title: Die Walküre

paragraphs: Die Walküre ("The Valkyrie") is an opera by Richard Wagner. It is the second of the four operas that together tell a story called "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("The Ring of the Nibelung"). The story continues from the first opera which was called "Das Rheingold". It is a very beautiful piece.

paragraphs: "Die Walküre" was first performed on 26 June 1870 in Munich. The first performance that was part of the whole Ring cycle took place on 14 August 1876.

paragraphs: The opera starts with a storm. The young man Siegmund is out in the storm and comes to a house. The house belongs to Hunding who lives there with his wife Sieglinde. An ash tree is growing in the middle of the house. Siegmund and Sieglinde are twins who were separated as children, so neither of them knows who the other one is. Their father is Wotan, the chief god, but they don’t know this either. Their mother was a mortal (an ordinary person, not a goddess) or perhaps a she-wolf, which is how the goddess Fricka refers to her.

paragraphs: Sieglinde lets Siegmund into the house and gives him a drink of mead. They start to fall in love. Hunding arrives and asks Siegmund who he is. Siegmund says that his name ought to be Woeful because he has had an unhappy life. When he was small he came home once and found his house burned down, his mother murdered and his twin sister had been abducted (taken away). He then remembers that some years later he went to help a young lady who had been forced to marry a cruel man. He had killed some of the man’s friends. Hunding realizes that he himself was this man, so that he is Siegmund’s enemy. He says to Siegmund that he can sleep in his house tonight because this is a law of hospitality, but in the morning he will have to fight him.

paragraphs: Sieglinde goes to prepare a drink for her husband. She puts a drug in it which will make Hunding sleep deeply. Siegmund meanwhile is thinking about something his father had promised him. He had told him that he would thrust a magic sword called “Nothung” into a tree. No one would get that sword until, one day, when Siegmund found himself in great difficulty, he would be able to pull it from the tree and use it.

paragraphs: Sieglinde enters and tells Siegmund a story about how, on the day she was forced to marry Hunding, an old man had come into the house and thrust a sword into the ash tree in the middle of the room. They start to realize that they are brother and sister, but it does not stop them from falling in love and they sing passionately about their love for one another. Siegmund pulls the sword from the tree and the two lovers embrace.

paragraphs: Wotan is the chief god, whom we heard in "Das Rheingold". He is trying to get rid of the curse of the Rheingold, and has built a grand plan around Siegmund. Wotan tells his daughter Brünnhilde that she must make sure that Siegmund wins the fight with Hunding. Brünnhilde (the out-of-wedlock daughter of Wotan and Erda, the Earth-Mother goddess) has the power to do this. She is one of eight daughters of Wotan who are Valkyries (German: Walküren). Their job is to collect the dead bodies of brave heroes who have died in battle and take them back to Valhalla, the house of the gods.

paragraphs: Wotan’s wife Fricka arrives in a chariot pulled by a ram. Brünnhilde disappears, and there follows a big argument between husband and wife. Fricka says to Wotan that Siegmund and Sieglinde must be punished for breaking Hunding's marriage, and for loving one another because brothers and sisters are not allowed to be lovers (this is called “incest”). She says that she herself is the goddess of marriage and must make sure that marriage laws are obeyed. Fricka says that the gods will all be disgraced. Wotan says that he went to the world to have children with mortal women because the gods needed a race of heroes who would protect them. But Fricka says to Wotan that he is wrong: Siegmund cannot be a free hero if he is being protected by Wotan. Giving in, Wotan now tells Brünnhilde that she must leave Siegmund to his fate.

paragraphs: Sieglinde tells Siegmund that she feels guilty and that he ought to leave her, but they are desperately in love. When she hears Hunding’s horn she imagines that Siegmund will be torn apart by the dogs and she faints. Brünnhilde pities Siegmund. She tells Siegmund that he must follow her to Valhalla. When Siegmund asks whether he can take Sieglinde with her Brünnhilde says that he cannot do this. Siegmund refuses to go. Brünnhilde tells him that he cannot escape his fate. Siegmund continues to plead with Brünnhilde, and in the end she is so moved that she changes her mind. She breaks Wotan's order, and says that she will protect Siegmund in battle. Hunding appears and the two men fight. Brünnhilde protects Siegmund with her shield. Siegmund is nearly winning when suddenly Wotan appears and smashes Siegmund’s sword into pieces. Hunding kills Siegmund.

paragraphs: The other Valkyries are wondering where Brünnhilde is. They see her coming on her horse, but instead of a hero she is carrying a woman (it is Sieglinde). The Valkyries are angry with Brünnhilde because she disobeyed Wotan. Sieglinde wants to die, but when she is told that she has a baby in her womb she asks Brünnhilde to save her. She escapes into the forest with bits of Siegmund’s sword. One day the baby she is now bearing will grow up, become a hero, and use the bits to make another sword.

paragraphs: Wotan goes to the Valkyries. He is furious with Brünnhilde because she disobeyed him. He punishes her. He tells her that she is no longer a Valkyrie. She will fall asleep on a rock and any man who finds her can have her. Brünnhilde pleads with Wotan. She asks him whether he could, at least, put a fire round her so that the only man who could get her would be a hero. In the end Wotan agrees. Loge, the god of fire, arrives and lights the fire. At the end of the opera Brünnhilde is asleep on the rock, surrounded by the fire. There she will stay until, one day, a hero comes to rescue her.

paragraphs: The music contains many wonderful moments. The most famous bit is the beginning of Act Three where the Valkyries are riding on their horses. This music is known as "The Ride of the Valkyries". It is very dramatic music. The very beginning of Act One is also very dramatic. The music describes a storm. The orchestra is a very large one, including special tubas which are known as “Wagner tubas”. There are no separate arias in these operas: all the sections flows into one another. Sometimes a character has a section when they are telling a story. There are beautiful sections like the one in Act One where Siegmund is remembering about his father and the sword, or the love music between Siegmund and Sieglinde. By using leitmotifs (music which goes with certain ideas or characters) he gets many subtle effects. When Siegmund looks at the ash tree we hear the sword motive because the sword is in the tree, although at that moment he does not know about it. We also hear Wotan’s theme when Siegmund talks about his father. We (the listener) know who his father is, but Siegmund does not. The music tells us lots of things that the characters in the story may not understand. This makes the music very powerful and exciting.


title: Siegfried (opera)

paragraphs: Siegfried is an opera by Richard Wagner. It is the third of the four operas that together tell a story called "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("The Ring of the Nibelung"). The story continues from the end of the second opera which was called "Die Walküre".

paragraphs: The first performance of "Siegfried" took place when the whole Ring cycle (all four operas) were performed in the Festspielhaus in Bayreuth on 16 August 1876.

paragraphs: The first part of the opera takes place in a forest where the giant Fafner lives. He has used the magic tarn helmet to change himself into a dragon so that he can guard the treasure of the gold and the ring (we saw how he got the treasure in the first opera, "Das Rheingold"). Siegfried, who was not yet born at the end of the second opera, "Die Walküre", is now a young lad. He has been brought up by the dwarf Mime, Alberich's brother. Mime is just as horrible as his brother.

paragraphs: Mime is hammering away at the anvil, trying to repair the sword that was smashed to pieces by Wotan in Act Two of "Die Walküre". He wants to make the bits into a strong sword, but every time he thinks he has managed it Siegfried picks up the sword and breaks it with his strength. The reason that Mime wants to make the sword is so that he can give it to Siegfried (who is obviously the hero who is meant to have the sword in the end) and tell him to fight the dragon. Then Mime will be able to get the ring from him so that he can have power over all the world. When Siegfried enters he brings a bear from the forest. The bear chases Mime and Siegfried laughs. Then he lets the bear go free.

paragraphs: Mime says to Siegfried that he should be thankful to him for looking after him as a child and bringing him up. He has never told Siegfried who his parents were (they were Siegmund and Sieglinde, both now dead). Siegfried does not understand anything about how babies are born. He has never seen a woman before. He only knows Mime who is pretending to be his father. Siegfried has noticed that young birds look like their parents and he asks Mime why he does not look like him. In the end Mime is forced to tell Siegfried about his parents and about the sword that was smashed by Wotan. Siegfried tells Mime to forge (make) the sword so that he can kill the dragon. Siegfried goes off.

paragraphs: Wotan, the chief god, appears. He is disguised as a wanderer. Mime says he wants to ask him three questions, and if he cannot answer them he can chop off his head. Wotan agrees. First Mime asks him the name of the race of people who live below the earth. Wotan says they are the Nibelungs. Then Mime asks who are the people who live on the earth’s surface. Wotan says they are the giants. Then he asks him who lives in the sky. Wotan says they are the gods. He has answered all three questions correctly. He now tells Mime it is his turn to ask Mime three questions which he must answer if he wants to keep his head. Mime is terrified, but has to agree.

paragraphs: First Wotan asks him who are the people whom Wotan loves a lot although he has to be harsh with them. Mime answers: the Wälsung race. Then Wotan asks him the name of the sword that Wotan left for Siegfried. Mime answers: Nothung. Finally Wotan asks him who can put the pieces of the sword together. Mime is now terrified because he does not know the answer. Wotan tells him the answer: it is the person who does not know fear. He says to Mime that he can keep his head for the moment. He will leave it to the fearless person to chop it off later.

paragraphs: When Mime and Siegfried are together again, Mime tries to frighten Siegfried so that he knows what fear is. He tells him all about the huge dragon in the cave. "Does that not frighten you?" he asks him. "Not a bit" answers Siegfried, who likes the thought of fighting a dragon. Siegfried works at the anvil and starts to make the sword. Mime is thinking of how he will trick Siegfried after the dragon has been killed, so that he can get the sword and kill Siegfried. At last Siegfried manages to make the mighty sword. He calls out its name: "Nothung"! Then he crashes the sword down on the anvil which splits into two pieces.

paragraphs: Outside the dragon’s cave Wotan, still disguised as a wanderer, meets Alberich (Mime’s brother who has not been in the story since the first opera). Alberich hates Wotan for having snatched the ring from him. Wotan does not care, and even wakes the dragon up, but the dragon does not want to fight them.

paragraphs: Mime and Siegfried appear. Siegfried is not frightened at all. He just wants to know where the dragon’s heart is so that he can kill it. Mime leaves him alone. Siegfried sits down in the forest and thinks. He is glad to know now that the ugly Mime is not his father. He hears a bird singing and he tries to imitate the bird’s song with a pipe he has made from a reed. He blows his horn and the dragon appears. Siegfried plunges the sword into the dragon’s heart. Siegfried instinctively puts his hand in the dragon’s mouth and tastes its blood. Suddenly he can understand what the bird is saying. The bird (originally sung by a boy but normally now by a woman) tells him to take the ring and the tarn helmet (which allows the wearer to change shape or make himself invisible). He takes them.

paragraphs: Mime and Alberich appear. They are arguing about who shall have the ring and the tarn helmet. Siegfried appears with both. Mime offers Siegfried a drink which is drugged. The bird warns Siegfried not to drink it. Siegfried kills Mime by chopping his head off with the sword. The bird then tells Siegfried about his beautiful bride Brünnhilde who is lying on a rock, protected by fire, waiting to be rescued by him.

paragraphs: Erda, the wise Earth Goddess, tells Wotan about the Norns who are weaving the rope of destiny. She is surprised to hear how Wotan has punished Brünnhilde. Wotan says he now looks forward to the end of the gods, and wants Siegfried to take his place.

paragraphs: Siegfried arrives. He tells Wotan (who is a stranger to him) about his heroic deed with the dragon. He finds Wotan annoying and smashes Wotan’s sword. He goes to the rock where Brünnhilde is lying.

paragraphs: Siegfried bursts through the flames and finds the sleeping Brünnhilde. He gently takes off her helmet, then her breastplate. Suddenly he sees that she is a woman. He has never seen a woman before. For the first time in his life he is frightened, yet he very much wants to wake her up. He kisses her lips and she opens her eyes and sits up. She tells him that she has always loved him, even long before he was born. Siegfried feels his passion growing and tries to put his arms round her, but now it is Brünnhilde who is frightened. She tells him not to spoil the purity of their love. Finally they embrace.

paragraphs: It took Wagner more than 15 years to write this opera which is one reason why the music of Act Three is slightly different in style. Some ideas from the love music of Siegfried and Brünnhilde were later re-used by Wagner in a separate orchestral piece, called the "Siegfried Idyll". Many of the leitmotifs (musical ideas that belong to particular characters or ideas) are ones that were heard in the "Das Rheingold" or "Die Walküre". One unusual instrument in the orchestra is the anvil. It is played when Mime, and later Siegfried, are hammering on the anvil trying to forge the pieces of the sword together. The rhythm of this music is the same rhythm heard earlier in the Nibelung scene in "Das Rheingold".

paragraphs: When Wagner started working on the opera he called it "Der junge Siegfried" ("The young Siegfried") but by 1856 he had changed the title to "Siegfried".

paragraphs: The German word “Sieg” means “victory” and “Fried” or “Friede” means “peace”. It is a good name for a hero. The role of Siegfried is sung by a tenor. The singer needs a very strong voice, often called a “Heldentenor” in German (a “heroic tenor”). He is on stage for most of the opera which lasts about four hours.


title: Götterdämmerung

paragraphs: Götterdämmerung is an opera by Richard Wagner. It is the fourth and last of the cycle of operas that together tell a story called "Der Ring des Nibelungen" ("The Ring of the Nibelung"). The story continues from the end of the third opera which was called "Siegfried". "Götterdämmerung" is the German name for "Ragnarök".

paragraphs: "Götterdämmerung" is the longest of the four operas. It takes about five hours to perform. It consists of a prologue and three acts. Wagner finished composing the opera in the autumn of 1874. It was first performed on 17 August 1876 as part of the complete Ring cycle.

paragraphs: The three Norns, daughters of Erda the Earth Goddess, are spinning the rope of destiny. This rope is a symbol of what has to happen in the end. They take it in turns to tell the story of the past, spinning as they sing and passing on the rope to the next one. The first Norn tells how Wotan went to drink from the Well of Wisdom for which he lost an eye. He then cut a spear from a tree which then died. The second Norn tells how a young hero broke Wotan’s spear and how the gods were sent from Valhalla to chop down the World Ash. The third Norn tells how the logs from the ash tree have been piled round Valhalla ready for a fire that will burn everything. The Norns have visions of the future. The rope breaks. The Norns disappear into the earth.

paragraphs: Brünnhilde and Siegfried come out of a cave by the rock where they were left at the end of the third opera. Siegfried has to go off to do heroic deeds. He gives Brünnhilde the ring as a token of his love for her. She gives him her horse which is called Grane (pronounce: GRAH-ne). Siegfried travels down the river Rhine.

paragraphs: Act One takes place in the Hall of the Gibichung palace. Gunther is the chief of the Gibichungs. His half-brother Hagen tells him he would look more important if he got married. He also says that Gunther’s sister Gutrune ought to get married. He tells him about Brünnhilde who, he thinks, is still asleep on the rock surrounded by fire that no one except Siegfried would be able to get through. He says that if they manage to get Siegfried to marry Gutrune, then she could persuade him to go and catch Brünnhilde for Gunther. He says that they could give Siegfried a potion (a special drink) which would make him forget that he loved Brünnhilde.

paragraphs: They hear Siegfried’s horn outside and the great hero arrives. Siegfried asks Hagen whether he knows him. Of course, Hagen does. Siegfried is carrying the magic tarn helmet which allows a person to change their shape or become invisible. Siegfried, however, does not know what the tarn helmet can do, and Hagen has to explain it to him. Gutrune appears and offers Siegfried a drink. It is the potion which is going to make him forget any other woman. He drinks to the health of Brünnhilde. As soon as he has drunk it he looks at Gutrune and is in love with her. He agrees to marry her, and he agrees to get a wife for Gunther. Hagen tells him about Brünnhilde on the rock. Siegfried has forgotten about her. He agrees to put on the tarn helmet and disguise himself as Gunther and to go and get Brünnhilde. He goes off, leaving Hagen guarding the palace.

paragraphs: The next scene takes place on the top of the Valkyrie rock. Her sister Waltraute arrives on a flying horse. She says that Wotan (their father, the chief God) returned to Valhalla with his spear broken. She says he told the gods to pile up the logs from the World Ash for a fire which will burn everything. Wotan desperately wants the ring to be given back to the Rhine Maidens (who were guardians of the gold, from which the ring was forged, in the first opera). Brünnhilde refuses to give her the ring that Siegfried had given her as a token of their love. Waltraute disappears.

paragraphs: After the weather calms the flames flicker again. Siegfried arrives, disguised as Gunther. Brünnhilde is horrified to see a person she thinks is a stranger. Siegfried says she is his bride, forces the ring from her finger and drags her into a cave for the night, although placing the sword between them.

paragraphs: Back at the palace Alberich tries to persuade his son Hagen to get the ring. Hagen wants to get the ring, but only for himself. Siegfried arrives. He no longer wears the tarn helmet so he looks like himself. Hagen blows his horn to call his vassals (soldiers) for a celebration. Gunther is to marry Brünnhilde and Siegfried is to marry Gutrune. Brünnhilde cannot understand why Siegfried is doing this. She sees the ring on his finger and asks him how he got it, as she thinks Gunther snatched it from her. Siegfried says that he won it by killing a dragon. He tells people how he tricked Brünnhilde and swears that a sword lay between them during the night, although Brünnhilde tries to make people think otherwise.

paragraphs: Brünnhilde is left alone with Gunther and Hagen. She tells them that, although Siegfried is so strong and impossible to kill in battle, he has one weak spot on his back. Gunther does not like the idea of having Siegfried killed, but Hagen promises him that he can then have the ring. They decide to kill Siegfried and to tell Gutrune that he was killed by a wild boar.

paragraphs: The last act takes place in a wild forest. Siegfried’s hunting horn is heard, and then the hunting horn of the Gibichungs. By the river Siegfried happens to meet the Rhine Maidens and teases them by showing them the ring, but does not let them have it. They tell him about the curse on the ring but Siegfried does not believe them. He meets Hagen. They drink together. Siegfried tells the men all about his life, how he was brought up by Mime, about the sword, the dragon and the bird singing. Then he cannot remember any more. Hagen gives him another drugged drink which makes him start to remember what actually happened. He remembers Brünnhilde and how he found her surrounded by fire. He gradually realizes how he has been tricked and feels unbearable sadness. Two ravens fly overhead and Hagen plunges his spear into Siegfried’s back. He dies while speaking the name of Brünnhilde. His body is carried off to a funeral march.

paragraphs: Back at the palace his body is brought in. Gutrune accuses Gunther of murdering him, but Gunther says Hagen did it. Hagen says he did it because Siegfried, when disguised as Gunther, had slept with Brünnhilde. He tries to snatch the ring from the dead Siegfried’s finger, Gunther tries to stop him but is murdered by Hagen. He tries again to snatch the ring but to everybody’s horror the arm of the dead hero rises in the air.

paragraphs: Brünnhilde enters and tells everyone how she promised Siegfried her love. Gutrune curses Hagen and falls onto her brother’s dead body. Brünnhilde orders a funeral pyre (a fire) to be prepared. She sings to Wotan that Siegfried is now at peace in death and that she understands more now. She takes the ring and promises to return it to the Rhine Maidens. She lights the fire which flares up and she rides on her horse Grane into the flames. The whole building catches fire, the Rhine overflows. Hagen jumps into the water trying to get the ring from the Rhine Maidens who drown him. The flood dies down and Valhalla (the gods’ palace) is lit up by the fire. The gods and the heroes die in the flames. The Twilight of the Gods has now happened.

paragraphs: The music of this long opera is extremely cleverly linked so that musical ideas flow into one another and combine to comment on the drama. Many of the themes have been heard in the other three operas. It is a very exhausting opera to sing, especially for Brünnhilde. There are usually two long intervals during a performance. The orchestra is very large and includes eight harps.


title: Der Ring des Nibelungen

paragraphs: Der Ring des Nibelungen ("The Ring of the Nibelung" (Alberich)) is a cycle of four operas by Richard Wagner.

paragraphs: The story of each opera can be found in the separate articles.

paragraphs: Sometimes it is known as a “tetralogy” meaning: four works that belong together.

paragraphs: Wagner took the story of the operas from a book called the "Nibelungenlied" (the "Nibelung Song") which was written in the 12th century by a German poet. We do not know the name of the poet. The story is about the ancient gods from German mythology.

paragraphs: Wagner made a lot of changes to the story in order to make it suitable for his four operas. Wagner’s story tells of a hoard of gold which is being guarded by the Rhinemaidens. The dwarf Alberich steals the gold and uses some of it to make a ring which makes the owner powerful over all the world. When Wotan, the chief god, steals it from him, Alberich puts a curse on the ring. The ring will bring death to whoever has it. The ring goes through the hands of several characters, all of whom die in the end.

paragraphs: Alberich belongs to a race of dwarfs called the “Nibelungs”. The word “Nibelungen” in the title of the cycle: "Der Ring des Nibelungen" (“The Ring of the Nibelung”), refers to Alberich (it is singular, not plural).

paragraphs: The story of Wagner’s Ring cycle sounds quite fantastic and strange, like a fairy tale. Although the characters seems very different from real people, the story tells us all about basic human emotions. It is a story about greed, love, lust, intrigue etc. This is what makes it so powerful.

paragraphs: Wagner’s music matches each character and situation beautifully. It develops continuously: there are no breaks in the music during the acts. Wagner used what he called leitmotifs (leading motives). These are tunes or chords or little musical phrases which are linked to particular people in the opera. In this way he can hint at things very cleverly in the music. For example: there is a leitmotiv for the curse. Whenever we hear this curse motive we know that the curse of the ring is working.

paragraphs: Wagner spent about twenty years writing the Ring cycle. He started in the 1850s when he was living in Switzerland. He wrote all the libretto (the words) himself, as he always did for his operas. By 1857 he had finished the first two operas and two thirds of "Siegfried". It was many years later that he finally finished "Siegfried" and wrote the final opera as well.

paragraphs: Wagner wanted to have the Ring cycle performed in a special opera house which would be built in the way he wanted. He needed a lot of money for his ideas, and he was very lucky to find someone who adored his music and was happy to give him a lot of money. This was King Ludwig II of Bavaria (sometimes called the “mad king of Bavaria” because he did become insane). Wagner told the King that the Ring cycle would be performed in Munich which was the capital city of Bavaria. Later, when it seemed impossible to build a new opera house there, Wagner broke his promise and built his opera house in Bayreuth instead. The King did not seem to mind and still gave him lots of money for the project as well as a nice house to live in. "Das Rheingold" was first performed in Munich in 1869 and "Die Walküre" in 1870. The whole Ring cycle was first performed in 1876 in the new opera house called the "Festspielhaus" in Bayreuth.


title: Väki

paragraphs: In Finnish mythology, Väki means races of Haltijas (Finnish elves) and their magical powers. Different things in nature had their own väki guarding them. For example, Väki of water lived in and protected water. Väki is the name of both the magical power and Haltijas. Väki could sometimes be seen. They looked like little man-like creatures. Sometimes Väki went inside people and made people ill. Väki makes people ill if they behave badly in their kingdom. For example, if someone shouted in a forest without reason then the Väki of forest may make then ill. Shaman could heal these illnesses by telling the väki to leave the person and go back to its original place.

paragraphs: The other version of väki refers to the realm of the dead. Väki was the anonymous pack of dead people. Once they (väki) had been our beloved ones, relatives etc. but after spending some time in the afterlife they had been become unknown masses of dead creatures without any personal markings.


title: Sudetenland

paragraphs: The Sudetenland was a mountainous area of Czechoslovakia. The name comes from the Sudetes, a mountain range, but it was also used for other places in Bohemia in which mostly-German people lived. They wanted their homes to be part of Germany, not Czechoslovakia. Nazi Germany took Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia in 1938, which contributed to the start of World War II.


title: Coral (color)

paragraphs: Coral is a reddish or pinkish shade of orange. The color is named after the sea animal also called corals.

paragraphs: The first written use of "coral" as a color name in English was in 1513.


title: Crimson

paragraphs: Crimson is reddish magenta color between red and rose on the color wheel. You can make it by combining a strong, bright deep red with a little blue. It is originally the color of the dye produced from the dried bodies of a scale insect, "Kermes vermilio".

paragraphs: The word "crimson" has been in written use in the English since 1400,


title: Rose (color)

paragraphs: Rose is the color halfway between red and magenta on the color wheel. It represents the color of the rose flower.

paragraphs: The first recorded use of "rose" as a color name in English was in 1382.


title: Maroon (color)

paragraphs: The word "maroon" comes from the French word "marron" which means "chestnut".

paragraphs: The first recorded use of "maroon" as a color name in English was in 1789.


title: Ochre

paragraphs: Ochre or Ocher is a golden-yellow or light yellowish brown colour. The word is from the Greek "ochros", meaning "yellow". Ochre is natural earth pigment containing hydrated iron oxide.

paragraphs: The use of ochre is particularly intensive: it is not unusual to find a layer of the cave floor impregnated with a purplish red to a depth of eight inches. The size of these ochre deposits raises a problem not yet solved. The colouring is so intense that practically all the loose ground seems to consist of ochre. One can imagine that the Aurignacians regularly painted their bodies red, dyed their animal skins, coated their weapons, and sprinkled the ground of their dwellings, and that a paste of ochre was used for decorative purposes in every phase of their domestic life. We must assume no less, if we are to account for the veritable mines of ochre on which some of them lived.


title: Teal (color)

paragraphs: Teal is a deep blue-green color; a dark cyan.

paragraphs: "Teal" gets its name from the colored area around the eyes of the common teal, a member of the duck family.

paragraphs: The first written use of "Teal" as a color name in English was in 1917.


title: Lime (color)

paragraphs: Lime is a yellowish green color. It is the color that is half way between the color chartreuse green and yellow on the color wheel. The color "lime" is named after the fruit, lime.

paragraphs: The official web color named "lime" actually corresponds to pure green on an RGB display. "Lime green" is the color of the outer skin of a lime. "Lime pulp" is the color of the inside of a lime and of "limeade", a fruit drink that is made from limes.

paragraphs: The first recorded use of "lime" as a color name in English was in 1905.


title: Jochen Rindt

paragraphs: Karl Jochen Rindt (born April 18 1942 in Mainz, Germany – died September 5 1970 in Monza) was a German racing driver who represented Austria during his career. In 1970, he won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, but died in a crash in Monza. He was the only driver to win the championship after he died.

paragraphs: In 1965 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.


title: Claudio Arrau

paragraphs: Claudio Arrau León (February 6, 1903 - June 9, 1991) was a Chilean classical pianist and one of the greatest classical pianists of the 20th century.

paragraphs: Arrau started to play the piano as a boy and was giving concerts at the age of 5. The Chilean government heard of the child prodigy and quickly organized to have him sent to Germany to study with the best music teachers. At the age of 7 Arrau started serious study of music in Germany at the Stern Conservatory, Berlin.

paragraphs: By the age of 11, Arrau was playing like a master, and performed the works of Liszt, Chopin and Brahms in recitals.

paragraphs: Later in life Arrau became an important teacher of the piano and taught some of the most famous pianists in the world. Arrau married Ruth Schneider, an opera singer, and settled in the United States. Throughout his career he won the highest awards for piano playing. He died in Austria in 1991.


title: Patriotism

paragraphs: Patriotism means loyalty of person to his/her own nation or the leaders of nation. A patriot is a person who is on the side of his/her own nation or its leaders. Patriotism is different from nationalism. A nationalist thinks that every ethnic group should have its own nation, so nations are to serve the people. In other words, in nationalism the nation is just a tool to have freedom for an ethnic group, while in patriotism the nation itself is the highest value.

paragraphs: Also, contrary to a nationalist, patriots do not favor imperialism, while nationalists tend to favor imperialism. An example of a nationalist favoring imperialism would be Adolf Hitler.

paragraphs: The English term "patriot" is first known from the Elizabethan era, via Middle French from Late Latin (6th century) patriota "countryman", ultimately from Greek πατριώτης (patriōtēs) "countryman", from πατρίς (patris), "fatherland". The abstract noun patriotism appears in the early 18th century..


title: Misogyny

paragraphs: Misogyny means hating women. It is a type of misanthropy but against females. A misogynist is a person who hates women. Misogynists hate women because they believe there is something wrong with them, such as being stupid, dirty or evil. The opposite of being misogynistic is being reverse sexist or misandristic.

paragraphs: There are some communities that have been described as misogynist such as the manosphere.


title: Malmeneich

paragraphs: Malmeneich is a village in Hesse, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Elz. The postal code for Malmeneich is 65604 and its dialing code is 06433. 345 people live in the village.

paragraphs: Malmeneich is in the Westerwald. The average elevation is 250m above sea level. The highest point is in the forest and is 292m high. The average temperature is 9,9°C. The village get between 700-720mm of rain each year. Though this seems moderate, temperatures can vary between -20°C and 35°C.

paragraphs: There was an entry about Malmeneich on the Hessian television in 2002. This was for a project of hr3 which aimed to report about Hessian villages with less than 1000 people living in them.

paragraphs: Every year Malmeneich is mentioned in the regional newspaper because of the "Malmeneicher Kirmes".

paragraphs: At the European elections in 2005, a citizen of Malmeneich was caught after voting five times. He got judged and this crime went through the regional media.


title: Maroon

paragraphs: The word Maroon can have the following meanings:


title: United Parcel Service

paragraphs: United Parcel Service (UPS) is an American company that transports packages. It is the largest package delivery company in the world. UPS delivers more than 14 million packages a day to more than 200 countries. It is based in Sandy Springs, Georgia, USA. The company started in 1936 when several smaller companies merged and took the new name. It was owned by employees until 1999 when it offered stock to outsiders.

paragraphs: The company uses brown uniforms and delivery trucks. The company trademarked the color so other delivery companies cannot use a brown logo.

paragraphs: "UPS Airlines" is a part of UPS that handles the transportation of packages over long distances and between countries. UPS has almost 300 airplanes in its fleet.


title: Gómez Pereira

paragraphs: Gómez Pereira (1500 – 1567) was a Spanish philosopher, doctor, and humanist from Medina del Campo. He was most famous for his work in medicine, but he did many different things such as business, engineering, and especially philosophy. As a doctor, he was in favor of using the empirical method, instead of more medieval ideas about medicine.

paragraphs: His ideas in philosophy may have helped René Descartes come up with the famous idea ""cogito ergo sum"". This is Latin for: "I think, therefore I am".

paragraphs: Little is known about his life. He was the second of five brothers; his father, Antonio, had a small store that sold clothes, and his mother, Margarita, died when he was 15, so the children were raised by his aunt, Ana de Avila. Some of his ancestors were Jews from Portugal who had become Christians.

paragraphs: He studied philosophy at the University of Salamanca. His professor, Juan Martinez, was later the archbishop of Toledo, Spain. He also studied medicine and graduated in 1520. He then settled down as a doctor in his home town, Medina, living with his wife, Isabel Rodriguez, and becoming quite successful in business, even having his own warehouses of wine, and renting rooms to other merchants. He never had children.

paragraphs: He became famous as a doctor, being well known in other cities of Spain. He even went to the court of Philip II of Spain and saved the life of the prince, Don Carlos, when he had an accident. He was also famous as an inventor, and in 1563, he and another inventor named Francisco Lobato got a patent for a type of flour mill powered by water.


title: Spore (video game)

paragraphs: Spore is a computer game made by Will Wright. He also made "The Sims" and "SimCity". It consists of five phases of gameplay, the cell, creature, tribal, civilization and space phases. It is a game in which the player is able to create and evolve a species from a germ into a galactic superpower. It was released on September 7, 2008 in America, and September 5 in Europe.

paragraphs: Initially, it was going to be 6 different phases, but they merged the city and civilization phases, so it's only 5 phases now.

paragraphs: One of the biggest parts of the game is the different editors. Almost all things in the game can be made by the player, from buildings in the civilization phase to the creature in the creature phase. The player uses different parts that he can place as he wants. He can also change things like size and "stretch" the parts. All these things made by players can be uploaded as pictures to the "sporepedia". A picture has all the info needed for the game to make the thing, and is very small in size, usually less than 30 kilobytes. This means, that a player can find a picture of a car made in Spore that he likes, copy it, and put it in the Spore folder. Then they can play with it.

paragraphs: All the different phases of the game offer many choices. Roughly, the player can choose to be peaceful, aggressive, or both. For example, in the creature phase, there is a choice to eat other animals, just fruit, or both. And in the civilization phase, there is a choice to be military, religious, economic, or a little of all of them.


title: Tilia

paragraphs: Tilia is a genus of between 30 and 45 species of trees in the Northern Hemisphere, in Asia (where the greatest species diversity is found), Europe and eastern North America; it is absent from western North America.

paragraphs: The trees are generally called linden in North America, and lime in Britain. Both names are from the Germanic root "lind". The modern forms in English went from "linde" or "linne" in Anglo Saxon and old Norse, and in Britain the word transformed more recently to the modern British form "lime". In the United States, the modern German name "Linde", from the same root, became more common, partly to avoid confusion with any other uses of the name.

paragraphs: "Tilia" species are large deciduous trees, reaching typically between 20m and 40m tall, some species grow as shrubs. Plants of this genus are found through the north temperate regions.

paragraphs: The Germanic tribes associated the Linden tree with the goddess Freya. Very often, these tribes held their assemblies, called Thing near or under such a tree. Often, trees that were standing alone somewhere were chosen. These assemblies were used to make laws. They usually lasted three days.

paragraphs: The tree produces fragrant and nectar-producing flowers, the medicinal herb lime blossom. They are very important honey plants for beekeepers, producing a very pale but richly flavoured monofloral honey. The flowers are also used for herbal tea, and this infusion is particularly popular in Europe.


title: Cartesian coordinate system

paragraphs: In mathematics, the Cartesian coordinate system is a coordinate system used to place points on a plane using two numbers, usually called the "x-coordinate" and the "y-coordinate". To place the coordinates, two perpendicular lines, called axes (Singular: axis), are drawn. Cartesian coordinates can be used in 3D, by adding a third number, the "z-coordinate". Each added coordinate represents a dimension.

paragraphs: Using the Cartesian coordinate system, simple shapes, like parabolas, can be made using algebraic equations. The results of the equations can be plotted (drawn) on the Cartesian grid, and a shape appears. For example, a circle can be made with the equation x² + y² = 4 (see Figure 2).

paragraphs: The name cartesian comes from the French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes (Latin: "Cartesius"), who worked to merge algebra and Euclidean geometry. This work was important in creating calculus and cartography.

paragraphs: The idea of this system was developed in 1637 in two works by Descartes. In part two of his "Discourse on Method", Descartes explains plotting the position of a point or object on a surface, using two perpendicular axes as measuring guides. In "La Géométrie", he further explores these ideas.


title: Polar coordinate system

paragraphs: In mathematics, the polar coordinate system is a two-dimensional coordinate system in which each point on a plane is determined by a distance from a reference point and an angle from a reference direction.

paragraphs: The polar coordinate system is especially useful in situations where the relationship between two points is most easily expressed with angles and distance; in the more familiar Cartesian or rectangular coordinate system, such a relationship can only be found through trigonometric formulae.

paragraphs: As the coordinate system is two-dimensional, each point is determined by two polar coordinates: the radial coordinate and the angular coordinate. The radial coordinate (usually denoted as formula_1) denotes the point's distance from a central point known as the "pole" (equivalent to the "origin" in the Cartesian system). The angular coordinate (also known as the polar angle or the azimuth angle, and usually denoted by θ or formula_2) denotes the positive or anticlockwise (counterclockwise) angle required to reach the point from the 0° ray or "polar axis" (which is equivalent to the positive x-axis in the Cartesian coordinate plane).

paragraphs: The concepts of angle and radius were already used by ancient peoples of the 1st millennium BCE. Hipparchus (190-120 BCE) created a table of chord functions giving the length of the chord for each angle, and there are references to his using polar coordinates in establishing stellar positions.

paragraphs: In "On Spirals," Archimedes describes the Archimedean spiral, a function whose radius depends on the angle. The Greek work, however, did not extend to a full coordinate system.

paragraphs: There are various accounts of the introduction of polar coordinates as part of a formal coordinate system. The full history of the subject is described in Harvard professor Julian Lowell Coolidge's "Origin of Polar Coordinates." Grégoire de Saint-Vincent and Bonaventura Cavalieri independently introduced the concepts in the mid-seventeenth century. Saint-Vincent wrote about them privately in 1625 and published his work in 1647, while Cavalieri published his in 1635 with a corrected version appearing in 1653. Cavalieri first used polar coordinates to solve a problem relating to the area within an Archimedean spiral. Blaise Pascal subsequently used polar coordinates to calculate the length of parabolic arcs.

paragraphs: In "Method of Fluxions" (written 1671, published 1736), Sir Isaac Newton examined the transformations between polar coordinates, which he referred to as the "Seventh Manner; For Spirals", and nine other coordinate systems. In the journal "Acta Eruditorum" (1691), Jacob Bernoulli used a system with a point on a line, called the "pole" and "polar axis" respectively. Coordinates were specified by the distance from the pole and the angle from the "polar axis". Bernoulli's work extended to finding the radius of curvature of curves expressed in these coordinates.

paragraphs: The actual term "polar coordinates" has been attributed to Gregorio Fontana and was used by 18th-century Italian writers. The term appeared in English in George Peacock's 1816 translation of Lacroix's "Differential and Integral Calculus". Alexis Clairaut was the first to think of polar coordinates in three dimensions, and Leonhard Euler was the first to actually develop them.

paragraphs: The polar coordinates "r" and "φ" can be converted to the Cartesian coordinates "x" and "y" by using the trigonometric functions sine and cosine:

paragraphs: The Cartesian coordinates "x" and "y" can be converted to polar coordinates "r" and "φ" with "r" ≥ 0 and "φ" in the interval (−, ] by:

paragraphs: Cylindrical coordinates take the same idea that polar coordinates use, but they extend it further. To get a third dimension, each point also has a "height" above the original coordinate system. Each point is uniquely identified by a distance to the origin, called "r" here, an angle, called "formula_5" ("phi"), and a height above the plane of the coordinate system, called "Z" in the picture.

paragraphs: The same idea as is used by polar coordinates can also be extended in a different way. Instead of using two distances, and one angle only, it is possible to use one distance only, and two angles, called formula_5 and formula_7 ("theta").


title: Gold (color)

paragraphs: Gold or golden is a yellowish orange color, or orange-tan color that is a bit like the color of the metal gold. The actual color of the metal, used for example in gilding, is called Metallic gold. Gold paint can be made by mixing brown, yellow paint and orange paint.

paragraphs: The web color "gold" (shown at right) is sometimes referred to as golden in order to distinguish it from the element "gold". The use of "gold" as a color term in traditional usage is more often applied to the color "gold (metallic)" (shown below).

paragraphs: The first recorded use of "golden" as a color name in English was in the year 1300 to refer to the element gold and in 1423 to refer to blonde hair.


title: Provinces of Cuba

paragraphs: Cuba is divided into fourteen provinces and one special municipality.

paragraphs: From west to east, Cuba's provinces are:

paragraphs: Cuba's "special municipality" is the "Isla de la Juventud" ("Island of Youth"), known until the 1970s as the "Isla de Pinos" ("Isle of Pines") and previously as "Evangelista", "Isle of Santiago" and "Isle of Parrots".

paragraphs: Prior to 1976, Cuba was divided into the following provinces (from west to east):

paragraphs: These provinces were used to be the following areas on the map: Pinar del Rio (item 2), La Habana (items 1, 3, 4), Matanzas (5), Las Villas (approximately 6, 7, and 8 on map), Camaguey (roughly 9 and 10) and Oriente (11, 12, 13, 14 and 15).

paragraphs: "Pop. = Population. Source: Cuba census 2002"


title: Singing

paragraphs: Singing means making music with the voice. Singing is probably the way that music started many thousands of years ago. When people sing they make their voices go high or low. If they do this in a way that uses notes of a scale then they make tunes, called songs. A song, very broadly, is a musical piece, produced by the voice with distinct and fixed pitches and patterns of sound and silence and a variety which often includes repetition.

paragraphs: Many birds also sing. They are the passerines, a very large order often called the songbirds.

paragraphs: When people sing they use the air in the lungs. The pressure of the air that comes out of the lungs can be controlled with several respiratory muscles, including the muscle called the diaphragm which goes across the front of the body below the ribs. People who have singing lessons spend a lot of time practising “breath control”.

paragraphs: The air comes through the throat where the larynx is like a reed on a clarinet: it vibrates, controlling the passage of air, and this makes the note higher or lower depending on how it is controlled.

paragraphs: The sound comes into the mouth which is space where the sound can be made bigger (it “resonates”). Professional singers even learn to think of the whole head as a resonator. They sometimes talk about the “mask”, i.e. they imagine a mask in front of the face and this makes the sound bigger. The sound then comes out of the mouth so that it can be heard.

paragraphs: Singing is different from speaking because of the special way the vocal cords in the throat are used.

paragraphs: Most people can sing notes which cover more than an octave. People who sing a lot will probably be able to sing over two octaves. Singers can be called according to whether they have higher or lower voices: soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto for women, tenor, baritone or bass for men. Some men are able to train their voices to sing alto by using a falsetto voice. Children’s voices are often called treble.

paragraphs: There are lots of different singing styles in the world. Each one has a different technique. In Western classical music singers learn to sing in a bel canto voice which uses lots of resonance in the head and makes a smooth sound. Bel canto was used in Italian opera. Later, in the 19th century, Richard Wagner wrote operas in which the singers needed to be more dramatic. Opera singers today can have different kinds of voices: bel canto, lyrical, dramatic, coloratura (extremely high and light) etc.

paragraphs: In church choirs the singers are often trained to use a lot of head voice because this sounds beautiful in large cathedrals.

paragraphs: Pop singers generally have a different technique: their singing is more from the throat. They do not need to develop powerful voices like opera singers because they sing into microphones so that their voices are electronically amplified (made louder).

paragraphs: Voices singing music from different parts of the world may sound very different. Chinese singing sounds nasal (through the nose). In Mongolia there is a technique of overtone singing which sounds rather like a finger being rubbed against the rim of a wineglass. In Switzerland men often yodel.

paragraphs: Rap is a kind of singing in which the rhythm is the most important thing. The pitch is high and low, but not to any particular notes. Scat singing is rather like rap.

paragraphs: Acappella singing is vocal music specifically without instrumental accompaniment. The name is from Latin "a" (without) and "cappella" (musical accompaniment).

paragraphs: Cantata is a term that exclusively refers to accompanied singing, which is the exact opposite of Acappella.

paragraphs: Singing is something that can be enjoyed by everybody. A group of people singing together is often called a choir. People can sing in choirs or smaller groups or on their own (solos). People can sing for their own enjoyment (e.g. in the shower), or they can practise hard and sing in concerts to an audience.

paragraphs: Singing can be done alone ("a cappella") or it can be "accompanied" (usually with musical instruments).

paragraphs: Some people say they are “tone-deaf”, meaning that they cannot sing in tune. But almost everybody can learn to sing if they try hard enough.


title: Amish

paragraphs: The Amish are a group of people who live according to the Anabaptist tradition. They have a common history with other Baptist movements, such as the Mennonites.

paragraphs: The Amish are known for simple lifestyle, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. The history of the Amish church began with a schism in Switzerland within a group of Swiss and Alsatian Anabaptists in 1693 led by Jakob Ammann. Those who followed Ammann became known as Amish. In the second half of the 19th century, the Amish divided into Old Order Amish and Amish Mennonites. During the 20th century, the Amish Mennonites assimilated, and took several of the conveniences modern technology has to offer. The Old Order Amish on the other hand, kept much of their traditional culture. When people speak of Amish today, they usually mean the Old Order Amish. There were other smaller splits as well. At the end of the 20th century, there were about 18 bigger groups of Amish.

paragraphs: Many of them emigrated to the United States. Today, most of the Amish live in Pennsylvania (Lancaster County), Indiana and Ohio, in the United States. This can still be seen with family names. In Lancaster County, almost 25 percent of the Amish have the name Stoltzfus (or Stoltzfoos), other common Amish names are Byler, Fisher, Petersheim, Lapp and King. In LaGrange, Indiana, most are named Borntrager, Miller or Schrock. In Allen County, Adams County, Indiana the names Graber, Grabill/Kraybill and Schwartz are common.

paragraphs: Many Amish people prefer simple lifestyles. They are usually farmers. Many of the old order Amish saw that between the two world wars, cars became more common. This automatic mobility weakened the sense of belonging together, and owning a car was a means to stand out from the community. For this reason, many groups forbid car ownership, they are less sceptical about using a car. Amish often live alongside other Engilsh settlers. In areas, where there are many Amish, there is also a number of taxi services, who will drive Amish people around.

paragraphs: Many Amish settlements are not connected to the electricity network. When they need electricity, they usually produce it themselves, often with diesel-powered engines. Many Amish do not allow posing for photographs; they say it is against their sense of humility and not standing out from the others. They are usually less strict about appearing on a photograph, where the person is not the subject of the picture).

paragraphs: Generally, they are friendly people in that they will wave to someone passing by. However, they live in rural Amish communities which are separate from mainstream American society. It is against their religion to pose for photographs. Often they will turn their head down and to the side if someone aims a camera in their direction.

paragraphs: Married men are not allowed to shave their beards, but they are also not allowed to have moustaches. Only unmarried men shave their faces.

paragraphs: Amish characters are in the movie Witness, starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis.

paragraphs: Many of the people who emigrated kept their language, which is a dialect of German and known as Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch. In 2012, it was estimated that there were between 350.000 and 420.000 speakers of Pennsilvania German. Pennsylvania German was relatively common until the time before the Second World War, with an estimate of about 800.000 speakers. During the war, people frowned upon German speakers, so many speakers did not teach the language to their children. Only conservative Baptists, such as Amish and Mennonites withstood the pressure, and sill taught the language to their children.

paragraphs: After the Second World War, the Amish started to run their own schools, where they teach their children, how to read, write, and calculate. Very often, they also learn German, to be able to read the religious texts. Subjects such as natural sciences, such as biology are not taught at school.

paragraphs: Amish dating is different between different communities and different churches. In most communities the common thing to do would be: have some other guy go ask the girl (preferably someone related to her) if it is OK for them to date. If she says it is OK he sees her home (from their Sunday night thing, called a "Singeon", which normally ends at 10:30-11:30 p.m.) and stays at her house till a certain time, some communities midnight, some 1:00 a.m., and others anywhere between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Some communities they sit on each other's lap, others aren't allowed to touch each other, while still others are allowed to kiss. Dating really varies between different types of "Amish".


title: Jeddah

paragraphs: Jeddah (also spelled Jedda, Jiddah, Jidda, or Juddah; جدّة Ǧiddah) is a Saudi Arabian city. It is on the coast of the Red Sea (21.50° N 39.1667° E). It is the major urban center in western Saudi Arabia. Jeddah is the largest city in the Western Province, and the second largest city in Saudi Arabia after the capital city Riyadh. The city has over 3.4 million people. It is seen as the business capital of Saudi Arabia and the richest city in the Middle East and western Asia.

paragraphs: Jeddah is the main gateway to Mecca, the holiest city of Islam, where able-bodied Muslims must go to at least once in a lifetime.

paragraphs: Jeddah has 23 sister cities (aka "twin towns"):


title: Horatio Nelson

paragraphs: Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson (29 September 1758 – 21 October 1805) was an English sea captain in the Royal Navy. He was born at the rectory of the village of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk.

paragraphs: Nelson commanded the British fleet during the Napoleonic Wars, fighting the French and Spanish. Nelson was blind in one eye, after being wounded in battle. During the Battle of Trafalgar, his greatest victory, he was killed by a French sniper.

paragraphs: At least three versions of his last words exist, and are shown in "wikiquote".

paragraphs: His most well-known last words are, "Kiss me, Hardy".

paragraphs: Another statement during his last hours was, "Thank God I have done my duty."

paragraphs: Alternatively, he may have said both of these statements; "Kiss me, Hardy" and Hardy kissed him on the cheek. Then Nelson said, "Now I am satisfied. Thank God I have done my duty." Then Hardy kissed him again on the forehead and Nelson called out, "Who is that?" Hardy replied, "It is Hardy." Then Nelson said, "God bless you, Hardy." Then he murmoured to those around him to look about Emma Hamilton and his daughter.

paragraphs: Most recently are accounts of his chaplain, Alexander Scott; his steward, Chevalier; and the purser, Walter Burke. "Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub" was a request to ease his symptoms of thirst, heat, and the pains of his wounds.

paragraphs: Scott, who remained by Nelson as he died, recorded his last words as 'God and my country'.


title: Turquoise (color)

paragraphs: Turquoise is the colour of the gem turquoise. It is a slightly greenish shade of cyan. Turquoise is sometimes described as a mixture of pale blue and green. The name comes from the French word for "Turkish".


title: Amber (color)

paragraphs: The color Amber is a yellow color. It got its name from the material known as amber. The amber color is not halfway between yellow and orange on the color wheel.

paragraphs: The first recorded use of "amber" as a color name in English was in 1500.


title: Sea captain

paragraphs: A sea captain, also known as a skipper, is the leader on a ship. They are responsible for the safety of everyone on board. If the ship is in trouble, most captains will not leave unless everyone is safe.


title: Brain stem

paragraphs: The brainstem is the rear part of the brain. It has two sections: the hindbrain, which includes the pons and medula, and the midbrain.

paragraphs: Though the brainstem is small, it is extremely important. The motor (movement) and sensory connections from the main part of the brain to the rest of the body pass through the brain stem. Also, from the brainstem come the main motor and sensory nerves to the face and neck. These nerves are called the cranial nerves. The brainstem controls many bodily functions of which we are not normally aware, such as breathing, heart beat, and sweating. The brainstem controls functions which are unconscious, but necessary for life.

paragraphs: The hindbrain consists of the pons, and the medulla oblongata; which is an extension of the spinal cord. It connects the other parts of the brain (the cerebrum and cerebellum) to the spinal cord. Its neurons are the control centre of bodily functions, such as breathing and blood pressure.


title: Ideology

paragraphs: An ideology is a collection of ideas or beliefs shared by a group of people. It may be a connected set of ideas, or a style of thought, or a world-view. It was coined by a French philosopher, Destutt de Tracy in 1801/5.

paragraphs: There are two main types of ideologies: "political ideologies", and "epistemological ideologies". Political ideologies are sets of ethical ideas about how a country should be run. Epistemological ideologies are sets of ideas about the philosophy, the Universe, and how people should make decisions.

paragraphs: There are many different types of ideologies. Communism, socialism, and capitalism are political/economical ideologies.

paragraphs: Many political parties base their political action and program on an ideology. In social studies, a political ideology is a certain ethical set of values, principles, doctrines, myths, or symbols of a social movement, institution, or class which explains how society should work. It offers a political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends it should be used. Some parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them.

paragraphs: Political ideologies have two dimensions:

paragraphs: An ideology is a collection of ideas. Typically, each ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers to be the best form of government (e.g. democracy, theocracy, etc.), and the best economic system (e.g. capitalism, socialism, etc.). Sometimes the same word is used to identify both an ideology and one of its main ideas. For instance, "socialism" may refer to an economic system, or it may refer to an ideology which supports that economic system.

paragraphs: Ideologies also identify themselves by their position on the political spectrum (such as the left, the center or the right), though this is very often controversial. Finally, ideologies can be distinguished from political strategies (e.g. populism) and from single issues that a party may be built around (e.g. legalization of marijuana).

paragraphs: Today, many commentators claim that we are living in a post-ideological age, in which redemptive, all-encompassing ideologies have failed. This is often associated with Francis Fukuyama's writings on "the end of history"..


title: Mauve

paragraphs: "This is an article about the colour mauve. For information on the Flemish painter, see Anton Mauve."

paragraphs: Mauve (pronounce to rhyme with "Jove" and "stove") is a pale purple colour. It is similar to lavender and lilac. The name comes from French form of "malva" meaning the "mallow" flower.

paragraphs: The first recorded use of "mallow" as a colour name in English was in 1611.

paragraphs: In 1856, an eighteen year old Chemist William Henry Perkin was trying to make artificial quinine. An unexpected residue caught his eye. It turned out to be the first aniline dye, mauveine.


title: Iran–Iraq War

paragraphs: The Iran–Iraq War was a war between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran lasting from September 1980 to August 1988. It was commonly called the "Persian Gulf War" until Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. The Iraq-Kuwait war, which the United States entered, later was called the "Persian Gulf War" or the "Gulf War".

paragraphs: The war began when Iraq invaded Iran on 22 September 1980, after a long history of border disputes and demands for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime. Iraqi forces did well at the beginning of the war, taking Iranian Khuzestan, but before long they were stopped and forced out of Iran. The war continued for years, and neither side gained much ground in the resulting trench warfare. About a million soldiers died and a similar number of civilians. Both sides used blockade, which other countries opposed. Despite several calls for an end to the fighting by the United Nations Security Council, the two countries fought until 20 August 1988; the last prisoners of war were exchanged in 2003. The war changed politics in the Middle East and worldwide.

paragraphs: The Iran–Iraq War is also noted for Iraq's use of chemical weapons and biological weapons against Iranian troops and civilians. The role of the United States and Soviet Union was very important, dating back to the Cold War. In 1953, the US encouraged a coup d'état against Mohammad Mosaddegh, who was the Prime Minister of Iran. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi returned to power, supporting his military and his government. The United States sold many weapons to the Shah's government. Meanwhile, revolutionaries of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party overthrew the king of Iraq and, with the help of the Soviet Union, built up their army. Starting with the United Arab Republic, they sought to unite all the Arabs into one state, including the Arab minority in Iran.

paragraphs: After the war started, (especially between 1983 and 1988) the United States sold weapons to the Iraqis. This move was largely due to America's interest in containing the revolutionary Ayatollah Khomeini. Thus, both the Soviet Union and the United States supplied Iraq with weapons to use against Iran. The United States had sold many weapons to Iran before the war. it was believed the soviet union was selling weapons to both sides during the war.


title: Lavender (color)

paragraphs: Lavender, a popular color, is a light tone of violet.

paragraphs: The name comes from the flower of the lavender plant. Originally, the name "lavender" only meant the color of this flower. The color of the flower is still the standard for lavender but there are many other tones of light or medium violet now called "lavender" also.

paragraphs: The color of the flower can also be called "floral lavender". Other shades of lavender can range in hue from pinkish purple through violet to blueish-indigo. They can also range from light and pale to medium and greyish shades.

paragraphs: By 1930, the book "A Dictionary of Color" identified three major tones of lavender--"[floral] lavender", "lavender gray", and "lavender blue", and in addition a fourth tone of lavender called "old lavender" (a dark lavender gray) (all four of these shades of lavender are shown below). By 1955, the "ISCC-NBS Dictionary of Color Names" listed dozens of different shades of lavender.

paragraphs: The first recorded use of the word "lavender" as a color term in English was in 1705.


title: Lilac (colour)

paragraphs: Lilac is a light violet colour. It is named after the colour of the lilac flower. The actual colour of the flowers of the plant may range from the colour of the lilac flowers shown at left to a richer or deeper colour. These colours, such as "rich lilac" and "deep lilac", are shown in the colour chart below.

paragraphs: The first written use of "lilac" as a colour name in English was in 1775.

paragraphs: Some lilac flowers are coloured tones of lilac and other lilac flowers are coloured tones of red-violet. Those lilac flowers that are coloured red-violet are said to be coloured Persian lilac. Therefore, two different colour comparison charts are provided.


title: Rajkumar

paragraphs: Dr. Rajkumar (Real Name: Singanalluru Puttaswamayya Muthuraju April 24, 1929—April 12,2006) was the most popular actor in Kannada's movie industry. He was seen as a role model to millions of Kannadigas.

paragraphs: "Dr. Raj" or "Natasarvabhouma" or "Annavru" (Big Brother) to millions of his fans, he was also called the John Wayne of South Indian cinema. He acted in more than 200 movies over 50 years. Most of his movies have become very important in the Kannada movie industry. He was also a well-known singer.


title: Nicholas

paragraphs: The name is derived from the Greek name “Nikólaos” and is developed out nikáo “triumphs” and laós “people”. After the Greek word use the name can mean both “winner of the people” and “winner over the people”.


title: Freedom fighter

paragraphs: A freedom fighter is a person who thinks his native ethnic group is not free, and is working to have freedom for his group. Most often this means that a freedom fighter wants his people to have own nation and independence and/or get rid of oppressors. People who think like this are said to think in a nationalist way

paragraphs: Freedom fighter is a "relativistic" term - this means a person decides by his or her point of view if he call some persons or groups freedom fighters or not. Freedom fighter is a "positive" term - this means that he or she calls a person "freedom fighter" only if he or she supports the goals of the freedom fighter. If people do not support his goals, they probably use more "negative" terms like insurgent, terrorist, rebel or criminal.

paragraphs: Freedom fighters are often called terrorists by their opponents if they hurt civilians. However, not all freedom fighters hurt civilians. Some freedom fighters damage the opposing military. Some freedom fighters damage property - this is called sabotage. There are also freedom fighters who do not use violence at all. For example, the Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama.

paragraphs: These are examples of groups who call themselves freedom fighters.


title: Wood grain

paragraphs: Wood grain describes the , and appearance of the wood . This is often important in its effect on woodworking techniques (e.g. against the grain).

paragraphs: In describing the alignment of the wood in the tree a distinction may be made. Basic grain descriptions and types include:

paragraphs: In addition, there are a few special grain alignments. Their rarity often promotes the value of both the raw material, and the finished work it becomes a part of. These include:

paragraphs: In describing the application of a woodworking technique to a given piece of wood, the direction of the technique might be:

paragraphs: In a wider sense, the term grain may also be applied to the orientation of the cut, the way a given piece of wood has been sawn:


title: Groove (joinery)

paragraphs: In joinery, a groove is a slot or trench cut into a member which runs parallel to the grain. A groove is something else than a dado, which runs across the grain.

paragraphs: Grooves are used for several purposes in cabinet making and other woodworking fields. Typically, a groove is used to house the panels in frame and panel construction and the bottoms drawers.

paragraphs: A groove may be "through", meaning that it passes all the way through the surface and its ends are open, or "stopped", meaning that one or both of the ends finish before the groove meets edge of the surface.

paragraphs: A groove can be cut by the following methods:


title: Sepultura

paragraphs: Sepultura is a thrash metal/death metal/groove metal band from Brazil that has sold over 15 million albums worldwide. The brothers Max and Igor Cavalera started it in Belo Horizonte in 1984. The two brothers have left the band since, Max in 1996, and Igor in 2006, with American singer Derrick Green and drummer Jean Dolabella replacing them after their exits, although Dolabella left in 2011 to be replaced with Eloy Casagrande.

paragraphs: The band's name is Portuguese for the word "grave". The Cavalera brothers chose this name after translating English band Motorhead's song called "Dancing On Your Grave".

paragraphs: Singer Wagner Lamounier and bass player Paulo Jr. were the first stable members to join the band along the Cavaleras. Lamounier left after a year and Max decided to sing as well as play guitar. The band added a second guitar player named Jairo Guedez. These members recorded their first album "Morbid Visions" in 1986. The song "Troops of Doom" from this album gave the band a small amount of popularity.

paragraphs: Guedez left after the album was released, being replaced by Andreas Kisser. This line-up lasted until 1996 and accomplished several things. They recorded five more albums, where they began to play a more thrash metal sound than death/black metal in the first three albums, Schizophrenia (1987), Beneath The Remains (1989) and Arise (1991), and then moved on to groove metal with the last two of these five albums, Chaos A.D. (1993) and Roots (1996). Popular songs from the Chaos A.D. include Refuse/Resist and Roots Bloody Roots. On Roots, they also included a song they recorded with the Brazilian Xavantes tribe called Itsari, who also toured with them.

paragraphs: Conflicts between Max and the other members led to Max leaving the band. He was replaced with American singer Derrick Green. Although the band's album sales have lowered with each album released with Green, he remains in the group today, having recorded the albums Against (1998), Nation (2001), Roorback (2003), Dante XXI (2006), A-Lex (2009) and Kairos (2011) with the band.

paragraphs: Igor Cavalera left the band in 2006 after Dante XXI. A year later, he made up with his brother Max, and the two formed The Cavalera Conspiracy. Igor's first replacement in Sepultura was Jean Dolabella, who recored A-Lex and Kairos with the band before quitting. The band's drummer today is Eloy Casagrande.


title: Dalai Lama

paragraphs: The Dalai Lama is a religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism. He is its highest spiritual teacher of the Gelugpa school. A new Dalai Lama is said to be the reborn old Dalai Lama. This line goes back to 1391. The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso.

paragraphs: Between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lama was the head of the Tibetan government. During winter, the Dalai Lamas stayed in the Potala palace. In summer they were in the Norbulingka palace. These two palaces are both in Lhasa, Tibet. In 1959, the Dalai Lama had to flee from Tibet to Dharamsala, India. This is still his base today.

paragraphs: The current Dalai Lama is His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso.

paragraphs: Dalai Lama is the title of Tibetan Buddhism leader. "Dalai" is original from Mongolian which means "ocean" and "Lama" is original from Tibetan which means "the highest principle". In 1653, during the Qing Dynasty, this title was authorized to Dalai Lama V by the Chinese Emperor for the first time.

paragraphs: The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, expelled all Chinese civilians from the country, and instituted many measures to modernise Tibet. These included provisions to curb excessive demands on peasants and tax evasion by the nobles, setting up an independent police force, the abolishment of the death penalty, extension of secular education, and the provision of electricity throughout the city of Lhasa in the 1920s. Thubten Gyatso died in 1933.

paragraphs: The 14th Dalai Lama was not formally enthroned until 17 November 1950, during the People's Republic of China invasion of Tibet (1950–1951). Fearing for his life, the 14th Dalai Lama fled to India where he has led a government-in-exile since. With the aim of launching guerrilla operations against the Chinese, the Central Intelligence Agency funded the Dalai Lama $1.7 million a year in the 1960s. In 2001, he gave up his absolute power over the government to an elected parliament of selected Tibetan exiles. His original goal was full independence for Tibet, but by the late 1980s, he was seeking high-level autonomy instead. He is still seeking greater autonomy from China, although Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the parliament-in-exile has stated "If the middle path fails in the short term, we will be forced to opt for complete independence or selfdetermination as per the UN charter".


title: Serenity (movie)

paragraphs: Serenity is a 2005 science fiction space western movie. It was written and directed by Joss Whedon. The movie takes place in the fictional universe of the cancelled FOX science fiction television series "Firefly". It takes place about two months after the final episode, "Objects in Space". That is 500 years in the future.

paragraphs: "Serenity" is the story of the captain and crew of a transport and cargo spacecraft. The captain and first mate fought together on the losing side of the Unification War. Their lives of small crime are interrupted by a passenger with mental abilities who has a dangerous secret.

paragraphs: The movie was released in North America on September 30, 2005 by Universal Pictures. It received good reviews. It made $10.1 million during its first weekend. The movie made $25.5 million in the United States and $13.3 million in other countries.

paragraphs: Fans call the movie the "Big Damn Movie" ("BDM"). This is a reference to a line from the "Firefly" episode "Safe" in which Mal and Zoe call themselves "big damn heroes" after rescuing River and Simon.

paragraphs: The movie is based on "Firefly", a television series that was cancelled by Fox in December 2002. Fox stopped the show after 11 of its 14 episodes had been shown. After trying to get another network to show the series, creator Joss Whedon tried to sell it as a movie. He was introduced to Mary Parent with Universal Pictures, who agreed to make the movie after watching the episodes on DVD.

paragraphs: After Universal Studios got the movie rights to "Firefly" from Fox, Whedon began writing the screenplay. Universal wanted to start making the movie in October of 2003 but problems with the script made them have to wait until June of 2004 to start of shooting the movie. Universal did not want to spend the normal amount of money for a story set in space ($100 million). Whedon told them he could do it for less. He also told them he could do it in 50 days, instead of the usual 80 days. On March 3, 2004 the movie was greenlighted to start being made. It was shown to have budget of only $40 million.

paragraphs: They started filming the movie on June 3 2004. Joss Whedon said that the movie would be called "Serenity" to keep it separate from the TV series. All nine of the main actors from the television series (Adam Baldwin, Alan Tudyk, Gina Torres, Jewel Staite, Morena Baccarin, Nathan Fillion, Ron Glass, Sean Maher, and Summer Glau) returned for the movie. On September 17 2004, Joss Whedon said on the movie's official site that shooting was done.

paragraphs: Whedon had to take a television series that not many people had seen and explain the idea of the movie. He had to do this without boring the audience or the fans of the television series. He did this by doing things in the beginning of the movie. At first, it is a just a voice telling what has happened. It then is shown to be a school room where the voice was that of the teacher. They next showed that this was all just memories in one of the character's mind.

paragraphs: Since the budget was not very large, physical special effects were used as much as possible. They made as sets and props as they could to use less CGI effects. The most technically challenging scene was the mule skiff chase. Because it would cost too much, a gimbal (a hydraulic turntable) and CGI, like the pod race scene in "" could not be used. The production team to find other ways to do things. They built a trailer connected to the "hover craft" in the movie and shot the scene while riding up a highway north of Santa Clarita. "Serenity" visual effects supervisor Loni Peristere said in a Los Angeles Times article: "Traditionally this would have been, like, a 30-day shoot. I think we did it in five."

paragraphs: One item from the television show that could not be used again was the original set of the inside of the ship "Serenity". It had to be built for the movie, using images from the "Firefly" DVD set. The company that did the graphics for the series also had to change the computer model of "Serenity". The television model was not good enough for high-definition cinema screens and HD DVD.

paragraphs: Five hundred years into the future, mankind has left Earth. All the people moved to a new large star system. The system is controlled by the Alliance. Away from the "core planets" people like the crew of the cargo ship "Serenity" can make a living if they stay away from Alliance ships and the Reavers - space-faring cannibals who raid the planets of "the Rim." One of the Alliance's projects is the creation of a group of warriors with mental powers. The star of this project is teenager River Tam. After her older brother Simon rescues her, the Alliance Parliament sends "The Operative", a man with no name, rank or official existence after them.

paragraphs: About eight months after River and Simon have joined "Serenity's" crew, the ship's captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds takes River with him to rob a bank. While they are robbing the bank, Reavers attack. After they escape back to "Serenity", Simon argues with Mal. Mal decides to leave Simon and River at their next stop. While at their next stop, River starts a fight that is started by a subliminal message broadcast by the Alliance in a commercial. Mal lets Simon and River keep traveling on "Serenity" while the crew talks to a techno-geek known as Mr. Universe. Mr. Universe lives on a planet inside a giant cloud of objects in space that does not let people see there is a planet there. Mr. Universe watches a video of the fight and finds the subliminal message. He also sees that River said the name "Miranda." Mal gets a call from Inara, a former passenger. He knows it is a trap, but also knows that she must be in danger. Mal goes to her. He is confronted by the Operative. The Operative tells Mal that he will let him go if Mal turns River over to him. Mal refuses and they escape from the Operative and go back to "Serenity". The crew finds out that "Miranda" is an unknown planet near the edge of the solar system. To get to Miranda, they would have to cross into Reaver territory. They think this is too dangerous. "Serenity" instead goes to Haven which is home to another former passenger, Shepherd Book. When they get to Haven, the crew sees that it has been attacked by the Alliance. They also see that Shepherd Book was hurt very bad and dying. The Operative sends a message saying he did it. He said he will keep doing things like it until River is given to him.

paragraphs: Mal orders that "Serenity" be made to look like a Reaver ship. They get the disguised ship through a fleet of Reaver warships. When they get to Miranda, the crew finds everyone that lived there is dead. There are dead bodies everywhere but they can not tell how the people died. The crew finds a video made after the disaster by an Alliance ship. It tells them that the Alliance made a chemical that was susposed to stop aggression and make the planet free of violence. The chemical worked so well that the people stopped doing everything, including eating, and let themselves die. In a tenth of a percent of the people, the chemical had the opposite effect. It turned them very aggressive and caused mental problems: they became the Reavers. Mal wanted to show this secret to all the worlds by using Mr. Universe's equipment. The Operative figures out where they are going and waits just outside of Reaver space with an Alliance fleet. Knowing that the Operative is likely to be waiting for them, "Serenity" opens fire on one of the Reaver ships while coming back. The other Reaver ships chase after them. "Serenity" leaves Reaver space and pass through the cloud around Mr. Universe's planet while being chased by the entire Reaver fleet. There is a large fight between the Alliance and the Reavers. The fight lets "Serenity's" pilot Wash to fly down to the planet. The Operative's ship is destroyed, and he also goes to the planet in an escape pod.

paragraphs: "Serenity" crashes on the planet. While the ship is damaged very badly, the crew has survived. Just as everyone begins to relax, a Reaver harpoon hits Wash, and kills him. The crew leaves "Serenity" and finds a place to fight off the Reavers while Mal goes to get to Mr. Universe and send the message. Mal finds Mr. Universe has been killed and his equipment is destroyed. He finds a message that tells him about a hidden backup transmitter. The Reavers attack the crew, and make them move back. The crew tries to close a blast door, but it will not shut all the way. River dives through the hole in the door and closes it from the other side. This traps her with the Reavers. Mal gets to the other transmitter. The Operative gets there also and they fight. Mal wins but does not kill the Operative. He leaves him to watch the video from Miranda as it is being broadcast. Mal goes back to his crew. As he is told what River did, the blast door opens to reveal River standing unhurt on an large pile of dead Reavers. A group of Alliance soldiers show up but the Operative orders them not to fight because of what he has seen on the video. The crew buried their dead and fixed "Serenity". "Serenity" leaves the planet with Mal in Wash's seat as the pilot, and River as his copilot.

paragraphs: While the movie shows the Alliance as an all-powerful regime, Whedon is careful to point out that it is not that simple. "The Alliance isn't some evil empire", he says, but a largely benevolent bureaucratic force. The Alliance’s main problem is that it cannot and should not try to control all the different cultures that are a part of it. The crew of Serenity, and specifically Mal, show the idea that people should have the right to chose for themselves, even if those choices are bad.

paragraphs: The Operative is all that the Alliance stands for. He is, as Whedon described, the "perfect product of what's wrong with the Alliance". He is someone who is a force for good, who wants to help make his (and the Alliance's) image of a "world without sin." The Operative believes so much in this idea that he do anything to make create that world . Mal is the opposite. At the movie's beginning, he is a man who has lost all faith. By the end of the movie, however, Mal finally believes in something—freedom of choice—so strongly that he is willing to die to preserve it. Whedon has said that the most important line in the movie is Mal's to the Operative at its end: "I'm going to show you a world without sin." Whedon's point is that a world without sin is a world without choice, and that choice is what defines humanity. The Operative, who does only what he is told to do, and the inhuman Reavers, created by the Alliance's need to control people, are only two examples of this theme.


title: Woodworking joints

paragraphs: Joinery often refers to the part of woodworking that involves the joining together of parts of wood.

paragraphs: the distinctive material properties of wood, often without mechanical fasteners. There are different types of joinery for different structures, for example the joinery used

paragraphs: to build a house is different from that used to make puzzle toys,

paragraphs: Wood is strong when stressed along the grain (longitudinally), but weak across it (radially and tangentially). It expands and contracts in response to humidity.

paragraphs: This change is very small longitudinally. It is considerable, but unequal,

paragraphs: in the radial and tangential directions.

paragraphs: Two of the most common traditions of joinery are Japanese and European. The Japanese in particular developed hundreds of types of joints and their furniture was often held together without glue or nails.


title: George Grenville

paragraphs: George Grenville (14 October 1712–13 November 1770) was Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was a member of the Whig Party. He was one of the few prime ministers who never was given a title of nobility.

paragraphs: Grenville was the second son of Richard Grenville and Hester Temple. His older brother was Richard Grenville-Temple. Grenville went to school at Eton College and at Christ Church College, Oxford. He entered Parliament in 1741 as member for Buckingham, and represented Buckingham until his death.

paragraphs: As Treasurer of the Navy in 1758 he introduced and carried a bill which established a fairer system of paying the wages of sailors. He stayed in office in 1761, when Pitt resigned, and in the administration of Lord Bute acted as Leader of the House of Commons. In May 1762 he became Secretary of State for the Northern Department, and in October First Lord of the Admiralty; and in April 1763 he became First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer.

paragraphs: While Prime Minister, his government oversaw the prosecution of John Wilkes and the passing of the American Stamp Act 1765, which led to the first disagreements between American colonies and Great Britain that led to the American Revolutionary War.

paragraphs: After many years of being Prime Minister, he began to have disagreements with young king George III. The king started to think that the Prime Minister was using him as a puppet. The king convinced Rockingham to become the new Prime Minister and Grenville never held an office again.

paragraphs: Grenville was called the "gentile shepherd" because he bored the House by asking over and over again, during the debate on the Cider Bill of 1763, that somebody should tell him "where" to lay the new tax if it was not to be put on cider. Pitt whistled the air of the popular tune "Gentle Shepherd, tell me where", and the House laughed. Though few excelled him in a knowledge of the forms of the House or in mastery of administrative details, he lacked tact in dealing with people and with affairs.

paragraphs: In 1749 Grenville married Elizabeth Wyndham (before 1731-5 December 1769), daughter of Sir William Wyndham. They had seven children.


title: Harald Hardrada

paragraphs: Harald Sigurdsson was also known as Harald of Norway (; – 25 September 1066). He was also called Hardrada (, modern Norwegian: ("stern counsel" or "hard ruler") in the sagas).

paragraphs: Harald was King of Norway (as Harald III) from 1046 to 1066. Also, he unsuccessfully claimed the Danish throne until 1064 and the English throne in 1066. Before becoming king, Harald had spent about fifteen years in exile as a mercenary and military commander in Kievan Rus' and of the Varangian Guard in the Byzantine Empire.

paragraphs: When he was fifteen years old, in 1030, Harald fought with his half-brother Olaf against Cnut (Canute). Olaf sought to reclaim the Norwegian throne, which he had lost to the Danish king Cnut the Great two years before. In the battle, Olaf and Harald were defeated by forces loyal to Cnut. Harald was forced into exile to Kievan Rus' (early form of Russia). After some time in the army of Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise, he moved on to Constantinople with his companions around 1034. In Constantinople, he commanded the Byzantine Varangian Guard.

paragraphs: Harald got wealthy during his time in the Byzantine Empire. He shipped the money to Yaroslav in Kievan Rus' for safekeeping. He finally left the Byzantines in 1042. He arrived back in Kievan Rus' to prepare his campaign of reclaiming the Norwegian throne. In his absence Olaf's illegitimate son Magnus the Good had got the throne. Magnus had also become king of Denmark.

paragraphs: In 1046, Harald joined forces with Magnus's rival in Denmark the pretender Sweyn II of Denmark, and started raiding the Danish coast. Magnus, unwilling to fight his uncle, agreed to share the kingship with Harald, since Harald in turn would share his wealth with him. The co-rule ended abruptly the next year as Magnus died, so Harald became the sole ruler of Norway.

paragraphs: Domestically, Harald crushed all opposition, and outlined the union of Norway under a national rule. Harald's reign was probably one of relative peace and stability, and he set up a viable coin economy and foreign trade. Probably seeking to restore Cnut's "North Sea Empire", Harald also claimed the Danish throne, and spent nearly every year until 1064 raiding the Danish coast and fighting his former ally, Sweyn. Although the campaigns were successful, he was never able to conquer Denmark.

paragraphs: Not long after Harald had renounced his claim to Denmark, the former Earl of Northumbria, Tostig Godwinson, brother of the English king Harold Godwinson, pledged his allegiance to Harald and invited him to claim the English throne. Harald invaded Northern England with 10,000 troops and 300 longships in September 1066, raided the coast and defeated English regional forces of Northumbria and Mercia in the Battle of Fulford near York. Although initially successful, Harald was defeated and killed in an attack by Harold Godwinson's forces in the Battle of Stamford Bridge, which wiped out almost his entire army. Modern historians have often considered Harald's death, which brought an end to his invasion, as the end of the Viking Age. The famous Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records these events.


title: Normans

paragraphs: The Normans were Vikings who settled in northern France. There they made a kingdom called Normandy.

paragraphs: In 1066 the Normans attacked England and took over. The battle was called The Battle Of Hastings. They ruled England for about 300 years. There they built the Tower of London, Windsor Castle and many other stone castles.

paragraphs: The Normans wore woollen tunics and sometimes they wore a waistband to keep the tunic in place. The men also wore long cloaks.

paragraphs: Normans ate dairy, oatmeal porridge, green vegetables and sometimes meat. They often used honey as a sweetener and for mead (an alcoholic drink).

paragraphs: Norman built many stone castles that often had moats around them to protect them from intruders.

paragraphs: Norman houses had a wooden frame with sticks and twigs woven in between, which is called wattle, and then it was all covered in a layer of daub which was made from mud, wet clay, dung and straw. The roofs were usually thatched.

paragraphs: Diarmuid MacMurrough, King of Leinster kidnapped the King of Breifne’s wife. Then Rory O’Connor, the High King of Ireland fired him from being the King of Leinster. Diarmuid still wanted to be king so he hired some Normans, lead by Strongbow to help him get the throne back. Diarmuid had to pay Strongbow so he said that he could marry his daughter and become king when Diarmuid died. Strongbow agreed to this. They first came to Ireland at Bannow Bay, Wexford in 1169 and soon they got the throne back for Diarmuid. King Henry II, King of England and part of France, thought that Strongbow was getting too powerful since Strongbow wasn’t actually the king, so Henry decided to take over the whole of Ireland. He sent over some other Normans who arrived at Ireland in Baginbun, Wexford in 1170. Then King Henry II became King of Ireland as well.

paragraphs: While the Normans were in Ireland they built the original Dublin castle and many other stone castles.

paragraphs: Normans probably introduced rabbits and fallow deer to Ireland for meat and skins.


title: Captain

paragraphs: Captains are officers in an army. In a navy, captains command an entire ship. A Navy Captain is equal to the army rank of colonel. Another type of captain is a commander of a ship who is not in the military.

paragraphs: There are also captains in other uniformed organisations, including the police. A leader of a sports team is also called a captain, as well as the pilot of an airliner.


title: Wire rope

paragraphs: Wire rope consists of several strands laid (or 'twisted') together like a helix. Each strand is likewise made of metal wires laid together like a helix. Initially wrought iron wires were used, but today steel is the main material used for wire ropes.

paragraphs: Modern wire rope was invented by the German mining engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining in the Harz Mountains in Clausthal, Lower Saxony, Germany. It was quickly accepted because it was better than ropes made of hemp or to metal chains, such as had been used before.

paragraphs: Wilhelm Albert's first ropes consisted of wires twisted about a hemp rope core, six such strands then being twisted around another hemp rope core in alternating directions for extra stability. Earlier forms of wire rope had been made by covering a bundle of wires with hemp.

paragraphs: In America wire rope was later manufactured by John A. Roebling, forming the basis for his success in suspension bridge building. Roebling introduced a number of innovations in the design, materials and manufacture of wire rope.

paragraphs: Manufacturing a wire rope is similar to making one from natural fibres. The individual wires are first twisted into a strand, then six or so such strands again twisted around a core. This core may consist of steel, but also of natural fibres such as sisal, manila, henequen, jute, or hemp. This is used to cushion off stress forces when bending the rope.

paragraphs: The specification of a wire rope type, including the number of wires per strand, the number of strands, and the lay of the rope, are is documented using a commonly accepted coding system, with abbreviations. For example, the rope shown in the figure "Wire rope construction" is designated:

paragraphs: Each of the sections of the wire rope designation described above is variable. There are therefore a large number of combinations of wire rope that can be specified in this manner. The following abbreviations are commonly used to specify a wire rope.


title: Liekkiö

paragraphs: Liekkiö ("flamey") or Ihtiriekko is a ghost of a bastard child in Finnish mythology.

paragraphs: Stories tells that a woman had sex with someone else than her husband. Maybe she did not even have a husband. She then get pregnant and gave birth to a baby. This way to make a baby was not accepted by church and society - that kind of baby is called bastard. Mother had to kill her bastard child to avoid being blamed by priests or other people. Mother then buried child outside graveyard and without priests blessing the body. Soul of baby could not go to heaven because his/her body was not at graveyard and was not blessed by a priest. This is why she became a ghost.

paragraphs: This ghost could make terrible noise until somebody dugs up his/her body and buries it in graveyard. Such ghost people call Ihtiriekko. Ghosts could also be quiet, but she/he might be seen as a flame in forest, like will o' the wisp. Such ghost people call Liekkiö.


title: Bastard

paragraphs: A bastard is a person who was born of parents who are not married to one another. It is considered by some cultures and individuals as a nasty or insulting word today, or sometimes even profanity, with the term illegitimate being a little more polite. Some cultures see illegitimate children as dirty or bad, and only accept sexual relations between married couples.