title: Shot put

paragraphs: Shot put is an athletics sport where people try to "put" a heavy weighted ball as far as they can. They are not allowed to throw it, but instead they push the ball out into the air. They "put" the ball by holding it at their neck and pushing it through the air. The shot put has been part of the Olympics since 1896. The weight of the ball can vary from 6 to 16 pounds (2.76 to 7.26 kg), depending on level age and gender of the participants. The object of the sport is to throw it as far as possible.

paragraphs: The Shot put is similar to the javelin. It is an official Olympic event and can be seen at the Olympic games. The athlete cannot wear gloves when they are participating. If wearing gloves, the athlete will be disqualified.

paragraphs: The shot put event was first seen in the Middle Ages, when they would throw cannonballs at their enemies.

paragraphs: It is an outdoor event and cannot be played inside. It is a track and field event.

paragraphs: There are two types of putting styles: "glide" and "spin" (rotation). The glide was invented in the US in the year 1876. The spin was also developed in the US. It was invented by Parry O'Brian and made famous by Brian Oldfield.

paragraphs: Shot put was originally used in the Olympics to see who was the strongest athlete. Each athlete threw from a wooden square, and could only stand to throw. The shot put was a large stone ball. That is now a metal not softer than brass.


title: Hitchhiking

paragraphs: Hitchhiking is a way to end travel from place to place in someone else's car or lorry. Usually, a hitchhiker (a person who hitchhikes) will stand at the side of a road and hold his or her thumb in the air waiting for a passerby to come and pick her or him up. This is a sign that he or she wants to go somewhere else.

paragraphs: It was a very common way of traveling in Europe in the 1970s until people started to go missing. It is common for people to encounter rapists or lunatics while hitchiking, it is not always clear when being picked up if a person is dangerous, and this make it very dangerous and has made it less popular.

paragraphs: Because of this, hitchhiking is illegal or restricted in many country’s and states of America.


title: Owl

paragraphs: Owls are animals in the order Strigiformes. There are 200 species, and they are all animals of prey. Most of them are solitary and nocturnal; in fact, they are the only large group of birds which hunt at night. Owls are specialists at night-time hunting animals. They feed on small mammals such as rodents, insects, and other birds, and a few species like to eat fish as well.

paragraphs: As a group, owls are very successful. They are found in all parts of the world except Antarctica, most of Greenland, and some other small islands.

paragraphs: There are two families of owls: the true owls and the barn owls:

paragraphs: An owl has a big head, flat face, hooked beak, short tail, and sharp talons, The wings of an owl are long. Owls have brown, gray, or white plumage with streaks or spots.

paragraphs: Owls have a suite of adaptations which help them to be successful.

paragraphs: Owls have large eyes and holes for ears, a hawk-like beak, and a rather flat face. Most birds of prey have eyes on the sides of their heads, but the owl's eyes are facing forwards to help it see better in the dark. Their eyes are also fixed inside their sockets, so they have to turn their whole head to look at other things. Owls can rotate their heads and necks up to 270 degrees in both directions.

paragraphs: Owls are good at looking at things far from its eyes, but it cannot see anything clearly within a few centimeters of their eyes. Owls use small feathers on the beak and the feet that help it feel the prey it catches.

paragraphs: Most owls hunt at night, and in twilight (dawn and dusk). A few owls are also active during the day.

paragraphs: The owls' hunting depends on surprising its prey. Their most important adaptation is their almost silent flight. The feathers are soft, with fringes on the back edge, and the base of each is downy. This all muffles noise, and makes for silence. Also, they glide when coming in for the kill.

paragraphs: The dull colors of the owls' feathers make them less visible by camouflaging the owl. This helps them as they roost during the day.

paragraphs: Owls have fantastic hearing. The shape of the head helps slight sounds reach the ears. The feathers of the facial disc are arranged in order to increase sound delivered to the ears. Their ears are asymmetrical allowing the owl to locate a sound. They can hear a mouse move in the grass.

paragraphs: An owl's sharp beak and powerful talons allow it to kill its prey before swallowing it whole, unless it is too big. Owls usually regurgitate the parts of their prey that they cannot digest. These parts include bones, scales, and fur. Scientists who study the things that owls eat can get clues by studying the parts that the owl spit back out, called "owl pellets". These "owl pellets" are often sold by companies to schools for use in the students' biology and ecology lessons.

paragraphs: Many animals store food during times of plenty to prepare for leaner times. Owls may store dead mice for winter.

paragraphs: Owls have special adaptations which help them swivel their heads 270 degrees. They have 14 neck vertebrae instead of our seven. Also, the big carotid arteries, instead of being on the side of the neck as in humans, are carried close to the centre of rotation just in front of the spine. So these arteries get much less twisting and stretching, and the potential for damage is greatly reduced. This arrangement is seen in other birds, but in owls the vertebral arteries – the vessels that travel through channels in the neck bones – are given extra space.

paragraphs: Owls also have wide parts in their carotid arteries just under the base of the skull. Researchers found these could dilate and fill with a reservoir of blood. "We believe this is kind of a new structure not really known before", said a researcher. "It's probably a way to pool blood and get some continuity of flow even if there is disruption below at the next level".

paragraphs: Mythology and stories that include owls are:


title: Copyright infringement

paragraphs: Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the use of material which is covered by copyright law, in a way that violates one of the original copyright owner's "exclusive rights", such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted work, or to make derivative works that build upon it. The slang term "bootleg" (from the use of boots to smuggle items) is often used to describe illegally copied material.

paragraphs: Some people call illegally copying movies and music, "piracy" or "theft". Richard Stallman says people should not call copying and distribution "piracy", because piracy is robbery with attacking ships, killing and stealing people, and owners of copyright use the word to say that such copying is as evil as piracy. Some courts say that the word "piracy" may be used, but the word "theft" may not be used. When people use the word "piracy" for copyright infringement, it usually means "selling of many copies without permission", but sometimes any "big copyright infringement".

paragraphs: There are a few reasons why people violate copyrights. Copyright infringed goods are usually cheaper than legal ones, because the people distributing them don't need to pay for the copyright. That can make them easier to sell. Normal goods might also not be as useful as copyright infringed ones because of legal limitations.

paragraphs: Copyright laws have tried to keep up with the development of technology, such as radio, television, and the internet. Now many people upload some articles to websites that allow people to read free articles on it without the permission of the author. In this way, people can read many articles easily, but it is illegal. As a result, many authors prosecute the website.

paragraphs: Here are the normal behaviors of copy infringement.

paragraphs: Piracy goods are usually at low price because they don't need to pay for copyright and carry out research. So it is popular with the people who don't have awareness of copyright. On the surface, it will limit the monopoly of big company. But in fact, it is a means of unfair competition and damages the fair competition pattern. What's more, it will have a bad consequence on the competitiveness of middle or small sized companies.

paragraphs: There are some benefits to society of limiting copyright. One is to expand readership of newspapers and books to a wider section of the public. Newspapers were once relatively expensive, but copies were freely available in coffee houses throughout Europe. The invention of public libraries had the same effect for books. Many great people in the 18th and 19th century came from poor backgrounds. Such people as Michael Faraday (the son of a blacksmith) and Alfred Russel Wallace had no university education, but used libraries to get their knowledge up-to-date. The aim of copyright law is to have a balance between these two sides: the needs of authors and publishers, and the broader needs of society.

paragraphs: 1.Well-known writers vs. Baidu On March 15, 2011, HanHan and many other well-known writers prosecuted Baidu Library because it allowed people to read and download their articles for free. They asked Baidu to pay for it but Baidu rejected the compensation.

paragraphs: 2.Princeton University Press v. Michigan Document Services (1996)

paragraphs: Michigan Document Services was involved in creating packages of study material for the students of the University. A professor supplied the course material and Michigan Document services, a photocopying organization, took photocopies of the material and converted it into a booklet for sale to students at the University.

paragraphs: Here was a clause of "Fair use" in this case. The photocopying company could have paid a nominal fee to the University and then used the material. This was available to anyone who wished to use the material. However, the photocopying company paid for only the original and then started making photocopies of the study material. The court considered that it was not "fair use" and penalized the photocopying company.

paragraphs: This is one of the most famous cases of copyright infringement related to the music industry. As peer to peer file sharing increased, Napster started a website. This website offered downloads of songs of all genres – new and old. You may know someone who used it. A & M Records brought in a joint copyright infringement case which accused Napster of stealing music and making it available to people worldwide. Before closing the site in 2002, Napster had to settle USD26 million to different recording companies and songwriters. It could have even more if Napster had not apologized and folded the site.Several websites still thrive on offering free music to people who can download it at no cost. As mentioned in our article on "Internet Ethics and Copyright Laws", the music industry faces most copyright infringement cases. The Napster case, though an example of the consequences, still does not act as a deterrent for other music websites that offer free music downloads.

paragraphs: As opposed to the writers, many people think it's convenient and cheap to read books and other articles on the internet. They think free articles are good for them. On the other hand, some people think it is illegal to provide free articles download without authors permission. They think the best way to avoid this problem is to pay for reading on the Internet.

paragraphs: In 2014 selfies taken by a crested black macaque seemed to establish a legal precedent, after the Wikimedia Foundation rejected a copyright claim.

paragraphs: The photos had been sold widely by David Slater, a professional nature photographer, whose camera was temporarily carried away by a group of macaques. After the photos were uploaded to Wikipedia, the organisation refused to delete them, claiming "This file is in the public domain, because as the work of a non-human animal, it has no human author in whom copyright is vested.


title: International Women's Day

paragraphs: International Women's Day is celebrated every year on March 8. International Women's Day has been observed since 1909 in the United States. After a while the people of United States stopped celebrating this holiday. In the 1920s Soviet Union, and then some other Communist countries like China and Cuba, started celebrating this day as a holiday for women and world peace. Since then the holiday has become more and more popular around the world.

paragraphs: In many places, the day does not have a political aspect, and is simply a time for men to express their love for women. It is similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. Men present their mothers, wives, girlfriends, colleagues, etc. with flowers and small gifts. women's is struggle, positive in life In some countries International Women's Day is observed like Mother's Day, where children give small gifts to their mothers and grandmothers. In some countries, women get a half day off work. Often, schools will have a celebration where students will honor their teachers.

paragraphs: In 1975, the United Nations also started to recognize this holiday for women's rights. The UN chooses a political or social theme for the holiday each year. For example, the 2011 theme was ""Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women." In this way, the holiday is a time to look at the social and economic problems women have around the world.

paragraphs: International Women's Day is now an official holiday in Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Georgia, Italy, Israel, Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.


title: May Day

paragraphs: May 1 is known in many countries as May Day or International Labor Day for human rights of workers. This day is a holiday in most countries, including UK,China, Cuba, Czech republic, France, Russia, Brazil, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Romania, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kenya, Slovenia, Slovakia, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, Bulgaria, Vietnam and Argentina.


title: Beirut

paragraphs: Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities of the world. It is situated on a hilly promontory on the eastern Mediterranean surrounded to the east by the snow-capped mountains of Lebanon. Before the civil war it was a cultural center of the Arab World, a major international financial, banking and media center and was called the Switzerland of the Middle East. It was called the Paris of the Middle East.


title: Nancy Ajram

paragraphs: Nancy Ajram or Nancy Agram (, born May 16, 1983) is a popular Arab singer from Lebanon. Her musical videos, directed by Nadine Labaki, also Lebanese, revolutionized the Arab music industry.

paragraphs: She had quite a normal childhood with her small family that consisted of her parents, her sister and brother and herself. But when Nancy Ajram was 12, she participated in a television program called "Nojoum Al Mostakbal" (which means "Stars of the Future") and actually won first prize. Soon after, Ajram began studying music under the supervision of some of the finest teachers in her country. When she turned 18, she joined the Syndicate of Professional Artists in Lebanon - after they made an exception because of her age.

paragraphs: Her first album; "Mehtagalak", was released in 1998 and marked her first official step in the world of show business. But, it took the young singer another 3 years to launch her second album Shil Eyounak Aney in 2001. Then her true hit came with her third album Ya Salam in 2003. The singer stressed the success of the album by shooting four of its songs; Akhasmak Ah, Ya Salam, Yay - Sehr Eyounoh and Nasseto Gar7o in the form of video clips. The clips were a tremendous hit and gained popularity in such a short time and gave the singer incredible fame in the Arab world.

paragraphs: Her most popular album is Ah we Nos which was released in 2004. Nancy shot again four video clips for this Album. Ah w Noss, Lawn Oyounak, Oul Tani Eih and Enta Eih.

paragraphs: As for other activities besides singing, the Lebanese diva has agreed to be the spokesperson for the international soft drink company Coca-Cola. After signing the contract with Nancy Ajram, Coca-Cola sold much more drinks in the Arab world.


title: Fairuz

paragraphs: Fairuz (born Nouhad Haddad (, November 21, 1935) is a Lebanese singer. She is a living legend who has been performing for over 50 years all over the world. Her vocal range is contralto. Her first album was released in 1952. She has released 98 more albums since then.

paragraphs: Fairuz was born Nuhad Haddad in 1933 in Beirut, Lebanon.


title: Sword

paragraphs: A sword is a hand-held weapon made for cutting. It is often made of metal. It has a long blade, and a handle called a hilt. Often there is some form of hand protection, such as a cross-guard or a basket. It can be used either for cutting, slashing or stabbing, depending on the type of sword.

paragraphs: Swords were first created from bronze by blacksmiths in Ancient Egypt in 1150 BCE. Soon other cultures adopted them, and they began to spread quite quickly. Before guns were invented, swords were much more common as a weapon. After the invention of the gun, swords remained as "sidearms", as secondary weapons used in man-to-man fight once the battle lines had contacted after shooting. Since after American Civil War, swords have not been used as much by armies, except as a ceremonial part of uniforms. Some guns, however, have bayonets to perform the same function.

paragraphs: Today, Sport fencing, is an Olympic games sport which uses very light swords as a strict scoring system. Western Martial Arts use swords that are much closer to the original blades, such as longswords, rapiers and sabres. The blades used are blunt, but they are much heavier than a sport fencing sword, which means the fencers need much more armour. Likewise, the Japanese sport kendo is swordplay in armour with two-handed bamboo swords called shinai.

paragraphs: There are many kinds of swords. One kind of sword is a "sabre" (or "saber"). A sabre is a curved, light sword, sharpened on one side and at the tip, and was generally used on horseback. A "broadsword" is a straight sword that is sharp on both sides and at the tip. A rapier is long and thin, with a basket protecting the hand. Another type of sword is a "foil", used in sport fencing, and is long and thin, with a button at the tip to protect the fencers from injury. Larger swords, such as Longswords or claymores are used with two hands. In Eastern martial Arts, swords like the Katana are used. A Katana has one sharp edge and a small guard near the handle. Some Katanas are used with one hand, while other larger versions are used with two hands.

paragraphs: The sword of King Arthur, Excalibur, is one of the most famous swords, although it is suspected it is legendary and does not exist.

paragraphs: The Frisian freedom fighters Pier Gerlofs Donia and Wijerd Jelckama are known to have wielded swords of great size. Donias sword was a long as 210 cm (seven feet) and weighed 7 kg (15 lbs). The swords are kept in the Frisian Museum in Leeuwarden.


title: Moses

paragraphs: Moses (; in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; , "") is a person in Abrahamic religions. He was a religious leader, lawgiver, and prophet according to the Hebrew Bible. Generally, he is also seen as the author of the Torah.

paragraphs: He is often called "Moshe Rabbenu" in Hebrew (, Lit. "Moses our Teacher/Rabbi") and seen as the most important prophet in Judaism. Christianity, Islam, the Bahá'í Faith, and the Rastafari, also see him as an important prophet. Moses has also been an important symbol in American history, from the first settlers up until the present.

paragraphs: According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born in a time when his people were increasing in number and the Egyptian Pharaoh was worried that they might help Egypt's enemies. Moses' Hebrew mother, Jochebed, hid him when the Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed, and he ended up being adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master, Moses fled across the Red Sea to Midian where he tended the flocks of Jethro, a priest of Midian on the slopes of Mt. Horeb. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed on Egypt, Moses led the Hebrew people out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, where they based themselves at Horeb and compassed the borders of Edom. It was at this time that Moses received the Ten Commandments. Despite living to the age of 120, Moses died before reaching the Land of Israel.

paragraphs: Moses was born of the Levi tribe. The new Pharaoh, afraid of the ever-growing Israelite population, ordered every new-born Hebrew boy to be thrown into the Nile River, but let every girl live. Moses' mother Jochebed gave birth and kept him hidden for three months from Pharaoh's soldiers. When she could no longer keep him hidden, she fashioned a basket lined with tar and pitch, and placed him in the reeds along the riverbank, while his sister Miriam kept watch from a distance.

paragraphs: A princess, one of pharaoh's daughters, went down to the Nile to bathe. There she discovered a crying baby and noticed he was a Hebrew child. Joining the attendants, Moses' sister offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for the princess, who agreed. Bringing Moses' real mother, the princess asked her to be the baby's wet nurse, for which she was paid. When the child grew older, she took him to pharaoh's daughter, who named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

paragraphs: Moses grew up a privileged member of the court. He was well educated academically and physically. He was taught hand-to-hand combat tactics and leadership.

paragraphs: Upon adulthood, he killed an Egyptian guard who was beating a Hebrew slave and had to leave Egypt because the Pharaoh tried to kill him.

paragraphs: Moses fled to Midian, where he married Jethro's daughter, Zipora. Zipora had two sons. The old Pharaoh died and the Israelites cried loudly. God heard him. One day Moses was tending his father-in-law, Jethro's, sheep and came to Mount Horeb. God's angel made a bush burn with fire, but it did not burn up. When he came nearer, God spoke to him and ordered him to remove his shoes as he was on holy land. God commanded him to be a leader for the Israelites and bring them out of Egypt. At first Moses did not want to do it and said that he was not good with words, but God commanded him and gave Aaron, his brother, to speak for him. Moses returned to Egypt and told the elders what happened.

paragraphs: Moses then went to the Pharaoh and asked him to let the Israelites go. However the Pharaoh did not agree. Finally God inflicted ten plagues upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh agreed to release the Israelites. The last plague was the killing of all first-born, both human and animals. However, to save the Israelites, they were instructed to mark their doors with blood from a lamb, so that the avenging angel would see it and know to "pass over" that house.

paragraphs: The Pharaoh finally decided to let the Israelites go who then migrated in large numbers from Egypt. The Pharaoh later changed his mind and followed Moses and his people with an army to attack them. But Moses made the Red Sea to part and give way for Israelites to pass. The Israelites were safe but the Pharaoh's army was destroyed.

paragraphs: Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, and God gave them manna and quails to eat, and water from rocks to drink. He also caused the Amalekites to lose in a battle. When Moses came to Mount Sinai, he went up to receive the Ten Commandments and other laws from God. The Ten Commandments were written by God on two tablets. God also told him the instructions of the priests' duties. Moses was up the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

paragraphs: When the people waited for Moses and did not find him, they made Aaron, his brother, make a calf out of gold and worshiped it. God warned Moses about it, and when Moses came down and saw what they did, he was so angry that the tablets fell and they smashed into pieces. The people of Levi tribes are commanded to kill people who worshiped the calf.

paragraphs: Later on Moses asked God to forgive the people. God wrote for Moses two more tablets, and put them in the Ark. Moses also asked craftsmen to make the Tabernacle as God wanted.

paragraphs: To some people, Moses is the founder of the philosophy of law as well as such modern legal doctrines as independent judiciary and separation of powers..

paragraphs: While the Israelites were wandering around the wilderness, Moses was the one to whom God spoke. However, the people kept complaining about the hardships. God instructed Moses to send twelve spies to scout the land God is giving to them; however some of them became afraid because the people living there looked stronger and more powerful than they. They told the others not to go there. Only Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, reported the truth as God wanted. God decided because of this that the Israelites would wander forty years in the wilderness, and every one except Joshua and Caleb from that generation would die without seeing the promised land.

paragraphs: God gave many laws to the Israelites through Moses. Moses made Joshua take over him before he died.

paragraphs: Moses died before he reached Canaan, the land God was leading his people to. He was 120 years old when he died.

paragraphs: Today Jews around the world follow the laws of the Ten Commandments and the Torah that God gave to them through Moses. He is also believed to be a prophet by Muslims.

paragraphs: The Bible, the Torah, and the Quran have references to a person called "Moses" in them. The name they give to the person, varies. Other people also have written about Moses. These include Tacitus and Strabo. It is not known how much these descriptions have taken from earlier sources, which may now have been lost.

paragraphs: An existing earlier source is the Ipuwer Papyrus, which records the events of the Ten Plagues.

paragraphs: No other written records from countries such as Egypt or Assyria have been found, that are from before about 850 BCE and that tell about the stories of the Bible or its main characters. There is no known physical evidence (such as pottery shards or stone tablets) to say that Moses' really existed. Pharaohs have ordered the destruction of records that put them into a bad light. Several cartouches from monuments have also been destroyed in different epochs of Ancient Egyptian history.

paragraphs: It looks like the story written about Moses in the Bible has two different sources. There were two groups of people who told the story. The two stories were passed on separately. Only later were they combined into the version that can now be found in the Bible. Passing on the stories from one generation to the next has perhaps also introduced inaccuracies. Some people added things to the story when they told it. They also omitted other things.

paragraphs: According to the Torah, Moses ordered the death penalty for many offences. He also had defeated enemies killed. Jews, Christians and Muslims consider him to be a holy figure. For this reason, criticism of these passages of the Hebrew Bible has been left to others.

paragraphs: In the late eighteenth century, for example, the deist Thomas Paine commented at length on Moses' Laws in "The Age of Reason". Paine also gave his view that "the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined", giving the story at as an example. In the nineteenth century the agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll wrote "...that all the ignorant, infamous, heartless, hideous things recorded in the 'inspired' Pentateuch are not the words of God, but simply 'Some Mistakes of Moses'". In the 2000s, the atheist Richard Dawkins referring to the same passage like Paine, concluded, "No, Moses was not a great role model for modern moralists."


title: Canaan

paragraphs: Canaan was an ancient country in the Levant. In the Bible, it was the land promised to Abraham and his children by God. The Canaanite people lived in this area from about 2000 BCE until the time of the Bible. It covers part of the area that is now Israel, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.


title: Prophet

paragraphs: Prophets are people who said that God or gods talked to them. They freely teach other people what they learned. Most of them warn people that something very good will happen if they change their lives.

paragraphs: There are prophets in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Zoroastrianism, and in other religions.

paragraphs: For the main Abrahamic religions, there are two kinds of prophets, major and minor. Major prophets gave a lot of teachings while minor just re-teach things other prophets taught or they do not have many teachings. For example the most notable prophet is Muhammad the founder of Islam.


title: Cotopaxi

paragraphs: Mount Cotopaxi is a volcano in Ecuador. The mountain's altitude (height) is . That is high enough for snow to fall on it, even though it is near the equator (a very warm part of the world). If the volcano erupted, it would be very bad for the people living around it because of the destruction and damage it could cause.

paragraphs: Cotopaxi began showing new activity. As of 25 June 2015, it was under active watch by the National Polytechnic School Geophysics Institute.

paragraphs: The Geophysics Institute at the National Polytechnic School in Quito houses an international team of seismologists and volcanologists whose responsibility is to monitor Ecuadors numerous active volcanoes

paragraphs: and the constant seismic activity in the Andean Volcanic Belt and the Galapagos Islands.


title: Israelites

paragraphs: Israelites were a Semitic people of the ancient Middle East. They lived in part of what was Canaan during the time of the Bible. This area came to be called the Land of Israel. It usually refers to a member of one of the Tribes of Israel. The term Children of Israel is also used, especially when talking about the period of the Five Books of Moses.

paragraphs: Israelites lived in the kingdom of Israel, in areas where the modern State of Israel is now. Israel split off from a kingdom called Judah, whose people were later called Jews. Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 721 BCE. Judah was conquered by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. Many Jews were taken away from Judah. When the Achaemenid Empire defeated the Babylonians they let the Jews return to rebuild the Second Temple in Jerusalem about 70 years later.


title: Bali

paragraphs: Bali is an island and a province in Indonesia. The province includes the island of Bali and a few other islands. The island is known as an island of a thousand temples. There are about 3,100,000 people in Bali. Bali's most important city is Denpasar. Hinduism is Bali's largest religion. More than 90% of its people are Hindus. Textiles and garments are 45% of their exports. The currency in Bali is the Indonesian rupiah (IDR). Bali's food mainly consists of rice and mostly spicy foods. Tourists often enjoy a local specialty called "babi guling" (roast pig). Bali has many fruits, such as pineapples, mangos, passionfruits, bananas, coconuts, rambutans, selaks, durians, mangosteens and different kinds of oranges and grapefruits. Bali is also known for its folk music which is played on a group of instruments called a "gamelan". The literacy rate for Bali is 45.55%.

paragraphs: Bali is a popular place for tourists. They have many historic temples and many lovely rice fields. Bali is known for its great views and its beautiful beaches and volcanoes. Hindu ceremonies, shadow puppet shows, and traditional dance are also very popular. Half of the tourists only visit Kuta, but many tourists visit other towns such as Ubud, Padang Bai and Amed. Bali has a tropical climate, except for at high altitude and it is so called God's own Island. Bali has a natural and pure environment, So every tourist get relaxed in any of the place at Bali. There are some top places explained here for getting the best places.

paragraphs: Bali is a volcanic island. The two main volcanos are Mount Agung and Mount Batur. Mount Agung is sacred to the Balinese people.

paragraphs: Mount Agung is an active volcano, with a large and deep crater that occasionally emits smoke and ash. The last major eruptions occurred in November 2017.

paragraphs: Bali was bombed by Islamists in 2002 and 2005.

paragraphs: A number of tourists are in prison in Bali. Australians Schapelle Corby and a group known as the Bali Nine are serving long terms in Kerobokan Prison, and several of the Nine have been sentenced to death.


title: Flag of the People's Republic of China

paragraphs: The Flag of China has one big star and four small stars on a red background. The big star stands for the communist government, and the four small stars stand for the workers, peasants, middle-class citizens and soldiers. The red background stands for the blood lost while the history of China was made.


title: The Prince

paragraphs: The Prince is a book written by Niccolò Machiavelli, who lived in the city of Florence in the country of Italy. The book was published in 1513.

paragraphs: The book talks about politics and government. During his life, Machiavelli saw many changes in the government of Florence. He thought a lot about what a king or prince should do to make a strong government. In the book, he said the ruler had to get a lot of power.

paragraphs: One of the things he said that made people worried, was that ethics and politics are different. A person might have to do things that are "wrong" to get power. This thought made his works scandalous.

paragraphs: Some people think that Machiavelli was being honest with his advice and saying what he really thought. Other people think that Machiavelli was playing a joke on princes who wanted too much power and did not care about what was right.


Round


title: United Russia

paragraphs: United Russia (Russian: "Единая Россия") is a Russian political party, which usually labels itself centrist and conservationist. Dmitry Medvedev is leader of this party.

paragraphs: The party has most of the seats in the State Duma and in the Regional Parliaments. Because of this, United Russia is the most powerful political party in Russia. Two large parties merged in 2001 to form United Russia.


title: Tiger

paragraphs: The tiger ("Panthera tigris") is the largest living member of the cat family, the Felidae. It feeds by hunting. It lives in Asia, mainly India, Bhutan, China, Korea and Siberian Russia. Tigers are solitary animals.

paragraphs: Tigers have orange fur with black stripes, and a white belly. The black stripes usually extend to the white underside. The stripes are used to keep them camouflaged while hunting. No two tigers have the same pattern of stripes.

paragraphs: Sometimes there are tigers with different colors. There are white tigers that have white fur with black stripes, or that even have pure white fur. They have blue or green eyes. Most Bengal tigers have orange fur. The white coat only appears once in every 10,000 births. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and India.

paragraphs: Tigers vary in size depending on their subspecies. Siberian tigers are the largest. Males can grow to at least long (body length) and weigh about . Females are a bit smaller. Record weight for males is claimed as 700 lbs (318 kg), but this cannot be confirmed.

paragraphs: Tigers can live in a variety of habitats. Mostly they need to hide, be near to a water source, and have enough prey to eat. Bengal tigers in particular live in many types of forests. These include the wet, evergreen of Assam and eastern Bengal; the swampy mangrove forest of the Ganges Delta; the deciduous forest of Nepal, and the thorn forests of the Western Ghats.

paragraphs: As previously thought, the tiger had five living subspecies. In this context, 'recently' means in the last two centuries. Three tiger subspecies are extinct (†).

paragraphs: However, in 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and recognized the tiger populations in continental Asia as "P. t. tigris", and those in the Sunda Islands as "P. t. sondaica".

paragraphs: Tigers are becoming rare, because people hunt them for their skin and destroy the habitats they live in. The Bengal tiger has the largest population with 3,500 left in the wild. To help keep the tiger population, tigers are often placed in zoos.

paragraphs: Tigers eat many types of prey, mostly other large mammals. Some examples are deer, monkeys, wild rabbits, wild pigs, tapirs, buffalo and other animals found in Asia. All tigers are carnivores (meat eaters). Some tigers may eat up to of meat a day. Tigers kill their prey by clamping down on the prey's throat and suffocating it.

paragraphs: Tigers reach sexual maturity between 3 and five years old. Sex is a painful act for a tigress. A male tiger’s penis has structures like spikes. A tigress can give birth to usually three or four cubs.


title: Leopard

paragraphs: A leopard ("Panthera pardus") is a big feline of the genus "Panthera". It lives in Africa and Asia.

paragraphs: Unlike lions, they do not live in groups. The adult males live separately, and the females live only with their cubs. They live in habitats where there are some trees. They climb trees well, and do so regularly. They can carry prey up a tree and keep it safe from hyaenas and lions. Trees are its main escape from attacks by lions or packs of dogs. It is an ambush predator, and operates best where it has some cover.

paragraphs: The most similar cat in its lifestyle is the jaguar, which lives in Central and South America.

paragraphs: Leopards generally have yellow fur with dark rosettes and spots, and a lighter colored underside. But there can be a lot of differences in the different leopard subspecies. There are also often leopards who are completely black, those are also called black panthers. Male leopards are about 30% larger than female leopards.

paragraphs: Originally the leopard lived in all of Africa (but not in the Sahara) and southern Asia. But today many leopard subspecies, especially in Asia, are endangered. Leopards live in a lot of different environments: rainforests, forests, mountains and savannas.

paragraphs: The leopard is mostly active at night. It is basically an ambush hunter. It can climb very well, and it stays up in trees a lot of its time. Leopards usually live alone and try not to meet another leopard. They only come together to mate. Young leopards leave their mothers after 13 – 18 months.

paragraphs: Leopards hunt at different times, and they also use different methods for hunting. Most often leopards will secretly move towards their prey and attack it when they are close, or hide and wait for it to come close.

paragraphs: Leopards are versatile, opportunistic hunters, and have a very wide diet. Leopards are carnivores.Leopards are apex predators. They prey on antelope, zebras, warthogs, buffalo, wildebeest, wild boar and deer, but they also prey on rodents, hares, fish, birds, snakes, lizards, turtles, monkeys and even jackals. Leopards are the only natural predators of adult chimpanzees and gorillas, though probably not the large male silverback gorillas. Leopards do not usually eat humans, but sometimes leopards that are hurt or sick can eat people when they do not have enough to eat. A leopard in India is believed to have eaten more than 125 people.

paragraphs: There are nine subspecies of leopards recognized today, one in Africa and eight in Asia. They are:


title: Jaguar

paragraphs: The jaguar ("Panthera onca") is a big cat (feline) which lives in South America and Central America.

paragraphs: The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion. It is also the largest and most powerful feline in the Western Hemisphere.

paragraphs: Because of its spots, jaguars look like leopards, though it is usually larger and stronger, and its behavior is more like that of a tiger. It likes to stay near water, and like the tiger, it is famous for being a big cat that enjoys swimming. It usually hunts alone.

paragraphs: The jaguar has a very powerful strong bite, even compared to other big cats. Because of its strong bite, jaguars can bite through armoured reptiles like caimans, crocodiles, turtles and tortoises. Jaguars kill their prey in an unusual way: they bite directly through the skull between the ears and into the brain.

paragraphs: Jaguars have yellow or sometimes yellow-orange fur with brown and black rosettes and spots. They are big and heavy and also have very strong muscles which makes them really powerful.They cannot climb well, but they can swim.

paragraphs: Sometimes there are jaguars who are completely black, but if you look closely you can still see the spots. They are called "black panther" or just "panther".

paragraphs: This is a 'colour morph' of the same species, a kind of polymorphism.

paragraphs: Jaguars live in South America and Central America. They mostly live in rainforests, but also in savannas, swamps, grasslands, forest, deserts and open areas.

paragraphs: Jaguars are not specialized with their food, but eat almost anything they get: big and small mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and livestock. It is an ambush predator. When hunting, they usually try to secretly get very close to the prey, and then the jaguar suddenly jumps at it and throws it down. The jaguar bites the skull of its prey to kill it. It then takes the prey to a safe place and eats it.

paragraphs: After a pregnancy of about 100 days the female gives birth to usually 1 - 4 babies. The young leave their family after 1–2 years, and they become mature at about 3 years. Jaguars can live up to 10–12 years old in freedom, but in captivity (such as in zoos) they can live to 20–22 years old.


title: Cheetah

paragraphs: A cheetah ("Acinonyx jubatus") is a medium large cat which lives in Africa. It is the fastest land animal and can run up to 112 kilometers per hour for a short time. Most cheetahs live in the savannas of Africa. There are a few in Asia. Cheetahs are active during the day, and hunt in the early morning or late evening.

paragraphs: The cheetah compared to other big cats is light and slimly built. Its long thin legs and long spotted tail are necessary for fast running. Its lightly built, thin form is in sharp contrast with the robust build of other big cats. The head-and-body length ranges from . The cheetah stands 70 to 90 cm at the shoulder, and weighs .

paragraphs: The slightly curved claws are only weakly retractable (semi-retractable). This is a major point of difference between the cheetah and the other big cats, which have fully retractable claws.

paragraphs: Cheetahs are active during the day, and hunt in the early morning or late evening. Cheetahs are carnivores. They prey on antelope, wildebeest, zebras, warthogs, hares, birds, rodents, snakes, fish, lizards and even jackals.

paragraphs: When the cheetah hunts, it slowly and secretly moves toward its prey. When it is close to the prey (about 10–30 meters), it runs after it very quickly. Cheetahs kill their prey by tripping it during the chase. To kill medium- to large-sized prey, the cheetah bites the prey's throat to suffocate it to death. A bite on the back of the neck or the snout is enough to kill smaller prey.

paragraphs: The cheetah cannot defend itself against lions or hyenas who would take the cheetah's prey away. The prey is taken to a shaded place. The cheetah, exhausted after the chase, rests beside the kill and pants heavily for some time. Once they recover, cheetahs eat fast, and consume large quantities as soon as they can.

paragraphs: Pregnant females give birth to about 3 to 5 cubs or kittens after three months pregnancy. It takes two years of full-time supervision by the mother before the cubs are ready to live independent lives. They need to learn how to catch prey, and that takes time. The young are vulnerable to larger predators: lions especially try to kill cheetahs.

paragraphs: The cheetah has unusually low genetic variability and a very low sperm count. Their sperms also suffer from deformed flagellae, and so their movement is damaged. Apparently, cheetahs went through a great reduction in numbers during the last ice age. Inbreeding after the event further reduced the variation (genetic drift).

paragraphs: Due to the fact that cheetah never attack and kill humans it was extremely popular as a hunting pet since antiquity and especially in medieval times in the Near and Middle East.

paragraphs: In the modern times cheetah probably is the most difficult to have as a pet among wild cats, due to necessity of wide open spaces for cheetah to run with the full speed for they proper development. And especially it's very important to feed them properly, because cheetah in captivity have to be fed only lean steamed meat so cheetah don't get sick and perish.

paragraphs: The cheetah is the fastest of the land dwellers.

paragraphs: The acceleration of a cheetah allows it to reach speeds of up to hundreds of kilometers per hour in three seconds (its maximum speed is 112 kilometers per hour). The speed that a cheetah can develop from the start in 3 seconds cannot be achieved by any sports racing car.


title: Quartz

paragraphs: Quartz is a tectosilicate mineral that is the second most common mineral in Earth's continental crust. Its crystal structure is a framework of SiO silicon–oxygen tetrahedra. Each shares an oxygen atom with another tetrahedron, so the overall chemical formula is SiO or silica.

paragraphs: There are many different varieties of quartz, some of which are semi-precious gemstones. They have been used for a long time to make jewelry and hardstone carvings. Agate, amethyst, rose quartz are all forms of quartz.

paragraphs: Quartz crystals are used in oscillators, for example in quartz clocks. People also extract the silicon to make semiconductors.

paragraphs: The majority of sand is small quartz bits. Quartz has a mineral hardness of 7. (mohs scale).

paragraphs: The word "quartz" comes from the German word "quarz".

paragraphs: 'Fused quartz' is glass made of silica in non-crystalline form. It does not contain other ingredients that are added to other glass to lower the melting point. Fused silica has high working and melting temperatures. For some purposes, fused quartz is better than other types of glass due to its purity. The glass is used in a number of high-tech products.

paragraphs: Shocked quartz is a form of quartz that has a microscopic structure different from normal quartz. Under intense pressure (but limited temperature), the crystalline structure of quartz is deformed along planes inside the crystal. These planes show up as lines under a microscope.

paragraphs: Shocked quartz is found worldwide, especially in impact craters and in the thin Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary layer. This is at the contact between Cretaceous and Paleogene rocks. It is further evidence (in addition to iridium enrichment) that the transition between the two geologic periods was caused by a large impact. Eugene Shoemaker discovered it in building stones in the Bavarian town of Nördlingen. The stones were from shocked metamorphic rocks, such as breccia, of a meteor crater.


title: Pink Floyd

paragraphs: Pink Floyd were an English rock band that became famous in the 1960s and 1970s. They performed for more than 30 years, and have sold more than 200 million (200,000,000) albums. They are famous for their live shows and deep music. Most of their albums are concept albums, which means every song is linked through a theme. Their first album was "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", which was released in 1967. Their latest album is "The Endless River", which was released in November 2014. The band were named after the blues artists "Pink Anderson" and "Floyd Council" by Syd Barrett, one of the band's founder members. In 2005, they played at a concert called Live Aid after 24 years of not playing together. The line up was David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright. They have made some very popular albums including "The Dark Side of the Moon," which was released in 1973 and "The Wall," which was released in 1979. After Richard Wright died in 2008, David Gilmour has said that he does not want to reunite, despite Roger saying he might want to. It is now believed that David Gilmour and Roger Waters are friends after becoming enemies for a long time.

paragraphs: Syd Barrett started the group, and played guitar and sang in the band. He left soon after, at the start of 1968, because of a mental illness that was made worse by heavy drug use. The other people in the band were Roger Waters (bass guitar and vocals), David Gilmour (lead guitar and vocals), Richard Wright (keyboard and vocals), and Nick Mason (drums). David Gilmour joined the band in 1968. Roger Waters quit the band in 1985.

paragraphs: During most of their career, they played a kind of rock music that some people call "progressive rock".

paragraphs: The original members of Pink Floyd met in an architectural college. The band started as a blues band. Later, under Syd Barrett's leadership, they played music that was psychedelic in style. After Barrett left the band, they started to play longer and more complicated songs, and to play at a lot of colleges and universities. Soon, they were famous as studio musicians who loved to experiment with music. On the album "Atom Heart Mother", from 1970, they used a brass band and a choir.

paragraphs: They used a lot of things to make their concerts interesting to watch. They had a round movie screen on the stage. They would show videos on the screen when they played. They also used lighting and lasers in a much fancier way than many bands do. They also had big balloon puppets. The most famous is in the shape of a pig, which first appeared on the cover for their album, "Animals". The pig has since become a symbol of Pink Floyd. Another symbol that reminds people of Pink Floyd is a prism with light shining through it. This was on the cover of "Dark Side of the Moon", one of their most popular albums. The album was released in 1973, and stayed on music charts for a very long time. Millions of people bought it.

paragraphs: The album "The Wall", recorded in 1979, was also famous. It was made into a movie, directed by Alan Parker, in 1982. That album is important to the history of the group. It talks about the distance they put between them and their fans. It was the last album they all worked on together before starting to split up.

paragraphs: Roger Waters forced Richard Wright to leave the band in 1979, but Wright came back in 1987, after Waters quit. Waters tried to sue the other members so that they could not call themselves Pink Floyd without him, but he did not succeed. Because of this and other reasons, there was a lot of anger and bitterness between Waters and the other members of the band, especially Gilmour.

paragraphs: The last album of new songs that Pink Floyd released is called "The Division Bell". It was made in 1994, when Pink Floyd also played their last concert tour. The very last time that Pink Floyd played was in 2005, as part of the Live 8 concerts for charity. Waters sang with the band for the first time since leaving the band. It was a big surprise to many people who thought Pink Floyd would never play together again, especially not with Roger Waters.

paragraphs: Syd Barrett died of pancreatic cancer in 2006. Richard Wright died of cancer in 2008.

paragraphs: In 2014, Pink Floyd released their first album in over 20 years: "The Endless River".


title: Pope John Paul I

paragraphs: Pope John Paul I (; , 17 October 1912 – 28 September 1978), born Albino Luciani, was an Italian priest of the Roman Catholic Church and the 264th Pope for 33 days in 1978. His name was a combination of the names of the two popes who came before him. The name "John Paul" honors Pope John XXIII who made him a bishop and Pope Paul VI who raised him to the rank of cardinal.

paragraphs: Luciani was born in Canale d'Agordo, a small town between Venice and the Austrian border with Italy. His father was a migrant worker in Switzerland.

paragraphs: Luciani began his priesthood in the parishes of his home region. In 1937, he became a professor of theology and vice-rector of Belluno seminary.

paragraphs: He was made Bishop of Vittorio Veneto in 1969. He understood his role as bishop in a modest way:

paragraphs: In 1972, Pope Paul VI made Luciani a cardinal. and the Patriarch of Venice.

paragraphs: Cardinal Luciani was elected Pope in 1978, John Paul I was the first pope to combine the names of John and Paul as a Pope as his way of paying tribute to Pope John XXIII and Pope Paul VI. He was the first Pope to call himself by a new name since Pope Lando in 913.

paragraphs: John Paul I died of a heart attack on 28 September 1978, 33 days after his election.


title: Brillat-Savarin cheese

paragraphs: Brillat-Savarin is a soft, white-crusted cow's milk cheese with at least 75% fat in dry matter (roughly 40% overall), named after the 18th century French gourmet Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. The cheese was created in the 1930s by cheese-maker Henri Androuët.

paragraphs: Brillat-Savarin is produced all year round, mainly in Normandy. It comes in 12–13 cm wheels and approximately 4 cm thick, and is aged for one to two weeks. It is also available as a fresh cheese (non affine) that resembles rich cream cheese.

paragraphs: It is a triple cream Brie that is creamy and faintly sour. It goes well with medjool dates and also champagne. Because of its creaminess combined with its Brie aroma and slight sharpness, it has been described as "Dairylea for grownups" or "what Dairylea tastes like in heaven".

paragraphs: Pairing with red wines is difficult, as any mushroominess or "mouldy" taste will bring out the tannins of the wine. Brillat-Savarin is also quite salty when ripe, which may disturb the taste of red wine. It does pair well with Pale Ale and Champagne. The carbonation wipes the fattiness from the palate and the malts enhance the creaminess of the cheese.

paragraphs: The French cheese making company Rouzaire also produces an older Brillat Savarin under the name Pierre Robert. The extra aging time concentrates the proteins and salt in the cheese, resulting in deeper earthy flavours and more intense salty taste. Wheels of Pierre Robert are physically shorter (due to loss of moisture), yet creamier than the regular-aged Brillat-Savarin.

paragraphs: Description and history of Brillat Savarin cheese


title: Poularde Albufera

paragraphs: Poularde Albufera, (Chicken Albufera) is a chicken dish named in honour of the Duke of Albufera. It sometimes credited to French chef Adolphe Dugléré, who invented several other dishes. However, as Dugléré was only ten years old when Albufera fell out of favour with the king, and had his French title of nobility taken away, it is more likely that Poularde Albufera was created by Antonin Carême, who trained Dugléré

paragraphs: It consists of poached chicken with a garnish of vol-au-vents filled with quenelles, cocks' kidneys, mushrooms and truffles in Albufera sauce.


title: Guppy

paragraphs: The guppy (Poecilia reticulata), is a species of freshwater aquarium fish. It is one of the most popular aquarium fish species. The guppy is also called the millionfish. It is a small member of the Poeciliidae family (females 4–6 centimeters (1.6–2.4 in) long, males 2.5–3.5 centimeters (1.0–1.4 in) long). Like all other members of the family, it is live-bearing. Guppies are popular aquarium kept fish because of their inexpensive needs and beautiful color ranges.

paragraphs: Guppies, like all fish, have gills. The heart of a guppy is very different from that of a mammal, for instance there are two compartments instead of four. They are called the auricle and ventricle. When the fish breaths the ventricle contracts and blood is forced out to the gills which act as lungs. This is where the gas exchange happens. The blood receives oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. The blood that now carries oxygen goes through the dorsal artery, which divides into smaller and smaller vessels and go all over the body to then distribute the oxygen and gets carbon dioxide and waste. Then, the blood is carried to the heart by veins and lymph vessels. Then the cycle repeats over and over.

paragraphs: A guppy's nervous system is highly centralized around its spinal cord and brain. The cerebellum controls the body's movements, and the olfactory bulbs and cerebrum control's it's sense of smell.


title: Albufera sauce

paragraphs: Albufera sauce (fr. Sauce Albuféra) is a minor sauce whose mother sauce is velouté. Probably created by Antonin Careme rather than his trainee Adolphe Dugléré (who was only ten when Albufera fell out of favour), to accompany Poularde Albufera, which he also created. It was named in honour of the Duke of Albufera.

paragraphs: Escoffier gives a recipe in "Le Guide culinaire" which consists of a base of Suprême Sauce to which is added meat glaze in order to lend the latter an ivory-white tint which characterizes it. It is served chiefly with poultry and sweetbreads.


title: Jack in the Box

paragraphs: Jack in the Box is an American fast food restaurant chain. It was founded in 1951 by Robert O. Peterson. Peterson opened his restaurant in Long Beach, California on the Pacific Coast highway. It featured a clown's head on top of the building. Instead of using carhops like other drive-in restaurants, Peterson used a two-way intercom. He also pioneered the drive-through. It allowed a customer to place their order while the car ahead of them was picking up their order. This made service much faster and Jack in the Box became known for fast service.

paragraphs: Jack in the Box has over 2,200 restaurants in 21 states and Guam. At first the menu was simple. Only 15 items were offered including hamburgers, cheeseburgers, french fries and soft drinks. Today the menu is expanded to include items such as onion rings, chicken tacos and shrimp. They also offer ice cream, shakes and hot apple turnovers.

paragraphs: Jack I. Box is a fictional character and the mascot for their advertising.


title: Bihari Muslims

paragraphs: Bihari Muslims are people originating and tracing descent from the Indian State of Bihar, who practice Islam as their religion. Bihari Muslims mainly practice Sunni Islam of the Hanafi creed, though a small Shia minority exists.

paragraphs: Islam in Bihar is said to have been established in the 10-15th century with the arrivals of Sufi missionaries as well as Sunni rulers.

paragraphs: About 3 millions of Bihari Muslims migrated to the newly created State of Pakistan and the former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) because of Muslim League politics. Those who settled in Pakistan were deemed a sub-caste of Muhajirs. Those who lived in Bangladesh were deemed Stranded Pakistanis.

paragraphs: This glorious history of Bihar lasted till around the middle of the 7th or 8th century A.D. - the Gupta Period - when, with the conquest of almost all of northern India by invaders from the middle-east, the Gupta dynasty also fell a victim.

paragraphs: In medieval times Bihar lost its prestige as the political and cultural center of India. The Mughal period was a period of unremarkable provincial administration from Delhi. The only remarkable person of these times in Bihar was Sher Shah, or Sher Khan Sur, an Afghan. Based at Sasaram which is now a town in the district of the same name in central-western Bihar, this jagirdar of the Mughal King Babur was successful in defeating Humayun, the son of Babur, twice - once at Chausa and then, again, at Kannauj (in the present state of Uttar Pradesh or U.P.) Through his conquest Sher Shah became the ruler of a territory that, again, extended all the way to the Punjab. He was noted as a ferocious warrior but also a noble administrator - in the tradition of Ashok and the Gupta kings. Several acts of land reform are attributed to him. The remains of a grand mausoleum that he built for himself can be seen in today's Sasaram (Sher Shah's maqbara.)

paragraphs: The majority of educated Bihari Muslims formally speak Urdu, while in the vernacular speak in the Bihari language. The Muslims of Bihar have wealth rates comparable to rest of the Republic of India.


title: LeAnn Rimes

paragraphs: Margaret LeAnn Rimes Cibrian (born August 28, 1982), known professionally as LeAnn Rimes, is an American country and pop singer. Her first album "Blue" was released in 1996. She has won many major industry awards.


title: Ashanti (entertainer)

paragraphs: Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas (born October 13, 1980), better known as Ashanti, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, model and actress. She became famous in the early 2000s. Ashanti released her debut album "Ashanti" in 2002. It released three singles: "Foolish", "Happy", and "Baby". "Foolish" reached number one on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. "Happy" and "Baby" reached the top twenty. Ashanti's first album sold 503,000 copies the first week. She then became the first "new female artist" to sell that many records in one week. She outsold artists including Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill. She also became the first female artist to have two singles "Foolish" at number one and "What's Luv?" (with Fat Joe) at number two. Ashanti also became the first artist to have three top ten songs ("Foolish", "What's Luv?" and "Always on Time") on the Hot 100 the same week. She was the first women and second artist, behind The Beatles, to do this.

paragraphs: Her first album also won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Album. Later that year, her duet with Ja Rule on "Mesmerize" reached number two on the Hot 100. Her next album, "Chapter II" (2003) debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 chart. It sold 326,000 copies the first week. The album was given three Grammy nominations for Best Contemporary R&B Album, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best R&B Song. "Chapter II" was certified platinum by the RIAA. This means that 1 million copies of the album were shipped in the United States. The two singles "Rock wit U (Awww Baby)" and "Rain on Me" reached the top ten in the US. Her holiday album "Ashanti's Christmas" (2003) reached number 160 on the "Billboard" 200.

paragraphs: Ashanti's third album, "Concrete Rose" (2004), debuted at number seven on the "Billboard" 200 chart. It sold 254,000 copies the first week. The album was certified platinum in a month of its release. The singles "Only U" was a top ten hit in the US, while "Don't Let Them" did not do so well. The single became the worst charting song in Ashanti's career. Her first greatest hits album "Collectables by Ashanti" (2005) reached number 59 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. It was a top ten hit on the Hot R&B Albums chart. The only single to be released from that album was "Still on It". It reached number 15 on the Hot Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. Ashanti's second greatest hits album, "Can't Stop", was released in 2006. It only charted in Japan at number 259. Ashanti took a short break from recording music.

paragraphs: Her fourth album, "The Declaration", was released in 2008. It reached number six on the "Billboard" 200 chart. It sold 86,000 copies the first week. The singles "The Way That I Love You" reached the top 40 on the Hot 100. The single "Good Good" reached number 30 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In 2009, "The Vault" was released. The album contained 12 songs recorded by Ashanti that were not released. It reached number 110 on the Japan Albums chart. Ashanti's fifth album "Braveheart" was set to be released on August 28, 2012. The lead single, "The Woman You Love" reached number 59 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in December 2011. Ashanti has starred in several movies. These include "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" (2005) and "John Tucker Must Die" (2006). As of 2008, she has sold more than 27 million records worldwide.


title: Beerwah

paragraphs: Beerwah () is a town in the Budgam District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Budgam

paragraphs: Budgam () is part of the Budgam District of Jammu and Kashmir, India. As of 2001, Budgam had a population of 15,932.


title: Khansahib Tehsil

paragraphs: Khansahib () is part of the Budgam District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Banihal

paragraphs: Banihal () is part of the Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Doda

paragraphs: Doda () is part of the Doda District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Ranbir Singh Pura

paragraphs: Ranbir Singh Pora () is in the Jammu District region of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Samba Tehsil

paragraphs: Samba () is part of the Jammu District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Hajira

paragraphs: Hajira () is part of the Poonch District of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.


title: Rawalakot

paragraphs: Rawalakot () is part of the Poonch District of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan.


title: Haveli Tehsil

paragraphs: Haveli () is part of the Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Mandi, Himachal Pradesh

paragraphs: Mandi () is a major city in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. It is the capital of the Mandi District. It was formerly called Mandav Nagar, and is also known as Sahor. It is located north of state capital, Shimla. It is in the north-west Himalayas. The average altitude is about 1,044 metres (3,425 ft),


title: Reasi

paragraphs: Reasi () is part of the Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

paragraphs: The famous Vaishno Devi shrine is located in this disctrict.


title: Surankote Tehsil

paragraphs: Surankote () is part of the Poonch District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Matanuska-Susitna Valley

paragraphs: Matanuska-Susitna Valley (known locally as the Mat-Su or The Valley) is an area in Southcentral Alaska. It is south of the Alaska Range about from Anchorage, Alaska. It includes the valleys of the Matanuska River, the Knik River, and the Susitna River. The Matanuska Valley has become a suburban community for many people who work in Anchorage. It is now one of the most crowded areas in Alaska and includes the towns of Palmer, Wasilla, Big Lake, Houston, Willow and Talkeetna.

paragraphs: There are three mountain ranges in the area. They are the Alaska Range, the Talkeetna Mountains and the Chugach Mountains. There are both working and old gold mines in the mountains. Like many parts of Alaska, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley was carved by glaciers which left many lakes. Both the Matanuska and Susitna Rivers have lots of salmon.

paragraphs: The local government is called the "Matanuska-Susitna Borough." Most of the United States is divided into counties, but Alaska uses "boroughs" instead, and some parts of it are not even in a borough. A few hundred Alaska Natives were joined by small numbers of "Alaska sourdoughs" between 1900 and 1930 when hundreds of "colonists" were moved there by the United States Federal Government in the early 1930s. In the 1970's lots of newcomers to Alaska came to Anchorage. Later on a lot of them moved to the Matanuska Valley to live an "Alaskan country" lifestyle.

paragraphs: The three rivers in the area have large amounts of glacial silt that is good for farming. The valley is one of the few areas in Alaska which supports big farms.


title: Kathua

paragraphs: Kathua () is part of the Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Billawar

paragraphs: Billawar () is part of the Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Bashohli

paragraphs: Basohli () is part of the Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Hiranagar

paragraphs: Hiranagar () is part of the Kathua District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.


title: Karnah

paragraphs: Karnah () is part of the Kupwara District of Jammu and Kashmir, India.

paragraphs: Karnah is an administrative tehsil of the Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir, India. It has 58 villages and is 78 kilometres (48 mi) away from the main town of Kupwara.

paragraphs: Karnah tehsil has a total population of 60,129 as per the Census 2011, of which 34,471 are males while 25,658 are females, giving a sex ration of 744 females per 1,000 males. In 2011 there were total 11,422 families residing in Karnah Tehsil. Paharis form a majority population in the tehsil. As per Census 2011 out of total population, 25.8% live in urban areas while 74.2% live in rural areas. The average literacy rate in urban areas is 68.4% while that in the rural areas is 58.9%. Also the sex ratio of urban areas in the tehsil is 587 while that of rural areas is 807.[1]

paragraphs: Raja Manzoor Ahmad Khan is the present MLA of Karnah Tehsil.

paragraphs: Sectrate, J&k bank, ATM, Police station, Renger quarter, Treasury are situated in Suliman village.


title: Chugach Mountains

paragraphs: The Chugach Mountains in southcentral Alaska are the farthest north of the mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America. The range is about 500 km (300 mi) long. Its highest point is Mount Marcus Baker, at , but most of its summits are not very high. Because of the wet weather on the coast, these mountains get a lot of snow.

paragraphs: There are several parks in and around the mountains, like Chugach State Park the Chugach National Forest, and the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. They are popular destinations for outdoor activities. The World Extreme Skiing Championship is held yearly in the Chugach near Valdez.

paragraphs: Three highways run through the Chugach Mountains. There is also a tunnel from Portage that lets cars and trains go under the mountains to Whittier.

paragraphs: The name "Chugach" is from the Eskimo tribal name "Chugachmiut" recorded by the Russians and written by them "Chugatz" and "Tchougatskoi"; in 1898 U.S. Army Captain W. R. Abercrombie spelled the name "Chugatch" and applied it to the mountains.

paragraphs: Some of the taller mountains in this range are:


title: Wrangell Mountains

paragraphs: The Wrangell Mountains are a high mountain range of eastern Alaska in the United States. Much of the range is in the Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park and Preserve. The Wrangell Mountains were made by volcanoes. The second and third tallest volcanoes in the United States, Mount Blackburn and Mount Sanford are there. The range takes its name from Mount Wrangell, which is one of the largest shield volcanoes in the world. It is also the only mountain in the range that is an active volcano.

paragraphs: The Wrangell Mountains are just to the northwest of the Saint Elias Mountains and northeast of the Chugach Mountains. There are so many mountains there that they block the warm moist air over the Pacific Ocean. Because of this places north of the Wrangell Mountains are some of the coldest areas of North America during the winter.

paragraphs: The Wrangell Mountains include 12 of the 40+ Alaskan peaks over

paragraphs: Another prominent mountain is Mount Drum, , which can be seen from a very long way away.

paragraphs: The Wrangell Mountains are named after an explorer who was also president of the Russian-American Company, Admiral Ferdinand von Wrangel. American folk singer John Denver wrote a song, "Wrangell Mountain Song", in reference to the range.


title: Q fever

paragraphs: Q fever is a disease caused by "Coxiella burnetii", bacteria that affect humans and other animals. It is not common but can be found in cattle, sheep, goats, and other household animals, including cats and dogs. People can get infected if they inhale endospores or touch the milk, urine, feces, vaginal mucus, or semen of infected animals. The disease is rarely carried by ticks. A human can be infected by a single bacterium.


title: Alprazolam

paragraphs: Alprazolam, probably better known by its trade name Xanax, is a short-acting drug. The drug is used to treat people with anxiety disorders and panic attacks. Alprazolam is the most commonly misused benzodiazepine (the drug's class) in the United States; but the majority of prescribed users do not develop a substance-use disorder. Alprazolam is a prescription drug in the United States.


title: Toronto Stock Exchange

paragraphs: The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is the largest stock exchange in Canada, the third largest in North America and the eighth largest in the world by market capitalisation.


title: Unwritten

paragraphs: Unwritten is an album by Natasha Bedingfield. This record was released in the United Kingdom in September 2004 and in the United States on August 2, 2005. It had five singles. One of these was the title track. This album was released in North America again during 2006, with new album artworks and a slightly different track listing.


title: N.B.

paragraphs: N.B. is the second studio album from Natasha Bedingfield. It was released in United Kingdom on 30 April 2007 to mixed reviews by critics. The album was released in Canada and the United States during January 2008 as Pocketful of Sunshine. The US version's title single became a top 5 hit. Another track, "Love Like This", became a top twenty hit. The reviews from United States critics for this record were mixed.


title: Polish Americans

paragraphs: A Polish American is a citizen of the United States with ancestors from Poland. There have been Polish people living in North America since the earlier 1600s. Many live in the city of Chicago, which has more Polish people than any city in the world other than Warsaw, Poland.

paragraphs: Most Polish immigrants are Catholic or practice Judaism.


title: Hallucinogen

paragraphs: A hallucinogen is a drug which can cause hallucinations. They can cause people to see and hear things that are not real. A well-known example is LSD.


title: Bad News Brown

paragraphs: Paul Frappier (May 8, 1977-February 11, 2011) was a Canadian rapper and producer better known by his stage name, Bad News Brown. He was of Haitian descent. Bad News Brown was found in an industrial area in Montreal where he was beaten and then shot.

paragraphs: Bad News Brown released 1 studio albums before his death:


title: Rick James

paragraphs: James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (1 February 1948 - 6 August 2004) also known as Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, recording artist and producer. He was very popular during the late 1970s and 1980s, scoring four number one hits on the US R&B charts. He was born in Buffalo, New York.

paragraphs: In 1978 James released his first single "You and I". He produced Eddie Murphy's 1985 single "Party All the Time". In 1990 he sued MC Hammer.

paragraphs: In 1991 James was arrested with his girlfriend for kidnapping a woman. He made her have sex with his girlfriend. In 1994 he was sentenced to five years and four months in prison. He was released in 1996.


title: The Notorious B.I.G.

paragraphs: Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage name, The Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was an American rapper. He grew up in Brooklyn. He admitted that he was a crack cocaine dealer.

paragraphs: On March 9, 1997, Wallace was killed when 4 bullets hit his chest in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles after leaving a after party hosted by Vibe magazine and Qwest Records for the Soul Train Music Awards. His murder is still unsolved.

paragraphs: He rapped on Michael Jackson's 1995 single "This Time Around".

paragraphs: The Notorious B.I.G. releasesd 2 studio albums and two posthumous albums:


title: Central Hockey League

paragraphs: The Central Hockey League (CHL) was a mid-level professional hockey league in the United States. It is owned by Global Entertainment Corporation. It was started in 1992.

paragraphs: The first CHL season was in 1992-1993. It started with six teams, including the Oklahoma City Blazers, the Tulsa Oilers, the Wichita Thunder, the Memphis RiverKings, the Dallas Freeze and the Fort Worth Fire.

paragraphs: In 1996-97, the Huntsville Channel Cats, along with the planned 1996–97 Southern Hockey League (SHL) expansion teams Columbus Cottonmouths, Macon Whoopee, and Nashville Nighthawks, joined the Central Hockey League after the SHL ended.

paragraphs: The CHL came together with the Western Professional Hockey League (WPHL) in 2001.

paragraphs: The CHL commissioner is now Duane Lewis, who succeeded Brad Treliving on an temporary basis after Treliving took a position with the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes following the 2006-2007 season. Treliving co-founded the WPHL in 1996, and after the 2001 merger, served with the CHL for seven years. Lewis was named the permanent commissioner in June 2008.

paragraphs: On June 1, 2010 the league announced that it would come together with the International Hockey League.

paragraphs: The CHL is divided into two Conferences. Teams compete every year for the Ray Miron President's Cup.


title: Missouri Mavericks

paragraphs: The Missouri Mavericks is an American minor-league ice hockey team in the Central Hockey League (CHL). They play their home games at the Independence Events Center in Independence, Missouri, which is near Kansas City, Missouri.

paragraphs: In April 2009, the CHL announced that Independence would get a new team to start play that fall. In June, the team said that it would be called the Mavericks.


title: Yip Man

paragraphs: Yip Man (18931972), also known as Ip Man, was the first teacher to teach martial arts Wing Chun openly. He taught Hong Kong students, who spread Wing Chun around the world. Later, Ip Man was the teacher of Bruce Lee, Chu Shong-tin (who taught then-Australian Jim Fung) and others.

paragraphs: After Ip Man died, the teacher Duncan Leung taught Wing Chun in Hong Kong from 1945 to 1969.

paragraphs: Nowadays, Wing Chun is taught around the world. Many children do Wing Chun.


title: San Fermín

paragraphs: The festival of San Fermín is held each year in the city of Pamplona (Navarre, Spain). Other names for the festival are Sanfermines or Sanferminak. It starts at noon on 6 July with the setting off of a rocket. It ends at midnight on 14 July with the singing of the "Pobre de Mí". A bullfight is also part of the celebrations. The festival honors Saint Fermin, the co-patron of Navarre. San Fermín has become the most famous Spanish festival. More than 1,000,000 people watch this festival.

paragraphs: The Running of the Bulls is held the 6th - 14th of July every year. By midnight on July 6th Pamplona is already swarming with locals and tourists all waiting for the fireworks display that marks the start of the fiesta.

paragraphs: The day begins with the "encierro" or running of the bulls, when only the brave and foolish dash ahead of the bulls that are let loose to run through the narrow streets to the bullring where they will be fought later in the day. The runners are usually clad in the typical white trousers and shirt, with a red scarf tied at their neck, and a red beret on their head.

paragraphs: Before and after the daily bullfights, held each evening at 6 pm, bands of music, "txistularis", regional dancing and processions with big giant heads roam the streets. The Sanfermines festival of the running of the bulls in Pamplona is not the only one celebrated in Navarre, although it is the most well-known.


title: Bellini (cocktail)

paragraphs: A Bellini is a long drink cocktail that originated in Venice. It is a mixture of sparkling wine (traditionally Prosecco) and peach purée often served at celebrations. It is one of Italy's most popular cocktails.

paragraphs: The Bellini was invented sometime between 1934 and 1948 by Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy.

paragraphs: It got its name because the colour reminded Cipriani of the pink colour of the toga of a saint in a painting by 15th-century Venetian artist Giovanni Bellini.


title: Transduction

paragraphs: Transduction is a science term. It can mean:


title: Friedensreich Hundertwasser

paragraphs: Friedensreich Hundertwasser (born 15 December 1928, died 19 February 2000) was an Austrian artist. He often called himself "Friedensreich Regentag Dunkelbunt Hundertwasser" ("Land-of-Peace Rainy-Day Dark-Colourful Hundred-Water") . Hundertwasser became known for designing buildings, but he also created stamps, painted, designed posters, and other works. He even designed a new flag for New Zealand, based on a local fern frond, called the Koru.

paragraphs: Hundertwasser was born in Vienna as Friedrich Stowasser. His mother, Elsa, was Jewish, so the Second World War was a difficult time for them. They pretended to be Catholic during the war, and to escape notice, Friedrich even joined the Hitler Youth.

paragraphs: After the war ended, he changed his name from Friedrich Stowasser to Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Part of the meaning of "Friedensreich" is "peaceful realm (country)". He studied briefly at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, but when his money ran out, he started to travel a lot. He began to develop his own style, and in 1952, he exhibited his paintings for the first time.

paragraphs: Hundertwasser married twice - in 1957 and 1962 - but both marriages ended in divorce. He had one daughter, Heidi Trimmel, who was born in 1982.

paragraphs: In 1975, Hundertwasser left Europe and went to live in a small town called Kawakawa in New Zealand, where he could live mostly self-sufficiently. The artist bought several properties, joined them together to give himself enough access to nature, built solar panels and a water purification plant, and grew his own food. He lived there until he died of a heart attack in 2000.

paragraphs: He was buried at home in New Zealand. On top of his grave, a tree was planted. Hundertwasser said in 1989, A dead person is entitled to reincarnation in the form of... a tree that grows on top of him and through him.

paragraphs: As a result of his experience of being persecuted by the Nazi regime, Hundertwasser developed an anti-totalitarian position early on. His early fears of the square marching battalions associated with dictatorships may have led him to oppose any "geometrization" of people and their architecture. In a letter in 1954 Hundertwasser described the square as "geometric rectangles compressed columns on the march".

paragraphs: Hundertwasser had a lively imagination; his art was unruly and chaotic. In his work, he used spirals, organic forms, wavy lines, bright colours, and a strong individualism. He wanted humans to live in harmony with nature, where there are no straight lines. Once, he called straight lines ""something cowardly drawn with a ruler, without thought or feeling.""

paragraphs: Hundertwasser believe that a person has three 'skins. First, her 'epidermis', her skin. Second, her clothes. And finally, her house or home. Later on in the 1970s, he added two more skins: social environment (family, friendships, nation) and the planet (environment, the ecology, nature).

paragraphs: You can see examples of Hundertwasser's paintings here. Colour is a large part of Hundertwasser's art. He didn't select colours for any special significance; instead he used bright, fierce, burning colours, and combined colours to form competing patterns.

paragraphs: While he began as a painter, later in life the third skin - the home, or architecture - greatly interested Hundertwasser. He hated the way most buildings had straight lines and angles. He felt that buildings should fit and represent those who lived inside them. His building designs use natural forms, and often fit around nature rather than trying to bend nature to fit them. In the Hundertwasserhaus, an apartment building in Vienna, Austria, the floors aren't flat and even: they undulate.

paragraphs: Hundertwasser used nature in his buildings, which often have roof gardens. Grass roofs also have ecological, health and insusaltion advantages. A grass roof produces oxygen and makes life possible. It absorbs dust and dirt and converts the earth. Body and soul of man is at ease, both, who looks at it as well as who lives beneath it. (Hundertwasser 1991)

paragraphs: The artist also believed in a human's right to a window. He thought that "Some people say houses consist of walls. I say houses consist of windows."The repetition of identical windows next to each other and above each other as in a grid system is a characteristic of concentration camps.Windows in rank and file are sad, windows should be able to dance.A person in a rented apartment must be able to lean out of his window and scrape off the masonry within arm's reach. And he must be allowed to take a long brush and paint everything outside within arm's reach, so that it will be visible from afar to everyone in the street that someone lives there who is different from the imprisoned, enslaved, standardised man who lives next door. (Hundertwasser 1990)Hundertwasser wanted to allow the residents of his building to personalise their windows.

paragraphs: In the late 1970s, Hundertwasser was asked by City of Vienna to build a housing project - housing for poorer citizens who could not afford it otherwise. Inside, there were wavy, undulating floors (""an uneven floor is a divine melody to the feet""), a roof covered with earth and grass, and large trees growing from inside the rooms, with limbs extending from windows. Hundertwasser took no payment for the design of the house, declaring that it was worth it, to prevent something ugly from going up in its place. Within the house there are 52 apartments, four offices, 16 private terraces and three communal terraces, and a total of 250 trees and bushes. The Hundertwasser House is one of Vienna's most visited buildings and has become part of Austria's cultural heritage.

paragraphs: In Kawakawa, New Zealand, where Hundertwasser lived between 1975 and 2000, he designed the public toilets. Coach-loads of tourists visit every day to see these toilets, which are designed according to the artist's strict beliefs. All of the plants and vegetation which were displaced by the toilet were replanted on the roof, and it was built from recycled bricks from an old bank, and the residents' used glass bottles.


title: Edgar Degas

paragraphs: Edgar Degas (19 July 1834 – 27 September 1917) was a French artist. He is famous for his paintings and sculptures: he was one of those who started Impressionism, although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist.

paragraphs: A superb draughtsman, he is identified with the subject of the dance, and over half of his works depict dancers. These display his mastery in the depiction of movement, as do his racecourse subjects and female nudes. His portraits are notable for their psychological complexity and the way they show human isolation.

paragraphs: He was born in Paris, France. He began to paint early in his life. Because his father wanted it, he went to university to become a lawyer in 1853. Edgar did not like this, and he went to study at the "École des Beaux-Arts", an important art-school in Paris in 1855. In 1856 he traveled to Naples in Italy, he stayed there for 3 years. He studied famous painters like Michelangelo and Raphael and learnt by copying their work.

paragraphs: In 1859 he came back to Paris. He started his first important painting "The Bellelli Family", and also started on a few paintings on historical myths, like "Alexander and Bucephalus" and "The Daughter of Jephthah". In 1861 he visited Normandy and made his first drawings of horses which were an important subject for his paintings.

paragraphs: After the start of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Degas worked for the National Guard. He did not have time to paint. After the war he went to stay with his brother Rene in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1873 he went back to Paris and in 1874 his father died. He then found out his brother had large business debts. Edgar had to sell the house and a collection of art he had inherited. He now had to depend on his paintings for his income. He created a lot of great paintings in next 10 years. With the money he earned, he bought paintings by painters he liked a lot. Examples are Manet, Paul Cézanne, Pissarro, Gauguin, Van Gogh and others.

paragraphs: In 1874 Edgar Degas and a group of other painters started to organise their own art exhibition. Their exhibitions were called "Impressionist Exhibitions". At the end of the 1880s, he started to take photographs of his friends. Other photographs, of dancers and nudes, were used as an example for some of his later paintings.

paragraphs: As the years passed, he became isolated. They think that he made sculptures up until 1910. He probably stopped working in 1912. He never married, and he was nearly blind at the end of his life. He died in Paris in 1917.


title: Luigi Russolo

paragraphs: Luigi Russolo (30 April 1883 – 4 February 1947) was a painter and musician from Italy. He was part of the Futurism movement and built his own musical instruments. His instruments were destroyed in World War II in Paris, because the Germans bombed the city, others have simply disappeared.


title: Bacterial conjugation

paragraphs: Bacterial conjugation is the transfer of genetic material between bacterial cells by direct cell-to-cell contact or by a bridge-like connection between two cells.

paragraphs: Conjugation is a mechanism of horizontal gene transfer, as are transformation and transduction, though these two other mechanisms do not involve cell-to-cell contact.

paragraphs: Bacterial conjugation was discovered by Nobel Prize winners Joshua Lederberg and Edward Tatum. They showed that the bacterium "Escherichia coli" entered a sexual phase during which it could share genetic information.

paragraphs: Bacterial conjugation is often incorrectly regarded as the equivalent of sexual reproduction, since it involves the exchange of genetic material. During conjugation the "donor" cell provides a conjugative or mobilizable genetic element that is most often a plasmid or transposon. Most conjugative plasmids have systems ensuring that the "recipient" cell does not already contain a similar element.

paragraphs: The genetic information transferred is often beneficial to the recipient. Benefits may include antibiotic resistance, xenobiotic tolerance or the ability to use new metabolites. Such beneficial plasmids may be considered bacterial endosymbionts. Other elements, however, may be viewed as bacterial parasites and conjugation as a mechanism evolved by them to allow for their spread.

paragraphs: The basic conjugative plasmid is the F-plasmid, or F-factor. The F-plasmid is an episome (a plasmid that can integrate itself into the bacterial chromosome) with a length of about 100,000 base pairs.

paragraphs: There can only be one copy of the F-plasmid in a given bacterium, either free or integrated, and bacteria that possess a copy are called "F-positive" or "F-plus" (denoted F). Cells that lack F plasmids are called "F-negative" or "F-minus" (F) and can function as recipient cells.

paragraphs: The nitrogen fixing "Rhizobia" are an interesting case of inter-kingdom conjugation.

paragraphs: For example, the tumor-inducing (Ti) plasmid of "Agrobacterium" and the root-tumor inducing (Ri) plasmid of "A. rhizogenes" contain genes that are capable of transferring to plant cells. These genes turn plant cells into factories producing chemicals used by the bacteria for nitrogen and energy. Infected cells form crown galls or root tumours, respectively. The Ti and Ri plasmids are thus endosymbionts of the bacteria, which are in turn endosymbionts (or parasites) of the infected plant.

paragraphs: Conjugation is a convenient means for transferring genetic material to a variety of targets. In laboratories successful transfers have been reported from bacteria to yeast, plants, mammalian cells, and isolated mammalian mitochondria.

paragraphs: Conjugation has advantages over other forms of genetic transfer. In plant engineering, "Agrobacterium"-like conjugation complements other standard vehicles such as tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). While TMV is capable of infecting many plant families these are primarily herbaceous dicots. "Agrobacterium"-like conjugation is also primarily used for dicots, but monocot recipients are not uncommon.


title: Plasmid

paragraphs: A plasmid is a DNA molecule that is separate from the chromosomal DNA and that can replicate (copy itself) independently.

paragraphs: The term "plasmid" was first introduced by the American molecular biologist Joshua Lederberg in 1952.

paragraphs: Plasmids are double stranded and, in many cases, circular. Plasmids usually occur naturally in bacteria, but are sometimes found in eukaryotic organisms (e.g., the "2-micrometre-ring" in "Saccharomyces cerevisiae").

paragraphs: Plasmid size varies from 1 to over 1,000 kilobase pairs (kbp). The number of identical plasmids within a single cell can range from one to thousands. Plasmids are often associated with conjugation, a mechanism of horizontal gene transfer.

paragraphs: Plasmids are transferable genetic elements, or "replicons", capable of independent self copying in a suitable host. Plasmids can be found in all three major domains, Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya. Similar to viruses, plasmids are not considered a form of "life" as it is currently defined. Unlike viruses, plasmids are "naked" DNA and do not encode genes necessary to encase the genetic material for transfer to a new host.

paragraphs: Plasmid host-to-host transfer requires direct, mechanical transfer by conjugation or changes in host gene expression allowing the intentional uptake of the genetic element by transformation.

paragraphs: Microbial transformation with plasmid DNA is neither parasitic nor symbiotic in nature, since each implies the presence of an independent species living in a commensal or detrimental state with the host organism. Rather, plasmids provide a mechanism for horizontal gene transfer within a population of microbes and may provide a selective advantage under a given environmental state.

paragraphs: Plasmids may carry genes that provide resistance to naturally occurring antibiotics in a competitive environmental niche, or alternatively the proteins produced may act as toxins under similar circumstances. Plasmids also can provide bacteria with an ability to fix elemental nitrogen or to degrade difficult organic compounds. This may provide an advantage under conditions of nutrient deprivation.


title: Horizontal gene transfer

paragraphs: Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) (or "Lateral gene transfer") is any process in which an organism gets genetic material from another organism without being the offspring of that organism.

paragraphs: By contrast, "vertical transfer" occurs when an organism gets genetic material from its ancestor, e.g., its parent or a species from which it has evolved.

paragraphs: Most thinking in genetics has focused on vertical transfer, but there is a growing awareness that horizontal gene transfer is a significant phenomenon. Amongst single-celled organisms it may be the dominant form of genetic transfer. Artificial horizontal gene transfer is a form of genetic engineering.

paragraphs: There are several mechanisms for horizontal gene transfer:

paragraphs: Horizontal gene transfer was first described in Japan in a 1959 publication that demonstrated the transfer of antibiotic resistance between different species of bacteria.

paragraphs: In the mid-1980s, Syvanen suggested that lateral gene transfer not only had biological significance, but was involved in shaping evolutionary history from the beginning of life on Earth.

paragraphs: "Increasingly, studies of genes and genomes are indicating that considerable horizontal transfer has occurred between prokaryotes". The phenomenon appears to have had some significance for unicellular eukaryotes as well. As Bapteste et al. observe, "additional evidence suggests that gene transfer might also be an important evolutionary mechanism in protist evolution".

paragraphs: There is some evidence that even higher plants and animals have been affected. Richardson and Palmer (2007) state: "Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has played a major role in bacterial evolution and is fairly common in certain unicellular eukaryotes. However, the prevalence and importance of HGT in the evolution of multicellular eukaryotes remains unclear".


title: Transduction (genetics)

paragraphs: Transduction is the process by which DNA is transferred from one bacterium to another by a virus.

paragraphs: Joshua Lederberg and his graduate student Norton Zinder showed in 1952 that bacteriophages could transfer genetic information between bacteria in "Salmonella". This process explained how bacteria of different species could gain resistance to the same antibiotic very quickly.

paragraphs: Transduction also refers to the process whereby foreign DNA is introduced into another cell via a viral vector. This is a common tool used by molecular biologists to introduce a foreign gene into a host cell's genome.

paragraphs: When bacteriophages infect a bacterial cell, their normal mode of reproduction is to harness the replicational, transcriptional, and translation machinery of the host bacterial cell to make numerous complete viral particles, including the viral DNA or RNA and the protein coat. Errors in this process can result in the virus carrying over DNA from one bacterium to another.