title: Herman's Hermits

paragraphs: Herman's Hermits were a rock band from England. They were part of the "British Invasion" of bands during the 1960s, and were most popular in that decade. Their business manager was an American named Allen Klein, who also worked for Donovan, The Animals, and later The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.

paragraphs: None of the members was really named Herman. Lead singer Peter Noone (pronounced "noon") was nicknamed Herman, because his bandmates thought he looked like Sherman, from "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show". Noone was an actor before he became a singer. The other band members were Derek "Lek" Leckenby (guitar), Keith Hopwood (guitar, keyboards), Karl Green (bass guitar) and Barry Whitwam (drums). The band began as amateurs, playing at parties for friends, but turned professional as they improved. They made records, appeared on television, and also made movies.

paragraphs: The Hermits's hit records included "I'm Into Something Good", "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat?", "There's A Kind Of Hush (All Over The World)", "I'm Henry VIII, I Am", "Listen People", and cover versions of "Silhouettes", "Sea Cruise", and "The End Of The World". "Hold On" was the title song of their first movie. "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter" was a hit song first, that was later fitted to a movie storyline.

paragraphs: Herman's Hermits stopped having hits as music trends changed, but their old songs were well loved. They are still played today. The band members went on to other careers in the 1970s. Peter Noone went back to acting, but still appeared as a singer.

paragraphs: In the 1980s, Leckenby and Whitwam formed a new band, to tour under the old name. The singer sounded like Noone, and many fans did not know the difference. Other original members also sometimes rejoined. During the 1990s, Noone took over the name for his band, that appeared with him at oldies concerts.


title: Grand'Anse (department)

paragraphs: Grand'Anse, or "Grande Anse", is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti. Its capital is Jérémie.

paragraphs: The "Départment de la Grand'Anse" has an area of 2,091 km². It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Gonâve, to the east by the Nippes Department, to the south by the Sud Department, and by the Caribbean Sea to the west.

paragraphs: The "Massiff de la Hotte", an important Haitian mountain range, runs from west to east along the south of the department, with the Plymouth, Macaya and Casetaches mountain ranges. Because of this, rivers here are short; some of them are Baradères, Dame-Marie, de la Grande-Anse, de Nippes, des Roseaux and Voldrogue.

paragraphs: The department is divided into three "arrondissements" (like districts) and 11 "communes" (like municipalities). The "arrondissements" and their "communes" are:


title: Nippes

paragraphs: Nippes is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti.

paragraphs: It is the newest and smallest Haitian department; it was created in 2003 with the eastern part of the Grand'Anse Department. It has an estimated population of 266,379 (2003) and its capital city is Miragoâne.

paragraphs: Nippes has an area of 1,219 km². It is bordered to the south by the Sud Department, to the east by the Ouest Department, to the west by the Grand'Anse Department and to the north by the Gonâve Channel, the southern part of the Gulf of Gonâve.


title: Lara Veronin

paragraphs: Lara Veronin is a Russian-Taiwanese-American singer born on 2 May 1988. She is famous for being the lead vocalist of the C-Pop band Nan Quan Mama. The band's first album Treasure Map and second album Nan Quan Mama, Version 2 both peaked at #4 on the Taiwanese Album Charts. She has also appeared as a featured voicalist on Jay Chou's sixth album November's Chopin on the track "Coral Sea".

paragraphs: Veronin was born and raised in Monterey Park, California, America and moved to Taiwan in her teens. Her father is a Russian American, and her mother a Taiwanese. She speaks fluent English and Mandarin as shown in her songs, but says she is unable to speak Russian.

paragraphs: Reportedly, Veronin's talent was discovered when she met C-pop singer Jay Chou at a restaurant where she was working. He was interested in her voice and recruited her for his band, Nan Quan Mama. Her role as the lead singer of Nan Quan Mama gave her instant fame.

paragraphs: She gained greater recognition as her songs "靠近一點點 Kao Jin Yi Dian Dian" and "Say You Love Me" were chosen to be theme songs for It Started With A Kiss, a Chinese romantic comedy television series in 2005.

paragraphs: In 2006, Veronin was cast in the television series "Engagement for Love", co-starring Alex To and Ambrose Hsu.

paragraphs: As of now, Veronin is studying in college in Taipei while continuing her music career.

paragraphs: Her musical style is often disputed (argued about). This is because most of her songs when she performs solo are in the alternative or pop-rock genre, but when she performs as a vocalist in the band Nan Quan Mama, she often sings blues- and soul-influenced dance music.


title: Super Girl (TV series)

paragraphs: Super Girl (; "lit. Super Female Voice") is an annual national singing contest in People's Republic of China for female competitors. The official name is The Mengniu Yoghurt Super Girl Contest, after the company that sponsored the show. It is now one the most popular entertainment shows in China. However, after the third season, the show was banned by the Chinese government. The show was the feature of a 2007 documentary titled Super, Girls!, produced and directed by independent Chinese filmmaker Jian Yi on the 2006 Super Voice Girls contest, released at the Cambridge Film Festival. An ARTiSIMPLE Studio production, "Super, Girls!" is the only independent feature-length documentary ever made about the "Super Girls."

paragraphs: The competition was open to any female regardless of age, origin or appearance. The audition sessions had females ranging from 4 to 89 years old. The 2005 season of the contest attracted more than 120,000 applicants during the preliminary selection rounds, held in the provinces Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Henan and Zhejiang. Many applicants travelled long distances to take part in the competition. Each contestant was allowed 30 seconds to perform to judges and find out if they were selected for the preliminary regional rounds. To prevent another overwhelming audition season, the minimum age of 18 was later set during the 2006 season.

paragraphs: Following the selection of contestants in the five regions, the competition began with the preliminary rounds. Preliminaries were held in each of the five locations where auditions were located. Vviewers were able to watch each of the preliminaries and vote for their favorite singers. Voting was conducted by telephone and SMS.

paragraphs: The regional preliminaries are followed by a weekly broadcast single-elimination (knockout) tournament held in Changsha, Hunan. The least voted two face-off subsequently in a "PK." The term "PK" comes from "Player Kill," a reference to kill-or-be-killed online games. The singer with the least number of votes is then eliminated. The last event is contested between the final 3.

paragraphs: Judges for the competition were selected from different backgrounds in society. "Audience judges" were selected in addition to several professional judges.

paragraphs: The original version of the show was known as "Super Boy" and aired in 2003 on Hunan Entertainment Channel, a local broadcaster based in Changsha, Hunan. The show was a success and the counterpart "Super Girl" aired at the beginning of 2004 and became the most viewed show in Hunan. However, the programme's impact was limited as the channel does not broadcast outside the province.

paragraphs: On May 6, 2004, "Super Girl" was introduced to a national audience by its producer Liao Ke through Hunan Satellite Television. In addition to broadcasting the original episodes created by Hunan Entertainment Channel, the network also developed this show in other 3 cities: Wuhan in Hubei, Nanjing in Jiangsu and Chengdu in Sichuan. This show attracted an average of 10,000 contestants in each city and received nationwide attention.

paragraphs: Hunan Satellite Television introduced a second season of "Super Girl" on March 19, 2005. The preliminary rounds were filmed in five cities: Changsha in Hunan Province, Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, Zhengzhou in Henan Province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, and Chengdu in Sichuan Province. By the middle of the season, the competition captivated a nationwide audience and became one of the most watched television entertainment shows in China with tens of millions of viewers.

paragraphs: The final episode of the 2005 season was one of the most popular shows in Chinese broadcast history, drawing more than 400,000,000 viewers, more than CCTV's New Year's Gala earlier that year. The final peaked at 280,000,000 viewers at a given time, higher than the 12,000,000-viewer figure for the finals of "Pop Idol". Despite the show being condemned by CCTV as being "vulgar and manipulative", season 3 of the show was launched and finished in early October 2006.

paragraphs: On January 18, 2006, China National Philatelic Corporation released a postage stamp issue featuring 2005 winner Li Yu Chun. The set was shortly earlier than Li's twenty-second birthday in her commemoration.

paragraphs: On May 11, 2009, "The Oprah Winfrey Show", a worldwide famous television show, invited Zhang Liangying, who ranked 3rd overall in the 2005 contest, to make an American television singing debut. The subtitle of the show was "The World's Got Talent" and Zhang Liangying was the only east Asian singer in the show.

paragraphs: Some who were not chosen as winners have also been able to enter the recording industry through other means. Ji Min Jia, who ranked fifth overall in the 2005 contest, worked in Los Angeles in 2006 to help with production of the title song for Japanese anime series "The Galaxy Railways". On March 15, 2007, Japanese recording group Hello! Project announced Li Chun, one of the top 50 contestants in the 2006 Changsha regional, as one of two new members of Chinese ancestry of its pop group Morning Musume.

paragraphs: The contest has also inspired television producers to create other talent search shows.

paragraphs: One of the main factors contributing to the show's popularity was that viewers are able to participate in the judging process by sending SMSs with their mobile phones to vote for their favorite contestants. During the 2005 regional contest in Chengdu alone, 307,071 message votes were cast for the top three contestants, each vote costing ¥0.5 to ¥3.

paragraphs: Over 800,000,000 text messages were sent during the third season of "Super Girl", and fan clubs began to appear throughout the country. After the large response to the ability to vote, the Chinese government banned the show from continuing to a fourth season. The show was the feature of a 2007 documentary titled "Super, Girls!", produced and directed by independent Chinese filmmaker Jian Yi on the 2006 Super Voice Girls contest, released at the Cambridge Film Festival. An ARTiSIMPLE Studio production, "Super, Girls!" is the only independent feature-length documentary ever made about the "Super Girls."

paragraphs: While some culture and media experts praised "Super Girl" in blazing "a trail for cultural democracy" and breaking elitism in China's entertainment industry, others stated that "the show represented a superficiality in society, propelled by behind-the-scenes manipulation and state-of-the-art pomp and circumstance".

paragraphs: Mengniu reportedly paid ¥14,000,000 to Hunan Television for rights to sponsor the show's broadcast outside Hunan province beginning with the 2005 season. The 2005 contest was estimated to have drawn in a total of ¥766,000,000. Indirect business impact of the competition was estimated at several billion yuan.

paragraphs: Television advertisement slots cost an average of ¥33,400 for 15 seconds in 2006, compared to the average of ¥28,000 in 2005. Advertising sales were expected to reach ¥200,000,000, nearly double that of the previous year.

paragraphs: The first season of "Super Girl" aired from 6 May to September 22, 2004. Although the winners of the competition were not promised recording contracts, the top three winners signed such deals.

paragraphs: The second season of "Super Girl" aired from March 19 to August 26 in 2005. There was much controversy about the Li Yu Chun being the season's grand champion as she had the most votes even though she had "the weakest voice among the top finalists". Despite the heavy criticism that arose during the competition season, the three 2005 finalists have been considered the most successful singers from the entire show.

paragraphs: The third season of aired from April 2 to September 30, 2006. Shang Wen Jie's selection as grand champion over Tan Wei Wei, who is a professional vocalist from Sichuan Conservatory of Music, raised questions at each candidate's public appeal. Speculations arose that Shang, who appeared to be a copycat of Li Yu Chun's image, was voted grand champion due to the appeal of her Cinderella story.


title: Voluntary (music)

paragraphs: In music a voluntary is a piece of music, usually for organ, which is played as part of a church service.

paragraphs: The word “voluntary” can be used for the title of a piece of music. The title was often used by English composers in the late Renaissance or Baroque periods for a piece of organ music that was free in style, i.e. it did not have to be composed in a strict form such as sonata form or a fugue. It was meant to sound as if it was being improvised (the word voluntary in general means “free”, i.e. not “forced to do something”).

paragraphs: Composers such as Orlando Gibbons, John Blow and Henry Purcell wrote voluntaries, although sometimes they preferred to use other titles such as "fancy" (an English form of the Italian word "fantasia"), or even "fugue". However, these "fugues" were not composed in the proper fugue style: they just started off with imitation as in a fugue, but continued in a freer style.

paragraphs: Some voluntaries were called "double voluntaries". These were pieces written for organs with two manuals (keyboards). The pieces contrasted a loud manual with a soft one.

paragraphs: Some voluntaries were known as "trumpet voluntaries". These were voluntaries which had a tune which was played (with the right hand) on a stop called a “trumpet” or a “cornet”. Two very famous trumpet voluntaries, often played at weddings, are the trumpet voluntary by Henry Purcell and the one by Jeremiah Clarke (which people used to think was composed by Purcell). In the 18th century the composer John Stanley wrote many trumpet voluntaries.


title: Aalen

paragraphs: Aalen (pronounced ) is a town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the Ostalbkreis district, and its largest town.


title: Bad Wörishofen

paragraphs: Bad Wörishofen is a spa town in the district Unterallgäu, Bavaria Germany.

paragraphs: It is known for the water-cure of Sebastian Kneipp (1821 – 1897), a Catholic priest, who was living there for 42 years. Many hotels and boarding-houses are in the town where guests can be treated using Kneipp's methods. There is a new spa complex out of town, called Therme Bad Wörishofen.

paragraphs: Cult movie director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a native of Bad Wörishofen.


title: Bürgermeister

paragraphs: The German word Burgermeister often spelled in English as "Burgomaster" or "Burgomeister" means "master of the citizens".

paragraphs: A Burgermeister is chairman of the executive council (or cabinet) in many towns and cities in Germany. In France, the person is called a "maire". In the Netherlands the person is called the "burgemeester". The title is usually translated into English as "Mayor", but the position of mayor is not quite the same as the Burgermeister.

paragraphs: "Ober-" is put in front of many title to show that it is higher than another, especially in military.


title: Area codes in Germany

paragraphs: Area codes in Germany () for telephones have two to five digits, not counting the first zero. The first or "leading" zero must be dialled when calling from inside Germany and not when calling from outside Germany. The area code is not needed when dialling another telephone in the same area, unless one of the telephones is a mobile phone. Usually shorter area codes are used by larger cities, and longer area codes to smaller towns.

paragraphs: The first digit (after the leading zero) shows the region:

paragraphs: (0)1 are special numbers such as mobile phones (015, 016, 017), shared cost service (0180), televoting numbers (013) and 010 for dial-around services. The OLD codes 0130 for free phone numbers and 0190 for premium-rate numbers are now moved to 0800 and 0900 to meet international standards.


title: German car number plates

paragraphs: German car number plates ("Kfz-Kennzeichen") show the place where the car carrying them is registered. When a person changes their main home in Germany, or buys a new car, they must buy new number plates.

paragraphs: Number plates can be bought which are valid all year round or between 2 to 11 months within any 12 months. This allows changing between summer and winter cars, such as a convertible and a sedan/saloon without having the time and money wasted for de- and re-registering.

paragraphs: The present number plate format, used since 1994, uses black print on a white background and first provides information about the country where the car is registered within the European Union. German licence plates show a "D" (for "Deutschland"="Germany") on the blue strip on the left, which shows the European Union's flag, 12 golden stars in a circle on blue ground.

paragraphs: After that, there are between one and three letters for the city or region where the car is registered, such as B for Berlin. These units usually coincide with the German districts, in few cases an urban district and the surrounding district share the same letter code. Usually if an urban district and a rural district share the code, the number of the following letters is different. For example, the urban district (Straubing) SR has one letter after the code (SR - A 123). The surrounding district Straubing-Bogen has two letters (SR - AB 123) after the code. It depends on the number of registered cars (or citizens) whether the City or the district has two letters, because there are more possibilities with two letters, so the part with more citizens usually has two letters. For example, the urban district Regensburg has more citizens than the rural district Regensburg, so the city has two letters after the code R.

paragraphs: The number of letters in the city/region code usually shows the size and location of the district: the largest German cities generally only have one letter codes (B=Berlin, M=München (Munich), K=Köln (Cologne), F=Frankfurt am Main), most other districts in Germany have two or three letter codes. Districts in eastern Germany usually have more letters, for two reasons:

paragraphs: This is only a rule of thumb, there are a number of exceptions e.g. Germany's second largest city Hamburg (HH, Hansestadt Hamburg, because of its historical membership in the Hanseatic League) or the west German district Ammerland (WST, Westerstede is the capital of the district).

paragraphs: The reason for this scheme is however not to display size or location, but simply to have enough combinations available within the maximum length of eight characters per plate.

paragraphs: After the location name there are the emission test and vehicle safety test stickers (see below), followed by one or two letters and one to four numbers. These letters and numbers can be chosen by the vehicle owner or if they prefer, random ones can be allocated by the licensing office. The total quantity of letters and numbers on the plate is never higher than eight. One letter with low numbers are normally reserved for motorcycle use since the plate space of these vehicles is smaller.

paragraphs: Various combinations that could be considered politically unacceptable—mainly due to implications relating to Nazi Germany—are disallowed or otherwise avoided. The district Sächsische Schweiz uses the name of its main town, Pirna, in its code "PIR", to avoid the use of "SS", the name of the nazi group; similarly "SA" is also unused. This is why cars for the government and parliament in Saxony-Anhalt are registered with LSA (Land Sachsen Anhalt). In 2004 in Nuremberg, a car owner was refused a number plate beginning N-PD because of the connection to the political party, the NPD.

paragraphs: Banned combinations include the Nazi abbreviations HJ ("Hitlerjugend", Hitler Youth), NS ("Nationalsozialismus", National Socialism), SA ("Sturmabteilung"), SS ("Schutzstaffel") and KZ ("Konzentrationslager", concentration camp). Some registration offices have overlooked this rule by mistake, however; there are a few cars registered carrying prohibited codes, such as "B-SS 12". Some counties also allow these combinations if they are the initials of the owner (e.g., Norbert Schmidt might be able to get XX-NS 1234), but in this case, if the car is sold and re-registered in the same county by the new owner, the number can be changed (otherwise the number stays with the car until it registered in a different area).

paragraphs: Certain types of vehicle bear special codes:

paragraphs: The German Federal President's license plate is 0-1, the Chancellor's 0-2, the Foreign Secretary's 0-3. The plate of the President of the Bundestag is an exception: it shows 1-1. This is to show that the Bundestag's President is not part of the government but still ranks higher in importance than the Chancellor. These vehicles are tax-exempt and need not to be insured since the German government acts as insurer.


title: 588 Achilles

paragraphs: 588 Achilles is an asteroid found on February 22, 1906 by the German astronomer Max Wolf. It was the first of the Trojan asteroids to be found, and is named after Achilles, the fictional hero from the Iliad. It orbits in the L Lagrangian point of the Sun-Jupiter system. After a few such asteroids were found, the rule was made that the L point was the "Greek camp", while the L point was the "Trojan camp", though not before each camp had acquired a "spy" (624 Hektor in the Greek camp and 617 Patroclus in the Trojan camp).


title: Mwai Kibaki

paragraphs: Mwai Kibaki (born November 15, 1931) is a Kenyan politician. He was the 3rd President of Kenya, from 2002-2013.

paragraphs: Kibaki was the first President of Kenya to belong to a party other than KANU (Kenya African national union). After he became President he has done many good things. Kenya saw economic growth of 6%. He however had complaints from people who think the changes that were too slow to come. Many Kenyans living in the diaspora have begun to return to Kenya as the promise of the future has created high paying jobs. These jobs are appealing to foreign educated Kenyans.

paragraphs: In 2007, many people were angry at him. They thought he changed the election results so that he would win. They started to destroy houses and other property.

paragraphs: Kibaki's term ended in April 2013. He was succeeded by Uhuru Kenyatta as President.

paragraphs: He was married to Lucy Kibaki from 1962 until her death in April 2016.


title: Socialist International

paragraphs: The Socialist International (SI) is a worldwide group which wants to establish democratic socialism. Most of its members are democratic socialist, social democratic, and labour political parties.

paragraphs: Its name is from the Second International, which was formed in 1889 and dissolved on the eve of World War I in 1914.

paragraphs: Some of the Second International's most famous actions were its 1889 declaration of 1 May as International Labour Day and its 1910 declaration of 8 March as International Women's Day. The Second International was split by the outbreak of World War I. A small part carried on as the International Socialist Commission. The International re-formed in 1923 (as the Labour and Socialist International), and was re organised again, in its present form, after World War II. Many social democratic and socialist parties had been suppressed in Nazi-occupied Europe.

paragraphs: Since World War II, the SI helped social democratic parties to re-start themselves when dictatorship gave way to democracy in Portugal (1974) and Spain (1975).

paragraphs: Until its 1976 Geneva Congress, the Socialist International had few members outside Europe and no formal involvement with Latin America. In the 1980s, most SI parties gave their backing to the Nicaraguan Sandinistas (FSLN), whose left-wing government had incited hatred from the United States. Since then, the SI has admitted as member-parties not only the FSLN but also the centre-left Puerto Rican Independence Party, as well as the ex-Communist parties such as the Italian Democrats of the Left (Democratici di Sinistra (DS)) and the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (FRELIMO).

paragraphs: The Party of European Socialists, a European political party active in the European Parliament, is an associated organisation of the Socialist International.

paragraphs: In 2006, George Papandreou, leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement, became the president of the Socialist International.

paragraphs: The following parties are consultative parties:

paragraphs: The following parties are observer parties:


title: ISO 3166-1 alpha-3

paragraphs: ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes are three-letter country codes in the ISO 3166-1 standard to represent countries and dependent territories. They are published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as part of its ISO 3166 standard. They were first included as part of the ISO 3166 standard in its first edition in 1974.

paragraphs: They are used in ISO/IEC 7501-1 for machine-readable passports.

paragraphs: Below is a complete list of the current officially assigned ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes, with country names being English short country names officially used by the ISO 3166 Maintenance Agency (ISO 3166/MA):

paragraphs: The following alpha-3 codes can be user-assigned: from AAA to AAZ, from QMA to QZZ, from XAA to XZZ, and from ZZA to ZZZ. These code elements are at the disposal of users who need to add further names of countries, territories or other geographical entities to their in-house application of ISO 3166-1, and the ISO 3166/MA will never use them in the updating process of the standard.

paragraphs: Reserved code elements are codes which, while not ISO 3166-1 codes, are in use for some applications in conjunction with the ISO 3166 codes. The ISO 3166/MA therefore reserves them, so that they are not used for new official ISO 3166 codes, thereby creating conflicts between the standard and those applications.

paragraphs: The following alpha-3 codes are subject to an exceptional reservation:

paragraphs: The following three codes were also under exceptional reservation, until the update from 2006-03-29 included them in the standard:

paragraphs: The following alpha-3 codes are subject to a transitional reservation:

paragraphs: The following alpha-3 codes are subject to an indeterminate reservation, having been notified to the United Nations Secretary-General under the 1949 and/or 1968 Road Traffic Conventions:

paragraphs: For the time being, ISO 3166/MA has agreed not to use the following codes, taken from ISO/IEC 7501-1 (machine readable travel documents), as alpha-3 country codes:

paragraphs: Besides the codes currently transitionally reserved and FXX (now exceptionally reserved), these alpha-3 codes have also been withdrawn since the first edition of ISO 3166 in 1974:


title: Bellows

paragraphs: A bellows is something that blows air into a small opening in order to make something work. The bellows will have a kind of sack which has air in it. When the sack is squeezed the air is pushed out. Bellows can be quite small and operated by hand, for example for stoking a fire in an open fireplace. They can also be very large, such as bellows that produce air for a large pipe organ to be played. Such bellows used to be pumped by hand (sometimes by several people), but nowadays electricity is used. Bellows are used by blacksmiths or metalworkers for smelting and welding. They are also used in small musical instruments such as bagpipes, accordions and concertinas. The harmonium has bellows which the player operates by pumping with the his feet.


title: 1999 Jiji earthquake

paragraphs: Chi-Chi earthquake, also known as the 921 earthquake, was an earthquake in central Taiwan. The earthquake happened on September 21, 1999 at 1:47 am local time (September 20 17:47 GMT). It measured 7.3 on the Richter scale. The epicentre of the earthquake was at in Chichi Township of Nantou County, about 12.5 km west of the Sun Moon Lake. The depth of the epicenter was 7.0 km.

paragraphs: The earthquake caused much damage, according to the National Fire Agency, Ministry of the Interior R.O.C. This damage included:

paragraphs: The earthquake continued to shake Taiwan throughout the night. People tell stories about a house that was not destroyed but moved by the earthquake from one county to another. The story says that because of this, the owners of the house had to change their address.

paragraphs: The epicenter of the earthquake was Chichi Township. The 921 Earthquake happened along the Chelungpu fault line in western part of the island of Taiwan. The fault is located along the foothills of the Central Mountains in Nantou and Taichung counties. Some sections of land near the fault were changed in elevation by as much as 7 meters (23 feet). Near the northern end of the fault line, a 7-meter tall waterfall was created by the earthquake. In the middle-western part of the island, bridges were destroyed. This stopped traffic for weeks.

paragraphs: In Wufeng, a village in southern Taichung County, the damage was very bad. The village's Guangfu High School was located on the fault line. It was badly damaged by the quake. Today the high school is the site of the National Museum of Natural Science's 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan.

paragraphs: landslides where caused causing impromptu formation of lakes


title: Visibility

paragraphs: "Visibility" is a word used in meteorology. It is used to talk about how far a normal person can see depending on the weather. If there is low visibility, such as in a blizzard, a person will not be able to see far. If there is high visibility, such as on a bright, sunny day, a person will be able to see a long way.

paragraphs: Visibility less than is often called zero. When it is this low, roads may be closed, or lights and signs are turned on to warn drivers. These are put in areas that often have very low visibility. Warning lights help stop accidents. Automobile crashes with many cars happen often in places like this if the warning lights and signs are not put up.

paragraphs: Visibility is said to be good when a person can see farther than about 10 kilometers.

paragraphs: An advisory is put out by meteorologists to warn of low visibility, such as a dense fog advisory from the U.S. National Weather Service. These tell drivers to not travel until the fog leaves. Airport travel sometimes is delayed, or slowed down, by low visibility.


title: Lothar Bisky

paragraphs: Lothar Bisky (17 August 1941 – 13 August 2013) was a German politician. He was the chairman of the Left Party.PDS, a socialist political party with its base in the east of Germany. In June 2007 he became of the leaders of The Left, formed by a merger of Left Party.PDS and Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative.

paragraphs: Bisky was born in Zollbrueck, Pomerania. As a child he was very poor, so when he was 18 he moved from northern West Germany to GDR. He was allowed to join the Socialist Unity Party in 1963, but did not became a leader of the party until just after the fall of communism and the old "hardliners" were thrown out of the party.

paragraphs: He was rector of the University of Film and Television (Potsdam-Babelsberg) from 1986 to 1990. In 1991 he became a member of the board of directors of regional television channel ORB (now part of RBB.)

paragraphs: In 1990 he was a member of the Volkskammer and since 1990 he has been a member of the state parliament in Brandenburg.

paragraphs: He was chairman of the PDS from 1993 until his resignation in 2000. He was re-elected chairman in 2003. Bisky was seen to be on the moderate, social democratic wing of the party and he was a long-time close ally of the party's most prominent figure, Gregor Gysi.

paragraphs: The party returned strongly to the Bundestag in the 2005 election. Bisky, one of 54 Left MPs, was going to become one of the six vice presidents of the Bundestag. When the new Bundestag met on October 18, however, he failed three times to be elected. Some MPs explained this with allegations (denied by Bisky) that he was an informant of the Stasi. Later, he failed a fourth time, and gave up his bid to be elected.

paragraphs: Lothar Bisky was married and the father of three sons. The oldest son, Jens Bisky, is a journalist and writer and the middle, Norbert Bisky, is a painter. The youngest died in 2008 in Edinburgh.

paragraphs: Bisky died in Leipzig, Saxony, on 13 August 2013.


title: Louis-Nicolas Clérambault

paragraphs: Louis-Nicolas Clérambault (born Paris, 19 December 1676; died Paris, 26 October 1749) was a French organist and composer.

paragraphs: Clérambault (pronounce “CLAY-ram-bow”) came from a musical family. He learned to play the violin and harpsichord when he was young, and also learned the organ, composition and singing. He became the organist at the church of the Grands-Augustins and then at Saint-Sulpice. He worked for Madame de Maintenon who arranged concerts for King Louis XIV. He also had a job at the royal house of Saint-Cyr, which was a school for young girls from the poor nobility. He directed the music there, played the organ and trained the choir.

paragraphs: Clérambault was the first important French composer of cantatas. They were often about Greek and Roman myths. He also composed for the organ, harpsichord and violin. He was thought of as France’s greatest organist. Two of his sons took over jobs held by their father after his death.


title: Blizzard

paragraphs: A blizzard is a severe snowstorm. It brings low temperatures, strong winds, and a lot of blowing snow. Blizzards start when a high pressure system touches as low pressure system. The word "blizzard" is sometimes used incorrectly by news media to talk about big winter storms, even if the storm is not a blizzard.

paragraphs: Some areas are more likely to be hit by blizzards than others, but a blizzard can occur in any place where snow falls. In North America, blizzards happen often in the northern-east states, and in the provinces of Canada. In this region, blizzards can happen more than twice each winter. They also occur often in the mountain ranges of western North America. Because these regions have low populations, blizzards sometimes are not reported.

paragraphs: A very dangerous type of blizzard is a whiteout. In a whiteout, downdrafts and snowfall are so thick that people cannot tell the ground and sky apart. People caught in a whiteout lose their sense of direction very fast. This is a large danger to pilots when they are flying airplanes, because they cannot tell how close they are to the ground, and may crash.

paragraphs: The community cleans up after a snowstorm/blizzard occurs. Blizzards only usually go for 3 hours so everything won't be too damaged, meaning it won't be as hard as an earthquake or tsunami to clean.

paragraphs: These horrible blizzards can achieve up to 25-30 feet deep. A basketball hoop is 10 ft high, so a blizzard can get snow as deep as the height of two or three hoops.

paragraphs: Firstly you need cold enough air to cause snow to fall in the clouds and ground level water and moisture is needed to form clouds and precipitation. The moisture is called water vapour to make the clouds a source of water vapour is cold air blowing across large lakes or the sea but the cold air doesn't actually make too much snow, its a combination of cold and warm air that does it. The warm air normally meets the cold air if the wind is being pulled towards the equator when they are brought together a front is formed and precipitation is formed and the warm air can go up to the clouds and the blizzard forms from there.

paragraphs: There is sustained wind or frequent gusts of 35 miles per hour or greater.

paragraphs: Blizzards can get down to -12 degrees or lower. This makes it fairly easy to get hypothermia in a blizzard. Mostly freezing electrics and machinery making life very hard in the Hypothermic temperatures.

paragraphs: The Great Blizzard of 1888 was very damaging for the Northeastern United States. In that blizzard, 400 people died, 200 ships sunk, and snowdrifts were 10 or 15 feet high. In the Great Plains, states were hit by the Schoolhouse Blizzard that trapped children in schools and killed 235 people.

paragraphs: In 1880–1881 there was a winter that people in the Dakotas called the "Hard Winter". The author Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote her book "The Long Winter" about that winter's story. It talks about one blizzard after another, and how it changed Laura's family and everybody around her. The book is almost all true. Her story of two men from the town of DeSmet, South Dakota, going after some wheat stored some miles south of DeSmet in February 1881 is true, and Ingalls later married one of the men, Almanzo Wilder. If the two men had not found and brought back the wheat, the people would have starved. The snow and ice thawed in April, and the railroads could start again. The train picture above was photographed on March 29, 1881, not far from DeSmet.

paragraphs: 34 people died during a 3-day spring blizzard on March 1920 in North Dakota. One of the people who died was Hazel Miner, a teenage girl who died of freezing to death when she got lost on her way home from her one-room-school.

paragraphs: The Armistice Day Blizzard in 1940 surprised many people with how fast the temperature dropped. It was in the morning, but by noon, it was snowing. Some of the people froze to death in the snow. 154 people died in the Armistice Day Blizzard.

paragraphs: 105 years after the Great Blizzard of 1888, a giant blizzard, named the Storm of the Century, hit the U.S in 1993. It dropped snow on 26 states and reached as far north as Canada and as far south as Mexico. In many southern U.S. areas, such as parts of Alabama, more snow fell in this storm than ever fell in an entire winter. Highways and airports closed across the U.S. The blizzard also made 15 tornadoes in Florida. When the storm was over, 270 people died and 48 were reported missing.


title: Nord Department

paragraphs: Nord (English: "North") is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti. After the Haitian Revolution, the country was divided into only three departments: Nord, Ouest and Sud. The Nord-Est and Nord-Ouest departments were part of the Nord department.

paragraphs: Its capital and largest city is Cap-Haïtien, founded in 1670 by Bertrand d'Orgeron and the old capital city of "Saint-Domingue". It had the nickname of "Paris of Saint-Domingue".

paragraphs: The "Départment du Nord" has an area of 2,106 km². It is bordered to the northwest by the Nord-Ouest Department, to the east by the Nord-Est Department, to the southeast by the Centre Department and to the west by the Artibonite Department. The Atlantic Ocean is to the north.

paragraphs: The main rivers of the department are Grande Rivière du Nord, Haut du Cap and Limbé. The rivers Trois-Rivières and Bouyaha have their sources in this department. All these rivers, except Bouyaha that is a tributary of the river Artibonite, flow to the north, into the Atlantic Ocean.

paragraphs: The "Massif du Nord" mountain range, known in the Dominican Republic as "Cordillera Central", runs from the northwest to the southeast along the southern half of the department. This Massif du Nord is formed by several chains and the most important, in this department, are the "Chaine de la Grande Rivière du Nord" and the 'Chaine de Saint Raphael".

paragraphs: The "Pleine du Nord" (in English, "Northern Plain") is in the northern half of the department.

paragraphs: The department had, in the 2003 census, a population of 823,043 persons: 393,547 men and 429,496 women, with 325,318 (39.53%) living in cities and towns.

paragraphs: The department is divided into seven "arrondissements" (like districts) and 19 "communes" (like municipalities). The "arrondissements" and their "communes" are:


title: Apache HTTP Server

paragraphs: Apache HTTP Server, also called Apache, is a web server notable for helping the growth of the World Wide Web.


title: Nord-Est Department

paragraphs: Nord-Est (English: "North-East") is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti. It is in the northeastern corner of the country, along the border with the Dominican Republic. Its capital is Fort-Liberté.

paragraphs: After the Haitian Revolution, the country was divided into only three departments: Nord, Ouest and Sud. The "Nord-Est" department was part of the "Nord" department.

paragraphs: The "Départment du Nord-Est", with an area of 1,805 km², is the second smallest department of Haiti; only the Nippes department is smaller.

paragraphs: The department is bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west by the Nord Department and to the south by the Centre Department. It borders the Dominican Republic to the east.

paragraphs: The only important river in the province is the Dajabón River, known also as "Massacre". This river marks the Dominican-Haitian border from the Dominican city of Dajabón to its mouth.

paragraphs: The "Massif du Nord" mountain range, known in the Dominican Republic as "Cordillera Central", runs from the northwest to the southeast along the southern half of the department.

paragraphs: The "Pleine du Nord" (in English, "Northern Plain"), with several savannas, is in the northern half of the department.

paragraphs: The department had, in the 2003 census, a population of 308,385 persons: 150,525 men and 157,860 women, with 117,872 (38.22%) living in cities and towns. The population density was, in that year, of 171 persons/km².

paragraphs: The main cities are Fort-Liberté (the capital) and Ouanaminthe.

paragraphs: The department is divided into four "arrondissements" (like districts) and 13 "communes" (like municipalities). The "arrondissements" and their "communes" are:

paragraphs: The main economic activity in the department is agriculture, with many very small farms where beans, peanut, maize and other things are grown. In the mountains, coffee is grown.

paragraphs: Fishing is an important activity along the coast, and commerce is the main activity in Ouanaminthe.


title: Samuel Wesley

paragraphs: Samuel Wesley (born Bristol, 24 February 1766; died London, 11 October 1837) was an English organist and composer

paragraphs: Samuel Wesley was the son of Methodist hymn-writer Charles Wesley, the grandson of the poet Samuel Wesley and the nephew of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church. His illegitimate son Samuel Sebastian Wesley was the greatest English composer of church music of the 19th century.

paragraphs: Samuel played the violin as well as the organ, and worked as a conductor as well as a music lecturer. He lived at a time when most English composers were writing sentimental music which was not very important. Wesley was one of the best composers of his time.


title: Nord-Ouest (department)

paragraphs: Nord-Ouest (English: "North-West") is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti. It is in the northwestern part of the country. Its capital is Port-de-Paix.

paragraphs: After the Haitian Revolution, the country was divided into only three departments: Nord, Ouest and Sud. The "Nord-Ouest" department was part of the "Nord" department.

paragraphs: The "Départment du Nord-Ouest" has an area of 2,176 km². The Tortuga Island is part of this department. The department is in the Northern, or Northwestern, Peninsula. It is a very dry region, except for the Tortuga Island and the area around Port-de-Paix.

paragraphs: The department is bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the east by the Nord Department and to the south by the Artibonite Department and the Gulf of Gonâve. To the east is the Windward Passage that separates the islands of Hispaniola and Cuba. On clear nights, it is possible to see the Guantánamo Province of Cuba.

paragraphs: The "Massif du Nord-Ouest" (in English, "Northwestern mountain range"), with several smaller mountain chains, covers most of the department. Its western end is almost flat and is called the "Plateau de Bombardopolis" ("Bombardopolis Plateau").

paragraphs: Low lands are found only close to the coast and the most important are the "Jean Rabel Valley" and the "Valley of the Trois-Rivières" on the northern part, and the "Plain of L'Arbre" on the southern part of the department.

paragraphs: The river "Trois-Rivières", one of the most important river in Haiti, is in this department. Other smaller rivers are "Jean Rabel" and "du Mole".

paragraphs: The northern coast of the "Départment du Nord-Ouest" was the area that European people first visited in the Hispaniola island during the first visit of Christopher Columbus to the Americas in 1492.

paragraphs: On the night of 5 December 1492 he saw the Cape Saint-Nicolas and the next day he went into the Bay of the Môle-Saint-Nicolas and to the land where now is the town "Môle-Saint-Nicolas".

paragraphs: On 7 December, he visited the bays "Port-à-l'Écu" and "Moustique"; he named the Moustique Bay ("Mosquito Bay") as "Puerto de la Concepción" and he stayed there till 13 December. Then he went to the bay of Port-de-Paix and named it "Valle del Paraíso" or "Valparaiso" (Spanish for "Paradise Valley") on 15 December.

paragraphs: The department had, in the 2003 census, a population of 531,198 persons: 256,238 men and 274,960 women, with 118,798 (22.36%) living in cities and towns. The population density was, in that year, of 244 persons/km².

paragraphs: The department is divided into three "arrondissements" (like districts) and 10 "communes" (like municipalities). The "arrondissements" and their "communes" are:

paragraphs: The main economic activity in the department is agriculture, with many very small farms where different crops are grown. On the mountains, coffee is grown.

paragraphs: Fishing is an important activity along the coast.


title: Apache

paragraphs: Apache is the name for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States. They hunted deer and they also ate berries and lots of fruit.They were nomadic which meant that they followed food and never stayed in one place for a long period of time. They are from the second migration of Native Americans which were the Na Dene which also includes the Chipewyan and the Cheyenne of Canada. Evidence proves that the Na Dene came from the Ket people of Siberia.oi


title: Samuel Sebastian Wesley

paragraphs: Samuel Sebastian Wesley (born London, 14 August 1810; died 19 April 1876) was an English organist and composer. He was the greatest English composer of church music of his day. He lived at a time when the standard of music in England had become very bad. He did a lot to improve it, especially church music. He had a hard life earning enough money. This was largely his own fault: he was a difficult man with a bad temper and often argued with his employers.

paragraphs: He was born in London, the illegitimate son of the composer Samuel Wesley and his partner Sarah Suter. He was given the name of his father (Samuel) and the name Sebastian after the composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

paragraphs: As a boy he sang in the choir of the Chapel Royal. The Chapel Royal was not nearly as good as it had been in the 16th and 17th centuries when it had been associated with many famous composers. When choirboys made mistakes the music teacher William Hawes would hit them with a riding whip. Samuel Sebastian was an excellent choirboy, and he and another boy were sent to Brighton to sing to King George IV who had gone there for his holiday. He also sang at St. Paul's Cathedral.

paragraphs: When he was a young man he played the organ in several churches in London and started to compose. He wrote some music for melodramas in theatres. When he was 22 he became organist of Hereford Cathedral. This changed his life, because his career now focussed on church music. The choir at Hereford was not very good. The organ was broken, and his lodgings were not nice. However, he was able to perform in the Three Choirs Festival and he composed some church music, including the popular anthem "Blessed be the God and Father", written for an Easter Day service when the choir only had boys and one male singer. He married the sister of the dean of the cathedral. Her family did not approve and did not go to the wedding.

paragraphs: In 1835 he moved to Exeter Cathedral. He improved the choir there and persuaded the authorities to renovate the organ. He had a good salary there, but soon got fed up because he argued with his employers. He often went fishing instead of going to work, sending one of his choir boys to play the organ instead. One day, when Wesley was supposed to play “God Save the King” he played “Rule Britannia”. This sort of behaviour did not do his reputation much good. He wanted to get a doctorate degree from Oxford University so he wrote an anthem "O Lord thou art my God". The professor at Oxford, William Crotch, wanted him to make some changes in the music, but he refused. In the end he was given the degree anyway.

paragraphs: The next job he had was at Leeds Parish Church. This was the only job he had in his life which was not at a cathedral, but his choir at Leeds was probably better than any of the cathedral choirs he had. The services there were very good, and he improved the choir singing. Leeds was not a nice town in those days. It was very badly polluted through industry. Wesley earned extra money by giving music lessons. He was also in demand for giving organ recitals in different churches. He gave the choir more modern music to sing, including his own compositions. He wrote an introduction to a book of psalm tunes in which he criticized the state of the church in England. He did it in a very personal way and it made his employers angry.

paragraphs: One day he went fishing when he should have been at choir practice. He fell when climbing over a stile and broke his leg. After that he always walked with a limp. While he was in hospital he wrote an anthem "Cast me not away" to words from Psalm 51. When the music gets to the words “the bones which thou hast broken” he set them to strange, crunching chords.

paragraphs: In spite of his awkward behaviour the people in Leeds were sorry when he left. He conducted a performance of the "Messiah" and he was given a portrait of himself.

paragraphs: He went to Winchester Cathedral. At first he got on very well with the clergy. He performed and composed new music. He spent a lot of time collecting and publishing all the anthems he had written. He composed hymn tunes. He persuaded his employers to spend money on improving the organ.

paragraphs: Although he was being paid a good salary (£80 a year) Wesley did less and less work. He performed less and left a lot of the playing to his pupils so that he could go fishing and sailing. He did not like the new precentor who was appointed in 1858.

paragraphs: In 1863 he composed an anthem "Give the King thy Judgement" for the marriage of the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Princess Alexandra of Denmark). He did not like Winchester. He said there were no other good musicians to talk to.

paragraphs: When the job of organist at Gloucester Cathedral became available he took it and left Winchester very quicky. Once again he found himself in a cathedral with a bad choir and an organ in a bad state of repair, but this time he seemed to make little effort to do anything about it. He spent a lot of time editing other people’s music. Once more, after a gap of 30 years, he was able to perform in the Three Choirs Festival. He conducted the music of Louis Spohr, his father Samuel Wesley and also some music by the young Hubert Parry who was not yet well-known. When he conducted he often did not think about what he was doing and got muddled. In 1871 he conducted Bach’s St Matthew Passion, the first time it had been performed in England outside London.

paragraphs: He was offered a knighthood but chose to be given money instead. He started to become ill. He had a kidney disease. The last time he played the organ was at Christmas in 1875. He died on 19th April 1876 and was buried next to his daughter in Devon. There was no music at all at his funeral.

paragraphs: Wesley is remembered for his music composed for the Church of England. He wrote many anthems, including "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace", "Blessed be the God and Father", "The Wilderness" and "Ascribe unto the Lord". The last two of these are verse anthems (anthem which contrast sections for the full choir with sections for a few soloists). The popular short anthem "Lead me Lord" is part of "Praise the Lord, O my soul".

paragraphs: He wrote a number of organ works. One of his most charming pieces is "Holsworthy Church Bells" (1874). He also wrote chamber and orchestral music.

paragraphs: Wesley had an important influence on organ building. He went to the Great Exhibition in 1851 and saw organs with pedals that, instead of being exactly parallel, spread out at the top like a fan. He liked these radiating pedal boards and persuaded the great organ builder Henry Willis to put pedal boards like that in the organs he built.

paragraphs: Samuel Sebastian Wesley was a very famous performer and throughout his life he was often asked to play the first concerts on new organs (“inaugural concerts”). His music is still very popular today, and some of his short anthems are not too difficult for the average church choir to sing.


title: Quickborn

paragraphs: Quickborn is a town in the district of Pinneberg, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is about 17 km east of Elmshorn, and 20 km north of Hamburg.

paragraphs: Quickborn is twinned with Uckfield, East Sussex.


title: Quickborn, Dithmarschen

paragraphs: Quickborn is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.


title: Iguana

paragraphs: Iguana is a type of lizard that lives in tropical areas of Central and South America and the Caribbean. There are only two species of Iguana": the Green Iguana and the Lesser Antillean Iguana"

paragraphs: The two species of lizard both have a dewlap, a row of spines running down their back to their tail, and a third eye on their head. This eye is known as the parietal eye, which looks just like a pale scale on the top of their head. Behind their neck are small scales which look like spikes, and are called tuberculate scales. They also have a large round scale on their cheek called a subtympanic shield.

paragraphs: Iguanas have excellent vision and can see long distances, shapes, shadows, color and movement. An iguana uses its eyes to navigate through trees and forests, as well as for finding food. They also use their eyes to communicate with members of the same species. An iguana's ear is called a tympanum. It is the iguana's ear drum and is found right above the subtympanic shield and behind the eye. This is a very thin, delicate part of the iguana, and is very important to its hearing.


title: La bohème

paragraphs: La bohème (pronounced, "La bo-EM") is an Italian opera in four acts. The music was written by Giacomo Puccini. The libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

paragraphs: The opera tells the story of a love affair between a poor poet and an equally poor seamstress in 19th century Paris. The opera is based on a book by Henri Murger called "Scenes from Bohemian Life" ().

paragraphs: Arturo Toscanini conducted the first performance of "La bohème" on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio in Turin, Italy. The opera was adapted to a movie in 1965 and the 1996 Broadway musical, "Rent".

paragraphs: Henri Murger was born in 1822 to an immigrant German tailor in Paris. He worked as a secretary until 1841 when he became a journalist and joined the poor artists and writers who called themselves Bohemians.

paragraphs: From 1845 to 1848, Murger's stories about Bohemian life in Paris were serialized (published in parts) in a French magazine. The book brought Murger little income. Playwright Théodore Barrière suggested making a play of the book, and Murger accepted. The play appeared in 1849. It was a success.

paragraphs: Almost every chapter of Murger's book mentions an incident or event which found its way into Puccini's opera. However, the love affair between the poet and the seamstress appears only as a little tale in the book about a sculptor named Jacques and a seamstress named Francine.

paragraphs: After the publication of the play, adaptations appeared. In 1877, an operetta was staged in Paris. In 1897, an opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo was staged in Venice. Another play based on the book was performed in New York in 1896. The first movie was released in 1916, and other movies were released in the following years.

paragraphs: Puccini wrote most of "La bohème" at Torre del Lago, a village in Tuscany he had just made his home. Most decisions about the opera were made through letters sent back and forth between Ricordi (Puccini's publisher), the two librettists, and the composer. This arrangement was not the best for getting the work done in a timely manner.

paragraphs: Puccini began toying with the idea of writing another work called "La lupa" ("The She-Wolf"). The librettists were furious. Puccini was dividing his time between two projects while taking them to task for their slowness on the present one. Giacosa complained that he used more paper and time on "La bohéme" that he had on any of his other dramas.

paragraphs: Whole scenes were rewritten, revised, and even discarded before going through the cycle again. Despite the turmoil, Puccini was considering the David Belasco play "Tosca" as yet another project. He briefly interrupted work on "La bohème" to travel to Florence to see Sarah Bernhardt perform the play.

paragraphs: Puccini and Ruggero Leoncavallo (composer of the 1892 opera "I pagliacci") both chose to set Mürger's book to music. Each claimed he was the first to make this decision. Leoncavallo's "La Bohème" was first performed in 1897, the year after Puccini's opera. Leoncavallo's opera never attained the fame that Puccini's did probably because Puccini's opera was gaining a popularity in 1897 that left Leoncavallo's opera in the dust.

paragraphs: "La bohème" was first performed in Turin, Italy on February 1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio. It was conducted by Arturo Toscanini. In 1946, Toscanini conducted a radio performance that was released to LP records and later compact discs. It is the only recording of a Puccini opera by its original conductor.

paragraphs: Within a few years, the opera was performed in theatres throughout Italy including La Scala and La Fenice. The first performance outside of Italy was in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1896. Other performances followed in the next ten years around the world.

paragraphs: The first performance in United Kingdom took place in Manchester, on 22 April 1897. It was performed by the Carl Rosa Opera Company in English and was supervised by Puccini. On 2 October 1897 the same company gave the opera's first staging at the Royal Opera House in London.

paragraphs: The opera was first performed in the United States by the Carl Rosa Opera Company on October 14, 1897 in Los Angeles, California. It was performed in New York City at Palmo's Opera House on May 16, 1898. The Metropolitan Opera House staged the opera for the first time on December 26, 1900.

paragraphs: Act 1 takes place in Paris around 1830. A group of bohemians live in a room in an attic. Marcello is painting while Rodolfo gazes out of the window. They are so poor and so cold that they burn a drama that Rodolfo has written. Colline, the philosopher, comes in shivering and cross because he had not been able to pawn some books. Schaunard, the musician of the group, arrives with food, firewood, wine, cigars, and money. He tells his friends that he has got these things because he has a job with an English gentleman. The others hardly listen as they are so hungry that they try to eat the food. Schaunard interrupts them, taking the meal away, and saying that they will all celebrate his luck by having dinner at Cafe Momus instead.

paragraphs: While they drink the wine, Benoit, the landlord, arrives to collect the rent. The group gives him lots of wine so that he becomes drunk and starts to tell the people his adventures about love. Eventually, the group throws him out. The money that should have been used to pay the rent is divided among them so they can have a good time.

paragraphs: The other Bohemians go out, but Rodolfo stays alone for a moment in order to finish a newspaper article, promising to join his friends soon. There is a knock at the door, and Mimi, a seamstress who lives in a flat below, enters. Her candle has blown out, and she has no matches; she asks Rodolfo to light it. She thanks him, but returns a few seconds later, saying she has lost her key. Both candles go out. It is dark, and the couple try to feel their way about. Rodolfo wants to spend time with Mimi. He finds the key, but puts it in his pocket and does not tell her. In two famous arias (Rodolfo's "Che gelida manina" — "What a cold little hand," and Mimi's "Sì, mi chiamano Mimì" — "Yes, they call me Mimi"), they tell each other about their backgrounds. Rodolfo’s friends call for him to come out and join them. He would prefer to stay there with Mimi but she decides they should go together. They go out, singing about their love for one another.

paragraphs: The streets are crowded with happy people. Rodolfo buys Mimi a bonnet. The friends go into a café. Musetta, who used to be Marcello's sweetheart, comes into the cafe with Alcindoro, a rich old man. She is tired of him. She sings a naughty song, hoping Marcello will notice her.

paragraphs: Marcello becomes mad with jealousy. To be rid of Alcindoro for a bit, Musetta pretends to have a tight shoe and sends him with it to the shoemaker. Musetta and Marcello fall into each other's arms.

paragraphs: The sound of a military parade is heard. Marcello and Colline carry Musetta out on their shoulders while everyone claps. Alcindoro returns with the repaired shoe. The waiter hands him the bill. He is surprised by how much he has to pay, and sinks into a chair.

paragraphs: Mimì passes through the toll gate. She is coughing. She finds Marcello, who lives in a little tavern near the gate. She tells him of her hard life with Rodolfo, who has left her that night.

paragraphs: Rodolfo comes out of the tavern looking for Marcello. Mimì hides. She hears Rodolfo telling Marcello why he left her. At first he says Mimì does not love him, but then he says he left her because she is dying of an illness.

paragraphs: Rodolfo is poor and can do little to help Mimì. He hopes that a rich man may fall in love with her and pay for her to have medical treatment. Out of kindness towards Mimì, Marcello tries to stop Rodolfo, but she has already heard everything.

paragraphs: She coughs, and Rodolfo discovers her. They sing of their lost love, and agree that although they should separate, they love one another and agree to stay together until the spring. Marcello and Musetta are heard quarrelling in the background.

paragraphs: Marcello and Rodolfo are both sad at losing their loved ones. Schaunard and Colline arrive with a tiny bit of food. They pretend they are having a big feast, and they all dance. Musetta arrives with news: Mimi, who had found a rich gentleman, has now left him and is wandering in the streets feeling very ill and weak.

paragraphs: Musetta has brought Mimi back with her to the attic room. Mimi is helped into a chair. Musetta and Marcello leave to sell Musetta's earrings in order to buy medicine, and Colline leaves to pawn his overcoat. Schaunard leaves quietly to give Mimi and Rodolfo time together. Left alone, the two remember their past happiness.

paragraphs: They remember their first meeting. Rodolfo gives Mimi the pink bonnet he bought her, which he has kept as a souvenir of their love. The others return, with a gift of a muff to warm Mimi's hands and some medicine, and tell Rodolfo that a doctor has been called, but it is too late. As Musetta prays, Mimi dies. Rodolfo collapses in tears.

paragraphs: "La bohème" is scored for the standard orchestra of the period:

paragraphs: In 1965, a West German movie version of the opera was released. It was filmed on location in Milan and Munich. The movie was produced by conductor Herbert von Karajan and designed by Franco Ziffirelli. It starred Mirella Freni as Mimi, Adriana Martino as Musetta, Gianni Raimondi as Rudolpho, and Rolando Panerai as Marcello. The movie won the 1966 National Board of Review for Top Foreign Film.


title: La traviata

paragraphs: La traviata is an Italian opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, after Alexandre Dumas, fils's novel "La dame aux camélias", published in 1848. It was first performed at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, on March 6, 1853. The title "La traviata" means literally "The Woman Who Strayed", or perhaps more figuratively, "The Fallen One". Although a failure at its premiere, the opera soon established itself and became one of the best-loved and most frequently performed, recorded and filmed of all operas. Notable interpreters of Traviata have included; Maria Callas, Anna Moffo, Renata Scotto, Beverly Sills, amongst many others.


title: Dil Se

paragraphs: Dil Se (, , translation: "From the Heart)" is a 1998 Hindi movie. It was directed by Mani Ratnam. The movie was also released in Tamil as Uyire and in Telugu as Prema Tho. It stars Shahrukh Khan, Manisha Koirala, and Preity Zinta. Mani Ratnam also wrote the screenplay for the movie. It was produced by Mani Ratnam and Ram Gopal Varma along with Shekar Kapur.

paragraphs: The movie was shot in Maqbuza Kashmir, Assam, Delhi and other parts of India and Bhutan over a period of 55 days. Its cinematography won a National Film Award for cinematographer Santosh Sivan. The movie score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman. A. R. Rahman received a Filmfare Award for the music. The movie became the first Indian movie to reach the Top 10 in the UK Box Office Charts, when released in 1998.

paragraphs: The movie has won the following awards since its release:

paragraphs: 1999 Berlin International Film Festival (Germany)

paragraphs: The soundtrack features 5 songs composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics by Gulzar.


title: Mani Ratnam

paragraphs: Mani Ratnam () (born June 2, 1956) is a Tamil Indian movie director, writer and producer.

paragraphs: The following is the list of movies directed by Mani Ratnam. For many of these movies, Mani Ratnam is also credited for the story, screenplay and producing:

paragraphs: Mani Ratnam established Madras Talkies for movie production during the shoot of "Iruvar". Mani Ratnam had earlier produced "Thiruda Thiruda" under his personal name. All movies directed by Mani Ratnam subsequent to "Iruvar" have been produced through "Madras Talkies". Apart from production, Mani Ratnam also has written story and screenplay for movies directed by others.


title: Chris Fehn

paragraphs: Christopher Michael Fehn (born February 24, 1972) was an American musician and percussionist for the band Slipknot. In Slipknot, he was known as #3. He was the joker in Slipknot. He wore a fetish type mask with a long Pinocchio style nose. He is a big fan of sports and is a good golfer.


title: Brian Jacques

paragraphs: James Brian Jacques (pronounced "Jakes") (15 June 1939 - 5 February 2011) was an English author. He is best known for his "Redwall" series of books, as well as the "Tribes of Redwall" and "Castaways of the Flying Dutchman" series. He also wrote two books of short stories called, "The Ribbajack & Other Curious Yarns" and "Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales".


title: Courtney Love

paragraphs: Courtney Michelle Love (born Courtney Michelle Harrison on July 9, 1964) is an American rock musician and Golden Globe-nominated actress. Love is best known as lead singer, songwriter and lyricist for the now-defunct alternative rock band Hole and as the widow of Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, with whom she had a daughter called Frances Bean Cobain. "Rolling Stone" has called Love "the most controversial woman in the history of rock". In the 90s there was a twee band who were called, 'Courtney Love', named after her.

paragraphs: In 1981 Love started Sugar Babydoll. In 1982 she went to a Faith No More concert. She convinced the members to let her join as a singer. She was kicked out of the band because they wanted "male energy". In 1984 she started Pagan Babies.

paragraphs: In 1989 Love began Hole. In 1999 Hole's first single "Retard Girl" was released. The band released its first album "Pretty on the Inside" in 1991. On April 12, 1994 Hole's second album "Live Through This" was released, four days after Love's husband Kurt Cobain was found dead in their home. The album got very good reviews. On September 8, 1998 "Celebrity Skin" was released.

paragraphs: On February 10, 2004 Love released "America's Sweetheart". Hole's last album "Nobody's Daughter" was released on April 27, 2010.

paragraphs: In 2006 she published a memoir, "Dirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love".

paragraphs: Love sung on "Rat a Tat" on Fall Out Boy's fifth album "Save Rock and Roll", released April 12 2013. She also wrote the song.

paragraphs: Love said that her next album would be released for Christmas 2013 along with "Courtney Love: My Story", a book about her life so far.

paragraphs: In 2014 Love released her first single in ten years, "Know My Name".

paragraphs: Love is a feminist. She is open about having had cosmetic surgery.

paragraphs: Love was married to Kurt Cobain from 1992 until his death in 1994. They have one daughter born in 1992.


title: Ouest (department)

paragraphs: Ouest (English: "West") is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti. Its capital is Port-au-Prince which is also the capital of the country and its largest city.

paragraphs: With an area of 4,827 km², it is the second largest department in Haiti after the Artibonite Department. It has a population of 2,943,200 (2002). The Gonâve Island (French, "Île de la Gonâve") is part of this department.

paragraphs: It is bordered to the northwest by the Artibonite Department, to the northeast by the Centre Department. The Gulf of Gonâve is to the west (and to the north of the southern part of the department). It borders the Dominican Republic to the east.

paragraphs: The department is divided into five "arrondissements":


title: Sud (department)

paragraphs: Sud (English: "South") is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti. Its capital is Les Cayes.

paragraphs: The "Départment du Sud" has an area of 2,794 km². It is bordered to the north by the Grand'Anse and Nippes departments, to the east by the Sud-Est Department and by the Caribbean Sea to the west and south.

paragraphs: The "Massiff de la Hotte", an important Haitian mountain range, runs from west to east along the centre of the department. Because of this, rivers here are short; some of them are Acul du Sud, Torbeck, Ravine du Sud, de l'Ilet, Cavaillon, des Anglais, Port à Piment, Saut Mathurine, de Tiburon.

paragraphs: The department had, in the 2003 census, a population of 621,651 persons: 312,729 men and 308.922 women, with only 109,623 (17.63%) living in cities and towns.

paragraphs: The department is divided into five "arrondissements" (like districts) and 18 "communes" (like municipalities). The "arrondissements" and their "communes" are:


title: Sud-Est (department)

paragraphs: Sud-Est (English: "South-East") is one of the ten departments (French: "départments", singular "départment") of Haiti. Its capital is Jacmel.

paragraphs: After the Haitian Revolution, the country was divided into only three departments: Nord, Ouest and Sud. The "Sud-Est" department was part of the "Sud" department.

paragraphs: The "Départment du Sud-Est" has an area of 2,023 km². The department is in the Southern Peninsula, also known as the Tiburon Peninsula.

paragraphs: It is bordered to the north by the Ouest Department, to the west by the Sud Department and to the south by the Caribbean Sea. It borders the Dominican Republic to the east.

paragraphs: The "Massif de la Selle" is the main mountain range in the département and it covers almost all the department except for some small valleys near the coast, as the Jacmel valley. The highest mountain of Haiti, "Pic la Selle" (2,680 metres), is in the Massif de la Selle.

paragraphs: Rivers are short and they flow into the Caribbean Sea. The most important river is "La Grande Rivière de Jacmel". Other rivers are "Bainet", "Belle-Anse", "des Côtes-de-Fer", "Gauche", "de la Gosseline", "Marigot" and "Pedernales"; Pedernales marks the border with the Dominican Republic and is common to both countries.

paragraphs: The department had, in the 2003 census, a population of 484,675 persons: 235,187 men and 249,488 women, with 59,642 (12.31%) living in cities and towns. The population density was, in that year, of 240 persons/km².

paragraphs: The department is divided into three "arrondissements" (like districts) and 10 "communes" (like municipalities). The "arrondissements" and their "communes" are:

paragraphs: The main economic activity in the department is agriculture, with many very small farms where different crops are grown. On the mountains, coffee is grown.

paragraphs: Fishing is an important activity along the coast.


title: Earth Angel

paragraphs: Earth Angel is the name of a 1950s love song by the Penguins. It reached number 1 on the billboard charts in 1954.


title: Xanten

paragraphs: Xanten () is a historic town in the Wesel district of the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany. Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park as well as its mediaeval picturesque city centre with Xanten Cathedral and visited by approximately 800,000 tourists a year.

paragraphs: Xanten is the only German town whose name begins with "X".


title: John Lee Hooker

paragraphs: John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter born in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi.

paragraphs: Hooker was born on August 22, 1917 in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. He was born to William Hooker and Minnie Ramsey and was the youngest of eleven children. He and his siblings were home-schooled and they were only allowed to listen to religious songs. His parents separated in 1921 and his mother married William Moore, a blues singer the next year. Moore introduced Hooker to the guitar. John would later credit Moore for his distinctive playing style.

paragraphs: All through the 1930s, Hooker lived in Memphis where he worked on Beale Street and sometimes performed at house parties. In 1948, he started working at Ford Motor Company.

paragraphs: Hooker's early solo songs were recorded by Bernie Besman. John Lee Hooker rarely played on a standard beat, changing tempos to fit the songs. This made it nearly impossible to add backing tracks.

paragraphs: Hooker appeared and sang in the 1980 movie "The Blues Brothers". He recorded over 100 albums.

paragraphs: In 1989, he played with Keith Richards, Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt to record "The Healer" and won a Grammy Award. Hooker recorded lots of songs with Van Morrison, including "Never Get Out of These Blues Alive", "The Healing Game" and "I Cover the Waterfront".

paragraphs: He fell ill just before a tour of Europe in 2001 and died soon afterwards at the age of 83. The last song Hooker recorded before his death, is "Ali D'Oro".


title: Son House

paragraphs: Eddie James "Son" House, Jr. (March 21, 1902 – October 19, 1988) was an American blues singer and guitarist.


title: Mississippi John Hurt

paragraphs: "Mississippi" John Smith Hurt (July 2, 1892, Teoc, Mississippi - November 2, 1966, Grenada, Mississippi) was an American blues singer and guitarist.

paragraphs: Hurt was raised in Avalon. He tought himself playing guitar at the age of nine. While he was working as a sharecropper, he played at local dances and parties. He did his first recording in 1928 for Okeh Records but was not successful. So he worked on as a sharecropper and played on at the local parties.

paragraphs: Two of Hurt's songs were included in the album "The Anthology of American Folk Music" and an Australian found a copy of "Avalon Blues". So the interest in finding John Hurt himself increased. In 1963 Tom Hoskins found him in Avalon and found out that his musical skill was still intact. He brought him to Washington, D. C. He started playing at greater festivals like the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. In his later years he often played in colleges, concert halls, coffee houses and also on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He also recorded three albums for Vanguard Records and recorded most of his songs for the Library of Congress.

paragraphs: Hurt influenced different music genres like blues, country, bluegrass, folk and contemporary rock and roll. He died 1966 from a heart attack in Grenada, Mississippi.

paragraphs: Mississippi John Hurt 1928 Sessions (Yazoo 1065, Yazoo Records)

paragraphs: Worried Blues (Piedmont PLP 13161, Piedmont Records)

paragraphs: Mississippi John Hurt Today (VSD-79220, Vanguard Records)

paragraphs: Mississippi John Hurt Last Sessions (VSD-79327, Vanguard Records)

paragraphs: The Best of Mississippi John Hurt (VSD-19/20, Vanguard Records)

paragraphs: Recorded live at Oberlin College April 15, 1966

paragraphs: The Candy Man (QS 5042, Quicksilver Records)

paragraphs: Volume One of a Legacy (CLPS 1068, Piedmont Records)

paragraphs: Folk Songs and Blues (PLP 13757, Piedmont Records)


title: Biopsy

paragraphs: A biopsy is a test in medicine where doctors remove cells and look at them closely under a microscope or do chemical analysis to see whether there is an illness.

paragraphs: Biopsy is a Greek word, from the Greek words bio meaning "life" and opsia meaning see.


title: Jake Gyllenhaal

paragraphs: Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal (born December 19, 1980) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. He has appeared in diverse roles since his first lead role in 1999's "October Sky", followed by the 2001 cult hit "Donnie Darko", in which he played a psychologically troubled teen and onscreen brother to his real-life sister, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. In the 2004 blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow" he portrayed a student caught in a cataclysmic global cooling event, alongside Dennis Quaid as his father. He then played against type as a frustrated Marine in "Jarhead" (2005). The same year, he won critical acclaim portraying a role that entered popular shorthand as a "gay cowboy" in the controversial but highly acclaimed film "Brokeback Mountain".

paragraphs: His mother is screenwriter Naomi Foner. His father is director Stephen Gyllenhaal, who was raised as a Swedenborgian, is of Swedish and English descent, and is a descendant of the Swedish noble Gyllenhaal family. Jake's last ancestor to be born in Sweden was his great-great-grandfather, Anders Leonard Gyllenhaal. Jake's mother is Jewish; she was born in New York City, to a family from Russia and Poland. Gyllenhaal has said that he considers himself Jewish. Gyllenhaal began acting at 11 years old.


title: Achern

paragraphs: Achern () is a city in Western Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is about southwest of Baden-Baden and northeast of Offenburg. Achern is the fourth largest city in the county of Ortenau (Ortenaukreis), after Offenburg, Lahr / Black Forest and Kehl.


title: Adelsheim

paragraphs: Adelsheim is a small town in northern Baden-Württemberg, about 30 km north of Heilbronn. The state-recognized resort of Adelsheim in the Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis is 1,200-year years old.


title: Aichtal

paragraphs: Aichtal is a town in the district of Esslingen, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is 18 km south of Stuttgart.


title: Albstadt

paragraphs: Albstadt [] is a city in the district of Zollernalbkreis in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the Swabian Alb mountains, about halfway between Stuttgart and Lake Constance. Albstadt is the largest city in the district.


title: Alpirsbach

paragraphs: Alpirsbach is a town in the district of Freudenstadt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated in the Black Forest on the Kinzig river, 13 km south of Freudenstadt.

paragraphs: Alpirsbach is twinned with the French commune of Neuville-sur-Saône.


title: Altensteig

paragraphs: Altensteig is a town in the district of Calw of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is in the eastern Black Forest, 18 km southwest of Calw, and 19 km northeast of Freudenstadt.


title: Asperg

paragraphs: Asperg is a town in the district of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is 15 km north of Stuttgart, and 4 km west of Ludwigsburg. The Hohenasperg fortress is in Asperg.


title: Aulendorf

paragraphs: Aulendorf is a town in the district of Ravensburg, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 20 km southwest of Biberach an der Riß, and 19 km north of Ravensburg.


title: Ruby

paragraphs: A ruby is a kind of precious stone. It is often associated with emerald, sapphire and topaz. It is usually red, but can sometimes be other colors. It is formed of aluminum and oxygen (AlO), and that means it's a kind of corundum. A small amount of chromium makes the color.


title: Scramjet

paragraphs: Scramjet is a type of jet engine. Like other jets it pushes mixed air and gas out of the back to make it go. Like other ramjets it doesn't use a mechanical compressor. Engineers have experimented with it since the 1950s. They hope a scramjet will work someday at 15 times the speed of sound (mach 15).


title: Pulse jet engine

paragraphs: A pulse jet engine is a very simple form of the internal combustion engine where the combustion happens in pulses. The propulsive effort is a jet that is a reaction to the backward flow of hot gasses.


title: Stronger (song)

paragraphs: "Stronger" is a 2007 song by rapper Kanye West. It won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance.


title: Good Eats

paragraphs: Good Eats was an American television series shown on the Food Network from 1999 until 2011. It aired on the Cooking Channel in 2011 and 2012. It was created and hosted by Alton Brown. "Good Eats" was like shows with science teachers Mr. Wizard and Bill Nye. Brown shows the science and technique behind the cooking, the history of different foods, and the good parts of different kinds of cooking equipment. The show focuses on familiar food that can easily be made at home. It talks about picking the right tools, and getting the most out of cheap tools that can be used for different things. Each episode of "Good Eats" has its own theme. Usually an ingredient or a cooking technique. It may also be a more general theme such as Thanksgiving. In the tenth anniversary episode, Alton Brown stated that the show was inspired by the idea of mixing Julia Child, Mr. Wizard, and Monty Python.

paragraphs: On May 11, 2011, Alton Brown confirmed that the series would come to an end, ceasing production at episode 249.


title: Fame (David Bowie song)

paragraphs: Fame is a song by David Bowie. It was written by David Bowie and John Lennon of The Beatles. The song combined funk and rock music. The song was released August 18, 1975. It was on Bowie's "Young Americans" album. The song reached the number 1 position on the US Billboard Top 100 in September 1975.

paragraphs: The song has been sung by many other famous singers and bands. These include:


title: Chiyoda, Tokyo

paragraphs: The municipality calls itself "Chiyoda City" in English.

paragraphs: During the Edo period, most of the people living in this area were samurai.

paragraphs: Chiyoda developed around the Imperial Palace. The Imperial Palace area occupies about one sixth of the area of Chiyoda. There was previously another castle here during the Edo period, but it was destroyed.

paragraphs: On March 15, 1947, the ward of Chiyoda was formed by combining the wards of Kanda and Kōjimachi.

paragraphs: The Diet of Japan, the Supreme court of Japan and home of the Prime Minister of Japan are all in Chiyoda.

paragraphs: Chiyoda is in the center of Tokyo. It borders Chūō and Minato on the south. Shinjuku is on the ward's western border. Bunkyō and Taitō is on the northern border.

paragraphs: The ward has an area of . The Imperial Palace covers about 12 percent of this area.

paragraphs: In Chiyoda is the hub of the Shinkansen high-speed train network, Tokyo Station.


title: Pianola

paragraphs: The pianola (pronounce: "pee-ah-NO-la"), also called the player piano, is a piano which has a pneumatic mechanism so that it can play by itself. The air for this system came from a pump operated by the players feet, and in some later models, an electric pump. Inside the piano are paper rolls which have holes punched in. These holes release air which in turn triggers the keys to play. When the pianola plays itself the keys of the piano can be seen "playing themselves".

paragraphs: The pianola was developed around the 1880s. It was fitted with control levers so that the player ("player pianist" or "pianolist") could play in the way he wanted. The pianola made it possible for the player to sound as if he was playing very difficult music that he was not capable of playing. At the same time he could control the performance.

paragraphs: The pianola became popular in the late 19th and early 20th century as mass-produced pianos became popular in people's homes and more and more people bought sheet music. By the 1920s it started to become less popular again as the gramophone had been invented.

paragraphs: A pianola is the same as any other piano except it is fitted with a pneumatic player action, which plays paper rolls. This mechanism consists of about one hundred bellows, large and small, the smaller ones being called pneumatics of which there are 88, one for each note on the piano.The largest are the foot operated ones,called the bellows. Other pneumatics of varying sizes operate the roll motor, tracking device, motor speed governor, and the sustain and soft pedals.


title: Sewing machine

paragraphs: A sewing machine is used to stitch fabric together with thread. Sewing machines were an invention of the industrial revolution that made it possible to sew faster than people could sew by hand. Some sewing machines are also used for embroidery. Since the invention of the first working sewing machine, generally considered to have been the work of Englishman Thomas Saint in 1790, the sewing machine has greatly improved the efficiency and productivity of the clothing industry.

paragraphs: Home sewing machines are designed for one person to sew individual items while using a single stitch type. In a modern sewing machine the fabric easily glides in and out of the machine without the inconvenience of needles and thimbles and other such tools used in hand sewing, automating the process of stitching and saving time.

paragraphs: Industrial sewing machines, by contrast to domestic machines, are larger, faster, and more varied in their size, cost, appearance, and task.

paragraphs: Charles Fredrick Wiesenthal, a German-born engineer working in England was awarded the first British patent for a mechanical device to aid the art of sewing, in 1755. His invention consisted of a double pointed needle with an eye at one end.

paragraphs: In 1790, the English inventor Thomas Saint invented the first sewing machine design, but he did not successfully advertise or market his invention. His machine was meant to be used on leather and canvas material. It is likely that Saint had a working model but there is no evidence of one; he was a skilled cabinet maker and his device included many practically functional features: an overhanging arm, a feed mechanism (adequate for short lengths of leather), a vertical needle bar, and a looper.

paragraphs: His sewing machine used the chain stitch method, in which the machine uses a single thread to make simple stitches in the fabric. A stitching awl would pierce the material and a forked point rod would carry the thread through the hole where it would be hooked underneath and moved to the next stitching place, where the cycle would be repeated, locking the stitch. Saint's machine was designed to aid the manufacture of various leather goods, including saddles and bridles, but it was also capable of working with canvas, and was used for sewing ship sails. Although his machine was very advanced for the era, the concept would need steady improvement over the coming decades before it could become a practical proposition. In 1874, a sewing machine manufacturer, William Newton Wilson, found Saint's drawings in the London Patent Office, made adjustments to the looper, and built a working machine, currently owned by the London Science Museum.

paragraphs: In 1804, a sewing machine was built by the Englishmen Thomas Stone and James Henderson, and a machine for embroidering was constructed by John Duncan in Scotland. An Austrian tailor, Josef Madersperger, began developing his first sewing machine in 1807. He presented his first working machine in 1814.

paragraphs: The first practical and widely used sewing machine was invented by Barthélemy Thimonnier, a French tailor, in 1829. His machine sewed straight seams using chain stitch like Saint's model, and in 1830, he signed a contract with Auguste Ferrand, a mining engineer, who made the requisite drawings and submitted a patent application. The patent for his machine was issued on 17 July 1830, and in the same year, he opened (with partners) the first machine-based clothing manufacturing company in the world to create army uniforms for the French Army. However, the factory was burned down, reportedly by workers fearful of losing their livelihood following the issuing of the patent.

paragraphs: A model of the machine is exhibited at the London Science Museum. The machine is made of wood and uses a barbed needle which passes downward through the cloth to grab the thread and pull it up to form a loop to be locked by the next loop. The first American lockstitch sewing machine was invented by Walter Hunt in 1832. His machine used an eye-pointed needle (with the eye and the point on the same end) carrying the upper thread and a falling shuttle carrying the lower thread. The curved needle moved through the fabric horizontally, leaving the loop as it withdrew. The shuttle passed through the loop, interlocking the thread. The feed let the machine down, requiring the machine to be stopped frequently and reset up. Hunt eventually lost interest in his machine and sold individual machines without bothering to patent his invention, and only patenting it at a late date of 1854. In 1842, John Greenough patented the first sewing machine in the United States. The British partners Newton and Archibold introduced the eye-pointed needle and the use of two pressing surfaces to keep the pieces of fabric in position, in 1841.

paragraphs: The first machine to combine all the disparate elements of the previous half-century of innovation into the modern sewing machine was the device built by English inventor John Fisher in 1844, thus a little earlier than the very similar machines built by the infamous Isaac Merritt Singer in 1851, and the lesser known Elias Howe, in 1845. However, due to the botched filing of Fisher's patent at the Patent Office, he did not receive due recognition for the modern sewing machine in the legal disputations of priority with Singer, and it was Singer who won the benefits of the patent.

paragraphs: Elias Howe, born in Spencer, Massachusetts, created his sewing machine in 1845, using a similar method to Fisher's except that the fabric was held vertically. An important improvement on his machine was to have the needle running away from the point, starting from the eye. After a lengthy stay in England trying to attract interest in his machine, he returned to America to find various people infringing his patent, among them Isaac Merritt Singer. He eventually won a case for patent infringement in 1854, and was awarded the right to claim royalties from the manufacturers using ideas covered by his patent, including Singer.

paragraphs: Singer had seen a rotary sewing machine being repaired in a Boston shop. As an engineer, he thought it was clumsy and decided to design a better one. The machine he devised used a falling shuttle instead of a rotary one; the needle was mounted vertically and included a presser foot to hold the cloth in place. It had a fixed arm to hold the needle and included a basic tension system. This machine combined elements of Thimonnier, Hunt and Howe's machines. Singer was granted an American patent in 1851, and it was suggested he patent the foot pedal or treadle, used to power some of his machines; unfortunately, the foot pedal had been in use too long for a patent to be issued. When Howe learned of Singer's machine he took him to court, where Howe won and Singer was forced to pay a lump sum for all machines already produced. Singer then took out a license under Howe's patent and paid him $1.15 per machine before entering into a joint partnership with a lawyer named Edward Clark. They created the first hire-purchase arrangement to allow people to buy their machines through payments over time.

paragraphs: Meanwhile, Allen B. Wilson developed a shuttle that reciprocated in a short arc, which was an improvement over Singer and Howe's. However, John Bradshaw had patented a similar device and threatened to sue, so Wilson decided to try a new method. He went into partnership with Nathaniel Wheeler to produce a machine with a rotary hook instead of a shuttle. This was far quieter and smoother than other methods, with the result that the Wheeler & Wilson Company produced more machines in the 1850s and 1860s than any other manufacturer. Wilson also invented the four-motion feed mechanism that is still seen on every sewing machine today. This had a forward, down, back and up motion, which drew the cloth through in an even and smooth motion. Charles Miller patented the first machine to stitch buttonholes. Throughout the 1850s more and more companies were being formed, each trying to sue the others for patent infringement. This triggered a patent thicket known as the Sewing Machine War.

paragraphs: In 1856, the Sewing Machine Combination was formed, consisting of Singer, Howe, Wheeler, Wilson, Grover and Baker. These four companies pooled their patents, with the result that all other manufacturers had to obtain a license and pay $15 per machine. This lasted until 1877, when the last patent expired. James Edward Allen Gibbs (1829–1902), a farmer from Raphine in Rockbridge County, Virginia patented the first chain stitch single-thread sewing machine on June 2, 1857. In partnership with James Willcox, Gibbs became a principal partner in Willcox & Gibbs Sewing Machine Company.

paragraphs: Willcox & Gibbs commercial sewing machines are still used in the 21st century.

paragraphs: Clothing manufacturers were the first sewing machine customers, and used them to produce the first ready-to-wear clothing and shoes. In the 1860s consumers began purchasing them, and the machines—ranging in price from £6 to £15 in Britain depending on features—became very common in middle-class homes. Owners were much more likely to spend free time with their machines to make and mend clothing for their families than to visit friends, and women's magazines and household guides such as "Mrs Beeton's" offered dress patterns and instructions. A sewing machine could produce a man's shirt in about one hour, compared to 14 1/2 hours by hand.

paragraphs: In 1877 the world's first crochet machine was invented and patented by Joseph M. Merrow, then-president of what had started in the 1840s as a machine shop to develop specialized machinery for the knitting operations. This crochet machine was the first production overlock sewing machine. The Merrow Machine Company went on to become one of the largest American Manufacturers of overlock sewing machines, and continues to be a global presence in the 21st century as the last American over-lock sewing machine manufacturer.

paragraphs: In 1885 Singer patented the Singer Vibrating Shuttle sewing machine, which used Allen B. Wilson's idea for a vibrating shuttle and was a better lockstitcher than the oscillating shuttles of the time. Millions of the machines, perhaps the world's first really practical sewing machine for domestic use, were produced until finally superseded by rotary shuttle machines in the 20th century. Sewing machines continued being made to roughly the same design, with more lavish decoration appearing until well into the 1900s.

paragraphs: The first electric machines were developed by Singer Sewing Co. and introduced in 1889. By the end of the First World War, Singer was offering hand, treadle and electric machines for sale. At first the electric machines were standard machines with a motor strapped on the side, but as more homes gained power, they became more popular and the motor was gradually introduced into the casing.

paragraphs: There are four main types of sewing machines:


title: Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

paragraphs: Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (May 1562 in Deventer - 16 October 1621) was a Dutch composer and organist. Sweelinck (pronounce: ZVAY-link) lived at the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque periods. He was one of the greatest organists and composers of his day. He was the organist at the Oude Kerk (“Old Church”) in Amsterdam for 44 years. Many musicians travelled a long way to Amsterdam to hear him improvise at the organ. He composed music for the organ and harpsichord as well as vocal music.