title: Prague

paragraphs: Prague (Praha in Czech) is the capital and the largest city of the Czech Republic. It has a population of 1.4 million.

paragraphs: Prague has been known as one of the most beautiful European cities since the Middle Ages. Often called the "City of 100 Towers", the "Rooftop of Europe" or the "Heart of Europe", Prague was a place where many merchants, artists and inventors met.

paragraphs: Prague is full of historical monuments in all major artistic styles. The historical center of Prague is situated on both banks of the Vltava river. This historical center has six districts, which were once independent cities that joined together in the 18th century. These districts are Staré Město (Old Town), Pražský hrad (Prague castle), Josefov (Old Jewish Town), Nové Město (New Town), Malá Strana (Lesser Town), Hradčany (Prague Castle Quarter) and Vyšehrad. It was Prince Bořivoj who established Prague Castle. There are also lots of museums, galleries, theaters, concert halls, and other historical buildings.

paragraphs: The earliest inhabitants of the area that we know about lived in the valley of the Vltava river around 500 BC. Slavonic tribes came to Bohemia in about 500 AD. There is a legend about how the town of Prague started. Princess Libuše, the leader of a Slavonic tribe, chose a simple peasant Přemysl to be her husband. She told him to go and find a village on the banks of the Vltava and to start a town there. The town became Prague, ruled by the Přemyslid family.In the second half of the 9th century the castle’s original fortifications were built. During the reign of Wenceslas I (Václav in Czech) in the 10th century the church of St Vitus was built at Prague castle. Wenceslas was murdered by his brother when he was going to church. He was later made a saint. In the early 11th century the Přemyslid family got power in Moravia, too. Vratislav II was the first monarch to be called King of Bohemia.

paragraphs: Another ruler, also called Wenceslas I, ruled as King of Bohemia from 1230. He encouraged the arts. A lot of Germans came to live in Prague. In 1257 King Otakar II founded the area of Prague called the Lesser Quarter for the Germans to live in. The last of the Přemyslid kings was King Wenceslas III. He was murdered in Moravia.

paragraphs: During the Middle Ages Prague became very important as the capital of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by Charles IV (1316-1378) who was the most powerful ruler in Europe at the time. Charles made Prague a great city, building St Vitus Cathedral, a university, and a famous bridge called Charles Bridge which still exists.

paragraphs: After Charles IV there were many arguments and fights in Prague. A priest called Jan Hus said that the Catholic Church had become too powerful. He was arrested and burned at the stake in 1415. A lot of people agreed with what Hus had been saying. These people were called Hussites. They threw a lot of important Catholic people out of the window (called "defenestration"). A lot more fighting followed, and for many years Bohemia was ruled by kings who lived in other countries.

paragraphs: From 1526 the Habsburg family ruled Bohemia. They were Catholics and ruled the Holy Roman Empire. In 1576 the Emperor Rudolph II moved the capital from Vienna to Prague. Prague became a rich town again, and people were free to worship as Catholics or Protestants. After Rudolph II there were a lot of religious fighting and more people were thrown out of windows. Eventually the fighting became part of the Thirty Years’ War. When Ferdinand II won the fighting a lot of Protestants left the country. New buildings in Prague were built in the Baroque style. The German language, not Czech, was spoken at court. Maria Theresa was the only queen to reign over Prague. One of her 16 children was Marie Antoinette who became queen of France. When her son Joseph II ruled, people stopped fighting about religion. The people were free to speak what they thought, and there was no more serfdom. Prague now had three parts: the Old Town, the Lesser Quarter and the New Town. Famous people such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited the town often.

paragraphs: In the 19th century industry came to Prague. Factories were built, a railway was built between Prague and Vienna. The Czech nationalist movement became very strong after 1848. They wanted to use their own language instead of German. The composers Smetana and Dvořák wrote music about their country, often using Czech folksongs. The National Theatre was opened in 1881.

paragraphs: In June 1914 the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne, was murdered. This led to World War I. After the war an independent republic called Czechoslovakia was formed with Prague as its capital. Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia were part of it. In 1938 Hitler invaded the country. It was liberated by Soviet troops in May 1945. However, the communists soon seized power and the country was ruled by communists who had to obey the Soviet Union. The prime minister Alexander Dubček gradually tried to make reforms. This period of time is called the "Prague Spring". In 1968 the Soviet Union sent tanks into Prague to Wenceslas Square to restore their power.

paragraphs: Democracy gradually came to Prague in 1989 when the Velvet Revolution happened. In 1993 the Czech Republic and Slovakia split into two countries. Today both these countries are part of the European Union.

paragraphs: Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1990 Prague has become one of Europe's most popular tourist places. It has buildings dating from the 13th century to the present day. The castle looks very important on the hillside. Charles Bridge is now closed to traffic so that pedestrians can walk across the bridge and buy souvenirs from the stalls. There are many museums, palaces and theatres. Tourists often go to the Old Town Square in the centre of Prague. There are lots of buildings there from different periods of history. The statue of Jan Hus stands high above the square. There is a famous Astronomical Clock on the wall of the Old Town Hall. There are museums dedicated to famous people including Smetana, Dvořák and Franz Kafka. The Estates Theatre is one of Europe’s oldest theaters. It was built in the 1780s and Mozart conducted the first performance of his opera "Don Giovanni" there.

paragraphs: Prague is on the list of World Heritage Sites.

paragraphs: Prague has been important in the economy of what is now the Czech Republic since the region developed industry in the 19th century. Textiles and machinery are made and exported to many countries. Food, electronics and chemicals are produced. Nearly half the people who work are women.

paragraphs: Prague is becoming a city where many international companies have their headquarters. Since the late 1990s, Prague has become a popular filming location for international productions and Hollywood motion pictures.

paragraphs: The city contains several universities and colleges including the oldest university in Central and Eastern Europe: the Charles University, founded in 1348.

paragraphs: Prague has three metro lines, 20 tram lines, and buses that connect to the suburbs. There is also a funicular rail link to the top of the Petřín Hill and a chairlift at Prague Zoo. All these services have a common ticketing system.

paragraphs: Prague metro is one of the best in Europe for quality and speed. It has got 3 lines (A, B, and C), 65 kilometers and 61 stations.

paragraphs: Trains from Prague connect to major cities in neighbouring countries.

paragraphs: There is a modern airport, Václav Havel airport Prague, used by many airlines including Czech Airlines.

paragraphs: Prague has many parks and gardens, including a park for culture, sports and entertainments which is named after Julius Fučík, a resistance leader of World War II. It has three stadiums, the largest of which, Spartakiádní stadion, holds 250,000 people. They have a good Soccer team and play many sports.


title: Wallet

paragraphs: A wallet is a small flat container, mostly of leather or fabric, that a person uses to hold cash, credit cards, identification cards, etc. Most men usually keep their wallets in their pockets, while women usually keep them in larger bags called purses.

paragraphs: Wallets, particularly in Europe, where larger coins are prevalent, contain also a coin purse compartments. Some wallets have built-in clasps or bands to keep them closed.

paragraphs: As European banknotes, such as Euros and Pounds, are typically larger than American banknotes in size, they do not fit in some smaller American wallets.


title: Memory card

paragraphs: A memory card is a form of flash memory that is used in a range of electronic devices such as a digital camera or video game console. The memory card stores data, images, music, saved games or other computer files.

paragraphs: Flash memory devices like this contain no moving parts so they are not easily damaged. This means that they are ideal for use in portable devices such as MP3 players, digital cameras, mobile phones etc.

paragraphs: The amount of data memory cards can store depends on the "capacity" of the card. Currently (in 2017) the largest memory cards can store 1 terabyte of data. As the technology improves, larger capacity cards are expected.

paragraphs: There are many different types of memory cards, for example MultiMediaCard or CompactFlash, but the majority are SD cards or MicroSD.


title: Computer printer

paragraphs: A computer printer is a piece of hardware for a computer. It allows a user to print items on paper, such as letters and pictures. Mostly a printer prints under the control of a computer. Many can also work as a copying machine or with a digital camera to print directly without using a computer.

paragraphs: Today, the following types of printers are in regular use:

paragraphs: Printers are programmed using a programming language. The printer interprets the program, and the outputs the result. There are two big classes of such languages: Page description languages, and Printer Control languages. A page description language describes what a page should look like. The program in a page description language is sent to the printer, which interprets them. Printer command languages are at a lower level than Page description languages, they contain information that is specific to the printer model.

paragraphs: Common programming languages for printers include:

paragraphs: When comparing the cost of a printer, people often talk about how expensive it is to print one page. This cost usually has three components:

paragraphs: Printers that are more expensive to buy will usually be less expensive in the consumables (the ink, toner, or ribbon used by the printer). Therefore, laser printers are often more expensive to buy than inkjet printers, but are not as expensive to use over a long period of time. Inkjet printers on the other hand have a higher cost of consumables because the ink tanks they use are more expensive than the toner for a laser printer. Laser printers that can print in color are usually more expensive than those that only print in black and white. Some expensive printers can do other things such as print on both sides of the paper, automatically sort the output, or staple the pages.


title: Chasing Vermeer

paragraphs: Chasing Vermeer is a children's novel. It is about two children noticing strange coincidences relating to art. The book was written by Blue Balliett and published (printed) by Scholastic in 2003. It says many things about the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.

paragraphs: The sequel to the book is "The Wright 3".


title: Great Wall of China

paragraphs: The Great Wall of China is an ancient wall in China. The wall is made of cement, rocks, bricks, and powdered dirt. It was finished in 1878 and it was meant to protect the north of the empire of China from enemy attacks. It is the longest structure humans have ever built. It is about long, wide and high. The earlier sections on the wall are made of compacted dirt and stone. Later in the Ming Dynasty they used bricks. There are 7,000 watch towers, block houses for soldiers and beacons to send smoke signals.

paragraphs: Nineteen walls have been built that were called the Great Wall of China. The first was built in the 7th century BC. The most famous wall was built between 226–200 BC by the first Emperor of Imperial China, Qin Shai Hong (Qin Pronounced as Chin) , during the Qin Dynasty. Not much of this wall remains as people have been stealing from it. It was much farther north than the current wall. The current wall was built during the Ming Dynasty.

paragraphs: The First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang also called Shihuangdi, started the Qin Dynasty. The Xiongnu tribes in the north of China were his enemies. The land in some parts of China is easy to cross, so Qin Shi Huang started building the Great Wall to make it more difficult for the Xiongnu to invade China.

paragraphs: Other dynasties in China had worked more on the wall and made it longer. The Han, Sui, Northern and Jin Dynasties all repaired, rebuilt or expanded the Great Wall. During the Ming Dynasty, major rebuilding work took place. Sections of the wall were built with bricks and stone instead of earth. It took more than 2000 years for building and completion of the Great wall.

paragraphs: Builders used materials that were nearby. Some parts of the wall were made of mud, straw, and twigs. Thousands of workers died from giant falling stones, exhaustion, disease, animal attacks, and starvation. The workers who died were buried in and under the Great Wall is a myth.

paragraphs: Rumours about astronauts being able to see the Great Wall from the moon are scientifically not proven. The Great Wall has shown up in radar images taken from space, but scientists are sure it is not possible for astronauts to see the wall with a naked eye. One astronaut who spoke about the visibility of the Great Wall from space was Neil Armstrong. He said that on the moon, it was very clear that the wall was not visible. However, astronaut William Pogue was able to see the wall from a Low Earth Orbit distance (300-530 km height), but only with binoculars and with lots of practice.


title: Amazon River

paragraphs: The Amazon River (also named "Rio Amazonas" in Portuguese and Spanish) is the largest river in the world by the amount or volume of water it carries. It flows through the tropical forests of South America, mainly in Brazil. Its headwaters are in the Andes Mountains in Peru, on the western edge of South America and flows eastward into the Atlantic Ocean near the equator.

paragraphs: The Amazon River moves more water than the next eight largest rivers of the world combined and has the largest drainage basin in the world. It accounts for about one fifth of the world's total river flow. During the wet season, parts of the Amazon exceed in width. Because of its size, it is sometimes called "The Sea", but it is not the world's "longest" river system. The world's longest river is the Nile River, with the Amazon being second-longest.

paragraphs: It is one of the longest rivers in the world. There have been different studies that have tried to measure its exact length. As the studies have come up with different numbers, it is therefore difficult to give an exact number. The length also changes in the rainy season. Several studies from Brazil, Spain and Chile say it is the longest river in the world, longer than the Nile. The Nile has a length of . The Amazon may have a length of . The Spanish daily newspaper El País gives its length at . In 2007, scientists from Peru and Brazil calculated a length of .

paragraphs: A study done in 1969 says that the Amazon has a length of . This was measured from a part of the River Apurimac. Until the 1970s, it was thought that the Marañón River was the source of the Amazon. In 2001, an expedition found that Nevado Mismi was in fact the source of the Amazon. Another document of the Geographic society of Lima gives the length of the Amazon at over .

paragraphs: The source of the Amazon is in the Andes Mountains of western South America. It flows east from there to the Atlantic Ocean. Most of the huge river and its many tributaries are in the country of Brazil. There are many places on the Amazon where a person on one side of the river cannot see the other side. The Brazilians call the Amazon the "River Sea." The Amazon is navigable from the ocean to Peru. Ocean ships can travel on the Amazon all the way across Brazil, and most of South America, to the city of Iquitos in Peru.

paragraphs: One characteristic of the Amazon river is the "Brazo Casiquiare", a water connection to the Orinoco river into Venezuela, that connects the two basins.

paragraphs: The estuary of the Amazon is about wide. The width of the mouth of the river is usually measured from Cabo do Norte to Punto Patijoca. Generally, the outlet of the Para River is included. It is wide, and forms the estuary of the Tocantins. The estuary also includes the island of Marajó, which lies in the mouth of the Amazon. This means that the Amazon is wider at its mouth than the entire length of the Thames river in England.

paragraphs: Along the coastline, near Cabo do Norte, there are many islands partially covered with water. There are also sandbanks. The tides of the Atlantic generate a wave that reaches into the Amazon river. This wave goes along the coast for about . The phenomenon of this wave generated by the tides is called a tidal bore. Locally it is known as "pororoca". The pororoca occurs where the water is less than deep. It starts with a loud noise, and advances at a speed of . The bore is the reason the Amazon does not have a delta. The ocean rapidly carries away the large amount of silt brought by the Amazon. This makes it impossible for a delta to grow past the shoreline. It also has a very large tide, that can reach . The place has become popular for river surfing.

paragraphs: There are no bridges across the entire width of the river. This is not because the river would be too wide to bridge; for most of its length, engineers could build a bridge across the river easily. For most of its course, the river flows through the Amazon Rainforest, where there are very few roads and cities. Most of the time, the crossing can be done by a ferry, so there is no need to build a bridge. The Manaus Iranduba Bridge linking the cities of Manaus and Iranduba spans the Rio Negro (a tributary of the Amazon).

paragraphs: The river is the main route of traffic in the region. Most cities are on the banks of the river. The biggest city on the river is Manaus, which is also the capital of the Brazilian State of Amazonas. Many native people live in the Amazon, such as the Urarina who live in Peru.

paragraphs: Big ocean boats can get up the river until Manaus, which is almost 1500 kilometers (900 miles) from its mouth. Smaller ocean ships of 3,000 tons and 7.9 m (26 ft) draft can reach as far as Iquitos in Peru, 3,700 km (2,300 miles) from the sea. Smaller riverboats can reach 780 km (486 mi) higher as far as Actual Point. Beyond that, small boats frequently go up to the Pogo Ode Escherichia's, just above Actual Point.


title: Pyramid

paragraphs: A pyramid is a structure, usually of stone, built in the shape of a pyramid. From ancient to modern times people in many different parts of the world have built such structures.

paragraphs: The word "pyramid" comes from the Greek word "pyramis" which meant "wheat cake." The ancient Egyptian word for them was something like "Mer". The Great Pyramid of Giza was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world.

paragraphs: The first pyramids were built in 2630 B.C. The oldest known pyramid was made for king Djoser of the third Dynasty.

paragraphs: In Egypt, kings and queens, called Pharaohs, were buried in huge square-bottomed pyramids built of stone. They were usually built to be used as tombs for Pharaohs. The ancient Egyptian pyramids are very well built. Some of the pyramids still stand today.

paragraphs: The oldest man-made pyramid found is called the Step pyramid. It is in the Giza Necropolis in Saqqara, near Cairo, Egypt. It was built for King Djoser thousands of years ago. Later pyramids were built much larger. The largest one was the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is near Cairo. It was the tallest building in the world until the Eiffel Tower was built in Paris, in 1889. The Great Pyramid was built by the pharaoh Khufu (= Cheops) from the Ancient Egyptian Old Kingdom. Herodotus was told by his Egyptian guides that it took twenty years for a force of 100,000 slaves to build the pyramid (with another ten years to build a stone causeway that connected to a temple in the valley below).

paragraphs: People once thought pyramids were built by slaves. More recent evidence suggests that the workers who built the pyramids were paid and well-cared for. They were loyal to the Pharaoh. Inside the Great Pyramid, famous man-made objects have been found from ancient times. Many valuable items were buried with the dead Pharaohs, in the hope that they would take them to the afterlife. Pyramids usually had traps to stop thieves from escaping easily. Tomb thieves were punished by death if they were caught. However, by 1000 BC, many of the pyramids had been robbed of their precious treasures.

paragraphs: A large statue of a Sphinx stands near the pyramids at Giza. It has the body of a Lion and the head of a Pharaoh.

paragraphs: The ancient Greeks called the Great Pyramid one of the seven wonders of the world. There are over 100 pyramids in Egypt. Most of them are on the western side of the River Nile. Some Egyptologists have different opinions on why the ancient Egyptian Kings built pyramids as their tombs. Pyramids have been excavated for about the last 200 years.

paragraphs: The ancient Egyptians believed that the Egyptian pharaohs went to the stars to join their gods in the afterlife.

paragraphs: The Aztecs and Mayans also built many massive pyramids. None are as old or big as the oldest or biggest Egyptian pyramids. Most of them are step pyramids.

paragraphs: Unlike Egyptian pyramids, which were used as tombs for rulers and wealthy people, Aztec and Mayan pyramids are believed to have been used for public displays of human sacrifice.

paragraphs: There are also ancient pyramids in other parts of Africa, Central America, Europe, North America, and Asia. There is a famous modern glass pyramid in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The Luxor Hotel, in Las Vegas, Nevada is also a glass pyramid.


title: Care Bears

paragraphs: The Care Bears are a very successful toy franchise from the 1980s. Over forty million of these stuffed teddy bears, made with a variety of colours, were sold from 1983 to 1987. Each Bear had a name, a job, and a symbol tied to it. For example, Funshine Bear helps people wake up, and has a sun on his stomach.

paragraphs: The toys were first made as characters on cards in 1981; the original artwork was done by Elena Kucharik. Later, other toys called the Care Bear Cousins were introduced.

paragraphs: They also gave way to three animated movies for the cinema in the mid-1980s. A related TV series from DIC and, later, Canada's Nelvana Limited came out at almost that same time.

paragraphs: Recently, Care Bear toys have been brought back in a new edition for the twenty-first century. As part of this comeback, the Bears have appeared in their first two DVD movies (both computer-animated), as well as a few video games.


title: Bolzano

paragraphs: Bolzano (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Province of Bolzano-Bozen in northern Italy's Alto Adige.

paragraphs: Its population is 98.057 (March 2005) and the area of the municipality is 52.34 km. Bolzano has a history of Italian-speaking inhabitants since the Middle Ages. The region of Alto Adige/Südtirol is mainly German speaking, but in the city the Italian speaking population was the majority (75%) in 2001. The German speaking population of the city was 24% and the Ladin speaking less than 1%. Actually the foreign-born are around 7% (mostly are from eastern Europe).

paragraphs: Historically between the Renaissance and the 19th century, the whole area, originally populated by neolatins from the time of the Roman Empire, experienced a lot of Germanisation. In the centuries before Napoleon, only the Dolomite's area of the western part of the present area of South Tyrol (especially the Val Venosta near Merano) remained neolatin. After the Italian victory in WWI the Italian government promoted a huge immigration of Italians in the city, that was fully modernized with new areas and with the creation of an industrial section: since then the Italians are the majority and in the 2011 census they were nearly 77% of the total population.

paragraphs: Bolzano actually is an international city with a trilingual English-German-Italian university (Free University of Bolzano), the European Academy (EURAC), a Business Innovation Centre (BIC), an international airport (ABD, daily flights to Rome and Munich), the "Bolzano Fair Area", the Archaeology Museum with the Frozen Fritz (the Iceman called here Ötzi), other important museums, the famous "Monumento alla Vittoria" and an old Tyrolean medieval centre with the typical alpine arcades ("Portici"-Lauben).

paragraphs: Bolzano is the centre of the "Euregio Tirol-Südtirol/Alto Adige-Trentino" and with Innsbruck is the capital of the "Alps Convention".

paragraphs: Communities next to Bozen are: Appiano, Cornedo, Laives, Deutschnofen, Renon, Genesio, Terlan, and Vadena.

paragraphs: Other important towns near Bozen are: Bressanone, Brunico and Merano.


title: Flubber

paragraphs: Flubber is a 1997 movie. It stars Robin Williams as Professor Philip Brainard. It was released on November 26, 1997. This movie is based on the movie "The Absent Minded Professor".

paragraphs: In "Flubber", Prof. Brainard discovers a new energy source, which he calls Flubber. He then has many problems such as missing his own wedding and trying to save his job.


title: Mary Wollstonecraft

paragraphs: Mary Wollstonecraft (27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer. She was born in London, a daughter of a rich farmer who inherited his fortune. Her father was known because he was sometimes violent towards her, her four siblings, and their mother when his farms failed. Mary Wollstonecraft was the second oldest child in her family. She was the oldest female child. She left home at the age of nineteen to work and become independent.

paragraphs: Working in the English city of Bath, Somerset, she developed a disliking for the upper class and their social lives. In 1784 she experienced the near death of her sister Eliza who was also the victim of abuse at the hands of her husband. She escaped with her sister to London to preserve her life. Soon after, her good friend Fanny Blood, died of complications in childbirth. Wollstonecraft suffered depression following this and being in financial straits, she began to write her first book "Thoughts on the Educators of Daughters" then "".

paragraphs: Wollstonecraft was not only a writer, she was an early feminist and social campaigner. She wrote a children's book as well as her two most famous books "A Vindication of the Rights of Man" (1790), a response to the French Revolution, and "A Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792) which argued that women should have the same rights and education as men. She called for equal education for boys and girls, believing that education gives the tools necessary to compete with men in public and economic life.

paragraphs: She followed writers such as Catherine Macaulay who wrote "Letters on Education" in 1790, Thomas Paine, and John Locke. One of her most well-known books was "An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution (1794). She also wrote "The Wrongs of Women", a novel telling of the confines and illusion of marriage and child rearing as the only happiness for women. She was revolutionary in arguing for education and the need for autonomy for women.

paragraphs: Wollstonecraft travelled to Paris in 1792 to take notes on the Revolution. While in Paris, she fell in love with Gilbert Imlay, an American who she later followed to London. She tried to commit suicide when their relationship ended but was rescued from the Thames. She wrote a book titled "Letter Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark" (1796) from a series of letters written to Imlay, to support their daughter Fanny Imlay, born in 1794. In the same year, Wollstonecraft met up with an old acquaintance and philosopher named William Godwin, whom she later married. They bore a daughter on 30 August 1797, whom they named Mary Wollstoncraft Godwin, who later became wife of Percy Shelley. Mary Wollstoncraft Godwin became Mary Shelley, the author of "Frankenstein". Ironically, her mother Mary Wollstonecraft died of sepsis in London after her birth and suffered a similar fate as her best friend Fanny Blood whose death inspired her fight for women's rights and her first book. Wollstonecraft died of complications after labour due to a blood clot. Her husband William Godwin published "Memoirs of the Author of "A vindication of the Rights of Women"" in memory of her in 1798.


title: Isle of Wight

paragraphs: The Isle of Wight is an island county that is just off the south coast of England. It is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) by 20 kilometres (13 miles) in size. About one hundred and twenty thousand people live on the island.

paragraphs: The Isle of Wight is known as a county. This means that it has a council of people who make decisions about some things that affect the people who live there. The county town of the island, which is the place where the council work, is called "Newport".

paragraphs: Many people like to go on holiday on the island. There are many hotels and tourist attractions. Queen Victoria used to like to visit the Isle of Wight where she had a house called Osborne House"." Tourism is the most important industry on the island.

paragraphs: Over half of the island is officially designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is also widely recognised as the most important site in Europe for finding dinosaur remains.


title: Alzheimer's disease

paragraphs: Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a brain disease that slowly destroys brain cells. As of now, there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease. With time, the different symptoms of the disease become more marked. Many people die because of Alzheimer's disease. The disease affects different parts of the brain but has its worst effects on the areas of the brain that control memory, language, and thinking skills. Alzheimer's Disease is the most common form of senile dementia accounting for up to 70% of cases.

paragraphs: The clinical symptoms of AD usually occurs after age 65, but changes in the brain which do not cause symptoms and are caused by Alzheimer's, may begin years or in some cases decades before. Although the symptoms of AD begin in older people it is not a normal part of aging.

paragraphs: At this time there is no cure for Alzheimer's, but there are treatments that can help some patients with the signs and symptoms so they do not affect them as badly. There are also treatments which slow down the disease so the damage to the brain does not happen as quickly. There are also certain personal habits that people can learn which may help to delay the onset of the disease.

paragraphs: While it is not yet known exactly what causes Alzheimer's disease, there are a number of risk factors which may make a person more likely to get it. Some of these risk factors are genetic; changes to four different genes have been found which increase the risk.

paragraphs: The current lifetime risk for a 65-year-old person to get Alzheimer's disease is estimated to be at 10.5%. It is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States causing about 83,500 deaths a year. In 2007, there were more than 26.6 million people throughout the world who were affected by AD.

paragraphs: Alzheimer's disease was named after Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist who first described the disease after studying the case of a middle-aged woman, Auguste Deter, who was a patient at a hospital in Frankfurt, Germany in 1906. The disease was named "Alzheimer's disease" in 1910 by Dr. Emil Kraepilin a co-worker of Alzheimer.

paragraphs: Two of the main features found in the brains of people with of Alzheimer's disease, are "neurobrillary tangles" ('tangles' for short), which are made up of a "protein" called "tau", and "senile plaques" (which are made mostly from another protein called "beta-amyloid", they are also sometimes called "beta-amyloid bundles" or 'bundles' for short). The tau proteins that form the tangles previously held together a structure inside the neurons called a "microtubule" which is an important part of the neuron; it forms part of the "cytoskeleton" (cell skeleton) which is what maintains a cell's shape, and microtubules plays a part in cell communication.

paragraphs: Both tangles and plaques may be caused by other diseases, such as Herpes simplex virus Type 1 which is being investigated as a possible cause or contributor in developing Alzheimer's. It is not known for sure if tangles and plaques are part of what causes Alzheimer's, or if they are the results.

paragraphs: Microtubules are made of a protein called "tubulin". The tubulin is "polymerized", which is when molecules form the same shapes over and over again that are linked together in groups, and these groups are linked together. They can form long chains or other shapes; in this case the polymerized tubulin forms microtubules. The microtubules are rigid tubes like microscopic straws which are hollow inside. Microtubules help keep the shape of the neuron, and are inolved in passing signals through the neuron.

paragraphs: Tau is a protein that is found mostly in the neurons of the central nervous system. They help hold together the "microtubules" within the neurons. and when changes happen in the way the tau proteins are supposed to work the microtubules break apart. The tau proteins which are no longer holding the microtubules together form strands called "fibrils", which then clump together inside the neuron to make what are called neurofibrillary tangles . These clumps, also known as 'tau tangles', are all that remain after a neuron has died.

paragraphs: Beta-amyloid(Aβ) (also called 'amyloid beta') plaques start with a protein called amyloid precursor protein (APP). APP is one of the proteins that make up a cell's membrane or outer covering, that protects the cell. In this case a neuron.. As it is made inside the cell, APP sticks out through the membrane of the cell.

paragraphs: In different parts of the of cell including the outermost part of the cell membrane, chemicals called enzymes snip the APP into small pieces. These enzymes that do the snipping are alpha-secretase, beta-secretase, and gamma-secretase. Depending on which enzyme is doing the snipping and what parts of the APP are snipped, two different things can happen. One that is helpful and one that causes the formation of beta-amyloid plaques.

paragraphs: The plaques are formed when beta-secretase snips the APP molecule at one end of the beta-amyloid peptide, releasing sAPPβ from the cell. Gamma-secretase then cuts the pieces of APP that is left and, still sticking out of the neuron’s membrane, at the other end of the beta-amyloid peptide. After this snipping the beta-amyloid peptide is released into the space outside the neuron and begins to stick to other beta-amyloid peptides. These pieces stick together to form "oligomers". Different oligomers of various sizes are now floating around in the spaces between the neurons, which may be responsible for reacting with receptors on neighboring cells and synapses, affecting their ability to function.

paragraphs: Some of these oligomers are cleared from the brain. Those that are not cleared out clump together with more pieces of beta-amyloid. As more pieces clump togther the oligomers get bigger larger, and the next size up are called "protofibrils" and the next size after that are called fibrils. After a while, these fibrils clump together with other protein molecules, neurons and non-nerve cells floating around in the space between the cells and form what are called plaques.

paragraphs: Deposits of beta-amyloid also form in the walls (in the "tunica media", the middle layer, and "tunica adventitia" or "tunica externa", the outer layer) of small and mid-sized arteries (and sometimes veins) in the cerebral cortex and the "leptomeninges" (the "leptomeninges" are the two inner layers - pia mater and arachnoid - of the "meninges", a protective 3-layer membrane covering the brain.)

paragraphs: CAA is found in 30% of people over the age of 60 years who do not have any dementia but is found in 90%-96% of people with Alzheimer disease and is severe in one third to two thirds of these cases.

paragraphs: The first area of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer's is the "transentorhinal region" which is part of the "medial temporal lobe" located deep within the brain. Neurons start dying in this area first. It then spreads into the adjacent entorhinal cortex (EC) which acts as a central hub, for a widespread network that handles signals for memory and movement(like a main train station with train tracks going to different areas).

paragraphs: The EC is the main area for communication between the hippocampus, and the neocortex - which is the outer portion of the brain responsible for higher functioning such as how the brain perceives information from the five senses; (smell, sight, taste, touch and hearing; Ex. seeing a person's face and recognizing them,) generating motor commands (Ex, moving and arm or leg, walking, running) spatial reasoning, conscious thought and language.

paragraphs: The disease then spreads into the hippocampus which is part of the limbic system. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that is involved in forming new memories, organizing them, and storing them for later recall. It is also where emotions and senses, such as smell and sound are attached to specific memories. Example 1.: A memory might make you happy or sad. Example 2.: A smell might bring up a certain memory.

paragraphs: The hippocampus then sends memories to the different parts of the cerebral hemisphere where they are placed in long-term storage and it helps retrieve them when necessary. Example: An adult trying to remember the name of a classmate from kindergarten.

paragraphs: In addition to handling memory the hippocampus is also involved in emotional responses, navigation (getting around) and spatial orientation (knowing your sense of place as you move around Example: Knowing your way around your bedroom even with the lights off).

paragraphs: There are actually two parts of the hippocampus which is shaped like a horseshoe with one in the left part of the brain and the other in the right part of the brain.

paragraphs: With current research using advances in neuroimaging such as FDG-PET and PIB-PET scans, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) assays, it is now possible to detect the beginning processes of Alzheimer's disease that occur before symptoms begin. The research suggests that clinically normal older people (no symptoms at all) have "biomarker" evidence of amyloid beta (Aβ) build-up in the brain. This amyloid beta (Aβ) is linked to changes in the structure of the brain and how it works that is the similar to what is seen in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) - which may lead to Alzheimer's - and people with Alzheimer's.

paragraphs: These small preclinical changes (no symptoms) in the brain may occur many years, to even a few decades before a person is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. With a stage where there is some memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment. These changes put a person at risk of developing the clinical symptoms of full-blown Alzheimer's but not everyone who has these changes will get the disease. Even though there is no cure for Alzheimer's, there are new treatments which are being developed which would work better in the very first stages of the disease.

paragraphs: At this time exactly what makes up the preclinical phase of Alzheimer's is still being researched, such as why some people with go on to develop Alzheimer's and others do not. So the term "preclinical phase" is being used for research only. There is a worldwide effort in various countries doing research in this area known as the World Wide Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (WW-ADNI) which is the umbrella organization for neuroimaging studies being carried out through the North American ADNI, European ADNI (E-ADNI), Japan ADNI, Australian ADNI (AIBL), Taiwan ADNI, Korea ADNI, China ADNI and Argentina ADNI.

paragraphs: "Misdiagnosis in very early stages of Alzheimer's is a significant problem, as there are more than 100 conditions that can mimic the disease. In people with mild memory complaints, our accuracy is barely better than chance," according to study researcher P. Murali Doraiswamy, MBBS, professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke Medicine, "Given that the definitive gold standard for diagnosing Alzheimer's is autopsy, we need a better way to look into the brain."

paragraphs: In 1901, a 51-year-old woman named Auguste Deter, was committed to the City Asylum for the Insane and Epileptic, ("Städtischen Anstalt für Irre und Epileptische") in Frankfurt am Main, Germany which had the nickname "Irrenschloss" (Castle of the Insane). She was married and had a normal life until eight months prior to her commitment, when she started having psychological and neurological problems, such as problems with memory and language, paranoia, becoming disorientated and having hallucinations.

paragraphs: She was studied by a doctor on staff named Alois Alzheimer (1864–1915). Alzheimer became interested in her case because of her age; while the effects of senile dementia were known at the time, they usually did not start until a person was in their early to mid-sixties. Her case was also notable because of the rapid onset of dementia, only eight months, from the first reported symptoms, until she was committed.

paragraphs: While conducting one of his examinations of Ms. Deter, he asked her to perform a series of simple writing tasks. Unable to do what was asked such as write her name, she said "I have lost myself, so to speak" (""Ich habe mich sozusagen selbst verloren"").

paragraphs: Alzheimer left the hospital in Franfkurt in 1902 to begin working with Emil Kraepelin at the Psychiatric University Hospital in Heidelberg-Bergheim, and in 1903 both he and Kraepelin began working at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.

paragraphs: When Ms. Deter died of septicemia on 8 April 1906, Alzheimer was informed and her brain was sent to Munich for him to study. Studying samples of her brain under a microscope he noticed neurofibriallry tangles and bundles made up of beta-amyloid plaque, which are two of the main features of the disease. On 3 November 1906, Alzheimer presented the results of his findings in Auguste's case at the Conference of South-West German Psychiatrists in Tübingen, and he published his findings in the case in 1907.

paragraphs: In 1910, Emil Kraepelin named the disease 'Alzheimer's disease'. Alzheimer's disease usually beigins affecting people between ages 60–65, in Ms. Deter's case - who was 55-years-old when she died - she had a form of what is now known as "Early-onset Alzhiemer's disease".

paragraphs: Anyone can get Alzheimer's disease, rich people or poor famous people and unfamous people. Some of the famous people who have gotten Alzheimer's disease are former United States President Ronald Reagan and Irish writer Iris Murdoch, both of whom were the subjects of scientific articles examining how their cognitive capacities got worse with the disease.

paragraphs: Other cases include the retired footballer Ferenc Puskás, the former Prime Ministers Harold Wilson (United Kingdom) and Adolfo Suárez (Spain), the actress Rita Hayworth, the Nobel Prize-winner Raymond Davis, Jr., the actors Charlton Heston and Gene Wilder, the novelist Terry Pratchett, politician and activist Sargent Shriver, the Blues musician B.B. King, director Jacques Rivette, Indian politician George Fernandes,

paragraphs: and the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics recipient Charles K. Kao. In 2012, Nobel Prize writer Gabriel García Márquez was diagnosed with the disease. Former Finnish President Mauno Koivisto died of the disease in May 2017. Country singer Glen Campbell died of the disease in August 2017.


title: Elaine Paige

paragraphs: Elaine Paige OBE (born Elaine Jill Bickerstaff, 5 March 1948) is an English actress and singer. She was born and raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, in 1948. She is known for her roles in musical theater.

paragraphs: She worked in the theatre from a young age. She quickly became famous in the role of Eva Perón in the musical "Evita" in 1978. She studied acting at the Aida Foster stage school in London and then played roles in the British tour of the show "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd" and the first London production of "Hair". She played Sandy in the London production of "Grease" and appeared as one of Michael Crawford's girlfriends in "Billy". She has since said she was about to leave the world of acting, possibly to become a teacher, but then the role in "Evita" was offered to her.

paragraphs: After "Evita", she did not have any work for a period, and she thought that her musical career had seen its best. When the actress Judi Dench had an injury during rehearsals for "Cats", the producers asked Paige play the role in stead of Dench. They stated that the role "was not another "Evita"" and that her role only had one and a half songs. Fortunately, the song was "Memory", which was a top 10 hit for Paige and has become her signature song.

paragraphs: After "Cats", she appeared in "Abbacadbra", an ABBA compilation, and "Chess", also written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus of ABBA but with lyrics by Tim Rice, co-writer of "Evita". Paige then scored a number 1 single, "I Know Him So Well", a song from "Chess", as a duet with Barbara Dickson.

paragraphs: In 1989, she co-produced and starred in a production of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" in London, which made a star of John Barrowman. In the early 1990s, her term relationship with the lyricist Tim Rice stopped and Paige tried an image change by recording an album with a California-based producer in the Bette Midler torch singer vein entitled "Love Can Do That". Her solo albums had so far been a variety of songs, including the very successful "Stages" in 1983, with songs from musical theatre. In 1993, she returned to the United States to work with Peter Matz on an album called "Romance and the Stage" featuring songs from earlier days of musical theatre. The following year, she recorded, "Piaf", which had music from the role she was playing in the Pam Gems play, also called "Piaf". Critics were impressed by her acting skills in that play.

paragraphs: However, in 1995 she had a role in another musical, playing Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard". She had always wanted to perform on Broadway and "Sunset Boulevard" now made this possible. For more than a year she played the role. She later had another role in 2000 with the "King and I". She has recently moved more into television and radio work.

paragraphs: Paige was awarded an OBE in 1995 and is now hosting a Sunday afternoon BBC Radio 2 show which plays music from the stage and film.


title: Marti Webb

paragraphs: Marti Webb is a British actress and singer born in London in 1944.

paragraphs: She has notably played roles in musical theatre including "Evita", "Cats", "Godspell", "The King and I", "Annie", "Thoroughly Modern Millie", "The Goodbye Girl" and "Song and Dance".

paragraphs: She first came to prominence with the song cycle "Tell Me on a Sunday" which was written for her by Don Black and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Webb recently returned to the show after it was revamped for Denise Van Outen in the West End before she took it on a UK tour.


title: Yahtzee

paragraphs: Yahtzee is a popular dice game that is well-known all over the world. The object of the game is to roll five dice (up to three times) to create certain combinations such as:

paragraphs: Most of these combinations come from poker.


title: Tim Rice

paragraphs: Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice (born 10 November 1944) is a English songwriter and writer. He was born in 1944. Rice is probably best known for his work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the shows "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", "Jesus Christ Superstar", and "Evita". He also co-wrote the shows "Blondel", "Chess" and the English lyrics for "Starmania".

paragraphs: He had a long-term relationship in the 1980s with the actress Elaine Paige.

paragraphs: In 2018, Rice became one of fifteen people to win an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award.


title: Evita (musical)

paragraphs: Evita is a musical. The lyrics were written by Tim Rice. The music was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The musical is based on the life of Eva Perón (1919-1952), the wife of Argentine President Juan Perón , which Che is telling.

paragraphs: "Evita" opened on the West End in 1978, and on Broadway in 1979. It won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical and the Tony Award for Best Musical. In 1996, a movie version was released starring Madonna.


title: Sunset Boulevard (movie)

paragraphs: Sunset Boulevard is a 1950 movie. It stars Gloria Swanson as a fading silent screen star, Erich von Stroheim as her butler and William Holden as a screenwriter. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three.

paragraphs: Andrew Lloyd Webber created the musical in 1993. Patti LuPone was the first starring actress, later followed by Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige.


title: Molière

paragraphs: Molière (1622 – 17 February 1673) was a French actor, director and writer. His real name was Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, Molière was his stage name. He wrote some of the most important comedies in human history.

paragraphs: He was born in Paris where his father owned a carpet shop. As a young person, Molière decided to live an artist's life. At the age of 21, he founded a theatre company that soon went bankrupt. From 1645–1658, he toured France with some of his friends.

paragraphs: Later, King Louis XIV made Molière responsible for the entertainment at the court of Versailles near Paris. Molière was happy to have the king among his friends, because he had many enemies, especially important people in the Roman Catholic church. Molière's comedies deal with human weaknesses: jealousy, meanness, hypocrisy, fear of death. By putting his characters in ridiculous situations, Molière wants to entertain and educate his audience.

paragraphs: One of his most important plays is "Tartuffe", showing a bigoted man stealing his way into a rich family. Molière's last play was "Le Malade Imaginaire", called in English "The Hypochondriac". As in many of his comedies, Molière played the main role. He died on stage during the fourth performance. Because of his problems with the church, he was not allowed to be buried in a church cemetery.


title: Sealand

paragraphs: Sealand is a self-claimed country in the North Sea approximately 12 km from the coast of Suffolk. Sealand is a structure called Roughs Tower it was built in the sea by the British Royal Navy, and later became Sealand. It is very small. There is only room for 300 people on it. Even though a man named Michael Bates says Sealand is a country, no other country has supported this claim.

paragraphs: The owners claim that Sealand is an independent sovereign state because in 1968 an English court decided that Roughs Tower was in international waters and outside the jurisdiction of the British courts.

paragraphs: There are no other states that have diplomatic recognition for Sealand. In the declaratory theory of statehood, an entity becomes a state as soon as it meets the minimal criteria for statehood. Therefore, recognition by other states is purely "declaratory".

paragraphs: In 1987, the UK extended its territorial waters from three to twelve miles. Sealand now sits inside waters that Britain claims as its territory.

paragraphs: Irrespective of its legal status, Sealand is managed by the Bates family as if it were a recognised sovereign entity, and they are its hereditary royal rulers. Roy Bates styles himself "Prince Roy" and his wife "Princess Joan". Their son is known as "His Royal Highness Prince Michael" and has been referred to as the "Prince Regent" by the Bates family since 1999. In this role, he apparently serves as Sealand's acting "Head of State" and also its "Head of Government". At a micronations conference hosted by the University of Sunderland in 2004, Sealand was represented by Michael Bates' son James, who was referred to as "Prince Royal James." The facility is now occupied by one or more caretakers representing Michael Bates, who himself resides in Essex, England. Sealand's constitution was instituted in 1974. It consists of a preamble and seven articles. The preamble asserts Sealand's independence, while the articles variously deal with Sealand's status as a constitutional monarchy, the empowerment of government bureaus, the role of an appointed, advisory senate, the functions of an appointed, advisory legal tribunal, a proscription against the bearing of arms except by members of a designated "Sealand Guard", the exclusive right of the sovereign to formulate foreign policy and alter the constitution, and the hereditary patrilinear succession of the monarchy. Sealand's legal system is claimed to follow British common law, and statutes take the form of decrees enacted by the sovereign. Sealand has issued passports and has operated as a flag of convenience state, and it also holds the Guinness World Record for "the smallest area to lay claim to nation status". Sealand's motto is "E Mare Libertas" (). It appears on Sealandic items, such as stamps, passports, and coins, and is the title of the Sealandic anthem. The anthem was composed by Londoner Basil Simonenko; it does not have lyrics.

paragraphs: At the beginning of 2007, the Bates put an ad in the newspaper. They would like to sell Sealand for 65 million pounds.


title: Sticky note

paragraphs: A sticky note (or Post-it note) is a small piece of paper with a strip of glue along one edge that make it "sticky," so you can stick it to things. It was invented by Arthur Fry.

paragraphs: The most common sticky note is the Post-it, which is made by a company called 3M. In 1974 a man named Arthur Fry came up with the idea for the sticky note. He used a glue that was originally too weak to be used for anything else, so the notes would come off easy. 3M started to sell Post-Its in 1980.

paragraphs: In 2001, the patent for the glue that 3M uses on Post-it notes expired, so many other companies now make similar sticky notes.


title: Becker (TV series)

paragraphs: Becker was a 1998 American television series. It was a sitcom on the CBS network. It starred Ted Danson as Dr. John Becker, a very grumpy family doctor who is unhappy with his life in The Bronx, New York. Becker became famous for his witty responses and constant negative outlook on all situations. The show aired on Wednesdays, and was cancelled in January 2004.

paragraphs: For the first four seasons, the main characters were:

paragraphs: Becker, a Harvard Medical School graduate, runs a neighborhood medical practice. He is easily annoyed by things, and is a very angry person. He has been married and divorced twice.

paragraphs: Becker's office manager, and one of the few people who can not get annoyed by Becker and his ways. Margaret is a motherly-like figure to Becker and Linda. She is married.

paragraphs: A muddle-headed girl whose surname is never revealed. She works at the doctor's office to establish independence from her wealthy parents.

paragraphs: The owner and worker of a diner she inherited from her late father. Reggie is a former model and is unhappy being stuck running a diner.

paragraphs: Becker's best friend. Jake also works at the diner selling newspapers and miscellaneous items such as candy, magazines, cigarettes, gum, etc. Jake is blind following a car accident several years before.

paragraphs: Bob loiters at the diner and is Italian. He is an old high school classmate of Reggie's who is short, annoying, and refers to himself in the third person.


title: Ted Danson

paragraphs: Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor and producer. Danson was born in San Diego, California and raised in Flagstaff, Arizona. He is best known from his work on television. His roles include:

paragraphs: Ted Danson was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2018, 2019 and 2020 for playing Michael on "The Good Place". "The Good Place" won a Peabody Award in 2019.


title: Digital camera

paragraphs: A digital camera is a camera that stores pictures in electronic memory instead of film. Because of this, a digital camera can hold many more pictures than a traditional film camera. A digital camera can sometimes hold hundreds or thousands of pictures. Many use a memory card to store them. Most digital cameras can use a USB cable that connects into a computer to send pictures that are in the camera to the computer.

paragraphs: Digital photography is a kind of photography where a digital camera is used to take photos. Digital cameras use an image sensor instead of photographic film. Very often, they also use a memory card to store the photos in a digital format. Most photography is digital, though some photographers still use the old film cameras.

paragraphs: The majority of cameras are part of a mobile phone, called a "camera phone". They can send their pictures to other phones and other devices. Most camera phones do not make as good pictures as larger separate cameras do, especially where light is not bright.

paragraphs: Most digital cameras can serve as Video cameras. Some have a direct link to another computer where the data may be stored.

paragraphs: When you take a picture or a video, it is saved on a memory device. The memory device can be internal - flash memory inside the camera, or external - memory cards, microdrives and so on. The most used method for saving pictures and videos from a camera is a SD card.

paragraphs: The picture can be saved in a compressed file (JPEG, TIFF) or in an uncompressed, proprietary RAW file. The compressed picture is lower quality but the RAW picture has to be processed with a special computer program.

paragraphs: A video is usually saved as an AVI, MPEG or MOV file format (it depends on the producer of the camera).

paragraphs: Most modern cameras also put Exif information in the picture file. This metadata information usually includes the date of taking the picture, the camera type, and its settings. Some cameras include GPS coordinates.


title: Cheers

paragraphs: Cheers is a long-running American sitcom made by Charles-Burrows-Charles Productions in association with Paramount Television for NBC. The show premiered on September 30, 1982 and had its widely watched series finale on May 20, 1993, followed by a long and ongoing run in syndication. In eleven seasons, there were 270 episodes.

paragraphs: The show was set in a Boston bar, where a group of friends would come to sit, drink alcohol, complain, and make practical jokes on a rival bar in town. The show also created the character Frasier Crane. Frasier got his own show ("Frasier") the season after "Cheers" ended.

paragraphs: The show's main theme in its early seasons was the romance between Diane Chambers (Shelley Long) and ex-baseball pitcher and bar owner Sam Malone (Ted Danson). Long's departure from the show in 1987 shifted the emphasis to Sam's relationship with a new character, Rebecca Howe (Kirstie Alley). Diane returned for the finale.

paragraphs: The producers, not wanting the show to be construed as promoting drinking, had Sam's character written as an ex-alcoholic. Most of the early episodes took place entirely within the confines of the bar. When the series became popular, some scenes were outside the bar.

paragraphs: The outer shots of the bar were actually the Bull and Finch pub, north of Boston Common, which has become a tourist attraction because of its association with the series. It is said to be the bar that the series creators saw and wanted to model the bar in their show after. It has now been renamed Cheers on Beacon Hill, though its interior is quite different from the TV bar.

paragraphs: The show was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles. It was nearly cancelled during its first season (in which it ranked dead last among 63 shows), but eventually became one of the most popular shows on TV, earning a top-ten rating during seven of its eleven seasons. The show earned 26 Emmy Awards, out of a total of 111 nominations.


title: Jackie Chan Adventures

paragraphs: Jackie Chan Adventures is an animated television series. Episodes were first broadcast on the WB television network, and later syndicated on other networks such as the Cartoon Network. It features fictionalized Jackie Chan and his niece Jade on their adventures trying to stop evil.


title: Stapler

paragraphs: A stapler is an office tool that is used to place thin items such as paper together. It uses a small piece of wire (a staple) to put them together. The ends of the staple are pointed and go into the paper. There is also a chain of stores called "Staples", which sell office supplies.

paragraphs: When you press the stapler down, it will release a staple. The staple is pressed into the paper, and then bent. That way the pieces of paper get stuck together.


title: Pixar

paragraphs: Pixar Animation Studios (or simply Pixar) is an American animation studio. It is known for its advanced CGI productions. It has been a partner of Disney for many years. In 2006, Disney bought the company.

paragraphs: Pixar started as a division of George Lucas' Lucasfilm in early 1979. In 1986, Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs bought it for $10 million. He worked as a chairman and CEO until 2011.

paragraphs: The company has made a total of 24 movies and short films based on the characters, starting with "Toy Story" which was released on November 22, 1995, "Toy Story 2" was premiered in 1999 and "Toy Story 3" was made in 2010. The fourth film of the franchise is "Toy Story 4" which released in 2019. The "Toy Story" franchise has globally become the highest-grossing animated films of all time and has also released several short films and several television series.


title: Finding Nemo

paragraphs: Finding Nemo is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy adventure film written and directed by Andrew Stanton, released by Walt Disney Pictures, and the fifth film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It tells the story of the over-protective clownfish named Marlin (Albert Brooks) who, along with a regal blue tang named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), searches for his captured son Nemo (Alexander Gould) in Sydney Harbour. Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and let Nemo take care of himself. It is Pixar's first film to be released in cinemas in the northern hemisphere summer. The film was re-released for the first time in 3D on September 14, 2012, and it was released on Blu-ray on December 4, 2012. A sequel, "Finding Dory", was released on June 17, 2016.

paragraphs: The film received extremely positive reviews and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It was the second highest-grossing film of the year, earning a total of $921 million worldwide. "Finding Nemo" is also the best-selling DVD of all time, with over 40 million copies sold as of 2006, and was the highest money making G-rated film of all time before Pixar's own "Toy Story 3" overtook it. It is also the 22nd highest money making film of all time, as well as the 3rd highest money making animated film. In 2008, the American Film Institute named it the tenth greatest animated film ever made during their Top 10.

paragraphs: Two clownfish, Marlin and his wife Coral are admiring their new home in the Great Barrier Reef and their clutch of eggs that are due to hatch in a few days. Suddenly, a barracuda attacks them, and Marlin tries to defend and save his eggs, leaving Marlin unconscious. Coral and all but one of their eggs are also eaten. Marlin names this egg Nemo, a name that Coral liked.

paragraphs: The movie next shows Nemo's first day of school. Nemo has a tiny right fin, because his egg was injured by the barracuda attack. This makes it difficult for him to swim. After Marlin embarrasses Nemo during a school field trip, Nemo disobeys his father and sneaks away from the reef towards a boat. So he gets captured by scuba divers. As the boat sails away, one of the divers accidentally knocks his diving mask into the water.

paragraphs: While trying to save Nemo, Marlin meets Dory, a good-hearted and optimistic Regal blue tang with short-term memory loss. While meeting three sharks on a fish-free diet, Bruce, a great white shark; Anchor, a hammerhead shark; and Chum, a mako shark, Marlin discovers the diver's mask that was dropped from the boat and notices an address written on it. However, when he argues with Dory and accidentally gives her a nosebleed, the scent of blood causes Bruce to lose control of himself and attempt to eat Marlin and Dory. The two escape from Bruce but the mask falls into a trench in the deep sea. During a hazardous struggle with an anglerfish in the trench, Dory realizes she is able to read the address written on the mask, which leads to Sydney, Australia, and manages to remember it. She repeats " P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way Sydney" to keep it in her memory. After receiving directions to Sydney from a large school of Silver moony, Marlin and Dory accidentally run into a bloom of jellyfish that nearly sting them to death; Marlin falls exhausted after the risky escape and wakes up to see a surf-cultured Green sea turtle named Crush, who takes Dory and him on the East Australian Current, referred to as the EAC by the animals. In the current, Marlin shares the story of his journey with a group of young sea turtles who spread the story around the ocean.

paragraphs: Meanwhile, Nemo's captor - P. Sherman, a dentist - places him into a fish tank in his office on Sydney Harbour. There, Nemo meets a group of aquarium fish called the "Tank Gang", led by a crafty and ambitious moorish idol named Gill. The "Tank Gang" includes Bloat, a puffer fish; Bubbles, a Yellow tang; Peach, a starfish; Gurgle, a Royal gramma; Jacques, a pacific cleaner shrimp; and Deb, a Blacktailed humbug. The fish are frightened to learn that the dentist plans to give Nemo to his niece, Darla. She is infamous for killing a goldfish given to her previously by constantly shaking the bag. In order to avoid this fate, Gill gives Nemo a role in an escape plan, which involves jamming the tank's filter and forcing the dentist to remove the fish from the tank to clean it manually. The fish would be placed in plastic bags, at which point they would roll out the window and into the harbor. After a friendly pelican named Nigel visits with news of Marlin's adventure, Nemo succeeds in jamming the filter, but the plan backfires when the dentist installs a new high-tech filter.

paragraphs: While leaving the East Australian Current, Marlin and Dory get lost in the blooms of plankton and krill and are caught by a blue whale. Inside the whale's immense mouth, Marlin tries to escape while Dory talks with it in whale-speak. So, the whale carries them to Sydney Harbour and expels them through his blowhole. They are met by Nigel, who recognizes Marlin from the stories he has heard and rescues him and Dory from a flock of hungry seagulls by scooping them into his beak and taking them to the dentist's man's office. By this time, Darla has arrived and the dentist is prepared to give Nemo to her. Nemo tries to play dead in hopes of saving himself, and, at the same time, Nigel arrives. Marlin sees Nemo and mistakes this act for the actual death of his son. After a struggle, Gill helps Nemo escape into a drain through a sink.

paragraphs: Sad, Marlin leaves Dory and begins to swim back home. Dory then loses her memory and becomes confused, but meets Nemo, who has reached the ocean through an underwater drainpipe. Dory's memory is restored after she reads the word "Sydney" on a nearby drainpipe and, remembering her journey, she guides Nemo to Marlin. After the two joyfully reunite, Dory is caught in a fishing net with a school of grouper. Nemo bravely enters the net and directs the group to swim downward to break the net, reminiscent of a similar scenario that occurred in the fish tank earlier. The fish, including Dory, succeed in breaking the net and escape. After some days, Nemo leaves for school once more and Marlin who is no longer overprotective or doubtful of his son's safety, proudly watches Nemo swim away into the distance.

paragraphs: Back at the dentist's office, the high-tech filter breaks down and The Tank Gang escape into the harbor. But, they realize that they are trapped in the bags of water that the dentist put them into when cleaning the tank.

paragraphs: "Finding Nemo" currently holds a 99% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes with 100% by top critics, and an average of 89% on Metacritic. Roger Ebert gave the film four stars, calling it "one of those rare movies where I wanted to sit in the front row and let the images wash out to the edges of my field of vision." Broadway star Nathan Lane who was the voice of Timon the meerkat in "The Lion King", said "Finding Nemo" was his favorite animated film.

paragraphs: The film's use of clownfish prompted mass purchase of the animal as pets in the United States, even though the movie portrayed the use of fish as pets negatively and suggested that saltwater aquariums are notably tricky and expensive to maintain. The demand for clownfish was supplied by large-scale harvesting of tropical fish in regions like Vanuatu.

paragraphs: At the same time, the film had a quote that "all drains lead back to the ocean" (Nemo escapes from the aquarium by going down a sink drain, ending up in the sea). Since water typically undergoes treatment before leading to the ocean, the JWC Environmental company quipped that a more realistic title for the movie might be "Grinding Nemo". However, in Sydney, much of the sewer system does pass directly to outfall pipes deep offshore, without a high level of treatment (although pumping and some filtering occur). Additionally, according to the DVD, there was a cut sequence with Nemo going through a treatment plant's mechanisms before ending up in the ocean pipes. However, in the final product, logos for "Sydney Water Treatment" are featured prominently along the path to the ocean, implying that Nemo did pass through some water treatment.

paragraphs: The Australian Tourism Commission (ATC) launched several marketing campaigns in China and the USA in order to improve tourism in Australia, many of them using "Finding Nemo" clips. Queensland also used "Finding Nemo" to draw tourists to promote its state for vacationers.

paragraphs: On the 3-D re-release, Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote that its emotional power was deepened by "the dimensionality of the oceanic deep" where "the spatial mysteries of watery currents and floating worlds are exactly where 3-D explorers were born to boldly go."

paragraphs: The 3-D re-release also prompted a retrospective on the film then nine years after its initial release. Stephen Whitty of the Newark Star-Ledger described it as "A genuinely funny and touching film that, in less than a decade, has established itself as a timeless classic," with Roger Moore of the McClatchy-Tribune News Service calling the movie "the gold standard against which all other modern animated films are measured."

paragraphs: "Finding Nemo" was released on DVD and VHS on November 4, 2003. The film was also released on DVD in a "Gold Edition", which came with a "Finding Nemo" stuffed toy character. The film had a home video release on both Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on December 4, 2012, with both a 3-disc and a 5-disc set.

paragraphs: The inspiration for Nemo was made up of multiple experiences. The idea goes back to when director Andrew Stanton was a child, when he loved going to the dentist to see the fish tank, assuming that the fish were from the ocean and wanted to go home. In 1992 shortly after his son was born, he and his family took a trip to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (which was called Marine World at the time). There he saw the shark tube and various exhibits he felt that the underwater world could be done beautifully in computer animation. Later, in 1997 he took his son for a walk in the park, but found that he was over protecting him constantly and lost an opportunity to have any "father-son experiences" on that day. In an interview with "National Geographic" magazine, he stated that the idea for the characters of Marlin and Nemo came from a photograph of two clownfish peeking out of an anemone:"It was so arresting. I had no idea what kind of fish they were, but I couldn't take my eyes off them. And as an entertainer, the fact that they were called clownfish—it was perfect. There's almost nothing more appealing than these little fish that want to play peekaboo with you." Also, clownfish are very colourful, but don't tend to come out of an anemone very often, and for a character who has to go on a dangerous journey, Stanton felt a clownfish was the perfect kind of fish for the character.

paragraphs: Pre-production of the film took place in early 1997. Stanton began writing the screenplay during the post-production of "A Bug's Life". As such, it began production with a complete screenplay, something that co-director Lee Unkrich called "very unusual for an animated film." The artists took scuba diving lessons so they could go and study the coral reef. The idea for the initiation sequence came from a story conference between Andrew Stanton and Bob Peterson while driving to record the actors. Ellen DeGeneres was cast after Stanton was watching "Ellen" with his wife and seeing Ellen "change the subject five times before finishing one sentence" as Stanton recalled. There was a pelican character known as Gerald (who in the final film ends up swallowing and choking on Marlin and Dory) who was originally a friend of Nigel. They were going to play against each other as Nigel being neat fastidious while Gerald being scruffy and sloppy. However the filmmakers could not find an appropriate scene for them that didn't slow the pace of the picture down, so Gerald's character was minimized.

paragraphs: Stanton himself provided the voice of Crush the sea turtle. Stanton originally did the voice for the film's story reel, and assumed they would find an actor later. When Stanton's performance was popular in test screenings, Stanton decided to keep his performance in the film. Stanton recorded all his dialogue while lying on a sofa in co-director Lee Unkrich's office.

paragraphs: Crush's son Squirt was voiced by Nicholas Bird, the young son of fellow Pixar director Brad Bird. According to Stanton, the elder Bird was playing a tape recording of his young son around the Pixar studios one day. Stanton felt the voice was "this generation's Thumper" and immediately cast Nicholas.

paragraphs: Megan Mullally revealed that she was originally doing a voice in the film. According to Mullally, the producers were dissatisfied to learn that the voice of her character Karen Walker on the television show "Will & Grace" was not her natural speaking voice. The producers hired her anyway, and then strongly encouraged her to use her Karen Walker voice for the role. When Mullally refused, she was dismissed.

paragraphs: The film was dedicated to Glenn McQueen, a Pixar animator who died of melanoma in October 2002.

paragraphs: Finding Nemo shares many plot elements with "Pierrot the Clownfish", a children's book published in 2002, but allegedly conceived in 1995. The author, Franck Le Calvez, sued Disney for infringement of his intellectual rights. The judge ruled against him, citing the color differences between Pierrot and Nemo.

paragraphs: To ensure that the movements of the fish in the film were believable the animators essentially took a crash course in fish biology and oceanography. They visited aquariums, went diving in Hawaii and received in-house lectures from an ichthyologist.

paragraphs: "Finding Nemo" earned $380,673,009 in North America, and $540,900,000 in other countries, for a worldwide total of $921,573,009. It is the second highest-grossing film of 2003, behind "". In North America, outside North America, and worldwide, it was the highest-grossing Pixar film, up until 2010 when "Toy Story 3" surpassed it.

paragraphs: "Finding Nemo" set an opening-weekend record for an animated feature, making $70,251,710 (first surpassed by "Shrek 2"). It became the highest-grossing animated film in North America ($339.7 million), outside North America ($528.2 million) and worldwide ($867.9 million), in all three occasions outgrossing "The Lion King". In North America, it was surpassed by both "Shrek 2" in 2004, and "Toy Story 3" in 2010. After the re-release of "The Lion King" in 2011, it stands as the fourth highest-grossing animated film in these regions. Outside North America, it was surpassed by "", "Toy Story 3", and "". Worldwide, it now ranks third among animated films.

paragraphs: The film had impressive box office runs in many international markets. In Japan, its highest-grossing market after North America, it grossed $102.4 million becoming the highest-grossing Western animated film until it was out-grossed by "Toy Story 3" ($126.7 million). Following in biggest grosses are the UK, Ireland and Malta, where it grossed £37.2 million ($67.1 million), France and the Maghreb region ($64.8 million), Germany ($53.9 million), and Spain ($29.5 million).

paragraphs: After the success of the 3D re-release of "The Lion King", Disney and Pixar re-released "Finding Nemo" in 3D on September 14, 2012, with a conversion cost estimated below $5 million. For the opening weekend of its 3D re-release in North America, "Finding Nemo" grossed $16.7 million, debuting at the No. 2 spot behind "". From seven foreign markets, it earned a total of $5.1 million.

paragraphs: Finding Nemo won the Academy Award and Saturn Award for Best Animated Film. It also won the award for best Animated Film at the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards, the National Board of Review Awards, the Online Film Critics Society Awards, and the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards.

paragraphs: The film received many awards, including:

paragraphs: In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten", the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres, after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. "Finding Nemo" was acknowledged as the 10th best film in the animation genre. It was the most recently released film among all ten lists, and one of only three movies made after the year 2000, the others being "" and "Shrek".

paragraphs: A video game based on the film was released in 2003, for PC, Xbox, PS2, GameCube and GBA.

paragraphs: In 2005, after disagreements between Disney's Michael Eisner and Pixar's Steve Jobs over the distribution of Pixar's films, Disney announced that they would be creating a new animation studio, Circle 7 Animation, to make sequels to the seven Disney-owned Pixar films (which consisted of the films released between 1995 and 2006). The studio had put "Toy Story 3" and "Monsters, Inc. 2" in development, and had also hired screenwriter Laurie Craig to write a draft for "Finding Nemo 2". Circle 7 was subsequently shut down after Robert Iger replaced Eisner as CEO of Disney and arranged the acquisition of Pixar.

paragraphs: In July 2012, it was reported that Andrew Stanton is developing a sequel to "Finding Nemo", with Victoria Strouse writing the script and a schedule to be released in 2016. However, the same day the news of a potential sequel broke, director Andrew Stanton posted a message on his personal Twitter calling into question the accuracy of these reports. The message said, "Didn't you all learn from "Chicken Little"? Everyone calm down. Don't believe everything you read. Nothing to see here now. #skyisnotfalling" According to the report by Hollywood Reporter published in August 2012, Ellen DeGeneres is in negotiations to reprise her role of Dory. In September 2012, it was confirmed by Stanton saying: "What was immediately on the list was writing a second "Carter" movie. When that went away, everything slid up. I know I'll be accused by more sarcastic people that it's a reaction to "Carter" not doing well, but only in its timing, but not in its conceit."


title: Fibonacci

paragraphs: Fibonacci, also known as Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo Fibonacci and Leonardo of Pisa, lived c. 11701250. He was an Italian mathematician. He was thought "the most talented Western mathematician of the Middle Ages".

paragraphs: Fibonacci popularized the Hindu–Arabic numeral system to the Western World. He did this in his composition in 1202 of "Liber Abaci" ("Book of Calculation"). He also introduced to Europe the sequence of Fibonacci numbers which he used as an example in "Liber Abaci".

paragraphs: Fibonacci is best known for the list of numbers called the Fibonacci Sequence. The list never stops, but it starts this way:

paragraphs: In this list, a person can find the next number by adding the last two numbers together.

paragraphs: This series is also interesting because the ratio of two adjacent numbers in the series approaches the golden ratio.


title: Richard Stallman

paragraphs: Richard Stallman (born March 16, 1953) is the founder of the free software movement, the GNU project, and the Free Software Foundation. He is also a famous hacker. He created GNU Emacs, the GNU C Compiler, and the GNU Debugger. He is one of the main authors of the GNU General Public License ("GNU GPL" or "GPL"), the most used free software license, which pioneered the concept of the copyleft.

paragraphs: Since the mid-1990s, he has spent most of his time as a political campaigner, talking about free software and campaigning against proprietary software, software idea patents and expansions of copyright law. The time that he still spends on programming is spent on GNU Emacs. He is currently supported by various fellowships and maintains a modest standard of living.


title: National Hockey League

paragraphs: The National Hockey League or NHL, is the highest-level ice hockey league in the world. It has 31 teams - seven are from Canada and the other 24 are from the United States. The winner of the league each year wins the Stanley Cup.

paragraphs: The NHL began in 1917. Some of the owners in the National Hockey Association had problems with owner Edward Livingstone, so they got rid of him by creating a new league. There were five teams in 1917:

paragraphs: They played 22 games a year. The Wanderers had to stop playing in the first year because their arena burned down. Over the years some teams died out, and others were created: the Boston Bruins, New York Americans, Montreal Maroons, Pittsburgh Pirates (later Philadelphia Quakers), New York Rangers, Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars (later Falcons, then Red Wings).

paragraphs: Some teams folded during the Great Depression, so by 1942 there were only six teams:

paragraphs: There were only these six teams for 25 years, so they became known as the "Original Six".

paragraphs: By the 1940s, they were playing 50 games a year, but this increased slowly to 80 games by the 1970s. In 1967, the league increased to 12 teams. By 1979 it had 21 teams, and today it has 31. Some of the teams that no longer exist are the Oakland Seals, Minnesota North Stars (now the Dallas Stars), Winnipeg Jets (now the Arizona Coyotes), Kansas City Scouts (which became the Colorado Rockies and are now the New Jersey Devils), Hartford Whalers (now the Carolina Hurricanes), Quebec Nordiques (now the Colorado Avalanche) and Atlanta Thrashers (now the current Winnipeg Jets).

paragraphs: Today they play 82 games a year, plus four rounds of playoffs. The players make a lot of money (many make over a million dollars a year). Because they could make so much money, many Europeans came over to North America to play in the NHL. Today almost all the world's best hockey players are in the NHL.


title: Isaac Asimov

paragraphs: Isaac Asimov ( – April 6, 1992) was a writer of science fiction. He was also a biochemist with a PhD from Columbia University.

paragraphs: Asimov was born in Petrovichi, Smolensk Oblast, Russian SFSR to a Jewish family, on an unknown date between October 4, 1919 and January 2, 1920. Asimov celebrated his birthday on January 2. He was taken to the United States when he was three, and learned English and Yiddish as his native languages. He wrote many books. People know about Isaac Asimov because of his science fiction books and his science books for non-scientists. He used to be very interested in Numismatics.

paragraphs: Asimov's most famous books were the Foundation series. He also wrote the "Galactic Empire" and the "Robot" Series. He also wrote mystery, fantasy, and non-fiction books. He wrote or edited over 500 books and about 90,000 letters. Other subjects he wrote about were history, the Bible, literature, and sexuality.

paragraphs: Many of Asimov's early writings were short stories published in cheap science fiction and fantasy magazines. Years later, most of them were collected and republished as collections. Well-known collections include "I, Robot", "The Rest of the Robots", "Earth is Room Enough" and "The Early Asimov".

paragraphs: Asimov made a list of 15 of his science fiction books, which he advised should be read in this order:

paragraphs: Numbers 1–5 are 'Robot' books; 6–8 are 'Galacticos Empire' books; 9–15 are Foundation series books.

paragraphs: Asimov's novels have influenced science fiction on television and movie. Especially his 'Three Laws of Robotics' is a lasting contribution to our thinking.

paragraphs: Although ethnically a Jew, Asimov was an atheist:

paragraphs: When he had heart surgery in 1983, he received blood infected with HIV. He developed AIDS, and died of the effects of the medical condition in 1992. His widow did not speak of this until years later.


title: Celsius

paragraphs: Celsius (more precisely, a degree Celsius), sometimes called centigrade, is a unit of measurement used in many countries to measure temperature. This unit was created by Anders Celsius (1701–1744), a Swedish astronomer.

paragraphs: 0 degrees (°) Celsius is the melting point of pure water at sea level ("normal pressure").

paragraphs: 100° Celsius is the boiling point of water at normal pressure. (Water boils at a lower temperature at higher altitudes).

paragraphs: 1 °C is therefore one hundredth (the 100th part) of that difference.

paragraphs: Since 1948, this unit has been called "Celsius". "Centigrade" was the name of the unit before the change. "Centi" meaning 1/100, and "grade" being a scale.

paragraphs: The other commonly used measurement of temperature is the Fahrenheit scale. The Celsius scale, based on multiples of ten, is used with SI, or metric measurements.

paragraphs: In 1742, Anders Celsius made a "reversed" version of the modern Celsius temperature scale. In this scale, zero was the boiling point of water and 100 was the melting point of ice. In his paper "Observations of two persistent degrees on a thermometer," he wrote about his experiments. He showed that the melting point of ice was basically unaffected by air pressure. Ice would turn into water at the same temperature, whether it was at sea level or on a mountain. This was not the case for the boiling point of water. It would boil easier with less pressure (on a mountain). He decided that zero on his temperature scale (water's boiling point) would be set at the standard barometric pressure at sea level. This pressure is known as one atmosphere. In 1954, Resolution 4 of the 10th CGPM (the General Conference on Weights and Measures) set what exactly is one standard atmosphere ().

paragraphs: In 1744, the year Anders Celsius died, the famous Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus (1707–1778) used a reversed version of Celsius's scale when he bought his first thermometer. This had a scale where zero represented the melting point of ice and 100 represented water's boiling point, similar to what we use it today. His custom-made "Linnaeus thermometer", to use in his greenhouses, was made by Daniel Ekström, then Sweden's leading maker of scientific instruments. Ekstöm's workshop was in the basement of the Stockholm observatory. As often happened in this age before modern communications, many physicists, scientists, and instrument makers are given credit with independently making the same measurement scale; among them were Pehr Elvius, the secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (which had an instrument workshop), who Linnaeus had also talked to; Christin of Lyons; Daniel Ekström, the instrument maker; and Mårten Strömer (1707–1770) who had studied astronomy under Anders Celsius.

paragraphs: The first known document reporting temperatures in this modern "forward" Celsius scale is the paper "Hortus Upsaliensis", dated 16 December 1745, that Linnaeus wrote to a student of his, Samuel Nauclér. In it, Linnaeus reported the temperatures inside the orangery at the Botanical Garden of Uppsala University:

paragraphs: ...since the caldarium (the hot part of the greenhouse) by the angle of the windows, merely from the rays of the sun, obtains such heat that the thermometer often reaches 30 degrees, although the keen gardener usually takes care not to let it rise to more than 20 to 25 degrees, and in winter not under 15 degrees...

paragraphs: For the next 204 years, the scientific and thermometry communities worldwide called this scale the "centigrade scale". Temperatures on the centigrade scale were often reported as "degrees" or "degrees centigrade". The symbol for temperature values on this scale was °C (in several formats over the years). Because the name "centigrade" was also the Spanish and French language name for a unit of angular measurement (one-hundredth of a right angle) and had a similar meaning in other languages, the term "centesimal degree" was used when very precise, clear language was required for international communication, such as by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM). The 9th CGPM (General Conference on Weights and Measures) and the CIPM (International Committee for Weights and Measures) officially decided to use "degree Celsius" (symbol: °C) in 1948.

paragraphs: There were three reasons for the decision in 1948 to use the word "Celsius":

paragraphs: It would take nearly two decades however, for school textbooks to change from "centigrade" to "Celsius", and many people today still use the old name.


title: Fahrenheit

paragraphs: Fahrenheit (more precisely, a degree Fahrenheit) is a unit of measurement used to measure temperature. The conversion rate to Celsius is C= 5/9 x (F − 32). The degree Fahrenheit is abbreviated °F.

paragraphs: This temperature scale was made in 1724 by a German scientist named Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit. In the twentieth century, the unit became less used, and the degree Celsius more used. Fahrenheit is still often used in the United States. In the United Kingdom, Fahrenheit is used on some websites, and on weather forecasts. The main reason for this is that the older population is more familiar with Fahrenheit.

paragraphs: The degree Fahrenheit is considered by many to be old fashioned and outdated way of measuring temperature. The degree Celsius has largely replaced Fahrenheit's use. However, Fahrenheit is understood by many ordinary people, whereas the Celsius scale is more abstract. The needs of ordinary people are often quite different to the needs of professional scientists and technicians.

paragraphs: Overall, the use of the degree Fahrenheit is in decline throughout most of the world, with the USA being the main exception.

paragraphs: On the Fahrenheit scale, water freezes at 32° and boils at 212°.


title: Agent

paragraphs: An agent is a person who acts on behalf of another person, or a representative of an agency.


title: Anthrax

paragraphs: Anthrax, or splenic fever, is a disease. Both humans and other animals can get it. It is caused by the bacterium bacillus anthracis. It is common with even-toed ungulates (some hoofed creatures, like camels and giraffes). The spores of the bacteria can live for hundreds of years. Humans usually catch the disease from animals. It is usually not passed from one human to another. Anthrax can be treated with antibiotics. There is also a vaccine against it. If not treated, anthrax often leads to death.

paragraphs: There are 89 different strains (kinds) of anthrax. One of them, the Ames strain, was used against the United States in 2001 as a biological weapon.

paragraphs: On April 2, 1979, there was a leak at one of the plants just outside of Sverdlovsk that made anthrax during the Cold War. 94 people were infected and 64 of those people died. The USSR blamed the deaths on another strain of anthrax that the people caught by digesting infected meat. However, later it was revealed that the outbreak was caused by an accidental release of the bacteria from a nearby plant which developed biological weapons for the USSR.

paragraphs: In September 2001, several letters containing anthrax were mailed to several USA media companies and senators. The attacks were linked to the September 11 attacks which occurred a few days before the start of the attack.

paragraphs: There were many cases of fake powder being found in envelopes.