of charge, J/C.

paragraphs: In the "hydraulic analogy" sometimes used to explain electric circuits by comparing them to water-filled pipes, voltage is likened to water pressure - it determines how fast the electrons will travel through the circuit. Current (in amperes), in the same analogy, is a measure of the volume of water that flows past a given point, the rate of which is determined by the voltage, and the total output measured in watts. The equation that brings all three components together is: volts × amperes = watts

paragraphs: Note: Where 'RMS' (root mean square) is stated above, the peak voltage is formula_2 times greater than the RMS voltage for a sinusoidal signal.

paragraphs: In 1800, as the result of a professional disagreement over the galvanic response advocated by Luigi Galvani, Alessandro Volta developed the so-called Voltaic pile, a forerunner of the battery, which produced a steady electric current. Volta had determined that the most effective pair of dissimilar metals to produce electricity was zinc and silver. In the 1880s, the International Electrical Congress, now the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), approved the volt for electromotive force. The volt was defined as the potential difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power.


title: Music competition

paragraphs: A music competition is an event in which people compete for prizes by performing music. Music competitions can be for solo performers or for small or large groups such as orchestras, bands or choirs. Some competitions are for young people who are starting to make a professional career in music. Other music competitions may be for amateurs, which means that professional musicians are not allowed to compete.

paragraphs: The person who decides who is the winner is called the adjudicator. Some big festivals have a team of several adjudicators who decide together on the winner.

paragraphs: The British and International Federation of Music Festivals organizes music competitions for amateurs in many parts of the British Isles. Children and adults can take part, competing in classes for music, speech and drama and dance. Competitions like these are often called "festivals" because the main reason for taking part is to enjoy performing rather than just to win.

paragraphs: There are many big international competitions for some of the most talented musicians from all over the world. Winning a big competition can help a young musician to start a successful career. Some people think it can also be a bad thing to win a big competition, especially for musicians who are still very young. It may make them a star for a short time but they still have to get better and mature as a musician and a person.

paragraphs: Some of the most famous international music competitions are:

paragraphs: In popular music one of the great European events is the Eurovision Song Contest.


title: Adjudicator

paragraphs: An adjudicator is someone who decides on a winner at a competition for music or theatre. The adjudicator will always be somebody who has a lot of experience in what he is adjudicating. In big international festivals, a team of several adjudicators may decide together on the winners. In amateur competitions, the adjudicator may also talk to the competitors after they have performed and give them advice. Competitors are often given first, second and third prizes.

paragraphs: In Law, an adjudicator is someone who decides who is right when a group of people cannot agree on something.


title: Criticism

paragraphs: Criticism is a word used in two senses. Originally, it meant "a scholarly analysis and balanced judgement". Later (mid-20th century) it came to mean "a hostile attack" pointing out the bad features of the topic.

paragraphs: In ancient Greek "kritos" meant judge, and "kritikos" meant the critic. Related Greek terms are krinein (separating out, deciding), krei- (to sieve, discriminate, or distinguish). The word moved from Greek to Latin ("Criticus", a judge) to French ("critique") to English. The words "critic" and "critical" existed in the English language from the mid-16th century, and the word "criticism" first made its appearance in English in the early 17th century.


title: Arthur

paragraphs: Arthur is a male name that can also mean:


title: Eduard Hanslick

paragraphs: Eduard Hanslick (born Prague September 11, 1825; died Baden, Austria, August 6, 1904) was a famous music critic. He wrote about music that was being composed in his time. He liked the music of composers like Brahms and Schumann but hated the music of Wagner and Liszt. Their music sounded too modern for his taste.

paragraphs: He was born into a German-speaking family. His father was a music teacher. When he was 18 Hanslick went to study music with Tomášek, one of Prague's most important musicians. He also studied law at Prague University. He did not study music at university but he knew a lot about music and played the piano very well. He started writing music reviews (writing about concerts that had taken place). For many years he wrote reviews in a paper called "Neue freie Presse". He became professor of history and music at the University of Vienna and was an adjudicator at lots of music festivals. His most famous book was called "Vom Musikalisch-Schönen" ("About Beauty in Music").

paragraphs: Hanslick's tastes were conservative (he did not like new ideas). We remember him today for writing good things about Brahms and bad things about Wagner. A lot of musicians took sides on this matter. It is sometimes called: "The War of the Romantics". Musicians had long arguments in the music journals about which kind of music was better.

paragraphs: Although in some ways he was narrow-minded he had a lot of influence on music. His books on music are very interesting showing great knowledge. He knew most of the great musicians of his day.

paragraphs: Wagner made a caricature of Hanslick in his opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg" in which the town clerk Beckmesser criticizes the young singer Walther who sings songs which break the traditional rules of composition.


title: The Fairly OddParents

paragraphs: The Fairly OddParents was an animated television series created by Butch Hartman in 2001 for the Nickelodeon cable television network. It is about a ten-year-old boy named Timmy Turner who has fairy godparents, named Cosmo and Wanda, and a fairy godbrother named Poof. The fairies have the power to grant wishes to Timmy, while still following Da Rules, the fairy rule book.

paragraphs: "The Fairly OddParents" was the fourth longest-running Nicktoon series. In 2017, it ended with the half-hour episode "Hare Raiser / The Kale Patch Caper". The series was originally set to continue, but ended with the tenth season. The show was cancelled by Nickelodeon in 2018, and it was surpassed by "SpongeBob SquarePants" with current run.


title: Invasion of Poland (1939)

paragraphs: The Invasion of Poland in 1939 was a military offensive in which Nazi Germany, and two weeks later the Soviet Union, invaded Poland. It was the start of World War II in Europe. The invasion took place from 1 September to 6 October 1939. The invasion of Poland caused Britain and France to declare war on Germany on 3 September; they did little to affect the September Campaign. In the end, Poland lost. Germany and the Soviet Union divided the country according to a treaty signed years before the war.

paragraphs: This was often called the first time blitzkrieg was tried on the battlefield, though similar methods had been used earlier. The German surprise attack was successful. It was very effective against the ineffective and unmobilized Polish Army, whose tanks and airplanes were few and mostly old. They were outflanked, outmaneuvered, and outnumbered in September 1939, and easily destroyed by the blitzkrieg. The Poles if well prepared could have had two million soldiers in the fight.

paragraphs: In the first few days of the German invasion the Poles proved to be more difficult than the Germans expected. In the Battle of Mokra on September 2nd, the Poles repulsed an attack by a German Panzer division forcing their retreat. The German air force, unlike their invasions of other countries, did not easily overcome the outnumbered Polish Air Force. However, due to their great superiority in numbers they gained air superiority after 5 to 6 days.

paragraphs: Surrounded by German territories north, west and south of Poland, the Poles had little space for tactical retreat. The Germans reached Warsaw and attacked on September 7 but were repulsed suffering heavy tank losses and were forced to retreat. The Battle of Bzura on September 9 was the largest attack by the Poles during the war. The Poles had great initial success decimating 2 German divisions and took 3500 German prisoners. Polish infantry fought well, but by September 19th due to overwhelming German reinforcements were defeated.

paragraphs: When the Poles realized the British and French were in a phoney war and had no intention of assisting Poland and especially when the Red Army invaded Poland from the east on September 17th, the Polish high command ordered as many troops and equipment to the Romanian bridgehead to enter Romania with the intention to continue their resistance by moving as much of their army to France as possible. Most of the Polish navy escaped to Britain. Polish cryptographers who had cracked the German Enigma (machine) went to France and later to Britain to continue their work.

paragraphs: Polish politicians set up a government-in-exile in France and later escaped to Britain. In 1945 when the Allied armies invaded Germany forcing their surrender, the Polish army was the fourth largest allied army.


title: Winter War

paragraphs: The Winter War (30 November 1939 - 13 March 1940) was a conflict fought between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began when the Soviet Union tried to invade Finland soon after the Invasion of Poland. The Soviet military forces expected a victory over Finland in a few weeks, because the Soviet army had many more tanks and planes than the Finnish army.

paragraphs: However, the Finnish forces resisted both better and longer than expected. One reason the Finnish forces did better is because they had good winter clothes and they wore white coats which camouflaged them in the snow. As well, the Finnish soldiers moved around on skis, which made it easy for them to sneak up on the Soviet soldiers. The Soviet army did not have good winter clothes, and they wore dark green coats, which made them easy to see in the snow.

paragraphs: The defeated Finns had to give up 11% of their country. They tried to get it back in the Continuation War.


title: Joiner

paragraphs: A Joiner is a person who makes woodwork that is used for buildings. That includes things that are called "Finish carpentry" and "millwork" in the United States. Joiners make and install parts of building, for example doors, windows, stairs, wooden panelling, mouldings, shop cabinets, kitchen cabinets, and other wooden items. The skills of a joiner are somewhat between a carpenter and a cabinetmaker.

paragraphs: The terms joinery and joiner are not used often in the United States any more, but the main carpenters' trade union still calls itself the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America.


title: Stairs

paragraphs: Stairs, staircase, stairway, stairwell, and flight of stairs are all names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing it into smaller vertical distances, called steps. Stairways may be straight, round, or may consist of two or more straight pieces connected at angles.

paragraphs: Special stairways include escalators and ladders. Alternatives to stairways are elevators and inclined moving sidewalks.

paragraphs: The step is composed of the tread and riser.

paragraphs: The balustrade is the complete system of railings and pickets that prevents people from falling over the edge.

paragraphs: Handrails may be continuous (sometimes called over-the-post) or post-to-post (or more accurately ""newel-to-newel""). For continuous handrails on long balconies, there may be multiple newels and tandem caps to cover the newels. At corners, there are quarter-turn caps. For post-to-post systems, the newels project above the handrails.

paragraphs: Another, more classical, form of handrailing which is still in use is the Tangent method. A variant of the Cylindric method of layout, it allows for continuous climbing and twisting rails and easings. It was originally defined from principles set down by architect Peter Nicholson in the 18th century.


title: Minas Gerais

paragraphs: Minas Gerais () is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It has the second highest number of people. It has the fourth largest area. The capital is the city of Belo Horizonte, near the center of the state. The name means "General mines". Minas Gerais was formed mainly by colonists searching for gold, gemstones and diamonds.

paragraphs: Minas Gerais is in the west of the southeastern part of Brazil. That area also has the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo. Minas Gerais shares borders with Bahia and Goiás (north), Mato Grosso do Sul (far west), the states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (south) and the state of Espírito Santo (east). It also shares a short border with the Brazilian Federal District.

paragraphs: Even though it is not the largest state in Brazil, Minas Gerais is the state with the most cities. Of the more than 5,500 municipalities in Brazil, Minas has more than 850 of them. The most important ones are the capital Belo Horizonte, Contagem, Betim, Juiz de Fora, Montes Claros, Uberlândia and Ouro Preto


title: Ceará

paragraphs: Ceará is one of the 26 states of Brazil. It is in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. Ceará has many beaches, which brings a lot of tourism.

paragraphs: Ceará has an area of 148,016 km². It shares borders on the east by the states of Rio Grande do Norte and Paraíba, on the south by Pernambuco state, and on the west by Piauí. Its northern border is the Atlantic Ocean. Its capital is Fortaleza.


title: Espírito Santo

paragraphs: Espírito Santo is one of the states of southeastern Brazil. It is often referred to as "ES". The capital of ES is Vitória and its largest city is Vila Velha. Those who are born in the state are known as "Capixabas", but the more correct word is "Espiritossantenses". The name means "holy spirit" after the Holy Ghost of Christianity.

paragraphs: This Brazilian state is in the southeastern subdivision of Brazil, which also contains the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (east), the state of Bahia (north), the state of Minas Gerais (north and west), and the state of Rio de Janeiro (south). Espírito Santo's other main cities are Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Colatina, Linhares, São Mateus and Aracruz.

paragraphs: At , it is about the size of Estonia. The state has many different types of habitats, for example coastal planes, lakes, mountain forest and mangroves.

paragraphs: The islands of Trindade and Martim Vaz, east of Vitória in the Southern Atlantic Ocean, are also a part of Espirito Santo state.


title: Goiás

paragraphs: Goiás is a state of Brazil. It is in the central part of the country. It shares borders with Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, the Federal District, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The capital and largest city in the state is Goiânia. With an area of 341,289 km², Goiás is about the size of the Republic of the Congo; smaller than Germany and larger than Finland.

paragraphs: There are 246 municipalities in Goiás. The top 15 cities in order by number of people (est. 01/07/2005) are:


title: Maranhão

paragraphs: Maranhão is one of the states of Brazil. It is in the northeastern region of the country. To the north is the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão shares borders with Piauí, Tocantins and Pará.

paragraphs: Major cities in the state besides the state capital São Luís are Imperatriz, Timon, and Caxias. The Alcantara spaceport is in the north of the state, not far from São Luís.


title: Mato Grosso

paragraphs: Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil. It is in the western part of the country. Mato Grosso shares borders with the states of Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders the country Bolivia to the southwest. The name, Mato Grosso, means "thick jungle".

paragraphs: Mato Grosso is the state in Brazil in which the most deforestation of Brazil's part of the Amazon Rainforest has happened. In 1977, the state was split into two halves. This created the new state Mato Grosso do Sul. The Bororo Indians live in the Mato Grosso area.

paragraphs: There are few cities. The most important ones are:


title: Hassium

paragraphs: Hassium is a chemical element. It has been named unniloctium and eka-osmium. It has the symbol Hs. It has the atomic number 108. It is a transuranium element.

paragraphs: Hassium is a radioactive element that does not exist in nature. It has to be made.

paragraphs: Hassium oxidises like osmium, the element above it in the periodic table. Hassium oxidises to hassium tetroxide. It is less volatile than osmium tetroxide.

paragraphs: Hassium was first made in 1984. It was made at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt, Germany. The team that made darmstadtium was led by Peter Armbruster and Gottfried Münzenberg.

paragraphs: The element was named from the Latin name for the German state of Hessen. Hessen is the state that the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung is in.

paragraphs: Before it was named Hassium scientists could not decide what the name should be. There was an element naming controversy. The temporary IUPAC systematic element name was "unniloctium". The symbol with the name was "Uno". In 1994 a committee of IUPAC recommended that element 108 be named "hahnium". The name hassium was adopted internationally in 1997.

paragraphs: Isotope 270 of Hassium was found in December 2006. An international team of scientists led by the Technical University of Munich found it. It is a doubly magic isotope. It has an long half-life of 22 seconds. Scientists had thought that heavy and stable isotopes should exist. Some theories said Hassium-270 may be part of an island of stability.