title: Breeches role

paragraphs: A breeches role is a part in an opera in which a woman plays the role of a man. It is also called a trouser role (British) or pants role (U.S.) or travesti role (the Italian word). It is called a breeches role because breeches are tight-fitting, knee-length trousers. These used to be worn by men at the time that breeches roles became popular. Sometimes breeches roles are in plays, but they are usually in opera.

paragraphs: Breeches roles are usually female singers acting the role of a young man. They are normally sung by mezzo-sopranos or contraltos with light voices because they can often sound boyish. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was normal to have actors and actresses who cross-dressed. It was the time when castrato singers were popular. These castrati were men pretending to be women, but there were also women pretending to be men (especially when the actress was trying to deceive another character) and the audiences were used to this kind of thing. As they gradually stopped the horrible practice of castrating young boys in the late 18th century these male characters started to be sung by mezzo-sopranos instead.

paragraphs: Mozart wrote an opera called "The Marriage of Figaro". In this opera the role of Cherubino, a young page boy, is sung by a mezzo-soprano. Other famous examples include the role of Siebel in Dvořák’s opera "Rusalka" and the role of Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss’s opera "Die Fledermaus".

paragraphs: Composers from the 20th century do not usually have breeches roles in their operas. There is the role of Oktavian in Richard Strauss’s opera "Der Rosenkavalier" (1911), but this opera was deliberately trying to produce the old-fashioned atmosphere of Mozart’s time. Benjamin Britten wrote an opera called "Midsummer Night’s Dream", based on Shakespeare’s play. There is no breeches role here. Instead, the part of Oberon is written for a countertenor: a man with a high, falsetto voice.

paragraphs: There is also a term called a skirt role. This is the opposite of a trouser role: it is a man acting the part of a woman. Benjamin Britten uses one in the role of the Madwoman in "Curlew River". The witch in Humperdinck’s "Hansel and Gretel" is also sung by a man. In both cases it makes the characters more dramatic, but the first is very serious while the second is supposed to be humorous.


title: Treble (singer)

paragraphs: The word treble is used, especially in British English, to mean the singing voice of a boy or girl. Often it is called boy soprano, but since there are also many girls who sing in cathedral and church choirs these days, the word treble is now used to describe the voice of either sex.

paragraphs: A boy can sing treble until he reaches puberty. At puberty he starts to become a man and his voice range will go down (we say that his voice “breaks”). He will then become a tenor, baritone or bass, or he may even train to be a countertenor. A girl’s voice also changes when she reaches puberty, but the change into a grown-up female voice is more gradual than with a boy, and it is still within the soprano or alto range.

paragraphs: Boys who join a cathedral choir or the choir of a large church will have to work hard to develop their voice and learn to sing musically. They often start this training aged 7 or 8, and they may only have four or five years before their voice starts to break. They do not usually become famous as soloists, but the Welsh treble Aled Jones became very famous for about three years and made many recordings before his voice broke in 1987.

paragraphs: The word ‘treble’ is used for children singing in a Classical Music style, especially church music. Although children do not usually sing in opera, occasionally a treble is used for the part of a very small boy, e.g. in Debussy’s opera "Pélléas et Mélisande".


title: Claque

paragraphs: A claque (pronounce: ‘clack’) is a small group of people in an opera house who deliberately either clapped loudly (applauded) or shouted boo for a particular singer. Usually it means an "organised" group who know in advance what they are going to do.

paragraphs: In the 19th century there was very often a claque at performances of an opera. Someone who liked one of the singers and wanted them to have lots of applause would pay a group of people to sit near the back of the opera house and to clap and shout enthusiastically whenever that singer had finished a song. This would encourage the rest of the audience to clap loudly too. Sometimes the claque would be paid to do the opposite: they would be told to hiss and boo when the singer had sung.

paragraphs: Very often a singer would have to pay some money to the claque so that they would applaud him (or her). If the singer did not pay, the claque would hiss and boo. This was, of course, a nasty form of blackmail. In the early 20th century, when the world-famous tenor Enrico Caruso refused to pay the claque in Naples a bribe, they hissed during his singing of the great aria "Una furtiva lagrima".

paragraphs: Groups of supporters at football ('soccer') matches do much the same thing without being paid. Abuse of match officials is also quite common. Abuse between rival groups of fans is also common. Clubs are required to keep away fans in different sections from home fans.


title: Leech

paragraphs: Leeches are annelids, a kind of worm (ground creature) that lives in wet places. All leeches are carnivorous, that is, they eat mainly meat, but some are also haemophagic; this means they drink the blood of other animals. They are sometimes helpful in medicine. They are often used to reduce blood clots. They were used to suck the blood of patients a long time ago, before we knew about germs and that losing blood is bad.


title: Glycoprotein

paragraphs: A glycoprotein is a big molecule. It is composed of a protein and a carbohydrate (which is usually a sugar-like substance). Glycoproteins are important to recognise immune cells in mammals.

paragraphs: Hormones that are glycoproteins are (amongst others)


title: Tissue culture

paragraphs: Tissue culture or cell culture is a way to grow cells in a laboratory. Cells are taken, and put into in a flask or Petri dish. They can be grown on a growth medium, sometimes an agar plate. The cells divide, and can be treated in various ways. This is done for a number of purposes, especially for the use of scientific research:


title: Chemotherapy

paragraphs: Chemotherapy, or 'chemo', is the use of chemical substances to treat diseases. The word "chemotherapy" is often used for a type of medicine used to treat cancer. The drugs are cytotoxic, which means they are toxic to the body's cells.

paragraphs: There are many types of chemotherapy. and doctors chose the medication that will treat each types of cancer in the best way. Often, chemotherapy drugs are combined with each other and with other drugs when a person is treated for cancer.

paragraphs: When a person has surgery to remove a tumor, chemotherapy may be given before or after.

paragraphs: Chemotherapy can also be used to treat other diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.

paragraphs: Chemotherapy often has bad side effects:


title: Typhoid

paragraphs: Typhoid, also called typhoid fever, is not an illness caused by the bacterium Salmonella Typhi. The disease is spread through water which has the Salmonella Typhi bacteria in it ( transmission is by faeco oral route)

paragraphs: Typhoid usually lasts between two weeks and a month. The symptoms of typhoid often appear 10 to 14 days after infection. If no treatment is given, between one and three out of every ten patients die. The rest usually get better after a month, at the most.

paragraphs: Typhoid causes a steady fever of at least 103-104 degrees F (39-40 degrees C). Also, it can cause stomach pains, headache, being delirious (restless, excited, seeing things), and not being hungry. In some cases, flat, pink coloured spots show up on the patient's body. Sometimes there are no symptoms.

paragraphs: Typhoid is not common in countries with good sanitation and clean water. For example, scientists think that there are only 400 cases a year in the United States. But around the world, there are about 21 million cases every year. For example, in the Indian subcontinent, typhoid is one of the most common diseases because of poor sanitation and lack of basic hygiene.Typhoid fever is common in humans of the 1 to 15 years age group.

paragraphs: There are standard drugs like Chloromycetin which cure typhoid. The disease can be treated with antibiotics.


title: Necklace

paragraphs: A necklace is a jewellery item worn round the neck. It is of ancient origin: all civilisations have worn them. They usually figure precious metals and jewels, but may be made of colourful beads.

paragraphs: The emeralds threaded onto the necklace were mined in Colombia. The diamonds were mined in India. The necklace's gemstones are believed to have been cut in India in the 17th century, but the early history of the necklace itself is unknown. The first recorded owner of the piece was Tukoji Rao III, Maharaja of Indore (a Princely State in India) in the early 20th century. On his abdication, the necklace was passed to his son, Yashvantrao II, who took up his father's throne. The necklace is sometimes called, though with no reason, the Spanish Inquisition necklace.


title: Cranbourne, Victoria

paragraphs: Cranbourne is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is south east of Melbourne. It is above sea-level. Its Local Government Area is the City of Casey.

paragraphs: The Cranbourne area is made up of the suburbs:

paragraphs: The first people to live in the Cranbourne area were the Boonwurrung Aborigines. The first Europen settlers were the Ruffy brothers who arrived in 1836. They later opened the Cranbourne Inn.

paragraphs: The area was opened up by settlers from the 1860s. Progress in developing the land around Cranbourne was difficult because of the Koo Wee Rup swamp. William Lyall bought land in the swamp area. He helped organize draining the swamp to make it usable as farmland. The region has a strong farming history. A major cattle market started at Cranbourne in the 1870s. This was helped with the arrival of the railway in 1887. A market gardening industry began after World War I with the arrival of Italian immigrants.

paragraphs: Cranbourne has a long history of horse racing. The first races were held in 1867. The Cranbourne Racecourse and Recreation Reserve and the Cranbourne Training Complex are popular facilities. There is a Cranbourne Cup race meeting every year as well as other carnivals.

paragraphs: In the 1860s, a number of iron meteorites were discovered in the area. The largest, at 3.5 tonnes, was at the time, the largest discovered in the world. It was known as the Cranbourne meteorite. It was sold to the British Museum.

paragraphs: Cranbourne was made a town in 1861. The Shire of Cranbourne was begun in 1868. The office, built in 1875, is still standing on the corner of South Gippsland Highway and Sladen Street. In 1994 the Shire was made a City. Later in the same year most of the City joined with the City of Berwick to form the City of Casey.

paragraphs: Over the years Cranbourne has changed from a small country town to a rapidly growing suburb. The exact time of when Cranbourne had changed from town to suburb is not really known. The number of people living in Cranbourne has grown quickly since the 1970s. There were 1,800 people in 1976, rising to 14,005 in 1986 and 18,886 in 1991. Cranbourne's current population is estimated to be at least 30,000 people.

paragraphs: Cranbourne has many sports facilities including:

paragraphs: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Cranbourne is a part of Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens. At Cranbourne there are a lot of Australian plants on display. One feature is an arid lands garden which has a red sand dune with desert plants.

paragraphs: Because of the growth in Cranbourne several new primary schools are being planned.

paragraphs: Chisholm Institute of TAFE also has a campus in Cranbourne, to the city's east.

paragraphs: Shopping centres in the Cranbourne area include:

paragraphs: Cranbourne is home to many fast food stores including Fish n' Chips and Pizza shops. Major fast food outlets in the Cranbourne area include:

paragraphs: The MRA Cranbourne GP Run is held each year on the Saturday of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

paragraphs: Cranbourne races are a regular event on the racing calendar. Greyhound and harness racing are also held.

paragraphs: Melbourne's suburban railway links the suburb to Melbourne. The terminus of the Cranbourne railway line is at Cranbourne railway station. Merinda Park station is in Cranbourne North.


title: Transylvania

paragraphs: Transylvania is a historical region in Central Europe. In the past, it was a part of Hungary, was an independent principality, belonged to the Ottoman Empire or was a province of Austria-Hungary. It has been part of Romania since 1918.

paragraphs: The borders was made up by the Siret River from east, river Tisza from west of north and south by the Carpathian Mountains.

paragraphs: Transylvania's main city, Cluj-Napoca, is seen as the region's informal capital. But Transylvania was also ruled from Alba Iulia during its dependence from the Ottoman Empire, and the seat of the Transylvanian Diet was moved to Sibiu for some time in the 19th century.

paragraphs: In popular culture, Transylvania is mainly known as the seat (and origin) of Count Dracula. This vampire story by Bram Stoker is based on a local nobleman Vlad III the Impaler, known for his cruelty. It also was the home of Elizabeth Báthory.


title: Southwest Airlines

paragraphs: Southwest Airlines is a airline based in Dallas, Texas that has a reputation for low fares. The airline started in 1971. It flies mostly among about a hundred airports within the United States but also to flies from the United States to airports in the Caribbean Sea and Mexico.

paragraphs: Originally, many of Southwest's flights were to airports in the Southwestern United States, such as Dallas Love Field and Houston Hobby Airport, but it also flies to airports in other parts of the country, such as Chicago Midway Airport and Baltimore/Washington International Airport. Southwest Airlines controls most of the gates at Dallas Love Field and most other airlines cannot fly from there.

paragraphs: In 2014, it started international flights.

paragraphs: The company flies about 700 Boeing 737 aircraft. This is more than any other airline. It only flies the Boeing 737. By 2019, 13 were the newest kind, the Boeing 737 MAX.

paragraphs: Southwest Airlines bought the smaller AirTran Airways in 2010 and discontinued the AirTran name. For several years, Southwest was the largest airline in the United States based on number of passengers, but it was not the largest based on distance traveled.

paragraphs: In 2018, an engine exploded on a Southwest Airlines flight, killing one passenger. That was the first death of a passenger from an aircraft accident on Southwest (earlier passenger deaths were from other causes, such as heart attack and drug overdoses).


title: Cluj-Napoca

paragraphs: Cluj-Napoca (pronunciation in Romanian: ; ; ; ; ), until 1974 "Cluj", is the third biggest city in Romania, and is the capital city of Cluj County, in the north-western part of Transylvania. Bucharest is about 330 kilometers away from Cluj-Napoca. About 330,000 people live in the city. It also has some famous universities and a rich history as the capital city of Transylvania.

paragraphs: In the west of Cluj-Napoca is the Hoia-Baciu Forest. There is a bicycle park and other sport activities like paintball, airsoft or archery.


title: Sibiu

paragraphs: Sibiu (IPA , German: "Hermannstadt", Hungarian: "Nagyszeben") is a city in Transylvania, Romania. About 170,000 people live there. The Cibin River, a tributary of the Olt River flows through the city. It is the capital of Sibiu County.


title: Graphic design

paragraphs: Graphic design is a practical art which helps in communication. Visual information is formed in a way that produces a message. This can be done by placing words and pictures in ways that will get the attention of others. People who do graphic design as work are called "graphic designers". In printed media, graphic design includes typography, organising illustration, book design, page layout, specifying print.

paragraphs: Graphic design can be done in different media. These include paper, video, labels, and web sites.

paragraphs: Graphic designers use many skills, rules and techniques to provide the right information. They must combine artistic expression and media relations. Skills include the ability to look at the whole picture, color theory, design principles, understanding of art, etc.


title: Rwandan genocide

paragraphs: The Rwandan genocide happened in 1994. It started in April and lasted 100 days. During that time, about 800,000 people were murdered.

paragraphs: In a genocide, many or all people in a group are killed because of their ethnicity, colour, religion, or political opinions. In the Rwandan genocide, members of an ethnic group called the Tutsi ("abatutsi") were killed because of their ethnicity. The killers were extremist members of another ethnic group called the Hutu ("abahutu"). The Hutu killers also killed other Hutus whose political beliefs were not as extreme as theirs.

paragraphs: In 1994, almost all Rwandan people (85%) were Hutus. However, for many years, the Tutsi minority had more power and ran the Rwandan government. In 1959, the Hutus overthrew the Tutsi government and took power. Tens of thousands of Tutsis ran away to nearby countries.

paragraphs: A group of the Tutsis in exile created a rebel group. They called it the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The RPF invaded Rwanda in 1990, starting the Rwandan Civil War. The Tutsi rebels and the Hutu government fought until 1993, when the two sides signed a peace agreement.

paragraphs: However, on April 6, 1994, an airplane carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down. Both Presidents were Hutus. Nobody knows for sure who shot down the plane. The RPF said the Hutu extremists had shot down the plane themselves, just because they wanted an excuse to start killing people. The Hutu extremists blamed the Tutsi RPF, and right away, they started killing Tutsis.

paragraphs: Within a half an hour, Hutu militias had blocked roads all over Kigali, Rwanda's capital city. They stopped every car that came by, and killed every Tutsi they found. The Rwandan genocide began that day.

paragraphs: In the next 100 days, members of the Hutu government's army, militias, and even civilians would kill 800,000 people an average of 8,000 people every day. This makes the Rwandan Genocide one of the fastest genocides in history.

paragraphs: The two main militia groups that carried out the killings were the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi. These were supposed to be youth organizations of two pro-Hutu political parties. However, the government turned them into militias to carry out the genocide.

paragraphs: Within a few hours after the Presidents' deaths, military leaders in Rwanda's different provinces called together militia and civilians. They told them that the President was dead, and that the Tutsi RPF had killed him. Then they ordered the crowd to kill Tutsis, saying things like: "Begin your work!" and "Spare no one!" including babies.

paragraphs: Just after the Presidents' deaths, Hutu extremists assassinated the Rwandan prime minister. They also tortured and killed the ten Belgian soldiers that had been assigned to protect her.

paragraphs: After that, throughout the night of April 6-7, Hutu militias and the Rwandan army got lists of people in the government who were political moderates (meaning they were not extremists). They found these people in Kigali and killed them. They did this so the moderates would not be able to stop the genocide. They also killed journalists and human rights activists who had spoken out against the Hutu government.

paragraphs: On the night of April 6, Hutu militias also went house to house in Kigali, killing Tutsis. By the morning of April 7th, the killings had only gotten worse. Interahamwe killed and looted however they wanted. Other countries' journalists were able to film many of these things. In a few days, the genocide had spread all over the country. As the genocide spread out into the rural parts of Rwanda, the killers paid less attention to murdering moderate Hutus and more attention to massacring Tutsis.

paragraphs: The Rwandan Genocide was committed in a very organized way. For example, the genocide's leaders made lists of people who were against the Hutu-led government. They gave these lists to militias, who went and killed those people, along with their families. The militias also blocked roads so they could check the identification cards of everyone who came by. These cards had a person's ethnic group listed on them. When they found a Tutsi, the militias would kill the person. Often, they used machetes. When Tutsis tried to hide from the killers, the militias would search every building in an area, inch by inch, until they found the people who were hiding. Buses even drove the killers from massacre to massacre.

paragraphs: The army and militias were very brutal towards women. They raped between 150,000 and 250,000 Tutsi women. They also kidnapped women and forced them to be sex slaves. After raping women, the rapists would often mutilate the women's sex organs with things like weapons, boiling water, or acid.

paragraphs: Most victims of the genocide were killed in their own villages. Often, they were killed by their own neighbors. Government radio stations encouraged regular people to kill their Tutsi neighbors. Hutus who refused to kill Tutsis were often executed immediately. Husbands killed their Tutsi wives because they were scared of being killed if they refused. There were even priests and nuns convicted of killing people who were trying to hide in churches. As historian Richard Prunier explains: during the genocide, "Either you took part in the massacres or you were massacred yourself."

paragraphs: The killers used propaganda to encourage the genocide. They set up radio stations and newspapers which were full of hate speech. Often, they encouraged people to "weed out the cockroaches," which meant "kill the Tutsis." The killers would read out the names of people they wanted to be killed over the radio. Radio stations told their listeners to make sure they disemboweled pregnant

paragraphs: In October 1993, the United Nations Security Council created the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). It was supposed to help put the 1993 peace agreement into place. However, UNAMIR did not have permission from the Security Council to protect civilians or try to stop the genocide. At this time, UNAMIR soldiers were only allowed to shoot their weapons in self-defence, if somebody was attacking them personally. They were not allowed to use their weapons or get involved to protect civilians who were being attacked.

paragraphs: More and more, UNAMIR's peacekeeping troops were being attacked. Countries began to pull their soldiers out of Rwanda. Some members of the United Nations Security Council, like the United States, argued strongly that the UN should take "all" of its peacekeeping troops out of Rwanda. Eventually, the Security Council decided to decrease the number of troops UNAMIR was allowed to have. On April 21, 1994, as the genocide was spreading across Rwanda, the Security Council decreased the number of allowed UNAMIR troops from 2,548 to 270 a decrease of almost 90%.

paragraphs: UNAMIR's Commander, Roméo Dallaire, kept asking the United Nations for more troops. On May 15, the Security Council increased UNAMIR's allowed number of troops to 5,500. However, it took almost six months for UN member countries to volunteer this many troops. Meanwhile, the genocide continued.

paragraphs: France offered to lead a humanitarian mission in southwest Rwanda while UNAMIR was trying to gather more troops. The Security Council approved this mission on June 22, 1994. France called the mission "Operation Turquoise." During this operation, soldiers from France and other countries set up a "safe zone" in southwest Rwanda. This was meant to be an area where people could come to be protected from Hutu attacks. Historians think that Operation Turquoise saved 13,000 to 14,000 lives. However, France has been accused of letting war criminals escape Rwanda through the safe zone.

paragraphs: Because UNAMIR's troops were not allowed to use their weapons to protect civilians, the militias were able to massacre civilians even when UNAMIR troops were nearby.

paragraphs: For example, on April 7, 1994, Belgian soldiers were staying at a school outside Kigali. Thousands of Tutsis ran from Kigali to the school, hoping that the soldiers would protect them from the massacres that were happening in Kigali. Hutu militia surrounded the school, but they did not enter because they were afraid of the Belgian soldiers.

paragraphs: However, one day, the Belgian soldiers left. They had been ordered to leave so they could take European people to the airport to get them out of the country. Later, a Belgian colonel "said the young soldiers told him they saw the killers in their rearview mirrors" as they drove away. After the soldiers left, the Hutu militia killed thousands of Tutsis.

paragraphs: Another massacre happened in Murambi, a town in southern Rwanda. When the genocide reached Murambi, Tutsis tried to hide at a nearby church. However, the bishop and mayor tricked them by telling them to go to the Murambi Technical School. They said the French soldiers there would protect them. On April 16, 1994, about 65,000 Tutsis ran to the school. One survivor said: "They gave us four [French soldiers] for protection, but from 17 April we never saw them again."

paragraphs: After they got to the school, the Tutsis had no food. The school's water was also cut off, so the Tutsis would be too weak to fight back. The Tutsis were still able to fight back for a few days, using stones. However, on April 21, the school was attacked by the Interahamwe. They killed about 45,000 Tutsis at the school. The other 20,000 Tutsis ran to a nearby church to hide, but the militia found them there and killed almost all of them.

paragraphs: The school is now a genocide museum. The museum says that only 34 people out of 65,000 survived the massacre. It also says that after the massacre, the French soldiers came back and buried the bodies in mass graves. Then they put a volleyball court over the mass graves to hide what happened.

paragraphs: In 1999, Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, asked for an independent report about the Rwandan Genocide. He wanted to know why the United Nations and the world had "failed" to stop the Rwandan Genocide. The report said that the major failures were:

paragraphs: The Ugandan army joined the RPF in fighting the extremist Hutus. Bit by bit, they took control of more parts of Rwanda. Finally, on July 4, 1994, they took control of Kigali.

paragraphs: After this, about two million Hutus ran away from Rwanda to Zaire. This group included 1.4 million Hutu civilians who had nothing to do with the genocide, but had been told that the RPF would kill them just for being Hutus.

paragraphs: According to the BBC, "Human rights groups say the RPF killed thousands of Hutu civilians as they took power and more after they went into [Zaire] to [follow] the Interahamwe. The RPF denies this."

paragraphs: In 1994, Rwanda's population was 7.9 million. After the genocide:

paragraphs: Before the genocide, about 1.1 million of Rwandans were Tutsis. After the genocide, there were only about 300,000 Tutsis left in the country. Almost three out of every four Tutsis in Rwanda had been killed during the genocide.

paragraphs: In 1995, the United Nations Security Council set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Its goal was to prosecute people who took part in genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity, and punish the guilty ones. The ICTR had the power to prosecute anyone who broke international laws about human rights.

paragraphs: The ICTR was the first international court ever to:

paragraphs: Out of 93 people indicted by the ICTR, 61 were found guilty and sent to prison. Another ten cases were sent to Rwanda so their own courts could hear the cases. Three people indicted by the ICTR are still fugitives.

paragraphs: The Rwandan government was not able to start trying genocide suspects until 1996. This was because so many judges had been killed in the genocide, and because so many court buildings and jails had been destroyed.

paragraphs: By 2000, there were over 100,000 suspects waiting for trials. The regular Rwandan courts could not handle this many cases. To help with this problem, the government set up a new and different system of courts to help the regular Rwandan courts.

paragraphs: By mid-2006, the Rwandan courts had tried over 10,000 genocide suspects.

paragraphs: In 2001, the Rwandan government began to create a system of Gacaca courts (pronounced "GA-CHA-CHA"). In these courts, Rwandans elect judges to hear genocide suspects' trials. Gacaca courts may hear cases about any crimes except planning genocide or rape. These cases must be heard by regular Rwandan courts.

paragraphs: If a suspect is found guilty, the Gacaca courts give less severe sentences if the person is truly sorry and asks for the community's forgiveness. The goal of the Gacaca courts is to get justice while also moving towards reconciliation. It also gives perpetrators the chance to admit what they did, which gives victims a chance to learn what happened to their loved ones.

paragraphs: Between 2001 and 2012, 12,000 Gacaca courts tried over 1.2 million cases all over Rwanda. These courts officially finished their work on May 4, 2012.


title: Vaquita

paragraphs: Vaquita ("Phocoena sinus") is a rare type of porpoise. It lives only in the Gulf of California.

paragraphs: Vaquita have a dark coloring around the eyes and mouth. The upper side of the body is medium to dark gray. The underside is off-white to light gray. It has a rather large fin on its back for its size.

paragraphs: The Vaquita is the smallest type of porpoise in the world, growing up to 5 feet long and weighing up to 120 pounds.

paragraphs: Vaquita feed on small, bottom-dwelling fish and squid.

paragraphs: They live alone or in small groups, usually of about three, but sometimes they live in groups of up to ten.


title: Zygote

paragraphs: A zygote is the fertilized cell that will grow into a new animal or plant. When a female's ovum and a male's sperm cell join, the cell that results is called the zygote. The zygote then multiplies, and grows into an embryo. So, a zygote is formed from the union of two gametes, and is the first stage in a human organism's development. Zygotes are produced by fertilization between two haploid cells, the ovum and the sperm cells, which make a diploid cell. Diploid cells have copies of both parents' chromosomes and DNA. At conception it has all the necessary properties to create a fully formed human being. Life until death is a series of many different stages of development.

paragraphs: Some animals keep the zygote in their bodies until it is a full-grown baby. The time between the forming of the zygote and the baby's birth is called pregnancy. Other animals do not keep the zygote in their bodies, but lay an egg. The zygote grows inside the egg until it is ready and a larva or baby animal hatches.


title: Dave Jauss

paragraphs: Dave Jauss (born January 16, 1957) is the bench coach for the New York Mets. He has also been the bench coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baltimore Orioles.


title: Cardiac arrest

paragraphs: Cardiac arrest happens when the heart suddenly stops beating. This can be caused by a heart attack in which the heart's demand for oxygen is not met and the heart muscle begins to die. With cardiac arrest, normal circulation of blood stops, because of a failure of the heart to contract. This results in the body not getting enough oxygenated blood, which causes cells to start to die from oxygen starvation. Cerebral hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) makes a person lose consciousness and stop breathing, and this makes the heart stop completely. Unless the person is in hypothermia, brain damage usually occurs after three to five minutes. (In some cases, the person is put into hypothermia on purpose, to help the person recover better with less damage.)

paragraphs: Cardiac arrest is a medical emergency. If it is treated early enough, some of the damage done can be reversed in certain groups of patients. When cardiac arrest leads to a person's death, this is called sudden cardiac death (SCD). First aid treatment for cardiac arrest usually begins with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to keep oxygenated blood flowing until medical treatment is available.


title: Huguenot

paragraphs: From the 16th to the 18th century the name Huguenot was describing a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of France. They are sometimes known as the French Calvinists.

paragraphs: After the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 hundreds of thousands of French Protestants fled France, some to the East End of London. The Treaty of Nantes allowed them to stay in France without being massacred.


title: La Rochelle

paragraphs: La Rochelle is a city in the Charente-Maritime department and a seaport in western France near the Bay of Biscay. The Huguenots there rebelled in 1627 and 1628.

paragraphs: La Rochelle Business School is in the city.


title: Combustion

paragraphs: Combustion is a reaction of a fuel with an oxidant to give out heat. The release of heat can produce light in the form of a flame.

paragraphs: Car engines and rocket engines both work by combustion. Combustion in a Ferrari car motor is different from combustion in a rocket engine. Car combustion is gas burning and exploding in cylinders called pistons again and again to push them up and down, making the car move. Rocket combustion is made by rocket fuel exploding out of the back of the rocket moving it up. The burning of most substances is bad for the environment and the ozone layer because it can let off green house gases such as Carbon dioxide. Hydrogen burns cleanly and gives off a lot of heat, but it does not produce much power, and is highly explosive.

paragraphs: During combustion, fuel reacts with oxygen and heat, then releases energy. Complete combustion happens in a plentiful supply of oxygen. Incomplete combustion occurs when the supply of air is limited, or poor. Complete combustion releases more energy than incomplete combustion. Incomplete combustion also creates carbon monoxide, and more soot. Several factors must be considered when choosing the best fuel for a particular purpose. Fuels are substances that react with oxygen to release useful energy. Most of the energy is released as heat, but light energy is also released. About 21 per cent of the air is oxygen. When a fuel burns in plenty of air, it receives enough oxygen for complete combustion. Complete combustion needs a plentiful supply of air so that the elements in the fuel react fully with oxygen. Fuels such as natural gas and petrol contain hydrocarbons. These are compounds of hydrogen and carbon only. Combustion is a high-temperature oxidation reaction.


title: Nanometre

paragraphs: The nanometre (symbol: nm) is a unit used to measure length in the metric system. It is equal to one billionth of a metre (). The name combines the SI prefix "nano-" (from the Ancient Greek , ', "dwarf") with the parent unit name "metre" (from Greek , ', "unit of measurement"). It can be written in scientific notation as 1×10 m.

paragraphs: The nanometre is often used to express very tiny dimensions, such as measuring atoms. The nanometre is also commonly used to measure the wavelength of electromagnetic radiation near the part of the spectrum that can be seen by humans. Visible light ranges from around 400 to 800 nm.

paragraphs: The nanometre was formerly called the millimicrometre (or the millimicron). This is because it is 1/1000 of a micrometre, and was written with the symbol mµ (or sometimes µµ).


title: Caterpillar

paragraphs: A caterpillar is a young butterfly or moth that has just hatched out of its egg. A caterpillar is a kind of larva. When it is older, the caterpillar will turn into a pupa (also known as a chrysalis), and then later the pupa will turn into a butterfly.

paragraphs: Caterpillars usually have three pairs of small, but noticeable, true legs at the front and up to 5 pairs of fleshy false legs at the back.

paragraphs: Caterpillars are commonly found feeding on leaves, but they are also found inside living stems and branches or on the roots of plants and dead wood.

paragraphs: Most caterpillars are shades of green or brown and are relatively hairless, although in many families caterpillars are very hairy and often brightly coloured. Some species are pests of growing plants, carpets, woollens, organic fabrics and stored food products.

paragraphs: Caterpillars are an important source of food for birds and other invertebrates and many species help dead animals and plants decompose.

paragraphs: Examples of different kinds of caterpillars.


title: Hummingbird

paragraphs: Hummingbirds are small birds of the family Trochilidae.

paragraphs: They are among the smallest of birds: most species measure 7.5–13 cm (3–5 in). The smallest living bird species is the 2–5 cm Bee Hummingbird. They can hover in mid-air by rapidly flapping their wings 12–80 times per second (depending on the species). They are also the only group of birds able to fly backwards. Their rapid wing beats do actually hum. They can fly at speeds over 15 m/s (54 km/h, 34 mi/h).

paragraphs: Hummingbirds help flowers to pollinate, though most insects are best known for doing so. The hummingbird enjoys nectar, like the butterfly and other flower-loving insects, such as bees.

paragraphs: Hummingbirds do not have a good sense of smell; instead, they are attracted to color, especially the color red. Unlike the butterfly, the hummingbird hovers over the flower as it drinks nectar from it, like a moth. When it does so, it flaps its wings very quickly to stay in one place, which makes it look like a blur and also beats so fast it makes a humming sound. A hummingbird sometimes puts its whole head into the flower to drink the nectar properly. When it takes its head back out, its head is covered with yellow pollen, so that when it moves to another flower, it can pollinate. Or sometimes it may pollinate with its beak.

paragraphs: Like bees, hummingbirds can assess the amount of sugar in the nectar they eat. They reject flowers whose nectar has less than 10% sugar. Nectar is a poor source of nutrients, so hummingbirds meet their needs for protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc. by preying on insects and spiders.

paragraphs: Most hummingbirds have bills that are long and straight or nearly so, but in some species the bill shape is adapted for specialized feeding. Thornbills have short, sharp bills adapted for feeding from flowers with short corollas and piercing the bases of longer ones. The Sicklebills' extremely decurved bills are adapted to extracting nectar from the curved corollas of flowers in the family Gesneriaceae. The bill of the Fiery-tailed Awlbill has an upturned tip, as in the Avocets. The male Tooth-billed Hummingbird has barracuda-like spikes at the tip of its long, straight bill.

paragraphs: The two halves of a hummingbird's bill have a pronounced overlap, with the lower half (mandible) fitting tightly inside the upper half (maxilla). When hummingbirds feed on nectar, the bill is usually only opened slightly, allowing the tongue to dart out into the nectar.

paragraphs: Like the similar nectar-feeding sunbirds and unlike other birds, hummingbirds drink by using grooved or trough-like tongues which they can stick out a long way.

paragraphs: Hummingbirds do not spend all day flying, as the energy cost would be prohibitive; the majority of their activity consists simply of sitting or perching. Hummingbirds feed in many small meals, consuming many small invertebrates and up to twelve times their own body weight in nectar each day. They spend an average of 10–15% of their time feeding and 75–80% sitting and digesting.

paragraphs: Since hummingbirds are specialized nectar-eaters, they are tied to the bird-flowers they feed upon. Some species, especially those with unusual bill shapes such as the Sword-billed Hummingbird and the sicklebills, are co-evolved with a small number of flower species.

paragraphs: Many plants pollinated by hummingbirds produce flowers in shades of red, orange, and bright pink, though the birds will take nectar from flowers of many colors. Hummingbirds can see wavelengths into the near-ultraviolet. However, their flowers do not reflect these wavelengths as many insect-pollinated flowers do. The narrow color spectrum may make hummingbird-pollinated flowers inconspicuous to insects, thereby reducing nectar robbing by insects. Hummingbird-pollinated flowers also produce relatively weak nectar (averaging 25% sugars w/w) containing high concentrations of sucrose, whereas insect-pollinated flowers typically produce more concentrated nectars dominated by fructose and glucose.

paragraphs: Hummingbirds have traditionally been a part of the bird order "Apodiformes". This order includes the Hummingbirds, the swifts and the tree swifts. The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy of birds, based on DNA studies done in the 1970s and 1980s, have changed the classification of hummingbirds. Instead of being in the same order as the swifts, the hummingbirds were made into an order that only included themselves, "Trochiliformes". Their previous order, "Apodiformes" was changed to the superorder "Apodimorphae". This superorder contains the three families of birds which were in it when it was an order.


title: Bielsko-Biała

paragraphs: Bielsko-Biała is a city in southern Poland with 180,000 inhabitants. Its size is 125km2. The city is in the Beskidy mountains.


title: Idi Amin

paragraphs: Idi Amin Dada (17 August 1925 – 16 August 2003) was a repressive dictator of the African country of Uganda. The President of Tanzania at the time, Julius Nyerere, invaded Uganda to save the country from Amin.

paragraphs: Amin was famous for sending all Asians, mainly from India and Pakistan, out of Uganda. He threw them out because he believed they were taking the jobs of Ugandans. Many of the Asians that left Uganda came back after Amin was thrown out.

paragraphs: He was a convert to Islam. He supported the cause of Palestine freedom. This caused the hijacking of an Air France flight that landed in Entebbe, Uganda.

paragraphs: Amin became known as a very brutal leader and in the 1970s he was compared to historical persons such as Caligula, Hitler, Beria and Himmler. In several of the neighboring countries he was stamped as "sadist, murderer, fascist and oppressor."

paragraphs: In 2003, Amin died in Jeddah , Saudi Arabia from kidney failure at age 77. He lived in Saudi Arabia after being thrown out of Uganda, he was barred from ever returning since he left. He died one day before his 78th birthday.

paragraphs: He was put on life support on July 18, but when his organs began to fail, life support mechanism was disconnected by his family. He was buried without any memorial in a simple grave without headstone.

paragraphs: "The Last King of Scotland" (2006) is a movie about Amin's government. Forest Whitaker won an Academy Award for best actor.


title: Phnom Penh

paragraphs: Phnom Penh (; official Romanization: Phnum Pénh; IPA: [pʰnum peːɲ]) is the capital city of Cambodia as well as the largest and most populous city in the country. It is also the capital of the Phnom Penh administrative city. On April 17 1975, it was seized by the Khmer Rouge who soon forced everyone to leave. It was later retaken from the Khmer Rouge by the Vietnamese Army in January 1979.


title: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

paragraphs: "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" is a 1908 Tin Pan Alley song. The words were written by Jack Norworth. The music was written by Albert Von Tilzer. Neither of the writers had been to a baseball game. The song has become the unofficial anthem of baseball.

paragraphs: The chorus is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch of a baseball game. Fans are generally encouraged to sing along. At some ballparks, the words "home team" are replaced with the team name, as is the case with the Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers and several other Major League Baseball teams.

paragraphs: The first recorded version of the song was made by Edward Meeker. Meeker's recording was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry. The Registry picks recordings once a year that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: Xia dynasty

paragraphs: Xia dynasty (Chinese: 夏朝; Pinyin: xià cháo; Wade–Giles: Hsia-ch'ao) was the first dynasty of China. It was founded in 2100 BC and ended in 1600 BC. Until archaeologists dug at Erlitou in Henan Province, many scientists were not sure if the Xia Dynasty was real or a myth. The last king was Jie who was said to be cruel and greedy. He was defeated by T'ang, the king of the Shang people from the east.


title: South Park

paragraphs: South Park is an American adult animated sitcom about the lives of four boys in the fourth grade living in the small mountain town of South Park, Colorado. The is made to be watched by adults, but the series gets a lot of people to watch it because of its humor. It uses satire to make fun of subjects such as current events, religion, politics, and pop culture. The show is controversial because of its use of profanity and sexual humor. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone also made a movie based on this series called "". Characters in "South Park" include Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick. These boys are 10 years old The series is about them living in their town.

paragraphs: " South Park" began in 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone met in their film class at the University of Colorado at Boulder. They made a short subject animated short called "Jesus vs. Frosty". The short movie had characters that were similar to the main characters in the present-day "South Park".

paragraphs: Later on, an executive at FOX saw the movie. He hired Parker and Stone to make a second short movie to send to friends as a video Christmas card. This second video was called "Jesus vs. Santa". It had the same style as the "South Park" that can be seen today.

paragraphs: The voices in "South Park" are done by a small number of actors. Most of the male voices are done by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The female voices are done by April Stewart and Mona Marshall (formerly Mary Kay Bergman and Eliza Schneider). Other voices are done by Adrien Beard (Token black), and Vernon Chatman (Towelie).

paragraphs: Before the start of season four, the main characters of the series were four third grade students (often called "the boys" when as a group for easier reference).

paragraphs: Stan is usually considered the serious and sensitive of the group. Stan is able to think clearly and is generally good-natured. Stan usually tries to come up with logical solutions to their outrageous situations. Stan's character is loosely based on the persona (public personality) of co-creator Trey Parker. His best friend is Kyle and their relationship is essential in several episodes, such as when he saves Kyle's life in "Cherokee Hair Tampons", "Cartmanland" and "Super Best Friends".

paragraphs: Kyle is the most easy-going character and the only Jewish one. Even though he is not particularly religious, he hates Cartman because Cartman is always making insulting comments about his faith. Kyle's character portrays the alter-ego of co-creator Matt Stone. Along with Stan, Kyle often gives a reasonable look on the crazy behavior of the adult world around them. Kyle is often shown as the most moral member of the four.

paragraphs: Eric is the most irrational of the main characters. Eric is fat and seems to dislike everything except food. He is often the main reason for the plot of each episode. Cartman commonly acts against the other boys. Cartman often insults Kyle for being Jewish and Kenny for being poor. In the earlier episodes, he would also insult Stan for having a girlfriend. Cartman is extremely and seems to be intelligent. However, this is shadowed by his racism and bigotry. Cartman sometimes serves as a speaker for some of Parker and Stone's more extreme commentary about society (three times he has dressed as Adolf Hitler). Cartman hates hippies more than anything else. This is seen in the episode "Die Hippie, Die" which showed his career as a 'hippie exterminator'.

paragraphs: Kenny comes from a poor family. He is the most cosmopolitan of the four boys, who often turn to him when encountering an unfamiliar sexual term. Kenny's voice is muffled by his parka. This is mainly because the comments he makes are vulgar. Even though his dialog is not understood by the viewer, Stan, Kyle and Cartman can understand him completely clearly enough.

paragraphs: Butters has made very few appearances in some episodes. He only started to became a regular character upon Kenny's death in season 6. He has since been used almost as regularly as the main four boys. Butters is the character that the others usually make fun of. He is nervous, naive, easily manipulated, yet he remains very optimistic. He is often punished by his overbearing parents, and sometimes used by his peers for their own amusement. Butters always gets grounded. To further represent Butters' unluckiness, it is revealed in the episode "AWESOM-O" that his birthday is on September 11. Butters became important after he was the replacement for the semi-permanently dead Kenny in season 6. He also has an alter ego which he named "Professor Chaos". His character is based on animation director Eric Stough.

paragraphs: A female fourth grader, Stan's girlfriend and Bebe's best friend.

paragraphs: "South Park" has a number of different families, who represent a common theme of many episodes. There are five main families who are distinguished from the rest of the townsfolk: the Marshes (Stan's), the Broflovskis (Kyle's)(Jews), the Cartmans (Eric's), the McCormicks (Kenny's), and the Stotches (Butters'). These families are important because their children have been main characters.

paragraphs: Randy Marsh has become one of the most common adult characters on the show. His actions in a lot of episodes, such as "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" and "Bloody Mary", suggest that Randy is rather foolish. Stan also says that his father is stupid in the episodes "Child Abduction Is Not Funny" and "All About the Mormons?". Like most adults in South Park, he has a tendency to get caught up in any trend. Randy is one of South Park's two geologists along with Clyde's father.

paragraphs: Sharon Marsh is Stan and Shelly Marsh's mother, as well as Randy Marsh's wife.

paragraphs: Shelly Marsh is Randy Marsh and Sharon Marsh's daughter and Stan Marsh's older sister.

paragraphs: Gerald is Kyle's father, and he works as a lawyer.

paragraphs: Peter Gints, also known as Ike Moisha Broflovski, is Kyle's little brother. He was adopted by Gerald and Shiela. He was born in Canada.

paragraphs: Kyle Tómas Schwartz is Kyle's stereotypically Jewish cousin from Connecticut.

paragraphs: Jack Tenorman is Eric and Scott Tenorman's father. He is murdered in Season 5.

paragraphs: Scott is Jack's son and Eric's arch-enemy.

paragraphs: Towelie is a talking towel who smokes marijuana. He has a collection of novelty stamps. He often reminds the boys to bring a towel. "Don't forget to bring a towel."


title: Colon

paragraphs: The colon is a part of the large intestine. It is between cecum and the rectum. The colon takes water from the feces that goes through it. The colon in mammals can be divided into four sections:

paragraphs: This part of the colon goes from the cecum (where the small intestine ends) up the right hand side of the abdomen.

paragraphs: This part of the colon goes across the from the ascending colon. It goes underneath the stomach and the pancreas and joins the descending colon near the spleen.

paragraphs: This part of the intestine is about 30 cm in length. It travels down the left side of the abdomen. It is possible to have medical problems with the descending colon including ulcers, cancer and Crohn's disease.

paragraphs: This is the small "S" shaped part of the colon, about 40 cm in length, which goes from the bottom of the descending colon into the centre of the pelvis to the rectum. It gets its name from the Greek letter "s", "sigma".


title: Battle of Ðiện Biên Phủ

paragraphs: The battle of Ðiện Biên Phủ happened in 1954. It was a battle between Vietnamese and French forces, which Vietnam won. This led the French to give up in the First Indochina War, securing the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam for the time. This was followed by the division of Vietnam into North and South and then the Second Indochinese War.

paragraphs: The battle took place in the hills of northwestern Vietnam. The French intended to cut off the supplies of the Việt Minh, and to supply their own troops by air. The battle became a siege. The Việt Minh forces commanded by General Võ Nguyên Giáp brought artillery into this difficult area, shot down the French airplanes, and bombarded the French troops. This forced the French at Ðiện Biên Phủ to surrender in May 1954, after two months of fighting. The French garrison had increased to 16,200 people. After years of fighting and this defeat, France did not want to continue fighting.

paragraphs: This was the first time an Asian colonial army defeated the army of a European power by military might. It was considered a surprise disaster for the French and a blow to the Western world. The French no longer wanted to maintain French Indochina, and negotiated and withdrew from Indochina. French colonies in Africa also revolted and by 1967 most of the French colonial empire was gone.


title: August Revolution

paragraphs: The August Revolution happened in Vietnam in August 1945. It was an uprising for independence after the Japanese lost World War II. It led to the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945. The independence war against the French would soon follow.


title: Dictator

paragraphs: The word dictator or despot in modern times is used to describe the absolute ruler (other than a king) of a country, who uses force and fear to keep himself and his friends in authority, and can effectively make laws all by himself. Dictatorship is a type of government, used in some countries. A country that is ruled by a dictator is called a "dictatorship". Dictatorship is often called a "cruel" government, because it is considered most violent.

paragraphs: The word "dictator" is from the Roman Republic where a man would be given absolute power for half a year or one year to handle an emergency. Julius Caesar was the last Roman Dictator.

paragraphs: Some dictators gained political power in a revolution. Some won an election and cancelled new elections once they took power.

paragraphs: It is not always clear whether a leader is a dictator or not. Some leaders got into power by elections, but sometimes they gave false election results.

paragraphs: Kings and emperors often use force and fear too, but usually they are not called dictators. This is because those monarchs have some reason for being in power (usually their father was king or emperor), but a dictator gained power himself. Also, when someone is king or emperor of a country, usually there were several kings or emperors before them. A dictator often creates the job of dictator by gaining power.

paragraphs: Some people call leaders dictators because they simply do not like them and they seem powerful.


title: Nigeria

paragraphs: Nigeria is a country in west Africa. It has a population of 188,500,000, more than any other country in Africa. Its capital is Abuja. Nigeria is known for being a large country, and one of the richest in Africa.

paragraphs: From the 1500s to the 1800s, many people from the land now called Nigeria (and other parts of West Africa) were taken away and turned into slaves by Europeans, and they were sent to work in the Americas. These slaves were bought and sold in the Americas by Europeans who lived there. Today, many people related to those slaves still live in America, though they are no longer slaves. They are called African-Americans.

paragraphs: From 1901 to 1960, the United Kingdom ruled Nigeria. However, by 1960 the people wanted independence very much, and Britain finally let them have it. For some time after this, Nigeria was a dictatorship, where the leaders stayed in control even if the majority of people disliked them. At this time, Nigeria had a big war called the Biafro War with Christian Igbo people who wanted their own country in the East. They did not want to be a part of Nigeria, which was ruled by The Muslim North and Mixed West. The war ended with a reunification of Nigeria.

paragraphs: In 1999, Nigeria became a democracy, where people choose their leaders. After that, Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba Christian from the south, became President. In 2007, Umaru Yar'Adua, a Hausa Muslim, was elected to be the next President. Yar'Adua died in May, 2009. Goodluck Jonathan, the vice president, then became president.

paragraphs: Goodluck Jonathan was re-elected as the president after wining the 2011 general elections under the political party, PDP.

paragraphs: He served as the country's president until 2015.

paragraphs: Since 2002, there have been a battles in the north of the country. The battles are between government troops and the Islamist group Boko Haram. This group wants to have Sharia law for the country.

paragraphs: Nigeria has a total area of . It is the world's 32nd-largest country. It shares a border with Benin (773 km), Niger (1497 km), Chad (87 km) and Cameroon (1690 km). It has a coastline of at least 853 km.

paragraphs: The highest point in Nigeria is Chappal Waddi at . The main rivers are the Niger and the Benue River. They come together and empty into the Niger Delta, one of the world's largest river deltas. It is the location of a large area of Central African Mangroves.

paragraphs: These are the cities in Nigeria with over 1 million people as of 2012.

paragraphs: In Nigeria, there are two national anthems. The first one is called "Nigeria We Hail Thee". The second and current national anthem is called "Arise O' Compatriots. The first one was written by Lilian Jean William and composed by Frances Berda. The second one was written by 5 people and was composed by the Police band. Arise O' Compatriots was first heard during Nigeria's independence.

paragraphs: In Nigeria, there are almost equal numbers of Muslims and Christians. Most of the Christians live in the south, and most of the Muslims live in the north. Contrary to some beliefs, the Nigerian civil war was not only attributed to religious intolerance. The war which took place between 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra. The conflict was the result of economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions among the various peoples of Nigeria.

paragraphs: Nigeria produces a large amount of oil, and some fighting has been going on because many people want a share of the oil profits. This fighting has been happening in the area called the Niger Delta, where the Niger River flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

paragraphs: The largest city in Nigeria is Lagos. Nigeria has both grasslands and rainforests, and can get very hot, because it is close to the Equator. Petroleum and agriculture make up the Nigerian economy.

paragraphs: Nigerian cuisine, like West African cuisine in general, is known for its richness and variety. Many different spices, herbs and flavourings are used along with palm oil or groundnut oil. These make deeply flavoured sauces and soups often made very hot with chili peppers. Nigerian feasts are colourful and lavish. Good smelling market and roadside snacks cooked on barbecues or fried in oil are plentiful and varied.

paragraphs: Association football is Nigeria's national sport. The country has its own Premier League of football. Nigeria's Men's national football team, known as the Super Eagles, has made the World Cup five times. These were in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2010, 2014, and most recently in 2018. They won the African Cup of Nations in 1980, 1994 and 2013. They also hosted the Junior World Cup. They won the gold medal for football in the 1996 Summer Olympics.

paragraphs: Nigeria is also involved in other sports such as basketball, cricket, sprints and track and field. Boxing is also an important sport in Nigeria; Dick Tiger and Samuel Peter are both former World Champions.


title: Laxoox

paragraphs: Laxoox (pronounced 'la-hoh') in Somalia, or Canjeera is a flat bread, a kind of pancake served in Somaliland, Somalia, Yemen and parts of Djibouti. It is frequently seen in the kitchens of northern East Africa.

paragraphs: Laxoox bread is very similar to "injera", made in Ethiopian and Eritrea, but is much thinner and smaller in size. However, laxoox is always made with wheat flour, while the injera is made from teff (which can be made with flour of other cereals).

paragraphs: The bread is made with a mixture of wheat flour, yeast, warm water and a small portion of salt. The mixture is stirred by hand until it becomes creamy and smooth, in this case is left to ferment in the evening. The laxoox is traditionally cooked in a circular metal plate called Daawa. Somalis living in exile, without access to a Daawa, use a normal pan instead.

paragraphs: Flavor is often using melted butter or caramel. The Laxoox served with ful medames, scrambled egg, minced meat, beans, hummus, soup, camel milk, tea or Turkish. Generally it is sometimes eaten as a morning or afternoon lunch.


title: Khmer language

paragraphs: Khmer is the official language of Kampuchea/Cambodia. Its script was the base for the Thai script, although Thai does not use subscript consonants. One thing that makes it particularly difficult for many foreigners to learn is that Khmer words are not separated in a sentence and the sounds are quite hard for foreigners to replicate. But still each word in the sentence can be distinguished. Also, there is not much material on Khmer, although this situation is changing.

paragraphs: The Khmer script is based on an ancient Indian alphabet. It is written from left to right. There are 35 consonants, some of which are written under other consonants. Vowels are combined with the consonants.

paragraphs: The language has a subject-verb-object order. Pronouns change based on who you are speaking to.


title: Democratic Republic of the Congo

paragraphs: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (), commonly referred to as DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa or the DRC, is a country in central Africa. It was known as Zaïre from 1971 to 1997. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world. With a population of over 71 million, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the nineteenth most populous nation in the world, the fourth most populous nation in Africa, as well as the most populous Francophone (French-speaking) country.

paragraphs: DRC borders the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in the east; Zambia and Angola to the south; the Republic of the Congo, the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It is separated from Tanzania by Lake Tanganyika in the east. The country has access to the ocean through a stretch of Atlantic coastline at Muanda and the roughly 9 km wide mouth of the Congo River which opens into the Gulf of Guinea. It has the second-highest total Christian population in Africa.

paragraphs: When the Belgian Congo became independent, its leaders fought each other. The Soviet Union and later the United Nations helped destroy the groups who wanted independence from the new country.

paragraphs: The Second Congo War, beginning in 1998, devastated the country. It involved nine African nations and some twenty armed groups. Despite the signing of peace accords in 2003, fighting continues in the east of the country. There, the prevalence of rape and other sexual violence is described as the worst in the world. The war is the world's deadliest conflict since World War II, killing 5.4 million people since 1998. The vast majority died from conditions of malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition.

paragraphs: The Democratic Republic of the Congo was formerly, in chronological order, the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Congo-Léopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zaire ("Zaïre" in French). Though it is in the Central African United Nations subregion, the nation is also economically and regionally affiliated with Southern Africa as a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

paragraphs: The country is bordered by Angola, the South Atlantic Ocean, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania across Lake Tanganyika, and Zambia.

paragraphs: World Heritage Sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo include Virunga National Park (1979), Garamba National Park (1980),

paragraphs: Kahuzi-Biega National Park (1980), Salonga National Park (1984) and Okapi Wildlife Reserve (1996).

paragraphs: The country is divided into twenty six provinces. The provinces are then divided into districts. The districts are divided into territories.


title: Spotted hyena

paragraphs: The spotted hyena ("Crocuta crocuta") is a species of hyena (or "hyaena" in British English). They are often called the laughing hyena. They are found almost everywhere in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are between 27,000 and 47,000 individuals, though their population is getting smaller in the wild. This is because of habitat loss and illegal hunting. They lived in Europe for at least a million years until the end of the Pleistocene.

paragraphs: The spotted hyena is the largest member of the Hyaenidae. They are the most social Carnivora animals, with various group sizes. Hyenas are pack hunters. Their behaviors are still not well understand. However, their social system is not cooperative but competitive. Females take care of their own cubs only, and males are not interested in helping females with their cubs. Females are larger than males and they can control them. The females are the only mammalian species not to have a vaginal opening.

paragraphs: The spotted hyena is a successful scavenger as well as hunter They can eat skin, bone and other animal waste. Spotted hyenas hunt with a family group of about two to five other hyenas. The family lives in large communities (called "clans") which may have up to 80 individuals.

paragraphs: They run around herds of animals and choose one to attack. After they have selected their prey, they chase them for a long time. They can run at speeds up to 60 km/h. Humans have known spotted hyenas for a long time. In the Upper Paleolithic, humans made paintings of hyenas in caves. Spotted hyenas have a negative reputation in Western culture and African folklore. In African folklore, spotted hyenas are described as ugly and scared animals. In Western culture, they are seen as greedy, stupid, foolish, powerful and a dangerous animal.


title: Aardwolf

paragraphs: The aardwolf ("Proteles cristata") is a small, insectivorous mammal, native to East Africa and Southern Africa. Its name means "earth wolf" in the Afrikaans / Dutch language. It is also called "maanhaar jackal" in Afrikaans, or "civet hyena", based on the secretions (civet) from their anal glands.

paragraphs: The aardwolf is in the same family as the hyenas. Unlike many of its relatives in the order Carnivora, the aardwolf does not hunt large animals, or even eat meat on a regular basis; instead it eats insects, mainly termites – one aardwolf can eat about 250,000 termites during a single night by using its long, sticky tongue to capture them.

paragraphs: The aardwolf lives in the scrublands of eastern and southern Africa – these are open lands covered with stunted trees and shrubs. The aardwolf is nocturnal, resting in burrows during the day and coming out at night to eat.


title: Waterbury, Connecticut

paragraphs: Waterbury is a town in the state of Connecticut. More than one hundred thousand people live there.


title: Blue cheese

paragraphs: Blue cheese is a type of cheese with a fungus called "Penicillium" added to it. The fungus makes patches or veins of it look blue. The cheese can be made from cow's milk, sheep's milk, or goat's milk. Types of it include Roquefort cheese, Stilton cheese, and Gorgonzola cheese. These names should only be used for cheeses that are made in certain areas and are protected by the European Union.


title: Elektra

paragraphs: Elektra of Mycenae was the daughter of King Agamemnon of Mycenae and Klytaimnestra. She had a brother, Orestes, and two sisters, Iphigeneia and Chrysothemis.

paragraphs: After the Trojan War, Agamemnon was killed by Klytaimnestra and her lover Aegisthos because Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigeneia for good winds to sail. Elektra helped Orestes to kill their mother Klytaimnestra and her lover, to avenge their father's death.


title: Insulin

paragraphs: Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas in the body that controls the glucose level in the blood.

paragraphs: People who cannot make insulin in their bodies, or who make it but their body cannot use it properly, have the disease diabetes. When blood glucose levels fall below a certain level, the human body begins to use stored sugar as an energy source through glycogenolysis. This process breaks down the glycogen stored in the liver and muscles into glucose which can then be used as an energy source. Insulin is a central metabolic control mechanism. Insulin is also used as a control signal to other body systems (such as amino acid uptake by body cells). In addition, it has several other anabolic effects throughout the body. Insulin affects vascular compliance and cognition.

paragraphs: Human insulin is a peptide hormone composed of 51 amino acids and has a molecular weight of 5808 Da. The islets of Langerhans in the pancreas produces insulin. The name comes from the Latin "insula" for "island". Insulin's structure varies slightly between species of animals. Insulin from different animal sources has different effects on the human carbohydrate metabolism process. Porcine insulin is especially close to the human version. So, people with diabetes can take in insulin extracted from pigs instead of producing their own insulin.

paragraphs: Nicolae Paulescu, a Romanian professor of physiology at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest, was the first to isolate insulin. He did that in 1916. He called it pancrein. He isolated it by developing an aqueous pancreatic extract which, when injected into a diabetic dog, proved to have a normalizing effect on blood sugar levels. He had to interrupt his experiments because of World War I. In early 1921 he wrote four papers about his work carried out in Bucharest and his tests on a diabetic dog. Later that year, he detailed his work by publishing an extensive whitepaper on the effect of the pancreatic extract injected into a diabetic animal, which he called: "Research on the Role of the Pancreas in Food Assimilation", with the paper received the 22 June 1921 by the "Archives Internationales de Physiologie" , with the photocopy of the article available in the Gerstein Science Information Centre.https://insulin.library.utoronto.ca/islandora/object/insulin%3AT10137

paragraphs: Dr. Frederick Banting, a general practician, who was also teaching orthopaedics and anthropology part-time at the University of Western Ontario in London at the time of Paulescu's published research regarding the already developed aqueous pancreatic extract and Charles Best, a a 22-year-old medical student at the University of Toronto who worked at the time as an assistant to the surgeon Dr. Frederick Banting also did similar experiments while trying to find a cure for diabetes. In these experiments they used as well dogs.

paragraphs: They first knew insulin would control diabetes in a person when they injected some insulin into a 14-year-old boy named Leonard Thompson who was dying of diabetes. After the injection he survived. Banting won the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, along with John Macleod, for the discovery of insulin. Best and Paulescu were not honored at that time.

paragraphs: The first genetically-engineered, synthetic "human" insulin was produced in a laboratory in 1977 by Herbert Boyer using E. coli.


title: Nerve impulse

paragraphs: A nerve impulse is the way nerve cells (neurons) communicate with one another. Nerve impulses are mostly electrical signals along the dendrites to produce a nerve impulse or action potential.

paragraphs: The action potential is the result of ions moving in and out of the cell. Specifically, it involves potassium (K) and sodium (Na) ions. The ions are moved in and out of the cell by potassium channels, sodium channels and the sodium-potassium pump.

paragraphs: Faster electrical synapses are used in escape reflexes, the retina of vertebrates, and the heart. They are faster because they do not need the slow diffusion of neurotransmitters across the synaptic gap. Therefore, electrical synapses are used whenever fast response and coordination of timing are crucial.

paragraphs: These synapses connect the presynaptic and postsynaptic cells directly together. When an action potential reaches such a synapse, the ionic currents cross the two cell membranes and enter the postsynaptic cell through pores known as connexons. Thus, presynaptic action potential directly stimulates the postsynaptic cell.


title: Hare

paragraphs: Hares are mammals of the order Lagomorpha, in the same family as the rabbit. They are larger than rabbits and have black tipped ears. Their diet (the food they eat) resembles what rabbits eat; they eat ruttabaga and lettuce. They graze on grass and leafy weeds.

paragraphs: Hares are very fast-running animals. The European brown hare ("Lepus europaeus") runs at speeds up to . The five species of jackrabbit found in central and western North America can run at , and can leap up to 3m (ten feet) at a time. They live solitarily or in pairs; a "drove" is the name for a group of hares.

paragraphs: Normally a shy animal, they change their behaviour in spring, when hares chase one another around meadows. This may be competition between males to attain dominance (and hence more access to breeding females). During this spring frenzy, hares can be seen "boxing"; one hare striking another with its paws (probably the origin of the term "mad as a March hare"). For a long time, this was thought to be intermale competition, but closer observation has shown it is usually a female hitting a male to prevent copulation. When a doe is ready to mate, she runs across the countryside, starting a chase that tests the stamina of the following males. When only the fittest male remains, the female stops and allows him to copulate.

paragraphs: This is a species of hare found in cold climates in North America. As with the Arctic fox, its hair is white in winter, and brown in the summer. These are different morphs. This ability gives it camouflage, which it needs because it is the favourite food of the Canadian lynx.


title: ESSEC

paragraphs: The ESSEC is an important school teaching business to adults in France. It was created in 1907 in Paris, but it has moved to Cergy-Pontoise, a city west of Paris, in 1973.

paragraphs: In 2006, ESSEC set up a campus in Singapore, Asia. Twice a year, about 50 ESSEC students go and study there.

paragraphs: ESSEC is now one of the most famous Business Schools and Grandes Écoles in France. ESSEC is frequently ranked first nationally.


title: National symbols

paragraphs: National symbols are patriotic symbols representing nations and countries. Sometimes, symbols are used for cultural or ethnic groups that do not have their own country yet.

paragraphs: National symbols try to unite people or send a message by representing the national people, values, goals, or history. People often honor their nation, country, or group by celebrating their national symbol.


title: Computer bus

paragraphs: A computer bus (often simply called bus) is part of most computers. Its role is to transfer data, signals, or power between some of the components that make up a computer.

paragraphs: The "size" or "width" of a bus is how many bits it carries in parallel. Common bus sizes are: 4 bits, 8 bits, 12 bits, 16 bits, 24 bits, 32 bits, 64 bits, 80 bits, 96 bits, and 128 bits. Computers use such buses to link:

paragraphs: Drives are usually connected by Serial ATA or the earlier ATAPI bus. USB and Firewire connections go to printers and other peripheral devices.


title: Diego Ramírez Islands

paragraphs: The Diego Ramírez Islands are a group of islands. They are in the Drake Passage, about 100 km southwest of Cape Horn. The Ildefonso Islands are 93 km to the north-northwest. There is a group of 6 islands to the north, then there is a waterway of 3 km, then there is another group to the south. There is a weather station in one of the islands. The islands are an important nesting place for birds.

paragraphs: The islands belong to Chile, and are named after Diego Ramírez. They were first sighted on 12 February 1619 by Marco Ramirez of the Garcia de Nodal expedition, and named after the cosmographer of the expedition. They were the southernmost landmass known at the time. They kept this status for 156 years. In 1775, James Cook discovered the South Sandwich Islands, which are much farther south.

paragraphs: The Chilean Navy built a meteorological station above "Caleta Condell", a small cove on the northeast side of "Isla Gonzalo" (Gonzalo Island), in 1957, and resupply it several times each year. This is the southernmost manned outpost of South America (including islands), even if the South Sandwich Islands are regarded as part of South America. The Argentinian station on Thule Island was taken down in June 1982 after the Falklands War. The next southerly manned outpost of South America is the lighthouse of Cape Horn. Cruise ships sometimes pass by on their way to and from Antarctica.

paragraphs: The archipelago has 2 groups. The North group is smaller and is named as "Rocas del Norte". There are 5 islands in this group, "Islote Cabezas", "Islote Peñailillo", "Isla Norte", "Islote Martínez" and "Islote Mendoza". In the South group are many islands, for example; "Islote Santander", "Islotes Vergara", "Isla Bartolomé" (the principal island), "Islote Pontevedra", "Islote García", "Isla Gonzalo" (the second longest) and "Islote Ester".

paragraphs: All the islands have moss on the ground, and they have a cold climate all year, with much rain every month. Because of how far south they are, there is a strong wind from the west.


title: Performing music from memory

paragraphs: Performing music from memory means knowing a piece of music well enough to be able to play or sing it without the written music.

paragraphs: Although some people can learn music by ear, most people who are taught to play musical instruments learn new pieces by reading the printed music which is in front of them on a music stand. When someone has learned to play a piece of music well enough to perform it, it is good if they can learn to play it without the printed music. This is called “playing from memory” or “playing by heart”. When a musician is practising a piece of music so that it can be played from memory this is called memorizing the music.

paragraphs: Most Classical musicians will agree that it is good to play from memory when performing as a soloist. It means that the player understands the music really well, and he is able to concentrate completely on the way he plays the music (the interpretation). In some music competitions the competitors are expected to play from memory. A pianist playing a recital will usually play everything from memory. It is particularly important for singers who are performing songs (Lieder) to sing without music because they can then communicate directly with the audience using the expression on their faces. Some conductors conduct from memory. If they do, they ought to know every single note for every single instrument from memory. There are some conductors who have such amazing memories that they can do this.

paragraphs: Some people find it easier to memorize music than others. There are different ways of practising to help memorize music: by memorizing a few bars at a time, by studying the printed music away from the instrument, or by “thinking” through the piece away from the instrument.

paragraphs: Some people have a “photographic memory” and can see in their mind the music as printed on the paper. Some people rely on aural memory (hearing it in one’s imagination). There is also muscular memory (the fingers "knowing" what to do). Probably most people use some combination of all these methods.

paragraphs: When people perform from memory they are often worried that they might have a memory lapse (forget how the music goes). It can happen, of course, even to the greatest musicians. The famous violinist Bronislaw Huberman and the pianist Eugen d’Albert were once performing Beethoven’s "Kreutzer Sonata". Both were playing from memory. One of them kept going wrong in the same place, playing something that had happened earlier, so that they played the middle bit three times before eventually managing to finish the piece. However, this is quite common, and can happen to anyone.

paragraphs: People who learn musical instruments should try to memorize some of their pieces. Many famous musicians have a large repertoire (a collection) of pieces that they can play from memory.

paragraphs: "Pianoforte Diplomas" by Geoffrey Tankard (Sevenoaks 1973)


title: Grave

paragraphs: A grave is where somebody or something is buried after they have died.

paragraphs: Graves are usually placed in a graveyard, with a headstone used to identify the dead person.

paragraphs: A funeral will occur if the family has enough money. If they do not, there will not be a proper funeral. The name on the grave is of the dead person. For example, William Shakespeare was buried in England.


title: Polyrhythm

paragraphs: Polyrhythm happens when two different rhythms are played at the same time in music. African, Latin, and Afro-Cuban music often use polyrhythms.

paragraphs: Polyrythm is another word for layering and adding volumes to the piece of music. It happens when one person starts playing a rhythm and then other people start joining in, adding dynamics to it. It happens in Africa during festivals and occasions along with a call and response style of playing.


title: Theme Hospital

paragraphs: Theme Hospital is a simulation computer game developed by Bullfrog and EA Games. It was published in 1997. The game is quite humorous.

paragraphs: In the game, the player must build and operate a hospital. There are different rooms you can build. These are to diagnose the patient and to treat the illness.

paragraphs: Some illnesses are quite unusual. One is the bloaty head disease where the patient's head blows up. Another is the slack tongue disease, where the patient has an unusually long tongue.


title: Pontin's

paragraphs: Pontin's is a holiday company which was founded by Fred Pontin in 1946. It is now owned by Trevor Hemmings and has eight centres in England and Wales.


title: Twin prime conjecture

paragraphs: The twin prime conjecture is a mathematical theory. It says that it is possible to find two twin primes that are as big as wanted.

paragraphs: Twin primes are prime numbers that differ by two. For example, 3 and 5 are both prime and differ by two. They are twin primes. 23 is prime, but it is not a twin prime. The primes nearest to 23 are 19 and 29. Twin primes were discovered by Euclid in 300 B.C.

paragraphs: Since Euclid's time mathematicians have wondered whether there are an infinite number of twin primes. Many mathematicians are still trying to find the answer.


title: Mud

paragraphs: Mud is a mixture of soil, silt, loam or clay, mixed with and water. It is a type of soil that is also called "clay soil". Others include the sandy soil, or sand, and garden soil. Wet mud has a soft wet texture.

paragraphs: Young children sometimes play in puddles of mud. Mud is usually brown.

paragraphs: Some animals including worms, frogs, snails, clams, and crayfish live in mud. Pigs and elephants use it to cool themselves in hot weather. Some people enjoy making mud pies out of mud.

paragraphs: Great river systems like the Amazon bring down to the delta immense amounts of mud which ends up in the sea outside the fan of the river mouth. Mudrock is what the mud may become millions of years later. Mudrocks make up fifty percent of the sedimentary rocks in the geologic record, and are easily "the most widespread deposits on Earth".


title: The Zutons

paragraphs: The Zutons are a rock band from Liverpool, England. They formed in 2001. They are on the Deltasonic record label. The band were nominated for the British Breakthrough Act award at the 2005 BRIT Awards.

paragraphs: Their first album, "Who Killed... The Zutons?", was released on 18 October 2004, and got to number 9 in the United Kingdom album chart. It came with a printed 3-D cover, and special glasses to view the cover. Many fans wore the glasses to concerts. The album was a nominee for the 2004 Mercury Music Prize.

paragraphs: The new album Tired of Hanging Around was released on April 17, 2006 and reached 2 in the UK album charts. The band went around the UK doing concerts in May 2006 following the release of this album. Their second UK tour will begin in November 2006.


title: Dwarf planet

paragraphs: Dwarf planet is the name used to classify some objects in the solar system. This definition was made on August 24, 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), and can be described as; "a dwarf planet is a body orbiting the Sun that is big enough to round itself by its own gravity, but has not cleared its orbital path of other rival bodies". At the same meeting the IAU also defined the term planet for the first time. Some astronomers think that the term "dwarf planet" is too confusing and needs to be changed.

paragraphs: The seven dwarf planets, in order from their distance from the Sun are:

paragraphs: The dwarf planets, unlike the terrestrial and gas giant planets, are in more than one region of the solar system. Ceres is in the asteroid belt. The high orbital eccentricity of Pluto puts it mostly outside Neptune's orbit, but partly inside. The others are in the trans-Neptune region.

paragraphs: NASA's "Dawn" and "New Horizons" missions reached Ceres and Pluto, respectively, in 2015. "Dawn" had already orbited and observed Vesta in 2011.

paragraphs: There are many other dwarf planets in the solar system. Most of them are also Kuiper belt objects.


title: Blue peafowl

paragraphs: The blue peafowl or Indian peafowl ("Pavo cristatus") is a bird native to the Indian subcontinent.


title: Green peafowl

paragraphs: The green peafowl ("Pavo muticus") is a bird native to Southeast Asia.


title: Nintendo Virtual Boy

paragraphs: The Nintendo Virtual Boy was a mostly-portable (easily moved) game console which had two screens that showed only red and black graphics. To use the system, one had to put one's face close to the system so that each eye could see only one screen. By showing each eye a different image, the system could create a 3D effect.

paragraphs: The way the system displayed images was not by LCDs, as some would think. At the time, LCDs could not be used because they had two problems when they were first tested on the console: they would blur if anything moved on the screen, and users would see double instead of depth. Instead, a vertical line of 224 very bright, but very small, LEDs were used for each eye. These LEDs flashed on and off very fast in certain patterns. This line of LEDs was then magnified by a lens, and a vibrating mirror would reflect each line at a certain time into each eye, creating a full image due to the human eye's persistence of vision. Unfortunately, due to the quick flashing of the LEDs, many users felt sick, became dizzy, or had headaches after playing for a long time. To help this, an "automatic pause" feature was added, which stopped the game play every 30 minutes for the player to rest his or her eyes.

paragraphs: The Virtual Boy was first sold in 1995, but was not popular. Consumers did not like the console's high price, monochrome graphics, eye and neck strain, and need for a stand. Many were saving money for the soon-to-be-sold Nintendo 64. Nintendo lowered the price many times, but the system did not sell well and was discontinued (Nintendo stopped making them) in 1996. Only 22 games were released in Japan and North America.

paragraphs: Popular games for the system include "Mario Tennis" and "Virtual Boy Wario Land" (Known as "Wario Cruise" in Japan).

paragraphs: The Virtual Boy was made by Gunpei Yokoi, who also made the Game Boy and "Game & Watch".

paragraphs: People rumored that Gunpai Yakoi made the Virtual Boy as a parting gift, but unfortunately it failed.

paragraphs: There was a Japan version of the Virtual Boy, (Family Computer 3-D System) it played in color and indeed, played in 3-D.


title: Duke University

paragraphs: Duke University is a private university in Durham, North Carolina, founded in 1838. It was formed by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity. The school moved to Durham in 1892.

paragraphs: It has advanced research. Some famous people including former President of the United States, Richard Nixon went to the school. In its 2012 edition, "U.S. News & World Report" ranked the university's undergraduate program 10th among national universities.

paragraphs: Duke has good libraries, such as Bostock Library. It also has a famous medical school and law school. The school's colours are blue and white and its president is Richard Brodhead.

paragraphs: Duke University owns 220 buildings on of land. This includes the Duke Forest.

paragraphs: Duke has 26 varsity sports teams, known as the Blue Devils. Duke's athletic programs are considered among the very best in the NCAA. Duke's teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

paragraphs: Its Men's Basketball Team under coach Mike Krzyzewski has won the NCAA Tournament four times, and bought out the 2015 title as well. In football The Blue Devils have won seven ACC Football Championships. They have had ten players honored as ACC Player of the Year (the most in the ACC), Duke's teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference.


title: Existentialism

paragraphs: Existentialism is a philosophical way of talking. It sees humans, with will and consciousness, as being in a world of objects which do not have those two parts. The fact that humans are conscious of their mortality, and must make decisions about their life is what existentialism is all about.

paragraphs: It was started by the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (18131855).

paragraphs: As it developed in the 20th century, it was an atheistic philosophy (even though Kierkegaard was a deeply religious man). Most of its main thinkers and writers were in Europe. Sartre, for example, spent most of the Second World War in a German prison camp, reading the philosophy of Heidegger. When he came out he gave a lecture called "Existentialism and humanism". This early lecture may be easier to read than his later work.

paragraphs: Many religions and philosophies (ways of thinking about the world) say that human life has a meaning (or a purpose). But people who believe in existentialism think that the world and human life have "no meaning unless people give them meaning": ‘existence precedes [is before] essence’. This means that we find ourselves existing in the world, and then we give ourselves meaning, or 'essence'. As Sartre said, "We are condemned to be free". This means that we have no choice but to choose, and that we have full responsibility for our choices. Another way to put it is that we are always making choices even if we don't realize it.

paragraphs: Existentialists believe that our human 'essence' or 'nature' (way of being in the world) is simply our 'existence' (being in the world). More simply put, the 'essence' of a human, or what makes a human a 'human', is not due to nature or uncontrollable circumstances; rather, human essence is really just what we choose to make it. This means that the only nature we as humans have is the nature we make for ourselves. As a result of this, existentialists think that the actions or choices that a person makes are very important. They believe that every person has to decide for themselves what is right and wrong, and what is good and bad.

paragraphs: People who believe in existentialism ask questions like ’what is it like to be a human (a person) in the world?’ and ’how can we understand human freedom (what it means for a person to be free)?’ Existentialism is often connected with negative emotions, such as anxiety (worrying), dread (a very strong fear), and mortality (awareness of our own death). Some existentialists, like Sartre and Heidegger, think that thinking about these emotions help people to choose the way that they want to live their lives.

paragraphs: Existentialism is sometimes confused with nihilism. It is different from nihilism, but there is a similarity. Nihilists believe that human life "does not" have a meaning (or a purpose) at all; existentialism says that people must choose their own purpose.

paragraphs: Many of the main sources for existentialism were written in other languages and only later translated, mostly after the 1950s.

paragraphs: Ingmar Bergman made a movie called "The Seventh Seal" in 1957. It shows the doom and gloom of the late Middle Ages caused by the Black Plague, famine, the Hundred Years' War between France and England, and papal schism.

paragraphs: The movie "Taxi Driver" (which has the actor Robert De Niro) from 1976 has existential ideas in it. The main character feels sad and lonely, because he cannot understand the world.

paragraphs: Jean-Luc Godard's "Vivre sa vie (film)" and Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 are prime examples of the Existentialism fashion in the European early 50's that influenced American films such as Easy Rider or The Graduate in the 1960s.


title: King of the Hill

paragraphs: King of the Hill was an American animated cartoon that ran from 1997 to 2010 on FOX. It featured a husband, a wife, a son, and their live-in niece. FOX, the network running the series, would not be showing new episodes anymore after its 13th and final season. The final four episodes aired in May 2010.


title: Hairdresser

paragraphs: A hairdresser's job is to organise hair into a particular style or "look". They can cut hair, add colour to it or texture it. A hairdresser may female or male. Qualified staff are usually called "stylists", who are supported by assistants. Most hairdressing businesses are unisex, that is, they serve both sexes, and have both sexes on their staff.

paragraphs: Male hairdressers who simply cut men's hair (and do not serve females) are often called barbers.

paragraphs: Qualifications for hairdressing usually mean a college course, or an apprenticeship under a senior stylist. Some aspects of the job are quite technical (such as hair dying) and require careful teaching.


title: Eppie Lederer

paragraphs: Esther "Eppie" Pauline Friedman Lederer, better known as Ann Landers (July 4, 1918 – June 22, 2002), was an American writer. She is best known for writing the famous advice column "Ann Landers." For almost 45 years, it was a part of many newspapers across North America. In it, people wrote for advice and she answered.

paragraphs: Lederer and her twin sister Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips, writer of the advice column "Dear Abby", were daughters of Russian Jewish emigrants.


title: Northern bluefin tuna

paragraphs: Northern bluefin tuna are the largest kind of tuna fish. They live for 11 to 26 years. It is one of the largest, fastest, and most colorful of all the world’s fishes.

paragraphs: Their name comes from the Latin: "Thunnus Thynnus"

paragraphs: The normal size is 6.6 ft (2 m) at about 1,100 lb (500 kg). The I.G.F.A. record for a bluefin caught on rod and reel is 1,496 lb.

paragraphs: Bluefins feed on mackerel, herring, mullet, whiting, squid, eels, and crustaceans. They are very powerful and fast and can swim at speeds up to 50 mph.

paragraphs: The following are percentages of tuna caught in different regions in the world.


title: Automaton

paragraphs: An Automaton (one automaton, several "automata") is a concept from mathematics. Sometimes the concept is called "state machine". It is like an abstract machine.

paragraphs: Such a machine can be given "input", which is either rejected, or accepted. It's like a vending machine. When something is bought, coins (or money) needs to be inserted into the machine. If these are the right coins, they are accepted, and the requested item is dropped so it can be removed. If the coins are wrong, they are rejected.

paragraphs: Internally, the automaton has different "states" it can be in. Feeding it input may (or may not) change its state. That way, the automaton goes through all the input, consuming one item (which mathematicians call a symbol) at a time. When no symbol is left, the automaton is in a certain state. This may be an "final state". In this case the input is accepted. Otherwise, the input is rejected.

paragraphs: If the machine has a countable, finite number of states, it is called "finite state machine". A diagram that shows all the states, and transitions of such a machine is called finite state diagram.

paragraphs: Like in real life, there are machines that are too complex to understand. The mathematician and computer scientists therefore ask themselves if a certain automaton is "minimal". If it is not minimal, there must be another automaton with fewer states that can do the same thing. An example of an automaton is the turing machine.