title: Cristiano Ronaldo

paragraphs: Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (born 5 February 1985 in Funchal, Madeira), better known as Cristiano Ronaldo, or by his nickname 'CR7', is a Portuguese footballer. He plays for Serie A club Juventus and the Portuguese national team. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time, and, by some, as the greatest ever.

paragraphs: Ronaldo was once the most expensive professional football player of all time, after moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid for approximately £80m. At his presentation as a Real Madrid player, 80,000 people greeted him at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. This is the world record, breaking the 25-year record of 75,000 people at Diego Maradona's presentation for Napoli.

paragraphs: He is the first player to win the UEFA Champions League five times. He also holds the record for the most number of goals scored in Real Madrid's history. Until this day, he remains the only player in the history of La Liga to score 30 or more goals in six consecutive seasons.

paragraphs: Ronaldo was born in Funchal, Madeira Islands. He has one brother named Hugo, and two sisters named Katia and Elma. He was diagnosed with a racing heart (Tachycardia) at age 15, but he got surgery to treat it. His father named him "Ronaldo" after former U.S. president Ronald Reagan. He was expelled from school for throwing a chair at a teacher because he disrespected him. In 1997, at age 12, he went on a trial with Sporting CP, who signed him for a fee of £1,500. He then moved from the Madeira Islands to Lisbon, to join the Sporting youth academy. He joined professional football at 16 when he was called up to the A team.

paragraphs: Ronaldo began his professional career at Sporting CP. On 7 October 2002, Ronaldo played his first game in the Portuguese Primeira Liga, against Moreirense. He scored two goals as Sporting won 3–0. Ronaldo came to the attention of Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson in August 2003, when Sporting defeated United 3–1 in the first game ever played at the Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon. His performance impressed the United players, who told Ferguson to sign him.

paragraphs: On 12 August 2003, Ronaldo joined Manchester United from Sporting CP for a fee of £12.24 million. He was Manchester United's first Portuguese player. He wanted the number 28, the number he wore at Sporting, but was eventually given the number 7. This number had been worn by George Best, Eric Cantona and David Beckham before him.

paragraphs: He played his first game for the club on 16 August 2003 in a 4-0 win against Bolton Wanderers.

paragraphs: In the 2007/08 season, he became the only player in the last 25 years to win both the "FIFA World Player of the Year" and the "Young Player of the Year" awards in the same season. In that season, he scored a total of 42 goals and won the European Golden Boot, an award which is given to the top scorer of every European national league.

paragraphs: Ronaldo scored his first and only hat-trick for Manchester United in a 6–0 win against Newcastle United on 12 January 2008. In the 2008 Champions League final against Chelsea, he scored a header as the match ended 1-1 after extra time. Although he missed his penalty, Manchester United were the winners and Ronaldo won his first UEFA Champions League.

paragraphs: He won the first FIFA Puskas Award in 2009, which means he scored the best goal of that year. The goal was a 40-yard strike into the top-left corner against FC Porto on 15 April 2009 in the Champions League quarter finals. That goal was the only goal of the game.

paragraphs: Ronaldo joined Real Madrid on 1 July 2009 for a fee of €94 million, which was a world record transfer fee at the time. He wore the number 9 in his first season as 7 was taken by Raúl González. Ronaldo had to wait until Raul left the club in the summer of 2010 to wear number 7. He made his debut on 29 August 2009, in a La Liga game against Deportivo de La Coruña. He scored a goal and Real Madrid won 3-2.

paragraphs: Ronaldo won his first Ballon d'Or in 2013. In the 2014-15 season, Ronaldo set a new personal record by scoring 61 goals in all competitions. This achievement helped him win his second Ballon d'Or. He became the clubs all-time top scorer when he scored 5 goals against RCD Espanyol in a 6-0 away win on 12 September 2015. This brought his total goal tally to 230 goals in 203 games. The previous record holder was Raul.

paragraphs: On 18 April 2017, he became the first player to reach 100 goals in the UEFA Champions League, after he scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 extra-time win against Bayern Munich. Ronaldo scored an amazing bicycle-kick in a UEFA Champions League match against Juventus on 3 April 2018. He got a standing ovation, or round of applause, from the Juventus fans after scoring the goal. Real Madrid went on to play the final against Liverpool F.C. and became champions which meant that was Ronaldo's 5th Champions League.

paragraphs: On 10 July 2018, He joined Juventus of Italy and signed a 4 year contract worth 112 Million Euros. The transfer was the highest paid for a player over 30 years old. People called it "the deal of the century".

paragraphs: He scored his first goals for the club on 16 September against US Sassuolo. Juventus won 2-1 at home. Three days later, on 19 September, he was controversially sent off against Valencia C.F. for "violent behavior". He was crying as he received the red card and said he "did nothing".

paragraphs: Ronaldo began his international career in the 2002 UEFA U-17 Euro. He also played at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He kept progressing through the youth national teams until he played his first senior game for Portugal when he was 18 on 20 August 2003 against Kazakhstan. He scored his first goal for Portugal in a game against Greece in the UEFA Euro 2004. He played at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and scored a goal against Iran. Ronaldo became captain of Portugal for the first time in a friendly game against Brazil on 6 February 2007.

paragraphs: That goal was also his first World Cup goal. He became Portugal's all time top scorer when he scored twice against Cameroon in March 2014, with Portugal winning 5-1. He won the Euro 2016 and the 2019 UEFA Nations League with Portugal. In a 3-3 draw against Hungary, Ronaldo scored a back heel goal. This goal made him the first player to score in four Euro's. Although he had to leave the game early because he got injured in the UEFA Euro 2016 Final, Portugal still won 1-0 in extra time because of a goal from Eder. He has played at 4 FIFA World Cup's: 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018.

paragraphs: Ronaldo is able to play on both wings and also as a striker since he is very strong with both feet, even though he is naturally right footed. He is also one of the world fastest players. He has good heading ability because he is over 6 feet tall and jumps high. He is also known for his free kicks; he likes to use the "knuckleball" technique, which is where the ball spins very little and creates an unpredictable motion. He combines this with his high shot power, making it hard for goalkeepers to stop his shots. Ronaldo has also been known for his dribbling, as he likes to do many tricks and feints with the ball, such as the step-over. When he was at Manchester United, he would play as a winger and try to send crosses into the middle. At Real Madrid, he changed his playing style by moving more towards the middle and becoming more of a striker. He also focused more on scoring goals. When he arrived to Juventus, he stayed with this playing style of being a goalscorer and target man, although he dribbled with the ball more because he sometimes liked to play his traditional winger position and go one-on-one with defenders. He also sent crosses more frequently than he did in his last few seasons at Real Madrid.

paragraphs: Ronaldo has been criticized for "diving" by many people, including his Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson. . He has also been criticized for being arrogant, such as complaining for not receiving fouls, having too high self-confidence, not celebrating with teammates after scoring goals, and getting angry after losing. Examples of this are when he threw a reporters microphone into a lake before a UEFA Euro 2016 match, and negative comments made at the Iceland national team after playing against them.

paragraphs: Ronaldo's father, José Aveiro, died of liver disease at age 52 in September 2005 when Ronaldo was 20. Ronaldo said that he does not like to drink alcohol, but has on some very few occasions.

paragraphs: Ronaldo became a father on 17 June 2010 following the birth of his son, named Cristiano. He was born in the United States through an American surrogate he met in a restaurant, and Ronaldo announced that he had full custody. Ronaldo has never publicly revealed information about his son's mother, but he says he will reveal it to Cristiano Jr. when he gets older. Ronaldo was in a relationship with Russian model Irina Shayk from 2010–2015. On 8 June 2017, Ronaldo confirmed on Facebook that he had become the father to twins, Mateo and Eva. They were born in the United States to a surrogate mother. In November 2017, his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez gave birth to their first daughter, Alana.

paragraphs: Ronaldo is a Roman Catholic. He does not have tattoos because it would prevent him from donating blood.

paragraphs: In 2006, He opened his first fashion boutique under the name "CR7" (his initials and shirt number) on the island he was born in, Madeira. In December 2013, Ronaldo opened his own museum called Museu CR7, which has all of his trophies and awards from his career.

paragraphs: A film about his life and career, titled "Ronaldo", was released on 9 November 2015.

paragraphs: He also has an airport named after him, Cristiano Ronaldo International Airport.

paragraphs: He is currently the most followed Instagram user, with over 200 million followers as of February 2020. He passed Selena Gomez as the most followed person in October 2018, with 144 million followers.

paragraphs: In June 2018, Ronaldo was given a suspended jail sentence of 2 years and a fine of €18.8 million for tax evasion.

paragraphs: In 2017, a woman claimed she was raped by Ronaldo in Las Vegas in 2009. Documents say that Ronaldo paid a woman $375,000 to stay quiet. In July 2019, Las Vegas said they would not charge Ronaldo because there was not enough evidence.


title: Oaxaca

paragraphs: Oaxaca is a state in Mexico. The capital is Oaxaca de Juárez. Oaxaca is next to Guerrero, Puebla, Veracruz, and Chiapas. About 3.5 million people live there. The Zapotec and the Mixtec people live in the state. There are more speakers of indigenous languages in this state than in any other state of Mexico. This Mexican state is known for it's diverse culture and it's native people.


paragraphs: The Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany is the name of Germany's constitution. It was written in 1949 when Germany was split into the countries of East Germany and West Germany. Many parts of the constitution are very different from the constitution of the Weimar Republic.

paragraphs: The writers decided not to call it the constitution because they hoped it would only be a temporary law for West Germany and that the two Germanys would soon be made into one.

paragraphs: It was more than 40 years before East Germany and West Germany became one country again, but the old name of Basic Law has been kept.

paragraphs: The Federal Constiutional Court (German: Bundesverfassungsgericht) protects the constitution by banning laws which break the constitution. There are "eternal clauses" in the constitution which the court will protect even by banning "constitutional amendments" (laws to change them). Article 1, about human life and dignity, and article 20's basic principles are protected from change. This is to make sure nothing like the Nazi period happens again. The Nazis were able to pass an Enabling Act which allowed Hitler to rule by decree.

paragraphs: Germany is a federal parliamentary democracy. To show this there are five "constitutional institutions".

paragraphs: The Federal President () is the head of state. It is largely ceremonial position with only a small role in daily politics. The president does not have the massive power of the president of the Weimar Republic, or the President of the United States. He is the formal head of state, and signs laws before they can enter into force and appoints federal officials, he cannot decide when to dissolve the Bundestag or name a new chancellor until a majority of the members of the parliament () vote in favour.

paragraphs: The Chancellor is chosen by the Bundestag. He or she is head of the executive branch, and heads the federal Cabinet.

paragraphs: The Judicial branch is made up of the Federal Constitutional Court and five other Supreme Courts. There are also local and regional courts which make the first decision about cases. Their decisions can be overturnned by the courts of appeal or Supreme Courts.

paragraphs: The Federal Constitutional Court is the most important court in Germany. Its job is to protect the Basic Law. Its decisions are like laws. The court can cancel laws if they break the Basic Law.

paragraphs: The Federal Social Court is the Supreme Court of Appeal for cases about social security, pensions and health insurance

paragraphs: The Federal Labour Court is the Supreme Court of Appeal for cases about labour law. This includes contracts of employment, strikes and trade union agreements

paragraphs: The Federal Tax Court is the Supreme Court of Appeal for cases about tax and customs law

paragraphs: The Federal Social Court is the Supreme Court of Appeal for cases involving a government body. These may be because a person might feel they have been treated unfairly by government or because there is a dispute between two government bodies about which of them is allowed to do something.

paragraphs: This court is the Supreme Court of Appeal for cases all civil and criminal cases which are not heard by one of the other supreme courts

paragraphs: The legislative branch has two of the constitutional bodies.

paragraphs: Germany's upper chamber of parliament, the Bundesrat, represents the "Länder". It also shows that Germany is a federal state. Federalism is one of the "eternal clauses" of the constitution, that can never be changed..

paragraphs: The Bundestag is the part of the legislature chosen by election. The Chancellor must be a member of the Bundestag.

paragraphs: The Weimar Constitution had the Reichswehr outside of the control of the parliament or the public. The army directly reported to the president, and the president did not have to report to the parliament.

paragraphs: Under the Basic Law, the Defence Forces Bundeswehr are responsible to parliament, because

paragraphs: The chancellor is directly responsible to the parliament, the minister is indirectly responsible to the parliament because it can remove the government by electing a new chancellor.

paragraphs: The Basic Law also created a soldiers' ombudsman or "Wehrbeauftragter", reporting to parliament not to the government. Soldiers can write directly to the "Wehrbeauftragter" if they feel they have been treated unfairly or unlawfully, or if they think their commanders are acting illegally. Soldiers cannot be punished for writing to the "Wehrbeauftragter".

paragraphs: A number of Constitutional Court cases in the 1990s said that the Bundeswehr cannot be used by the government outside NATO territory unless the Bundestag first gives permission in a resolution. The resultion must describe where the Bundeswehr is to go, and for who long the mission will last.

paragraphs: The Basic Law only allows referendums about changing borders of the "Länder". There have been two referundums:

paragraphs: Important changes to the Basic Law were the re-introduction of conscription and the establishment of the Bundeswehr in 1956.

paragraphs: During reunification East Germany and West Germany decided not to write a new constitution, but to keep the old one, which had worked so well in West Germany. The constitution was amended to allow East Germany to join, and then changed again to strengthen the claim that Germany wanted no more territory. This was a promise made in the Final Settlement.


title: Oaxaca de Juárez

paragraphs: Oaxaca de Juárez is the capital city of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is called La'a in the Zapotec language. Ñuu Nunduva is its name in the Mixtec language. Since 1872, when Benito Juárez died there, the city is called "de Juárez", in his honour. Currently, 258,000 people live in the city.


title: Armadillo

paragraphs: A armadillo is in the Cingulata, an order of New World placental mammals. The living ones have a leathery armored shell. The word "armadillo" is Spanish for "little armored one".

paragraphs: There are about 10 living genera and about 20 species of armadillo. Their average length is about 75 centimeters (30 in), including the tail. The giant armadillo grows up to 100 cm (39 in) and weigh 30 kg (66lbs). All species live in the Americas. Most of the 20 species are found in open areas, such as grasslands, but some also live in forests.

paragraphs: Armadillos species are mostly found in South and Central America, especially around Paraguay. Many species are endangered.

paragraphs: The nine-banded armadillo has an unusual reproductive system, in which genetically identical quadruplets are born in each litter.

paragraphs: Because they are always genetically identical clones, the group of four young is a good subject for scientific, behavioural or medical tests. They provide the same biological and genetic makeup, and then get different treatment. This is the only regular case of 'polyembryony' in the class Mammalia, where one fertilised egg splits into four embryos. It only happens in the genus Dasypus, and not in all armadillos. Other animals which have this reproductive method are parasitoid wasps, certain flatworms and various aquatic invertebrates.


title: Niacin

paragraphs: Niacin is a vitamin. It is also known by the name nicotinic acid. It is Vitamin B. It can be dissolved in water. It plays a very important role in the metabolism of living cells.

paragraphs: Other functions of niacin include removing toxic chemicals from the body, and helping with the production of steroid hormones made by the adrenal gland. These hormones include sex hormones and stress-related ones.

paragraphs: Niacin was first discovered from the oxidation of nicotine to form nicotinic acid. When the properties of nicotinic acid were discovered, it was thought prudent to choose a name to dissociate it from nicotine, in order to avoid the perception that vitamins or niacin-rich food contain nicotine. The resulting name 'niacin' was made from nicotinic acid + vitamin.

paragraphs: Niacin is also referred to as Vitamin B because it was the third of the B vitamins to be discovered. It has historically been referred to as "vitamin PP". That name was derived from the term "pellagra-preventing factor", because the disease pellagra is due to a deficiency of niacin in the diet.

paragraphs: The recommended daily allowance of niacin is 2–12 mg a day for children, 14 mg a day for women, 16 mg a day for men, and 18 mg a day for pregnant or breast-feeding women.

paragraphs: Severe deficiency of niacin in the diet causes the disease pellagra. A mild deficiency will slow down the metabolism, causing decreased tolerance to cold.

paragraphs: Dietary niacin deficiency tends to occur only in areas where people eat corn (maize), the only grain low in niacin, as a staple food, "and" that do not use lime during meal/flour production. Alkali lime releases the tryptophan from the corn in a process called nixtamalization so that it can be absorbed in the intestine, and converted to niacin.


title: Octagon

paragraphs: An octagon or 8-gon is a shape with 8 sides and 8 corners.

paragraphs: All sides of a regular octagon are the same length. Each corner is 135°. All corners added together equal 1080°.

paragraphs: The amount of space a regular octagon takes up is


title: Registration

paragraphs: Registration is a method of officially recording something. Usually something is registered to claim more rights, or to protect ownership, or because the law says it must be registered to be used legally.

paragraphs: A register was a large book. It was used like a diary to record business dealings or other events.

paragraphs: Births, deaths, and marriages are registered to prove the date the event happened. In the United Kingdom these records are kept by the local registrar, who is in charge of the Register office.

paragraphs: Motor vehicles are registered to prove who owns the vehicle and to identify them. Those that not registered cannot be driven on roads. Aircraft not registered cannot be flown. Proof that a vehicle is registered is the vehicle registration plate. Vehicles must also be registered before they can be insured in case of an accident or theft.

paragraphs: Books might be registered to show the date when copyright protection starts. Usually this is done by sending a copy of the book to a special national library.

paragraphs: People who stay in a hotel register their names and addresses when they arrive. The hotel can work out how much the people must pay for their stay. The local police may also keep a copy of these names to help fight crime.


title: Eschweiler

paragraphs: Eschweiler is a German town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is next to the river Inde, near the German-Belgian-Dutch frontier, and about 15 km east of Aachen and west of Cologne. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. Its area has about .

paragraphs: In Eschweiler, there are many castles. Eschweiler is a big carnival town. There are also many sport places. These include two public swimming pools, a golf place and an artificial lake. A well-known school in Eschweiler is the "Bischöfliche Liebfrauenschule" with its over 100 years of tradition.

paragraphs: Eschweiler is on the railway line from Aachen to Cologne. The Eschweiler Central railway station was opened in 1841. Next to Eschweiler, there is a village called "Bergrath". In 2010, a new shopping center with a "MediaMarkt"-store opened next to the motorway.


title: Tropical Storm Arlene (2005)

paragraphs: Tropical Storm Arlene was the first named storm of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Arlene was a large storm that formed early in the year. It had maximum wind speeds of 70 mph (110 km/h). It also caused one death and created $11.8 million (2005 USD) in damage.

paragraphs: The storm formed near Honduras on June 8 and moved north. It came close to western Cuba on June 10 before entering the Gulf of Mexico. Arlene strengthened just below hurricane strength before making landfall on western Florida. The storm quickly weakened while moving inland, and later became an extratropical remnant on June 13.

paragraphs: When Tropical Storm Arlene formed on June 8, it was the ninth time that the name has been used to name a storm in the Atlantic. This meant Arlene kept its position as the most commonly used name for Atlantic storms. But because the storm did not cause any major damages, its name was not retired by the World Meteorological Organization and will be on the list of names for the 2011 season.


title: Sirenia

paragraphs: Sirenia is an order of herbivorous mammals. In this order are the dugong and three species of manatee.


title: Keihan Main Line

paragraphs: The Keihan Main Line (京阪本線, "-honsen") is a railway line of Keihan Electric Railway. The line starts from Sanjo Station in Kyoto, and ends at Yodoyabashi Station in Osaka, and travels a distance of about 51 km. The line is not "the Main Line" but "the Keihan Main Line". Trains go direct to the Oto Line.


title: Sanjo Station (Kyoto)

paragraphs: Limited Express trains and K-Limited Express trains arrive at and depart from Tracks (Platforms) 1 and 3.

paragraphs: Sanjō Keihan Station (, "Sanjō Keihan Eki") is a subway station on Kyoto's Tozai Line. It intersects with the Keihan Electric Railway's Keihan Main Line. It is connected to the adjacent Keihan Sanjō Station. The station is underneath Sanjō-dori, just east of the Kamo River and Kyoto's Kawaramachi shopping district.


title: Tony Parker

paragraphs: William Anthony "Tony" Parker (born ) is a retired French basketball player that played for the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. He was drafted by them in 2001.

paragraphs: Parker retired from the French national team after the 2016 Rio Olympics.

paragraphs: Parker was born in Bruges, Belgium, and raised in France. His father, Tony Parker Sr., was also a professional basketball player.


title: Kawaramachi Station

paragraphs: Kawaramachi Station (河原町駅, "Kawaramachi eki") is the terminal station of the Hankyu Kyoto Line of Hankyu Railway in Kyoto, Japan. The Kawaramachi and Shijo streets cross over the underground station. Keihan Shijo Station is beyond the Kamo River.

paragraphs: The area around the station is one of commercial centers of Kyoto. The real estate around the station is the most valuable in Kyoto.

paragraphs: The station is attached underground to department stores such as Takashimaya, which has a food market on its basement floor. The station also connects underground to Karasuma Station.

paragraphs: The station opened on June 17, 1963. Before the opening of Kawaramachi Station and Karasuma Station, the Hankyu Kyoto Line ended at Ōmiya Station.


title: Girlfriend (Avril Lavigne song)

paragraphs: "Girlfriend" is a song by Avril Lavigne. It was the lead single from her third album, "The Best Damn Thing" (2007). It was produced by Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald. "Girlfriend" became Lavigne's biggest hit in the United States, where it reached number one on the U.S. Hot 100, in Australia, where it topped the chart, and in the United Kingdom, where it reached number two. A remix version featuring singer Lil' Mama was released in June 2007.

paragraphs: "Girlfriend" was the subject of a lawsuit filed by songwriters for The Rubinoos, who alleged that the writers of the song copied The Rubinoos' single "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend". Only one line, not even of the same tune was: "Hey, hey, you, you! I want to be your girlfriend!" Note it was "I want to" not "I wanna".

paragraphs: The music video became the second most viewed video of all time on YouTube, currently having over 100,000,000 views. In the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, it is nominated for the category Monster Single of the Year.


title: M×0

paragraphs: M×0 (エム×ゼロ, Emu x Zero) is a Japanese comedy manga series by Japanese author Yasuhiro Kanō (author of "Pretty Face"). It is about a school that teaches students how to do magic and the crazy adventures of a normal boy who was admitted to the school under special circumstances. It was first serialized in "Weekly Shonen Jump" on May 1, 2006, published by Shueisha. The first volume of the series was released in Japan on November 2, 2006.

paragraphs: Currently, four volumes have been released:


title: Chip Douglas

paragraphs: Douglas Farthing Hatlelid, better known as Chip Douglas (b. 27 August 1942), is an American musician and songwriter. He became a producer when he worked with The Monkees on their music. He also worked with The Turtles, first as bass guitarist and arranger, then later as producer.


title: Henry Wood

paragraphs: Sir Henry Wood (3 March 1869 - 19 August 1944) was an English conductor. He is famous for having been the conductor of the Proms. He conducted the Proms for 50 years. They became known as the "Henry Wood Promenade Concerts". Today they are called the "BBC Proms".

paragraphs: Henry Wood was born in London. His father was an optician, but had become well known for making model trains. He sold them in his shop in Oxford Street in London. His parents liked music. They both sang and his father played the cello.

paragraphs: Although Henry heard a lot of music around him he did not have proper music lessons until he was already quite old. When he was 14 he learned to play the organ. He also played the piano and violin. When he was 16 he went to the Royal Academy of Music where he had lessons in piano, organ, composition and singing. He wanted to become a singing teacher, and he did in fact give singing lessons all his life. He became good at the piano so that he could accompany singers.

paragraphs: When he left the Royal Academy of Music he found work as a singing teacher and as a conductor of choirs and orchestras. He wrote a small book called "The Gentle Art of Singing".

paragraphs: In 1893 a man called Robert Newman, who was manager of the Queen's Hall, had an idea. He wanted to organize a series of concerts in which the audience could walk about and listen to music. He wanted to call them "Promenade Concerts" (the word comes from the French "se promener" = "to walk"). There were already promenade concerts in the parks in London, but those Promenade concerts were just for music that was easy to listen to. Newman wanted people to get to know good classical music. He wanted the tickets to be cheap so that people who were not rich would be able to afford to go. Newman thought that Henry Wood was a good conductor and asked him to conduct these concerts.

paragraphs: The first series of Promenade Concerts (or "Proms" for short) was in 1895. The programmes were much longer than they are in concerts today. There were lots of short pieces of music. Wood gradually made his audiences get used to listening to longer pieces of music. He introduced them to new music which had only recently been written. He conducted music by many British composers and European composers. People at that time were very prejudiced. They thought that only German conductors knew how to conduct German composers such as Richard Wagner. Wood showed them that he could do it too. He conducted every night during the Proms season. On Mondays he played a lot of Wagner and on Fridays he played Beethoven. He played music by European composers whose music was not yet well known in England, e.g. Sibelius, Schoenberg and many Russian composers.

paragraphs: Wood conducted the Proms until his death in 1944. Most of that time he was the only conductor of the Proms. Later in life he shared the conducting with other conductors such as Basil Cameron and Sir Adrian Boult. Wood had a big influence on the standard of music making in England. He made orchestral playing better, making sure that the players did not send in deputies instead of them. He made sure that the orchestral players were paid well and he allowed women to play in the orchestra.

paragraphs: Wood is mainly remembered for the promenade concerts, but he conducted many other groups as well. He travelled around England, conducting at music festivals. He often conducted amateur groups. He made sure that he knew the music he was conducting very well. Many conductors in the 19th century did not do this. They were more keen to show off, but Wood prepared the music carefully, marking things in his score with coloured pencils.

paragraphs: Wood made arrangements of other composer's music, e.g. Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" for organ. He arranged a group of songs called "Fantasia on British Sea Songs" for the 1905 centenary celebrations of the Battle of Trafalgar. These are always played at the Last Night of the Proms.

paragraphs: In 1938 he conducted a jubilee concert in the Royal Albert Hall. Rachmaninov was the soloist, and Vaughan Williams wrote his "Serenade to Music" for orchestra and sixteen soloists. Wood often worked too hard and it was not good for his health. He died on 19 August 1944, just over a week after the fiftieth anniversary concert of the Proms, which he had been too ill even to listen to on the radio.

paragraphs: Wood was given many honours: he was knighted by the king in 1911, he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1921 and was made a Companion of Honour in 1944. At the Proms today his bust is put at the front of the Royal Albert Hall during the whole of each Prom season. At the Last Night of the Proms it is decorated by a chaplet.


title: Divine grace

paragraphs: In Christianity Divine Grace means a favour of God for humankind. God favours every person, without looking at what they did or how much they are worth. This grace of God to humans may happen in the gifts that God gives him, such as creation or salvation.

paragraphs: Common grace refers to blessings which God gives to everyone. Jesus said that God "sends the rain upon the just and the unjust. This idea is found in Greek philosophy. Plato spoke of God's "gifts". The Reformers listed many ways in which God gives undeserved gifts to mankind. These include life itself, food and earthly pleasures. God also restrains evil so that people will not destroy themselves in wars and conflict.

paragraphs: Prevenient grace (or enabling grace) is a Christian teaching in Arminian theology. It appeared earlier in Catholic and early Anabaptist teaching. It is divine grace that goes before human decision. In other words, God will start showing special love to a person at a certain time of his life.

paragraphs: Prevenient grace is taught by Christians who are influenced by the theology of Jacob Arminius or John Wesley. Wesleyan Arminians believe God helps people to accept the gift of salvation.

paragraphs: This refers to the good things that God gives to those who believe in Jesus. The gifts include forgiveness of sin, eternal life, and the power to live a good and holy life.

paragraphs: "Grace" is a common girl's name in many countries.

paragraphs: "Amazing Grace" is a song that became very popular. It is played at funerals, sometimes on a bagpipe. This song was written by John Newton who was an evil slave trader. His life was changed when he became a Christian. He later worked to stop the practice of slavery. His story is told in a 2006 movie.


title: Proxy server

paragraphs: In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (computer) which clients (people or computers) use to access other computers. A proxy server that passes information to its clients without changing it is usually called a gateway or sometimes called "tunneling proxy".

paragraphs: Proxy servers get their name because they act like a proxy (a stand-in) and act on behalf of a Client's computer.

paragraphs: A client that connects to the proxy server will ask for some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource, that is available on a "different" server. The proxy server then goes to the "other" server and asks for what the client wants for them.

paragraphs: A proxy server can change the information that it gives to the client, and if the same information is accessed many times or by many different clients it can use what is called a cache to make things faster. A cache is the term for information that has been accessed and saved for future use; if a proxy server has what the client is accessing in its cache, it will make it faster because it does not need to go and access the other server to provide what the client wants.

paragraphs: A proxy server can be placed anywhere in the connection between the client and the server, which could include software on the client computer itself or on any computer between.

paragraphs: Some proxy servers use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure the connection between the client and the remote server. This security layer helps to make sure that no other computers can read or understand what the client is asking from the server.

paragraphs: There are many benefits of using a proxy server. First, the client machine can exchange data with the remote server without making a direct connection. This way, the client's real internet address will not be known to the remote server. This is sometimes called anonymitizing because it makes the client anonymous.

paragraphs: A second advantage is that when the proxy server itself is able to serve the request made by the client, it will not contact the remote server any more. So the load on the remote server will be reduced by using a proxy server. This type of proxy servers are called "caching servers".

paragraphs: Big organizations (or even countries) sometimes use proxy servers to control access to the Internet. A large bank may use a proxy server that only allows connections to other websites relevant to banking. The proxy server might however block access to Websites offering free email or serving pornographic material. It might also block access to file sharing applications. Limiting access to specific content on the internet is also called "internet filtering".

paragraphs: A proxy server may have one or more of the functions described below:

paragraphs: A caching proxy server can service requests from clients, without contacting the remote server; instead, it sends the data which it has stored from a previous request. This is called caching.

paragraphs: Caching proxy servers reduce the work load of the remote server. However, they have their own problems, especially if they are not configured well. Some problems are described in RFC 3143.

paragraphs: A web proxy is a proxy server that focuses on the traffic over the World Wide Web. It may be used to block offensive web content, or to control access of clients to online content. They may be used by corporations or countries.

paragraphs: Web proxies can also be used to track how different individuals have used internet access.

paragraphs: An anonymizing proxy server removes identifying information from the clients' requests, for the purpose of anonymity. They may also be used to break through filtered contents on the internet.

paragraphs: A proxy server is called an "open proxy" if everyone can connect to it and use it. Usually, open proxies are proxy servers which are badly configured. Open proxies may be abused easily; for example, a bad user may send a corrupting request to a remote server, but hide himself behind an open proxy, so the administrators of the remote server cannot stop him. Open proxies can also be used for spamming. For this reason, some websites do not allow connections to their web servers or to edit content on them through known open proxies.

paragraphs: A "forced proxy" server is a proxy server which handles all of the traffic from the client to the internet. The client will not know that the proxy exists, but all of the information passes through the proxy server. They are sometimes called "transparent" proxy servers, because the user does not know a proxy server is between the client and remote server.

paragraphs: A Transparent SMTP Proxy is a SMTP proxy server that is inserted in between a sending mail server and a receiving mail server. The main purpose of the SMTP proxy is to filter outbound spam. The proxy masquerades itself in such a way that the client and server believe that they are talking to each other even though there is a proxy in between.

paragraphs: There is a lot of software which can be used for running a proxy server. Some software can only work as a proxy server, while other software can also work as a firewall or caching server. Squid, Varnish and Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server (ISA Server) are among the best known pieces of proxy server software. Some proxy software uses the SOCKS protocol. An example is the Java SOCKS Proxy Server.


title: Client

paragraphs: In net jargon (words people use about the Internet) a client is a computer used by a user to connect to a network and make requests to servers. For example, a web browser is a client software.


title: Cache (computing)

paragraphs: Caching is a term used in computer science. The idea behind a cache (pronounced "cash" ) is very simple: Very often, obtaining a result for a calculation is very time-consuming, so storing the result is generally a good idea. Two kinds of storage media are used: One is usually quite big, but accessing it is "slow"; the other one can be accessed much faster, but generally it is small. The very basic idea behind caching is to use the medium that is fast to access to have copies of data. There is no difference between the copy, and the original. Accessing the original data may take a long time, or it may be expensive to do (for example: the results of a difficult problem that take a long time to solve). For this reason, it is much "cheaper" to simply use the copy of the data from the cache. Put differently, a cache is a temporary storage area that has copies of data that is used often. When a copy of the data is in this cache, it is faster to use this copy rather than re-fetching or re-calculating the original data. This will make the average time needed to access the data shorter. Putting a new value into a cache often means that an older value needs to be replaced. There are different ideas (usually called "strategies") on how to select the value to replace.

paragraphs: A buffer is very similar to a cache. It is different in that the client accessing the data in a buffer knows there is a buffer; the buffer is managed by the application. With a cache, the client accessing the data need not be aware there is a cache.

paragraphs: Typical computer applications access data in very similar ways. Suppose the data is structured into "blocks", which can be accessed individually. When an application accesses a block it is also very likely to access (or reference) a block that is "close" to the original block. This is known as locality of reference. There are different kinds of such "locality". Locality of reference is one of the reasons why caches work well in many areas of computing.

paragraphs: In order to work well, caches are small, compared to the whole amount of data. The bigger the cache, the longer it takes to lookup an entry. Bigger caches are also more expensive to build.

paragraphs: A cache is a block of memory for storing data which is likely used again. The CPU and hard drive often use a cache, as do web browsers and web servers.

paragraphs: A cache is made up of many entries, called a "pool". Each entry holds a datum (a bit of data) which is a copy of a datum in another place. Caches usually use what is called a "backing store". Backing stores are slow or expensive to access, compared to the cache. A disk cache uses a hard disk as a backing store, for example.

paragraphs: Each entry also has a little information attached, called a "tag". This tag is used to find the location where the original data is stored.

paragraphs: A client (a CPU, web browser, operating system) wants to access a bit of data, it believes to be in the backing store, it first checks to see if the datum can be found in the cache. If the data can be found in the cache, the client can use it and does not need to use the main memory. This is known as a cache hit. So, for example, a web browser program might check its local cache on disk to see if it has a local copy of the contents of a web page at a particular URL. In this example, the URL is the tag, and the contents of the web page is the datum.

paragraphs: The other situation that can occur is that the datum with the tag cannot be found in the cache. This is known as cache miss. The datum needs to be fetched from the backing store. Usually, it is copied into the cache, so that the next time, it no longer needs to be fetched from the backing store.

paragraphs: The cache only has a limited size. To make room for the previously uncached entry, another cached entry may need to be deleted from the cache. Special rules are used to find the entry that should best be deleted. These rules are usually called Heuristics. Heuristics used to find the entry are called replacement policy. A very simple rule used is called "Least recently used" (or LRU). It simply takes the entry that was used the longest time ago. Other heuristics are listed at cache algorithm..

paragraphs: Caches can also be used for writing data; the benefit of this is that the client can continue its operation once the entry has been written to the cache; it does not have to wait until the entry is written to the backing store.

paragraphs: However, the entry must be written to the backing store at some point in time. The timing when this happens is controlled by the write policy.

paragraphs: In a write-through cache, each entry is written to the backing store immediately, as well as being stored in cache.

paragraphs: The other option is to only write to cache, and write to the backing store later. This is known as write-back (or write-behind) cache. The cache marks the entries that have not yet been written to the backing store; the mark that is used is often referred to as dirty flag. Before the entries are deleted from the cache, they are written to the backing store. This is known as lazy write. A miss in a write-back cache (which requires a block to be replaced by another) will often need two memory accesses: one to get the needed datum, and another to write replaced data from the cache to the store.

paragraphs: The caching policy may also say that a certain datum must be written to cache. The client may have made many changes to the datum in the cache. After it is done, it may explicitly tell the cache to write back the datum.

paragraphs: No-write allocation is a cache policy where only reads are cached. This avoids the need for write-back or write-through caching. Writes are done to the backing store all the time.

paragraphs: The client is not the application that changes data in the backing store. If the data changed in the backing store, the copy in the cache will be out of date, or "stale". Alternatively, when the client updates the data in the cache, copies of that data in other caches will become stale. There are special communication protocols that allow cache managers to talk to each other to keep the data meaningful. These are known as coherency protocols.

paragraphs: A cache is small, and it will be full, or almost full, most of the time. So when a new value is added, an old one needs to be removed. There are different ways in which this selection can be done:

paragraphs: The word "cache" was first used in computing in 1967, when a scientific article was prepared to be published in IBM Systems Journal. The article was about a new improvement of the memory in Model 85. Model 85 was a computer of the IBM System/360 product line. The editor of the Journal wanted a better word for "high-speed buffer", used in the article. He got no input, and suggested "cache", from the French "cacher", meaning "to hide". The article was published in early 1968, and the authors were honored by IBM. Their work was widely welcomed and improved."Cache" soon became standard usage in computer literature.

paragraphs: Small memories on or close to the CPU chip can be made faster than the much larger main memory. Most CPUs since the 1980s have used one or more caches. Modern general-purpose CPUs inside personal computers may have as many as half a dozen. Each cache may be specialised to a different part of the task of executing programs.

paragraphs: CPU caches are generally managed entirely by hardware, other caches are managed by a different kinds of software. The operating system usually manages a "page cache" in main memory. Users outside computer science usually call this cache virtual memory. It is managed by the kernel of the operating system.

paragraphs: Modern hard drives have disk buffers. These are sometimes called "disk cache", but this is wrong. The main function of these buffers is to order disk writes, and to manage reads. Repeated cache hits are rare, because the buffer is very small compared to the size of the hard drive.

paragraphs: Local hard disks are fast compared to other storage devices, such as remote servers, local tape drives, or optical jukeboxes. Using local hard disks as caches is the main concept of hierarchical storage management.

paragraphs: Web browsers and web proxy servers use caches to store previous responses from web servers, such as web pages. Web caches reduce the amount of information that needs to be transmitted over the network. Information previously stored in the cache can often be re-used. This reduces bandwidth and processing requirements of the web server, and helps to improve responsiveness for users of the web.

paragraphs: Modern web browsers use a built-in web cache, but some internet service providers or organizations also use a caching proxy server. This is a web cache that is shared between all users of that network.

paragraphs: Search engines also often make web pages they have indexed available from their cache. For example, Google provides a "Cached" link next to each search result. This is useful when web pages are temporarily inaccessible from a web server.

paragraphs: Write-through operation is common in unreliable networks (like an Ethernet LAN). The protocol used to make sure the data in the write cache makes sense when several write caches are used is very complex, in such a case.

paragraphs: For instance, web page caches and client-side network file system caches (like those in NFS or SMB) are typically read-only or write-through to keep the network protocol simple and reliable.

paragraphs: Buffer and cache are not mutually exclusive; they are also often used together. The reason why they are used is different, though. A buffer is a location in memory that is traditionally used because CPU instructions cannot directly address data stored in peripheral devices. Computer memory is used as an intermediate store.

paragraphs: Additionally such a buffer may be feasible when a large block of data is assembled or disassembled (as required by a storage device), or when data may be delivered in a different order than that in which it is produced. Also a whole buffer of data is usually transferred sequentially (for example to hard disk), so buffering itself sometimes increases transfer performance. These benefits are present even if the buffered data are written to the buffer once and read from the buffer once.

paragraphs: A cache also increases transfer performance. A part of the increase similarly comes from the possibility that multiple small transfers will combine into one large block. But the main performance gain occurs because there is a good chance that the same datum will be read from cache several times, or that written data will soon be read. The only purpose of Caches is to reduce accesses to the underlying slower storage. Cache is also usually an abstraction layer that is designed to be invisible from the perspective of neighboring layers. That way, the applications or clients may not be aware that there is a cache.


title: DMOZ

paragraphs: The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as dmoz, is an online directory that lists good web sites based on their subject. Web sites are listed in categories on this project. Each category is linked to relevant categories; the categories have a tree-like structure too.


title: Web directory

paragraphs: A Web directory is a website. It is like a directory, or a phone book. It lists other websites, that are put into different categories.


title: File sharing

paragraphs: File sharing is the practice of making files available for other users to download over the Internet and smaller networks. Usually file sharing follows the "peer-to-peer" (P2P) model, where the files are stored on personal computers of the users. In this model, most people who are sharing files are also downloading files that other users share.


title: Ammonium sulfide

paragraphs: Ammonium sulfide, also known as the "stink bomb" is made up of a solution of ammonium sulfide in water, sealed inside a glass ampoule (a small bottle-like container used to store a liquid securely). When the ampoule is broken, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide gases are released from the solution. These chemicals have a very strong and unpleasant smell.

paragraphs: Ammonium sulfide is a very toxic chemical. It is also explosive and highly flammable. It is added to cigarettes.


title: Metre per second

paragraphs: Metre per second is an SI unit of measurement of both speed and velocity. It is defined by the distance in metres divided by the time in seconds. Its abbreviation is m/s or m·s. In astronomy, the unit is sometimes used in "kilometres per second" (equivalent to 1000 metres per second).

paragraphs: 1 foot per second = 0.3048 m·s (exactly)

paragraphs: 1 kilometre per second is equivalent to:


title: Hydroxide

paragraphs: Hydroxide in chemistry is a name given to the diatomic anion OH, made up of oxygen and hydrogen atoms. Most chemical compounds that contain hydroxides are bases.

paragraphs: An Arrhenius base is a substance that when dissolved in an aqueous solution, it produces hydroxide ions. Therefore, hydroxide ions are heavily involved in acid-base reactions.

paragraphs: Many useful chemical reactions or processes involve hydroxide or hydroxide ions. Sodium hydroxide is used in industry as a strong base, potassium hydroxide is used in agriculture, and iron hydroxide minerals such as goethite and limonite have been used as iron ore. The aluminium ore bauxite is made mainly out of aluminium hydroxides.

paragraphs: Most inorganic hydroxide salts do not dissolve in water.

paragraphs: Many useful chemicals and chemical processes involve hydroxides or hydroxide ions. Sodium hydroxide is used in factories as an alkali, potassium hydroxide is used in farming, and iron hydroxide have been used as low grade brown iron ore.


title: Cyclone

paragraphs: In meteorology, a cyclone refers to any low pressure area with winds spiralling inwards. Cyclones rotate clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere and anti-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere. Cyclone is the general term for a variety of low pressure system types, such as tropical cyclones, extra tropical cyclones and tornadoes.

paragraphs: The largest of the low-pressure systems are the extratropical cyclones and the cold-core polar cyclones which lie on the synoptic scale which in meteorology is a horizontal length of 1000 km or more. The Warm-core cyclones are the tropical cyclones, mesocyclones, and the polar lows that lie within the smaller mesoscale. The Subtropical cyclones are intermediate in size. Cyclones have also been on other planets outside of the Earth, such as Mars and Neptune. For example the Great Red Spot of Jupiter and the Great Black Spot of Neptune.

paragraphs: Cyclones are also referred to as hurricanes and typhoons. They consist of the eye, eyewall and rainbands.

paragraphs: The process of cyclone formation and intensification is described as Cyclogenesis. The formation of Extratropical cyclones comes as waves in large regions of enhanced midlatitude temperature contrasts which are called baroclinic zones. These zones contract to form weather fronts as the circulation of the cyclone closes and gets more intense. Later in their life cycle, cyclones form what is called an occluded front. The cyclone's track is then guided over the course of an 2 to 6 day life cycle by its steering flow of the polar or subtropical jetstream.


title: Eye (cyclone)

paragraphs: The eye is an area of calm weather in the center of strong tropical cyclones. The cyclone's lowest barometric pressure occurs in the eye. It is usually circular and range between 30 and 65 km (20 to 40 mi) in diameter, though smaller and larger eyes can occur.

paragraphs: In case of a cyclone it is the place where all the winds coming inside in a spiral motion converge. In an anticyclone it is the part from where all winds move out from.

paragraphs: The region surrounding the eye is the eyewall, where the worst weather is seen in a cyclone. These have strong winds, lots of rain and lots of cloud. There are also outer bands, which surround the cyclone, which forms the greatest part of the storm. These have winds so strong they can even form other tornadoes.


title: Glasgow Coma Scale

paragraphs: Glasgow Coma Scale or GCS is a scale that is used to measure the consciousness of a person. It was invented in 1974 by "Graham Teasdale" and "Bryan J. Jennett", professors of neurosurgery at the University of Glasgow.

paragraphs: GCS is used in evaluation of patients, especially in ICUs. This scale consists of three tests, which are described below. A score is given for each test, and the GCS score is calculated by adding the scores given to each test. The maximum score is 15, which means the patient is fully conscious. The minimum score is 3, and is usually seen in patients with brain death or those in deep coma.

paragraphs: The scale comprises three tests: eye, verbal (talking) and motor (movement) responses.


title: House of Habsburg

paragraphs: Habsburg was a family of dukes, kings, and monarchs. They were very important in European history. They first ruled parts of Switzerland in the 13th century. They ruled Austria, later Austria-Hungary for more than 600 years, and also sometimes owned Spain and the Netherlands. They ruled the Holy Roman Empire from about 1280 to 1806. They also ruled the Kingdom of Sardinia until the middle 19th century.

paragraphs: A Treaty was made in Vienna in 1515 between the king of Poland and duke of Lithuania from the Jagiellon dynasty and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, duke of Austria from the Habsburg family. It said that if the kings of Bohemia and Hungary, (Jagiellons), were to die without male heirs the Duke of Austria would take over their territory.

paragraphs: The House of Habsburg became extinct in the 18th century. The senior branch ended when Charles II of Spain died in 1700 and was replaced by the House of Bourbon. The mental and physical handicaps of Charles II were probably caused by inbreeding between relatives in the royal houses of continental Europe. Marriages of close relatives occurred for five generations before him. He was the son of Philip IV, who married his sister's daughter.

paragraphs: The remaining branch went extinct in the male line in 1740 with the death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and completely in 1780 with the death of his eldest daughter, Maria Theresa of Austria. It was succeeded by the Vaudemont branch of the House of Lorraine. The new successor house styled itself formally as House of Habsburg-Lorraine (German: "Habsburg-Lothringen"), although it was often referred to as simply the House of Habsburg.

paragraphs: The last empress was Zita of Bourbon-Parma. She died in Switzerland in 1989. She had ruled with her husband, Charles I of Austria, from 1916 to 1918.


title: Rhodesia

paragraphs: Rhodesia was a republic in Southern Africa during the Cold War. It was the region that is now called Zimbabwe. The country replaced the British colony of Southern Rhodesia.

paragraphs: The official name of the country under British law was "Southern Rhodesia", but the government in Salisbury used the name "Rhodesia" instead. This situation dated back to October 1964, when the colony of Northern Rhodesia changed its name to Zambia following independence, so the colonial government felt that "Southern" Rhodesia should no longer be used because there was no "Northern" Rhodesia. However, Britain believed that only their government could change the colony's name and not the colony itself.

paragraphs: The British government adopted a policy called "no independence before majority rule", which dictated that colonies with a certain amount of white settlers would not become independent until they adopted a policy of majority rule. This had conflicted with the beliefs of the white minority Rhodesian Front, lead by Ian Smith, which believed that Rhodesia should become an independent country anyway. This continued until relations between the colony and the British government broke down in 1965.

paragraphs: On 11 November 1965, Smith's government issued a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI) from the United Kingdom. Many countries condemned the UDI and the United Nations Security Council placed sanctions on Rhodesia.

paragraphs: Rhodesia sought international recognition as a Commonwealth realm, with Queen Elizabeth II as "Queen of Rhodesia", but later severed it links to the British Crown by becoming a republic on 2 March 1970.

paragraphs: As early as 1960, many African nationalists began to challenge Rhodesia's minority rule policies. In 1964, tensions boiled over and the Rhodesian Bush War began. On one side, the minority rule government, led by Ian Smith, hoped to keep the whites in power. On the other side, the ZANU-PF, led by Robert Mugabe, fought for majority rule. After about 15 years of fighting, the Lancaster House Agreement was signed which allowed majority rule. This led to Zimbabwe's independence.


title: Westminster

paragraphs: Westminster is the central part of the City of Westminster, in London. It is on the north side of the River Thames. It contains the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall, Downing Street and Westminster Abbey.

paragraphs: Westminster is the official seat of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.


title: Ostara

paragraphs: Ostara is one of the eight festivals held by Wiccans every year. It is normally held at the time of the vernal equinox; that is, around 21 March in the Northern Hemisphere and 21 September in the Southern Hemisphere. At Ostara Wiccans celebrate the return of Spring.


title: Megalosaurus

paragraphs: Megalosaurus was a large meat-eating theropod dinosaur of the Middle Jurassic of Europe. It was found in 1824, and was the earliest dinosaur named. In 1827, Gideon Mantell included "Megalosaurus" in his geological survey of southeastern England. He gave the species its name, "Megalosaurus bucklandii".

paragraphs: Because a complete skeleton of it has never been found, much is still unclear about its build. The first naturalists who investigated Megalosaurus thought it was a gigantic lizard of twenty metres length. In 1842 Richard Owen concluded that it was no longer than nine metres, standing on upright legs as a quadruped.

paragraphs: Later it was realised that all theropods were bipedal. Today is known that the early proto-dinosaurs in the late Middle Triassic were also bipedal. Certainly "Eoraptor", from 231.4 million years ago, was bipedal. That means the dinosaurs were bipedal from the start (primatively bipedal). Only the heavier sauropods and armoured dinosaurs became quadrupedal, standing on all four legs.


title: Parliament of the United Kingdom

paragraphs: The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the highest legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. It alone has parliamentary sovereignty over all other political bodies. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth II.

paragraphs: The parliament has an upper house, the House of Lords, and a lower house, the House of Commons. The Queen is the third part of Parliament.

paragraphs: Parliament developed from the early medieval councils of bishops and earls that advised the sovereigns of England.

paragraphs: The Parliament of the United Kingdom is split into three separate parts, the House of Commons (the lower house), the lords (the upper house) and the Monarch. Most legislative power is concentrated in the House of Commons. It is made up of 650 Members of Parliament (MPs). These people are elected by the people of the United Kingdom to represent them in the House of Commons. The leader of the political party who commands a majority of MPs is usually made the Prime Minister, but not the Head of State, a position reserved for the Sovereign. The House of Commons starts most Bills, the remainder originating in the House of Lords, and decides rates of taxation as a result of election by the other hereditary peers and two other hereditary peers who have ceremonial jobs in the House of Lords. They are the Earl Marshal who is always the Duke of Norfolk and the Lord Great Chamberlain, the Marquess of Cholmondeley. The House of Lords has the power to reject Bills, except Money Bills (tax bills), and make the House of Commons reconsider them. If the House of Lords vetoes a bill twice or delays a "public" Bill for more than one year then the House of Commons can force the Bill through under the terms of the Parliament Acts, unless it originated in the House of Lords.

paragraphs: The monarch (now HM Queen Elizabeth II) is the sovereign in a constitutional monarchy and, theoretically, is the fount of all power in the United Kingdom. Bills must receive the Royal Assent before becoming Acts of Parliament and the monarch is responsible for summoning, proroguing and dissolving Parliament, normally upon the advice of the incumbent Prime Minister. It is now very rare for a monarch to object, but the sovereign still retains this prerogative for use if necessary.

paragraphs: Bills may start their passage in either the House of Commons or House of Lords

paragraphs: Pre-legislative Scrutiny: Joint committee of both houses review bill and vote on amendments that government can accept or reject. Reports are influential in later stages as rejected committee recommendations are revived to be voted on.

paragraphs: First Reading: No vote occurs. Bill is presented, printed, and in private members' bills, a Second Reading date is set.

paragraphs: Second Reading: A debate on the general principles of the bill is followed by a vote.

paragraphs: Committee Stage: A committee considers each clause of the bill, and may make amendments.

paragraphs: Report Stage: An opportunity to amend the bill. The House consider clauses to which amendments have been tabled.

paragraphs: Third Reading: A debate on final text as amended. In the Lords, further amendments may be tabled at this stage.

paragraphs: Passage: The bill is then sent to the other House which may amend it.

paragraphs: Passage: The bill is then returned to the original House.

paragraphs: Pre-legislative Scrutiny: To consider all amendments.

paragraphs: The bill is then processed for Royal Assent, if accepted, the bill becomes an Act.

paragraphs: In the Middle Ages and early modern period there were three kingdoms within the British Isles — England, Scotland and Ireland — and these developed separate parliaments. The 1707 Acts of Union brought England and Scotland together under the Parliament of Great Britain, and the 1800 Act of Union included Ireland under the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The parliament at Westminster in London is sometimes called the "Mother of all Parliaments"

paragraphs: The English Parliament has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon "". In 1066, William of Normandy brought a feudal system, where he sought the advice of a council before making laws. In 1215, this council got the Magna Carta from King John, which established that the king may not levy or collect any taxes (except the feudal taxes to which they were hitherto accustomed), save with the consent of his royal council, which slowly developed into a parliament.

paragraphs: In 1265, Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester called the first elected Parliament.

paragraphs: The Laws in Wales Acts of 1535–42 annexed Wales as a part of England and brought Welsh representatives to Parliament.

paragraphs: When Elizabeth I was succeeded in 1603 by the Scottish King James VI of Scotland (James I of England) the countries both came under his rule, but each kept its own Parliament.

paragraphs: In Scotland in the High Middle Ages the King's Council of Bishops and Earls was the beginning of the Parliament of 1235.

paragraphs: The Irish Parliament was founded to represent the English community in the Lordship of Ireland, but the native or Gaelic Irish were not allowed to vote or stand for office, the first known meeting being in 1264.

paragraphs: In 1541 Henry VIII declared the Kingdom of Ireland. The Gaelic Irish lords were now entitled to attend the Irish Parliament as equals of the majority of English descent.


title: Silicon dioxide

paragraphs: Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is a chemical compound, the oxide of silicon. Its chemical symbol is SiO. It is known for its hardness since the 16th century. It is an important compound used in most types of glass and other hard substances such as concrete, porcelain and stoneware. It is made up of 2 oxygen atoms and 1 silicon atom.

paragraphs: Silicon dioxide exists in nature in a number of forms, including flint, quartz and opal. If it is breathed in as dust, it can cause silicosis and cancer, as the dust is trapped in the lungs. Besides the dangers of inhaling it in dust form, it is harmless.


title: Metallic hydrogen

paragraphs: Metallic hydrogen is an alkali metal made from hydrogen gas. This is formed when the hydrogen gas is under compression and results with the gas changing phase. It is an example of degenerate matter. The matter has a crystal structure of proton atoms, with spacing that is extremely small, smaller than a Bohr radius (which is 52.918 x 10 m). The electrons in the molecular orbital are unbounded and they behave like the conduction electrons in a metal. Metallic hydrogen is unusual as the element itself is not an alkali metal, but a diatomic gas.

paragraphs: Metallic hydrogen is known to exist in the cores of Jupiter and Saturn.


title: Giovanni Domenico Cassini

paragraphs: Giovanni Domenico Cassini, also known as "Jean-Dominique Cassini", (June 8, 1625 – September 14, 1712) was an Italian-French astronomer, engineer and astrologer. Cassini was born in Perinaldo in the Republic of Genoa (part of Italy).

paragraphs: Cassini, along with Robert Hooke discovered the Great Red Spot on Jupiter in around 1665. He also discovered the four of Saturn's moons, as well as the Cassini Division in Saturn's rings.


title: Christiaan Huygens

paragraphs: Christiaan Huygens () (April 14, 1629–July 8, 1695) was a Dutch physicist, mathematician and astronomer, born in The Hague. He was noted for his arguments that light was in the form of waves. He discovered Saturn's largest moon Titan in 1655. He also did detailed studies on Saturn's rings, and in 1656, he discovered that they are made up of rocks. He also studies optics and pendulum clock.


title: Hyperion (moon)

paragraphs: Hyperion is a moon of Saturn. It was discovered on September 16, 1848 by William Cranch Bond, George Phillips Bond and William Lassell. It is irregular in shape, and has a sponge-like appearance. It is the second largest irregular (i.e. not spherical) moon in the Solar System, the largest being Proteus. Its rotation is chaotic, meaning its axis of rotation wobbles, unlike how the Earth and the Moon rotate, or any other moon in the Solar System.


title: Iapetus (moon)

paragraphs: Iapetus is a large moon of Saturn. It was discovered by Giovanni Domenico Cassini in 1671.

paragraphs: Iapetus is unusual: one side is very bright and the other side is very dark. This is because one half of the moon is covered in ice and the other side is coated in black, dusty carbon deposits. When Cassini observed the moon, he could only see the moon on one side of Saturn. He concluded that the moon is darker on side than the other, and it was confirmed by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Iapetus also has an equatorial ridge discovered by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft on 31 December 2004. Iapetus has a slow rotation rate, taking 79 Earth days for a rotation.


title: Nadezhda Mandelstam

paragraphs: Nadezhda Yakovlevna Mandelstam, born as "Nadezhda Yakovlevna Hazin", (31 October 1899 in Saratov - 9 December 1980 in Moscow) was a Russian writer and the wife of poet Osip Mandelstam.

paragraphs: She grew up in Kiev, after she studied art.

paragraphs: She married Osip Mandelstam in 1921, and lived in Ukraine, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, and Georgia. Osip wrote a poem about the Russian leader, called "Stalin Epigram". It angered the Russian government, and in 1934 he was arrested, and ordered to live in Cherdyn, Perm region and later to Voronezh. The government of Russia often used internal exile (sending people to live in small towns hundreds of miles from the big cities) instead of sending people to prison. Nadezhda went into exile with Osip.

paragraphs: Osip Mandelstam was released but arrested again in 1938. Before the government could decide where to send him he died in a camp near Vladivostok.

paragraphs: After this Nadezhda Mandelstam never lived in the same place for long, and she often changed jobs. She did this to hide from the NKVD (Russian Secret Police). When she was living in Kalinin the police came to arrest her her, but she had moved to a new house the day before.

paragraphs: She decided to spend her life collecting and publishing all of her husband's poems, and most of the poems she "learned by heart" (memorised).

paragraphs: After Stalin died Nadezhda Mandelstam published he book and was allowed to return to Moscow in 1958.

paragraphs: In 1979 she gave her archives (letters, books and photographs) to Princeton University in the United States of America. Nadezhda Mandelstam died in 1980 in Moscow, aged 81.


title: Andrew Carnegie

paragraphs: Andrew Carnegie (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American businessman. He ran U.S. Steel, a major steel making corporation. When he retired, he was one of the richest men in America. He used his large amounts of money to fund charities. These charities gave money to universities. He had a hall built for himself (called Carnegie Hall), and he also built public libraries (called Carnegie Libraries).

paragraphs: Andrew Carnegie was very charitable in the will he created through the State of New York. In his will, he gave monetary gifts to several funds, institutions, societies, and to Pittsburgh University. He also gave gifts to his employees and family. Carnegie had given away nearly $350, 000, 000 on charities, pensions, schools, libraries, and museums. Carnegie had given all of that amount of money because after a disaster happened outside his company people thought he was a bad person. He thought by giving away all that money people would think he was good.


title: German Bundesrat

paragraphs: The German Bundesrat (commonly referred to as "Bundesrat") is part of the parliament of Germany.

paragraphs: The cabinets of the 16 states of Germany appoint the delegations that represent them in the Bundesrat. They can remove them at any time. Normally, a state delegation is headed by the head of government. The delegation is made up of members of the state government.

paragraphs: Thirteen of the states of Germany (in German: "Bundesländer") have a Minister-Präsident (Prime Minister), the other 3 are city-states which have a Mayor. These prime ministers or mayors each act as chairman of the Bundesrat for one year at a time.

paragraphs: Germany does not have a vice president. Instead if the Bundespräsident (Federal President) cannot do his job the President of the Bundesrat can act in his place if necessary.

paragraphs: Although it is a part of the German Parliament, the Bundesrat does not meet in the same building as the Bundestag. Instead new offices and a modern meeting chamber were built inside the old Prussian House of Lords building.

paragraphs: There are 58 members of the Bundesrat. How many delegates a "land" (state) has depends on its population. The smallest state, Bremen, has three members. North Rhine-Westphalia is the "most populous" (has the most people) "land". It sends six members to the Bundesrat.

paragraphs: The Bundesrat decides most things by "absolute majority" (at least half of the number of members). That is 35 votes. Some important decisions need two-thirds of all of the possible votes. That is 46 votes.

paragraphs: Each "land" votes as a block. This means that Berlin, for example, can only cast four yes votes or four no votes. Its delegates cannot choose to vote in different ways. If a "land" decided to send only one person to the Bundesrat, that person would still have all of the "land's" votes. Usually the Minister President casts all of his "land's" votes, even if the other members are there.

paragraphs: If a "land" has a "coalition government" (that is, a government of two or more political parties) then all parties must agree how to vote in the Bundesrat. In 2002 Brandenburg did not agree how to vote about the Immigration bill. The Federal Constitutional Court said that the bill was not law because Brandenburg's vote could not be included in the total. This meant that the bill did not get a majority in the Bundesrat.

paragraphs: The Minister-President's party is the biggest party of a state's government, and often also the biggest party in a state's parliament.

paragraphs: All of the votes of a state must be cast as a block. If the parties in a coalition do not agree how to vote then the Bundesrat can ignore that state's vote.


title: Minister-President

paragraphs: A minister-president (German: "Ministerpräsident") is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments, who presides over the council of ministers. The title is similar to Prime Minister, First Minister, and President of the Council.

paragraphs: The German word means "president of the ministers"; "Ministers' President" would be a more accurate translation.

paragraphs: This person is the equivalent of a state premier in Australia, a provincial premier in Canada, or the Governor of a state in the USA.

paragraphs: Each year one of the ministers-president, or one of the senior Mayors of the city states of Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen, is the President of the Bundesrat. Because Germany does not have a vice president, The President of the Bundesrat will act as the Federal President if the Federal President dies or is out of the country.


title: Edward Rendell

paragraphs: Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell (born January 5, 1944) is an American politician. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He became governor of Pennsylvania in 2002. He was governor from January 21, 2003 until January 18, 2011.

paragraphs: Rendell was born in New York City to Jewish American parents Jesse T. Rendell and Emma Sloat. He went to the University of Pennsylvania in 1961 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree and later got a Juris Doctor from Villanova Law School in 1968. He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1968 to 1974.


title: Jacques de Morgan

paragraphs: Jacques de Morgan (1857-1924) was a French civil engineer, geologist and archaeologist. He was the head of Antiquities in Egypt in the 19th century. He excavated in Memphis and Dashur, providing many drawings of many Egyptian pyramids.


title: Struthiomimus

paragraphs: Struthiomimus was a long-legged, ostrich-like dinosaur of the ornithomimid family. It lived in what is now Alberta, Canada, during the Upper Cretaceous, about 75 to 65 million years ago.

paragraphs: "Struthiomimus" had a typical build and skeletal structure for an ornithomimid. It only differed from "Ornithomimus" in proportions and anatomical details. It is known from several skeletons and skulls, and its size is estimated as about long and tall at the hips, with a weight of around .

paragraphs: As with other ornithomimids, it had a small slender head on a long neck. The neck made up about 40% of the length of the body in front of the hips. Its eyes were large and its jaws were toothless. Its vertebral column had ten neck vertebrae, thirteen back vertebrae, six hip vertebrae, and about thirty-five tail vertebrae. The tail was stiff and was probably used for balance. It ground food up in its gizzard, and may have been herbivorous or omnivorous.


title: Prehistoric Armenia

paragraphs: The prehistory of Armenia means the first people in the land of Armenia.

paragraphs: The first in Armenia, were by Russian in 1876, brought to light a burial-ground near Dilijan in which were prehistoric (before history) graves. Jacques de Morgan in 1887-89 dug up 576 graves around Alaverdi and Akhatala, on the Tiflis-Alexandropol railway line.


title: Royal Albert Hall

paragraphs: The Albert Hall (official name: Royal Albert Hall of Arts and Sciences), is a large building in the City of Westminster, London. It was opened in 1871, by Queen Victoria. The hall is dedicated to her husband, Albert, Prince Consort, who had died ten years earlier. It is an auditorium where events are held.

paragraphs: The Albert Hall is one of the most famous buildings in the world. Events like concerts for classical music or pop music, ballet, even tennis or boxing matches, or large ceremonies or parties or conferences. In the summer the BBC Proms take place there every day. The Royal Albert Hall has been holding concerts since 1941.

paragraphs: In the early 19th century the whole area was still countryside. In 1851, there was a Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, just next to Kensington Park opposite where the RAH now stands. The exhibition building, called Crystal Palace, was a glass building which was just there for the exhibition. Prince Albert had the idea that public buildings should be built in the area for the arts and sciences. Some huge museums were built, including the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum etc. When Prince Albert died in 1861 this plan had only just got started. The Royal Albert Hall was built and named after him. Queen Victoria laid the first stone.

paragraphs: The Royal Albert Hall is very large. As many as 9,000 people used to get in, but now the safety rules make about 5,500 the usual number. It is round, like an Ancient Greek or Roman amphitheatre. This is why the floor area is called the “arena” (as in an amphitheatre). There is a very large glass and wrought-iron dome. It is 41m high. Round the outside, a little lower than the roof, there is a big mosaic frieze with pictures of "The Triumph of Arts and Sciences" and some writing in terracotta letters. It says that the first stone was laid by Her Majesty Queen Victoria on 20 May 1867 and was opened by her on 29 March 1871. It also has some words from the Bible. When Queen Victoria opened the building she was so emotional that she could not speak. Her son Edward, the Prince of Wales had to say her words for her. He said: "The Queen declares this Hall is now open".

paragraphs: The hall has been used for lots of important events ever since 1871. Many of the seats are still owned by members of a Corporation which was called “the Corporation of the Hall of Arts and Sciences”. This group had been formed in 1866 as a charity to get money to build the hall. Its members still have a right to occupy 1,300 of the 5,200 seats.

paragraphs: There was a problem with the sound because there was too much echo. It was not until 1969 that something was done about it. Big fibreglass dishes were hung from the ceiling. People who go to the RAH today call them “mushrooms” or sometimes “flying saucers”. They make music sound much better.

paragraphs: There is a very large organ at the front of the hall. It was built by an organ maker called Henry Willis and was later rebuilt by Harrison & Harrison and most recently by Mander Organs; It is the biggest organ in the British Isles with 9,997 pipes.

paragraphs: The Promenade Concerts which were started by Henry Wood in 1895 have taken place in the RAH ever since 1941 when the Queen's Hall was destroyed by bombs in World War II. For two months there is at least one concert every day, and people can be seen queuing for standing tickets all the way down the steps towards Prince Consort Road.

paragraphs: People who go to the proms today can choose between standing in the arena (the flat area downstairs), or sitting in the stalls (the seats around the side of the arena), or sitting in the Loggia Boxes, Second Tier Boxes, Circle (upstairs), Choir (where the choir sit if there is one, i.e. behind the orchestra) or standing in the gallery (at the very top). For some events such as tennis matches or ballets or operas the action takes place in the arena, so audience do not sit or stand there.

paragraphs: During the last few years a lot of money has been spent on improving the Royal Albert Hall. The 1,800 seats in the balcony (now called the “Circle”) were very uncomfortable, so new seats were put in which are slightly bigger. The south entrance has been made into the main entrance (as it was years ago), with a porch to match the north entrance. The area south of the hall has been blocked off to traffic and pedestrianised. Dressing rooms (where artists change) are now on stage level instead of down in a basement. There is an underground car park and loading area so that lorries bringing things do not need to unload in the street and get in the way of the people. Lots of other improvements have been made, including better ventilation.


title: Home run

paragraphs: A home run, abbreviated HR, is a term in baseball for when the batter hits the ball and touches all the bases without an error being made by the team on defense. The most common way for a batter to hit a home run is to hit the ball over the outfield fence in fair territory. If the ball goes over the outfield fence but it is ruled a "foul ball", it does not count as a home run. Another way for a batter to hit a home run is to hit what is called an "inside-the-park" home run. If the batter touches all four bases after he hits the ball and it stays on the field, he scores a home run. This is an inside-the-park home run as long as no error is committed by the fielding team on the play.

paragraphs: In the early days of Major League Baseball, a home run was not awarded to a ball hit over the fence to win the game if the winning run scored before the batter-runner were to reach home plate to score. Therefore, what would otherwise be walk-off home runs were not commonplace, and players were often robbed of home runs. Due to this, for instance, Babe Ruth is not credited with a particular walk-off home run that would bring his career total to 715.


title: City-state

paragraphs: A city-state is a city that has its own sovereignty, meaning that it is its own country. There were many important city-states in ancient Greece. Nowadays, cities may have differing degrees of self-governance. In order to be considered a city-state, a city must govern itself independently, by regulating its own taxes, or having independent representation at the United Nations.

paragraphs: Singapore was a British colony till 1959. In 1959, it achieved autonomy in internal matters. Between 1963 and 1965, it was part of Malaysia. Singapore was removed from Malaysia on 9 August 1965 and became independent.

paragraphs: The second smallest country in the world, Monaco is entirely urban, because all its territory of only 2 square kilometers is built-up.

paragraphs: The smallest country in the world was created in 1929. The Vatican City is an enclave completely surrounded by the city of Rome, Italy, and is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church.


U.S. Open


title: World Cup

paragraphs: World Cup could mean one of these sporting events


title: Styracosaurus

paragraphs: Styracosaurus was a genus of herbivorous ceratopsian dinosaur from the Upper Cretaceous, about 76.5 to 75 million years ago.


title: School colors

paragraphs: School colors are the colors representing the school of which one goes to.

paragraphs: School colors are often found in pairs and rarely no more than trios, though some professional teams use up to four colors in a set. The choice of colors usually follows the rule of tincture from heraldry, but exceptions to this rule are known.

paragraphs: Common primary colors include orange, purple, blue, red, and green. These colors are either paired with a color representing a metal (often black, brown, gray (or silver), white, or gold), or occasionally each other, such as orange/blue, red/green, or blue/yellow. Pairing two metals, such as black/white, silver or gold, and especially black/gold, is also a common practice. Finally, some American schools, in a display of patriotism, adopt the national colors of red/white/blue.

paragraphs: In an effort to further establish identity and promote a standard, many institutions often decree the use of specific shades of colors. Maroon, generally regarded as a darker shade of red, is a common primary color. Various shades of blue, from powder to Prussian, are also in use; a few schools have adopted two different shades of blue for their colors, with the darker shade serving as the primary. The shade of gold can vary greatly even within an institution, from a vivid yellow to a more convincing old gold.

paragraphs: Black, white and gray are often used as neutral colors for sets that do not otherwise adopt them. This practice is especially notable in basketball (where home uniforms are often white) and professional baseball (where team colors are often used as trim for white or gray uniforms).

paragraphs: Most competitive teams keep two sets of uniforms, with one design emphasizing the primary color and the other emphasizing the secondary color. In some sports, such as football, the primary color is emphasized on home uniforms, while uniforms for other sports, notably basketball, use the secondary or a neutral color at home. This is done to avoid confusion when playing a team with similar colors.

paragraphs: In addition, various groups that generate support for athletic teams, including cheerleaders and marching bands, wear uniforms with the colors of their school.

paragraphs: At many private schools 'school colours' are awards presented for achievement in a subject or a sport - See Sporting Colours.


title: Hebrew calendar

paragraphs: The Hebrew calendar or Jewish calendar is the calendar used in Judaism. It is used to set the dates of the Jewish holidays and the weekly public reading of the Torah. It is used to set the date for a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah, the day a young person is considered an adult in Judaism. It sets the "Yahrzeit," the anniversary of the death of a relative. The daily Jewish prayer service changes depending on the day of the Hebrew calendar.

paragraphs: The Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar which depends on both the moon and the sun. Months of the Hebrew calendar are based on the appearance of the new moon. At the same time, the holiday of Passover must be in the spring. For this reason, years of the Hebrew calendar are based on the sun.

paragraphs: One solar (sun-based) year lasts about 365 days, but twelve lunar (moon-based) months only last about 354 days. For this reason, the Hebrew calendar adds an extra lunar month seven times in each cycle of 19 years. This rule makes the average Hebrew calendar year about the same length as a solar year, 365 days.

paragraphs: The seven-day week is used to figure out the day for Shabbat, the day of rest. The week does not depend on the solar year or lunar month. Instead, it depends on a count of seven days that is believed to go back to ancient times. The week is also an important part of the Hebrew calendar.

paragraphs: According to the Book of Exodus, Jews have been using a lunisolar calendar since the time they left Egypt. The first commandment the Jewish people received as a nation was the commandment to determine the New Moon. Very soon after that, the Jews received the commandment to make sure that Passover falls in the spring.

paragraphs: In the Tanakh (the Hebrew Bible), the months are usually numbered rather than named. (See table below.) Only four month names appear in the Tanakh from before the Babylonian Exile (see table). The month names of the modern Hebrew calendar were taken from the month names in the Babylonian calendar during the Babylonian Exile (6th century BCE).

paragraphs: At first, a new month began when witnesses came to the Sanhedrin (high rabbinical court) and testified that they saw the new crescent moon in the sky. The Sanhedrin also decided when an extra month should be added to the calendar to keep Passover in the spring. (See Metonic cycle.) After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, it became harder for the Sanhedrin to meet and hear witnesses. For that reason, the Sanhedrin established a fixed, rule-based form of the calendar. Maimonides fully described the modern Hebrew calendar around the year 1178 CE.

paragraphs: In the modern Hebrew calendar, years are counted as "Anno Mundi" (Latin for "year of the world"). This represents the traditional count of years since the creation of the world as described in Genesis. This year is "anno mundi" .

paragraphs: In the small Karaite Judaism community, the calendar is very similar. However, Karaites use witnesses to set the date of the new crescent moon. They still use the ripening of barley to decide whether to add an extra month to the year. For those reasons, the Karaite calendar can be slightly different from the main Jewish calendar.

paragraphs: In the Hebrew calendar, the meaning of "day" is taken from the Hebrew Bible: "And there was evening, and there was morning, one day". Because "evening" comes before "morning", a "day" in the Hebrew calendar starts in the evening. For many purposes, the "day" in the Hebrew calendar begins at sunset. But when it is important to make sure the previous day is completely over, the day begins at nightfall.

paragraphs: People who print calendars, or who write calendar programs for computers, ignore that rule. They treat the Hebrew calendar date and the Gregorian calendar date that has the same midnight as being the same day. They assume that people reading a Hebrew calendar know the sundown rule. Whenever a holiday, birthday or anniversary appears on a printed calendar, it actually begins on the day before, at sundown.

paragraphs: In the Hebrew calendar, every seventh day is Shabbat, the day of rest. The "week" is the cycle of counting out each set of seven days ending in Shabbat. The week is not affected by any other calendar calculation. In Hebrew, the only name for the first six days of the week is a counting name: "First day", "Second day", etc. The only day of the week with a special name is the seventh day—Shabbat. (See table above.)

paragraphs: The calculation of the Hebrew calendar year and month start with the "molad". "Molad" is a Hebrew word meaning "birth". The word refers to the "birth" of the new moon each month. The modern Hebrew calendar uses a calculated "molad:" the "average" length of the cycle from new moon to new moon over many years. The length of the molad is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, seconds.

paragraphs: A year of 12 lunar months would be 354 days long; but a Hebrew calendar year must be a solar year—about 365 days long. Also, a Hebrew calendar year must have either 12 months or 13 months. It is not allowed to have "part" of a month, so a thirteenth month is added seven times in every cycle of nineteen years. This is an adaptation of the Metonic cycle, a calendar cycle that was well known in ancient times. By convention, the Hebrew calendar adds the extra month during years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17 and 19 of the cycle.

paragraphs: Hebrew calendar months are supposed to be lunar months. For that reason, the calculation of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, starts with the "molad" for the month of Tishrei. Starting from there, the calendar rules allow two main reasons to delay Rosh Hashanah by one or more days:

paragraphs: Once the dates for this year's and next year's Rosh Hashanahs are known, calculating the calendar in between is easy.

paragraphs: The length of a "molad" is just a little over days. Since a month must have a whole number of days, calculating the calendar starts with alternating months of 30 and 29 days. This gives an average of days and a 12-month total of 354 days. Starting from there, the month lengths are changed as follows:

paragraphs: The first day of the Hebrew calendar month, known as "Rosh Hodesh" (), is always close to the astronomical new moon. It often is not exactly on the astronomical new moon. There are two reasons for that:

paragraphs: "The English of these sites may not be Simple English."


title: Moldavia

paragraphs: Moldavia (Romanian: "Moldova") is a region in Eastern Europe. It existed from the 14th century to 1859, when it became one with Wallachia as the basis of the modern Romanian state; at various times, it included the regions of Bessarabia (with the Budjak) and much of Bukovina. The bigger part of Bessarabia is currently the independent state of Moldova, while the rest of it and the northern part of Bukovina are territories of Ukraine.